Brodsky autobiography. Short biography. Childhood, the poet's family

Joseph Brodsky is a Russian and American poet, essayist, playwright and translator. Considered one of the greatest poets of the 20th century.

He wrote poetry mainly in Russian, essays - in English. In 1987, Brodsky was awarded Nobel Prize on literature.

In this article we will describe the features of the great poet, whose life was full of all sorts of adventures.

So in front of you short biography of Joseph Brodsky ().

Biography of Brodsky

Joseph Aleksandrovich Brodsky was born on May 24, 1940 in. His father, Alexander Ivanovich, was a military photojournalist.

In the post-war period, he worked as a reporter and photographer for various publishing houses. Mother, Maria Moiseevna, was an accountant.

Childhood and youth

IN early years In his biography, Joseph Brodsky experienced all the horrors of the blockade of Leningrad, during which hundreds of thousands of people died. Their family, like many others, suffered from hunger, cold and other nightmares of war.

IN post-war years the Brodsky family was still experiencing financial difficulties, in connection with which Joseph left school and began working at the factory as a milling machine operator.

Joseph Brodsky in his youth

Soon he wanted to become a doctor. To do this, he even got a job in the morgue, but soon the medical career ceased to interest him.

Then Brodsky had to change many professions.

During this period of biography, he was constantly engaged in reading in huge quantities. In particular, he was very fond of poetry and philosophy.

There was even an episode in his life when, together with like-minded people, he wanted to hijack a plane in order to leave the limits. However, the idea remained unrealized.

Creative biography of Brodsky

According to Joseph Brodsky himself, he wrote the first poems in his biography at the age of 16.

When Joseph was 21 years old, he was lucky to meet Anna Akhmatova (see), who at that time was experiencing serious harassment from the authorities and many colleagues in the shop.

In 1958, Brodsky wrote the poems "Pilgrims" and "Loneliness", as a result of which he also came under pressure from the authorities. Many publishing houses refused to publish his works.

In the winter of 1960, Joseph Brodsky took part in the "Poet Tournament". He read his famous poem "The Jewish Cemetery", which immediately caused a strong reaction in society. He heard a lot of unfair criticism and sarcastic accusations addressed to him.

Every day the situation became more tense. As a result, in 1964, letters from “dissatisfied citizens” condemning the poet’s work were published in the Vecherny Leningrad newspaper.

A month later, Joseph Brodsky was arrested on charges of parasitism.

Arrest

The day after he was arrested, Joseph Alexandrovich had a heart attack. He was very painfully worried about everything that happened around him.

During this period of his biography, he wrote the poems “What can I say about life?” and Hello My Aging, in which he shared his emotions with readers.

Free again

Once free, Brodsky still heard endless criticism against him. At the same time, he broke up with his girlfriend Marina Basmanova, after which his mental state deteriorated markedly.

All this led Brodsky to attempt suicide, which, fortunately, ended in failure.

In 1970, another poem "Don't leave the room" came out from under his pen. It talked about what place a person plays in political system THE USSR.

Meanwhile, the persecution continued, and in 1972 Brodsky had to make a choice: go to a psychiatric hospital or leave the Soviet Union.

According to the poet, he had already once been treated in a mental hospital, the stay in which turned out to be much worse than in prison.

As a result, Joseph Brodsky decided to emigrate to, where in 1977 he was granted citizenship.

During his stay abroad, he taught Russian literature at American universities, and was also engaged in translation activities. So, for example, Brodsky translated into English language poetry .

In 1987, a landmark event took place in Brodsky's biography. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

When he came to power in the USSR, Brodsky's works began to be published in different magazines, and books with his work began to appear on the shelves of Soviet stores.

Later he was invited to visit the Soviet Union, but the poet was in no hurry to go home.

In many ways, he did not want to be in the spotlight and communicate with the press. His emotional experiences associated with returning to his homeland were reflected in the poems “Letter to the Oasis” and “Ithaca”.

Personal life

In 1962, Joseph Brodsky met Marina Basmanova, whom he immediately fell in love with. As a result, they began to cohabit, and in 1968 their boy Andrei was born.

It seemed that the child would only strengthen their relationship, but everything turned out quite the opposite. The couple separated the same year.

In 1990, Brodsky met Maria Sozzanni. She was an intelligent girl with Russian roots on her mother's side. The poet began to court her and soon they got married. In this marriage, their daughter Anna was born.

Brodsky with his wife Maria Sozzanni and son

An interesting fact is that all his life Joseph Brodsky was a heavy smoker, as a result of which he had serious problems with health.

He had to undergo 4 heart surgeries, but ended bad habit he couldn't. When doctors once again encouraged him to quit smoking, he said the following phrase: "Life is wonderful precisely because there are no guarantees, no, never."

In many photographs of Joseph Brodsky you can see with different people, whom he simply adored. In his opinion, these animals did not have a single ugly movement.

It is also worth noting that Joseph Brodsky was friends with, who was also disgraced Soviet writer and lived in exile.

Joseph Brodsky and Vladimir Vysotsky

Even more interesting is that the great Russian treated Brodsky with respect, and even tenderness. It is appropriate to quote Mikhail Shemyakin, Vysotsky's closest friend (see):

“In New York, Volodya (Vysotsky) met Brodsky, who presented him with a collection of his poems with a dedication: “To the great Russian poet Vladimir Vysotsky.” It should be noted that Volodya was very complex due to the fact that recognized Soviet poets treated his poems condescendingly, stating that it was bad taste to rhyme “stick out” and “shout”. Volodya did not let go of the book presented by Brodsky for a week: “Mish, look again, Joseph called me a great poet!”

Shortly before his death, Brodsky, together with partners, opened the Russian Samovar restaurant. Soon the institution became one of the cultural centers of Russian emigration in.

Death

Brodsky had heart problems even before leaving the USSR. At the age of 38, he underwent his first heart surgery in the United States.

At the same time, the American hospital sent an official letter to the Soviet Union with a request to allow the poet's parents to come to look after their son. The parents themselves tried more than 10 times to get permission to travel to America, but this did not give any results.

During the biography of 1964-1994. Joseph Brodsky suffered 4 heart attacks. On the eve of his death, he worked as usual in his office, which was located on the second floor of the house.

When his wife decided to visit him in the morning, she found him already dead, lying on the floor.

Joseph Alexandrovich Brodsky died on January 28, 1996 at the age of 55. The cause of death was the fifth heart attack. He never got to see his parents.

An interesting fact is that a couple of weeks before his death, Brodsky bought a place for himself in a cemetery, not far from Broadway. There he was buried.

However, six months later, Brodsky's body was reburied in the cemetery of San Michele. Venice, not counting St. Petersburg, Joseph loved most of all during his lifetime.

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Joseph Brodsky is a poet and prose writer who managed to leave his mark on the culture of Russia, Europe and America.

Childhood and youth

Joseph was born in the USSR (May 28, 1940), his early childhood passed in besieged Leningrad, then the family was evacuated to the city of Cherepovets, and after the war returned to their hometown.
The boy studied with varying success, had problems with discipline and perseverance. Under the influence of youthful maximalism, he applied to the Baltic School (he was rejected due to the child's fragile health), and on the eve of his sixteenth birthday, the guy left the school bench and began working as an assistant to a milling machine operator at a machine-building plant. He was actively looking for his place in life - he wanted to become a doctor, he worked: in the morgue, as a stoker in the boiler room, as a lighthouse keeper, as a laborer in a geological expedition.
From school years traditional learning Joseph preferred self-education, he read many books on various literary trends, was engaged in foreign languages (English, Polish), was fond of theater.

Joseph begins writing his first poems at the age of sixteen. At the age of 19, he meets Sergei Dovlatov, Bulat Okudzhava and other recognized Soviet poets. With their patronage, the young writer presents his poem "The Jewish Cemetery" at a creative evening of writers at the Gorky Palace of Culture. His declamation causes heated debate and rejection of the public. So Brodsky takes his first scandalous steps in the field of poetry. At the same time, for his free views, he falls under the "vigilant eye" of the KGB.

The first magazine publication of the novice poet's poems appeared in a children's magazine, the Ballad of a Little Tugboat saw the light in a greatly abridged form.

The heyday of creativity and the persecution of the poet by the authorities

Despite the defendant's poor health, the court approved a forensic psychiatric examination of him. He was placed in a dispensary, in the middle of the night the man was awakened and immersed in ice water, then they left him in a wet sheet near the hot radiator, it dried up and its folds strongly irritated the skin, crashing into it. After a series of such procedures, doctors diagnosed the patient's psychopathic personality traits and the ability to be responsible for their behavior. The court called Brodsky to administrative and criminal liability for parasitism and sent him to five years to perform forced labor in the Arkhangelsk region. There Brodsky enthusiastically studied English poetry and wrote his poetry cycles. The poet was printed only abroad, where his first collections were published. During this time, only two of his poems appeared in domestic publications.

The video recording of the trials of the poet, made public by Frida Vigdorova, caused great excitement and indignation in the cultural circles of the USSR and abroad. Publications appeared in the Western press condemning the actions of the Soviet government and its attitude towards creative people, their worldview. And in Russia, petitions were sent to those in power in defense of the poet, which were signed by many well-known creative personalities in the USSR.

A wave of public indignation affected the authorities and Brodsky was allowed to return to Leningrad ahead of schedule. Korney Chukovsky helped to solve the problem of bringing the poet to responsibility for parasitism; under his patronage, Brodsky was enrolled in the staff of translators of the Soviet Union of Writers.

The Western media presented him as a fighter against the despotism of the authorities in the USSR, however, he strongly opposed this image and denied his opposition to them. The poet only claimed the right to free expression of poetic thought. Despite this, Brodsky's new manuscript "Winter Mail" was repeatedly rejected by Soviet publishers.

In printed sources for 1964-1967, out of everything written by the poet, only four poems were available. And in the subsequent poems of the poet and completely give oblivion. At the request for Brodsky's participation in literary competition in England, the authorities replied to the founders that there was no such poet in the USSR. Although, at the same time, Brodsky's books were published one after another in the USA ("The End of a Beautiful Era", "New Stanzas for August", the poem "Gorbunov and Gorchakov"). At home, the poet's poems were known with the help of samizdat and songs created in alliance with composers Alexander Mirzayan and Yevgeny Klyachkin.

Thanks to the hype in the foreign press, the KGB stopped persecuting the poet and he calmly engaged in translations, reviewing, and once even starred in the film "Train to distant August." But after his appearance in America A new book"Stop in the Desert" (1970), materials for which were secretly exported abroad, the authorities ask the poet to "voluntarily" leave the USSR. Brodsky is forced to emigrate. In 1972 he was deprived of citizenship. Joseph's parents will never see him again, they will be repeatedly denied visas. And the poet will not even be allowed to go to their funeral.

Years in exile

Despite the depressed state of mind caused by the break with the Motherland, friends and relatives, Brodsky begins an active teaching career at the University of Michigan and soon achieves significant success. He introduces students to the history of Russian poetry, the theory of Russian versification. He is given all kinds of support and introduced into the writers' circles by Western and American writers. He participates in various European poetry festivals and competitions.

In 1977, Brodsky became a US citizen and soon married an aristocrat. Italian descent Maria Sozzani, who has Russian roots through her mother.
In maturity, Joseph Brodsky begins to write in prose, the result is the release of his books: Less than One (1986), Embankment of the Incurable (1992), On Sorrow and Reason (1995). Essays bring him no less fame than poetry In 1987, he received the Nobel Prize for his creative contribution to culture.And in the 90s, recognition in the West and in America would bring the writer multiple titles and honorary membership in academies, doctoral degrees as a teacher, scholarships and laureates in poetry competitions and communities.

Perestroika in Russia paves the way for Brodsky's work in his homeland. His poems are beginning to be printed in large numbers. The poet is rehabilitated and invited to return. To which he replies that the best part of it (poetry) is already there, that is, in Russia.

Brodsky's heart stops suddenly, in 1996. His wife finds him lifeless, with an open book on the table. The poet's permanent burial place was a quiet cemetery on the Venetian island of San Michele. There is a monument on his grave, with the design of the artist Vladimir Radunsky.

In addition to the richest literary heritage, Joseph Brodsky left two children on earth, a son from his first marriage and a daughter from his second.

(1940-1996) Russian poet, prose writer, essayist, translator

Brodsky Joseph Alexandrovich is known as a poet, playwright, translator and essayist. After the publication of a collection of poems abroad, the author also gained international fame. He became the youngest of the writers awarded the Nobel Prize. And not only was able to expand the poetic potential mother tongue, but also became a symbol of intellectual opposition to moral degeneration and total lies.

Childhood

Joseph Brodsky was born into an ordinary intelligent Leningrad family. My father was a certified geographer, and additionally graduated from the School of Red Journalists. Starting in 1940, he worked as a military photojournalist for 8 years, went through the war, starting in Finland and ending in China. The purge of the army ranks from persons of Jewish nationality in 1950 was the reason for demobilization. From that time on, the family had to be content with an inconsistent income from small articles and photographs sold to various factory circulations.

The difficult financial situation of the family was one of the reasons why the future poet left the school. Joseph Brodsky dropped out of school at 16. In just a few years, he managed to change a number of professions. At first he worked as an apprentice on a milling machine, then as an assistant in the morgue, for a long time he worked as a stoker and a sailor.

Another significant reason why Brodsky left school was the rejection of hypocrisy and total lies actively introduced among children.

Youth

At the age of 17, the life of Joseph Brodsky was not yet connected with literature, he becomes a worker in one of the expeditions that conducted geological research. As part of a group of researchers, he several times visited the shores of the White Sea, Siberia, and some regions of Northern Yakutia. During this period of his biography, the future poet reads a lot, paying special attention to works with a philosophical bias, studying Polish and English on his own.

The beginning of the creative path

The first poetic lines were written by Joseph Brodsky at the age of eighteen. A year later, the future poet gets acquainted with the authors of poetic works already known at that time, Sergey Dovlatov, Bulat Okudzhava and others. Brodsky's first literary debut was a poetry tournament in 1961. , after which a turning point came in his biography.

The young author read his recently written work, The Jewish Cemetery. Brodsky not only performed the work in a new way, as if singing poetic lines. The content of the work was also innovative. Not all listeners unequivocally perceived the poems of the beginning poet. The performance of the "Jewish Cemetery" by Brodsky caused a real scandal.

During this period, Brodsky Joseph Alexandrovich tries to engage in translation activities.

In early 1961, Brodsky met A. Akhmatova. It was one of the significant events in the fate of the young writer. Akhmatova appreciated the talent and became Brodsky's spiritual mentor. His biography during this period is replenished with a number of created works: the poems "Hills", "Guest", "Isaac and Abraham", poems.

From that moment, literary fame came to Brodsky Joseph Alexandrovich, however, official circles rejected the young poet, considering his work alien.

Court and exile

In 1964, the arrest and show trial of Brodsky took place, which can serve as a vivid example of opposition to the system. The poet was charged with parasitism. The process was indicative, it was accompanied by the publication in the press of a number of incriminating articles. The details of the trial became known to the world community, arousing interest in Brodsky's personality. After that, the biography of the poet was retold like a legend, and the name gained fame not only among writers and admirers of creativity.

At the end of the trial, the poet was sentenced to exile. Joseph Brodsky went to one of the villages of the Arkhangelsk region. They came to his defense famous poets and writers. Protests in literary circles and the wide interest of the world community contributed to the early release of Joseph Brodsky. The biography of the poet from this moment is a confirmation of reaching a new level. The poet became stronger spiritually, understood his true purpose, decided not to deviate from his principles. It was here that his personality was finally formed.

During this period, Brodsky Joseph Alexandrovich reads the works of English poets in the original, studies world literature. In exile, both scattered poems and entire cycles were born. The works were published after the emigration of the author.

Return from exile

The return to Leningrad was another test for Joseph Brodsky. His file contained information about the trial and exile, spoiling his biography, this became the reason for refusing to register him in an apartment owned by the family. Only the intervention of famous and authoritative cultural figures helped to solve this problem.

To avoid repeated accusations of parasitism, Brodsky, whose life is now under close supervision, with the support of K. Chukovsky and B. Vakhtin, gets a job as an interpreter in the Writers' Union of the USSR.

The works written during this period reflected the environment in which the poet lived and worked: alienation, lack of demand, constant humiliation and suspicion. For the first time a collection of poems by Joseph Brodsky was published abroad. Thanks to the support of friends, the author managed to send some of his works abroad. Brodsky, whose work and biography have become the subject of research by many literary critics, is rightfully considered a classic of Russian verse.

After the end of the period, called the "thaw", the position of the poet worsened. The attitude of the representatives official authority spoke of his apparent incompetence. Despite the love for the motherland, Brodsky had to emigrate.

Life in exile

In 1972, Joseph Brodsky, whose life and biography contains many turning points, makes the final decision and moves to the United States. A well-known author abroad immediately receives an invitation to work at the University of Michigan. The poet, who barely received an incomplete secondary education in the Soviet Union, held professorships at many leading universities in the US and Great Britain for almost a quarter of a century.

Brodsky's biography, which is an example of successful emigration and settling in a new place, missed his native city. He especially wanted to meet his parents, who were never allowed out of the country until his death. The parents were buried without the participation of the poet, who was refused a request for entry. The bitterness of the loss of dear people found expression in the works.

Personal life

In early 1962, Joseph Brodsky, whose biography contains data on several stormy novels, met the daughter of the famous artist P. Basmanov. Marina Basmanova and Brodsky stayed together for only a few years. During this time, the poet dedicated many works to his beloved woman. In 1967, the son of Marina Basmanova and Brodsky Andrei was born.

The reason for the breakup was another novel. This time the subject of the poet's passion was the ballerina M. Kuznetsova. As a result of a short relationship, Brodsky also had a daughter.

In 1990, Brodsky's biography up to this point, which did not contain data on the official registration of relations with women, marries a representative of the Italian aristocracy. The age difference between the spouses was almost 30 years. In marriage, the couple had a daughter.

World fame

At the age of forty, Joseph Brodsky, whose biography was already known in the West, thanks to works written in English, becomes world famous as a writer. The biography of Joseph Brodsky was replenished with another significant date, in 1987 he becomes the youngest Nobel laureate in the field of literature. At the same time, for the first time in 20 years, the poet's poems were published in his homeland.

By the end of the decade, the first studies of creativity appeared. Brodsky Joseph Alexandrovich almost immediately receives many prestigious literary awards.

Success and popularity were a fair reward for enduring persecution and persecution. However, the experiences of the past years did not go unnoticed. In the 90s, the poet underwent another heart operation.

In January 1996, Brodsky's wife announced his death. As it was established later, the cause was another heart attack. The poet is buried in Venice.

😉 Greetings to my regular readers and site visitors! The article “Joseph Brodsky: a brief biography, facts” is about the life of a dissident poet, translator, prose writer, playwright, Nobel Prize winner.

Joseph Brodsky: biography

He was born on May 24 (according to the zodiac -) 1940 in a Jewish family, in a beautiful city on the Neva - Leningrad.

Father, Alexander Ianovich Brodsky, served as a military photojournalist. His return from the war took place in 1948. Later, he got a job in a photo laboratory, which was located at Naval Museum. In 1950 he was demobilized and found work in several local newspapers.

Mother, Maria Moiseevna Volpert, worked as an accountant. My maternal aunt, Dora Moiseevna Volpert, chose the profession of an actress.

Brodsky's childhood fell on a difficult war and post-war period. Poverty, devastation, blockade and the absence of a father left their mark on the poet's work.

In 1955, after graduating from seven classes, Brodsky dropped out of school and enrolled as a milling machine apprentice at a factory. This decision was due both to problems at school and to Joseph's desire to support his family.

Then he tried to enter the school of submariners, but to no avail. At the age of 16, he had the idea of becoming a surgeon. For a month he worked in the morgue, dissecting corpses, but in the end he abandoned his medical career.

Creativity Brodsky

For several years, he tried more than a dozen professions: a geophysical technician, an orderly, a fireman, a photographer. He was looking for a job that could be combined with self-education and creativity. During this period, Brodsky wrote his first poems, studied English and Polish.

In 1960, the first public speaking Joseph. He performed with the poem "Jewish Cemetery", the work provoked a real scandal.

In the same year, Brodsky and his friend, a former pilot, came up with a plan to hijack an aircraft in order to cross the border of the USSR on it. But at the last moment they changed their minds, and a little later, his friend Oleg Shakhmatov was arrested. He told the KGB about this joint plan.

A month later, Brodsky was also detained, but two days later they were released, taking it “on a pencil”.

Link "dangerous criminal"

In the summer of 1961, Brodsky met Anna Akhmatova. A year later, an acquaintance with Nadezhda Mandelstam (wife of Osip Mandelstam) took place. In 1963 - with Lydia Chukovskaya.

In 1954, a wave of struggle against parasites swept through the Soviet Union. This wave also covered Brodsky. After all, he did not have a permanent job, living on meager fees from translations.

In 1964, "thanks" to the vigilant Leningrad public, a criminal case was initiated against Brodsky. He was accused of parasitism. After 5 days, the poet was arrested. A month later, while in the cell, he had his first heart attack.

Then, by a court decision, he was sent for a forensic psychiatric examination. According to the poet's memoirs, it was the most difficult time in his life. The examination determined that the patient was capable of serving his sentence.

The poet was sentenced to 5 years in prison for parasitism. He was exiled under escort along with criminal prisoners to a remote village near Arkhangelsk. According to the poet, he was happy during this period of his life. He managed to study English poetry over the years.

Under pressure from the domestic and foreign public, the “dangerous criminal” had his sentence reduced. Two years later, he returned to his homeland.

Akhmatova, Chukovskaya sought his freedom. Letters in defense of Brodsky were signed by S. Ya. Marshak, K. I. Chukovsky, K. G. Paustovsky, A. T. Tvardovsky, Yu. P. German and others.

Brodsky's poems were not printed in the USSR, they were published abroad. The persecution continued until May 1972. Joseph Alexandrovich was given a choice - a psychiatric hospital or emigration. He had already been in a mental hospital and, according to him, it was much worse than prison.

Brodsky chose emigration. In 1977, the poet took American citizenship.

Nobel Prize for the "parasite"

Soon he becomes a professor at Michigan, New York and other universities in the country. He travels a lot around the world, lives in London, Stockholm, Paris, but becomes his favorite place on earth, to which many beautiful poems and a wonderful prose essay are devoted.

In 1987, Joseph Brodsky was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature "for his comprehensive work, imbued with clarity of thought and the passion of poetry."

The poet died in New York in 1996 from a heart attack. He was 55! Four heart attacks experienced during a lifetime have done their disastrous deed.

Buried in America. In 1997, Brodsky was reburied in the Protestant part of the cemetery on the island of San Michele, in beautiful Venice, which he loved very much.

Joseph Brodsky: personal life

Marina→ Marianna→ Maria

In 1962, the poet met the artist Marina Basmanova. It was the first, pure and great love. The girl's parents were against this union from the very beginning. Marina came to exile to Joseph. In 1968, their son Andrei was born. But because of the betrayal of Marina with his friend, they broke up. Joseph was ready to end his life.
Daughter - Anastasia Iosifovna Kuznetsova (born 1972) from the ballerina Marianna Kuznetsova.
1990 - official marriage with the Italian Maria Sozzani, born in 1969, who had Russian roots. In this happy marriage, a daughter, Anna, was born.

Communication with parents

Brodsky's parents were not allowed to visit their son at the request of the doctors. He, like a core, needed special care;
they did not allow him to come to Leningrad for the funeral of his mother (1983) and father (1985).

Greetings from Leningrad!

In 1995, I.A. Brodsky was awarded the title of Honorary Citizen of St. Petersburg.

Joseph Brodsky: short biography (video):

In a conversation about the great poets of the 20th century, it is impossible not to mention the work of Joseph Brodsky. He is a very significant figure in the world of poetry. Brodsky had a difficult biography - persecution, misunderstanding, trial and exile. This prompted the author to leave for the USA, where he received public recognition.

The dissident poet Iosif Brodsky was born on May 24, 1940 in Leningrad. The boy's father worked as a military photographer, his mother worked as an accountant. When in 1950 a "cleansing" of Jews took place in the ranks of officers, my father went to work as a photojournalist for a newspaper.

Joseph's childhood coincided with the war, the blockade of Leningrad, and famine. The family survived, as did hundreds of thousands of people. In 1942, the mother took Joseph and evacuated to Cherepovets. They returned to Leningrad after the war.

Brodsky dropped out of school as soon as he entered the 8th grade. He wanted to financially help his family, so he went to work at the factory as a milling assistant. Then Joseph wanted to become a guide - it did not work out. At one time he was eager to become a doctor and even went to work in the morgue, but soon changed his mind. For several years, Joseph Brodsky changed many professions: all this time he drunkenly read poetry, philosophical treatises, studied foreign languages and was even going to hijack a plane with his friends in order to escape from Soviet Union. True, things did not go further than plans.

Literature

Brodsky said that he began to write poetry at the age of 18, although there are several poems written at the age of 16-17. IN early period creativity, he wrote "Christmas Romance", "Monument to Pushkin", "From the outskirts to the center" and other poems. In the future, the style of the author had strong influence poetry, and - they became the personal canon of the young man.

Brodsky met Akhmatova in 1961. She never doubted the talent of the young poet and supported the work of Joseph, believing in success. Brodsky himself was not particularly impressed by the poems of Anna Andreevna, but the scale of the personality of the Soviet poetess delighted.

The first work that alerted the Power of the Soviets is dated 1958. The poem was called "The Pilgrims". Then he wrote "Loneliness". There, Brodsky tried to rethink what was happening to him and how to get out of the current situation, when newspapers and magazines closed their doors to the poet.

In January 1964, in the same Vecherniy Leningrad, letters from "indignant citizens" were published demanding that the poet be punished, and on February 13 the writer was arrested for parasitism. The next day in the cell, he had a heart attack. Brodsky's thoughts of that period are clearly discerned in the poems "Hello, my aging" and "What can I say about life?".

The persecution that began was a heavy burden on the poet. The situation escalated due to a break in relations with her beloved Marina Basmanova. As a result, Brodsky made an attempt to die, but unsuccessfully.

The persecution continued until May 1972, when Brodsky was given a choice - a psychiatric hospital or emigration. Iosif Alexandrovich had already been in a mental hospital, and, as he said, it was much worse than prison. Brodsky chose emigration. In 1977, the poet became an American citizen.

Before leaving his native country, the poet tried to stay in Russia. He sent a letter himself with a request to be allowed to live in the country, at least as a translator. But the future Nobel laureate so they didn't hear it.

Joseph Brodsky participated in the International Poetry Festival in London. Then he taught the history of Russian literature and poetry at Michigan, Columbia and New York universities. In parallel, he wrote essays in English and translated poetry into English. In 1986, Brodsky's collection Less than One was published, and the following year he received the Nobel Prize in Literature.

In the period 1985-1989, the poet wrote "In Memory of the Father", "Performance" and the essay "One and a half rooms". In these verses and prose - all the pain of a person who was not allowed to see his parents on their last journey.

When perestroika began in the USSR, literary magazines and newspapers actively printed Joseph Alexandrovich's poems. In 1990, the poet's books began to be published in the Soviet Union. Brodsky received invitations from his homeland more than once, but he constantly delayed this visit - he did not want the attention of the press and publicity. The complexity of the return was reflected in the poems "Ithaca", "Letter to the Oasis" and others.

Personal life

The first great love of Joseph Brodsky was the artist Marina Basmanova, whom he met in 1962. They met for a long time, then lived together. In 1968, Marina and Joseph had a son, Andrei, but with the birth of a child, relations deteriorated. In the same year they separated.

In 1990, he met Maria Sozzani, an Italian aristocrat with Russian roots on her mother's side. In the same year, Brodsky married her, and three years later their daughter Anna was born. Unfortunately, Joseph Brodsky was not destined to see how his daughter grows.

The poet is known as a famous smoker. Despite undergoing four heart surgeries, he never quit smoking. Doctors strongly advised Brodsky to give up the addiction, to which he replied: “Life is wonderful precisely because there are no guarantees, no, never.”

Even Joseph Brodsky adored cats. He claimed that these creatures do not have a single ugly movement. In many photos, the creator is shot with a cat in his arms.

With the support of the writer, the Russian Samovar restaurant was opened in New York. The co-owners of the institution were Roman Kaplan and. Joseph Brodsky invested part of the money from the Nobel Prize in this project. The restaurant has become a landmark of "Russian" New York.

Death

He suffered from angina pectoris even before emigrating. The state of health of the poet was unstable. In 1978, he underwent heart surgery, the American clinic sent an official letter to the USSR with a request to allow Joseph's parents to leave to care for their son. The parents themselves applied 12 times, but each time they were refused. From 1964 to 1994, Brodsky suffered 4 heart attacks, he never saw his parents again. The writer's mother died in 1983, and a year later his father passed away. Soviet authorities denied his request to come to the funeral. The death of his parents crippled the poet's health.

On January 27, 1996, in the evening, Joseph Brodsky folded his briefcase, wished his wife good night and went up to the office - he had to work before the start of the spring semester. On the morning of January 28, 1996, the wife found her husband with no signs of life. Doctors pronounced him dead from a heart attack.

Two weeks before his death, the poet bought himself a place in a cemetery in New York, not far from Broadway. There he was buried, fulfilling the last will of the dissident poet, who until his last breath loved his homeland.

In June 1997, the body of Joseph Brodsky was reburied in Venice at the San Michele cemetery.

In 2005, the first monument to the poet was opened in St. Petersburg.