Essayist and poet Joseph Brodsky was one of the most penetrating voices of the twentieth century. This prize-winning collection of his diverse essays includes uniquely powerful appreciations of great writers: on Dostoevsky and the development of Russian prose, on Auden and Akhmatova, Cavafy, Montale and Mandelstam. These are contrasted with his reflections on larger themes of tyranny and evil, and subtle evocations of his childhood in Leningrad. Brodsky's insightful appreciation of the intricacies of language, culture and identity connect these works, revealing his remarkable gifts as a prose writer.
Klappentext
Joseph Brodsky died in January 1996. His last post was Five Colleges Professor of Literature at Mount Holyoke College. In 1987 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Brodsky's other collection of essays On Grief and Reason is being reissued alongside Less than One in Penguin Modern Classics.
Biografie
Joseph Brodsky, geb. 1940 in St. Petersburg. Anfang der sechziger Jahre erschienen seine ersten Gedichte in sowjetischen Almanachen, hauptsächlich aber in der Untergrund-Publikation Sintakis. Im Juni 1972 wurde er aus der Sowjetunion ausgebürgert und lebte seither in den USA. Für ein literarisches Schaffen von umfassender Breite, geprägt von gedanklicher Schärfe und dichterischer Intensität wurde Joseph Brodsky 1987 mit dem Nobelpreis für Literatur ausgezeichnet. Er starb 1996 in New York.
