Celebrating Brodsky’s Legacy

A book tracing the poet’s life in exile appears on the same day as a new educational project is unveiled in the Arkhangelsk Oblast.

By Tatyana Sochiva

The St. Petersburg Times

Published: March 13, 2013 (Issue # 1750)

FOR SPT A photograph of Joseph Brodsky taken during his exile in the village of Nerenskaya in the Arkhangelsk Oblast in the 1960s.

Forty-nine years to the day after the trial of Soviet-era poet and writer Joseph Brodsky on charges of “parasitism” took place in Leningrad, the governor of the Arkhangelsk Oblast, Igor Orlov, is today due to make public the government’s plans for an educational and cultural tourism project dedicated to the poet’s exile in the region.

Brodsky lived in the village of Norenskaya, in the region’s Konoshsky district, from April 1964 to September 1965. Yet despite being forced to call Norenskaya home, he nonetheless wrote of this period as being one of the best times of his life.

In addition to elaborating on the government’s educational aims, Orlov is also due to address the preservation of the house where Brodsky lived. The house and property, which is still home to the birch and bird cherry trees that the poet planted, have been bought by regional authorities with a view to restoring it in the coming months.

Currently, a neighboring house contains an exhibition dedicated to the poet that includes Brodsky’s household items, hand tools and photographs. The exhibition will be moved into the poet’s former home following the restoration.

Authorities anticipate that the project will boost tourism in the region.

Now, local celebrations of the poet’s legacy include literary events, discussion clubs and conferences that take place throughout the year in the Konoshsky district. A permanent exhibition with photographs of the poet’s study is on display at the Brodsky Central Regional Library, while another Brodsky exhibition is housed at the Konosha State Regional Studies Museum.

Brodsky, who is widely considered to be one of Russia’s greatest poets, was given a Nobel Prize in Literature in 1987 for “for an all-embracing authorship, imbued with clarity of thought and poetic intensity.” His champions argue that he has had almost the same significance for modern poetry as Alexander Pushkin did for the literature of the 19th century.

As well as the official announcement by Arkhangelsk Oblast authorities on the new Brodsky project there, a presentation of Mikhail Milchik’s book “Joseph Brodsky in Exile” will take place today at the Bulthaup Design Gallery in St. Petersburg.

The book has been published by the Perlov Design Center and is devoted to the poet’s time spent in Norenskaya. Milchik, who is chairman of the board of the St. Petersburg Brodsky Museum Fund, and was also a friend of the poet, will present the new book.