Izabella Akhatovna Akhmadulina (, ; 10 April 1937 – 29 November 2010) was a

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and Russian poet, short story writer, and translator, known for her

apolitical Apoliticism is apathy or antipathy towards all political affiliations. A person may be described as apolitical if they are uninterested or uninvolved in politics. Being apolitical can also refer to situations in which people take an unbiased p ...

writing stance. She was part of the Russian New Wave literary movement. She was cited by

Joseph Brodsky Iosif Aleksandrovich Brodsky (; ; 24 May 1940 – 28 January 1996) was a Russian and American poet and essayist. Born in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) in the Soviet Union, Brodsky ran afoul of Soviet authorities and was expelled ("strongly ...

as the best living poet in the

Russian language Russian is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language belonging to the Balto-Slavic languages, Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. It is one of the four extant East Slavic languages, and is ...

.Bella Akhmadulina Criticism
/ref> She is known in Russia as "the voice of the epoch". Despite the aforementioned apolitical stance of her writing, Akhmadulina was often critical of authorities in the Soviet Union, and spoke out in favour of others, including Nobel laureates

Boris Pasternak Boris Leonidovich Pasternak (30 May 1960) was a Russian and Soviet poet, novelist, composer, and literary translator. Composed in 1917, Pasternak's first book of poems, ''My Sister, Life'', was published in Berlin in 1922 and soon became an imp ...

Andrei Sakharov Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov (; 21 May 192114 December 1989) was a Soviet Physics, physicist and a List of Nobel Peace Prize laureates, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, which he was awarded in 1975 for emphasizing human rights around the world. Alt ...

, and

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn. (11 December 1918 – 3 August 2008) was a Soviet and Russian author and Soviet dissidents, dissident who helped to raise global awareness of political repression in the Soviet Union, especially the Gulag pris ...

. She was known to international audiences via her travels abroad during the

Khrushchev Thaw The Khrushchev Thaw (, or simply ''ottepel'')William Taubman, Khrushchev: The Man and His Era, London: Free Press, 2004 is the period from the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s when Political repression in the Soviet Union, repression and Censorship in ...

, during which she made appearances in sold-out stadiums. Upon her death in 2010 at the age of 73,

President of Russia The president of Russia, officially the president of the Russian Federation (), is the executive head of state of Russia. The president is the chair of the State Council (Russia), Federal State Council and the President of Russia#Commander-in-ch ...

Dmitry Medvedev Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev (born 14 September 1965) is a Russian politician and lawyer who has served as Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia since 2020. Medvedev was also President of Russia between 2008 and 2012 and Prime Mini ...

hailed her poetry as a "classic of Russian literature." ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' said Akhmadulina was "always recognized as one of the Soviet Union's literary treasures and a classic poet in the long line extending from

Lermontov Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov ( , ; rus, Михаи́л Ю́рьевич Ле́рмонтов, , mʲɪxɐˈil ˈjʉrʲjɪvʲɪtɕ ˈlʲerməntəf, links=yes; – ) was a Russian Romantic writer, poet and painter, sometimes called "the poet of ...

and

Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin () was a Russian poet, playwright, and novelist of the Romantic era.Basker, Michael. Pushkin and Romanticism. In Ferber, Michael, ed., ''A Companion to European Romanticism''. Oxford: Blackwell, 2005. He is conside ...

." Sonia I. Ketchian, writing in ''The Poetic Craft of Bella Akhmadulina'', called her "one of the great poets of the 20th century. There's Akhmatova, Tsvetaeva,

Mandelstam Mandelstam or Mandelshtam () is a Jewish surname which may refer to: * Leonid Mandelstam (1879–1944), Russian theoretical physicist ** Mandel'shtam (crater), lunar crater named for Leonid Mandelstam * Nadezhda Mandelstam (1899–1980), Russian ...

, and Pasternak – and she's the fifth".

Early life, education and works

Bella Akhmadulina was born in Moscow on 10 April 1937, the only child of Akhat Valeevich Akhmadulin, a

Tatar Tatar may refer to: Peoples * Tatars, an umbrella term for different Turkic ethnic groups bearing the name "Tatar" * Volga Tatars, a people from the Volga-Ural region of western Russia * Crimean Tatars, a people from the Crimea peninsula by the B ...

father and Nadezhda Makarovna Lazareva, a

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

mother. They underwent evacuation to

Kazan Kazan; , IPA: Help:IPA/Tatar, ɑzanis the largest city and capital city, capital of Tatarstan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka (river), Kazanka Rivers, covering an area of , with a population of over 1. ...

when

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

broke out. Akhmadulina's literary career began when she was a school-girl working as a journalist at the Moscow newspaper, ''Metrostroevets'', and improving her poetic skills at a circle organized by the poet . Her first poems appeared in the magazine ''October'' after being approved by established Soviet poets. These first poems were published in 1955. Émigré critic Marc Slonim described her prospects as follows in 1964 (''Soviet Russian Literature''): "Her voice has such a purity of tone, such richness of timbre, such individuality of diction, that if her growth continues she will be able some day to succeed Akhmatova" as "the greatest living woman poet in Russia". After graduating, Akhmadulina travelled throughout Central Asia. Her travels sparked her interest in “Asiatic blood”, a theme which recurred in her later work. After finishing school, Akhmadulina entered the

Maxim Gorky Literature Institute The Maxim Gorky Literature Institute () is an institution of higher education in Moscow, Russia. It is located at 25 Tverskoy Boulevard in central Moscow. History The institute was founded in 1933 on the initiative of Maxim Gorky, a writer, foun ...

from which she graduated in 1960. While studying at the institute, she published her poems and articles in different newspapers, both official and handwritten. She was the subject of criticism in ''

Komsomolskaya Pravda ''Komsomolskaya Pravda'' (; ) is a daily Russian tabloid newspaper that was founded in 1925. Its name is in reference to the official Soviet newspaper '' Pravda'' (English: 'Truth'). History and profile During the Soviet era, ''Komsomolskaya ...

'' in 1957. She was expelled in 1959 (but allowed re-entry as time progressed) as a result of her opposition to the persecution of

. In 1962 the first collection of her poems, titled ''Struna'' (''The String''), was published and was a resounding success. In spite of being expunged, many of her collections of verses were published later: ''Music lessons'' (1970), ''Poems'' (1975), ''Candle'' (1977), ''Dreams of Georgia'' (1977), ''The Mystery'' (1983), ''Coastline'' (1991), and others. A collection called ''Sad'' (''Garden'') led to Akhmadulina receiving the

USSR State Prize The USSR State Prize () was one of the Soviet Union’s highest civilian honours, awarded from its establishment in September 1966 until the dissolution of the USSR in 1991. It recognised outstanding contributions in the fields of science, mathem ...

in 1989. Akhmadulina attended “poetic evenings at the Polytechnic Museum” and the Luzhniki Stadium concerts, both major cultural events of the time. "Many dogs and one dog", a short story written in a surreal style, was published in 1979 in

Samizdat Samizdat (, , ) was a form of dissident activity across the Eastern Bloc in which individuals reproduced censored and underground makeshift publications, often by hand, and passed the documents from reader to reader. The practice of manual rep ...

's '' Metropol Almanac''. She assisted in the creation of ''Metropol''. She wrote essays about

Alexander Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin () was a Russian poet, playwright, and novelist of the Romantic era.Basker, Michael. Pushkin and Romanticism. In Ferber, Michael, ed., ''A Companion to European Romanticism''. Oxford: Blackwell, 2005. He is consid ...

and

Mikhail Lermontov Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov ( , ; rus, Михаи́л Ю́рьевич Ле́рмонтов, , mʲɪxɐˈil ˈjʉrʲjɪvʲɪtɕ ˈlʲerməntəf, links=yes; – ) was a Russian Romanticism, Romantic writer, poet and painter, sometimes called ...

. She appeared in sold-out stadiums in the 1960s, as did the poets

Yevgeny Yevtushenko Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Yevtushenko (; 18 July 1933 – 1 April 2017) was a Soviet and Russian poet, novelist, essayist, dramatist, screenwriter, publisher, actor, editor, university professor, and director of several films. Biography Early lif ...

Andrei Voznesensky Andrei Andreyevich Voznesensky (, 12 May 1933 – 1 June 2010) was a Soviet and Russian poet and writer who had been referred to by Robert Lowell as "one of the greatest living poets in any language." He was one of the "Children of the '60s ...

and

Robert Rozhdestvensky Robert Ivanovich Rozhdestvensky (; 20 June 1932 – 19 August 1994) was a Soviet-Russian poet and songwriter who broke with socialist realism in the 1950s–1960s during the Khrushchev Thaw and, along with such poets as Andrei Voznesensky, ...

. Her open letter was published supporting the exiled

. In October 1993, she signed the

Letter of Forty-Two The Letter of Forty-Two () was an open letter signed by forty-two Russian literati, aimed at Russian society, the president and government, in reaction to the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis. It was published in the newspaper ''Izvestia'' on 5 O ...

. She was a journalist in a 1964 film. Bella participated in many international poetry events including Kuala Lumpur International Poetry Reading (1988). After the Soviet Union she published ''Casket and Key'' (1994), ''A Guiding Sound'' (1995) and ''One Day in December'' (1996). Akhmadulina emphasised a challenging balance between creative freedom and state conformity, quoted as describing the Soviet Union as a “Garden of Eden for poetry and a purgatory for poets.”

Translations

The main themes of Akhmadulina's works are friendship, love, and relations between people. She wrote numerous essays about Russian poets and translators, some devoted to her close friend,

Bulat Okudzhava Bulat Shalvovich Okudzhava (; ka, ბულატ ოკუჯავა; ; May 9, 1924 – June 12, 1997) was a Soviet and Russian poet, writer, musician, novelist, and singer-songwriter of Georgian-Armenian ancestry. He was one of the founders o ...

. Akhmadulina avoided writing overtly political poems, but took part in political events in her youth, supporting the so-called "dissident movement". She translated Russian poetry from France, Italy, Chechnya, Poland, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Georgia, Armenia, and many others. Akhmadulina wrote in a "resolutely

" style. She made use of imagery and humour in her work. She used rhymed

quatrain A quatrain is a type of stanza, or a complete poem, consisting of four Line (poetry), lines. Existing in a variety of forms, the quatrain appears in poems from the poetic traditions of various ancient civilizations including Persia, Ancient India ...

s in her early works, which discussed ordinary, yet imaginative occurrences from daily life in language that was full of both

archaism In language, an archaism is a word, a sense of a word, or a style of speech or writing that belongs to a historical epoch beyond living memory, but that has survived in a few practical settings or affairs. lexicon, Lexical archaisms are single a ...

s and

neologism In linguistics, a neologism (; also known as a coinage) is any newly formed word, term, or phrase that has achieved popular or institutional recognition and is becoming accepted into mainstream language. Most definitively, a word can be considered ...

s. Religion and philosophy became her themes as she aged and she wrote in longer forms. In her later works, Akhmadulina often wrote about illness, insomnia, alienation, and impending death. F.D. Reeve compared Akhmadulina to Alexander Pushkin, saying that she “cloaked her spirit with his”.

Personal life

Bella's first marriage in 1954 was to

, another famous poet of the era; her second husband, whom she married in 1960, was

Yuri Nagibin Yuri Markovich Nagibin (; 3 April 1920 – 17 June 1994) was a Soviet and Russian short story writer, screenwriter, literary critic and novelist. Biography Yuri Nagibin was born in Moscow. Nagibin's mother Ksenia Nagibina was pregnant with h ...

, a major novelist and screenwriter. Her third marriage in 1971 to film director

Eldar Kuliev Eldar Kaisynovich Kuliev (31 December 1951 – 14 January 2017) was a Russian Soviet film director and screenwriter. He was born in Frunze to Kaisyn Kuliev, an acclaimed Balkar poet and Maka, his Ingush wife, during the deportation of the Balk ...

produced a daughter, Elizaveta Kulieva, who is also a poet. In 1974, she married her last husband, the famous artist and stage designer Boris Messerer. They had homes in

Peredelkino Peredelkino (, ) is a dacha complex situated in Odintsovsky District of Moscow Oblast, Russia. History The settlement originated as the estate of Peredeltsy, owned by the Leontievs (maternal relatives of Peter the Great), then by Princes Dolg ...

and Moscow. Akhmadulina spoke of having a "guiding light" and believing that "something or someone looks after us”.

Death

Akhmadulina died at her home in

near Moscow on 29 November 2010 at the age of 73. Akhmadulina's husband said her death was from a heart condition, describing it as a "cardiovascular crisis".

and

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...

both paid tribute, with Medvedev writing on his blog that the death was an "irreparable loss". Medevdev also wrote that Akhmadulina's poetry was a "classic of Russian literature". Akhmadulina was buried in Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow, memorialised by a grave monument.

Filmography

Cameo

*''

I Am Twenty ''I Am Twenty'' (, translit. ''Mne dvadtsat let'') is a 1965 drama film directed by Marlen Khutsiev. It is Khutsiev's most famous film and considered a landmark of 1960s Soviet cinema. The film was originally entitled ''Zastava Iliycha'' (k ...

'' (1961), directed by

Marlen Khutsiev Marlen Martynovich Khutsiev (4 October 192519 March 2019) was a Georgian-born Soviet and Russian filmmaker best known for his cult films from the 1960s, which include '' I Am Twenty'' and '' July Rain''. He was named a People's Artist of the US ...

Screenwriter

*''

Clean Ponds The Clean Ponds () is a large pond in Moscow, Russia, located in Basmanny District, on the Boulevard Ring. The pond gives its name to Chistoprudny Boulevard, which runs from Turgenevskaya Square and Sretensky Boulevard towards Pokrovka Stree ...

'' (1965), based on the works of

*''

Stewardess A flight attendant is a member of the aircrew whose primary responsibility is ensure the safety of passengers in the cabin of an aircraft across all stages of flight. Their secondary duty is to see to the comfort of passengers. Flight attenda ...

'' (1967)

Bibliography

* ''Struna'' (''The String''), Moscow, 1962 * ''Oznob'' (''Fever''),

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

, 1968 * ''Uroki Muzyki'' (''Music Lessons''), 1969 * ''Stikhi'' (''Verses''), 1975 * ''Svecha'' (''The Candle''), 1977 * ''Sny o Gruzii'' (''Dreams of Georgia''), 1978–79 * ''Metell'' (''Snow-Storm''), 1977 * ''Taina'' (''The Secret''), 1983 * ''Sad'' (''The Garden''), 1987 * ''Stikhotvorenie'' (''A Poem''), 1988 * ''Izbrannoye'' (''Selected Verse''), 1988 * ''Stikhi'' (''Verses''), 1988 * ''Poberezhye'' (''The Coast''), 1991 * ''Larets i Kliutch'' (''Casket and Key''), 1994 * ''Gryada Kamnei'' (''The Ridge of Stone''), 1995 * ''Samye Moi Stikhi'' (''My Own Verses''), 1995 * ''Zvuk Ukazuyushchiy'' (''A Guiding Sound''), 1995 * ''Odnazhdy v Dekabre'' (''One Day in December''), 1996

Awards and tribute

In 1977, Bella Akhmadulina became an Honorary Member of the

American Academy of Arts and Letters The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, Music of the United States, music, and Visual art of the United States, art. Its fixed number ...

(se
AAAL website
. *

Laureate (1989) *

State Prize of the Russian Federation The State Prize of the Russian Federation, officially translated in Russia as Russian Federation National Award, is a state honorary prize established in 1992 following the breakup of the Soviet Union. In 2004 the rules for selection of laureates ...

(2004) *

Order of Friendship of Peoples The Order of Friendship of Peoples () was an order of the Soviet Union, and was awarded to persons (including non-citizens), organizations, enterprises, military units, as well as administrative subdivisions of the USSR for accomplishments in s ...

(1984) *

Order of Merit for the Fatherland Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * ...

, 2nd class (11 August 2007) – for outstanding contribution to the development of national literature and many years of creative activity; 3rd class (7 April 1997) – for services to the State and outstanding contribution to the development of national literature * Laureate of the Foundation "Banner" (1993) * Winner of the "Nosside" (Italy, 1994) * Laureate of "Triumph" (1994) *

Pushkin Prize The Pushkin Prize () was a Russian literary award presented to a Russian writer considered to have achieved the highest standard of literary excellence. It was established in 1881 by the Russian Academy of Sciences to honor one of the greatest R ...

winner (1994) * Laureate of the President of the Russian Federation in the field of Literature and Art (1998) * Winner of "Brianza" (Italy, 1998) * Winner of the journal "Friendship of Peoples" (2000) * Prize winner Bulat Okudzhava (2003) * Honorary Member of

Russian Academy of Arts Russian Academy of Arts (RAA / rus. РАХ, Росси́йская акаде́мия худо́жеств) is the State scientific Institution of Russian Federation, eligible heir to the USSR Academy of Arts. A founder of RAA is the Governmen ...

* On 10 April 2017,

Google Doodle Google Doodle is a special, temporary alteration of the logo on Google's homepages intended to commemorate holidays, events, achievements, and historical figures. The first Google Doodle honored the 1998 edition of the long-running annual Bu ...

commemorated her 80th birthday.

References

External links

bengali translation Bella Akhmadulina by moom rahman

Poems by Bella Akhmadulina

* created by Larisa Novoseltseva {{DEFAULTSORT:Akhmadulina, Bella 1937 births 2010 deaths Writers from Moscow Tatar people of Russia Russian people of Italian descent Russian women poets Soviet women poets Soviet poets Recipients of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 2nd class State Prize of the Russian Federation laureates Recipients of the USSR State Prize Pushkin Prize winners Honorary members of the Russian Academy of Arts Recipients of the Order of Friendship of Peoples 20th-century Russian women writers Soviet people of Italian descent 21st-century Russian poets 21st-century Russian women writers Maxim Gorky Literature Institute alumni Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery Tatar people from the Soviet Union