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 life
Yevtushenko was born Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Gangnus (he later took his mother's last name, Yevtushenko) in
Irkutsk Oblast
Irkutsk Oblast (; ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in southeastern Siberia in the basins of the Angara River, Angara, Lena River, Lena, and Nizhnyaya Tunguska Rivers. The administrative center is ...
of
Siberia
Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...
in a small town called
Zima
The Zimbabwe Music Awards (ZIMA) is an annual award ceremony to acknowledge and honor musical excellence and creativity in Zimbabwean music.
References
External links
* https://zimmusicawards.co.zw
*
Music of Zimbabwe
African music awa ...
on 18 July 1933 to a peasant family of noble descent. He had Russian, Baltic German, Ukrainian, Polish, Belarusian, and Tatar roots. His maternal great-grandfather Joseph Baikovsky belonged to
szlachta
The ''szlachta'' (; ; ) were the nobility, noble estate of the realm in the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Depending on the definition, they were either a warrior "caste" or a social ...
, while his wife was of Ukrainian descent. They were exiled to Siberia after a peasant rebellion headed by Joseph. One of their daughters – Maria Baikovskaya – married Ermolai Naumovich Yevtushenko who was of Belarusian descent. He served as a soldier in the
Imperial Army during
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
and as an officer in the
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...
during the
Civil War
A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...
. His paternal ancestors were Germans who moved to the Russian Empire in 1767. His grandfather Rudolph Gangnus, a math teacher of
Baltic German descent, married Anna Plotnikova of
Russian nobility
The Russian nobility or ''dvoryanstvo'' () arose in the Middle Ages. In 1914, it consisted of approximately 1,900,000 members, out of a total population of 138,200,000. Up until the February Revolution of 1917, the Russian noble estates staffed ...
. Both of Yevtushenko's grandfathers were arrested during
Stalin's purges as "enemies of the people" in 1937.
Yevtushenko's father, Aleksandr Rudolfovich Gangnus, was a geologist, as was his mother, Zinaida Ermolaevna Yevtushenko, who later became a singer.
The boy accompanied his father on geological expeditions to
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...
in 1948, and to Altai, Siberia, in 1950. Young Yevtushenko wrote his first verses and humorous
chastushki while living in Zima, Siberia. His parents were divorced when he was 7 and he was raised by his mother.
By age 10, he had composed his first poem. Six years later a sports journal was the first periodical to publish his poetry. At 19, he published his first book of poems, ''The Prospects of the Future''.
After the
Second World War
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 ...
, Yevtushenko moved to
Moscow
Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
and from 1951 to 1954 studied at the
Gorky Institute of Literature in Moscow, from which he
dropped out
Dropping out refers to leaving high school, college, university or another group for practical reasons, necessities, inability, apathy, or disillusionment with the system from which the individual in question leaves.
Canada
In Canada, most ind ...
. In 1952, he joined the
Union of Soviet Writers
The Union of Soviet Writers, USSR Union of Writers, or Soviet Union of Writers () was a creative union of professional writers in the Soviet Union. It was founded in 1934 on the initiative of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (1932) a ...
after publication of his first collection of poetry. His early poem ''So mnoyu vot chto proiskhodit'' (''"That's what is happening to me"'') became a very popular song, performed by actor-songwriter
Alexander Dolsky
Alexander Alexandrovich Dolsky ( rus, Алекса́ндр Алекса́ндрович До́льский, p=ɐlʲɪˈksandr ɐlʲɪˈksandrəvʲɪtɕ ˈdolʲskʲɪj, a=Ru-Alyeksandr Alyeksandrovich Dol'skiy.oga; born on June 7, 1938) is a Soviet ...
. In 1955, Yevtushenko wrote a poem about the Soviet borders being an obstacle in his life. His first important publication was the 1956 poem ''Stantsiya Zima'' (''"Zima Station"''). In 1957, he was expelled from the Literary Institute for "
individualism
Individualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology, and social outlook that emphasizes the intrinsic worth of the individual. Individualists promote realizing one's goals and desires, valuing independence and self-reliance, and a ...
". He was once labeled "''the head of the intellectual juvenile delinquents''" whose poems were "''pygmy spittle''". He was banned from travelling but gained wide popularity with the Soviet public. His early work also drew praise from
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 ...
,
Carl Sandburg
Carl August Sandburg (January 6, 1878 – July 22, 1967) was an American poet, biographer, journalist, and editor. He won three Pulitzer Prizes: two for his poetry and one for his biography of Abraham Lincoln. During his lifetime, Sandburg w ...
and
Robert Frost
Robert Lee Frost (March26, 1874January29, 1963) was an American poet. Known for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American Colloquialism, colloquial speech, Frost frequently wrote about settings from rural life in New E ...
.
[Queens College Office of Communication]
"Queens College Presents an Evening of Poetry and Music with Yevgeny Yevtushenko on 11 December,"
18 November 2003. Retrieved 10 January 2009.[University of Tulsa News/Events/Publications]
"Famed Russian Poet Yevtushenko to Perform and Sign Books at TU on 28 April,"
28 Mar 2003. Retrieved 10 January 2009.
During the Khrushchev Thaw
Yevtushenko was one of the authors politically active 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 ...
. In 1961, he wrote what would become perhaps his most famous poem, ''
Babiyy Yar'', in which he denounced the
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 ...
distortion of historical fact regarding the
Nazi
Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
massacre of the Jewish population of
Kyiv
Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...
in September 1941, as well as the
anti-Semitism
Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...
still widespread in the Soviet Union. The usual Soviet policy in relation to
the Holocaust
The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...
in Russia was to describe it as general atrocities against Soviet citizens and to avoid mentioning that it was a
genocide
Genocide is violence that targets individuals because of their membership of a group and aims at the destruction of a people. Raphael Lemkin, who first coined the term, defined genocide as "the destruction of a nation or of an ethnic group" by ...
of the Jews. However, Yevtushenko's work ''Babiyy Yar'' "spoke not only of the Nazi atrocities, but the Soviet government's own persecution of Jewish people."
The poem was published in a major newspaper, ''
Literaturnaya Gazeta
''Literaturnaya Gazeta'' (, ''Literary Gazette'') is a weekly cultural and political newspaper published in Russia and the Soviet Union. It was published for two periods in the 19th century, and was revived in 1929.
Overview
The current newspa ...
'', achieved widespread circulation in numerous copies, and later was set to music, together with four other Yevtushenko poems, by
Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his First Symphony in 1926 and thereafter was regarded as a major composer.
Shostak ...
in his
Thirteenth Symphony, subtitled ''Babi Yar''. Of Yevtushenko's work, Shostakovich has said, "Morality is a sister of conscience. And perhaps God is with Yevtushenko when he speaks of conscience. Every morning, in place of prayers, I reread or repeat by memory two poems by Yevtushenko: 'Career' or 'Boots'."
After the
22nd Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in October 1961 – at which the former dictator
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...
was denounced in public for crimes committed in the 1930s, Yevtushenko was allowed to join the editorial board of the journal ''
Yunost
''Yunost'' (, ''Youth'') is a Russian language literary magazine created in 1955 in Moscow (initially as a USSR Union of Writers' organ) by Valentin Kataev, its first editor-in-chief, who was fired in 1961 for publishing Vasily Aksyonov's ''Tick ...
'', and in October 1962 was sent to Cuba as a correspondent of ''
Pravda
''Pravda'' ( rus, Правда, p=ˈpravdə, a=Ru-правда.ogg, 'Truth') is a Russian broadsheet newspaper, and was the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, when it was one of the most in ...
''. In 1962, knowing that there was backlash against the anti-Stalin campaign, Yevtushenko wrote ''Nasledniki Stalina'' (''The Heirs of Stalin''), in which he stated that although Stalin was dead,
Stalinism
Stalinism (, ) is the Totalitarianism, totalitarian means of governing and Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union (USSR) from History of the Soviet Union (1927–1953), 1927 to 1953 by dictator Jose ...
and its legacy still dominated the country; in the poem he also directly addressed the Soviet government, imploring them to make sure that Stalin would "never rise again".
The poem also taunted neo-Stalinists for being out of touch with the times, saying "No wonder they suffer heart attacks." It was well known that Khrushchev's most dangerous rival,
Frol Kozlov had recently had a heart attack. Yevtushenko wrote in his memoirs that he sent a copy of the poem to Khrushchev, who approved its publication. Published originally in ''
Pravda
''Pravda'' ( rus, Правда, p=ˈpravdə, a=Ru-правда.ogg, 'Truth') is a Russian broadsheet newspaper, and was the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, when it was one of the most in ...
'' on 21 October 1962, the poem was not republished until a quarter of a century later, in the times of the comparatively liberal
Party
A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a Hospitality, host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will oft ...
leader
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet and Russian politician who served as the last leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...
.
In January 1963, he began a tour of West Germany and France, and while he was in Paris, arranged for his ''Precocious Autobiography'' to be serialised in ''L'Express''. This created a scandal in Moscow. In February, he was ordered to return to the USSR and at the end of March he was accused by the writer G. A. Zhukov of an 'act of treason' and in April another writer, Vladimir Fedorov, proposed that he be expelled from the Writers' Union. No official action was taken against him, but he was barred from travelling abroad for several years.
Yevtushenko became one of the best known poets of the 1950s and 1960s in the Soviet Union. He was part of the 1960s generation, which included such writers as
Vasily Aksyonov,
Andrei Voznesensky,
Bella Akhmadulina
Izabella Akhatovna Akhmadulina (, ; 10 April 1937 – 29 November 2010) was a Soviet Union, Soviet and Russian poet, short story writer, and translator, known for her apolitical writing stance. She was part of the Russian New Wave literary movem ...
,
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, ...
,
Anatoly Gladilin; as well as actors
Andrei Mironov,
Aleksandr Zbruyev
Aleksandr Viktorovich Zbruyev (, born 31 March 1938, Moscow, Soviet Union) is a Soviet Union, Soviet and Russian theatrical and film actor.
Selected filmography
* ''My Younger Brother'' (1962) as Dimka Denisov
* ''A Span of Earth'' (1964) as Alek ...
,
Natalya Fateyeva
Natalya Nikolayevna Fateyeva (; born 23 December 1934) is a Soviet and Russian film actress and television presenter. She has appeared in more than fifty films since 1956. People's Artist of the RSFSR (1980).
Biography
Natalya Nikolayevna Fatey ...
, and many others. During the time,
Anna Akhmatova
Anna Andreyevna Gorenko rus, А́нна Андре́евна Горе́нко, p=ˈanːə ɐnˈdrʲe(j)ɪvnə ɡɐˈrʲɛnkə, a=Anna Andreyevna Gorenko.ru.oga, links=yes; , . ( – 5 March 1966), better known by the pen name Anna Akhmatova,. ...
, a number of whose family members suffered under the communist rule, criticised Yevtushenko's aesthetic ideals and his poetics. The poet Victor Krivulin quoted her, saying that "Yevtushenko doesn't rise above an average newspaper satirist's level. Yevtushenko and Andrei Voznesensky's works just don't do it for me, therefore neither of them exists for me as a poet."
Alternatively, Yevtushenko was much respected by others at the time both for his poetry and his political stance toward the Soviet government. "Dissident
Pavel Litvinov
Pavel Mikhailovich Litvinov (; born 6 July 1940) is a Russian-born U.S. physicist, writer, teacher, Human rights movement in the Soviet Union, human rights activist and former Soviet dissidents, Soviet-era dissident.
Biography
The grandson of Iv ...
had said that '
evtushenkoexpressed what my generation felt. Then we left him behind.'"
Between 1963 until 1965, for example, Yevtushenko, already an internationally recognised ''littérateur'', was banned from travelling outside the Soviet Union.
["A Demanding Kind of Genius," '']Irish Independent
The ''Irish Independent'' is an Irish daily newspaper
A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray backgrou ...
'', 8 May 2004. In 1963, he was nominated for the
Nobel Prize in Literature
The Nobel Prize in Literature, here meaning ''for'' Literature (), is a Swedish literature prize that is awarded annually, since 1901, to an author from any country who has, in the words of the will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, "in ...
for his poem ''Babiyy Yar''.
Generally, however, Yevtushenko was still the most extensively travelled Soviet poet, possessing an amazing capability to balance between moderate criticism of the Soviet regime, which gained him popularity in the West, and, as noted by some, a strong Marxist–Leninist ideological stance,
[Judith Colp. "Yevtushenko: The story of a superstar poet," ''The Washington Times'', 3 January 1991, p. E1.] which allegedly proved his loyalty to Soviet authorities.
At that time, KGB Chairman
Vladimir Semichastny
Vladimir Yefimovich Semichastny (; ; 15 January 1924 – 12 January 2001) was a Soviet politician, who served as Chairman of the KGB from November 1961 to May 1967. A protégé of Alexander Shelepin, he rose through the ranks of the Communist ...
and the next KGB Chairman
Yuri Andropov
Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov ( – 9 February 1984) was a Soviet politician who served as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from late 1982 until his death in 1984. He previously served as the List of Chairmen of t ...
reported to the Communist Politburo on the "Anti-Soviet activity of poet Yevtushenko." Nevertheless, some nicknamed Yevtushenko "Zhenya Gapon," comparing him to Father
Georgy Gapon
Georgy Apollonovich Gapon ( –) was a Russian Orthodox priest of Ukrainian descent and a popular working-class leader before the 1905 Russian Revolution. Father Gapon is mainly remembered as the leader of peaceful crowds of protesters on Bloody ...
, a Russian priest who at the time of the Revolution of 1905 was both a leader of rebellious workers and a
secret police agent.
Controversy
In 1965, Yevtushenko joined
Anna Akhmatova
Anna Andreyevna Gorenko rus, А́нна Андре́евна Горе́нко, p=ˈanːə ɐnˈdrʲe(j)ɪvnə ɡɐˈrʲɛnkə, a=Anna Andreyevna Gorenko.ru.oga, links=yes; , . ( – 5 March 1966), better known by the pen name Anna Akhmatova,. ...
,
Korney Chukovsky
Korney Ivanovich Chukovsky ( rus, Корне́й Ива́нович Чуко́вский, p=kɐrˈnʲej ɪˈvanəvʲɪtɕ tɕʊˈkofskʲɪj, a=Kornyey Ivanovich Chukovskiy.ru.vorb.oga; 31 March NS 1882 – 28 October 1969) was one of the most p ...
,
Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was a French philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary criticism, literary critic, considered a leading figure in 20th ...
and others and co-signed the letter of protest against the unfair trial of
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 a result of the court case against him initiated by the Soviet authorities. He subsequently co-signed a letter against the
Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia
On 20–21 August 1968, the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was jointly invaded by four fellow Warsaw Pact countries: the Soviet Union, the Polish People's Republic, the People's Republic of Bulgaria, and the Hungarian People's Republic. The ...
in 1968.
Nevertheless, "when, in 1987, Yevtushenko was made 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 ...
, Brodsky himself led a flurry of protest, accusing Yevtushenko of duplicity and claiming that Yevtushenko's criticism of the Soviet Union was launched only in the directions approved by the Party and that he criticised what was acceptable to the Kremlin, when it was acceptable to the Kremlin, while soaking up adulation and honours as a fearless voice of dissent."
Further, of note is "Yevtushenko's protest of the trial of
Andrei Sinyavsky
Andrei Donatovich Sinyavsky (; 8 October 1925 – 25 February 1997) was a Russian writer and Soviet dissident known as a defendant in the Sinyavsky–Daniel trial of 1965.
Sinyavsky was a literary critic for ''Novy Mir'' and wrote works critic ...
and
Yuli Daniel
Yuli Markovich Daniel ( rus, Ю́лий Ма́ркович Даниэ́ль, p=ˈjʉlʲɪj ˈmarkəvʲɪtɕ dənʲɪˈelʲ, a=Yuliy Markovich Daniel'.ru.vorb.oga; 15 November 1925 – 30 December 1988) was a Russian writer and Soviet disside ...
, an event now credited with inaugurating the modern dissident movement and readying the national pulse for
perestroika
''Perestroika'' ( ; rus, перестройка, r=perestrojka, p=pʲɪrʲɪˈstrojkə, a=ru-perestroika.ogg, links=no) was a political reform movement within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) during the late 1980s, widely associ ...
. Both writers had toiled under pseudonyms and stood accused, in 1966, of "anti-Soviet activity" for the views espoused by their fictional characters. But Yevtushenko's actual position was that the writers were guilty, only punished too severely."
"Yevtushenko was not among the authors of the "Letter of the 63" who protested
heir convictions"
On 23 August 1968, Yevtushenko sent a telegram to the Soviet prime minister
Alexei Kosygin
Alexei Nikolayevich Kosygin (–18 December 1980) was a Soviet people, Soviet statesman during the Cold War. He served as the Premier of the Soviet Union from 1964 to 1980 and, alongside General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev, was one of its most ...
lamenting the
invasion of Czechoslovakia
On 20–21 August 1968, the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was jointly invaded by four fellow Warsaw Pact countries: the Soviet Union, the Polish People's Republic, the People's Republic of Bulgaria, and the Hungarian People's Republic. The in ...
, but "when Yevtushenko was nominated for the poetry chair at Oxford in 1968,
Kingsley Amis
Sir Kingsley William Amis (16 April 1922 – 22 October 1995) was an English novelist, poet, critic and teacher. He wrote more than 20 novels, six volumes of poetry, a memoir, short stories, radio and television scripts, and works of social crit ...
,
Bernard Levin
Henry Bernard Levin (19 August 1928 – 7 August 2004) was an English journalist, author and broadcaster, described by ''The Times'' as "the most famous journalist of his day". The son of a poor Jewish family in London, he won a scholarship t ...
, and the Russian-Hungarian historian
Tibor Szamuely
Tibor Szamuely (December 27, 1890 – August 2, 1919) was a Hungarian communist politician and journalist who was Deputy People's Commissar of War and People's Commissar of Public Education during the Hungarian Soviet Republic.
Early life ...
led the campaign against him, arguing that he had made life difficult for his fellow Soviet writers."
Films
He was filmed as himself during the 1950s as a performing poet-actor. Yevtushenko contributed lyrics to several Soviet films and contributed to the script of ''
Soy Cuba'' (''I Am Cuba'', 1964), a Soviet propaganda film.
[ His acting career began with the leading role in '' Vzlyot'' (''Take-Off'', 1979) by director ]Savva Kulish
Savva Yakovlevich Kulish (; 17 October 1936 – 9 June 2001) was a Soviet film director and screenwriter. He directed eight films between 1966 and 1994. His 1979 film ''Takeoff (film), Takeoff'' won the Silver Prize at the 11th Moscow Interna ...
, where he played the leading role as Russian rocket scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky (; rus, Константин Эдуардович Циолковский, p=kənstɐnʲˈtʲin ɪdʊˈardəvʲɪtɕ tsɨɐlˈkofskʲɪj, a=Ru-Konstantin Tsiolkovsky.oga; – 19 September 1935) was a Russi ...
. Yevtushenko also made two films as a writer/director. His film ''Detsky Sad'' (''Kindergarten
Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cen ...
'', 1983) and his last film, '' Pokhorony Stalina'' (''Stalin's Funeral'', 1990) deal with life in the Soviet Union.[
]
Post-Soviet period
In 1989, Yevtushenko was elected as a representative for Kharkiv
Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine. in the Soviet Parliament (Congress of Peoples Deputies), where he was a member of the pro-democratic group supporting Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet and Russian politician who served as the last leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...
. In 1991, he supported Boris Yeltsin
Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin (1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician and statesman who served as President of Russia from 1991 to 1999. He was a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) from 1961 to ...
, as the latter defended the parliament of the Russian Federation
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
during the hardline coup that sought to oust Gorbachev and reverse "perestroika
''Perestroika'' ( ; rus, перестройка, r=perestrojka, p=pʲɪrʲɪˈstrojkə, a=ru-perestroika.ogg, links=no) was a political reform movement within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) during the late 1980s, widely associ ...
". Later, however, when Yeltsin sent tanks into restive Chechnya
Chechnya, officially the Chechen Republic, is a Republics of Russia, republic of Russia. It is situated in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe, between the Caspian Sea and Black Sea. The republic forms a part of the North Caucasian Federa ...
, Yevtushenko reportedly "denounced his old ally and refused to accept an award from him."
In the post-Soviet era, Yevtushenko actively discussed environmental issues, confronted Russian Nationalist writers from the alternative Union of the Writers of Russia, and campaigned for the preservation of the memory of victims of Stalin's Gulag
The Gulag was a system of Labor camp, forced labor camps in the Soviet Union. The word ''Gulag'' originally referred only to the division of the Chronology of Soviet secret police agencies, Soviet secret police that was in charge of runnin ...
. In 1995, he published his huge anthology of contemporary Russian poetry entitled ''Verses of the Century''.
In the West
After October 2007, Yevtushenko divided his time between Russia and the United States, teaching Russian and European poetry and the history of world cinema at the University of Tulsa
The University of Tulsa (TU) is a Private university, private research university in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It has a historic affiliation with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Presbyterian Church, although it is now nondenominational, and the campus ...
in Oklahoma
Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...
and at Queens College
Queens College (QC) is a public college in the New York City borough of Queens. Part of the City University of New York system, Queens College occupies an campus primarily located in Flushing.
Queens College was established in 1937 and offe ...
of the City University of New York
The City University of New York (CUNY, pronounced , ) is the Public university, public university system of Education in New York City, New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven ...
as well as at Florida Atlantic University. In a 1995 interview, he said, "I like very much the University of Tulsa. My students are sons of ranchers, even cowboys, oil engineers. They are different people, but they are very gifted. They are closer to Mother Nature than the big city. They are more sensitive."
In the West, he was best known for his criticism of the 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 ...
bureaucracy and appeals for getting rid of the legacy of Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...
. He was working on a three-volume collection of 11th to 20th-century Russian poetry and planned a novel based on his time in Havana during the Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis () in Cuba, or the Caribbean Crisis (), was a 13-day confrontation between the governments of the United States and the Soviet Union, when American deployments of Nuclear weapons d ...
(he was, reportedly, good friends with Che Guevara
Ernesto "Che" Guevara (14th May 1928 – 9 October 1967) was an Argentines, Argentine Communist revolution, Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, Guerrilla warfare, guerrilla leader, diplomat, and Military theory, military theorist. A majo ...
, Salvador Allende
Salvador Guillermo Allende Gossens (26 June 1908 – 11 September 1973) was a Chilean socialist politician who served as the 28th president of Chile from 1970 until Death of Salvador Allende, his death in 1973 Chilean coup d'état, 1973. As a ...
and Pablo Neruda
Pablo Neruda ( ; ; born Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto; 12 July 190423 September 1973) was a Chilean poet-diplomat and politician who won the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature. Neruda became known as a poet when he was 13 years old an ...
).
In October 2007, he was an artist-in-residence with the College of Arts and Humanities at the University of Maryland, College Park
The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD i ...
, and recited his poem ''Babi Yar'' before a performance of Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his First Symphony in 1926 and thereafter was regarded as a major composer.
Shostak ...
's Symphony No. 13 by the University of Maryland Symphony Orchestra. The first time that the two works that Shostakovich set to Yevtushenko texts were performed on the same program, was in 1998 at the University of Houston's Moores School of Music
The Rebecca and John J. Moores School of Music is the music school of the University of Houston. The Moores School offers the Bachelor of Music, Bachelor of Arts in Music, Master of Music, and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in music performance, ...
, under the baton of Franz Anton Krager, with Yevtushenko present. The performance was the idea of the then-President of the Moores School of Music Society, Philip Berquist, a long-time friend of Yevtushenko, after the poet informed him that the two works had never been performed together. Yevtushenko had told Berquist that Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein ( ; born Louis Bernstein; August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was th ...
had wanted to do so, but it never came to realisation.
The first translation of Yevtushenko's poetry into English was ''Yevtushenko: Selected Poems'', a translation by Robin Milner-Gulland and Peter Levi
Peter Chad Tigar Levi (16 May 1931, in Ruislip – 1 February 2000, in Frampton-on-Severn) was an English poet, archaeologist, Jesuit priest, travel writer, biographer, academic and prolific reviewer and critic. He was Professor of Poetry at ...
published in 1962.
Criticism
Michael Weiss Michael Weiss may refer to:
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* Michael Weiss (figure skater) (born 1976), American former figure skater
* Michael Weiss (swimmer) (born 1991), American swimmer
* Michael Weiss (triathlete) (born 1981), Austrian triathlete and cyclist
* Michae ...
, writing in ''The New York Sun
''The New York Sun'' is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative Online newspaper, news website and former newspaper based in Manhattan, Manhattan, New York. From 2009 to 2021, it operated as an (occasional and erratic) onlin ...
'' in 2008, asserted that "Yevtushenko's politics have always been a complicated mixture of bravery, populism, and vulgar accommodation with dictatorship." Judith Colp of ''The Washington Times
''The Washington Times'' is an American Conservatism, conservative daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It covers general interest topics with an emphasis on Politics of the United States, national politics. Its broadsheet daily edit ...
'', for example, described Yevtushenko as "his country's most controversial modern poet, a man whose reputation is poised between courageous behind-the-scenes reformer and failed dissident." Indeed, "as the Sovietologist and literary critic Robert Conquest
George Robert Acworth Conquest (15 July 19173 August 2015) was a British and American historian, poet, novelist, and propagandist. He was briefly a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain but later wrote several books condemning commun ...
put it in a 1974 profile: 'The writers who had briefly flourished nder Khrushchev's thawwent two different ways. Solzhenitsyn and his like into silenced opposition; Yevtushenko and his like, sometimes reluctantly, sometimes in the hope of still influencing matters a little, into well-rewarded collaboration.'" Some argue that before the appearance of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, 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 the dissident movement in the Soviet Union, Yevtushenko, through his poetry, was the first voice to speak out against Stalinism[Donald W. Patterson, "Renowned Poet to Visit City," '']News & Record
The ''News & Record'' is an American, English language newspaper with the largest circulation serving Guilford County, North Carolina, and the surrounding region. It is based in Greensboro, North Carolina, and produces local sections for Greensbo ...
'' (Greensboro, NC), 8 April 1999, p. 3. (although 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 ...
is often considered "to have helped give birth to the dissident movement with the publication of his '' Doctor Zhivago''"). Colp adds: "Sovietologist Stephen Cohen of Princeton University contends that Yevtushenko was among those Soviets who didn't become dissidents but in their own way tried to improve conditions and prepare the way for reform, aying that
Aying is a municipality in the district of Munich in Bavaria, Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the s ...
'They exhibited a kind of civic courage that many Americans didn't recognize.'" Kevin O'Connor, in his ''Intellectuals and Apparatchiks,'' noted that Yevtushenko was "a popular liberal who never experienced the sort of intimidation that characterized regime's treatment of dissident writers Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and Vladimir Voinovich
Vladimir Nikolayevich Voinovich (; 26 September 1932 – 27 July 2018) was a Russian writer and former Soviet dissident, and the "first genuine comic writer" produced by the Soviet system. Among his most well-known works are the satirical epic ' ...
(each of whom was forced to leave the USSR)."
The exile poet 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 ...
repeatedly criticised Yevtushenko for what he perceived as his "conformism", especially after the latter was made a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Commenting on this controversy in ''A Night in the Nabokov Hotel'', an anthology of Russian poetry in English translation, Anatoly Kudryavitsky
Anatoly Kudryavitsky (Russian: Анатолий Исаевич Кудрявицкий; born 17 August 1954) is a Russian-Irish novelist, poet, editor and literary translator.
Biography
Kudryavitsky's father, Jerzy, was a Ukrainian-born Polish n ...
wrote that "A few Russian poets enjoyed virtual pop-star status, unthinkable if transposed to other parts of Europe. In reality, they were far from any sort of protest against Soviet totalitarianism and therefore could not be regarded as anything else but naughty children of the regime." Furthermore, some criticised Yevtushenko regarding Pasternak's widow, given that "when Pasternak's widow, Olga Ivinskaya
Olga Vsevolodovna Ivinskaya (; June 16, 1912, in Tambov – September 8, 1995, in Moscow) was a Soviet poet and writer. She is best-known as friend and lover of Nobel Prize-winning writer Boris Pasternak during the last 13 years of his life and t ...
, was imprisoned on trumped-up charges of illegally dealing in foreign currency, Yevtushenko publicly maligned her nd addedthat ''Doctor Zhivago'' was not worth publishing in the Soviet Union." Brodsky once said of Yevtushenko, "He throws stones only in directions that are officially sanctioned and approved."
Moreover, "the poet Irina Ratushinskaya, upon her release from prison and arrival in the West, dismissed Yevtushenko as ''an official poet'' and the novelist Vasily Aksyonov has also refused contact ith Yevtushenko"
For Yevtushenko, a Search for a Little Respect
'' CELESTINE BOHLEN. ''The New York Times''. Section 1; Part 1, Page 16, Column 3; Foreign Desk 20 November 1988. Responding to the criticism, Yevtushenko reportedly said:
Who could sanction me to write ''Babi Yar'', or my protests against the (1968) Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia? Only I criticised Khrushchev to his face; not even Solzhenitsyn did that. It is only the envy of people who couldn't stand against the propaganda machine, and they invented things about my generation, the artists of the '60s. Our generation was breaking the Iron Curtain. It was a generation crippled by history, and most of our dreams were doomed to be unfulfilled – but the fight for freedom was not in vain.
Yevtushenko further notes that "in several cases epersonally rose to the defense of these writers, interceding privately for Ratushinskaya's release from prison, defending Aksyonov and others who were expelled from the Writers' Union."
Critics differ on the stature of Yevtushenko in the literary world. Yevtushenko's defenders point to how much he did to oppose the Stalin legacy, his animus fueled by the knowledge that both of his grandfathers had perished in Stalin's purges of the 1930s. He was expelled from his university in 1956 for joining the defense of a banned novel, Vladimir Dudintsev
Vladimir Dimitrievich Dudintsev (, ; 29 July 1918 – 23 July 1998) was a Soviet writer who gained fame for his 1956 novel, '' Not by Bread Alone'', published at the time of the Khrushchev Thaw.
Dudintsev, the son of a member of the gentry, atte ...
's ''Not by Bread Alone''. He refused to join in the official campaign against Boris Pasternak, the author of ''Doctor Zhivago'' and the recipient of the 1958 Nobel Prize in Literature. Yevtushenko denounced the invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968; interceded with the KGB chief, Yuri Andropov
Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov ( – 9 February 1984) was a Soviet politician who served as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from late 1982 until his death in 1984. He previously served as the List of Chairmen of t ...
, on behalf of another Nobel laureate, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn; and opposed the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979."
Personal life and death
Yevtushenko was known for his many alleged liaisons. Yevtushenko was married four times: in 1954, he married Bella Akhmadulina
Izabella Akhatovna Akhmadulina (, ; 10 April 1937 – 29 November 2010) was a Soviet Union, Soviet and Russian poet, short story writer, and translator, known for her apolitical writing stance. She was part of the Russian New Wave literary movem ...
, who published her first collection of poems in 1962. After divorce, he married Galina Sokol-Lukonina. Yevtushenko's third wife was English translator Jan Butler (married in 1978), and his fourth Maria Novikova, whom he married in 1986. He had five sons: Dmitry, Sasha, Pyotr, Anton and Yevgeny. His wife taught Russian at Edison Preparatory School in Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa ( ) is the List of municipalities in Oklahoma, second-most-populous city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the List of United States cities by population, 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The po ...
. Yevtushenko himself spent half the year at the University of Tulsa
The University of Tulsa (TU) is a Private university, private research university in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It has a historic affiliation with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Presbyterian Church, although it is now nondenominational, and the campus ...
, lecturing on poetry and European cinema.
Yevtushenko died on the morning of 1 April 2017, at the Hillcrest Medical Center in Tulsa. His widow, Maria Novikova, reported that he died peacefully in his sleep of heart failure. His son Yevgeny reported that Yevtushenko had been diagnosed with cancer about six years before and that he had undergone surgery to remove part of a kidney, but the disease had recently returned. "His wife, Maria Novikova, and their two sons, Dmitry and Yevgeny, were reportedly with him when he died." Following his death, Yevtushenko was described by his friend and translator Robin Milner-Gulland as "an absolute natural talent at performance" on BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...
's '' Last Word'' programme. Milner-Gulland also wrote, in an obituary in ''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'', that "there was a brief stage when the development of Russian literature seemed almost synonymous with his name", and that amidst his characteristics of "sharpness, sentiment, populism, self-confidence and sheer enjoyment of the sound of language", he was "above all a generous spirit". Raymond H. Anderson stated in ''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 ...
'' that his "defiant" poetry "inspired a generation of young Russians in their fight against Stalinism during the Cold War".
Awards and honours
In 1962, Yevtushenko was featured on the cover of ''Time
Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...
'' magazine. In 1993, he received a medal as 'Defender of Free Russia,' which was given to those who took part in resisting the hard-line Communist coup in August 1991. In July 2000 the Russian Academy of Sciences named a star in his honour. In 2001, his childhood home in Zima Junction, Siberia, was restored and opened as a permanent museum of poetry. Yevtushenko received in 1991 the American Liberties Medallion, the highest honour conferred by the American Jewish Committee. He was made a Laureate of the International Botev Prize, in Bulgaria in 2006. In 2007, he was awarded the Ovid Prize, Romania, in recognition of his body of work.
* Order of the Badge of Honour
The Order of the Badge of Honour () was a civilian award of the Soviet Union.
It was established on 25 November 1935, and was conferred on citizens of the USSR for outstanding achievements in sports, production, scientific research and socia ...
(1967)
* Order of the Red Banner of Labour
The Order of the Red Banner of Labour () was an order of the Soviet Union established to honour great deeds and services to the Soviet state and society in the fields of production, science, culture, literature, the arts, education, sports ...
(1983)
* "Frudzheno-81" (Italy), "SIMBA Academy" in 1984 (Italy)
* 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 ...
(1984) – for the poem "Mother and Neutron Bomb"
* 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 ...
(offered in 1993, but refused in protest against the war in Chechnya)
* Tsarskoselskaya art prize (2003)
* Honorary Citizen of the city of Petrozavodsk
Petrozavodsk (, ; Karelian language, Karelian, Veps language, Vepsian and ) is the capital city of the Republic of Karelia, Russia, which stretches along the western shore of Lake Onega for some . The population of the city is 280,890 as of 2022.
...
(2006)
* Honorary Doctor of Petrozavodsk State University
Petrozavodsk State University (PetrSU) is a classical university in Petrozavodsk, Republic of Karelia, Russia.
It was founded in 1940 as the Karelian-Finnish University and was renamed in 1956 to Petrozavodsk State University. The rector of Pe ...
(2007)
* Commander of the Order of Bernardo O'Higgins
The Order of Bernardo O'Higgins () is an award issued by Chile. It is the highest civilian honor awarded to non-Chilean citizens. This award was established in 1965 and named after one of the founders of the Chilean state, the independentist gener ...
(Chile, 2009)
* 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 ...
(2010)
* Honorary Member of the 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 ...
* Order "For Merit to the Fatherland"
The Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" () is a state decoration of the Russian Federation. It was instituted on 2 March 1994 by Presidential Decree 442. Until the re-establishment of the Order of St. Andrew in 1998, it was the highest order of ...
, 3rd class
* "Golden Chain of the Commonwealth" (2011)- the highest award of the NGO "Russian-speaking community of creators"
* The Russian national "The Poet" award (2013)
* Honorary Citizen of Irkutsk Region (2015) – for meritorious service, creative activities contributing to raising the profile of the Irkutsk region of the Russian Federation and abroad
* Honorary Doctor of Irkutsk State University
Irkutsk State University () was founded in October 1918 in Irkutsk, Siberia. Nowadays Irkutsk State University is a scientific and educational institution training students in humanities, natural, technical and applied sciences. ISU facilities ...
(2015)
* Order of the "Polar Star" (2016) – for outstanding achievements in the field of literature and arts
* 2015 – China International Prize "Chzhunkun" ( Chin. Ex. 中坤国际诗歌奖, pinyin : Zhōngkūn guójì shīgē jiǎng ) for his outstanding contribution to the world of poetry
* 2007, on the initiative of the World Congress of Russian Jews (WCRJ), nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2008 for the poem "Babi Yar"
* 22 January 2005 in Turin, the Italian literary award Grinzane Cavour (Yevtushenko was awarded the Premio of Grinzane Cavour ) – for their ability to convey the eternal themes by means of literature, especially to the younger generation"
* Honorary Member of the Royal Spanish Academy
The Royal Spanish Academy (, ; ) is Spain's official royal institution with a mission to ensure the stability of the Spanish language. It is based in Madrid, Spain, and is affiliated with national language academies in 22 other Hispanophon ...
and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...
* The Boccaccio Prize (Italy) – for the best foreign novel
* The Golden Lion
The Golden Lion () is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Festival. The prize was introduced in 1949 by the organizing committee and is regarded as one of the film industry's most prestigious and distinguished prizes. In 1970, a ...
International Prize (Venice)
* The Grinzane Cavour Prize
The Grinzane Cavour Prize (1982–2009) was an Italian literary award established in 1982 by Francesco Meotto. The annual award ceremony took place in the medieval castle of Grinzane Cavour. The goal of the prize was to attract young people to re ...
(22 January 2005, Turin, Italy) – "for his ability to convey the eternal themes of the means of literature, especially to the younger generation"
* Professor at the University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...
, University of Santo Domingo
A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...
and the University of Tulsa
The University of Tulsa (TU) is a Private university, private research university in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It has a historic affiliation with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Presbyterian Church, although it is now nondenominational, and the campus ...
* An asteroid 4234 Evtushenko was named after him in 1994
Bibliography
source:
*''Razvedchiki Griadushchego'' ("The Prospectors of the Future"), 1952
*''Treti Sneg'' ("The Third Snow"), 1955
*''Shosse Entuziastov'' ("Highway of the Enthusiasts"), 1956
*''Stantsiia Zima'' ("Winter Station"), 1956
*''Obeshchanie'' ("Promise"), 1957
*''Dve Liubimykh'' ("Two Beloved Ones"), 1958
*''Luk I Lira'' ("A Bow and a Lyra"), 1959
*''Stikhi Raznykh Let'' ("Poems of Several Years"), 1959
*''Chetvertaia Meshchanskaia'' ("Four Vulgar Women"), 1959
*''Iabloko'' ("The Apple"), 1960
*''Red Cats'', 1961
*''Baby Yar'' ("Babi Yar"), 1961
*''Posle Stalina'' ("After Stalin"), 1962
*''Vzmach Ruki'', 1962
*''Selected Poems'' London: Penguin
Penguins are a group of aquatic flightless birds from the family Spheniscidae () of the order Sphenisciformes (). They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere. Only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is equatorial, with a sm ...
, 1962
*''Nezhnost': Novye Stikni'' ("Tenderness: New Poems"), 1962
*''Nasledniki Stalina'' ("The Heirs of Stalin"), 1963
*''Autobiografia'' ("A Precocious Autobiography"), 1963
*''Selected Poetry'', 1963
*''Soy Cuba'', 1964 (screenplay with Enrique Pineda Barbet)
*''The Poetry of Yevgeny Yevtusenko'', 1964
*''Khochu Ia Stat' Nemnozhko Straromodym'' ("I Want to Become a Bit Old-Fashioned"), 1964
*''Americanci, gde vash president'' ("Americans, Where is your President?"), 1964
*''Bratskaya Ges'' ("The Bratsk Station"), 1965
*''Khotiat Li Russkie Voiny?'' ("Want the Russian Wars?"), 1965
*''Poems'', 1966
*''Yevtusenko Poems'', 1966
*''Yevtusenko's Reader: The Spirit of Elbe, a Precocious Autobiography'', Poems, 1966
*''Kater Zviazi'' ("The Zvyazi Boat"), 1966
*''Kachka'' ("Swing-Boat"), 1966
*''The Execution of Stepan Razin'', Op. 119, 1966 (score by Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his First Symphony in 1926 and thereafter was regarded as a major composer.
Shostak ...
, 1966
*''Poems Chosen by the Author'', 1966
*''The City of the Yes and the City of the No and Other Poems'', 1966
*''So Mnoiu Vot Chto Proiskhodit'' ("This is what is happening to me"), 1966
*''New Works: the Bratsk Station'', 1966
*''Stikhi'' ("Poems"), 1967
*''New Poems'', 1968
*''Tramvai Poezii'' ("Train of Poetry"), 1968
*''Tiaga Val'dshnepov'' ("The Pull of the Woodcocks"), 1968
*''Bratskaia Ges'' ("The Bratsk Station"), 1968
*''Idut Belye Snegi'' ("The White Snow Is Falling"), 1969
*''Flowers and Bullets, and Freedom to Kill'', 1970
*''Kazanskii Universitet'' ("Kazan University and Other New Poems"), 1971
*''Ia Sibirskoi Porody'' ("I'm of Siberian Stock"), 1971
*''Doroka Nomen Odin'' ("Highway Number One"), 1972
*''Stolen Apples: His Own Selection of his Best Work.'' W. H. Allen, 1972
*''Izbrannye Proizvedeniia'', 2 vols., 1975
*''Poiushchaia Damba'' ("The Singing Dam"), 1972
*''Under the Skin of the Statue of Liberty'', play, 1982
*''Poet V Rossii – Bol'she, Chem Poet'' ("A Poet in Russia Is more than a Poet"), 1973
*''Intimnaia Lirika'' ("Intimate Lyrics"), 1973
*''Ottsovskii Slukh'' ("Paternal Hearing"), 1975
*''Izbrannye Proizvedeniia'' ("Selected Works"), 2 vols., 1975
*''Proseka'' ("The Glade"), 1976
*''Spasibo'' ("Thankyou"), 1976
*''From Desire to Desire'', 1976 (UK: ''Love Poems'')
*''V Polnyi Rost'' ("At Full Growth"), 1977
*''Zaklinanie'' ("A Spell"), 1977
*''Utrennyi Narod'' ("The Morning Crowds"), 1978
*''Prisiaga Prostoru'' ("An Oath to Space"), 1978
*''Kompromiss Kompromissovich'' ("Compromise of Compromise"), 1978
*''The Face Behind the Face'', 1979
*''Ivan the Terrible and Ivan the Fool'', 1979
*''Tiazhelee Zemli'' ("Heavier than Earth"), 1979
*''Kogda Muzhchine Sorok Let'' ("When a Man Is 40"), 1979
*''Doroka, Ukhodiashchaia Vdal'' ("The Highway, Leaving Away"), 1979
*''Svarka Vzryvom'' ("Wedding Explosion"), 1980
*''Talent Est Chudo Nesluchainoe'' ("Talent Is a Miracle Coming Not by Chance"), 1980
*''Tochka Opory'' ("Fulcrum"), 1980
*''Tret'ia Pamiat'' ("Third Memory"), 1980
*''Poslushaite Menia'' ("Listen to Me"), 1980
*''Ardabiola'', 1981
*''Yagodnyye Mesta'' ("Wild Berries"), 1981
*''Invisible Threads'', 1981
*''Ia Sibiriak'' ("I'm a Siberian"), 1981
*''Sobranie Socineniy'' ("Collection of Works"), 1982
*''A Dove in Santiago'', 1982
*''Dve Pary Lyzh'' ("Two Pairs of Skis"), 1982
*''Belye Snegi'' ("White Snow"), 1982
*''Mama I Neitronaiia Bomba I Drugie Poemy'' ("Mother and Neutron Bomb and Other Poems"), 1983
*''Otkuda Rodom Ia'' ("Where I Come From"), 1983
*''Voina – Eto Antikultura'' ("War is Anti-Culture"), 1983
*''Sobranie Sochinenii'' ("Collected Works"), 3 vols., 1983–84
*''Kindergarten'', screenplay, 1984
*''Fuku'', 1985 – Fuku: Runoelma
*''Pochti Naposledok'' ("Almost at the End"), 1985
*''Dva Goroda'' (Two Towns"), 1985
*''More'', 1985
*''Poltravinochki'', 1986
*''Stikhi'' ("Poems"), 1986
*''Zavrtrashnii Veter'' ("Tomorrow's Wind"), 1987
*''Stikhotvoreniia I Poemy 1951–1986'' ("Poems and Verses"), 3 vols., 1987
*''Posledniaia Popytka'' (The Last Attempt"), 1988
*''Pochti V Poslednii Mig'' ("Almost at the Last Moment"), 1988
*''Nezhnost'' ("Tenderness"), 1988
*''Divided Twins: Alaska and Siberia – Razdel'ennye Bliznetsy'', 1988
*''Poemy O Mire'' ("Verses on Peace"), 1989
*''Detskii sad Moscow'' ("Moscow Kindergarten"), Screenplay, 1989
*''Stikhi'' ("Poems"), 1989
*''Grazhdane, Poslushaite Menia...'' ("Citizens, Listen to Me"), 1989
*''Liubimaia, Spi...'' ("Loved One, Sleep..."), 1989
*''Detskii Sad'' ("Kindergarten"), 1989
*''Pomozhem Svobode'' ("We Will Help Freedom"), 1990
*''Politika Privilegiia Vsekh'' ("Everybody's Privilege"), 1990
*''Propast – V Dva Pryzhka?'' ("The Precipice – In Two Leaps?"), 1990
*''Fatal Half Measures'', 1991
*''The Collected Poems 1952–1990'', 1991
*''Ne Umirai Prezhde Smerti'' ("Don't Die Before You're Dead"), 1993
*''Moe Samoe-samoe'' ("My Most most"), 1995
*''Pre-morning. Predutro'', bilingual edition, 1995
*''Medlennaia Liubov'' ("Slow Love"), 1997
*''Izbrannaia Proza'' ("Selected Prose"), 1998
*''Volchii Pasport'', 1998
*''The Best of the Best: A New Book of Poetry in English and Russian'', 1999
*''Walk on the Ledge: A New Book of Poetry in English and Russian'', 2005
*''Shestidesantnik: memuarnaia proza'' ("Paratroopers of the 1960s: A Memoir in Prose"), 2006
Notes
References
* ''A Night in the Nabokov Hotel. 20 Contemporary Poets from Russia'', Anatoly Kudryavitsky
Anatoly Kudryavitsky (Russian: Анатолий Исаевич Кудрявицкий; born 17 August 1954) is a Russian-Irish novelist, poet, editor and literary translator.
Biography
Kudryavitsky's father, Jerzy, was a Ukrainian-born Polish n ...
(ed.), Dublin, Dedalus Press, 2006
Online
* ''Строфы века. Антология русской поэзии'', Yevgeny Yevtushenko (ed.), Verses of the Century, 1995
Further reading
* Yevtushenko, Yevgeny: ''The Collected Poems 1952–1990'', New York: Henry Holt (1992)
*
* ''Soviet Russian Literature: Writers and Problems'' by M. Slonim (1967)
"The Politics of Poetry: The Sad Case of Yevgeny Yevtushenko"
by Robert Conquest
George Robert Acworth Conquest (15 July 19173 August 2015) was a British and American historian, poet, novelist, and propagandist. He was briefly a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain but later wrote several books condemning commun ...
, in ''New York Times Magazine
''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted many notable contributors. The magazin ...
'' (30 September 1973)
* ''Soviet Russian Literature Since Stalin'', by Deming Brown (1978)
* ''Evgenii Evtushenko'' by E. Sidorov (1987)
* ''Soviet Literature in the 1980s'', by N. N. Shneidman (1989)
* ''Reference Guide to Russian Literature'', by Neil Cornwell (ed.) (1998)
* Ginzburg, Lyubov
"A Global Citizen and a Champion for Peace"
''United Nations Academic Impact
The United Nations Academic Impact, also known by its acronym UNAI, is a United Nations initiative to align institutions of higher education, scholarship and research with the United Nations and with each other.
In the words of former United Nat ...
''. 24 May 2017.
Reviews
* McDuff, David (1982), review of ''Invisible Threads'', in ''Cencrastus
''Cencrastus'' was a magazine devoted to Scottish and international literature, arts and affairs, founded after the Referendum of 1979 by students, mainly of Scottish literature, at Edinburgh University, and with support from Cairns Craig, then a ...
'' No. 9, Summer 1982, p. 48,
External links
Yevgeny Yevtushenko poetry
a
Stihipoeta.ru
Biography
– ''Canadian Encyclopedia''
*
Yevgeny Yevtushenko. Collected Poems in English. Part 2
Yevgeny Yevtushenko. Zima Station Poem
Yevgeny Yevtushenko. "May God" ("Дай Бог") (English translation)
Audio/Video recordings
of a Poetry Reading by Yevgeny Yevtushenko at the University of Chicago
* Th
in the Rare Book and Special Collection Division at the Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...
contains materials related to the career of Yevtushenko.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yevtushenko, Yevgeny
1933 births
2017 deaths
20th-century pseudonymous writers
20th-century Russian male writers
20th-century Russian poets
20th-century Russian screenwriters
21st-century pseudonymous writers
21st-century Russian male writers
21st-century Russian poets
Honorary members of the Russian Academy of Arts
Maxim Gorky Literature Institute alumni
Queens College, City University of New York faculty
University of Pittsburgh faculty
University of Tulsa faculty
Recipients of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 3rd class
Recipients of the Order of Friendship of Peoples
Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour
Recipients of the USSR State Prize
State Prize of the Russian Federation laureates
Russian people of Baltic German descent
Russian people of Belarusian descent
Russian people of German descent
Russian people of Polish descent
Russian people of Tatar descent
Russian people of Ukrainian descent
Russian male screenwriters
Russian-language poets
Russian male novelists
Russian male poets
Soviet male poets
Soviet male writers
Soviet novelists
Soviet screenwriters
Soviet male screenwriters
People from Zima (town)
Deaths from kidney cancer in the United States