Our Notes & References

An attractive ‘samizdat’ volume gathering a wide-ranging selection of poems by one of Russia’s greatest poetesses.

Subject to censorship for many years, Tsvetaeva’s works were circulated through unofficial, underground, often forbidden ‘samizdat’ (self-publishing).

The literary climate changed in the late 1950s during the “Khrushchev Thaw,” marked by a relaxation of censorship and a renewed interest in poetry. Tsvetaeva’s work appeared again progressively, from 1956 onwards, in various anthologies or collections. A selection was published in 1961 and another one, expanded with 55 new poems, in 1965: the latter was the basis for our samizdat, which would typically be used to satisfy a demand too large for the printrun of the editions. The samizdat includes significant excerpts of the insightful preface by the literary scholar Vladimir Orlov (1908-85), as well as many poems compiled by Ariadna Efron, Tsvetaeva’s daughter and the custodian of her Moscow archive, along with Anna Saakiants, a renowned expert on Tsvetaeva’s works. Showcasing the most characteristic samples from each creative phase of the poetess, the anthology contains poems from 1913-39, many here for the first time, such as those from the cycle “Podruga” (Friend), dedicated to Tsvetaeva’s ex-lover Sofia Parnok.

Unlike the published version, our volume doesn’t include the longer, narrative verses, nor dramatic pieces. It is really an adaptation of the edition to focus on the poetry itself, for which Tsvetaeva is so famous.