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Joseph Brodsky

ジョセフ・ブロドスキー

Iosif Aleksandrovich Brodsky

Aliases: Iosif Brodsky / Josef Brodsky / Josip Brodsky

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1940-05-24 （Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg, Russia)）
Died
1996-01-28 （New York City (Brooklyn Heights), U.S.） age 55
Nationality
Soviet Union (1940–1972), Stateless (1972–1977), United States (1977–1996)
Languages
Russian (poetry), English (prose)
Religion
Christian (self-described) / Jewish heritage
Residence History
Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg), Soviet Union → Vienna (brief) → Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA → New York City (Greenwich Village / Brooklyn), USA → Venice (frequent stays)

Career

Occupations
Poet, Essayist, Professor
Active Years
1955-1996
Affiliations
Mount Holyoke College (faculty), University of Michigan (poet-in-residence / professor), Columbia University (visiting professor), University of Cambridge (visiting), Queens College (visiting)
Memberships
American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters (member), International Academy of Science (honorary member)
Influenced By
Anna Akhmatova, W. H. Auden, John Donne, Osip Mandelstam, Czesław Miłosz (via translations)
Influenced
Contemporary Russian-language poets (broadly), Tomas Venclova and other poets, Viktor Krivulin

Education

Yale University (honorary)
Degree: Doctor of Letters (honorary)
Year of Graduation: 1978
Country: United States
Honorary degree (1978)
University of Oxford (honorary)
Degree: Honorary doctorate
Year of Graduation: 1986
Country: United Kingdom
Honorary doctorate of literature (1986)

Awards

Nobel Prize in Literature
1987
Organization: Swedish Academy
Result: 受賞
United States Poet Laureate
1991
Organization: Library of Congress
Result: 任命
John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Award (MacArthur Fellowship)
1981
Organization: MacArthur Foundation
Result: 受賞
National Book Critics Circle Award (Criticism)
1986
Work: Less Than One: Selected Essays
Organization: National Book Critics Circle
Result: 受賞
Struga Poetry Evenings Golden Wreath Award
1991
Organization: Struga Poetry Evenings
Result: 受賞
The International Center in New York Award of Excellence
Organization: The International Center in New York
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

A Part of Speech

1977 Poetry collection

A major collection of poems from the 1970s that blends traditional lyric forms with philosophical and existential themes.

memoryexistencenature
Translations
  • Multiple English translations/editions

To Urania

1988 Poetry collection (selected)

A selected poems volume (1965–1985) reflecting his exile, memory and loss.

exilelosshome
Translations
  • English edition available

Less Than One: Selected Essays

1986 Essay collection

A collection of essays including critical studies and autobiographical sketches. Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award.

literary criticismselfmemory

Watermark

1992 Prose meditation

A prose meditation on Venice, exploring city, memory and time.

placememorytime

Marbles

1989 Play

A three-act play published and performed; part of his dramatic output.

theatrehuman relations

Gorbunov and Gorchakov

1970 Play / long dramatic poem

A late-1960s/1970 piece blending dramatic monologue, comedy and pathos.

satirehuman portraiture

Bibliography

  • Selected bibliography including poetry collections and essays (1960s–1990s)
  • Less Than One — 1986 (essay collection)
  • Watermark — 1992 (prose)

Adaptations

  • A Room and a Half (feature film, 2008)
  • Brodsky is not a Poet (documentary, 2015)

Translations by Author

  • Translations into Russian of John Donne and others

Translations of Works

  • Many translations of his works into English, French, German, etc.

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Traditional lyric poetic stylePhilosophical and meditative voicePrecise and rigorous use of language
Recurring Motifs
exile and homelandmemory and timelanguage and the poet's missionmeditations on death and existence

Health

  • Health problems resulting from the Siege of Leningrad (childhood)
    1941–1944（幼少期）
    Childhood malnutrition and related long-term health effects
  • Heart disease (open-heart surgery and bypasses)
    1979–1996
    Underwent open-heart surgery in 1979 and later bypasses; died of a heart attack in 1996

Legacy

Regarded as one of the most important voices in late 20th-century Russian-language poetry; awarded the 1987 Nobel Prize in Literature. Promoted poetry widely in the U.S. and continues to be widely read, studied and commemorated internationally.

Museums

  • Anna Akhmatova Museum (Saint Petersburg) Saint Petersburg, Russia

Academic Societies

  • American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters (member)
  • International Academy of Science (honorary member)

Archives

  • Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University
  • Joseph Brodsky Collection at Mount Holyoke College
  • Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, & Rare Book Library, Emory University

In Popular Culture

  • A Room and a Half (2008): fictionalized film inspired by Brodsky's life
  • Influence on contemporary music (e.g., the album Troika setting his poems to music)

Quotes

  • By failing to read or listen to poets, society dooms itself to inferior modes of articulation, those of the politician, the salesman or the charlatan. ... Poetry is not a form of entertainment; it is our linguistic beacon.
    Source: Inauguration address as U.S. Poet Laureate (1991) (1991)

Trivia

  • Exiled from the Soviet Union in 1972 and settled in the United States.
  • Won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1987.
  • Died of a heart attack in New York in 1996; buried on the Isola di San Michele in Venice.