The Complete Poems of Anna Akhmatova / Edition 3

by Anna Akhmatova, Roberta Reeder

Overview

Initially published in 1990, when the New York Times Book Review named it one of fourteen "Best Books of the Year," Judith Hemschemeyer's translation of The Complete Poems of Anna Akhmatova is the definitive edition, and has sold over 13,000 copies, making it one of the most successful poetry titles of recent years.

This reissued and revised printing features a new biographical essay as well as expanded notes to the poems, both by Roberta Reeder, project editor and author of Anna Akhmatova: Poet and Prophet (St. Martin's Press, 1994). Encyclopedic in scope, with more than 800 poems, 100 photographs, a historical chronology, index of first lines, and bibliography. The Complete Poems will be the definitive English language collection of Akhmatova for many years to come.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780939010271
Publisher:	Zephyr Press
Publication date:	09/01/2000
Edition description:	Updated and Expanded Edition
Pages:	948
Sales rank:	411,241
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 2.00(d)

Editorial Reviews

Sonorous, calm, deliberate in movement, her Russian has no English equivalent...

New York Times Books of the Century

This comprehensive English-only edition of the great Russian poet's works has been expanded to include 80 newly discovered poems.

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

These two fat volumes, a 100th-anniversary tribute to the great Russian poet Akhmatova (1889-1966), are clearly a labor of love. Editor Reeder's book-length introduction is a meticulous, well-documented account of the poet's life and poetry through the ebullience of modernist Petersburg, the grim deprivation of two world wars and the 1917 revolutions, the poverty and repression (including the repeated imprisonment of her son) of the interwar years and the vicious official attacks after World War II, and the last years of international honors. This life has made Akhmatova emblematic both of the unbowed intelligentsia and of the unsung heroism of millions of Russian women. The second volume begins with two impressionistic essays by Akhmatova's disciple, the Soviet poet Anatoly Naiman, and distinguished expatriate writer Sir Isaiah Berlin's account of his two meetings with her (Leningrad, 1945, and Oxford, 1965). The edition is lavishly illustrated with the known iconography of Akhmatova herself, her contemporaries, and the Petersburg-Leningrad settings that were her spiritual home. These rich secondary materials make a worthy frame for Akhmatova's glorious poetry, pre sented side by side in Russian and English and arranged, in exemplary fashion, with respect for choices the poet made in lifetime editions. American poet Hemschemeyer devoted well over ten years to the translations, learning Russian for that purpose; her equally exem plary translator's preface explains her working methods and the inevitable compromises involved in the valiant ef fort to create English equivalents for Akhmatova's spare and musical verse. This book will be a treasure for poetry lovers everywhere.-- Mary F. Zirin, Altadena, Cal.

Library Journal

Not only the most comprehensive, but also simply the best English translation ever of the great Russian poet (1889-1966). Publication of the original hardcover edition was one of the great publishing and poetry events of 1990. The present edition adds 80 new poetic texts which came to light at the end of 1990, as well as numerous photographs, and a 16-page portfolio portraying the poet through the eyes of painters, sculptors, and other artists. Published by Zephyr Press, 13 Robinson Street, Somerville, MA 02145. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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