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2 Jewish Women Writers in the Soviet Union This book presents the lives and works of eleven Jewish women authors who lived in the Soviet Union, and who wrote and published their works in Russian. Their work includes poems, novels, memoirs and other writing. The book provides an overview of the life of each author, an overview of each author s literary output and an assessment of each author s often conflicted view of her feminine self and of her Jewish self. The book provides highly informative insights into what it was like to be a Jewish woman in the Soviet Union, at a time when its large Jewish population was threatened under Stalin s prosecutions. The writers presented are: Alexandra Brustein, Elizaveta Polonskaia, Raisa Bloch, Hanna Levina, Ol ga Ziv, Yulia Neiman, Rakhil Baumvol, Margarita Alliger, Sarah Levina-Kul neva, Sarah Pogreb and Zinaida Mirkina. Rina Lapidus is an Associate Professor in the Comparative Literature Department, Bar-Ilan University, Israel.

3 Routledge Studies in the History of Russia and Eastern Europe 1 Modernizing Muscovy Reform and Social Change in Seventeenth-Century Russia Edited by Jarmo Kotilaine and Marshall Poe 2 The USA in the Making of the USSR The Washington Conference, , and Uninvited Russia Paul Dukes 3 Tiny Revolutions in Russia Twentieth Century Soviet and Russian History in Anecdotes Bruce Adams 4 The Russian General Staff and Asia, Alex Marshall 5 Soviet Eastern Policy and Turkey, Soviet Foreign Policy, Turkey and Communism Bülent Gökay 6 The History of Siberia Igor V. Naumov (Edited by David N. Collins) 7 Russian Military Intelligence in the War with Japan, Secret Operations on Land and at Sea Evgeny Sergeev 8 Cossacks and the Russian Empire, Manipulation, Rebellion and Expansion into Siberia Christoph Witzenrath 9 The Many Deaths of Tsar Nicholas II Relics, Remains and the Romanovs Wendy Slater 10 Popular Religion in Russia Double Belief and the Making of an Academic Myth Stella Rock 11 Eastern Christianity and the Cold War, Edited by Lucian N. Leustean 12 The Caucasus under Soviet Rule Alex Marshall

4 13 Rural Women in the Soviet Union and Post-Soviet Russia Liubov Denisova Edited and translated by Irina Mukhina 14 Reassessing Cold War Europe Edited by Sari Autio-Sarasmo and Katalin Miklóssy

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6 Jewish Women Writers in the Soviet Union Rina Lapidus

7 First published 2012 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business 2012 Rina Lapidus The right of Rina Lapidus to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Lapidus, Rina. Jewish women writers in the Soviet Union / Rina Lapidus. p. cm. (Routledge contemporary Russia and Eastern Europe series) Includes bibliographical references and index. (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Russian literature Jewish authors History and criticism. 2. Russian literature Women authors History and criticism. 3. Jewish women Soviet Union Intellectual life. 4. Russian literature 20th century History and criticism. 5. Judaism and literature Soviet Union. I. Title. PG2998.J4L ' dc ISBN: (hbk) ISBN: (ebk) Typeset in Times by Wearset Ltd, Boldon, Tyne and Wear

8 To my parents my father Victor Iosifovich Lapidus, of blessed memory and my mother Henrietta Arkadievna Lapidus, may she enjoy a long life

9 Shall Thy wonders be known in the dark? and Thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? (Psalm 88: 13)

10 Contents Acknowledgements xi Introduction: Jewish women writers in the Soviet Union and the present study 1 1 Literature and the political regime in Russia 9 2 Alexandra Brushtein ( ): the tears behind the smiles 20 3 Elizaveta Polonskaia ( ): a concealed storm of emotion 34 4 Raisa Bloch ( ): a genius unaware of her talent 48 5 Hanna Levina ( ): a Jewish communist fighter 62 6 Ol ga Ziv ( ): an unknown Jewish author 74 7 Yulia Neiman ( ): brilliant philosopher and poetess 89 8 Rakhil Baumvol ( ): the joy of creativity and motherhood Margarita Aliger ( ): a Soviet poetess devoted to Stalin Sarah Levina-ÂKul neva (1920??): love story in the era of Stalinist prosecutions Sarah Pogreb (b. 1921): the history of silence 140

11 x Contents 12 Zinaida Mirkina (b. 1926): suffering as a path toward faith 149 Notes 162 Bibliography 186 Index 204

12 Acknowledgements The publishers and the author would like to thank the following for permission to reprint their material: Northwestern University for kind permission to reprint Davis, Leslie Jane Dorfman. Serapion Sister: the Poetry of Elizaveta Polonskaja. Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1999, pp. 30, 61 2, 64 5, 170, 202. Also reprinted with permission of the translator. Professor Catriona Kelly for kind permission to reprint from her translation of work by Raisa Bloch, Foreign Towns..., printed in Maxim D. Shrayer (ed.), An Anthology of Jewish-ÂRussian Literature: Two Centuries of Dual Identity in Prose and Poetry, New York: M. E. Sharpe, 2007, vol 1, p Professor Sibelan Forrester for kind permission to reprint from his translations of work by: Yulia Neiman, What was so Frightening?..., printed in Maxim D. Shrayer (ed.), An Anthology of Jewish-ÂRussian Literature: Two Centuries of Dual Identity in Prose and Poetry, New York: M. E. Sharpe, 2007, vol 2, p. 771; Margarita Aliger, Your Victory, printed in Maxim D. Shrayer (ed.), An Anthology of Jewish-ÂRussian Literature: Two Centuries of Dual Identity in Prose and Poetry, New York: M. E. Sharpe, 2007, vol 1, p. 567; and Sarah Pogreb, I m going to see my grandparents, printed in Maxim D. Shrayer (ed.), An Anthology of Jewish-ÂRussian Literature: Two Centuries of Dual Identity in Prose and Poetry, New York: M. E. Sharpe, 2007, vol 2, pp Maxim D. Shrayer and M. E. Sharpe Inc., for kind permission to reprint extracts from four poems in An Anthology of Jewish-ÂRussian Literature: Two Centuries of Dual Identity in Prose and Poetry, Maxim D. Shrayer (ed.), (Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 2007) pp Translation copyright 2007 by M. E. Sharpe, Inc. Reprinted with permission. All Rights Reserved. Not for Reproduction. Extracts include: Yulia Neiman, What was so frightening?, trans. Sibelan Forrester, vol 2, p. 771

13 xii Acknowledgements Margatita Aliger, Your Victory, trans. Sibelan Forrester, vol 1, pp Sarah Pogreb, I m going to see my grandparents trans. Sibelan Forrester, vol 2, pp Raisa Bloch, Foreign Towns ; trans. Catriona Kelly, vol 1, p Mrs Zinaida Mirkina, for kind permission to reprint her works published in the following collections: The Loss of Loss, Moscow: R. Elinin Literature-Â Publishing, 1991; Truth and Its Doubles, Moscow: Protestant, 1993; Grain of Peace. Collected Poems, Mainly , Moscow: DOK Agency, 1994; Invisible Catherdral. About Rilke. From Rilke. About Tsvetaeva. Holy of Holies, St Petersburg: University Book, 1999; Christ and the Grand Inquisitor, The Herald of Europe, Journal of European Culture, 21, 2007, pomeranz.ru/m/index. html; The World s Great Religions, Moscow: Ripol, Mrs Sarah Pogreb for kind permission to reprint her poems published in the following collections: I Silenced Myself Up to Poems..., Moscow: Palace of Books, 1990; Beneath the Eye of Heaven, Israel: Scopus Publishers, 1996; Ariel. Poems, Jerusalem, Gesharim and Moscow: Briges of Culture, Mr Julius Telesin for kind permission to reprint the poems of his late mother, Rakhil Baumvol, published in the following collections: Children s Poems, Moscow Kharkov Minsk: Central Publishing House of the People s of the USSR, 1930; Pioneers, Moscow: The Truth, 1934; Poems, Minsk: State Publishing House of Bellarussia, 1936; The Little Pine Tree, Moscow: The Truth, 1938; Cherry Trees in Blossom, Minsk: State Publishing House of Bellarussia, 1939; Poems, Moscow, The Truth: 1940; Lovingly Poems, Moscow: State Publishing House The Truth, 1947; Poems, Moscow: Soviet Writer, 1958; Looking into Your Eyes, Moscow: Soviet Writer, The author has made every effort to contact authors/copyright holders of works reprinted in this book and to obtain permission to publish extracts This has not been possible in every case, however, and we would welcome correspondence from those individuals/companies whom we have been unable to trace. Any omissions brought to our attention will be remedied in future editions. The text of this book was initially written in, and included quotations in, the following languages: Russian, Hebrew, English and Yiddish. The present English version of the book was prepared thanks to the devoted assistance of the following translators and editors (in alphabetical order): Mrs Gila Ansell-ÂBrauner Dr I. Michael Aronson Rabbi Jonathan Chipman Dr Elliot F. Cohen Mr David Maisel Mrs Marion Rosenberg

14 Introduction Jewish women writers in the Soviet Union and the present study The first Jewish women writers in Russia began publishing prior to the October Revolution of 1917, and more and more continued to emerge thereafter, but very little was known about these creative women writers in the scholarly world of the West. 1 Maxim D. Shrayer, 2 a scholar of Russian-Jewish literature who works in the United States, recently published an instructive and praiseworthy anthology of Russian-Jewish literature; his book, published in 2007, to a large extent fills in this lacuna. However, this anthology also fails to include the names of many of the Russian-Jewish women writers who wrote during the Stalinist period. The present study is intended to correct this deficiency. This work presents to the Western reader some of the spiritual and cultural riches of Jewish women who wrote in the Soviet Union and whose names are unknown, even in the world of Jewish feminist studies. The decisive majority of the authors discussed are totally unknown or barely known, apart from the limited readership of the original publication of their works, which was often more than half a century ago. Many of these authors wrote during the period of the Second World War and the Great Terror of Stalin in the Soviet Union. Some of them perished during the war, while others suffered in the Stalinist persecutions. As a result, many of them did not enjoy long lives and the majority of them died without leaving any offspring. The creative work of the women writers and poets discussed below deserves to be better known, for it reflects the complexity, ambivalence and deep significance of Jewishness for many Soviet Jewish women. It is my hope that this study will serve in some small way to revitalise their memory and renew interest in their work. This book presents the lives and works of 11 Jewish women writers who lived in the Soviet Union and wrote and published their works in Russian. The names and works of these authors are barely known, even to literary scholars. Their works include poems, novels, memoirs and existential thoughts. This book focuses primarily on four areas: First, the personal life of each author, which was often conducted under the shadow of Stalin s rule, pogroms, social limitations and political prosecutions. The chronology of the works of each of these authors is given. They often had to write without any hope of ever seeing their works published, to hide them for

15 2 Introduction decades or to write in an oblique or concealed manner. At times these works were preserved by friends of the writers, who published them posthumously. Second, the literary content of the works. These writers works represent a broad spectrum of movements and styles; influences, motifs and symbols which they absorbed, and the different cultures by which they were nourished. It is possible to find in their works influences of Symbolism, Acmeism, Futurism and Imaginism, as well as writing in the spirit of social realism. They also reflect the influence of classical Russian literature such as that of Pushkin, Tutchev and Nekrasov, and of Yiddish folklore and literature such as that of Sholom Aleichem or Hayim Nahman Bialik. Third, the understanding by each author of her feminine self. One finds here a wide range of approaches: in some cases the author sees herself as a Soviet person and attempts in her personal life to carry out the instructions of the Communist Party regarding women. There are others in which she sees herself as a mother, whose primary purpose is to rear her child, but also to hold onto him so that he does not leave her. In yet other cases, the author loves one man throughout her life and experiences pangs of jealousy on his account, but is unwilling to marry him for fear that the routine of family life and the traditional role of a married woman would diminish her. Fourth, the author s perception of her Jewish self. The attitude towards Judaism is split: on the one hand, Judaism is perceived as a symbol of family warmth and as a source of national and cultural pride; on the other, it is seen as something disturbing their professional advancement and as a source of fear of possible harm from anti-âsemitism. Judaism is a small flame deep within the author s heart. As we stated earlier, the goal of this book is to present to the reader a series of Jewish women authors who lived and were active in the Soviet Union during the Stalinist era, rather than to discover any particular new major writer. The study deals with each of these authors, hitherto unknown or barely known, examining the roots of her growth, personal and literary influences, the fundaments of her work in terms of her Jewish origin, and her self-âunderstanding as a woman. It is not the aim of this study to relate to the broad social, national, historical, gender, political or literary contexts of these authors. The historical overview at the beginning of each chapter is intended to teach something about the specific historical background relating to each of the authors discussed in this study, the history of her ancestors and family, her childhood and youth. This study is devoted to the lives and works of each of the authors, of whom contemporary research knows very little, and it is not a comparative historical study of Jewish communities in different parts of the Soviet Union. This study presents the innovations inherent in both previously known and new documents and their interpretation. It is not the aim of this work to engage in polemics with other scholars in this field; rather, its purpose is to uncover new facts which may initiate renewed discussion. This study deliberately distances itself from involvement in literary theories and criticism; instead, it exposes the reader to the works of hitherto barely known Jewish women authoresses.

16 Introduction 3 The study consists of an introduction and 12 chapters, 11 of which are a Âpresentation of the life and work of each of 11 authors. Thus, no single chapter of the book can serve as a comprehensive study of the author discussed therein. Each of the chapters may pave the way for a deeper study of one or another of these figures. However, the cumulative picture given of these 11 authors provides an overall notion of the broad scope of intense creative and literary activity that was widespread in the Soviet Union during the Stalinist period hitherto unknown. Notwithstanding its introductory nature, each chapter of the present study incorporates significant new innovations or insight. For example, in the chapter on Alexandar Brushtein, the author s erotic attraction towards her father is revealed for the first time considered taboo in the conservative Soviet society and in its wake his great influence upon her, her life and her work. Penetrating interpretation of this sort comes as a total surprise, particularly regarding a writer for children and young people who, according to the expectations of the broad public, is expected to be naive and educational. The book synthesises existing biographical information at times, but this is of research value in itself, as the integration of known, existing facts and data allows one to arrive at new interpretations. For example, in the chapter on Margarita Aliger, the crossing of previously known data enabled us to draw a connection between Aliger s pregnancy to Fadeev and his refusal to marry her, and her receiving the Stalin Prize, which was under his aegis, as a form of compensation. This fact helps explain her feelings of frustration and inferiority vis-âà-vis Anna Akhmatova, her attempts to resemble the latter poetess, and the fashioning of the image of the woman in her poetry as always inferior to, and subservient to, the man. This study contains many similar new insights, until now unknown to scholars of Russian history and literature, of Yiddish culture and literature, of the Soviet Union, or of Russian Jewry. Archival work was conducted in some chapters. However, this was not the only way to uncover sources and documents that shed new light on the work of a given author. Interviews with members of the author s family and copies of personal documents and rare works from them and their neighbours material which is unavailable in libraries but used in the present study, provided information no less rare and valuable than that available in archives. The book is divided into an introduction and 12 chapters: Introduction: Jewish women writers in the Soviet Union and the present study. The scope of the subject is defined here. The authors discussed are little-â known Jewish women authors who wrote and published in Russian in the Soviet era, and who related to Jewish issues. There is also a description of the methodology of the book: i.e. a historical approach combined with literary and gender analysis. Chapter 1: Literature and the political regime in Russia. The approach of the Soviet regime to Jewish culture and literature and its creators is examined, as well as the creative activities of Jewish women authors on the eve of the Soviet Revolution and during the following years.

17 4 Introduction Chapter 2: Alexandra Brushtein ( ): the tears behind the smiles. Brushtein was a children s author who wrote a number of long novels in which she depicts Jewish life in Lithuania in the first half of the twentieth century, up to the Second World War. The protagonist, Sasha Yanovskaia, had a special emotional connection with her father. Her love for him was the first and exclusive love of her life, filling her existence until her last day. In Brushtein s book, Jewishness is identified with a childhood filled with sweetness and wholeness. Jewishness was the basic foundation of her life; Jewishness was Brushtein herself. Chapter 3: Elizaveta Polonskaia ( ): a concealed storm of emotion. Polonskaia wrote poems of an international standard, but with the coming of the Stalinist era she voluntarily abandoned her place in literature and may thereby have saved her life. Her inner strength, integrity, and honesty are evident in the personal and sexual aspects of her life. She refused to get married in order to avoid being forced to hypocritically pretend to be weak and dependent upon her husband in order to flatter his ego. In her sexual experience, she wanted to express herself and fulfill her desires as she felt them not conceal them for the sake of someone else while causing herself frustration. Chapter 4: Raisa Bloch ( ): a genius unaware of her talent. When the persecution of intellectuals and artists in the Soviet Union began, Bloch, a young top-âranking Russian poetess, emigrated to Germany, which a few years later turned Nazi. She was killed in a Nazi concentration camp. The extravagance and intensity of Bloch s love poetry give the impression that her experience of that emotion was far from realistic. The image of her beloved Michail Losinskii is raised to a mythical level: he becomes an abstract, utopian being, a kind of god to be devotedly worshipped. Bloch s poetry expresses her dreaminess and her attachment to an imaginary world of perfect happiness. It is almost certain that the mourning over the loss of her beloved also encompasses her sorrow over her own bitter fate. Chapter 5: Hannah Levina ( ): a jewish communist fighter. Hannah Levina was a Soviet Yiddish-Âspeaking proletarian; she wrote poems in Yiddish, Russian and Ukrainian. In her lengthy poem, Eine wi a sach andere ( One of Many ), she describes the protagonist Sima and the events she encountered in her service in the Red Army infantry during the Civil War in Soviet Russia between 1919 and She relates the horrors of the war, in which violent death was everywhere. Sima s destiny as a woman is shown in the poem as the depressing spectacle of a lonely young Jewish girl serving in the army beside vulgar Russian men, who imposed sexual relations upon her. Chapter 6: Ol ga Ziv ( ): an unknown Jewish author. Our knowledge of Ziv is extremely scanty. She wrote a novel about workers in the heavy metal industry in Siberia. Ziv s approach corresponds to the sweeping, stereotyped and chauvinistic attitude towards women accepted in the time of Stalin. Women in her work were divided into groups: first, there were the positive women who devoted their whole lives to building the Soviet motherland and rearing children who would continue the communist enterprise; as against these,

18 Introduction 5 there are depicted negative, morally unprincipled women who only wish to exploit others for their own selfish enjoyment. A third group consists of the Jewish women, who are different in nature: they are intellectuals with good professions. Although they have almost lost their feminine character because of this, they are described in the novel with warmth and admiration. Chapter 7: Yulia Neiman ( ): brilliant philosopher and poetess. Neiman s poetry is distinguished by its complexity, literary quality and penetrating perception of life and is among the finest in twentieth century Russian poetry. Neiman depicts herself as a creative, emotional woman: dramatic and at the same time tortured and inclined to suicide. This is particularly noticeable in her erotic poetry, where her image is that of a pained, hesitant and ambivalent masochist. There is also an ambivalence in her attitude to Judaism. Judaism in her poetry symbolises maternal warmth, a security and love that once existed but are gone forever, whereas the Russian world represents a vibrant and living contemporary culture. Neiman s poetry resembles that of Mandelstam in its harsh and grating subject-âmatter, but is less ponderous in its use of language. Chapter 8: Rakhil Baumvol ( ): the joy of creativity and motherhood. In her childhood Baumvol was injured by Ukrainian rioters. She recovered and later wrote poetry in Yiddish and Russian. Baumvol saw herself first of all as a mother. She maintained a close relationship with her son over the years at the expense of her relationship with her husband. Her relationship with her son underwent changes as he grew up and matured. She fully adopted the role of life partner with her son and clung to that period in the past when not only did her son fill her whole world, but she also filled his world, the period when they shared a love for each other that was total and all-â encompassing. Chapter 9: Margarita Aliger ( ): a Soviet poetess devoted to Stalin. Aliger was close to the elite circles of engaged Soviet literature and her poetry was consistent with Socialist Realism. The image of woman in her poetry conforms with traditional criteria, meaning that the woman takes second place to her man. Even in her private life Aliger attempted to take shelter in the shadow of a man and sought to advance her own professional interests from this position of weakness. In 1942 she attached herself to Alexandr Fadeev, Stalin s right-âhand man in the area of literature. Aliger expected him to divorce his wife for her sake, but he refused to do so because of feelings of guilt. That same year Aliger published the poem Zoia, for which she won the Stalin Prize, the most highly coveted award in the Soviet Union. One may assume that Fadeev had a hand in gaining Aliger this honour, thereby compensating for his unwillingness to divorce his wife and marry her. Chapter 10: Sarah Levina-ÂKul neva (1920??): love story in the era of ÂStalinist prosecutions. Levina-ÂKul neva was the wife of one of the minor actors in the Yiddish theater in Moscow, all of whom were executed by Stalin. Levina-Â Kul neva was herself arrested, tortured and deported to Siberia. Later she wrote a memoir about her experiences. Levina-ÂKul neva s perception of Judaism was

19 6 Introduction intimate and personal. She passionately loved her first husband, Nokhim [Nahum], to whom her memoirs are dedicated, because, among other things, he was a Jew. On the other hand, she married the Russian nobleman Kul nev, a goy, out of despair, fright and shock, when in exile in Siberia. In particular, she found it difficult to have sexual relations with Kul nev. Indeed, in the course of time, she got used to having sexual relations with him, but only after she had passed through a long and painful emotional process. Chapter 11: Sarah Pogreb (b. 1921): the history of silence. Sarah Pogreb wrote sentimental and melancholy poetry which she did not dare to publish for 40 years, until the dissolution of the Soviet regime. She now lives with her family in Israel. Pogreb s self-âperception as a woman is expressed in her poems in a restrained and delicate manner, with a focus on the emotions and a representation of the beloved as a loyal soul-âmate, a kind of alter ego of the poetess. Chapter 12: Zinaida Mirkina (b. 1926): suffering as a path toward faith. Mirkina suffered from a mental illness, and as an escape from it sought religious faith, about which she wrote several books. The major experiences in Mirkina s life were suffering and agony, and her poems were solely addressed to God. In her poetry there is a succinct expression of her Judaism, combined with the traditional Christian view that the Jews were responsible for the death of Jesus and since then have been grappling with the consequences of that event. There is a tendency to self-âeffacement in her poetry in order to glorify the image of God, and her self-âperception is also minimal. Mirkina hardly saw herself as a woman, but as a human-âbeing destined to experience death with every attack of her sickness and to survive it in expectation of the next one. In this book the reader is presented with the rich and varied world depicted in the works of courageous Jewish women writers, almost all of whom are unknown in the West, who dared to write in Russian on Jewish subjects and to publish their writings in the Soviet Union. It should be noted that the works of these Jewish women authors that were published in Russian in the Soviet Union generally speaking in Moscow, the seat of the Soviet government as well as the very fact of these women s physical survival, are for the most part a result of failures of the Soviet security system. The present study deals with the silence, the fear, and the terror which were the lot of these creative women over a period of more than 70 years. The Jewish women writers and poets discussed in this study were by no means the only Russian Jewish women authors. There were very many more, not included in the present study. We shall mention below the names and dates of these women, whose oeuvres still await the redeeming hand of research. I have included here only those female authors whose names are hardly known either in Russian or in the West, who wrote about subjects related to Judaism or Jewishness, and whose works were published in the Russian language within the boundaries of the Soviet Union, i.e. during the years By contrast, I have omitted from the present work those authors who

20 Introduction 7 wrote prior to the 1917 revolution, including such authors as: Polina Vengerova ( ) and Ira Jan (real name: Esphir Yosifovna Yoselevich, ). I have likewise omitted those women authors whose literary works were published in the Soviet Union, but who did not relate in a significant way to Jewish topics. This group includes: Lubov Yakovlevna Gurevich ( ), Sofia Parnok ( ), Vera Michailovna Inber ( ), Larisa Michailovna Reisner ( ), Anna Abramovna Saksaganskaia (nee Nemirovskaia, ), Elena Il ina (real name: Lea Yakovlevna Praiss, ), Anna L vovna Garf (real name: Garfunkel, 1908?), Yudif Markovna Litvakova (pseudonym: Ida Radvolina, 1911?), Zhanna Vladimirovna Gauzner ( ), and Maria Iosifovna Belkina ( ). Some women authors did write on Jewish topics, but their works, although written in Russian, were published abroad; hence, they have not been included in the present study. These include such authors as: Zinaida Afanas evna Vengerova ( ), Gozella Sigizmundovna Lachman (nee Rabinerson, 1890? 1895? 1969), Anna Semenovna Prismanova ( ), Nina Lazorevna Gurfinkel ( ), Vera Osipovna (Iosifovna) Lur e ( ), Ekaterina Leonidovna Tauber ( ), Sofiia Iul evna Pregel (1894? 1902? 1972), Lidia L vovna Ezrochi ( ), Ruf Aleksandrovna Zernova (real name: Zevina, ), Dora Moiseeva Shturman (b. 1923, also: Shtok, pseudonym: Dora Tiktina), Nina Abramovna Voronel (b. 1932), Liia Vladimirova (b. 1938), Rina Semenovna Levinzon (b. 1949), and Nora Saulovna Fainberg (b.?). I have not included in the present study those Jewish women writers of prose and poetry who wrote in Russian in the Soviet Union, but whose main period of creativity was during the late Soviet period and that of Perestroika, or beyond. These include: Inna L vovna Lisnianskaia (b. 1928), Elena Meerovna (Markovna) Aksel rod (b. 1932), Liudmila Yakovlevna Shtern (b. 1935), Viktoria Samoilovna (Samuilovna) Tokareva (b. 1937), Yunna Petrovna Moritz (b. 1937), Izabella (Bella) Yur evna Ulanovskaia ( ), Zoia Evseevna Ezrochi (b. 1946), Elena Andreevna Shvartz (b. 1948), and Marina Anatol evna Palei (b. 1955). I have also not included those women authors whose work was mostly not in the Russian language for example, those who wrote primarily in Yiddish. These include: Riva (Rivka, Revekka) Ruvimovna Rubina ( ), Shifra Cholodenko ( ), Riva Naumovna Baliasnaia ( ), 3 Lubov Shamovna Vasserman ( ). I have likewise excluded from this study those Jewish female authors who did not write primarily in the genres of belle lettres, but who wrote memoirs, articles, essays, literary reviews, writings of a polemical or publicistic character, or mainly children s literature, such as: Lubov (Esfir ) Isakovna Aksel rod (pseudonym: Orthodox, ), Ol ga Michailovna Freidenberg ( ), Elizaveta YakovlevnaTarakhovskaia (nee: Parnoch, ), Nadezhda Yakovlevna Mandel shtam (nee: Chazin, ), Lidia Yakovlevna Ginzburg ( ), Emma Grigor evna Gershtein ( ),

21 8 Introduction Evgeniia Semenovna Ginzburg ( ), Yelena Georgevna Bonner (b. 1923), Frida Abramovna Vigdorova ( ), and A. Gurshtein 4 (??). The works of all of the above authors, which are not included in the present work, still await the hand of those researchers who will redeem these hidden treasures of the Jewish-Russian female spirit from the mists of oblivion.

22 1 Literature and the political regime in Russia 1 Jewish women writers at the turn of the nineteenth century In recent years, several original and instructive books have been devoted to the situation of Jewish women who wrote between 1890 and 1921, in relation to the cultural, social and linguistic reality of this period. 1 Members of the early aliyot (waves of migration to Palestine) also brought the decisive impact of Russian literature with them to pre-âstate Palestine. 2 Within the overall context of literary works by Jewish women in various languages, their writing in Russian language periodicals is of importance in its own right, quite apart from the parallel phenomenon of writing in Hebrew and in Yiddish. Writing by Jewish women in Russian language periodicals began in the 1880s and continued until approximately The writers were mostly from the middle and higher middle class, from the circles of Maskilim (enlightened or Westernised Jews) who lived in the major cities of Russia. Many of them had already received a comprehensive secondary education in the Russian language, encompassing thorough knowledge of Russian language and literature and total fluency in that language including the ability to express themselves therein in a natural and even creative manner. These women were immersed in Russian culture and remote from the Jewish milieu in Russia, with its own existential and spiritual concerns. As representative of this tendency, we should note several female writers who wrote in Russian and whose works were published in a number of major and respected periodicals. One such figure was Rachel Khin ( ), who achieved stature as a Russian author among both the Jewish and Russian reading public. She published about 12 short stories of a realistic nature, the majority of which appeared in major Russian and Russian-Jewish literary forums. She also translated the works of French writers into Russian. During the second stage of her literary activity, Khin concentrated primarily upon writing plays that were staged in the Russian theatre in Moscow. 3 Rachel Khin was involved in the Russian cultural milieu, and was particularly engaged with Russian culture and classic literature, as well as being involved in contemporary Russian literature. She likewise came into contact with prestigious

23 10 Literature and the political regime in Russia Russian cultural spiritual figures, including the thinker Vladimir Soloviev 4 and the author Ivan Turgenev. 5 Thus, in terms of her cultural orientation, Khin was a Russian author, albeit of Jewish origin. 6 The personality and education of another Jewish female author, Feige Kogan ( ), was shaped by a rather different background. During her childhood she received both a comprehensive Russian education and also learned the Hebrew language and became acquainted with traditional Jewish literature. In her maturity she joined the circle of Russian Symbolists, and was subject to the influence of its leaders, Viacheslav Ivanov 7 and Valery Bryusov. 8 Under the inspiration of Russian poetry, Kogan also turned to writing poetry, again in the spirit of this literary movement. Notwithstanding her warm connection to Jewish culture of all types, Kogan s main literary activity was in Russian. The critic and poetess Sophia Dubnow-ÂErlich ( ) is an example of a Jewish woman with a different educational background from other Jewish writers, who likewise created and expressed herself in Russian during that same period. She was educated by her father, the prominent Jewish historian Simon Dubnow 9 who, from her childhood onwards, implanted within her a deeply rooted Jewish consciousness together with a broad general education. Her literary activity found impressive expression both in literary criticism and in poetic creativity. But alongside her activity in the realm of literary criticism, Sophia Dubnow s main creative work was in the area of Russian symbolic poetry. She was strongly connected to the circle of poets who created in the spirit of this stream and drew inspiration from several of its central figures, such as Nikolai Gumilev, 10 Anna Akhmatova, 11 Valeri Bryusov and Andrei Bely. 12 Over the course of a decade Dubnow-ÂErlich wrote and published poems, some of which thereafter appeared in collections. Under the inspiration of her husband, Henryck Erlich (among the leaders of the Bund in Russia and in Poland after the First World War), she also maintained contact with the Jewish socialist movement, the Bund. Among all her contemporaries who wrote in Russian, Sophia Dubnow-ÂErlich would seem to have been the one most notable for her Jewish national consciousness. The three women mentioned above were not the only Jewish women who wrote, worked and created within the boundaries of the Russian Empire at the end of the nineteenth or the beginning of the twentieth century; 13 they simply happen to be those known to Western research and whose works have been discussed therein. But alongside them were many other Russian-Jewish women, whose literary and artistic contribution was no less great than theirs, but whose works for one reason or another are not known to Western research. Towards the turn of the nineteenth century the literary stage in all the major cities of Russia was filled with writers of Jewish origin and imbued with Jewish consciousness, including a not-âinconsiderable number of talented and brilliant women, who contributed masterworks to literature in the Russian language. 14

24 Literature and the political regime in Russia 11 2 Russian literature during as the pinnacle of Russian literature in all times Intensive creative work, such as that of Russian Jews during the early part of the twentieth century, does not originate in a vacuum. Rather, as in the above case, it drew upon the fructifying influence of the unprecedented, intensive flowering of literature and the arts, as well as developments in the sciences, industry, technology and every branch of life, that occurred in Russia during this period. There was an atmosphere of renewed initiative and rebellion against the old and traditional in all branches of spiritual and material life in Russia during that period. The period of was the richest and most fruitful one in the history of Russian literature. Its unique atmosphere encouraged the development of unusual talents. Russian poetry of this period enjoyed an unprecedented flowering, with such poets as Aleksandr Blok, 15 Sergei Yesenin, 16 Nikolai Kliuev, 17 Eduard Bagritzki, 18 Nikolai Gumilev, Vladislav Khodasevich, 19 Anna Akhmatova, Boris Pasternak, 20 Osip Mandelstam, 21 Marina Tsvetaeva, 22 Vladimir Mayakovsky, 23 Georgii Ivanov, 24 Velimir Khlebnikov 25 and Mikhail Svetlov. 26 The influence of Russian poetry contributed to a tremendous surge in the development of world poetry generally. Verses from Russian poetry became well-âknown aphorisms and symbols, its images were adopted as mottos and prophecies, and its linguistic forms, rhythms and rhymes made their way into the ears of its tens of thousands of admirers, heirs and continuers in the realm of poetry. 27 Hitherto unknown literary and artistic styles and movements were created. In what follows, I shall survey the most striking literary movements born and developed during that era. In the 1890s the most important movement in Russian prose and poetry was Symbolism, which entered Russian culture from French literature and from the decadent movement in particular. Russian Symbolism s romantic style was characterised by lyrical and emotional elements reflecting the desire to affect the reader via the sound rather than the meaning of the word, to evoke vague but strong experiences in the soul of the reader. While the logical sense of words might be unclear, the tendency was to create sounds or whole verses that would create an emotional impression. In their Symbolist incarnations these romantic poets attempted to convey through their works the experience of their souls. They sought expressive means evocative of their spiritual states. To them, the word, like a musical note, was valuable mainly as a sound. Indeed, excessive use of alliteration often led to the sacrifice of almost all but the aural aspect of their poetry. The Symbolist poets loved the past, which for them had become an unrecoverable dream, a vision to be remembered with pain and sorrow. It was not the reality of the past that attracted the Symbolists poets, but rather an illusory beauty that was only approachable in dreams. Russian Symbolism developed on two levels: as an artistic trend and as a philosophy. Symbolism was a revival of idealism mingled with mysticism. It was based on a faith that, in addition to visible worlds, there existed an unseen

25 12 Literature and the political regime in Russia and supernatural world that it was nevertheless possible for human beings to encounter. The goal of Symbolism was to reveal its secrets to initiates via the symbol, which was the window to eternity. 28 Symbolism ended towards the end of the first decade of the twentieth century, and a reaction to it took place around the beginning of the next decade. The two literary movements that embodied the main thrust of this reaction were Acmeism (called known as Adamism) and Futurism. 29 The first to challenge Symbolism was Acmeism (from the Greek akme or highest point ). The main poets of Acmeism were Nikolai Gumilev, Anna Akhmatova and Osip Mandelstam, along with Sergei Gorodetskii, 30 Mikhail Zenkevich 31 and Vladimir Narbut. 32 In reaction to Symbolism, Acmeism called for a return to the use of clear, precise and concrete imagery. It rejected Symbolism s characteristic indifference to earthly reality and its aspiration toward other worlds. The Acmeists attempted to return poetry to the real and physical world, without mysticism and without secrets, emphasising appreciation of concrete objects. The Acmeists claimed that the poetic word had a definite meaning that was well expressed, among other ways, by the poet s laconism in his or her verses. Acmeism gained richness and profundity of meaning by frequent resort to literary or other cultural associations alluding to earlier periods. 33 The Futurist movement arose simultaneously in Italy and Russia. Russian Futurism first came to public attention in The aspiration to consolidate their creative work in a manner rooted in the basic sciences physics, mathematics and linguistics set Futurism apart from other modernist schools. Futurism was distinguished by its revolutionary and rebellious spirit as well as its opposition to all systems of social relations. 34 Like other avant-âgarde artistic movements, what Futurism most feared was indifference; 35 hence, literary scandal was a necessary condition for its existence. Futurism, and first and foremost Mayakovsky and Kruchenykh, 36 wrote daring, provocative poems, and behaved thus personally as well. In terms of literary style, the Futurists resorted to compositional and graphic effects. A favourite device was that of the shift ( sdvig in Russian). In their texts, the shift-âprinciple was extended to lexicon, syntax and semantics. Lexical renewal was attained by introducing stylistically inappropriate words (e.g. vulgarisms or technical terms). For the Futurists, words were no longer inviolable: they could be altered to create new combinations of morphological or even phonetic elements. 37 Syntactical changes were manifested in the Futurists creation of unusual verbal combinations and their rejection of punctuation. They attempted to introduce musical and mathematical signs and graphic symbols into their texts. The Futurists also attributed great importance to the layout of the text. Futurism was very fruitful artistically. An important consequence of the Futurists experiments was the realisation that, rather than signifying failure, incoherence in art might be a necessary condition for its comprehension. 38 Futurism consisted of the following sub-âcurrents:

26 Literature and the political regime in Russia 13 Cubo-ÂFuturism, which emerged and disappeared in the second decade of the twentieth century, and was particularly characteristic of the Russian artistic avant-âgarde that attempted to unite principles of Cubism (the breaking down of an object into its constituent parts) and Futurism. Cubo-ÂFuturism may be seen as the result of the mutual influence of futurist poets and cubist painters. Vladimir Mayakovsky, Kruchenykh, Velimir Khlebnikov and Vasily Kamensky 39 comprised the most influential group of Cubo-ÂFuturist poets, known as the Hylaea group. 40 The creativity of these poets reflected the latest scientific and technological achievements. Ego-ÂFuturism was another variety of Russian Futurism, which came into existence in Whereas Cubo-ÂFuturism emerged from the close artistic collaboration of like-âminded people, Ego-ÂFuturism was the individual invention of the poet Igor Severyanin, 41 along with Konstantin Olimpov. 42 Together, they established a poetic group named the Academy of Ego-ÂPoetry, which also included a few other poets. Ego-ÂFuturism traced its origins and ideological foundations to a personality cult that was stretched to the absolute limit, and to the poet s abhorrence of the crowd. 43 In October 1911, Severyanin and Olimpov founded the Ego publishing house. In September 1912, differences of opinion appeared between them, leading to the latter s departure from the Academy of Ego-ÂPoetry and, de facto, its disintegration. 44 Other sub-âstreams of Futurism include the group known as the Mezzanine of Poetry (Vadim Shershenevich 45 et al.) and the Centrifuge association (Boris Pasternak et al.). The Mezzanine of Poetry poetical association was established in 1913 by Moscow Ego-ÂFuturists. It also included Shershenevich, Ivnev, 46 Zak, 47 Tretyakov, 48 Bol shákov, 49 Lavrenev 50 and a considerable number of other young poets. The ideological inspiration of the group and its most energetic participant was Vadim Shershenevich. 51 Zak and Shershenevich wrote articles expressing the creative credo of the Mezzanine of Poetry. Dissatisfied with the Cubo-ÂFuturistic conception of the word, they suggested a new interpretation of the poetic word. Zak suggested an idea of scent-âword, while Shershenevich described word as the form-âword, which predated the interpretation of the poetic word in Imagism (see below). In 1913 a futurist group known as Centrifuge was established in Moscow, whose central figures were Sergei Bobrov, 52 Pasternak and Aseev. 53 In 1913 they created a youth circle, as well as the Lyrica publishing house. The latter functioned as a small, but nonetheless viable, operation from , where the first Centrifuge books were printed. 54 The Constructivist sub-âstream of Futurism refers to an orientation towards the rational construction of matter, rather than an intuitively discovered style. Its methods were nonetheless similar to those of Futurism, in that it moved the center of gravity from the representation of the person to that of his/her material and technical environment. The constructivists first declared themselves to be an autonomous literary circle in 1922, in Moscow. Its earliest members were the poets Chicherin, 55 Selvinsky 56 and Zelinsky 57 the last being the group s principal theoretician. The constructivists program had a narrow formal focus: the

27 14 Literature and the political regime in Russia understanding of a work of literature as a construction took centre-âstage as the main approach to text interpretation. 58 Imagism was established as a movement in 1919, two years after the Revolution. Originally a product of the West, it was transplanted onto Russian soil and represented a reaction to the musicality of Symbolist poetry and the materiality of Acmeism, as well as to the word creation of Futurism. It rejected all types of content and ideology in poetry, elevating image to paramount importance. The Imagists subjugated everything in poetry content and form to the image. 59 Alongside the major literary movements portrayed above, that left their mark both upon later generations of Russian literature as well as on world literature, during this period there also developed other, smaller literary movements, several of which I shall present shortly. The purpose of Expressionism, founded in 1919 by Ippolit Sokolov, 60 was to establish new forms of poetry, based upon precisely measured mathematical formulae, so as to arrive at the maximum realisation of expression of the senses and the emotions, striving to describe the inner worlds of the poet in an objective manner. 61 In 1921, a young poet named Aleksandr Svyatogor formulated the doctrine of a movement known as Bio-ÂCosmism. In his opinion, art generally, and poetry in particular, were capable of bringing about revolutions in the realm of technology: to cause movement between planets, to resurrect the dead, to create new physical worlds and to conduct empirical experiments within the realms of science and physics. Within this framework, he sought to establish a new language and new forms of writing. 62 During that same year Veniamin Kissin, 63 Dmitrii Maisels, 64 Taras Matztet 65 and several other young poets created a literary movement known as Luminism. The philosophical platform of this movement claimed that the world as a whole is a harmonic, integral unity; hence, in their opinion, there was no distinction between different words. 66 Another literary group organised in 1920 was called Nichevoki, headed by the young poets M. Agababov, A. Rapov, L. Sukharevsky and Boris Zemenkov. 67 They taught the doctrine that it is forbidden for a young poet to learn from his predecessors and that he must refrain from reading the works of others; rather, he must learn to create in a completely individual fashion. It is advised that a young poet of this type not write and not publish at all, but create only in his imagination. 68 In 1923, a young poet Boris Pereleshin created a literary circle known as Fuism, which advocated strengthening the power of survival of individualistic literature while negating the theoretical platforms of other literary groups. 69 Other literary groups organised and operated in Moscow and St Petersburg during that period, each one of which developed its own theoretical doctrine, whether it was one that pertained to literature alone or related to art in general, or even proposed ways of running the world and the external cosmos. Thus, the period from the 1910s until the beginning of the 1920s was unique in Russia in terms of the thrust of creativity, depth of innovation and level of imagination and talent which emerged therein. This period is known in Russian culture as the Silver Age, following the Gold Age which had developed during

28 Literature and the political regime in Russia 15 the age of Pushkin. The Silver Age came to an end after 1917, with the beginning of the Civil War. It survived through the power of inertia during the 1920s, but the true Silver Age was no more. Despite the continued physical survival of some of those associated with it, the ambience that characterised the era and fostered those talents was reduced to nothing, particularly after Gumilev s execution in The poets of the Silver Age emigrated to Berlin, Constantinople, Prague, Sofia, Rome and Paris. Thus, all told, it constituted the most creative period in Russian history Stalin, Soviet reality and the Jews Joseph Stalin (born Iosef Vissarionovich Dzughashvili; ) was the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1922 until his death in During the years following Lenin s death in 1924, he rose to become the leader of the Soviet Union. Vladimir Lenin 71 and Lev Kamenev 72 were instrumental in Stalin s appointment as General Secretary in 1922, helping him to build a power base against Trotsky. 73 Lenin suffered a stroke in 1922, forcing him into semi-âretirement in Gorki. Stalin visited him often, acting as his intermediary with the outside world. But Lenin criticised Stalin s rude manners, his excessive thirst for power, his ambition and his politics, and suggested that he be removed from the position of General Secretary. But Lenin died of a heart attack on 21 January 1924, before his recommendation with regard to Stalin s dismissal was implemented. After Lenin s death, Stalin created a cult of personality in the Soviet Union around both himself and Lenin. Numerous towns, villages and cities were renamed after them. Stalin accepted grandiloquent titles (e.g. Coryphaeus of Science, Father of Nations, Brilliant Genius of Humanity, Great Architect of Communism, Gardener of Human Happiness and others), and he initiated the rewriting of Soviet history in a manner that allocated him a far more significant role in the success of the October Revolution than he had in reality. This cult of personality reached its height during the Second World War, with the inclusion of Stalin s name in the Soviet national anthem. Stalin became the focus of literature, poetry, music, paintings and film, all constructed to represent him with almost god-âlike qualities. During the late 1930s Stalin launched the Great Terror (also known as the Great Purge ), a campaign to purge the Communist Party of individuals, falsely accused by the Soviet authorities of sabotage, terrorism or treachery. Targets were often executed, imprisoned in Gulag labour camps, or exiled. In addition to members of the Communist Party, innumerable people from every sector of Soviet society fell victim to the reign of Terror labourers, peasants, intelligentsia, writers and poets. 74 The result of this regime of Terror was that the Communist Party was effectively destroyed and replaced by a new entity, bearing the same name but distinct from it in its social composition and ideology. The new party was a subservient

29 16 Literature and the political regime in Russia tool and major instrument of Stalin s totalitarian dictatorship. An entire generation of communists who had taken part in the October Revolution and Civil War was annihilated. The regime of Terror was subsequently utilised against the next generation as well, which had matured during the Soviet era. 75 Stalin s reign of terror lasted throughout the entire period of his regime, from No one was shown any mercy during these purges : even the most prominent and dedicated members of the Communist Party and of the Soviet regime fell victim to this policy. 77 The charges brought against those arrested were preposterous and clearly fabricated. 78 Estimates of researchers who attempted to count the number of people killed under Stalin s regime range between ten and 60 million. This policy caused irreparable damage to the country. Its greatest Âspecialists in various areas, scientists, and cultural figures eventually left the country in search of a better fate. Russia thus lost a significant proportion of its creative potential. 79 Insofar as Jews had occupied a visible position in the economic, scientific and cultural life of the USSR, as well as in the Communist Party and the state apparatus during the preceding years, they were particularly numerous among the victims of the Stalinist Great Terror. Antisemitic tendencies began to appear in Stalin s policy from the very beginning of his dictatorship. 80 A number of indications of this had become apparent during the first trials staged by Stalin. During the second half of the 1930s, it was evident that the authorities, in their campaign to liquidate the enemies of the people, as the Jews were called in the Soviet media, clearly intended to drive Jews out of the Party and state apparatus and to put an end to any attempts to express Jewish national aspirations within the framework of Communist ideology and practice. During the years of the Great Terror, virtually all Jews with any kind of standing in the Soviet Jewish community, journalism, science or culture were repressed. The number of publications in Yiddish was dramatically reduced; while books by writers who had fallen from grace and those dealing with the history of the Jewish labour movement were expunged from the libraries. 81 Prior to the Second World War, the Jews comprised one of the largest ethnic groups in the Soviet Union. According to statistical records, on the eve of the German invasion of the USSR the Jewish population in the territories annexed to the Soviet Union was approximately two million. More than three million people who identified themselves as Jewish lived in the area that constituted the Soviet Union prior to The total Jewish population of the Soviet Union before the Second World War was thus over five million. After the war, however, the Jewish population of the Soviet Union numbered approximately 2,320,000 reduced by more than half. Not all of this decrease was the result of the Nazi slaughter of the Jews; it was also the result of the desire of the Jews to assimilate within the local Russian population in light of the increasing anti-âsemitism expressed in all of the Soviet communication media. Nevertheless, the attitude towards Jewish citizens of the USSR differed from the policies of the Third Reich, in that the official form of anti-âsemitism

30 Literature and the political regime in Russia 17 in the multi-ânational and declaredly internationalist Soviet Union was not universal in nature. In contrast to Hitler s Final Solution, which sought the complete physical annihilation of the Jewish people, the Stalinist plan focused first and foremost on assimilation. 82 In the end, an enforced variant of assimilation prevailed, adopted in order to accelerate the natural assimilatory process. This was accomplished through repressive measures targeted against the Jewish cultural elite, which was perceived by the Stalinist regime as the major factor behind the opposition to forced denationalisation. During the war, however, Soviet anti-âsemitism was played down; during those years the Soviet Union was greatly dependent on its foreign allies and the appearance of being supportive towards the Jews was a not-âinsignificant parameter in the move to obtain that support. This situation changed dramatically once the war ended: the policy of repression was revived, 83 and the first to fall under the wheel of the mechanisms of the Great Terror were the Jews. By the same token, Stalin exacerbated confrontation with the West. 84 An all-âout battle began against the so-âcalled manifestation of Jewish nationalism. The Jewish Anti-ÂFascist Committee was dissolved, the majority of its members being eliminated. 85 All Jewish creative associations and the entire Jewish press were shut down. Anti-ÂSemitism reached its peak in the last months of the life of the great leader, when he instigated his final large-âscale, political power play, known as the (Kremlin) Doctors Plot. The Doctors Plot was a scheme outlined by Stalin and Soviet officials in 1952 and 1953 whereby several doctors, most of whom were Jewish, allegedly attempted to kill Soviet officials. 86 This plot is viewed by historians as an anti-âsemitic provocation. It followed on the heels of the 1952 show trials of the Jewish Anti-ÂFascist Committee and the secret execution of its 13 members at Stalin s orders on 12 August 1952, known as the Night of the Murdered Poets. 87 To mobilise the Soviet people for his campaign, Stalin ordered TASS (The Soviet television authorities) and the main Soviet newspaper Pravda (Truth) to issue stories uncovering the Doctors Plot to assassinate top Soviet leaders, including Stalin, in order to set the stage for new show trials. Stalin also ordered falsely accused physicians to be tortured to death. Regarding the origins of the plot, people who knew Stalin, such as Khrushchev, suggested that Stalin had long harbored negative sentiments toward Jews. Stalin was also planning to send millions of Jews to four large newly built labour camps, using a Deportation Commission that would purportedly act to save Soviet Jews from an enraged Soviet population after the Doctors Plot trials. 88 But death prevented Stalin from realising those plans. 4 Literature in the Soviet Union: Socialist Realism Within the framework of the politicisation and ideologisation of all areas of life in the Soviet Union, the development of new literary streams was halted and finally stopped completely. These new literary movements are not mentioned at

31 18 Literature and the political regime in Russia all in the histories of literature published during the Soviet period, as if they had never existed. 89 In their place, the Soviet rulers introduced their own artistic and literary movement namely, that of Socialist Realism. This term first appeared in Soviet publishing in Literary Newspaper (Literaturnaya Gazeta) on 23 May Socialist Realism was an artistic stream in literature and the arts based upon Socialist conceptualisation of the world and mankind. The author was obliged to use his work to further the building of a socialist society and was consequently compelled to portray life in light of socialist ideals. The interpretation of the term realism was a literary one, while that of socialist was an ideological one. 90 Socialist Realism as a method of artistic creation was formulated by Soviet cultural activists under Stalin s aegis in It affirmed the following prinâ ciples: narodnost the spirit of the people, whereby the heroes of the work must come from the people (i.e. labourers and peasants); partiinost the spirit of the party, whereby the truth of the party must be demonstrated in the work; an author was therefore required to depict heroic actions and revolutionary struggle; konkretnost historical concreteness, whereby the author needed to demonstrate the process of historical development that would lead inevitably to the victory of Communism throughout the world. These principles applied to all branches of the arts: literature, theatre, popular and serious music, opera, ballet, painting, sculpture, artistic feuilletons, etc. In the realm of literature, Socialist Realism served as an instrument for Party ideological doctrine, given that the writer had the power to influence the reader through his talent, in a manner similar to that of the propagandist. Maxim Gorky, 91 the founding father of Socialist Realism, deemed its principal task to be education towards a socialist and revolutionary outlook on the world, in the creation of the so-âcalled New Socialist Man. 92 Socialist Realism underlay the formation of those sentiments and experiences in the reader that were not usually present in the perception of works created through other artistic methods namely: appreciation of the rationality of the development of life; happiness resulting from the recognition of the beauty of its goals and of the uplifting perspectives that opened before the builders of the new society. Accordingly, the art of Socialist Realism became an instrument in the communist socialisation of the people. 93 The central protagonist in a literary work of Socialist Realism was the so-âcalled ordinary Soviet man. Such a person, not overly endowed with knowledge but capable of intuitively grasping the class-ânature of the whole, and aggressive in defence of his ideas, was the archetype for the new man that the Communist regime strove to create over time. 94 Socialist Realism dominated Soviet art from the beginning of the 1930s until the end of the 1950s. Thereafter, parallel with the growing disintegration of Communism and despite ideological pressures literary works that did not conform completely to this method appeared with increasing frequency. 95 In the design of Soviet leaders, Socialist Realism, as imposed upon Russian culture and literature from the early 1930s, was intended to replace all previously existing movements and tendencies within art and literature. It is clear that

32 Literature and the political regime in Russia 19 such an imposition proved a fatal blow to artistic development in the Soviet Union, by stifling all creative expression within those spheres of activity over a period of many decades. Soviet art and literature were thus severely damaged by the policy of the Soviet government and its leaders, and fell behind developments among their Western counterparts.

33 2 Alexandra Brushtein ( ) The tears behind the smiles 1 Alexandra Brushtein s life in the Jerusalem of Lithuania Alexandra Yakovlevna Brushtein (12 August 1884, Vilna 20 September, 1968, Moscow) was a Russian-Âlanguage Soviet writer and dramatist whose most important work was her autobiographical trilogy describing the life of Sashenka Yanovsky, the daughter of a Jewish physician in pre-ârevolutionary Vilna. It consisted of the three volumes: The Never-ÂEnding Path... (Doroga ukhodit v dal...; 1956); At Dawn (V rassvestnyi chas; 1958); and Spring: A Tale (Vesna: Povest, 1961). She also wrote plays for children and youth, such as May (Mai), Sky Blue and Pink (Goluboe i rozovoe), Single Combat Unit (Edinaya boevaya), Day of the Living (Den zhivykh), and film scenarios of such classics as Don Quixote (1928), Uncle Tom s Cabin (1948), and Cruel World (1954) the latter probably influenced by works of Dickens, as was possibly her book of memoirs, Pages of the Past (Stranitsy proshlogo; 1952). Brushtein also published numerous articles, essays and literary reviews in Soviet periodicals. 1 Alexandra Brushtein was born into the family of doctor Yakov Efimovich Vygodsky ( ; in her autobiographical trilogy the family s name is given as Yanovsky) who, along with his wife, was killed by the Nazis. Her family was one of brilliant, talented, moral, honest and lofty-âspirited people, dedicated to the welfare of the community. She was of the same ilk, and later married a man who came from a similar circle of people; their children were likewise of the same ilk. Alexandra completed the Bestuzhev Higher Courses for Women. During the decade from late 1906 to early 1917, she worked for the Political Red Cross, spending the years from 1908 on with its group aiding the political prisoners of Shluesselburg prison. 2 She was awarded the decoration of the Red Banner of Labor and other honours. Alexandra Vygodsky married Sergei Alexandrovich Brushtein, a young and talented physician, who over the course of time completed a doctoral dissertation in the field of medicine and became a noted physician and the author of studies in the areas of neurology and motor development. 3 The Brushteins loved and respected one another until the end of their lives, when Sergei Brushtein died in old age.

34 Alexandra Brushtein ( ) 21 But their family life was marred by tragedy: they had two children, a son, Mikhail, and a daughter, Nadezhda. Michael married and was the father of a child, but subsequently fell ill, requiring the care of his mother, and ultimately died. After his death, his mother continued to support his widow and her grandchild. 4 Brushtein s daughter, Nadezhda Sergeevna Nadezhdina, went on to become a brilliant choreographer and enjoyed a good reputation in the Soviet Union. She established the folk dance troop known as Berezka ( the Little Birch ), which she headed for many years. Alexandra Brushtein died at the age of Brushtein s autobiographical trilogy Brushtein s major work is her autobiographical trilogy, recounting the childhood, adolescence and young adulthood of Sashenka Yanovsky, the daughter of a Jewish physician in Vilna. This trilogy seems to be inspired by the rich tradition of autobiographical reminiscences that developed in Russian literature beginning from the late seventeenth century. Specifically, Brushtein s trilogy draws to a certain extent upon the trilogy of Leo Tolstoy, Childhood, Boyhood and Youth, which was in turn influenced by the autobiographical and moralistic writings of Jean-ÂJacques Rousseau in France. 5 The action occurs during the last years of the nineteenth and the early years of the twentieth century. The protagonist begins to learn about the world, encountering sad and often incomprehensible situations that raise questions for her. Her family consists of her mother, her father, her younger brother, the Polish cook Josefa, the German maid Fraulein Cecilchen (soon replaced by the French maid Mademoiselle Pauline), her grandmother, grandfather and others. The family was surrounded by other figures who fascinated Sashenka the factory-â owner, the carriage-âdriver, the money-âlender, other doctors, floor-âpolishers, tradesmen, tailors and merchants and their children, with whom Sashenka plays, makes friendships, quarrels and prepares her lessons. There are also figures of adventure, such as the air-âballoonist, the lion-âtamer and the revolutionary, whom Sashenka considers examples of heroism. The first book of the trilogy begins almost idyllically, in the microcosm of the family within which everything exudes serenity, peace and comfort. However, beginning with the second and third chapters, tension begins to appear on the previously cloudless horizon between their little world and the great world surrounding them. The trilogy portrays Sasha s gradual abandonment of her naïve illusions of early childhood and her acquaintance with various negative aspects of life. The Never-ÂEnding Path... is a manual of life in Vilna (Vilnius), Brushtein s native city, which served as the prototype for her heroine s home town. In the second book, Sasha and her girlfriends mature and begin to work as tutors, think about increasingly serious matters, and fall in love. The final volume, Spring, presents the heroine and her compatriots as young adults. The author depicts events that

35 22 Alexandra Brushtein ( ) in their time shook the civilized world specifically, the Dreyfus Affair. Brushtein notes that dark forces lay behind this affair. 6 Like many autobiographies, the trilogy ends at a crossroads: in the past was schooling, while the future combines hope and the fear of the unknown. 7 The following passage from the first chapter of the third volume of the trilogy, Spring, describes Sashenka s final day of studies in elementary school. She is shown waiting anxiously, with sweet anticipation, to hear her name called out among those students to be promoted to the higher classes. Early in the morning of that same day, prior to the beginning of studies, two young boys who work as printers in the local printing press came to Sashenka s home after their work on the night shift to receive private lessons in French and German. Knowledge of foreign languages is required for their work, to prevent them from making spelling mistakes. Sashenka gives them lessons willingly and without charge, as a form of contribution to the community. But there is one thing that she finds very difficult: rising early. Hence, when the youths arrive at her home, Sashenka is still ensconced in a deep and sweet slumber. Thus, despite great efforts on the part of her father and the cook Josefa to awaken her, she goes on sleeping until her father, in a fit of anger, pours a bucket of cold water over her in bed a terrible act which elicits tremendous excitement on the part of her little brother. The trick is successful: Sashenka immediately wakes up, and the lesson in foreign languages finally begins: The last day in the lower grades That is today. My heart beats with happy beats, so strong that I begin to sing: My campfire is shining in the fog! The sparks are fading as they fl-ây! 8 In general I don t allow myself to sing loudly because of my love for humanity: my voice... ugh! Papa claims that from my singing: The flies are dying as they fl-ây! [...] During that last year my girl friends and I had another task: to give free lessons to various people. [...] My students were two type-âsetters. They [...] would come to me every day around eight in the morning.[...] Because of that early lesson I was supposed to get up early, at half past seven. But for me that was not just hard, it was torture! [...] What lack of character! gripes Papa. Can t you get up like other people do? I can t, I reply guiltily. [...] What vileness! Papa looked at me with disgust, as at a bed-âbug or a toad. [...] These people worked all night. And you force them to wait! You are insulting them, humiliating them. [...] I understood all this. [...] But... I could in no way get up in time in the morning! Develop some will power! insisted Papa.

36 Alexandra Brushtein ( ) 23 How can I do that? I don t know how... Begin small. Force yourself to do everything that you don t want to do! That was easy to say! [...] in no way can I force myself to get up right away after Josefa s first wake-âup call Get up, lazy bird! Despairing of getting through to me with proofs of reason, Papa resorted to more decisive measures. At first he only threatened: If you don t get up, I will douse you with cold water! Word of honor, I will douse you! [...] And then it happened. One morning Papa went wild. He carried a bucket of cold water from the kitchen and threw it on my head. What an awakening that was! [...] Hearing the noise, my young brother Senechka came running barefooted, in his nightshirt. He chuckled with glee; unable to control himself, he clapped his hands and joyfully squeaked: Papochka, do it again! Douse her with water another time! Josefa flew into a rage. Sobbing loudly, she screamed her favourite curses, fragments of her Latin prayers: Madonna of Ostrobramska! Madonna of Chenstochowa! 9 After pulling me, wet like a soaked mouse, out of the bed full of water, Josefa rubbed me until it hurt with a scruffy sheet [...] Finally all calmed down. Everyone left the room. There only remained Senechka, who was still laughing, and me. Angrily, in spurts, I got dressed, [...] You monster! I hissed at Senechka, Disgusting monster! The mobile features of Senechka s face suddenly changed their expression [...] he opened his mouth a little with surprise and said: I am a disgusting monster?! Yes, yes! You are a monster! I insisted, [...] How many sisters do you have? One! She was doused with cold water. Someone else would have burst out crying at this, but you were... happy! [...] Making a pitiful face, Senechka began to cry; he opened his mouth wide like a baby blackbird and began to squeak. With difficulty, while crying, he managed to say: You are the monster! You are not [sweet] Sashenka but [nasty] Sashka! And finally, losing all control, Senechka promised in despair: I will cry for three whole years! I felt sorry for my little brother [...] Don t howl, little fool! I said, hugging and kissing him. 10 The scene is described in anecdotal fashion, in light, easy-âgoing, humorous language. Such writing on Brushtein s part is suitable to adventure stories for youth, in which the mischievous and cheerful pranks of young people are shown. The heroes are depicted as smiling, honest and good-ânatured. But this narrative genre also includes critical observation by the adolescent Sashenka of her own soul and the behaviour of those surrounding her, and may also imply certain moral lessons concerning the nature of human beings and of the surrounding human environment.

37 24 Alexandra Brushtein ( ) Beneath the often-âhumorous surface of the trilogy, one often finds certain discordant, frightening and disturbing things, such as hatred between different ethnic groups, anti-âsemitism, social injustice, deception, exploitation, and corruption in numerous areas of life. Brushtein is well aware of the evil in the human world, to which she responds patiently, with a positive, constructive approach based upon the desire to correct and improve, and a willingness to forgive things the moment there is a chance of correcting injustice. In addition to the Tolstoyean tradition, Brushtein s writing was also influenced by Korney Ivanovitch Chukovsky. 11 Chukovsky, a well-âknown Soviet writer and translator of works for children and youth, served as an example for many authors for children and youth in Russia, and thereafter throughout the Soviet Union. 12 In 1957 Brushtein wrote an article about Chukovsky, the man and the writer (only published in 1977), 13 wherein she extolled his honesty, openness and good-âheartedness, as well as his incisive style of writing and his refreshing manner of relating adventures and the mischievous pranks of children and youth. Chukovsky wrote many sweet and humorous children s legends, the basic elements of which were also characteristic of Brushtein s writing. It is worthy of note that this essay of hers, as well as some by other authors, was not included in the second edition of that collection, published in Brushtein mostly wrote literature for children and youth and works about theater. In addition, she wrote articles describing life in Vilna, entitled Pages from the Past. In this book she also related to the ugly and outrageous aspects of reality: exploitation of the poor, social injustice and corruption, and ignorance and prejudice on the part of those in high society who made decisions Gender in Brushtein: profound psychological complexity The entire world and the very being of the heroine of this trilogy, Sasha Yanovsky who is identified with the author herself revolves around her father, the physician, Dr Yakov Yanovsky. This psychological and emotional connection to her father plays a unique role in her life: he is the only person whom she loves and who is of true importance to her. Sasha and her father understand one another without words, they read one another s thoughts without even needing to look at one another. The relations between them are profound, existential, vital to Sasha s very existence. The figure of her father fills her entire world. Sasha s attitude towards her father entails admiration and idealisation. He is her guide in life regarding any and every matter. His persona is like that of a benevolent god; she lifts her eyes to him and takes shelter in his shadow, and he constantly protects her. Sasha s reality is that of a little girl alongside a great, mature father, and he is like her alter-âego. It is a sweet, intoxicating experience, providing Sasha with feelings of security, of shared experience, of complete merging and union with him. At the root of this experience is the basic erotic dream of a small girl taken by a large, grown-âup man. This experience will accompany Sasha throughout her life, so that later on the author will marry a man who gives her a strikingly similar experience to that provided by her father.

38 Alexandra Brushtein ( ) 25 Every connection between Sasha and her father, even ordinary conversation, is filled with deep emotional significance and covert joy. Sasha loves asking her father numerous trivial questions, so that he may answer her and enter into a dialogue that excites and thrills her heart, simply because she is speaking with him. Only father has the patience, love and interest to relate to Sasha s endless questions. He is the one and only man in the world who knows how to explain things to her, to speak her language. The communication between father and Sasha is direct, exciting, awesome: I really love to ask questions! Papa says that questions grow in my head like gooseberries on a bush. Do all people have to die or not? [...] Waffles come from Africa, right? Then why are they called waffles and not waffres? [...] Only one person knows how to answer all my questions or explain why this or that one is foolish and that is Papa! Her father willingly accepts Sasha s expressions of love for him and her quest for similar manifestations on his part towards her. He reciprocates her love generously; in the final analysis, Sasha is satisfied and happy. Sasha lies in wait patiently for her father to awaken from his sleep so as to talk with him. The situation of asking questions and of receiving answers fills them both with feelings of affection and love. She hangs on with thirst and longing to every moment of conversation with him; these moments are the sweetest and truest ones for her: Patiently, as always, I lie in wait for Papa to get up. Now he [...] blinks with his short-âsighted eyes that can hardly see. Are you here, Button?... Don t move or you ll step on my glasses! Are your questions ripe? [...]! Now is my time! [...] these are most wonderful moments! Papa answers my questions seriously, in detail [...] To others he simply says: That I don t know (and, thus, it turns out that he doesn t know everything in the world!). 16 But her father does not always respond to Sasha s initiatives in such a positive and encouraging manner. At times he objects to her actions, but even then he is always right; he is the supreme judge, Sasha s conscience and mind. On occasion he punishes her, but even then she identifies with him, justifies him and blames herself. Her father is a tremendous moral presence standing over Sasha, a kind of ethical and spiritual ideal. He is completely just and righteous, and any lesser degree of righteousness is unacceptable to him. He also demands of Sasha that she grow up to be righteous like himself, which further exalts his image in her eyes. Thus: The neighbor children call me to take part with them in stealing apples [...] from the gardener [...] I brought home five little green apples [...] I ran in and show my apples in triumph: I did it myself! I stole them myself!

39 26 Alexandra Brushtein ( ) Papa got up from the table and said: What? You stole them? [...] Let s go! [...] We approached the gardener s hut. The whole family was staring at us in wonder and even concern since Papa had a very ominous expression. Well? Papa said to me, Speak! [...] I poured the apples out of the hem of my dress and said: Here. They are yours. I took them... [...] Please, forgive me... I will never again... [...] Papa went home. I walked after him, like a puppy that has made a mess, with his tail hanging down in shame. Papa... Papochka... But he paid no attention to me, as if he were deaf. Well, he finally said to me remember please, for you whole life: don t dare to take a single kopeika, [...] that is not yours! [...] And don t let me catch sight of you... at least until evening. 17 What most frightens Sasha is not the act of stealing as such, which she relates as a childish, trivial thing. It is rather her father s negative reaction, and especially his denying himself to her until evening. Sasha and her father are in effect a single personality. They understand one another even without words, even when they can barely see one another. Sasha takes counsel with him in her mind s eye, and takes his advice in matters that trouble her. For example, on one occasion Sasha appears in the Youth Theatre in Vilna in a performance that combines Cervantes Don Quixote with Pushkin s poem Once There Lived a Poor Knight. 18 In keeping with her role, Sasha wears a long robe that made it difficult for her to move about on the stage. While onstage she falls on her face, muddles her character s lines and, in an attempt to get up from the floor, falls over again and again all of which elicits tremendous laughter from the audience. Her performance of this dramatic and tragic role thus became a kind of farce. Sasha loses her calm and, unable to extract herself from this embarrassing and frustrating situation, is about to break out in tears. But at that moment her glance meets that of her father, sitting in the audience, and in a moment her mood changes from being miserable to being determined and forceful: The members of the audience don t simply laugh, they groan and cry from laughter! I, of course, very much want to cry... but then I suddenly notice Papa in the audience. He looks at me with the expression he often has when he says: I hate crybabies! And my tears immediately dry up. [...] I walk to the edge of the stage, bow, and begin to speak, [...] Now no one in the hall is laughing. 19 Father is Sasha s best friend, her rock of security in times of trouble, the object of her love in times of joy. He guides her along her life s path; she identifies with him to the extent that she does not distinguish between herself and him. He makes her decisions for her, and she is happy and thanks him for this.

40 Alexandra Brushtein ( ) 27 For Sasha, father is the most important person in the world, the source of her every joy and happiness. It is he who makes every event alive for her; without him everything is lacking in real taste or interest; all is bland and pointless. Sasha feels that not only herself, but all the children and all those surrounding her see her father in the same way as she. The following scene, describing Sasha s birthday, shows us the tremendous feelings of love with which Sasha imbues every little thing that her father does: Five days before my birthday Papa is not allowed to come close to me so that he won t accidentally mention the numerous surprises being prepared [...] As well as I can remember, the entire day of my birthday, from early morning on, I only await the appearance of the main guest, the one who is most fervently awaited Papa! [...] he brings extraordinary gaiety and liveliness into our children s holiday. 20 Sasha s life only acquires full meaning and significance when she sees her father. Every manifestation of her father s behaviour and personality whether humorous, serious, ethical arouses a storm of emotion, and is engraved deeply upon Sasha s heart. Sasha gets particular pleasures in her father s presence when he allows himself to leave the countless obligations of his medical work. The brief periods during which they are able to enjoy things together are the true moments of happiness in Sasha s life. It seems, therefore, that they merge with one another: she puts her head on his shoulders, calls him by special affectionate names expressing the ocean of love she feels for him. These, however, are not understood by other people, and even relatives, such as the house cook Josefa, become angry when they hear Sasha calling her father by strange names. Their shared pleasures also have a physical side: they eat the simplest food together, such as bagels which, when they are alone together, taste like a unique delicacy from another world. They walk arm in arm, enjoying the sights of nature and the fragrance of the blossoming trees. The descriptions of Sasha s pleasures with father are sweet and sensuous with the taste of Paradise, unique in the emotions they arouse in Sasha s heart. In light of Sasha s love for her father, the entire world surrounding her is colored in optimistic, exciting, fresh colors. The description of the time Sasha spends with her father concludes metaphorically with a description of surrounding nature; the world around her appears enchanted, exciting, bright and shining: Papa and I Go on a Binge! We are riding from Brovarnia 21 to the city. [...] I am not asking Papa any questions. I see that he is tired [...] I lean my head on Papa s shoulder. As usual, Papa smelled of carbolic acid and other doctor smells. During moments of special tenderness I even called Papa Carboli. [...] I would say something like: Carbolochka! Do you know that I really want to eat... [...]

41 28 Alexandra Brushtein ( ) Then Papa immediately cheers up: How about some bagels? And not from a store! Great! Hot bagels... Let s go on a binge, Button! With its cobblestone pavement the city greeted us with a deafening din. It was like the pavement had missed us and was shouting with joy: Hurrah! You ve come back! Hur-Ârah! [...] Papa and I bought a whole mountain of bagels. [...] Suddenly Papa had an idea: Button, if we re going on a binge, let s really do so... Let [our coach driver] Yan return to Brovarnia while we will go home on foot! What about it? And what about that a hike with Papa! [...] Yan rode back to Brovarnia while we ceremoniously continued walking down the street. Papa, may I take you by the arm, like a grown up woman? People will ask: Who is walking there? It s Doctor Yanovsky with some lady or other! [...] Well, then, there s a bench. And a tree... [...] Let s sit on the bench, OK? [...] And we proceed to devour the bagels. Our bench is under a tall tree. With my mouth full I say: It s an oak, and it blossoms. Papa, do you feel what it smells like? It has a sour smell. Do you recognize it? No, I don t Papa admits sadly. [...] Today I have gone on such a great binge with you! [...] The evening star rises in the sky. [...] In the transparent evening mist everything [...] seems as if it is painted on canvas. 22 While Sasha s love for her father always remains platonic and proper, it is deeply rooted in her and decisive in terms of the emotional depth it elicits within her. The image of her father is impressed upon Sasha s heart like a seal, like an ideal, dream-âlike figure. Sasha s connection with her father is intuitive and deeply intimate and not only at times of supreme pleasure. Thus, the author describes the visit of Sasha and her father to the factory owner, Vladimir Ivanovich. They arrive at the owner s office while the workers are organising a strike and demanding an increase in salary. Vladimir Ivanovich is angry at the arrogance of the workers who are asking him or so he claims for a higher salary than that accepted in the labour market at that time. By contrast, Sasha s father, Dr Yakov Yanovsky, supports the demands of the workers, whose income is very small. But Vladimir Ivanovich continues to criticise his workers harshly and claims that the problems with them will continue even into future generations, down to the generation of his daughter and that of Dr Yanovsky. Sasha s father is outraged at hearing these things, but does not give any outward expression to his fury. He wishes to emphasise the gap between himself and his daughter and that of the factory owner and his daughter. He places his hand on Sasha s head and tells Vladimir Ivanovich that he and his

42 Alexandra Brushtein ( ) 29 daughter differ from Vladimir Ivanovich and his daughter. In this context we see the following scene: Papa puts his hand on my head. I am standing, leaning towards him, and I feel, physically feel, how offensive Vladimir Ivanovich and this entire conversation are to him. 23 The connection between Sasha and her father was so close that she felt his emotions and sensations in a physical manner. The smallest touch of his hand upon hers carries tremendous emotional meaning for Sasha. In certain states, such a touch unites the two and embraces Sasha s entire being. The touch embodies sensuality and feeling, friendship and devotion, the spiritual mingling of Sasha with her father. Against the background of this unique connection between Sasha and her father, Sasha s connections with her mother are much shallower and more limited. She appears far less in the book than does Sasha s father, and descriptions of her occupy far less space and are given less attention. As a rule, the mother appears alongside other relatives: grandparents, uncles and aunts. At times the mother appears as her father s partner, while her father appears as Sasha s partner. In this connection, it should also be noted that Sasha and her father address one another with special terms of affections known only to the two of them, whose significance is hidden from other people. By contrast, Sasha and her mother do not use such affectionate nicknames. The connection between Sasha and her mother, even when presented by the author in a humorous way, is negative. Their relation is strained and sour, one of mutual dissatisfaction and contempt. This is particularly striking when Sasha s mother claims that she does not have a drop of femininity which almost certainly expresses her mother s inner wish that Sasha would not in fact have a drop of femininity. But Sasha well knows that she has more than a drop of femininity, and ridicules her mother s words in her heart: Mama Is Dissatisfied Mama is very dissatisfied. And the worst part is that she is dissatisfied with me! Everything about me displeases her! Why am I, thank God, a girl from a proper cultured family, why am I so improper and uncultured? [...] Why? You don t have a drop of femininity! complains Mama. 24 Brushtein s trilogy is explicitly autobiographical. Her heroine, Sasha, corresponds to the author herself. Sasha s attitude of openness, love, admiration and merging with her father runs through the entire book, mirroring Alexandra Brushtein s 25 attitude towards her own father. In the final analysis, her father constitutes the meaning of life for her. In the end, Brushtein herself married a colleague of her father s, Dr Sergei Alexandrovitch Brushtein, who was close to her father s age and thus many years older than herself. By this, Alexandra Brushtein, whose pet name was also Sasha, completed the process of connection with her father, by discovering and connecting with a substitute for him.

43 30 Alexandra Brushtein ( ) It is worth noting that Alexandra Brushtein was accustomed to telling her friends with pride that her future husband, Sergei Brushtein, had approached her father to ask his daughter s hand in marriage before he had even concluded the matter with Alexandra herself. Only after he had received her father s agreement to the match did he approach the bride to ask her consent to marry him. Significantly, the intended groom only addressed Alexandra s father, not both of the parents together. Brushtein s husband, Sergei, was older than her and always related to her as a small child for whom he was responsible and whom he cared for, and she basked in his patronage. 26 Sasha s special connection with her father was noted by all the illustrators of the various editions of the trilogy. All editions of the trilogy contain illustrations showing Sasha and her father walking together, with Sasha gazing up at him with unconcealed admiration. Thus, for example, the artist I. Il inskii illustrated the 1964 Moscow edition of the trilogy with pictures of Sasha and her father, both as the frontispiece of the first volume and on pages 43 and 464. Similarly, A. Itkin illustrated the final edition of the trilogy (Moscow 1961; reprinted 1967) with a frontispiece portraying Sasha and her father walking together on a road. Sasha s love for her father was the first and exclusive love in her life, filling her entire world until her dying day. 4 Alexandra Brushtein s Jewishness: tears behind the smile The trilogy includes repeated references to the subject of religion and nationality. Vilna had a multi-ânational population consisting of diverse ethnic and religious groups: Russians, Poles, Lithuanians, Jews, Tatars and Germans. Relations among these different elements were generally tense, and from time to time these tensions broke out in the form of open manifestations of racism or, as in Sasha s case, of anti-âsemitism. Thus, Sasha s father, a brilliant and talented man who had, in less than two years, concluded a gymnasium program that ordinarily required four years, describes the difficulties he encountered as a Jew upon applying for studies at an institution of higher learning. Sasha herself encountered manifestations of anti-âsemitism on every step of the way, in the most trivial everyday situations. Thus, when she proved to be outstanding in her French studies, her teacher regrets that such excellent knowledge of French fell to the lot of a Jewish girl: When it was my turn, I read [in French] in a lively manner and with understanding. Then Koloda 27 went over to Russian, obviously wanting the whole class to understand her: Very good, Yanovskaya. I ve given you five! 28 [...] But immediately, as if she had remembered something very important, she spoke to me again, in Russian: But tell me... what religion do you belong to? I m Jewish. [...] I return to my place and hear how Koloda [...] remarks quietly to Drygalka 29 [...] Imagine! What a pity! 30

44 Alexandra Brushtein ( ) 31 Anti-ÂSemitism was a deeply rooted fact of life in Vilna. Against the background of generalised enmity and suspicion among the various ethnic groups in the city, anti-âsemitism stands out as the one factor uniting all. All sectors of the population in Vilna were infected with anti-âsemitism to one degree or another. In the second part of the trilogy there is a description of an ugly incident involving the Russian press, 31 in which blame was placed on a number of people from the Votiaki community. 32 Several members of this unfortunate minority, whose level of cultural and social development was lower than that of the overall Russian population, were accused of kidnapping Russians and slaughtering them in the framework of their pagan cult. The incident is reminiscent of the blood libels which were directed against the Jews, thus arousing great fear within the Jewish community. Like the notorious Dreyfus Affair in France, in which the French author Emile Zola came to the defense of Dreyfus, here too a distinguished Russian literary figure, Korolenko, 33 opposed discrimination against members of the Votiaki community. He wrote a lengthy article in the well-â known nineteenth century Russian newspaper, Russia News (Rossiiskie Novosti), under the heading, The Offering of Sacrifices Among the Multani (the older name for the Votiaki), later published in the collected edition of his writings. 34 Korolenko s involvement in this affair led, in the final analysis, to the nullification of the original sentence that had been opposed upon the accused Votiaki namely, banishment to the prison settlement in Siberia. Brushtein devotes prominent mention to Korolenko s involvement in this frightening and signal affair, in whose background lay the Jewish national memory of the anti-âjewish blood libels. When Brushtein writes about the miserable plight of the persecuted ethnic minority of the Votiaki, she was in fact also alluding to the unfortunate lot of the Jewish people, scattered among the lands of their exile and hounded in every place. The author presents Korolenko s act as an example to be emulated by all prominent and ethical people in Russia, showing in a metaphorical manner how one ought to respond to racial harassment of defenseless minorities namely, by offering them help and protection. Korolenko in fact wrote a number of stories and publicist essays against manifestations of anti-âsemitism. In The Story of Flora, Agrippas, and Menahem Ben Yehudah, 35 Korolenko describes the Jews in Palestine during the Second Temple period, whom he portrays in legendary, enchanted and heroic light, celebrating their religious faith and fervor. In his novella Yom Kippur, 36 Korolenko tells a fantastic story about a Jewish tavern owner, Yankele, who loans money at exorbitant interest to the good Christians who inhabit his village. Initially, the inhabitants of the village see him as a mean and worthless character, who brings them down by making them drunk and exploiting their bad economic situation. The villagers cries ascend heavenwards and, on Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of judgment, the Devil takes Yankele s soul. But, contrary to expectations, the people of the village do not breathe more easily but, without the bitter drop that provided them a certain comfort, suffer. Moreover, their businesses begin to lose money because there is nobody to loan them the funds they need. In the final analysis, the Devil is forced to restore Yankele to life and

45 32 Alexandra Brushtein ( ) only then do things become easier for the villagers. It follows from this novella that the seemingly lowly and negative occupations of the Jews, such as running taverns and loaning at interest, are in fact the only real response to the needs of the Christian inhabitants of the place. In Korolenko s essay, House Number 13, 37 he describes his visit to Kishenev in 1903 following the pogrom, and the intolerable sights he saw there. Anti-ÂSemitism was common to all the ethnic and national groups that popâ ulated Vilna. By contrast, within the Jewish community there were good and warm relations, notwithstanding the inevitable pitfalls and conflicts that are part of all human life. The relations of members of the Yanovsky family and their Jewish neighbors were particularly fine, marked by love, warmth, openness, vivacity, willingness to compromise with others and mutual help. Even when members of the family were angry with one another, the problems between them were resolved in a candid and open way, albeit at times in a somewhat rough manner but by this means all conflicts were determined and no memory of them was left. Thus: Meanwhile, in grandma and grandpa s apartment there was preholiday concern and commotion. Grandma and Basya-ÂBubina were running their legs off in expectation of the guests: set to come from afar and gather for the Passover evening feast were all seven sons! [...] Grandma performs the holy work in the kitchen [...] as always, grandma constantly repeats: Such children as mine, Basenka, you could look for far and wide and still not find! [...] Of course, to raise seven sons is not an easy matter... [...] On Passover eve itself [...] we were all sitting around the table. At the head were Grandma and Grandpa. [...] Next were Papa and Mama, Nikolai, Miron, Ganya, and Lazar. At the far end of the table were the youngsters, Tima and Abrasha. With them sat Pinya. [...] The Passover meal lasted a long time. Toward the end I even drowsed a bit, leaning on Grandpa s shoulder. After all, they had given me some wine mixed with water in a little wine glass. I am drunk I thought with pride, terribly drunk! [...] Many decades have passed since then. Of those sitting around the festival table the only ones remaining among the living, besides myself, are Grandma, Grandpa, Nikolai, and Miron. Ganya [...] died. In the Patriotic War [the Second World War] the fascists killed Father and Mother. Tima and Abrasha died from hunger and cold during the blockade of Leningrad.... But then, on that Passover evening, which feels like it was only yesterday [...] we had the happy faces of Grandma and Grandpa and the relaxed, masculine faces of the seven brothers. 38 Brushtein remembers her childhood with bittersweet nostalgia and yearning. She idealises her childhood: everything was so wonderful, and even those things that

46 Alexandra Brushtein ( ) 33 seemed bad were, in truth, merely other manifestations of the good and the excellent. It was a period of love, of warmth, of happiness, of openness, of inner freedom, and by virtue of all these the young heroine of the story is able to express herself in an honest, straightforward and truthful way. But the age of happiness is gone, never to return again. In its place comes a period of cruel and harsh reality, of inhuman, malicious and devilish events, such as the murder of Brushtein s parents by the Nazis. In Brushtein s book, Jewishness is identified with a childhood filled with sweetness and wholeness. Jewishness was, for Brushtein, the basic foundation of her life; Jewishness is Brushtein herself. Brushtein is capable of forming social and personal connections with Jews alone. A person of any other nationality will always remain alien to her.

47 3 Elizaveta Polonskaia ( ) A concealed storm of emotion I love only love and desire. Elizaveta Polonskaia 1 Personal life Elizaveta Grigor evna Polonskaia (née Movshenson) was born in Warsaw on 27 June 1890 and died in 1969 in Leningrad. A poetess, essayist, author of children s literature and translator, she was born into a Jewish family. Elizaveta s father, Grigorii L vovich Movshenson ( ), was a railway engineer, born in Dvinsk; her mother, Sharlotta Il inichna (née Meilakh, ) was born in Bialystok. The family spoke Russian and Polish in their home, and the children received no Jewish education, the parents preferring that they study European languages. Elizaveta s only Jewish experience was during visits to her grandparents, where she learned a bit of Yiddish. Most of her youth, including almost all of her high school years, was spent in the multi-ânational environment of Lodz. Indeed, the Lodz Women s Gymnasia where she studied had students of a variety of different ethnic origins Polish, Jewish, Russian and German. Nevertheless, her school was not without anti-â Semitism. Many of the gymnasia s teachers, as well as its head mistress, would speak of the Jewish pupils using the pejorative Zhidovka a Russian term expressing mockery and contempt, similar to the word Yid in the West. It should be noted, however, that the Polish pupils were also forbidden to use the Polish language, Russian being the preferred means of communication. Elizaveta hated the school, but was nevertheless a good pupil. In 1905 the Movshenson family fled a pogrom in Lodz and moved to Berlin. From there they moved, in 1906, to St Petersburg, where Elizaveta spent the rest of her life, apart from a seven-âyear interval in Paris ( ). 1 In St Petersburg Elizaveta became involved with the Social-ÂDemocratic underground, working as a secretary in one of the city s outer districts, where she delivered underground literature. There she came into personal contact with figures who later became important Communist Party leaders, such as Vladimir Lenin, 2 Grigorii Zinoviev, 3 Lev Kamenev 4 and Anatoly Lunacharsky. 5

48 Elizaveta Polonskaia ( ) 35 In September 1908, when Elizaveta s arrest seemed imminent, her parents sent her to Paris to stay with distant relatives, in whose home she lived for a short while. In any event she was happy to go there, because she wanted to study medicine at the Sorbonne, a goal she eventually achieved. But her medical studies did not keep Polonskaia from writing poetry. In Paris she continued to compose verses and, in 1913, read some of her poems at cultural meetings held by Russian émigré intellectuals to display their artistic work. In the summer of 1914 one of her poem cycles was published (under the pseudonym, Elizaveta Bertram) in the second issue of Ilya Ehrenburg s Paris journal, Evenings (Vechera). 6 This was in fact the last issue of Vechera (see above) to appear, as its publication was halted by the outbreak of the First World War. In the summer of 1914, Elizaveta graduated from the Sorbonne medical school, and shortly thereafter experienced the beginning of the World War. She initially served as a physician in one of the Paris hospitals; and thereafter volunteered for the front and was sent to a hospital in Nancy, where she remained throughout nearly the entire period of the German siege, experiencing daily artillery bombardments. Later, with the war still raging, she returned to Petrograd, where she headed the Epidemic Detachment of the Red Cross for the Southwestern Front, and later served as a physician in outpatient clinics for working class people. 7 It was during this period that Polonskaia wrote her best, most unconstrained and free-âspirited verses. 2 Life as a creative artist: before and after the Stalinist persecutions On 1 February 1921, a group of young writers in Petrograd organised a literary society called the Serapion Brotherhood. The name was borrowed from a collection of short stories of that name by the German romantic author, E. T. A. Hoffman, 8 depicting a creative and independent-âminded literary community that gathered around a hermit named Serapion. Almost from its inception, the new society adopted exceptionally demanding standards for new members, and soon stopped accepting them altogether. In addition to Elizaveta, the Serapion Brotherhood s members included Konstantin Fedin, 9 Vsevolod Ivanov, 10 Nikolai Nikitin, 11 Nikolai Tikhonov, 12 Mikhail Slonimskii, 13 Lev Lunts, 14 Veniamin Kaverin, 15 Mikhail Zoschenko, 16 Il ia Gruzdev, 17 Viktor Shklovskii 18 and Vladimir Pozner. 19 The group gave Elizaveta Polonskaia, the only woman member of the brotherhood, the nickname, Brother without a Nickname (brat bez prozvischa). 20 Members of the Brotherhood did not belong to any specific literary tendency or school of thought, but were rather united by their striving to synthesise previously existing trends and their search for forms and writing styles that would enable them to convey to the reader a new and original perception of the contemporary epoch. The Serapion Brothers dedicated their weekly Friday meetings to intensive work on developing and improving their writing techniques. During

49 36 Elizaveta Polonskaia ( ) the month of October 1921 they organised two evenings for the public at the Petrograd House of Art, and also prepared a number of albums for publication. Lev Lunts was the group s ideological and artistic leader, and he prepared the fullest presentation of its viewpoint in his manifesto, Why We Are Serapion Brothers. 21 He posed there the question raised by outsiders, With whom do you stand, Serapion Brothers? With the communists or against them? For the Revolution or against the Revolution? and he answered resoundingly, We stand with the hermit Serapion! In a number of other papers, the Serapion Brothers came out against ideological contents in art. We do not write in order to produce propaganda, Lunz declared. The view defended by the members of the group was the old one that considered aesthetics to be an undertaking advancing ideals rather than practical goals. 22 Polonskaia later recalled the impact of the group s work on her poetry: The Serapion Brotherhood literary group played a big role in my life. Each of us went through a lot, during the war and during the revolution. [...] Our first commandment was to speak and to write the truth. [...] Among the brothers I was the only sister. 23 Polonskaia s first book of poems, Znamen ia (Signs), was published in In this book she captured the idealistic yet harsh features of the time. In 1922 she sent a copy of this work to Leon Trotsky, 24 who read and appreciated it, as we know from the fact that he mentions Polonskaia s name in his book, Literature and Revolution (Literatura i revoliutsiia). 25 Among the Serapion Brothers, he singles out Vsevolod Ivanov, Nikolai Tikhonov and Elizaveta Polonskaia for special mention. 26 In 1920 Elizaveta began translating poetry. From 1922 on Polonskaia worked as a roving reporter for the newspaper Leningrad Truth (Leningradskaia Pravda), as well as writing for various other journals and for the radio. 27 In the introduction to her book she wrote: Kornei Ivanovich Chukovskii taught us literary criticism and the techniques of translating, [...] At one of Kornei Ivanovich s lessons he brought [...] [Rudyard] Kipling s Barracks Ballads. [...] Without telling anyone, I began to translate the ballad, East and West. [...] After I finished translating the poem I told Kornei Ivanovich about it. He did not believe me. [...] Then he showed my translation to the editors of the journal, The Contemporary West (in Russian: Sovremennyi Zapad) [...] To my surprise and pride, the first issue of the new journal opened with my translation of Kipling s East and West. 28 Among other authors, Polonskaia translated into Russian Shakespeare, Victor Hugo and Bertolt Brecht, as well as an Armenian epic. Concerning the work of the translator, she wrote: To translate the thoughts of the great writers of the world for readers who do not know foreign languages [...] this attracted me [...]. I was honored

50 Elizaveta Polonskaia ( ) 37 by the fact that they [the USSR Academy of Sciences] engaged me to translate the Armenian epic poem, David Sasunskii, and the epic works of Nezami Ganjavi 29 and Ali-ÂShir Nava i. 30 In connection with these translations I traveled to Yerevan, Baku, Central Asia, and Uzbekistan. I love the work of the translator and hold it in high esteem. 31 Following the Second World War (known in Soviet and Russian sources as the Great Patriotic War ), Polonskaia began to translate verse written by poets from the Eastern European countries of Bulgaria, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Rumania. The years immediately preceding and following the Revolution of 1917, until the beginning of the Great Terror in the 1920s, were the period of Elizaveta Polonskaia s greatest productivity, both in her personal life and in her creative work. She played an active role in social and political affairs, advanced her formal and informal education, travelled to many interesting places around the world, realised her potential as a promising poetess, and carried on some satisfying love affairs. She lived a full and stormy life, giving free expression to her various talents, desires, impulses and inclinations. But things changed drastically from the mid-â1920s onwards, as the Stalinist regime began its relentless march toward repression and terror. After Lenin s death in 1924, the political situation began to change rapidly in a direction extremely dangerous for Polonskaia. As a youth, Elizaveta lived in an environment close to the radical revolutionary movements of the time. As a young woman, her mother, Sharlotta Movshenson, had been connected with the People s Will 32 terrorist movement, responsible for the bombing assassination of Tsar Alexander II. 33 Sharlotta remained true to the ideals of her formative years until the end of her life, a factor that definitely had an influence on the worldview of her poetess daughter. As noted above, while in St Petersburg in Elizaveta had already become involved in underground anti-âgovernment activity. In 1908, in order to avoid arrest, her parents sent her to Paris. There she began her medical studies and also joined a group helping the Bolsheviks. She maintained personal contact with some of the great Russian Marxist leaders, such as Lenin, Kamenev and Zinoviev. Polonskaia returned to Russia in In 1917, in the elections to the Constituent Assembly that took place as the Revolution was unfolding, she voted, notwithstanding her Paris connections with the Bolsheviks, for the liberal-â oriented Constitutional Democratic Party (popularly known as the Kadets). Moreover, soon after Lenin s death, Stalin gained complete control over the Bolshevik Party and the Soviet state and began the brutal purging of the old Bolshevik leaders: Trotsky in 1925, Zinoviev and Kamenev in Polonskaia s spiritual guides, friends, and acquaintances likewise suffered from the repression and persecution. Some were imprisoned, tried, expelled from the renamed Communist Party, and exiled to remote parts of the USSR; others were executed or murdered in staged accidents of various kinds.

51 38 Elizaveta Polonskaia ( ) Polonskaia s friends wrote to her from their places of exile for as long as possible. These letters became ever more frightening. Then the letters stopped, and her friends vanished. The wave of terror began to threaten Polonskaia herself. She fully expected that it would be just a matter of time until she would share the fate of her colleagues. At this juncture Polonskaia was responsible for three other persons: her small son; her aged and ill mother; and her brother, whom she supported financially. She felt that she had to survive, that she had to avoid arrest and prosecution so that she could continue working and assisting her family. Under these menacing and frightening circumstances, Polonskaia withdrew to the margins of public and cultural activity, hoping to weather the storm and stay safe and sound. She nevertheless continued to write poetry, occasionally on social topics. However, these works were carefully crafted so as to toe the regnant party line of the USSR. Her poems praised the Soviet regime, particularly when there was good reason to do so on objective grounds. Thus, during the Second World War Polonskaia wrote poems with a patriotic message. She also produced some verses of a personal nature. Even after Stalin died in 1953 and the period of the so-âcalled Thaw 34 began under Nikita Khruschev, 35 Polonskaia could not escape the trauma and constant dread engendered by Stalin s persecutions. In August 1967 she suffered a brain hemorrhage that ended in a stroke. She lived for another year and a half, suffering greatly, and died on 11 January 1969 in Leningrad. 3 Elizaveta Polonskaia s blunt and outspoken poetry Three main themes can be distinguished in Elizaveta Polonskaia s poetic works: contemporary social and political issues, love and motherhood, and Jewish topics. Her poetry is marked by narrative features, meditations on life, and impressions of everyday phenomena. By her own testimony, Polonskaia s poetry is autobiographical. I [...] wrote verses only when something stirred me exceptionally strongly, only when the image of a person or event rose up in my imagination so distinctly and obtrusively that I experienced a physical need to free myself from it. 36 As noted earlier, many of Polonskaia s poems were written in response to the political and social situation which she saw and experienced. It is in this connection that one ought to read her poem based upon the old children s tale about a nanny goat, her kids and a big bad wolf. The poem was composed in 1919, during the bloody Civil War that followed the 1917 revolution. The situation in the young Soviet state was one of incessant violence, struggles for power, advances and retreats, the absence of any social, legal, or political order, shortages of all kinds of goods, and extreme uncertainty. Thus: Fairy Tale (Skazka) Mama goat went out Into the woods on a very important errand, [...] The wolf goes right up to the house,

52 Elizaveta Polonskaia ( ) 39 Pretends, lures the kids, [...] We will not open the door to anyone, No wolf will trick us... Only, mommy, please, come back soon! [...] We have no fire, and a machine gun is clattering, [...] Somewhere the smallest white kid Waits for his dear mama Here the old folk tale about the nanny goat, her kids and the wolf is given a penetratingly realistic interpretation, reflecting current events, and sending a social message. The allegory in the folk tale is here concretised to portray a specific time and place Soviet Russia during the Civil War. 38 In the poem, the kids and their mother exchange roles: although the dangers facing the kids from the wolf are great, the mother, who is supposed to protect them, finds herself facing a much more serious peril. The menace threatening her is close, perceptible, and immediate; her life hangs by a thread. But the exchange of roles between the kids and the parent is even sharper. The smallest white kid is the one who worries: he loves his mother and is afraid for her. Feelings of insecurity and anxiety, and the terror experienced by a naïve and helpless creature, run throughout the poem. These feelings are intensified by the unknown and unexpected nature of the danger. The kids are prepared for the coming of the wolf and know how to protect themselves, but the dangers lying in wait outside for their mother are unfamiliar. This poem, a reworking of a seemingly innocent children s tale, creates a macabre and embittered aura, producing an uncomfortable feeling of existential danger about to strike. The main characters of the narrative are distressed, pitiful and mournful, lost in a cruel world. In 1921 Polonskaia wrote the following poem, also a social allegory, which addresses the years of cold and hunger that visited Petrograd at the beginning of the 1920s: Ransom (Vykup) In cast-âiron veins the water has frozen. The city is under siege in snow and ice. [...] The naked boy I nurse at my breast. [...] Terrible is the rustle for me, terrible is the silence. [...] Now he spreads over my land, The sickeningly sweet, putrid odor of rotting flesh and the crunch of bones. Mothers! [...] Let us stand up and face the malicious monster! I will march forward first: Who will take a ransom to save my child? Body for body and my blood I will give in exchange for the life of the child, [...]

53 40 Elizaveta Polonskaia ( ) This poem also reflects the period of governmental instability in Russia following the 1917 Revolution. The situation is made all the more acute by the deadly cold and hunger suffered by the residents of Petrograd during the winters of those years. They are plagued by anxieties and uncertainties as to whether and how they will survive. However, in contrast to the previous poem, no expression is given here to the feelings of depression and despair spawned by helplessness. Rather, the poetess appears as an aggressive, determined figure, who radiates power, momentum, and daring. The poem tells us that the poetess son was freezing and starving to death, and that she was prepared to sacrifice herself in order to save him. But it is not clear from whence salvation can come or with whom she must negotiate in order to exchange her life for that of her son. The opaque and intangible character of the dangers confronting them, the absence of a clear target against which to fight or with whom to negotiate the terms of surrender all these transform the mother s effort at self-âsacrifice into an empty and exasperatingly futile gesture. In this poem, as in the one about the goats, the heroine appears helpless vis-âà-vis the looming menace. But unlike the case of the kids facing the prospect of rifle bullets threatening their mother, this is not because of weakness. It is rather due to the multiple faces of the threatening enemy. Ransom is a highly dramatic poem, which speaks about fundamental, straightforward and intense phenomena, such as starvation and death from cold. Its language is blunt, coarse, heavy, severe, almost masculine. 40 It reads much like a manifesto and creates an almost prosaic, mimetic and declarative impression. As noted above, from the 1930 s on Elizaveta Polonskaia s verses were more conformist and lacked the sweeping power characteristic of her earlier works. In this connection we may note a poem that she wrote in 1957, alluding to the Soviet Union and its recent history: At Times a Mother Can be Unjust (Byvaet mat nespravedliva) At times a mother can be unjust To her sons. And then A sequence will come to them Of love both bitter and jealous. They cannot forget. They cannot leave you. You are a mother, not a mistress. At night they dream [...] of stormy youth, And the old, dry wound Bleeds again in the night. [...] And death s cold crushes the breast. It is impossible for them to curse you And impossible to deceive This poem speaks of the terrible injustices committed by the Stalinist regime against its victims and prisoners. The memory of the flagrant perversion of

54 Elizaveta Polonskaia ( ) 41 justice of those days arouses a dramatic storm of tortured feelings and memories. In these, love, jealousy, bitterness, devotion and determination, spiritual and physical pain, anxiety and terror, heroism and weakness are all intermingled. The poem portrays its characters ambivalent attitude towards the Soviet homeland: their eternal love for it, on the one hand, mixed with their sense of the shameful way in which it has insulted them and caused them despair, on the other. The victims of Stalin s terror are constantly beset by a storm of such emotions, whether they are awake or dreaming, at every breath, their whole life. Their inner world revolves around what was done in the Soviet Union and society during the Stalinist period. They have no other interests, no other life. Polonskaia s poem is a sharp rebuke that cries out to heaven and appeals to the conscience of Mother Russia, after Stalin s death, to recognise the injustice that was done by him and to consider making at least partial amends for it. Although Polonskaia begins her poem with a reprimand of the violent and arbitrary Stalinist regime, she concludes it with an indirect criticism of the regime s victims. The final lines of the poem It is impossible for them to curse you/and impossible to deceive suggest that, in her opinion, while the regime s victims could not curse their Soviet motherland, as they loved it and were devoted to it, they still might have tried to deceive it and for this reason there was a degree of justice in the punishment they endured from it. The poem s last words graphically illustrate the fact that, after the 1930 s, Polonskaia reduced the degree of candor with which she endowed her verses and tried to toe the regime s line. This poem, written in 1957, refers to the stormy and fiery battles of the state and the wounds suffered by the state s victims. It draws a striking contrast between the deeply rooted love for a mother and the hedonistic and superficial affection for a mistress. Elements of a narrative plot also appear in the poem: it speaks of dramatic, existential, and tragic topics. As a result, the work not only adumbrates the plot of a story, but also takes on the character of a ballad that constructs an inclusive and apocalyptic myth about the victims of the Stalinist regime. The aggressive, almost declarative style of the narrative intensifies its ballad-âlike character. Many of Polonskaia s other poems also address burning contemporary social and political issues in a similar genre and linguistic style. We should note here the significant influence upon her of two great Soviet poets, Nikolai Gumilev and Osip Mandel stam: The name that most attracted people to the studio was that of Nikolai Stepanovich Gumilev, [...], who gathered around himself [...] a group of talented poets. [...]. From him, I learned to give form to my lyrical impulse. 42 In addition to Gumilev s influence on Polonskaia s work, mention should also be made of Osip Mandel stam. His manner is discernable in the dramatic and almost naturalistic style of her verses and in the feelings of heaviness and difficulty that pervade them. 4 Women s poetry The feminine side of Elizaveta Polonskaia s poetry has been dealt with in Leslie Dorfman s instructive book, Serapion Sister. 43 Dorfman notes, among other

55 42 Elizaveta Polonskaia ( ) things, that the poetess verses did not conform to the accepted norms of Russian feminine poetry of the time. 44 They were personal and revealing, lending weight to their author s confession that her poetry served as a vehicle for releasing the emotional pressure she was experiencing. In 1916, during her term of service as a military physician in Kiev, Elizaveta met a young Jewish engineer, Lev Davidovich Polonskii ( ). Elizaveta fell in love with Lev and carried on what she thought to be a deep and serious relationship with him. She became pregnant by him, and only then discovered that Lev was engaged to another young Jewish woman, Anna Moroz. Elizaveta severed her relationship with her lover (although she took the name Polonskaia) and, in December 1916, gave birth to his son and the only child she would ever bear, Michail L vovich Polonsky. 45 In 1917 Elizaveta brought her son to the home of her mother in Petrograd and returned to the front so as to complete her military service as a physician. As far as we know, Lev Polonskii remained the love of Elizaveta s life. Their relationship continued after the initial rift between them, and even after Lev s eventual marriage to Anna Moroz. Elizaveta met Lev on various occasions, primarily when she came to Kiev as a journalist. She also corresponded with him for decades after the birth of their son. The following poem, written some time between 1932 and 1934, was dedicated to Lev Polonskii. We learn from it that, following his wife s death, Lev asked Elizaveta to marry him, but her response was ambivalent and tended toward rejecting the offer: 46 The End (Konetz) My enemy, my friend, my uncrowned husband, Again, again, again, I speak of you. [...] How many letters have pursued you, Years, years, and years running, [...] Warm, like the palm of our child. And now across years and miles. Suddenly, an answer, [...]: Come back, my [...] friend Let us live out our days together until death. And seized by a sudden malice, I cry out the window, into space: No! Sir, your salary is low, I don t know how to cook your dinners. I don t know how to comfort and nurture. [...] 47 It is better, perhaps, in a cheap hotel I shall die under a fine winter drizzle, At the hour when, [...] The reflection of the Luxembourg Gardens darkens. [...] Even though Polonskaia suffered pangs of jealousy from her lover s marriage to another woman, when the possibility actually arose of marrying him she shied

56 Elizaveta Polonskaia ( ) 43 away from it, due to her unwillingness to take on the traditional tasks assigned by society to a wife. She did not want to play second fiddle to her husband, nor to hypocritically pretend to be weak and dependent in order to flatter his ego. Primarily, however, she did not want to forego the satisfaction of her own emotional and sexual needs in order to satisfy those of a husband. 49 As a married woman, Polonskaia would have had to engage in insincere and ingratiating manipulations in regard to her sexuality, and perhaps even curb it and refrain from demonstrating it in order to please her husband behaviour that she despised. She was used to being an independent, liberated woman, giving free reign to her desires and passions. She viewed her sexuality as an instrument from which to obtain pleasure for herself, not as a tool for manipulating a husband in order to obtain ephemeral material favours. 50 Polonskaia s inner strength, integrity and honesty were evident in the personal and sexual aspects of her life, as they were in her poetry. In her sexual experience she wanted to express herself and fulfil her desires as she felt them, not conceal them for the sake of someone else, while causing herself frustration and the feeling of having missed out on something. She preferred to pay the social price of being a single woman with an illegitimate child rather than to sacrifice her own identity, autonomy and blunt, genuine, and frank character, or to forego the satisfaction of her emotional and sexual needs as she felt them. For Polonskaia, sacrificing her own identity for a man, even if he was her husband, was equivalent to dying, and she may have preferred death to giving up her character and her sexual freedom. 51 But although Polonskaia rejected the possibility of formally marrying her lover, she did not give up the jealousy and hatred she felt toward his wife. After the death of Anna Moroz, she wrote the following poem, which addressed the dead woman: Tale (Povest ) You also were unhappy, Anna. You, probably as a young girl, fell in love with him, [...] He was poor, stubborn, and spineless, Your parents bought him for you, Anna. You stood in the late evening, Anna, At the same hotel where he and I were kissing. You summoned him to the stairs three times Annoyed, he came out and returned. That next morning I whispered to him about the child... You also were unhappy, Anna. You held him for twenty years, Anna, [...] I did not quarrel with you, Anna, [...] And your death has unbound your hands, Anna. I am not angry, you may sleep in peace, You also were unhappy, Anna April 1937

57 44 Elizaveta Polonskaia ( ) These verses reveal the complexity of Polonskaia s character. What was important to her was the fact that her rival, Lev Polonskii s wife, would not enjoy the happiness of being a beloved married woman, even though she, Elizaveta, ultimately rejected the possibility of achieving this for herself. She addresses Lev s deceased legal wife in order to express her own feelings of joy at her victory over her, even though this triumph came at the expense of the woman s premature death. Anna Moroz s demise unbound the hands of husband and wife and brought about Polonskaia s malicious rejoicing at her adversary s misfortune. Even in the presence of this tragedy, she shows no compassion for her foe, but only forgiveness, which, in Polonskaia s view, Anna earned by dying before her time. But Polonskaia s joy may have been premature, for after Anna s death and her own refusal to marry him, Lev married another woman. With this, Polonskaia s relationship with Lev ended. From then on her feelings of jealousy found expression in her poetry in ever more intense, aggressive and bellicose fashion. In her relationships with women other than her lover s wife she also usually manifested a marked hostility, for no clearly discernable reasons. She definitely preferred men over women, whoever they might be. This was given vivid expression in the poem, In Jest. 53 In this work Polonskaia expresses feelings of good will for the sons of the family, no matter how distant their relationship, and enmity towards the daughters, no matter how closely they were related. 5 The problematic yet brave Jewishness of Elizaveta Polonskaia Various aspects of Jewish life occupy a significant place in Polonskaia s poetry. She feels herself to be a Jew with her whole being, and seems to take every opportunity to proclaim this proudly. The manner in which she gave expression to her Jewishness is similar to her manner in other aspects of her writing; in both she is forceful, resolute, aggressive, and at times even blunt and rude. We noted previously the affinity between Polonskaia s works and those of Osip Mandelstam. However, unlike Mandelstam, Polonskaia is not conflicted in her relationship to Jewishness. On the contrary, she does not hesitate to proclaim her identification with certain aspects of Jewish life in Eastern Europe that for ages had been considered embarrassing. Indeed, she even treats them with sympathy and a touch of humor. For example, in her poem The Bequest, she alludes to her great-âgrandfather as a horse trader usually a code term for horse thief, a male profession considered shameful in Eastern Europe: The Bequest (Zaveschanie) My father s grandfather was a horse trader. A wise and learned rabbi was my mother s grandfather. So, it was left for me to fall in love with a scoundrel and a tramp... My son! I bequeath to you the coat of arms you know so well: A lyre, a Magen David, and the bridle of a horse. 54 June 1922

58 Elizaveta Polonskaia ( ) 45 In Eastern Europe, those who dealt in horses, particularly stolen ones, were considered to be at the lowest level of the social and economic scale. But here, this dubious occupation appears in a romanticised and glorified light. Polonskaia elevates it to a high level, placing it alongside the Jewish erudition of her rabbinical ancestor and alongside her own writing of poetry, with which she identifies body and soul. 55 The main element in the poem is the poetess national pride, which she owes among other people to her horse trader great-âgrandfather, thanks to whom her poetry is more street-âwise, clever and lively than it would have been without him. But for all her national pride, Polonskaia had no solid grounding in Judaism and knew little about it. Whatever knowledge she had of her family s Jewishness must have been obtained from her parents in an anecdotal and clearly incomplete fashion if, among all the activities and inner world of her father s grandfather, the only piece of information they saw fit to hand down was the fact of his problematic occupation. From the following poem, Encounter, written in 1927, we learn that Polonskaia did not even know Yiddish. Thus, while she may have been attached to Jewishness emotionally and ethnically, she was distant from it culturally. The verses describe how an old and half-âblind Jewish beggar-âlady identified Polonskaia as a Jewess from a large crowd of Russian passers-âby and turned to her in Yiddish to ask for a handout. Polonskaia is astonished that she has been identified as Jewish since, she claims, she has nothing to distinguish her from the other people on the street. The beggar-âlady explains to her that she was able to identify her because the blood of the same Jewish nation flowed in both their veins. Thus: Encounter (Vstrecha) Up and down streets [I go] [...] Then a voice from the gut: tayera yiddish kind, 56 Give to a beggar, Jewish daughter. [...] And there I stop, I cannot go on, Though I know I shouldn t, I shouldn t, And drop a small coin in her open palm, And lift a thirsty heart to her face. Old woman, how did you, half-âblind, Pick me out among these strangers? [...] After all, I m like them, the same as those Dull, alien, strange. Daughter, dear, there are things about us That no one can mistake. [...] Even if you lose your faith and kin, A yid iz immer a yid![...] In the incident described, the old Jewish beggar-âlady appears as superior to the poetess, who lift[s] a thirsty heart to her face. This is so because the old

59 46 Elizaveta Polonskaia ( ) beggar-âlady possesses a greater wisdom, seen as grand and lofty in the eyes of the poetess namely, that a Jew could always identify another Jew, no matter how assimilated each of them might be. The Jewish essence hidden in the heart of every Jew is ineradicable and independent of any external circumstances, whether social, political or cultural. The Jewish beggar-âlady identifies Polonskaia at a glance as a Jewess, but the poetess does not identify the old lady as such until she begins to speak to her in Yiddish. Could the beggar-âlady s Jewish cultural background have been stronger than that of Polonskaia? The old woman, in contrast to the poetess, at least knew Yiddish, came from a Jewish environment, and almost certainly knew something about Jewish culture and religion. Her eyes (or what was left of her vision) were used to picking out Jews from a crowd. In both the poem under consideration and in The Bequest, cited previously, Polonskaia s lack of any deeply rooted Jewish background is clear, albeit coupled with a clear interest in identifying herself as a Jew. It would appear that she yearned for the Jewish background that she lacked and sought somehow to draw close to it, even if only by way of her distant ancestors or an old and half-âblind Jewish beggar-âlady sitting in the dirt and grime of a busy Russian street corner. We now turn to another poem in which the author shows that she knows very well what it is that she wants to distance herself from namely, Christianity. Polonskaia read these verses before her circle of friends and in the presence of her teacher, Nikolai Gumilev, who became angry when he heard the poetess words: I Cannot Abide the Infant Jesus (Ya ne mogu terpet mladentza Iisusa) I cannot abide the infant Jesus, 58 With his crowd of holy men, paupers, and cripples, Refuge of old women, stronghold of the hypocrite and the coward.[...] On a flat icon dragging out his time. My God has better names, And a name that no one can pronounce, And He is unjust, One, Omnipotent, Biased and stern As an Omnipotent God should be! 59 I am linked by blood, not with that yellow-âhaired Alien foundling, nailed upon a cross. With Thee, Sabaoth, not with poor Jesus Did my ancestor wrestle in darkness This poem graphically exposes Polonskaia s aversion, and even abhorrence, of Christianity in general, and of the image of Jesus in particular, as portrayed on church icons. It would seem that the poetess desire to attack and insult Christianity was as great as her desire to praise and glorify Judaism. In the absence of any formal Jewish education, Polonskaia attributes to Judaism characteristics

60 Elizaveta Polonskaia ( ) 47 that conform to her own personality. Thus, both the poem just cited and the version of Judaism reflected therein bear the qualities of courage, aggressiveness and bluntness; and, in particular, both are provocative. One gets the feeling that the author was seeking an opportunity to attack the people around her and to express her feelings of contempt and disrespect towards them. To this end, she used Judaism as the positive and longed-âfor antithesis to Christianity. The effusive, defiant and challenging praise of Judaism that appears in the poem in question seems to have served as Polonskaia s instrument for settling personal accounts with the people in her circle. Polonskaia wrote a series of short poems that she called Israel. This cycle constitutes a veritable hymn to Judaism. It is full of pride in the proclaimed beauty and accomplishments of the people from whom the poetess issued, and at the same time lashes out at the Russian environment into which she was assimilated: Israel (Izrail ) Such large blue-âblack eyes, [...] Such beauty could not appear among you, In your cold and indigent villages. No, only there, [...] Under the burning sky of Palestine [...] Could God Sabaoth give such a son. [...] He [a Jew] 60 shall not be pitiful and debased, Who has chosen a lofty support [by the Jewish God]. 61 July 1919 Polonskaia does not spare epithets and invectives in attacking and denigrating Christianity and praising Judaism at its expense. Here we clearly see the parallel (personal and subjective) drawn by the poetess between the religion and its adherents. Christianity was a miserable religion and Christians (that is, for Polonskaia, the people around her) were miserable people. By contrast, in her opinion Judaism was glorious, and thus Jews (including herself ) were also glorious. Her hostile, cruel and even racist approach to the Russian people will undoubtedly appear grating and scandalously false in the eyes of most readers of her cycle of poems, no matter what their nationality or religion. One can only wonder what the source of Polonskaia s unrestrained hostility might have been. In any event, several years later her aggressiveness was crushed and silenced by the anxiety and fear induced by the vicious Stalinist persecutions. This state of terror, embedded deeply in her soul, lasted for many decades indeed, until the day of her death.

61 4 Raisa Bloch ( ) A genius unaware of her talent O, how my blood cleaves to you Raisa Bloch 1 Raisa Bloch: a woman of valour against both Stalinism and Nazism Raisa Noevna Bloch [Blokh] (married name, Gorlin [Gorlina]; pen-âname: M. Leonidova; 1 born, 17 September 1899, St Petersburg; died 1943 in the Ravensbruek concentration camp in Germany) was a poetess and translator of mediâeval poetry into Russian. Her father, the lawyer Noi L vovich Blokh, died in After her father s death, Raisa and her mother went to live with her brother, Yaakov, who later became a well-âknown scholar of drama and theatre, as well as a translator and publisher. In January 1918 he established a publishing house and bookselling cooperative in Petrograd, the Petropolis, which began functioning in In 1922, a branch of Petropolis was opened in Berlin. Publishing ceased in Russia in 1924, due to restrictions banning the sale through commercial networks of books published in the West. While living in her brother s home, Raisa studied at the Tagantsev gymnasium. Yaakov exercised a profound influence on his sister: he broadened her cultural horizons and stimulated her interest in the theatre and in Italian literature Niccolò Machiavelli 2 and Count Carlo Gozzi, 3 in particular as well as in revolutionary ideas. After graduating from high school, Raisa was admitted to Petrograd University, where she studied in the Department of History, specialising in medieval manuscripts and medieval European history. Research in these fields was later to become her main profession and the source of her livelihood. But Bloch s primary interest was poetry, and she participated enthusiastically in several poetry circles in Petrograd. Her life routine was interrupted in 1921 by the arrest and trial of the poet Nikolai Gumilev. On the night of September 1921, she herself was arrested in connection with her ties to Gumilev: she spent about two months in prison, and was released on 25 November She viewed Gumilev s trial and her own arrest as warning signs of future persecution by the Soviet authorities.

62 Raisa Bloch ( ) 49 Gumilev s execution shocked her deeply, and she sought ways to avoid her own expected prosecution. When Petrograd University offered to send her to Germany to work in the archives and libraries there, she quickly accepted, perceiving this as a means of salvation. At the end of September 1922 Raisa set out for Berlin with her brother Yaakov and his family, bringing with her recommendations from her academic advisor at the university in Petrograd, Ol ga Dobiash-Â Rozhdestvenskaia. As a result, she was hired to work in various archives and libraries in Berlin, although officially she was considered to be on assignment as a fellow of the Historical Institute of Petrograd University. Indeed, until the end of her life she carried a Soviet passport. Bloch s poetry translations continued to be published even after she left the Soviet Union in Thus, in 1923, when Carlo Gozzi s Tales for the Theatre (Skazki dlia teatra) 4 was published in Russian, translated by Mikhail Lozinsky 5 and Yaakov Bloch, it included poems translated by Raisa Bloch. She likewise participated in the collective effort to translate Trophy (Russian: Trofei), a collection of sonnets by the French poet José-Maria de Heredia, 6 first published in 1893, in which Raisa translated five sonnets. 7 Her brother Yaakov soon moved the Petropolis Publishing House from Petrograd to Berlin. In 1924, Petropolis published a Russian translation of Machiavelli s Italian-Âlanguage play, Mandrake (Mandragora), 8 with poems translated by Raisa included in that edition. Until 1928 Raisa lived with her brother s family and led a rather secluded life, pursuing research and studies at Berlin University and assisting her brother in his publishing business. She also wrote poetry, dealing primarily with memories of Petrograd or her feelings about Mikhail Lozinsky, whom she knew from the All-ÂRussian Union of Poets (Vserossiiskii soiuz poetov) and with whom she had fallen in love. 9 In 1928 Raisa graduated from Berlin University, having defended a dissertation on The Monastic Policies of Leo IX in Germany, Burgundy, and Italy. She began working at the Monumenta Germaniae Historica (Historical Monuments of the Germans; known as MGH) Publishing House, where she became an assistant to Professor M. Brakman, an expert in medieval history, a position in which she continued until the spring of During this period she published her first book of poetry, My City. 10 The most important development in her personal life occurred in 1928, when she met her future husband, the poet, Mikhail Gorlin ( ), who was likewise a Russian Jewish émigré. 11 Mikhail was born in Petersburg on 11 June The Gorlin family left Russia in 1919 and lived for a while in England and France, until settling permanently in Germany. Mikhail was ten years younger than Raisa and an extremely impractical person in everyday life. Nevertheless, at Berlin University, under the aegis of Professor Max Fasster, Mikhail Gorlin wrote and defended his dissertation on the History of Literature, 12 entitled: N. V. Gogol and E. Th. Hoffman (in German: N. V. Gogol und E. Th. Hoffman). 13 One of his works from that period is dedicated to the literature of Goethe. 14

63 50 Raisa Bloch ( ) Raisa and Mikhail Gorlin became friends from the moment they met. Raisa wrote to Dobiash-ÂRozhdestvenskaia that, together with her friend Michail Gorlin, they were writing a children s book in verse, of the Max and Moritz genre. 15 On 4 September 1931, she again wrote about this: we created a supplement to Max and Moritz (500 lines), as well as another two children s books (this time in our native language). 16 But Raisa could not forget Lozinsky, and Gorlin was attracted to Irina Karsavin, daughter of the historian, L. P. Karsavin. In the early 1930s Gorlin dedicated a series of poems to Irina, entitled On the Departure of Irina Karsavin from Paris (Russian: Na ot ezd Iriny Karsavinoi iz Parizha), but it was never published. Nevertheless, the friendship between Raisa and Gorlin developed, and together they translated works by Sergei Yesenin and Anna Akhmatova into German and wrote a dozen children s stories in German, using the pseudonym Mirayev, alluding to Misha-ÂMikhail and Raya-ÂRaisa. 17 Raisa gradually became an active member of the so-âcalled Circle of Thirty, an informal poetry seminar of Russian émigrés in Berlin. In October 1931, while continuing to work with Professor Brakman, she visited Italy. In February 1932 she undertook a serious and painstaking study of the life and work of the pioneering German poetess, Hrotsvitha von Gandersheim (c.935 c.975). 18 Although Raisa Bloch considered herself a Russian poet, from the early 1930s in Germany she began to mention her Jewish origins with increasing frequency. In a letter to her Leningrad University advisor Dobiash-ÂRozhdestvenskaia, dated 16 February 1932, she wrote, They are not very ceremonious with me on the national question [...] Conversations about the shape of the skull and purity of race lead only to disgust and depression. 19 During this period Bloch published many poems in Russian collections published in Berlin: New Home (Novosel e, 1931); Grove (Roscha, 1932); and Fishing Net (Nevod or Seine, 1933). In 1933 Bloch and Gorlin left Berlin for Paris, where they initially felt safe, but they did not manage to integrate into Parisian life. That same year Raisa wrote Dobiash-ÂRozhdestvenskaia and declared: It is obvious that one must seek one s home within one s own self. Everything else is unstable; [...] one should not become attached to anything, in order not to suffer later from separation and deprivation. 20 During this period Raisa wrote poems in like mood: I won t recall! I ll live (see below). She began to realise that Petrograd was lost to her forever, and with it her long-âlasting and hopeless love for Mikhail Lozinsky. On 27 January 1934, Raisa wrote a letter to Dobiash-ÂRozhdestvenskaia in which she informed her that I am engaged [...] in the history of pharmacology as secretary to the journal, Review of the History of Pharmacology (in French: Revue de l Histoire de la Pharmacie). She wrote further that: I write articles about the strangest things: Tibetan medicine, [...] remedies for canine rabies, and much else. On 22 December 1933, Raisa wrote her mentor that: This evening, for example, I will act as translator to the Societé d histoire de la Pharmacie, where a French-Âspeaking German professor is visiting. In addition, she translated verses by Paul-ÂMarie Verlaine 21 and Pol-ÂArbruaze Valery 22 into

64 Raisa Bloch ( ) 51 Russian. She had begun translating Valery while still in Germany. While in Paris, neither Bloch nor Gorlin managed to develop particularly close relations with the Russian literary milieu. In 1936, Bloch wrote to Evgenia Kannak: We recall the years in Berlin with affection, especially when we have contact with the local poets, who hardly constitute a gratifying phenomenon, neither as people, nor as citizens. 23 Bloch and Gorlin registered their marriage in November On 26 November, Raisa sent Dobiash-ÂRozhdestvenskaia two proofs of her married state, the second being for M. Lozinsky, stating: Our surname is Gorlin (letter from 26 November 1935). That same year a collection of Raisa s poems entitled Silence (Russian: Tishina) was published in Berlin by her brother Yaakov s Petropolis Publishing House. The same year Raisa became pregnant. News of the awaited birth of a child was communicated in the Gorlin s last letter to Dobiash-ÂRozhdestvenskaia, dated 1 February They also wrote of this in the first of their letters to Evgenia Kannak: We are trying to create a worthy comrade for your son. We are applying ourselves industriously to this endeavor and hope to complete it by September. It would be very jolly if they could be company for each other and open up a poets club en petit together. All three of us feel well, we go to the National Library of France (Bibliothèque Nationale), where our youngest sometimes behaves rowdily and kicks lustily. In 1936 a daughter, Dora, was born to Raisa and Mikhail. Raisa tells of the birth of their daughter in her letter to Kannak: Our little daughter Dora is blond with gray eyes, long eyelashes and an impeccable manicure, which never ceases to surprise and enchant Misha and myself. We are both biased in our opinion of her, but the nurses at the clinic and all our friends acknowledge that she is Miraev s chef d oeuvre. I have already been home for two days. [...] On the 27th, Yasha and Lenochka [Raisa s brother and his wife] will meet their niece. Below, in Gorlin s handwriting, is the following addendum: [...] Dora Mikhailovna was born like almost everything else in my life at last minute; at five minutes to midnight. Notwithstanding this, she s a marvelous lass. 24 For a short period of time, Raisa and Mikhail believed that their life would be altered for the better. In 1937, Gorlin began working on a study entitled: Medieval Literature In Russia at the End of the 18th and Beginning of the 19th Century, or, Old Russia in Russian Literature of the 18th and Early 19th Century (French: La littérature moyen-âageuse en Russie à la fin du XVIII-Âe siècle et au début du XIX-Âe, ou, La vieille Russie dans la littérature russe du XVIII-Âe siècle et du début du XIX-Âe) a study that was meant to bring him the title of professor. In the meantime, Yaakov had moved his publishing house from Germany to Brussels and there, in 1939, he published the joint collection of poems by Raisa and Mirra Borodina, 25 Covenants (Russian: Zavety). Later Yaakov and his family moved to Switzerland. In 1939, while Bloch and Gorlin were still living in Paris, a policeman acquaintance informed them of Gorlin s impending arrest, but he did not act on the warning. After his arrest he was held for a time in the village of Potivier

65 52 Raisa Bloch ( ) (Pithiviers) in France. The French authorities turned a blind eye to the detainees, leaving the gates of the camp open. However, rather than fleeing like many other detainees, Gorlin went to the local library and then returned to the camp. Gorlin was evidently afraid to ride a bicycle, the accepted vehicle for those who fled the camp. Raisa was able to visit him occasionally. Finally, on one of her periodic visits, she found the camp empty and all the detainees gone. On 14 May 1941, along with all the other detainees, Mikhail Gorlin had been arrested. He was deported to Germany from the Pithiviers camp in France on 17 July 1942, and later sent to work in the salt mines in Silesia, where he was executed. Raisa, using forged documents, decided to flee with their daughter to Switzerland, where her brother and sister-âin-law lived. On the way Dora fell sick and died. Raisa reached the border, but the Swiss guards suspected that her passport was false. She was arrested in November 1943 and later handed over to the German authorities. Raisa Bloch perished in Ravensbruek camp in On the way to the camp, on 20 November 1943, she managed to toss a letter in French from the train in which she was being transported, in which she wrote that she did not know where they were taking her. Somehow this letter reached her relatives in Leningrad and was thus saved Raisa Bloch s literary work: a genius unaware of her talents Raisa Bloch s adult literary activity as a poetess began in the fall of 1920 when, at the recommendation of Lozinsky, she was unanimously voted into the All-Â Russian Union of Poets. All four members of the governing council M. Lozinsky, N. Gumilev, A. Blok and M. Kuz min 27 voted in favour of admitting Bloch. Lozinsky noted the definite musical pitch of Bloch s lyric poetry. She was given the nickname Sparrow, based upon the title of her popular poem, which came out many years later in her first book of poetry, My City. The poem reads: Sparrow (Vorobei) We are all birds, we are all songstresses, Only we each have different songs, [...] And I am a small sparrow, There are quite a lot of us on the fence. Do not kill me with a sling, Let me finish singing my wild tidings, [...] today, to me, To one without a voice, a voice is given. 28 Raisa Bloch s poems are connected with the St Petersburg poetic tradition and are distinguished by austerity, simplicity of form, and psychological depth. Bloch was actively engaged in writing poetry for nearly 15 years, from about , during which time her poetic creations underwent various

66 Raisa Bloch ( ) 53 transformations. The poems she wrote during the first half of the 1920s were influenced by the Acmeist school, as exemplified by Nikolai Gumilev. Her style is extremely reserved, modest, precise, even ascetic. It also manifests a sharp wit and gives the impression of being right on target. Bloch s focus is always on the details and small objects that made up the reality in which she was immersed, which she accentuates and places at the focus of attention in each poem. Another characteristic of Bloch s poetry is her shyness and reluctance to draw attention to herself. She looks into herself from a distant perspective, as if she were a different person, describing herself as a small and marginal figure. Still, she speaks a great deal about herself and the routine of her life. The theme of most of her poetry is her longing for her hometown, St Petersburg, which she was compelled to leave against her will in Raisa Bloch s best-âknown poem, Foreign Towns, with All Their Din..., was included in the collection My City [in Russian]. It was also published posthumously in Berlin in 1959, in a joint collection of poems by Raisa Bloch and Mikhail Gorlin. The poems in this later collection deal with their life abroad and, in particular, with Raisa s pining and melancholy yearning for Petrograd. 29 Her poem Foreign Towns... provided the inspiration for the words of the famous Russian émigré song by Alexandr Vertinsky, Foreign Towns, with All Their Din Foreign Towns... (Prinesla sluchainaia molva) A snatch of speech came floating on the air, Brought me words I didn t need to hear: Letny Sad, Fontanka, and Neva. 31 The words flew by, like swallows on the wing: Blocked out by foreign towns, with all their din, And foreign water gurgling through the drains. I cannot grasp, I cannot hide, or drive, Those words away: I won t recall! I ll live, Suppress my pain, exist, hang on, survive. I ll never walk along that riverbank, [...] My woolen mitt held in my mother s hand. All this was real, but years and years ago [...]. 32 In this poem the reader can see a device employed by many Russian émigrés in their creative works: a feeling of strangeness and alienation from their new location, an initial inner refusal to be integrated there, together with a yearning for and clinging to the former home; after this, hesitation and misgivings about the possibility of becoming part of the scene of the new abode; and finally, a process of forcibly convincing oneself that it is possible to become integrated and deciding that one must impose this step upon oneself. 33 Bloch s poem also conforms to the Acmeist tradition. A small concrete object, such as the child s glove worn by the narrator in the poem, placed in her mother s hand, manages to vividly convey a wide range of past experiences and

67 54 Raisa Bloch ( ) childhood feelings. These include the sense of warmth and security thanks to mother s closeness and evocations of the way life was in Russia before the Revolution, together with naive (and baseless) hopes for a better future. In brief, the poem depicts an entire world that has disappeared, never to return. By mentioning the names of specific sites in St Petersburg, Bloch also arouses memories that, for someone like herself, could only evoke heartbreak and pain, sorrow and depression, sweet memories that must be uprooted from the heart in order to protect it. Bloch s affections are devoted to what she left behind in Russia, the nature and scenery of the country and the persons remaining there, whether alive or dead. She also remembers and perhaps this is the main thing the love of her life, Mikhail Lozinsky, who remained in Russia. Bloch idealises her love for this man, viewing it as the perfect love of her youth, the only one exclusive, simultaneously excruciating and uplifting. In reality, however, this love could never find fulfillment, and the realisation of this entered Raisa Bloch s heart, drop by bitter drop, as she found it so very difficult to believe that this was the case. When she found it necessary, painfully, to leave Petrograd, she was also forced to separate from Mikhail Lozinsky, as well as from her youthful dreams and her hopes for a happier life in the future. It may well be that the ultimate, and perhaps unconscious, motivation for Raisa s union with the poet Mikhail (Misha) Gorlin was because his given name reminded her of her beloved Mikhail Lozinsky (also called Misha). As noted above, Bloch s poetic style is like that of the Russian émigrés and refugees in general, and as such devotes a great deal of attention to examining the new situation, trying to become familiar with it and adapt to it. However, the feeling conveyed by the poetess in each poem is often one of real life having been left behind, the present being without significant content, insipid and meaningless. In her poems, Bloch frequently portrays her existence as empty. 34 Her attitude toward the barrenness that stands at the center of her life is ironic and full of black humor. The barrenness is silent, yet illuminated by a light so bright that it is blinding, while lacking in taste or color. The poetess has nothing against it in her heart; on the contrary, she asserts that it also contains a grain of pleasure, as it does not have any affect on her heart whatsoever. 35 The following verses were written on the occasion of New Year s Eve in Berlin, 1928: Because the Streets are Peopled with Sounds and Lights (Ottogo, chto na ulitzah zvon i ogni) Because the streets are peopled with sounds and lights and packages, [...] I have forgotten to yearn for you, [...] Ice and resin are in the air, as if this place is not a foreign land, but home. [...] Happiness approaches [...] I have composed such a cheerful song today, In order to sing the praises of frost and emptiness, and the simple life. Berlin, December 1928.

68 Raisa Bloch ( ) 55 The streets of Berlin are filled with the joy of New Year s Eve, and the gaiety of the native citizens spills over onto Raisa Bloch. However, her experience is different than theirs. Her joy is artificial, for she is alone in a foreign land and has no one with whom to share the holiday spirit. Everyone she loves is far away more than that, lost to her forever. The joy of the people surrounding her deepens the poetess own feelings of loneliness, and her cheerfulness ultimately turns into another disappointing and frustrating emptiness in her life. Although at the beginning of her career as a poet Bloch s style was influenced by Acmeism, during the late 1920s and early 1930s she tended toward Imaginism. In doing so, she was following to some extent the line of development taking place in Russia, which indicates that she had not lost touch with the literary trends in her homeland. The vast majority of the poems that she wrote during this period were based upon sequences of images that repeat the same idea in different ways, making her verses very colourful and gripping: The Memory of You a Voice of Silence (Pamiat o tebe golos tishiny) The memory of you a voice of silence, High up in the dark sky a pure crescent moon, In the black virgin soil an unceasing spring, In the depth, in me an eternal ray of light. Through so many days, throughout the year You are my path, my home, my star. 36 Bloch has written here a kind of hymn to her beloved. Her love for him is described in superlatives; it is like an unattainable paradise of which only a dream remains, a pain that consumes the heart for many long years. Bloch s poems are written with a rare and unique talent, placing her among the most important poets of the Silver Age of early twentieth century Russia. She herself does not seem to have been aware of her own stature. Her images are terse, precise, sharp-âwitted, graphic and loaded with sentimental and cultural associations. They are worthy of becoming commonly used maxims, used long after the name of their creator is forgotten: O Silence, Silence (O tishina, tishina) O silence, silence, You, who are always audible You, whose call does not cease Even in the din of noisy cities, Even in the screech of iron days, You it is, who are stronger than all! [...] My heart, by means of you, lives. 37 This poem, like the verses from The Memory of You quoted previously, is built upon a series of images. Some of the images are oxymora; for example:... silence [...] that does not cease [...] even in the din of noisy cities. Other

69 56 Raisa Bloch ( ) images used by Bloch are evoked by joining together highly contrasting phenomena, one very powerful and the other soft and delicate for example, the harsh impression of a block of ice being crushed and the heavy pressure of the depth of depths versus the delicate heart that lives by means of them. Such a format imbues the images in Bloch s lines with a dramatic, vivid, and penetrating character of great power. It is this that makes them candidates for becoming commonly used maxims. In addition to being crafted in the spirit of Acmeism and Imaginism, Bloch s poems also reflect the influence of Sergei Yesenin. 38 It will be remembered that Raisa, together with Mikhail Gorlin, translated some of his poems into German. Elements of Russian folklore are also to be found in Bloch s verses. At times she presents vivid images in simple, yet intense and gleaming colors. These instances are probably reflections of the poetess affinity with both Yesenin s poetry and Russian folklore. Thus, she invokes clear and dazzling skies, high and distant clouds, green fields and earth spread out before one s eyes, streams that gladden the heart, the sun in the spring season, both of which warm the heart, a pleasant breeze on the face, and a lofty and brightly shining light. In contrast to these, she depicts pure white snow and a deep yet pleasant frost that gives out crackling sounds. All these scenes of nature are full of stamina and light and speak of joie de vivre. Although Bloch idealises the scenes of nature that she presents in her verses, what she generally has in mind is the actual Russian landscape that she left behind, never to return except in her memories, or else she is referring to scenes visible in Germany that resemble those of Russia. In particular, Bloch s numerous descriptions of gold, golden, and yellow suggest associations with Yesinin s work. In the verses of Osip Mandelstam the colors gold and yellow have the significance of impurity or contamination, deterioration, rigidity and severe manifestations of Judaism. By contrast, in Raisa Bloch s poems these colors are given symbolic meanings, similar to those given to them by Yesenin rare beauty, wholeness, welfare, a deep sense of security and spiritual depth. Gold and yellow are also used to symbolise religious integrity, particularly in connection with the gilded domes of Russian Orthodox churches. 39 Descriptions of gold in connection with church domes appear many times in Bloch s work My City, which is dedicated to her perpetual memories of and yearnings for the city of St. Petersburg. 40 The vision of golden church domes, joining together the wonderful golden color that elevates the heart and the religious edifices so characteristic of Mother Russia, imparts an enchanted religious significance to the color. Yesenin uses these associations in a similar way in his poetry. Apart from Bloch s affinities with Acmeism and Imaginism, elements of Symbolist poetry also enter into her works. Thus, the chirping of birds appears frequently in her verses. As a rule, Bloch s birds symbolise God s prophets and messengers, whose songs represent the wholeness of the universe. The birds in her poems know the secrets of existence, truth and eternity not revealed to ordinary flesh and blood. 41 We are given the feeling that, as long as the birds sings we can be confident that there is divine providence and that ultimately harmony and tranquillity rule the world:

70 Raisa Bloch ( ) 57 So Once Again These are not My Paths? (Tak eto snova ne moi puti?) [...] I will go alone into the lush and flowery garden To listen to the birds: they are tireless, And they proclaim that all are loved, They proclaim that all are protected by God. 42 This poem poses the personal problems of Bloch herself, who suffers from loneliness and lack of pleasure against the phenomena of nature, such as a lush garden with birds singing. This format is similar to that of the Russian chastyshka, 43 reinforcing the impression that Bloch s poems have been influenced by those of Yesenin, where the poet s negative personal feelings are presented in opposition to the positive situation in nature. For the quality of her verse alone, Raisa Bloch deserves to occupy a place of honour in the firmament of Russian poetry, alongside other outstanding Russian poets of the Silver Age, such as Nikolai Gumilev, Mikhail Kuz min, Aleksand Blok, Mikhail Lozinsky and Sergei Yesinen. Her poetic talent is in no way inferior to theirs, nor did she escape the bitter fate suffered by many of them under Stalin s rule. Even more, she experienced a double portion of suffering: at the hands of the Soviets and, on account of her Jewish origins, at the hands of the Nazis. 3 Raisa Bloch s love poems: romantic dreams of an absent lover Love poems constitute a large portion of Raisa Bloch s writings. Among these we must distinguish between those addressed to Mikhail Lozinsky and those addressed to Mikhail Gorlin. The poems for Lozinsky are crafted carefully, in the spirit of Imaginism and Symbolism. Their tone idealises the figure of the beloved and her love for him: My Sweetheart, My Darling (Moi milyi, moi rodnoi) My sweetheart, my darling, forgive me again For my pitiful love, for my cowardly sin, For this, that I do not give up to the end, to the last drop, Breath, joy, life to you who are finer than all others, For this, that I cannot, in your flame, Like a moth, die instantly, [...] I cherish an elusive vestige Of your radiant, caressing hand. 44 The extravagance and intensity of Bloch s expressions of love suggest that her experience of that emotion was far from realistic. In this poem the image of her beloved is raised to a mythic level, far above the everyday world particularly when his caresses are portrayed as radiant, that is, full of light. This image is

71 58 Raisa Bloch ( ) reminiscent of the biblical Moses 45 or of Jesus in the New Testament. 46 The image of the beloved emerges from the poem, not as a real person, but as an abstract, utopian being, like a god to be worshiped faithfully and devotedly. The poetess expresses feelings of guilt over the fact that she does not worship him properly and that she has failed in the task of sacrificing herself on his altar. The poem not only expresses Bloch s yearnings for her beloved, but also her dreaminess and clinging attachment to a utopian world of perfect happiness, a Garden of Eden on earth. It is almost certain that her mourning over the loss of her beloved also encompasses her sorrow over her bitter fate as a whole, over the so many partings and so much grief that were her lot after she was uprooted from Petrograd, and also over her alienation from the milieu in which she now finds herself. The next poem counterpoises everything found here, in Berlin, against all that she has left behind in Petersburg. Using sweeping and highly emotional generalisations, Bloch sees everything here as negative, blacker than pitch, signalling death, while everything there was a utopian heaven on earth: My Joy, My Beloved! (Radost moia, liubimyi moi!) My joy, my beloved! [...] In a black wilderness, alone, I am lost! My heart sinks to the pits of dejection. I know, far away, in your distant land, Clouds float and birds sing. Only one thing shines through my night, The far-âoff sun, in your distant land. 47 August 1931 It would thus appear that Bloch s longing for her beloved Lozinsky, in far away Petersburg, expresses her appeal towards Heaven for help to ease the pain of her life in general. Her prayer for a kind of God, symbolised in the figure of Lozinsky, to protect her against all harm that is likely to befall her in alien territory, is a kind of groan addressed to an all-âsupreme, powerful and unattainable Divine being. Bloch s love poems devoted to Mikhail Gorlin are very different. They are more realistic, expressing Raisa s sober, practical and motherly relationship with her beloved. She even hints that he is a stranger to her: I Love You Like a Grandmother (Ia tebia liubliu, kak babushka) I love you like a grandmother loves her little grandchild, About your love I do not argue, I do not agonise. But I need only to recollect your sonorous voice, Then the silence becomes easier and the grief conquerable. [...] How many caresses have I lost along the way, So that, indeed, the caress of a stranger is not endearing for me. [...] But sometimes I recollect your sonorous voice, I love you, like a grandmother loves her little grandchild. 48

72 Raisa Bloch ( ) 59 Raisa s love poems to Gorlin reveal the bitterness she felt on account of her present sorry situation, which contrasted so radically with the wonderful life she felt she could have had if only she had been able to be at Lozinsky s side. A careful reading of the above verses reveals that she did not really love Mikhail Gorlin. Rather, he served her as a good friend and companion in time of trouble and helpmate in dealing with their cruel circumstances. In contrast to Lozinsky s caresses, which Bloch raises to divine heights in the poem cited above, in the present verses Gorlin s caresses are portrayed as being strange to her. Moreover, the motherly relationship she talks about ( I love you like a grandmother loves her little grandchild ) expresses distance rather than closeness. In general, Bloch s love poems give the impression that her awareness of herself as a woman was never fully developed. She chose a path of cutting herself off from reality and dreaming about an otherworldly and unattainable love. She developed a utopian image of her beloved as sublime, beyond her reach, godlike. She evidently never found Mikhail Gorlin to be of any interest, although she bore a daughter with him. Thereafter she never wrote anything about this child! Perhaps, despite all the terrible things she went through, Raisa Bloch remained until the end of her days a young woman trying to preserve her girlish fantasies, as she herself admits in one of her poems Jewish topics in Raisa Bloch s poetry Raisa Bloch s poetry is, for the most part, sentimental, amorous and lyrical, without stress on beliefs or religion. Yet, judging by her poems, she often offered prayers from the depths of her heart expressing her desires and wishes. In many places her poetry indicates that she was a believing person, but it would be difficult to define Bloch s faith in terms of the usual criteria. She believed with a very personal and unique belief, without reference to any traditional faith. She addresses her prayers to a god who is someone to talk to in times of loneliness, like a distant friend and source of warmth and support, features that were so absent from her life. Her god served as an address for the outpourings of her soul in times of distress. Bloch makes no sharp distinction between Christianity and Judaism. However, if it came to making a choice, she indicated that she would give preference to Russian Orthodoxy. This choice was not a matter of religious principle or motivation, but rather stemmed from habit and from her yearnings for St. Petersburg. Russian Orthodoxy and its paraphernalia, such as the ornate crosses and elaborate church buildings, acquire a personal and intimate significance in Bloch s poetry, as reminders of her precious homeland, her cherished childhood, and the beloved friends whom she left behind in Russia. Bloch often alludes to the beauty of objects having to do with the Russian Orthodox Church, like the domes of the churches, the brightly colored Easter eggs, and the special decorated crosses. These objects constitute an integral part of the poetess attachment to Russia. Indeed, Bloch was more familiar with Russian Orthodox practices than she was with Jewish customs. Already in her early poetry she exhibits her preference

73 60 Raisa Bloch ( ) for Christian over Jewish motifs. Thus, in her poem In the resonant hour of daybreak prayers (V gulkii chas predutrennih molenii): Lower yourself gently on your knees/pray [...] 50 (April 1928). Jewish motifs began to appear in Bloch s poetry primarily from the early 1930 s, in connection with the rise of Nazism, and continued to appear thereâ after. The nostalgic poem, Remember, Father Would Stand, (Pomnish, otetz byvalo) was written in 1933: Remember, father would stand,/and pray, hour by hour on end?/black against white, the fringe/on the shawl that covered his head. 51 Whenever she relates to Christianity, Bloch presents it as something quite current, personal and belief-âoriented. The Jewish religion, by contrast, is portrayed as mysterious and remote, manifested in the rituals practiced by her ancestors. In 1933, already dreaming of being saved from Nazism by fleeing to France, Bloch took a different tack and attempted to define the essence of her connection with Jewishness: How Can I Find You Again (Kak mne vernut sia k vam) How can I find you again, holy names, And you, letters, dark as ruined temples? O, how my blood cleaves to you, helpless; [...] Let me stay with you, [...] The square-âroot letters of Your testament, Knowing that the unquenchable light is spreading And pouring the warmth of millennia into the dusk. 52 September 1934 At the same time, Bloch showed a great willingness to draw close to Judaism and learn about it. She looked into the possibility of identifying herself with it personally. Between the lines, one discerns the difficulties encountered by Bloch in trying to feel close to a religion which, while being hers by virtue of birth, was strange and alien to her. It was as if she had suddenly met for the first time her biological parents, whose absence she had previously not felt. Her discovery of Jewish symbols and religious objects, like the ancient Hebrew letters, aroused her interest and curiosity, but she had no key with which to unlock their meaning. From Bloch s poem, Serve the Living, Remember the Dead, evidently written in the mid-â1930s, it would appear that by then she had reconciled herself to being Jewish. Serve the living, remember the dead (Zhivym sluzhi, o mertvyh vspominai) [...] No false light did Sinai show you, No false way through the sultry wilderness. The square slabs of stone, the simple letters Preserve them, faithfully, until the day of calm, [...] For new souls and new building. 53

74 Raisa Bloch ( ) 61 In this poem Bloch addresses herself in the imperative mood and convinces herself of the truth and rightness of the revelation at Mt Sinai. She sees herself as one of the participants in that event, as one of those who received the Torah there and thereby became Jews. Yet despite all this, her feeling of being a Jewess was fragmented. This was because tombstones in Jewish cemeteries were the only authentic manifestation of Judaism with which she actually managed to become familiar as an adult, and the inscriptions on the tombstones were the only Jewish writing that she ever saw. Thus, on the one hand, Raisa Bloch sought to draw close to Judaism and adopt its beliefs, but on the other hand, she did not have the tools to do so. All she had were a few memories and associations connected with her ethnic and religious origins, accompanied by the most minimal knowledge of the Jewish world. Her parents were assimilated Jews who probably could not have imagined in their worst nightmares that their daughter would ever need the spiritual support embodied in Judaism. Hence, they did not give her the Jewish education that might have helped her emotionally in the desperate circumstances in which she found herself in Nazi Germany. Notwithstanding the generally tragic tone of the poem cited above, it includes a ray of hope. It concludes with the expectation of a better future, if only after her death. In fact, Raisa s hope and her premonition eventually came to fruition in large measure. After her death her poetry gained recognition and popularity, her work began to be studied by scholars; and she herself gained a place of honour beside the most respected and important Russian poets of the first third of the twentieth century.

75 5 Hanna Levina ( ) A Jewish communist fighter What would I be without you, My country!... Hanna Levina 1 Hanna Levina: a Jewish proletarian Hanna Mironovna Levina (born, 1900, Ekaterinoslavl, Ukraine; died, 1969, Kharkov), was a Yiddish writer and poet. Born into a poor family, upon finishing studies in an elementary school for children of poor families she went to work as a dressmaker and then as a sales clerk. Between 1919 and 1922 the young poetess volunteered for the Red Army, during which period she saw combat. Her early verses were included by Peretz Markish 1 in his collection, Steps (Yiddish: Trep), published in Ekaterinoslavl in These earliest published verses were to be the beginning of her path as a Yiddish poet. 2 Many of her poems were later translated into Russian and Ukrainian. She died on 19 January 1969, in Kharkov. 2 Levina s pro-âsoviet poetry in Russian: between stupidity and lie From 1925 on Hanna Levina contributed regularly to the journals Die roite Welt (Yiddish: The Red World), Prolit (Yiddish: The Worker) and Der Stern (Yiddish: The Star). In 1929 she published a book of verse, Mite (Yiddish: Zustaier). Levina s was particularly drawn to scenes of the revolutionary struggle at the front and in the rear, the new way of life and socialist construction. These motifs were developed in a number of verse cycles, such as One s Own and Alien (Yiddish: Eigene un fremde) and Woman (Yiddish: Froi). She also wrote two books for children, Socialist Competition (Yiddish: Sozgewet) and Young Builders (Yiddish: Junge Boier). Levina s oeuvre in Russian is largely detached from her Jewish roots and, in the spirit of Socialist Realism, stereotypical. Her poetry is profoundly conformist and does not reflect any actual reality; instead, her personal poetry expresses her optimism about the future Socialist abundance and happiness. In 1963 she

76 Hanna Levina ( ) 63 Âpublished a collection of poems in Russian entitled First Rain (Pervyi dozhd ). This collection is permeated with the standard Soviet ideology: she writes a great deal about nature, love, friends who have perished, her son and the Soviet republics. In this way, Soviet propaganda intended to show the reader that Yiddish literature was full of love for the Soviet homeland, just like the literature of other Soviet nationalities. Levina s poetry is rhythmic, based on recurrent refrains, upbeat and filled with optimism in the spirit of the communist slogans. Most of her poems serve in various ways as an affirmation of and propaganda on behalf of communist values always in an elevated, euphoric spirit, idealising the Soviet reality. Many of her poems conclude with exclamation points, which serve as a kind of seal for the particular slogan articulated by the poetess. In the poem Flowers, the author draws a connection between the sale of flowers and the victory of Communism in the Soviet Union: Flowers (Tzvety) If all goes as it should, If people rejoice in life, If joy comes, Then the required flowers are present And, from morning, my city is all in flowers. They are brought in piles and mountains, They are carried in baskets, in earthenware pots, In stores and at markets, On holidays and on weekdays, [...] Choose, grab whichever ones you want Golden ones, sky-âblue ones... Everybody buys them when they re on sale, In every bag and purse On the bottom you ll find tasty edibles, grub, food, But on top roses and mignonettes... [...] And when I m Not in time, when I m late, I grab only the scent of faded leaves, [...] I am sad But I have no regrets: Since [...] that means that joy is coming, That means that people are happy with life! 3 Every day, according to the poetess, the city is supplied with piles and mountains of flowers that have been picked by the joyous inhabitants of the Soviet paradise-âon-earth, whose sole interest is in finding further ways of expressing their complete bliss. The citizens of the Soviet Union enjoy no end of pleasures; like small children who have never experienced a single moment of sadness, their only concern is for the flowers which they carry in baskets and earthenware

77 64 Hanna Levina ( ) pots. The flowers are sold in great numbers, both in stores and markets, on festivals and ordinary days, their immense quantity reflecting the inhabitants overflowing joy. Their only concern is Choose, grab whichever ones you want golden ones, sky-âblue ones, as all their other needs, large and small, are provided by the Communist homeland. 4 Hence the flowers are found in every bag and purse (p. 63), heaped on top of the abundant, rich and tasty supplies of food that barely leave room for the variety of colorful flowers that uplift and rejoice the heart. Levina concludes with a declaration that, because the only worry of citizens of the Soviet Union is to grab flowers with the maximum speed and efficiency, she herself didn t get any flowers. But she is pleased about this, as she takes it as a sign of the true happiness of her fellow citizens (see below). While this poem may impress the innocent reader, the reader who has experienced on his flesh the objective Soviet reality and has been touched by the lies, duplicity, pretence and lack of conscience found in its literature, will not be surprised by this poem. Indeed, he will find it reminiscent of the propaganda promulgated by the official media as satirised in Orwell s The crushing poverty experienced by citizens of the Soviet Union throughout its existence, the hunger and unbearably difficult conditions of life that affected the people of the Soviet Union, on a level alike those in Third World countries all these show Levina s poetry to be hypocritical and self-ârighteous. Levina s poems are written in the Socialist Realist mode, but bear no relation to objective Soviet reality. Like all of that culture shaped by Socialist Realism, her poems were designed to give citizens of the Soviet Union a feeling of happiness and euphoria even when reality confuted these descriptions. Her poetry functioned as a means of persuasion in which wish and imagination replaced level-âheaded judgment. The citizens of the Soviet Union found themselves in a situation of neglect, in a dull and old-âfashioned environment, as a result of which they were embittered, angry, nervous, mean-âspirited all of which confuted Levina s absurd descriptions. Her poem unintentionally portrays Soviet reality in an ironic, grotesque and ridiculous light. One may nevertheless ignore the banal and tasteless contents of this poem, and find compensation in its poetic artistry: the use of recurrent refrains, its rhythmic phonetic structure, its numerous emphatic syllables, its short words and its many vocal letters all of which enable one to recite it as a kind of onomatopoeic chorus. But beyond its sonority, this poem, like most of Levina s other poems, represents no particular poetic attainment. Another of Levina s poems, In the Heat of Battle, also written in the style of Socialist Realism, affirms the paranoiac Soviet approach which claims that the evil powers of capitalism are relentless in their attempt to subvert Communism. The poem alludes to the struggle of the Soviets with the forces of Capitalism, that are presumable unwilling to allow the citizens of the Soviet Union to establish full Communism in their own country: In the Heat of Battle (V pylu bor by) It is spring: The days begin earlier and earlier.

78 Hanna Levina ( ) 65 On the roofs the frost sparkles with whiteness. [...] But the enemy has his own matters to attend to. The crafty enemy of my country He is not averse to sending trouble to our home. But on his threshold it is night, While our morning is brighter and brighter. My country! [...] everyone knows [...] how good you are. [...] Only the one to whom darkness is dearer Goes out of his mind And plans a new war. But I am ready for anything. I trust your heart. What would I be without you, My country!... [...] I am happy in my country, I am completely happy! 5 This poem presents the usual banal antithesis: the righteous Communists confront the evil capitalist enemy; Soviet whiteness, representing purity, is posed against the blackness of Capitalism, symbolising its worthless corruption; spring, morning and light, for the hope innate in the new order, are counterpoised to the despair, darkness and night of the enemy, and their ideas whose day has long passed. The positive energies of construction and creation among ourselves are contrasted to the negative approach of sowing discord, war and destruction on the part of the enemy; while the wisdom and understanding of our leaders decisions is opposed to the irrationality of our enemy s leaders, and the future, that belongs to us, to the dead-âend at the end of the enemy s path. The poem is fashioned in only two colors: black against white, in which everything that is ours is white and everything that pertains to our enemies is black. If the poem is indeed written sincerely, and not in order to curry favour with the rulers, than the simplicity and blindness of the poetess approach are so striking as to lead one to cast doubt upon her intellectual competence and the objectivity of her judgment. She believes (or pretends to believe) everything that the recruited communications media in the Soviet Union say, rather than what her own eyes reveal to her. Her poems are tantamount to a collection of communist slogans, empty of contents, and it is not clear for what sort of audience they were intended. The voices that emerge from the poem are those of the militant, paranoiac propaganda of the leadership of the Soviet Union, directed against an enemy of unknown identity. The poetess claims to be happy, to a large extent due to her just ideological struggle on behalf of her Soviet motherland, but ironically the causes and goals of that struggle are not at all clear (p. 66). Such an excess of needless aggression creates a grotesque and absurd impression, contrary to the author s intention. In general, from a poetic point of view, her poetry is engagé, dull and unremarkable.

79 66 Hanna Levina ( ) 3 Gender and Jewish aspects of Levina s poetry Levina wrote a great deal about the Jewish woman: in her poetry, the feminine and Jewish aspects are combined within a single entity. This is true, first and foremost, of her Yiddish poetry, but is likewise true of a number of her poems in Russian. In those Yiddish poems that speak of the Jewish woman, there is none of the cloying and deceitful sweetness so characteristic of her ideological poetry in Russian. Her Yiddish poems are personal and straightforward, betraying the poetess s identification with her heroine. I refer here primarily to her poems One Out of Many (Yiddish: Eine wi a sach andere ) and Woman (Yiddish: Froi ), which give powerful expression to her authentic feelings and the depth of her suffering. The poems are realistic, at times even tending towards naturalism. Levina s innovation lies in her originality, in her frankness and in her providing a platform to the woman s voice in Yiddish poetry. Thus, Levina s poem Woman exposes a terrible reality: Woman (Froi) 6 Whom can I tell about my pain? I can t keep silent about my wounds. [...] Every night I see women in my dream. They are being pulled by the hair to the gates... There are mutilated women on tables. They are carrying twisted knees and the torn off hands of others [...] Parts of children and women what fear and horror! [...] In a dream I also saw you lacerated. My little dear son, how have I deserved this? [...] That a mother see the coffin of her own son. [...] But women [...] For them just to raise a child Is happiness. Each cell of my body is full Of dreadful pain and grief I don t have the strength to endure this pain. [...] Creatures enjoy life, They enjoy love. [...] But [...] this kind of a life is not for me. [...]. 7 Levina s portrayal of the events that befell the Jews of Eastern Europe during the Russian Civil War is reminiscent of descriptions of the Jewish fate during the Second World War. Her descriptions are documentary, penetrating, witty and deal with existential matters. The poetess speaks here of the torments undergone by a woman who eventually died of these tortures. To a person suffering in this manner, an easy and quick death is a precious gift, enjoyed by only a few. The women portrayed by Levina only died after prolonged agony and distress difficult to even imagine.

80 Hanna Levina ( ) 67 There are, however, other inhuman torments to which satanic and diabolical persons can submit a woman namely, forcing her to observe her child subject to excruciating pain and torture, and thereafter to see him dead. This is a form of suffering that an ordinary woman cannot stand from an emotional, mental or psychological viewpoint; her own death would be preferable to her to such an ordeal. It is preferable that a woman in such a position, if she cannot commit suicide, attempt to faint or lose her sanity rather than to see such a sight and all these to protect herself. If a woman remains alive after such an experience, her life is in any event no longer life, and she will eventually lose her sanity or commit suicide albeit only after a prolonged and excruciating process of emotional and mental death, making it preferable that she conclude it as quickly as possible. The woman speaking in this poem is crazed by lurid memories of the loss of her child and complains that she herself did not enjoy an easy or rapid death but remained alive. She is pursued by nightmares that give her no rest; with which she struggles during her sleep at night; she awakens from her torments to the sound of her own sighs and groans, and is ashamed that she is still alive. The memories of her dead child appear repeatedly before her mind s eye; she is unable to find her own place because of her great suffering; she is about to go mad. A woman s simplest and most basic pleasure lies in raising her child, says the poetess, remembering her only child and the unthinkable destiny which befell her. Motherhood is the most fundamental, deeply rooted and authentic experience, filling the woman with existential happiness. The woman s essence lies in her feelings, and these are centered upon her exclusive love for her child. But in the situation portrayed in this poem, the speaker feels like a wild forest animal who has lost her young a crazed beast, whose only relief to her pain lies in her own death. But death refuses to come, and she is no longer able to wait for it. Every moment of waiting for the redemption of death is intolerable torture; the poetess entire life is an infinite period of anticipating that death. This is the decree to which she has been sentenced, says the poetess, wondering what terrible sin she has committed to be subjected to such a punishment. Meanwhile, life continues without her. Living creatures come into the world, into life, into the time for love. Creatures are born, enjoy a simple and true life, bear offspring, and enjoy seeing them growing up. But the poetess has not enjoyed this simple joy, stolen from her by wicked people. God in His heavens cares for his creatures and watches over them, says the poetess, in what sounds like irony and sarcasm. But in truth, mankind is a disaster and freedom is a bitter joke. The poetess concludes on a positive note: life will become freed from evil. But notwithstanding this upbeat note, in wake of the poem that speaks of unbearable suffering, its ending seems somehow weak, untrustworthy and unconvincing. The poem cycle One of Many (Yiddish: Eine wi a sach andere ) was also written in Yiddish by Levina and is notable for its honesty and authenticity. This poem portrays the life of a provincial Jewish girl, Sima, from a poor background.

81 68 Hanna Levina ( ) Exploited and humiliated by the bourgeois Jewish environment, Sima joins the revolutionary movement: One of Many (Yiddish: Eine wi a sach andere) In the cellar [where little Sima and her mother live] it is damp Whether the sun shines or it rains. [...] The manor house for aristocrats [where Sima worked in her childhood as a poor, humiliated servant] Has a garden but not for long-âhaired Sima [...] What Was Endured 8 The members of the district committee say: So comrades we are going! [...] They gather in the yard of the barracks, Learn how to march in order. In a military uniform, Sima rushes up to her mother, Stay well, Mom, we re going! And, don t be angry, Vasia [Sima s Russian comrade in arms who is also her lover] loves me. [...] Oy, who would trust you with a gun, My little girl, my fine young lady? [...] Hey, quick march! Quick march! [...] Mothers and fathers are watching [...] A lad looks with mouth wide open And whispers in fright: Mama, Mama, [...] There s a girl there... with a gun! The commander says to his company: Brothers! What does it mean to be a Bolshevik? To put it short, we re in the shit, The enemy has us on the point of his bayonet! [...] Hey, buddy, Cossack! Better beat the officers, Tear the vile ones in pieces! Bullets are flying [...] The commander says to his company: There s no way back for us! [...] Vasia loads the machine gun And Sima, as if half-âconscious, Takes up a gun and advances to the battle! The human liver looks just like a stone When it lies disemboweled on the road. So let it be a stone, who cares about it, Who asks about it at all? [...] A soldier get his feet entangled In his guts After all he is just lying there, who cares about him!

82 Only the disgusting worms see this. [...] Hey, fighter, show your courage, [...] Here there s neither hero nor knight. [...] Vasia sits on the grass next to Sima [...] Vasia becomes angry and his anger speaks: If I am your beloved, your beloved... But Sima says not a word. He leads her to a field and to ravines [...] Sima lies in the grass at night And gazes at the broken moon. Moist from the grass and from kisses, [...] Vasia kisses her soldiers sleeves A gentle wind chases secrets and leaves [...] Attack Higher, higher, raise you heads, the bayonets [...] Forward, Bolsheviks, Screw the fucking god, Mother Mary and her son. You re not a Bolshevik If you die a natural death Vasia says and his gun itches to fight. They are gaily going into battle with him, The cavalry spur on their horses, And the infantry readies their bayonets. And Vasia approaches Sima, He approaches Sima very quietly: Oh, my dear soldier, my poor one. You are being sent behind enemy lines. The commander asked me Where he could find a brave woman And I gave him your name, Like I was pulling a wide ring off from my finger. You should tell our comrades That we are ready and brave. [...] And no one must see you, not even a bird, Not your mother, not any relatives. And Vasia bent his broad shoulders, [...]: I will be a son of a bitch, I will die on the spot If I am still alive when you die. [...] The Bolsheviks are breaking through, The Reds are already in the town! Hey, you horse, you priest with a long mane. You, dirty whore, tell me How my close buddy Was hanged on a tree [...] Hanna Levina ( ) 69

83 70 Hanna Levina ( ) When they tortured my wife s flesh to the bone. The priest: Let me go, dear children. Christ be with you. As you see, I am old. First soldier: You, long-âhaired rat, You re scared shitless, you re afraid to die! Second soldier: Let him go, to hell with him! Look what kind of merchandise I ve got hold of, Something better to play with We have an officer as a dear guest To the officer: So, you re caught, you handsome peacock, You rotten son of a bitch, Today we ll have a holiday With your head and with your blood! Officer: You, pigs, stop playing with me! Just shoot me right away! [...] Boom the sky is breaking apart, Boom the earth is splitting apart. [...] Forward, Bolsheviks! Screw the fucking god, Mother Mary, and her son! [...] The Red ranks advance Altogether, step by step [...] Be afraid of both fear and of revenge! [...] Sima sees her old mother Sima is running down the street, How good that we are now together. But why is that rope tied around your neck? [Her mother is dead, hanging from a lamp post.] Why are you hanging from a rope, dear Mama? Why is your neck swollen? Her mother speaks in an agitated manner And her head trembles on her old neck: You understand, it was the secret police. [...] You, he said, are the mother of a Trotsky And he hanged me from a lamp post. [...] god is an imagined thing. In the Aftermath [of the Civil War, which ended some time ago] There are no longer [...] any rifles around. [...] Sima says to Vasia: Well, my dear one, [...] we too need to study. What do you say, Vasek? [...] [They apply to the local Soviet committee, with a request to accept them as members and enroll them into the learning courses].

84 Epilogue Little, little room, [...] They [Sima and Vasia] are sitting together, [...] Studying and reading. They study Marx [...] And share the single bed. [...] The fresh rosy morning arrives, And looks for Sima s window. Sima laughs through the window pane [...]. 9 Hanna Levina ( ) 71 The poem tells the story of the life of Sima, from her birth in her parent s home through middle age, which finds her raising her children and working to build Communism in her beloved Soviet homeland. The above passage from this epic poem describes events undergone by her during her service in the ranks of the Red Army infantry during the course of the Civil War of the Bolsheviks against the White Army between 1919 and The segment in question relates to the horrors of the war. Violent death is everywhere. Both soldiers and civilians women, children and the elderly expect unnatural, premature death. The fear of death itself serves as a reason for torture and executions. In the ranks of the Red Army there is no one who is afraid to kill or to be killed; on the contrary, the soldiers rejoice at the prospect of battle, and are anxious to prove that they are true Bolsheviks by the opportunity to bring death upon themselves. The poem s heroine, Sima, has had a difficult life, going from one trouble to another, without hope, having nothing, She pins her hopes upon the Bolshevik revolution and even volunteers for the Red Army, where she finds herself in constant danger. She is closer to death than to life; the only wish of the heroes of the poem in this section is a quick and easy death. The contents of the poem speak of frightening and shocking things, that to a large extent are consistent with the contents of Levina s previous poem, Woman. But unlike the previous poem, whose style was detached and disheartened, in this poem the tone is upbeat and emphatic. It is written in an elliptic, allusive fashion, omitting numerous details. The narrative is filled with the conversation of its protagonists, whose words are brought with minimal interference on the part of the author and without connecting them to one another. Rather, they are piled upon one another in a disjointed, fragmented manner, incorporating vulgar curses, short battle cries and fragments of interjections. This style conveys, in concrete manner, the nervous and pressured atmosphere that is also indicated by the contents. Even though the poem attempts to display an optimistic atmosphere, while justifying the suffering of its heroes as contributing to the Bolshevik victory, the overall impression gained from the poem is harsh, grating and frightening. Its heroine s destiny as a woman is shown in the poem as of secondary and negligible importance, in accordance with its title, One of Many. But between the lines there emerges a dreary picture of an unfortunate Jewish woman who

85 72 Hanna Levina ( ) served in the Red Army alongside simple and vulgar Russian men. Her military service was in itself a cause for wonder, as at that period women did not participate in active combat duty. Sima was perhaps the only woman or one of very few who found herself in combat, alongside soldiers who at every moment confronted probable death. This situation often leads men to seek immediate gratification, even in the absence of the most elementary human relation, and even in unsuitable surroundings. Thus, for example, Isaak Babel s work Red Cavalry (Konarmiia), which portrays the same Red Army during the same period of the civil war of , describes situations of rape of female combatants, as well as group rape, influenced by the dangers of the battlefield. Levina s poem likewise describes sexual relations being imposed upon its protagonist, Sima, by Vasia, in the mud and pits in the earth. Later Sima feels that the moon in the sky above her has acquires a harsh aspect and becomes submissive, symbolising her own unhappiness, bitterness and disgruntled state as a result of these relations. On the one hand, the Bolshevik Revolution freed Sima from the miserable and awful situation in which she had found herself. But, on the other, it brought her into other difficult situations, including the acceptance of compromise in her national and religious identity. The compromise between the authentic Jew and the alien Russian, which the poetess was forced to accept, is described in the next poem, even though it is offered to the reader in an optimistic spirit. Grandma (Babushka) Rocking her grandson evenly, Grandma remembered the old sad refrain. The uncircumcised infant with fair hair [...] is a gift for her. The name of the grey-âhaired old woman is Sarah. [...] The names of the biblical patriarchs Are familiar to her. But she does not know Where Kim, her grandson s name comes from [...] And, rocking the tyke in his cradle, [she is] Singing the old song: Oy, the goat will go to the market. He ll bring you raisins and almonds [...] Her grandson grows, constantly laughing loudly. [...] Instead of the old song about the little goat, He asks for The Internationale. [...] 11 This poem describes the relations between a grandmother a Jewish woman of the old generation who continues the ancient tradition received from her own mother and grandmother and her grandson a Russian child in every sense of the word: uncircumcised, living and breathing the Soviet reality and identifying with it with all his soul. The encounter between the two, likened to that between two alien and foreign worlds, initially creates tension and opens the door to humorous situations, but ends in mutual knowledge and closeness, particularly on the part of the old grandmother towards her unfamiliar grandson.

86 Hanna Levina ( ) 73 The new reality thus the poetess argues strides forward, causing the grandmother to adopt the ways of her grandson and the ideological world that he represents. And is this not to her own benefit as well? The old world not only imposed upon her a world of darkness and Socialist and ideological backwardness, but also brought her unnecessary fears and suffering things that, according to Levina, are not found in the enlightened world of Communism. The poem implies that it is preferable to forego Jewishness and to accept the communist reality happily and integrate willingly within the Russian people. Levina s poetry written in Russian differs considerably from that in Yiddish. Her Russian poetry is simplistic, shallow and more pretentious than her frank and tortured poetry in Yiddish. They express total devotion to and enthusiasm for the Soviet motherland, and her supreme happiness in light of her life there at least on the face of it. Levina s poetry published in Russian was rather a means of promoting the Soviet propaganda message, which stressed her love of and devotion to the Communist Russian homeland.

87 6 Ol ga Ziv ( ) An unknown Jewish author Homo sovieticus Aleksandr Zinovyev (1986) 1 The life and work of Ol ga Ziv Ol ga Maximovna Ziv was the pen name of Ol ga Vikhman (St Petersburg, 1904 Moscow, 9 February 1963), a Russian-Âlanguage Soviet prose writer. We know very little about this writer, although it is known that in the 1920s she was an active member of the Komsomol, the Communist Youth Movement and long maintained ties with that organisation. Ziv was a talented and interesting woman who liked the company of talented and interesting people. Before the Second World War she married Orest (Ernest) Dmitrievich Tiesenhausen ( ), a theorist and historian of literature and of the theatre. Tiesenhausen was a descendant of three generations of barons and belonged to an ancient aristocratic family of especially distinguished lineage, most of whose members were outstanding intellectuals or high-âranking army officers. The family also had members in the upper aristocracy of three Baltic states and the Russian Empire. Tiesenhausen himself was a gifted young man who played the piano, completed his studies in physics and mathematics with distinction, was the editor of a literary journal entitled Abracksas, and in was among the founders of the literary group known as the Emotionalists (emotzionalisty). He produced the Declaration of Formblism, 1 an innovative theory of art and literature that to a great extent was a development and radical form of Russian Formalism. 2 Most members of the Tiesenhausen family lost their lives in the Stalinist persecutions. Orest Tiesenhausen had been imprisoned a number of times at the beginning of Stalin s rule. Finally, he was arrested on 26 May 1937 and was executed on 26 October of that year, the very day that his father, Dmitri Orestrovitch, was also executed. During the Second World War, Ol ga made the acquaintance of Vil iam [William] Efimovich Giller, a man of Jewish extraction, who served as an officer in the medical corps of the Red Army from 1934 to 1945, and was on the front

88 Ol ga Ziv ( ) 75 during the years 1941 to He was one of the founders of the institution of field hospitals, and introduced the transference of hospitals from the front to the rear in time of war. During the Second World War Giller was one of the chief army surgeons in the Soviet Union. The figure of Raisa Moiseevna, the Jewish heroine of Ziv s novel in Russian, The Burning Hour, a physician and military surgeon in the Soviet army during the war, was largely modeled on Villiam Giller and on Ziv s impression of him. Giller was also a prolific author. He published two novels, both in Russian, each one of nearly 200 pages. The first one was The Quiet Tyrant, published in serial form in the literary journal Banner, and only published in its complete form in 1975 and Giller published an additional novel, Two Long Days, in It is surprising that neither of his novels are known or can be found in any libraries outside of Russia neither during the time of the Soviet Union nor following its dissolution. Further information on the life of Ol ga Ziv is very sparse. It is known that she met Anna Akhmatova and gave her a copy of The Burning Hour as a gift, in which she wrote the following dedication: To the respected and adored Anna Andreevna Akhmatova with infinite gratitude for our chance acquaintance at Golitsyno. Ol ga Ziv, Golitsyno, 5 3 September 1954, at the time of our parting. Little is known of Ziv s life as an authoress. Ol ga was one of the pupils of Nikolai Gumiliov, the founder and leader of the Guild of Poets (Tzeh Poetov) literary circle, active in St Petersburg during three different periods. In the first, that of its founders Gumiliov and Gorodetsky, it was active from 1911 to 1914; during the second period, , it was active under the leadership of other Russian poets; and in the third period, from 1920 to 1922, it was initially under the leadership of Gumiliov and, after he was taken to be executed in August 1921, 6 under the leadership of another Russian poet. 7 Ol ga studied under Gumiliov from the spring of 1921 until his arrest in August of that year, at a studio called The Ringing Conchshell (Zvuchaschaya Rakovina), which operated within the framework of the Guild of Poets. Ol ga Ziv died in Moscow in 1953 at the age of only Ol ga Ziv s two novels It is known that Ol ga Ziv wrote two long novels. The first was The Burning Hour, nearly 700 pages long, about the upsurge of Communist construction in uninhabited areas of north-âeastern Siberia. A manuscript of the book was submitted to the committee for the Stalin Literary Prize, the most prestigious prize in Soviet Russia, but was sharply criticised by Stalin himself. Stalin complained that, although the novel s description of the growth of industry and urbanisation in north-âeastern Russia was praiseworthy, and it depicted the working life of the workers, the private life of the workers was not shown. Stalin added that the novel submitted for the prize only portrayed the life of the workers in the factory, their socialist rivalry for greater productivity, but not their private lives: how the worker spent his free time, what his

89 76 Ol ga Ziv ( ) salary was and how he spent it, what his cultural interests were, how his home was run. Stalin asserted that to overlook the private lives of the workers was to overlook the workers themselves. Stalin himself disqualified Ol ga s book from receiving the prize and included it in a long list of books that were said to diminish the value of Soviet literature because their authors refrained from dealing with the private lives of the workers. Although the book did not receive the prize and was criticised by Stalin, it was published in 1954, after Stalin s death. It should be noted that the book is not well-âknown and is only found in a few libraries in the entire world. Ziv s second book, People Trust You (also in Russian), a novel of over 500 pages, was the product of the joint efforts of herself and Vil iam Giller, and was published in 1963, the year of her death. 8 Two names were given for its author, and it is not clear what each of them contributed. This book is also generally unknown, and is barely found in libraries in the West. The novel sets before the reader a broad canvas of the lives of doctors working in hospitals, and especially those of the two main characters, L vovskii and Rybash. The novel gives a dramatic description of hospital routine: performing complicated surgical operations, looking after convalescents, and dealing with their psychological reactions to their situation. All this is described in a lifelike, almost naturalistic documentary manner, reflecting real knowledge of medicine and especially of surgery. It would appear that the extensive knowledge of medicine and surgery displayed by the authors was due to the training and work-â experience of Vil iam Giller. This already found expression in Ol ga Ziv s first novel, The Burning Hour, in which the Jewish heroine, the general practitioner and surgeon Raisa Moiseevna, is described with accurate and authentic medical and surgical detail. I would also point out that L vovskii, one of the main characters in Giller and Ziv s novel People Trust You, was a Jew, which once again demonstrates Ziv s tendency to depict medicine as a Jewish profession in the Soviet Union a fact regarded by the public as almost self-âevident. Like Olga Ziv s first novel The Burning Hour, Giller and Ziv s novel People Trust You is marked by the complex development of a large number of main and secondary plots at the expense of psychological depth and the inner world of the characters. Unlike Ziv s first novel, which Stalin criticised in his day, saying that there was not enough description of the lives of the workers outside their work in the metal-âfactory, in the second novel this defect is rectified. Here an important role is also given to portraying the doctors lives outside the hospital: New Year s parties, technological innovations and new electrical appliances in the homes of the hospital staff, and so on. People Trust You has other literary characteristics that recall The Burning Hour as well. In both novels the characters are divided into two clearly defined camps : the good and the evil. The positive characters in People Trust You are Dr L vovski and Dr Rybash, while the negative one is Professor Mezentzov. Mezentzov s character-âtraits recall those of Irina Konyukhov in Ziv s first novel. He too is vain and arrogant, with an unjustifiably high opinion of himself and his talents.

90 Ol ga Ziv ( ) 77 The impression received is that in Giller and Ziv s novel, Giller s contribution was to provide the innumerable medical details that give variety and complexity to the novel, while Ziv was the one who actually wrote the novel and gave it artistic form. Although Ziv s earlier novel is better-âknown both in Russia and the West than their joint novel, The Burning Hour did not receive the attention of the critics, whereas People Trust You enjoyed very favourable criticism shortly after its publication. 9 3 Ziv s The Burning Hour as Soviet propaganda Ziv s novels give the impression that they were written with a tendentious purpose: namely, to obtain the sympathy, recognition and encouragement of those in authority for their author. I shall deal here only with her first novel, The Burning Hour, both because she was its sole author, and because it was more authentic than the second, being written with all the vehemence of the Stalinist period, at the height of Soviet power. The novel was written in the spirit of Socialist Realism favoured under Stalin, and is a sort of guide-âfor-living addressed to the Soviet man as the socialist regime wished him to be. The novel describes the setting up of a factory for the heavy industry of metal work and the founding of a new town adjacent to it. The factory workers all live in the town, and it provides them with all the services they need. It is difficult to identify one main character in the novel, but there is one figure that stands out more than the others the senior engineer, who originally conceived the idea of creating the factory and town he now administered: a Jew named Efim Borisovich Kazansky, referred to as the brain of the factory complex. The good characters in the novel, and especially Kazansky, devote their entire lives to their work. Setting up the factory and the town surrounding it had been Kazansky s dream from his youth onwards, and now in his old age he saw it becoming a reality. All the good heroes, and particularly Kazansky, treated working for socialism as their personal concern, implanted deep in their heart. They were dependent on their work emotionally and psychologically; they saw their work as the purpose of their lives and their existential mission. They made no distinction between their work and themselves, and gave their lives to the enterprise without even considering the cost, with enthusiasm and devotion. Kazansky forgot himself in his dedication to his work. Although he was now an elderly man with a sick heart, he stretched his capacities to the limit as he envisaged the lofty vision of building communist society. He was depicted as a role-âmodel, the ideal Soviet man. The workers in the factory and the people in the town were supposed to learn from him and follow his example. Kazansky lived and breathed his work, and was so tied to it that he did not leave the factory even when his life was in danger. Kazansky s father had died of a heart-âattack in his workplace, and that is what Kazansky wanted for himself. He too had pains in the heart when in the factory, but he did not go home but remained at his work until his condition improved. The entire novel, written in

91 78 Ol ga Ziv ( ) the Socialist-ÂRealist style, was a hymn to the Soviet man who lived to build Communism: Once again he [Kazansky] felt that heavy and woeful pressure in his chest that as he already knew well presaged an attack. [...] Are you feeling poorly, dear Efim Borisovich? Marisha [the factory secretary] shouted in fright. [...] Kazansky responded: Please don t panic. I just have to lie down. 10 Kazansky was a kind of ageing Soviet superman. He worked without stopping, never asked for any special consideration and certainly not for material gain, and transformed himself into a kind of work-âmachine that never wore out. Kazansky was never late for work and performed it with exactitude, precision and method. Kazansky was an intelligent, elderly version of Alexey Stakhanov. 11 Like Stakhanov, Kazansky was depicted as having superhuman physical powers and traits of character that were channeled into work output for the future building of Communism. Other senior figures in the factory were similar, and made themselves into Soviet work-âmachines. Their first considerations were orderliness, delivering work on time and working at a good pace: According to an order that had been established once and for all, Korzunov arrived at the industrial complex at exactly nine in the morning. His work time was allotted down to the minute. [...] He [...] insistently required the same exactness from all his subordinates. Korzunov despised unpunctual people and slowpokes. 12 Soviet man paid no attention to the denigration of fools who spoke ill of his socialist labours. When the faithless doubted the correctness of the Communist path and its capacity to succeed, he ignored them and did not allow them to influence him. On the contrary, he showed them that Communism would eventually triumph even if it required great efforts and took a long time: Here a city will be laid out! 13 the youngest of the arrivals proclaimed in an ironically triumphant tone, driving the first wedge into the virgin Siberian earth. Yes, it will be, repeated Kazansky, evidently missing the ironic tone. [...] It seemed to him that he could already see the courtyards and stadiums, the schools and movie theaters, the kindergartens and museums of the future city of metal workers [...] Although no longer a young man, he nevertheless was among the first builders of the complex who, with all the fervor of youthful feelings, set about implementing his dreams. 14 As we can see from this description, Soviet man was enthusiastic about only one thing: socialist labour and contributing to the building of Communism. He was engulfed in a passion for work that burned within him. Unlike other feelings, Soviet man s desire for work was never satisfied and never wearied. He was

92 Ol ga Ziv ( ) 79 devoted to work throughout his life, and his work gave him his happiness and joy in living. From a critical perspective, one might say that the condition of Soviet man was worse than that of a work-âmachine in that, unlike a machine, he worked in a state of subjection, happy in his perpetual enslavement to the Soviet system and the cult of socialist labour. The Soviet man cooperated with the coercive system, and the harder it was, the more satisfaction he felt and the greater his enjoyment. The ideal Soviet man was a kind of human perpetuum mobile. He lacked any critical sense or self-âawareness, and had no feelings apart from his concern for his work and his output. The ideal Soviet man was born in subjection, lived his life in subjection, and did not know and did not want to know any other kind of life. He was willing to die for the sake of his work, and was ready to lay down his life for his enslaving master: the Soviet authorities, and first and foremost Stalin himself. 15 Ziv shows the reader the qualities that constitute the Soviet man. He is committed to carrying out the socialist mission whatever the situation and whatever the price. He is not satisfied with what he has achieved, but always demands greater and greater efforts of himself and those around him. This outlook is basic, self-âevident, inescapable: the behaviour of a man who does not act in such a way is unacceptable, intolerable. At the same time, the Soviet man could not claim any credit for his achievements, as they are in any case his goal in life. He must always aim at greater achievements than those he has reached. He must always be modest and refuse all honours and prizes for his achievements. On the contrary, bestowing honours on the Soviet man is likely to annoy him, as it diverts him from his work and gives him the unjustified feeling that he has done all he can and may now look after himself and rest. Thus: Fifteen years previously, when the industrial complex was just starting up, someone who came to the festivities referred to the completed project as the crown of engineering creativity. Kazansky became furious. He could not stand resounding rhetoric and empty verbiage: I can agree that engineering expedience was achieved here [...] but crowning means the ending of something. No way! I don t accept that! 16 Soviet man believed wholeheartedly that he did not deserve any reward for his work. If those around him insisted on giving him some mark of appreciation, he rejected it with disgust because he was convinced it was nothing but vain, hypocritical flattery. Receiving honours and remuneration for work was liable to give Soviet man an unpleasant feeling, a sense of oppression. He was liable to take offense at the desire of those around him to pay him tribute. Soviet man would only agree to receive honours if not receiving them would harm his holy of holies: if it would cause some hitch or delay in the smooth working of the factory. Accordingly, Kazansky finally agrees to have his portrait painted and exhibited in the local museum only in order to prevent repeated visits to the

93 80 Ol ga Ziv ( ) factory by painters and people from the museum, as their visits disturbed the workers and interfered with their work. Not only does the content of the novel serve the purposes of Soviet propaganda, but also its plot. The scheme of the novel concerns various problems related to the execution of socialist labour. There was a hitch in production in the factory as a result of the subversion of Sosnin, the character who represents dark anti-âsoviet forces, the opponent of the building of Communism in the words of the Soviet slogan, the enlightened future of humanity. 17 As might be expected, all the positive workers in the factory exerted themselves to repair the hitch. The novel is written in flowery language, with a division of the characters into two clear ideological camps; the positive ones who give their all for socialist construction, and the negative ones who stand in their way and try in vain to prevent the execution of that sacred task. Both the positive characters and the negative ones are depicted in a flat and artificial way. 4 Soviet women and Soviet Jewish women in Ziv s novel Although the novel The Burning Hour was written in the spirit of the conservative and chauvinistic approach to women of the Stalinist period, it nevertheless entails some interesting and original ideas of the author on this subject. In the vast majority of cases, the figures of men and women in the novel are stereotyped. The world revolves around men. A man is wise, serious, practical a positive personality who is the object of identification and trust. That is what a Soviet man is. Only a man is able to contribute to society and ideology at his own expense, out of dedication to the Communist ideals of creating new factories and towns in the Soviet motherland. Only he can labour with the enthusiasm of a Stakhanovite to build the Communism of the future. 18 It is only for a man that socialist labour can be more important than anything else in life. Accordingly, the main characters in Ziv s novel the youths, the members of the Komsomol are glorified as supermen against a background of banal everyday routine: Ozerov and Volodin and Belochkin and many others who were already leading workers had come to build the complex more than fifteen years ago as green, untrained youths. During the fierce frosts, blown about by the icy Siberian winds, they first dug pits in the frozen earth, then dried the swamps and built on the site of the swamps workshops like palaces, then put together in the workshops the most complex equipment [...] They lacked food and sleep, they suffered from cold in the winter and from malaria and taiga mosquitoes in the summer. 19 The Soviet man has superhuman physical capabilities: he is able to survive in conditions no living creature could bear all these extraordinary character-âtraits were placed in the service of socialist production. The Soviet man contributes to society regardless of the cost, and is able to forget his own needs through his

94 Ol ga Ziv ( ) 81 concern for Communist ideals. He builds the Communism of the future with doubled energy and enthusiasm. A true man was one devoted to his socialist labour, while all other sectors of society were somebody else. These others were divided into good and bad on the basis of communist criteria. This attitude is expressed first of all in relation to the women depicted in the novel. In general, one may say that the attitude towards them is patriarchal and patronising. The woman was a companion to her man and helped him to build Communism. For the most part, women were also divided into two stereotyped groups: good women who performed this task, and bad women who were uncooperative and thus hindered the fulfillment of this lofty mission. We shall first consider the group to which the majority of the women belonged: namely, the good women who stood behind their men and their work. These lived in the town and loved it. They were idealistic, honest and warmhearted Russian girls who worked hard in building the town and the metal-â factory. They usually performed lighter tasks than the men and provided services for the male workers. These girls gave a soft, feminine, homely touch to the harsh existence of the male workers. Thus, the following description of a young Russian woman who worked in the canteen of the metal-âfactory: Tasya, with whom [...] Belochkin was in love, worked as a cashier in the students dining room. The whole institute knew the round good-ânatured girl: she [...] illuminated every portion of vegetable stew that she sold with such a warm smile that the stew almost became edible. 20 Such girls, shy and modest, were devoted to their work. Their main concern was to give good service to the workers in the factory and to help them to achieve the highest quality, to ensure that their work was good and effective: 21 Voldin married [...] the young Komsomol girl who worked with concrete; [...] and because of her fervent dedication to her job her girl-âfriends gave her the endearing nickname Shurochka close to her heart. Indeed, she deemed every cubic meter of concrete that was set in the pit of the future Martenov workshop 22 and every obstacle that the builders faced as close to her heart. 23 Girls such as these nimble, lively, respectful of the senior workers were not made up. They had a natural and spontaneous beauty, and it goes without saying that they took no interest in men. They accepted their subsidiary position in relation to men: it was the man who chose a girl and made her his wife. This model was in no way contrary to the conventional stereotype. When these girls grew older, they became mature women who were endearing in their lyrical, melancholy, authentic Russian beauty. They did not deliberately cultivate their sexuality and certainly did not flaunt it. They saw themselves first of all as mothers and wives, and their beauty was revealed unintentionally. They contributed to the Soviet motherland in a way befitting a woman: by bearing and raising children, who would be the next generation of the Soviet

95 82 Ol ga Ziv ( ) people (89 97). They also looked after their husbands faithfully and devotedly, enabling them to use their strength for the building of Communism (85). Such women are shown in an unequivocally positive and idealistic light. Depicted in a shallow, superficial and simplistic manner, they are the embodiments of Soviet slogans. These women were the Soviet version of the mother-â figure who bore her children in pain, who deprived herself for others and sacrificed herself on the altar of motherhood, family and husband. 24 In contrast to these, there is also another type of woman in the novel selfish, assertive, morally unrestrained who deliberately uses her sexuality to attract men. She has no interest in building communism, but only wishes to exploit the beloved motherland for her own enjoyment. This is the Soviet version of the traditional prostitute. 25 In the novel, this type was personified by Irina Konyukhov, the wife of Nikolai Ozerov. She was sharp-âtongued, free and easy with men, manipulative, cynical, impudent, exploitative and, in a word, corrupt. But these negative characteristics were concealed beneath an artificial mask of coquettish innocence. This girl attracted and seduced her future husband by means of various low stratagems when he was young, inexperienced and idealistic. By the time he was older and shrewder, he found himself married to her: [Ozerov and Irina] were very different people, but for some reason Irina became interested in Ozerov [when they were still young and single]. [...] At first Ozerov did not attribute any significance to the meetings that took place between them, nor did he seek them himself. But that did not stop the self-âconfident and stubborn Irina. [...] Somehow Irina succeeded in inviting Ozerov to spend some time at her house and two weeks after his first visit [...] he was already completely overwhelmed by his new experiences there. [...] He truly considered Irina to be perfect. 26 When they were first acquainted, Ozerov was happy with Irina, but over in time, as he came to know her better, his attitude towards her became ambivalent. On the one hand he loved her, but on the other hand he was repelled by her seemingly innocent behaviour which in reality was impudent and licentious. This was even expressed in the way she danced: On another occasion they quarreled because of dancing. Irina danced well and loved the fox-âtrot. Ozerov didn t dance at all. She wanted to teach him [...] but he blushed, frowned and pushed Irina away from himself sharply. What s the matter with you? she asked with surprise. [...] Grasping her fingers with his strong hands and looking her straight in the eyes, he asked: Do you dance this way with other men? 27 If Ozerov had been a shrewder judge of character, he would have kept away from Irina, but unfortunately for him he was young, unassuming and inexperienced in dealing with women. Consequently he was open to her temptations, something that later caused him to suffer years of pain and depression for which

96 Ol ga Ziv ( ) 83 she was responsible once he was married to her. Irina was a decidedly negative figure. Irina and her husband are represented as antithetical. Ozerov is depicted as a poor and naïve man, devoted to study, hardworking, with a high regard for the communist ideology: in short, the embodiment of the ideal Soviet man. By contrast, his wife is depicted as a frivolous, idle, pretentious and empty woman who shows no interest in ideological matters. She is the opposite of the ideal Soviet woman: Ozerov was studying in the evening division [the one attended by the common folk who had to work in the daytime], while Irina was in the one that operated during the day. Ozerov lived in the dormitory [...] Irina lived with her father in one of the apartments for individual families [rather than a communal one shared by average Soviet citizens]. [...] Cramming is not for us, the hereditary members of the intelligentsia! she explained in an off-âhand manner. Ozerov was chosen Komsomol 28 organizer of the evening division. He took this very seriously and began to read political literature intensively, [...] Irina [...] quickly fell asleep over Marx and other required ideological writings. 29 Representing a husband and wife as antithetical in order to emphasise the harmful characteristics of the wife in contrast to the admirable qualities of the husband is not anything new in Russian literature; it already appears in the works of Tolstoy, Chekhov and Zoschenko. 30 But here the contrast takes on an ideological coloring: the wife is not helping to build Communism, and in fact hinders its construction, while the husband devotes all his strength to the achievement of this lofty national and universal goal. Selfishness is Irina s salient feature. She sees motherhood as a nuisance, a hindrance to the round of pleasures and pampering in which she passes her days. To attain her selfish goals, she is even willing to renounce her function, as a woman, of giving birth to and raising children: Irina became pregnant. Nikolai Petrovich [...] greeted the news with the kind of proud male joy that would have made many women happy. [...] Three weeks later she suddenly took it into her head to travel to Moscow, [...] After a two month absence, Irina returned, overflowing with Moscow impressions, very revived and happy. Ozerov met his wife at the railway-â station. [...] Irinushka, hasn t he started moving yet? [Ozerov asked her] [...] You see, I didn t want to upset your right away, but... there will be no birth. What? What? He asked twice, moving away from her and not yet believing what he had just heard. His face apparently expressed such pain that Irina turned pale. [...] Ozerov [...] decided he wanted a divorce. [...] To her being a mother meant a whole chain of burdens and unpleasantness. 31

97 84 Ol ga Ziv ( ) Irina was unwilling to consider anyone except herself: even her husband was outside her sphere of interest. She neglected him, left him alone for months in order to travel to Moscow and enjoy herself. She was disdainful of the dreams and aspirations of her husband, and never thought of fulfilling them, even when it depended entirely on her, as in the matter of giving him the son he so wanted. It did not even occur to Irina that her husband might want something from her, but she was certain that her presence in his life was the best thing that could happen to him: The old professor [Irina s father] was really attached to his son-âin-law [Ozerov]. [...] he [...] decided to have a decisive conversation with her. Have you separated from Nikolai Petrovich? Irina shrugged her shoulders casually: How can I tell you, Papa... I feel that he does not take enough pleasure in my existence. [...] And have you really tried to give pleasure to him? I? To him? At that point, for the first time Irina thought about the fact that she might somehow give pleasure to her husband. It seems to me that the very fact of our marriage... [...] Fedor Vikentevich interrupted his daughter: The very fact of your marriage, in my opinion, should only aggrieve such a person as your husband. [...] said the old man, [...] I would very much like to have a grandson [...] That is the very pleasure about which, excuse me, you should have done something earlier. [...]. 32 Irina s father, old professor Konyukhov, was the alter ego of the implied author. In the novel, he represents the Soviet propagandist voice of the author; he represents justice and rationality, the oracle according to whose instructions one ought to behave in a reconstructed society. His contempt for his daughter shows that this is how she deserves to be treated. Professor Konyukhov had an ironical and cynical attitude towards his daughter: A serious scientist, a person with a broad education, he [...] ridiculed when his daughter [...] suddenly announced her insistent desire to become an engineer specialising in metallurgy. 33 On the other hand, her father appreciated her husband Ozerov and was sorry for him when he decided to marry his daughter: When Irina announced to her father that she was going to marry Nikolai Ozerov, professor Konyukhov, raising his eyebrows slightly [...] said to his future son-âin-law: From my point of view, [...] it is very easy to get a divorce these days. I am not getting married in order to be divorced! muttered Ozerov. None of us gets married to do that Konyukhov noted, [...] A year later the Ozerovs themselves almost divorced. 34 Professor Konyukhov s positive and respectful approach to Nikolai Ozerov was the correct one, which Irina did not give him because of her arrogance and

98 Ol ga Ziv ( ) 85 unjustified conceit. Irina placed herself above her husband, and her patronising attitude towards him was a ridiculous farce: Father, do you understand: it s better to be married than..., Irina said to her father, [...] Fedor Vikentevich suddenly stopped his daughter: I am afraid he said dryly, that you don t sufficiently appreciate his strength and integrity. You don t find people like Nikolai Petrovich often. They should be looked after properly. 35 Nikolai Ozerov was a modest and unpretentious man who did not try to promote himself, but his wife Irina exploited him and his good qualities in order to benefit from her societal status as a respected married woman, but paid little attention to him as a person. In the end, however, justice prevailed. Nikolai divorced Irina, she received her punishment, and he learnt from bitter experience to become a better judge of character, particularly in the case of women. 36 Later Ozerov met and felt in love with another woman, Maria Kondrat evna, a devoted Communist, whom he eventually married. 37 Irina had no values and no conscience: she was ready to take advantage even of things sacred to all mankind, such as the war of the Soviet Union against the Nazi enemy. The Soviet motherland was in the midst of a bloody struggle with the Nazis, and a military hospital had to be evacuated to Siberia, where additional staff was needed. Irina applied, not in order to assist the hospital as was expected of every Soviet citizen, but for a cynical motive: to pretend to be sick and thereby receive help and attention: The next day Irina set out for the evacuated hospital, now located in the town. [...] Ozerov asked: [...] Wouldn t you like to work there? There is a great need for people to help... She sighed and complained: You don t know, Nikolka... [...] I have terrible headaches I am afraid that I might have a cancerous tumor. [...] The only ones not to believe that Irina was ill were Nikolai Petrovich himself, [...] She is indulging in a whim! Tasya declared severely. Since she was young, she has been making things up. 38 Irina had a high opinion of herself, unjustifiably so. She considered herself an exceptional personality, among other things because she came from the prestigious capital city of Moscow, during the Soviet period considered to be the Mecca of the enlightened world. Her husband was lower down in her scale, because he came from this small town in Siberia: What a horrible town! she complained. [...] you don t have anything to do here...

99 86 Ol ga Ziv ( ) That was not true and Nikolai Petrovich argued about this with his wife until he was hoarse. Once, it occurred to him to ask: I want to know what would you do in Moscow? Well, good God, in Moscow the museums alone could occupy you for a whole year! [...] That is entertainment [...] but I am asking what you would do in Moscow? He placed strong emphasis on the word do [...] What would I do in Moscow? Study. Where? What? Irina was gifted with inventiveness from childhood: I would study what one can t study here. What every intelligent person needs languages! [...] He answered laconically: Wonderful! Study by correspondence! [...] Realising that studying by correspondence might make her trips to Moscow more frequent, she impetuously threw herself on her husband s neck: Nikolka, my genius! [...] why didn t I think of that? [...] Irina [...] even convinced [...] her girlfriends to follow her example. [...] We [...] are united by our longing, our nostalgia, for our native city! [Moscow] said [Irina s friend] arrogantly. [...] When Ozerov heard such conversations, his jaws clenched with anger. 39 In Soviet society which was meant to serve as an example to the peoples of the world of an enlightened and ideal society there should have been no room for people like Irina, a corrupt woman with nothing to be said in her favour. People of her ilk were generally women as, according to the patriarchal and chauvinistic Soviet view, men were more willing to contribute to society, and women were more selfish and exploitative. Soviet society had to tolerate women like Irina for lack of choice, because they existed and nothing could be done about it. The division of women into two stereotypical groups mothers who sacrificed themselves for others, and sinful easy women was not new in world literature and culture. But in Ziv s novel there is also a third type of woman, which relieves the stereotyped dichotomy between the two. The third type is exemplified by Jewish women like Raisa 40 Moseevna Polianovskaia, the woman- Âsurgeon in the town s hospital. Women like her had qualities that were almost masculine: they were educated, wise, energetic women-âof-action. Goodhearted, decisive, brave and responsible, they did not shrink from performing unpleasant and complicated tasks, were unsparing of themselves and ready to contribute to the community at their own expense, in much the same way as did men. They engaged in serious, demanding professions that required a major investment of talent and effort and long years of study, especially in the field of medicine. Raisa Moiseevna performed surgical procedures whose details most women did not even want to hear about. Thus, Irina recoiled upon hearing accounts of the operations that Raisa Moiseevna had performed with her own hands: [...] listen to what Raisa Moiseevna related about how she operated on a hernia yesterday or would surgically remove amazing hemorrhoids tomorrow... Polyanovskaya is an outstanding surgeon, and naturally... [replayed Irina s husband] Naturally ; but such things are disgusting. 41 [...]

100 Ol ga Ziv ( ) 87 Women like Raisa Moiseevna were independent and stood on equal footing with men; indeed, at times they were even superior to men, in that they were able to help them physically and emotionally. Such women solved problems that others were unable to solve, and carried on their shoulders the burden of running the world. The following is an example of a situation that no one was able to resolve until the Jewish woman doctor intervened: the wife of one of the secondary characters in the novel, Dmitrii Vasilevich, was about to give birth in his absence, and was taken to hospital. Her husband wrongly thought she had been wounded and did not know to which hospital she had been taken, fell into a panic, and the hospital staff was helpless. The nurses did not know how to deal with administrative problems. They were at a loss, which finally led to a loud, painful and unnecessary display of emotion: It seemed [to Dmitrii Vasilevich Shekurin] [...] that the most improbable [horrible] things happen. [This is what brought] Dmtrii Vasilevich to the reception room of the city surgical hospital. [...] In response to his [hysterical and desperate] shouting, from an inner door there appeared a not very young, limping woman in a white coat. In half a minute she sized up the situation [...], the woman gave him a very friendly smile [...] and dressed Shekurin in the same kind of white coat that she was wearing. Together they ascended a staircase full of hospital smells to the second floor. Dmitrii Vasilevich noted that it was difficult for his companion to climb the stairs, but she was smiling nevertheless [...]. They stopped at a door with the sign Chief Physician. [...] Shekurin suddenly realized that he was in the presence of [Raisa Moiseevna] Polyanovskaya. Raisa Moiseevna, my dear, he said quietly. Forgive me, I am so afraid [...] because she is about to give birth... [...] She energetically moved the telephone towards herself [...] After dialing the number, she said importantly Polyanovskaya, the head of the surgical hospital is speaking. Inform me exactly what the situation is with Shekurina, who is about to give birth... [...] Her face lit up with a smile, Very good! Very! Thank you! She replaced the receiver and screwed up her eyes cunningly: Well, Papa, hurry up to the maternity unit! [...] Shekurin grabbed Raisa Moiseevna s hand, pulled it sharply several times, then bent over and carefully, tenderly, kissed the surgeons thin, weak-âlooking fingers whose nails were cut short. Well, well, alright, grumbled Polyanovskaya and looked at Shekurin with moist eyes. 42 Raisa Moiseevna is deserving of all praise because of her love of people and her strong and sincere desire to help them, because of her resourcefulness under pressure, and because of her combination of self-âcontrol and warm human feeling. She is depicted in the novel as an ideal person from the human point of

101 88 Ol ga Ziv ( ) view: she is mother and father to every person around her. Raisa Moiseevna is a kind of institution in herself, a superwoman. People like Raisa Moiseevna are the basis of the existence of the enlightened world. In wartime she was conscripted into the army and served in the medical corps side by side with men. In this respect she is the antithesis of Irina ÂKonyukhov. Women like Raisa Moiseevna were part of the mosaic of Great Mother Russia, which saved the world from Nazism, and which in the future would save it from Capitalism and bring it into Communism thus, according to the Soviet ideology. Ziv wrote in accordance with the dictates of the authorities: the characterisation of both men and women was flat, simplistic and shallow. Her novel lacked depth or complexity, and against this background her positive treatment of the Jewish characters in the novel stands out. But Ziv was extremely cautious: her sympathy for Jews was based on their tremendous professional contribution to the Soviet motherland. The heroes, and presumably the writer herself, had no connection with what in the Soviet Union was contemptuously called cosmopolitanism (i.e. Jewish solidarity) because all the Jewish heroes in the novel, such as Kazansky and Polianovskaya herself, were assimilated and married to Russians spouses.

102 7 Yulia Neiman ( ) Brilliant philosopher and poetess The plain truth tortures the soul Yulia Neiman 1 Yulia Neiman: youth on the blade of the Stalinist Knife Yulia Moiseevna Neiman (born 22 (?) July 1907, Ufa; died, 1994, Moscow, pseudonym: Yu. Novikova) was a poet, translator and editor. Her grandfather, Solomon Neiman, was born in the town of Mitava (Elgava), Lithuania and practised as a physician in Kovno (Kaunas) after graduating from the faculty of medicine of the University of Koenigsberg. His own father, grandfather and great-âgrandfathers had all worked in the medical profession, as surgeons, pharmacists and dentists. Her ancestors settled in the Baltic area in the early nineteenth century via Prussia, but had apparently lived in the Netherlands prior to that. Solomon s five sons all became physicians. During the late nineteenth or early twentieth century, two of them, Moisei and Isidor, settled deep inside Russia, in Ufa, where Yulia Neiman was born to Moisei and Mariya. Her parents, like all the Neimans, spoke German at home and occasionally attended a Reform synagogue, but over time they distanced themselves from the Jewish religion. The atmosphere in their home was that of the Enlightenment, which inculcated a love for science, nature, music and poetry. In 1924, at the age of 17, Yulia left her home town and arrived in Moscow with a notebook of poetry she had written. She was full of life, open and clearly gifted. For her, the main attraction of the metropolis was Herzen House, the location where the Higher Literary Academy was being opened. She brought her manuscript there and it was greeted favourably, leading to her acceptance on to the literature program. The teaching staff was unique, being comprised of the greatest specialists in the field of literature. She was also fortunate to encounter there outstanding, brilliant students, most of whom came from the intelligentsia and were unable to enroll in other academic institutions due to their intellectual, non-âproletarian social origins. 1 The best of them were extremely gifted and highly interested in

103 90 Yulia Neiman ( ) literature. The Higher Literary Academy not only had a unique course of study, but was also characterised by an extremely rare freedom of expression, which benefited both faculty and students. To Yulia s great fortune, she became friends with Arsenii Tarkovsky 2 and Mariya Petrovykh, 3 both of whom also wrote poetry. This trio, along with some of their peers, formed a group whose style has been referred to as poetic truth or neo-ârealist. The time was inauspicious for establishing any group other than one sanctioned by the government; had this occurred even a few years later, all the participants would doubtless have been arrested. In 1929 the Higher Literary Academy, which had been established to provide a five-âyear course of study, was abruptly shut down after four years. This coincided with a considerable worsening in the social and literary atmosphere. Yulia continued her studies elsewhere, graduating in 1930 from the literature faculty of the Moscow Institute of Philosophy, Literature and History. After graduation, at the beginning of her professional career, she felt compelled to outwardly conform to the dictates of the regime. She initially engaged in journalism, working as a non-âstaff correspondent for the magazines Change (Smena) 4 and The Pioneer (Pioner). 5 On one occasion she was present at the offices of Pioner when Samuil Marshak 6 dropped by, who suggested that Yulia write literature for children. Although many talented poets choose this path, Yulia did not accept this idea, feeling that she was unable to write for children. At this time a number of Yulia s peers began working as translators. Their professional achievements in that field were exceptional. It is worth quoting in this regard a well-âknown comment uttered by Tarkovsky in a fit of anger: They shut the mouths of poets and are happy that a first-âclass school of translators has arisen among us! 7 The example of her peers affected Yulia: without abandoning journalism, she tried her hand at translation. Her first successful attempts, which she did for pleasure, were of her beloved Rilke. But translation work was irregular and did not provide a livelihood, and Neiman was trying to raise her daughter on a meager income. In an attempt to improve her economic situation, she also translated works by Soviet poets into Russian, mainly those of Rasul Gamzatov and David Kugul tinov. She worked hard her entire life without having the satisfaction of seeing either her own poems or her translations of Rilke in print. For many years after graduation, Neiman continued to write original works for the drawer that is, without hope of publication in the near future, if ever. Nevertheless, early in her career she did manage to publish a handful of poems over considerable intervals of time. From time to time, Neiman participated in the cultural and literary life of the Soviet Union, albeit in a limited fashion. During The Thaw, in 1957, her work appeared in the second volume of Literary Moscow (Literaturnaya Moskva) and, in the following year, in October (Oktyabr) and Day of Poetry (Den poezii). However, her publications at that time caused her troubles when the second volume of Literary Moscow, (Literaturnaia Moskva) including Neiman s poem 1941, was subjected to harsh criticism. On New Year s Eve of 1958, Mariya Petrovykh invited her old friend, Neiman, to celebrate with her. Neiman s acceptance of the invitation was

104 Yulia Neiman ( ) 91 encouraged by the fact that Anna Akhmatova, who was staying with various friends in Moscow, would be at Mariya s house on that occasion. Years later, when Neiman was accepted for membership in the Union of Soviet Writers, Akhmatova wrote her a fervent recommendation. 8 In 1962, when important literary figures finally found it possible to publish their own works, Neiman was still spending much of her time and energy on translations. While her first verses appeared in Red Novelty (Krasnaya nov ), in 1930, her first book, Bonfire on the Snow (Koster na snegu), was only printed in 1974, when she was already 67 years old. Her second collection, Thoughts on the Way (Mysli v Puti) was released two years later, thanks to the efforts of Kugultinov. Her last collection, Caprices of Memory (Prichudy pamiati), was published in She also wrote two plays in conjunction with R.Yu. Ralov. 9 Although age was slowing her down, Neiman continued translating sections of the oral folk epic Dzhar, discovered and recorded by Kalmyk scholars. She also wrote memoirs of Tarkovsky and Petrovykh. She intended to write some pages about Akhmatova, but did not manage to do so. A further stimulus to work was the opportunity she was finally given to publish her original poems that had been kept in the drawer. In 1994 Neiman felt dizzy and fell; she broke her hip and also suffered from cardiac arrhythmia. Things went from bad to worse, with exhaustion hastening her death at the age of Yulia Neiman s poetry: philosophy of grief, suffering and pain Neiman s poetry is essentially philosophical: it speaks a great deal about various kinds of pain and suffering, tracing their source and implications, and delving into reflections upon their significance. It was very important for Neiman to speak the truth and to express her views honestly and openly, so as to be at peace with herself. The utterance of harsh truths, specifically under the conditions of concealing the truth that was customary during the period of the Soviet Union, gave Neiman a feeling of self-ârespect and of pride in herself the only thing that enabled her to withstand the constant suffering involved in everyday life. Speaking the truth under the conditions of the Soviet Union demanded extraordinary courage and, as implied by Neiman s poetry, was deserving of admiration and respect. By contrast, she saw manifestations of fearfulness and weakness of character as shameful behavior, deserving of contempt even when she admitted that she herself behaved thus at times. Even manifestations of insolence and impudence are described in her poetry as a kind of expression of shameful and undeserving fearfulness. Neiman s poetry serves as the expression of her own credo, revealed to the reader in a true, candid and direct manner. To a large extent, her poetry is similar to that of Anna Akhmatova, with whom Neiman enjoyed a close friendship over more than three decades, until the end of Akhmatova s life. While Neiman s poems are generally harsh and pessimistic, they often conclude on an optimistic note. Her ambivalent attitude towards many of the Âphenomena of life, both joyous and sad, is a leitmotif running through most of

105 92 Yulia Neiman ( ) her poetry. Even the simplest of Neiman s poems are characterised by depth and by a multitude of meanings, as in the following: Letters (Pis ma) Still they got through.[...] They did not rot on railway tracks!... I praise, I praise the old and young Those who picked them up. [...] Those letters sealed with gummed bread. 11 In this poem, Neiman celebrates the acts of bravery performed by the little people during the course of their everyday routine life. She describes a unique custom practiced in the Soviet Union during times of trouble, both during the Stalinist era and during the war with the Nazis: when those imprisoned, either during the Great Terror of Stalin or as prisoners of the Nazis, were transported in railway boxcars, they threw letters to their loved ones from the windows of the cars. One side of the note contained their brief messages; on the other side, after it was folded, they wrote the addresses, gluing the ends together with chewed bread, the starch within the dough serving as glue. People who lived alongside the railway tracks collected these makeshift letters and passed them from hand to hand, hundreds of times, creating a kind of folk mail over distances of thousands of kilometres, throughout the length and breadth of the Soviet Union. This poem expresses Neiman s character: life is seen as an experience suffused with suffering, but simultaneously there is a willingness to struggle against it, expressing compassion and identification with the misery of others. During the ongoing process of suffering, which is the existential experience of man, there occasionally bursts forth hints of faith that there is also room for goodness in our earthly world. Notwithstanding the objective difficulties of the Soviet reality, there emerges from this poem a love of life, the pursuit of justice and a stubborn insistence upon sustaining truth and ability to survive. The arrival of the letters at their destination is a synecdoche 12 symbolising the collective life span of the public in the Soviet Union. Like many other of Neiman s poems, this poem reflects her ambivalence, her vacillation between submission to dying and death and her powerful will to hold fast to life. Neiman often refers to the memory of her parents and mourns for them. This clearly emerges in the poem, Father Played Chopin : Father Played Chopin (Otetz igral Shopena) Father played Chopin. But [...] in no way like a virtuoso, Perhaps too loudly, too impetuously, [...] Of other things in the war years Of combat, typhus, and cholera Father had his fill. [...]

106 The melodies had to drown out everything. [...] It seemed that it wasn t by his own will That he called to Chopin in the evening. 13 Yulia Neiman ( ) 93 Returning from the battlefront of the Second World War, her father was accustomed to playing works of Chopin on the piano. He played with great, even excessive enthusiasm, in a state of self-âforgetfulness, as if obsessed by the very sounds, ignoring the nuances of Chopin s music. By doing so, he compensated himself for all the years of suffering and ugliness which he had undergone during the period of fighting. Her father s desire to forget his harsh past was so intense, so all-âembracing, so addictive, that it seemed as if his desire was stronger than himself and that it dominated him. But Neiman was well aware of the duality of his enthusiasm for music, and she was not fooled by the seemingly joyous, positive external shell of his playing. On the contrary, from its positive aspect she inferred the underlying negativity: the louder and more intense the playing, the more joyous it attempted to be, the more clearly it indicated how deeply her father had suffered at the battlefront. In this, Neiman gave expression to a dual existential approach that saw in all things both itself and its opposite. This likewise follows from the following poem, in which Neiman laments both her mother and herself: To the Memory of My Mother (Pamiati Materi) You were without memory, they say, [...] And, supposedly, please God it was true, suffered little, When moving over into that other, incorporeal rank Beyond the border of our Good and Evil To which we all inescapably melt away But you came to me then And embraced me so encompassingly and tenderly, Having forgiven absolutely everything, thankful for everything, [...] Without memory...? The doctors said falsely. No, not in a dream did you take your leave of me. You broke forth to me with all your love! 14 This is a poem about the embodiment of pure love, manifested in the love of the mother for her daughter. Neiman portrays a complete, perfect, ideal love: a love whose source is in Paradise, a love which creates the happiness of the beloved, a love which contains everything within itself all-âforgiving, all-âaccepting, Âall-Âgiving. It is a love that cannot be repeated. Such a love transcends the boundaries of this world, it bridges this world and the next. It is the strongest power in the universe. Neiman wished to say that, even though this love had been lost in the physical sense with her mother s death, it would nevertheless endure forever that is, within Neiman s heart so long as she herself lived. 15 In these poems,

107 94 Yulia Neiman ( ) Neiman mourns not only for her parents, but also for herself particularly in her awareness that we all inescapably melt away. In other poems she likewise mourns for herself and her contemporaries, if only in a symbolic manner, from the social, political, artistic and emotional viewpoint. Thus: We Reached Maturity at a Difficult Time (My stali vzroslymi v nelegkii chas) We reached maturity at a difficult time [...] Having accepted, without objection, ahead of time The superfluity of our existence. From our youth the idea was instilled in us (We agreed with it of our own free will) That all of us together were worth no more than a penny [...] And we, resigning ourselves to our nothingness, To the most powerful we excused both blood and filth. [...] And we confirmed orally and in writing Everything that the soul could not reconcile itself to, Not believing ourselves and destroying ourselves. 16 This poem depicts the destiny of Neiman and other members of the intelligentsia, the artists and poets who were her contemporaries, during the period of the Stalinist persecutions. This is a poem about the tragic lot of an entire generation that surrendered to its own fear and helplessness. Neiman bewails her contemporaries willingness to accept without protest the shameful behavior of the regime, because of their own weakness of character. She recalls the long decades during which members of the Russian intelligentsia submissively internalised self-â humiliation without limits, displaying self-âcontempt in order to please the authorities. They agreed to break themselves in order to find favour in the eyes of a hateful, vindictive regime that arrogantly imposed terror, violently trampling their intellectual, emotional and ethical values. Neiman s contemporaries acted contrary to their own conscience, and even convinced themselves of the truth of the lies they told because of their own frightened and petty characters and now Neiman felt deep shame and regret for all these things. Neiman speaks in a manner that is harsh and tough, but also honest and open-â hearted, exposing her guilt and feelings of inferiority in light of this behaviour both on the part of her contemporaries and on that of herself. She is also filled with an ambivalent attitude towards herself in light of her treacherous behaviour in the past. Her attachment to the truth brings Neiman towards grave feelings of suffering and conscience pangs, beating her breast with guilt, spiritual masochism and depressive tendencies. Neiman writes of her poetic art: Not by Feudal Aristocrats (Ne znat iu feodal noiu) Not by feudal aristocrats Is this poetry grasped,

108 But by a midwife From the outskirts of town, Who wandered in bad times, Between internal exile and jail; Aiming a bomb at a general, And at God sulfuric acid......from an eternal riff-âraff, Bristling family... [...] From which all evil stems. Having uncouth appearances, [...] It is as if they were saying Give us black bread! Give us raw truth! 17 Yulia Neiman ( ) 95 This is a caustic poem which speaks about the coming into existence of the poem and its acceptance within the Soviet public. Neiman begins by speaking of the fact that her poetry did not enjoy a sympathetic reception among the elite close to the royal court that is, Stalin s sycophantic henchmen. These members of the new aristocracy are referred to as feudal in order to emphasise their primitive, old-âfashioned, ignorant nature and their great distance from enlightenment, as well as the unrestrained and uninhibited rule of their leader. By contrast, the poem was accepted well among people from the urban suburbs simple, upright, suffering folk who had absorbed the persecutions of Stalin. Stalin was without any sense of morality or simple human decency. He profaned all that was sacred, sending his wicked messengers to hurt a brave and heroic general by means of a bomb, and to burn God Himself with acid! In the third strophe Neiman indirectly points towards Stalin himself as the principal party responsible for all the troubles that befell Russia in his day. She refers to him as eternal riff-âraff, bristling family, who hurts other members of his family. Later on Neiman observes that the simple, unlettered people who accepted her poetry were part of the larger family of the Russian people, and it was they who encouraged her to write, cherishing her poetry as being as precious as black bread. They saw her poetry as a source of truth, the highest value during a period of falsehood, hypocrisy and treachery. The poem is filled with truncated images, creating a harsh, heavy, aggressive, distorted atmosphere. Nevertheless, a single clear and clean voice emerges from the confused voices of the barbarian mob, demanding to know the truth and in this is embodied the poetess s great hope that justice and truth may perhaps be openly revealed. This poem is consistent with the social and political ideas of Anna Akhmatova in asserting that the oppressive life in the Soviet Union is nevertheless preferable to the flamboyant bourgeois life of those who fled to the West after the revolution of October

109 96 Yulia Neiman ( ) In the next poem, Neiman ponders her own life and why she suffers so much, even if compared to other members of her generation she was personally lucky in that she was not persecuted during the Stalinist Terror: Poem (Pesnia) What is there to cry about?... After all This storm did not batter you much. Kolyma passed you by, And Vorkuta 19 also. [...] so many friends were locked up Or paved the road with their bones. Through the storm you travelled light, [...] So why in every line of your verses Does the wind of roadside anguish howl? 20 Neiman debates within herself: on the one hand, she asks herself with a degree of cynicism and even vulgarity, why she is so weepy, when even the troubles of her contemporaries did not touch her? Neiman s second self answers that she suffered from existential fear while so many of her friends and colleagues suffered under Stalinist rule, in that the sword was constantly poised over her own head as well. Nevertheless, Neiman s first self says: you yourself were not harmed at all; hence, the question as to why there is so much suffering in her poetry remains unanswered. But the truth is that the source of the suffering in her poetry is not an internalisation of actual external circumstances, but lies in her own subjective existential state, her own philosophical apprehension of life. Neiman identifies excessively with all those who are persecuted and suffer. At times, it seems that she suffers emotionally even more than they do. But it is not this identification that causes her own suffering; rather, her own inner suffering leads her to an exaggerated identification with those who are persecuted. Moreover, she discerns her own tendency to seek suffering in every thing and to feel her own existential being as one of suffering. In truth, she does not understand herself and is puzzled by her own impulse to experience life as one long trail of suffering. This impulse to suffer is deeply impressed within the psychological roots of her own personality. The following poem reveals her suicidal tendencies: And I Would Have Pulled out of the Game Long Ago (I ia davno by vyshla iz igry) And I would have pulled out of the game long ago,[...] But the sensitivity of stone. Kindness of water. [...] I will not leave the earth, Spoiled by cruelty and spite Because, high above it, with eyes wide open, The cranes of Ibycus 21 are calling.. 22

110 Yulia Neiman ( ) 97 In this poem Neiman articulates for the first time her vacillations as to whether or not to remain in this world. It appears to her that departing it by suicide would free her from the heaviness of life, would provide her with an escape from the pain that tortures her, would be a solution to her problematic personal situation. This is a common approach towards suicide among those with such tendencies. 23 Neiman presents us with a difficult, even despairing image of the need to live among cruel and wicked people. This world is referred to by her as green and animalistic, green symbolising wildness, this world being seen as brutish, instinctual, lacking in ethics and justice. But even in this evil world it is possible to find unexpected friends, such as stones, water and dolphins, from whom one may draw warmth and comfort. This poem may have been inspired by the popular Yiddish folk song, Tum, Balalaika, in which the image of the weeping stone likewise appears. Further on, Neiman explains why she nevertheless gave up on the idea of suicide as an escape from the injustices of this world. She believes that there is a place, whether realistic or imaginative, where one can discover truth and justice, represented symbolically in the poem by stone, water and dolphins. For Neiman, remaining alive requires special support and reasons; were it not for those reasons it is uncertain whether she would prefer to remain in this world. She finds in this an explicit expression for her suicidal and ambivalent worldview, which leads her to express a powerful will to live, specifically through thoughts of suicide. 24 Via her suicidal thoughts, Neiman arrives at the desire to enjoy extensive recognition and prestige, similar to Ibycus, and thereby pave her way to eternal life, like that mythical hero. Neiman s depressive approach brings her to a stage in which she desires simultaneously to harm herself and to immortalise herself. 25 In her other poems, as well, Neiman begins on a depressed and harsh note but concludes with a certain measure of optimism and enthusiasm: Punishing, Like a Biblical God (Karaia kak bibleiskii bog) Punishing, like a biblical god, The plain truth tortures the soul. [...] It throws you into a sweat, it knocks you off your feet... [...] There is no hint of mercy in it.... But only in a scorched desert Will there rise buds of Immortality. 26 This poem reflects Neiman s character faithfully. It is devoted to the truth, speaks of its essence, reveals Neiman s mixed emotions towards it, describes the suffering and pain caused her by the discovery of the truth, and closes on an optimistic note characteristic of the poet. The truth is hard, bitter, unyielding, cruel, inhuman, at times almost fatal from an emotional viewpoint but at the same time it also involves great reward, for it alone is able to turn the poetess into an immortal. Here too, Neiman expresses her worldview, according to

111 98 Yulia Neiman ( ) which, through fatal sufferings, there emerges eternal life. From this poem too there emerges her constant existential wavering between suicidal thoughts and her powerful desire to live, to be famous, to fill the entire cosmos with her self. This poem is existentialistic, and its poetic fashioning is expressed primarily in the use of meter and rhyme, with a very limited use of poetic and other rhetorical imagery and decorations. But despite the fact that the poem was only published in 1988, one nevertheless gains the impression that it continues the poetic tradition of the school of Osip Mandelstam and Anna Akhmatova (Neiman was friendly with the latter for three decades, until her death; see above). It would nevertheless be incorrect to claim that Neiman s poetry belongs to the school of Acmeistic poetry, such as that of Mandelstam or Akhmatova. Her poetry is closer to the new school of Neorealism, a trend within Russian literature totally different from the Neorealism that existed in the 1930s in the realms of belles lettres and philosophy, 27 as well as from the Neorealism of the 1940s in the Italian cinema. 28 I refer here, rather, to the nascent emergence of a stream that began to develop in Russian literature and which had no opportunity to fully develop due to political persecutions. Poets of this school belonged to the younger generation following the Russian Silver Age, whose poetry was a kind of continuation of that of their literary fathers. In Neiman s poetry one finds a mélange of styles, combining elements of Acmeism, Neorealism and existentialist poetry. There also appear harsh and jarring, at times even grotesque images, creating a sarcastic effect of toughness, disappointment, sober awakening of the one observing from the side. Neiman s poetry is filled with allusions, fragmented statements, references to the associative meanings of words and concepts. In a number of her poems one may also detect the mark of the poetry of Anna Akhmatova. 3 Women s poetry by Neiman: Your Woman s Lot Neiman s love poetry is filled with suffering, pain, jealousy and humiliation. It speaks of a bitter love that tears at the heart, making everyday survival difficult. The lot of a woman as such, she says, is to be humiliated, deceived and tortured by her man, as follows from her poem: And You Recalled Your Dawns (I ty pripomnila svoiu rassvety) And you recalled your dawns Billowing like sails. All the deceits. And the stars torn, through the wounds On the pale, fainting sky. Your desecration. Your woman s lot. Your dawns... The mournful suite Of dawns at which you were killed. 29

112 Yulia Neiman ( ) 99 This poem speaks of a sight of which the poetess saw a great deal: the break of dawn spreading before her eyes. This should have been an invigorating sight, heralding the beginning of a new day, particularly after a night of love and desire which she had enjoyed. Instead, these were cruel and disappointing for her, being filled with the disappointment, contempt and lies which she had endured during the night while she was with her lover. Perhaps at dawn, when she was left by herself, their full force hit her. The poem depicts a jarring and malignant atmosphere; hence, the stars fading away against the rising dawn appear to her like open wounds in her flesh. Even the heavens, which represent the speaker herself, seem pale to her because, like herself, they are on the verge of fainting. Such is the destiny of woman, Neiman comforts herself: to be deceived and violated, to find herself in such situations and to mourn. Neiman does not spare words in describing the pain that she suffers: there is not and can be no pain greater than hers. Yet she herself has chosen a lover who has another woman or may even be married to another. She has consciously brought upon herself the state of humiliation, lies and pain that she describes. She nevertheless protests against this situation, which she has chosen. The encounter with her lover becomes, for Neiman, a night of extended torture. Why then does she continue to meet him? Why does she prefer to continue to suffer? Here, she gives expression to her masochistic approach: she exposes herself completely to her lover, devoting herself to him heart and soul, humiliating herself, giving of herself without holding anything back for herself. 30 But unlike herself, her lover relates to her in a cold and calculated manner, hard, harsh and cruel. Such is the nature of female suffering: simultaneously torturous, sweet and seductive. This is the magic of female masochism in the relationship of a woman to her man. Neiman receives an intoxicating pleasure when the man she desires causes her intense and strong pain specifically in the area of her femininity and emotions. 31 Neiman loved a man who preferred another woman to her. In explaining this decision, he described to her how misfortunate and unhappy the other woman and his children were, and how they were supposedly unable to survive without him an explanation common among men who are unwilling to abandon their families for the sake of their mistress. But this answer also entails a measure of truth: there is nothing more flattering to a man than to see his woman helpless without him, as Neiman writes: From Time Immemorial You Have Been in Bondage to the Weakest Ones (Ty u slabeishih iskoni v nevoli) From time immemorial you have been in bondage to the weakest ones. They need love and care, [...]...And you fell for this. You are caught in their clutches, in the pincers, [...] They children and wives will overpower you This poem presents the reader with a seemingly humorous and paradoxical picture: a strong and tough man is attacked by a band of small and weak people namely,

113 100 Yulia Neiman ( ) his wife and children. Even though he supposedly attempts to free himself from them, in the final analysis he is defeated and forced to submit to them. The poem is reminiscent of the parable of the well-âknown Russian author, Ivan Krylov, about a flock of mosquitoes who attacked a large Russian bear. He attempts to defend himself, flailing his paws about violently, but it doesn t help. In the end, he tires of the effort of waving his paws and submits, exhausted, to the mosquitoes. 33 But behind the amusing picture portrayed in this humorous poem, there are concealed Neiman s fears regarding her lover s decision as to which woman he will remain with, as well as her own ambivalent approach to the situation of uncertainty in which she finds herself unwittingly caught. 34 In the final analysis, this charming picture conceals a disturbing truth: he wants his wife more than he wants Neiman, a fact that causes the latter intolerable suffering. By this, her ambivalent approach is again expressed, in which on the one hand she voluntarily connects herself to a man who is committed to another woman, but on the other hand expects from him things that he does not intend to do, deceives herself, is proven wrong and is disappointed, tortured and suffers. 35 But in the end, the negative weight of this relationship proves greater then the positive side, and the poetess decides to part from her lover: The Lump of Bitterness Has Reached My Throat (U gorla gorechi klubok) The lump of bitterness has reached my throat. [...] I rave, barely staying afloat In the torment of the day I have survived. Where can I escape from myself [...] I conquered. I left. [...] Another woman speaks with you, You will not recognize my words. That is what I want Two options present themselves to the poetess: to continue to suffer from her relations with her lover, or to endure the break from him. It should be observed that the pain of separation is one of the fundamental elements within the masâ ochistic tendency among women. 37 In the final analysis, by deciding to cut herself off from him, she emerges victorious, thereby freeing herself from her terrible pangs of jealousy. In this poem one also notes the duality within the poetess inner world: she is torn between contradictory and confusing emotions. Only one thing remains permanent, both at the time of love and during the period of separation between herself and her lover namely, her own perpetual suffering. Many years later, she remembers this period of love: After Many Years... (Cherez goda) Now I understand: you were right. Not having hurt both, having given each her due, Both me and her, as should have been done [...]

114 Snags of branches floated on the waves... What, you cut your heart in two Like a stingy owner cuts an apple! [...] Yulia Neiman ( ) 101 And on the river one heard an incessant gnashing of snagged branches. The river was eating away its banks [...] The tangled branches were interlaced like horns, - It seemed that there, on the bottom, Stags Were fighting and one enemy rammed the other,... And the points of their horns, of boughs, of snags, Aimed at me, then pierced me!... Wild with humiliation and pain, Half-Âdead from black jealousy, Hating you and her impotently, I was frozen in my pain!...and how right I was! 38 Neiman describes her suffering and pain against the background of her frustrated love, as the entire range of negative emotions is combined together within her heart: black jealousy, hatred, humiliation. There is no hell greater than that which brought the poetess her cruel love; as if dead. But while she speaks with bitter and cynical sarcasm regarding her lover s cold and unfeeling attitude towards her, it would appear that it was precisely those qualities that ignited her yearning for him. This is a poem filled with pain, describing the feelings of the poetess by means of strong, power-âoriented, tough images. The competition between two women for one man is compared to a battle between two stags, filled with hatred and blood, stressing the masculine and violent aspect of Neiman s struggle. It is a ferocious, desperate conflict without compromise until the final decision again, consistent with her masochistic tendencies. 39 Neiman describes a truly terrible situation to which she was drawn, but it may be that precisely the intensity of her emotions and the primal urges involved in this situation were what gave it its unique pleasure. 40 After many years, she again remembers that same period of suffering love: I Have No Grudge against You (Net u menia na tebia obid) I have no grudge against you. From my childhood a lively little spring gurgled, With pure music of gushing water, But then it was dammed up by detritus. [...] Joy was inundated. God was murdered. I have no grudge against you. 41

115 102 Yulia Neiman ( ) The preference of Neiman s lover for another woman destroyed her, was the greatest tragedy of her life, for which reason she became a miserable person from whom happiness was stolen. Neiman uses images with the maximum power for example, her lover s lack of love towards her is compared with deicide. Every line and every word in the poem speaks of the terrible insult and hurt felt by the poetess from her lover. Even the heading, which states that she seemingly has no complaints against her lover, sounds ironic, cynical and sarcastic. Yet one must nevertheless ask the question: is her lover required to return her love to the same degree that she loved him? Is it not his human right to choose a woman as he wills? The poetess certainly knows the concept of frustrated, rejected love. She does not distinguish between her own personal feeling that her lover was responsible for destroying her life, and the objective reality in which every person is free to choose a partner according to his or her own taste. Neiman depicts a destructive, suffering, depressing love, but simultaneously it must be noted that she herself has chosen it and persisted in it. By this, she gave yet another expression of her masochistic tendency, where the suffering caused by her lover was, for her, intoxicating, fulfilling, exciting and so attractive to her that she was unable to withstand its temptation. 42 The following poem gives further proof of that nature of Neiman s love: When the Obstacle of Love (Kogda liubovnia pomeha) When the obstacle of love Leaves a person s life It s like a person was lost, In the matter of life he became an ignoramus, He is like a person over whom a burial service has been read Buried without the singing of prayers, without warmth or light. And, flaying his own skin, he has to crawl over a pass, Paying more steeply, far more dearly, For what he had been taking for free. 43 The poem begins with the poetess s reservations about love as a disturbing phenomenon that troubles the calm of a lover, as something oppressive that it would have been better to live without. But together with that, immediately thereafter, she utters a mournful, discordant elegy on the coming of old age and on the fact that, together with the loss of youth, one also loses those things that constituted the happiness of life for the poetess her love for her lover and his love for her, his attentions, satisfaction and joy from her love. In an earlier poem, Neiman described the incident of her frustrated love as stealing happiness from her life, while in this poem she describes the loss of love in the very same words that is, as the loss of happiness in her life. On the one hand, Neiman claims that love is a difficult and destructive burden, but at the same time she argues that it is impossible to live without it, that without it a

116 Yulia Neiman ( ) 103 person is alienated from his or her own life. Here Neiman gives explicit expression to her ambivalence, leading her to see life as an ongoing sequence of pain and suffering, whatever may be her circumstance. But from the other hand this ambivalence actually helped Neiman in her old age, when she was left alone without any chance of finding a new love. In the following poem, Neiman sees the positive and encouraging aspects of loneliness and old age: Loneliness (Odinochestvo) Hello, loneliness! I used to be afraid of you, [...] I tried to deceive you, And sometimes greeted the vile envious person like a brother, And, fearing you, put a snake, like a child, on my breast, But it turns out that you Only you; when you embrace You do not wound. [...] There is no fear on earth. Hail to that quiet force By whose heart beat we lived and In death we shall depart in a human manner! 44 This poem is a kind of hymn of Neiman s courage and strength upon confronting old age and death. Neiman finds in her heart the power to overcome the fear of death and to reconcile herself with it. What enables one to stand up to death is the human dignity that a person feels towards him/herself. By this there is expressed the essence of her existentialist approach, which sees a person s self-âdignity and honor as the highest value, which even compensates for the fear of death. Neiman s poetry is striking for its complexity and its artistic level. Her poetry is instinctual, emotional, dramatic; there emerges from it the image of the poetess torn within herself, pained and tortured, a factor which finds explicit expression specifically in her love poetry. 4 Yulia Neiman: a big proud Jewish heart Yulia Neiman had a great love for Jewishness. Her last book of verse, published at the height of the Gorbachev thaw, speaks openly and profusely of the harsh lot of the Soviet and East European Jews. The poem, What was so frightening?, whose title speaks for itself, is devoted to memories of the poet s childhood. It begins ironically: What was so Frightening?... (Chto bylo strashno?...) What was so frightening?... Everything was fine. The painted floor. The previous day s outline, [...] You weren t frightening, childhood, in the least! [...]

117 104 Yulia Neiman ( ) But the word permit stuck to residency, And in our conversations over tea From time to time pogroms would thunder by. And that is why (or is it only why?) It was so frightening in the house at night, [...]... While maybe, then, already in the late Hours crunch, crunch! the bones at Auschwitz screamed? 45 Neiman s childhood was permeated with Jewishness that is, with suffering, terror, death threats and the expectation of even greater suffering. Yet despite this, one does not gain the impression from her poetry that she felt her Jewishness to be a burden or that she would have liked to be rid of it. It was her origin, her roots, her essence, which the Gentiles all around her did not understand and therefore hated. Her poetry was also her very soul and her foundation, which others did not comprehend. Among Neiman s poems there is one entitled After the Flood, 46 based on the biblical story of the Flood, which focuses upon Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth. Neiman intensifies, dramatises, anthropologises, and modernises the story. However, when portraying the character of each of Noah s sons, she does so in the spirit of the traditional Jewish commentators on the Pentateuch. Thus, Shem is a positive character, a devoted son; Japheth is externally beautiful, like the Christians, whose forefather he was; while Ham is a negative character, a coarse and insolent boor. In this poem Neiman displays her knowledge both of the biblical text and of the traditional Jewish commentaries on it. Neiman s poem, The People of Qumran Speak (Govoriat Liudi Kumrana), expresses her happiness in the achievements of the Jewish people throughout their history, which was not only a chronicle of pogroms, but also the story of a unique culture and tradition with noble spiritual values. In contrast to other ancient peoples, who preserved material assets in their treasuries diamonds, [...] hard gold ingots only the Jews preserved scrolls [...] learning [...] the Word. 47 Neiman was well-âacquainted with the Qumran (Dead Sea or Judaean Desert) Scrolls. Thus, she mentions scrolls/light, which lights up falsehood. This is an allusion to the apocalyptic war between the Sons of Light and the Sons of Darkness described in one of the first and most valuable scrolls. 48 In this poem Neiman revealed a new face of Jewry, until then unknown in Soviet literature, expressing national pride, satisfaction over Jewry s achievements, and happiness over belonging to this people. Being Jewish is presented here, not as something painful, involving shame, fear, ambivalence and the impossibility of breaking away along with the impossibility of embracing it as may be seen at times in the writings of other Russian-Jewish authors, including some of those discussed in the present study but rather as something positive. It may be that Neiman allowed herself to express these positive feelings about Jewishness in print thanks to the Gorbachev s thaw. In this and later periods,

118 Yulia Neiman ( ) 105 the Russian press published works by other Jewish authors, manifesting respect, esteem and veneration for Jewish tradition. But these authors were individuals who had been torn from their Jewish roots and were far removed from Jewish tradition, so that their admiration for Judaism was most likely as an exotic phenomenon of the ancient East, newly accessible to them. By contrast, in Neiman s work one feels that one is dealing with someone familiar with Judaism, who knows that Jewishness includes not only horrors, but also highly positive features, unique in world culture and a source of pride for her. Nevertheless, Neiman s characteristic ambivalence also left its mark on her poetry devoted to Judaism. Alongside her great love for Judaism, Neiman was unwilling to forego the Russian world that represented for her the current, exciting culture of her life today. 49

119 8 Rakhil Baumvol ( ) The joy of creativity and motherhood [Rakhil Baumvol is] a kind of Chagall wearing a skirt Anna Akhmatova 1 Rakhil Baumvol : child victim of pogrom violence Rakhil (Rachel) L vovna Baumvol (born 4 March 1914, Odessa died 2000, Jerusalem) was a poet, prose writer and translator who wrote in Yiddish and Russian. Her father, Judah Leib Baumvol, was a well-âknown playwright, director, and founder of a professional Yiddish theater. In 1920, while traveling by train from Kiev to Odessa with his family and troupe, he was shot to death by anti-âbolshevik ( White ) Poles in front of his wife and six year-âold daughter. The attackers threw the little girl out of the window of the moving train, causing her numerous injuries and fractures, as a result of which she was bed-âridden for several years. This early traumatic event awakened within Baumvol an intense hatred for the anti-âbolshevik Whites and a passionate and sincere love for the Bolsheviks and the Soviet regime. Shortly thereafter, while still only six years old, Baumvol began to compose verses in Yiddish, possibly under the influence of the trauma she had suffered. Some time thereafter she and her mother moved to Moscow. When she was nine, a number of her Yiddish poems were published in a Jewish magazine in Paris, and by the time she was sixteen her first book appeared. Baumvol studied in the Yiddish Department of the Second Moscow State Pedagogical Institute, completing her studies in In accordance with Soviet practice, upon graduation she was assigned to Minsk, along with another graduate of the university, the Yiddish poet Zinovii (Zyama, Zalman) L vovich Telesin, 1 who later became her husband. In Minsk the two writers found a thriving Jewish [cultural] life at least for the present, whose manifestations included the publication of a Yiddish literary journal, three newspapers, an active Jewish Department at Belgoslite (the Belorussian State Publishing House for Literature), and a Department of Jewish Studies at the Belorussian University. The Belorussian Union of Writers included a Jewish Section, and Minsk also boasted a Yiddish theater and a Jewish technical high school. In the evenings there were

120 Rakhil Baumvol ( ) 107 various regular cultural events and lectures. Thus, Rakhil found herself in the kind of milieu she had previously only dreamed of. However, Stalin s Great Terror 2 was roaming the land, reaching its peak in Baumvol was initially affected by finding herself completely silenced. Later, during the latter half of the 1940s, she was compelled to write in Russian. However, even her Russian verses suffered a long waiting period until they began to be published; which only occurred at the end of the 1950s. In the 1960s Baumvol began to write children s stories and booklets, such as Dark Blue Mitten (: Siniaia varezhka), Under One Roof (Pod odnoi kryshei) and others. At the beginning of the 1970s Baumvol, along with several other Jewish writers, obtained official permission to emigrate to Israel. She and her husband, Zinovii Telesin, were immediately excluded from the Writers Union, and all her publications were withdrawn from sale and from libraries in the USSR. In 1971 the couple emigrated to Israel and settled down in Jerusalem, where they lived for almost 30 years, until their death. Baumvol died in June In contrast to the lives of other Russian Jewish women writers in the USSR, Rakhil Baumvol s life is exceptional in that her lot seems to have been a relatively happy one. Although she was born in Odessa and worked in Minsk, she managed to escape from the hands of the Nazis. Notwithstanding that her works were published in Yiddish by a Jewish publishing house in Moscow, the Stalinist persecutions left her unharmed. It was even her good fortune to be able to love her Jewishness. Unlike many of her contemporaries, she experienced no ambivalence or pain in relation to her Jewish identity, which showed no signs of being connected with suffering. Her Jewish identity was well-âdeveloped, warm, and sincere, and gave Baumvol a high degree of emotional satisfaction. In Israel, her devotion to her national culture found even fuller expression. Rakhil Baumvol s creative work and the course taken by her life were, in a certain sense, the result of a fortuitous glitch in both Nazism and the Soviet system. Somehow, both failed to include her in their diabolical designs. There is no coherent explanation as to why the Soviet regime, as it progressed along the tyrannical path it set for itself, so-âto-speak stepped around Rakhil and her husband. The present author had the opportunity to ask the couple s son, Julius Telesin, how it came about that his parents escaped Stalinist repression. He answered that arrests were carried out by the Soviet authorities according to a program dictated from on high. Whenever the arrest of someone displeasing to the regime was undertaken, the authorities usually went to their home late in the night. If the intended prey happened to be away when the authorities arrived, a neighbor might be arrested in his place. In other words: a caprice of fate, quite auspiciously, showed mercy on Baumvol and Telesin. 2 Rakhil Baumvol s poetry: its fate and its essence Several collections of Rakhil Baumvol s Yiddish poetry were published in the Soviet Union. The Soviet regime permitted Baumvol s poems to be published in the USSR in Yiddish, mostly in order to demonstrate that the national cultures

121 108 Rakhil Baumvol ( ) of the various ethnic peoples of the country were flourishing. Thus, in 1930, in line with this policy, a collection of her children s poems, Children s Poems (Yiddish: Kinder Lider), was published by the Central Publishing House of the Peoples of the USSR (Moscow-ÂKharkov-Minsk). At the time of this collection s publication, Baumvol was not yet 16 years old. In the publisher s introduction to this collection, he mentions her outstanding talent, her authentic and truthful approach, and her unique and original way of looking at things. Most of Baumvol s poetry collections were published by the Moscow-Âbased Yiddish Publishing House, Der Emes ( The Truth ). In 1934 this press published Baumvol s collection of pro-âsoviet children s poems, Pioneers (Pianeren). 3 Within the playful and humorous children s songs in this collection, there are explicitly pro-âsoviet elements. Thus, for example, the poem The Lady with the Puppy includes an element of mockery at an elegantly dressed and painted lady, contrasted to the honest and noble young Soviet Pioneers. It should be noted that this poem reflects the influence of Anton Chekhov, who describes a woman of similar characteristics in his short story of the same name. 4 In a collection of her Yiddish poetry published in 1936, Baumvol writes a great deal about forests, trees, branches, leaves, all of which serve as a metaphor for the human being and his destiny. This matches her striking tendency to relate to the image of the tree in her poetry (see at length below). 5 In 1938, Der Emes published another collection of Baumvol s children s poems, The Little Pine Tree, that also portrayed Soviet life. For example: It is New Year s day, wintertime, and children are celebrating, playing around the little pine tree decorated for the holiday. All this is in striking contrast to the Jewish tradition, in which the New Year is celebrated in September, and for which celebrations around the Christmas pine tree are strictly forbidden. Other poems in this collection likewise refer extensively to fir trees, which represent the joy of the children in the secular New Year. The fir tree is connected in her poetry to sweets, nuts and sweet tangerines a special delicacy in the cold Soviet Union. The small fir tree embodies the happiness of childhood, sweet as a long gone dream, all that remains being the longing for it. 6 In her collection of children s poems in Yiddish, The Cherry Trees Blossom (Das Tanele) published in 1939, there are a number of short and simple poems, written with the light touch of Soviet propaganda intended for children. 7 In 1940 Der Emes published another collection of Baumvol s lyrical poems in Yiddish, Poems (Lider), that nicely displayed her original vision and vivid imagery. This collection included poems intended for adults as well as those that relate to the course of human life as such, marked by this poetess s characteristic existential tendency. 8 But even in a propaganda capacity the publication of Baumvol s poems in Yiddish was a rather rare phenomenon. The last collection of her lyrical verses to be published in the USSR was issued in 1947 by Der Emes in Moscow. In this collection too Baumvol relates a great deal to nature, to animals, to plants, to the earth, and to its wondrous sights. 9 Thus, we may conclude that the wonders of nature are fixed subjects in her poetry.

122 Rakhil Baumvol ( ) 109 When Stalin s anti-âsemitic campaign began in 1949, Der Emes was closed down, and Baumvol no longer had any channel in which to publish her creative work in the Yiddish language. Many long years of forced silence followed. With Yiddish banned, Baumvol began to write in Russian and to translate her previously published Yiddish poetry into that language. However, only a few collections of her Russian-Âlanguage poems ever appeared in the Soviet Union, and only after years had passed since her last published work of Yiddish poetry. 10 As might have been expected, the verses in these collections expressed Baumvol s love and devotion to the Soviet regime. 11 Baumvol s verses are striking within the milieu of Soviet Russian poetry in that they cannot be identified with any of the literary traditions popular in Russia during the first third of the twentieth century. This was so, notwithstanding the fact that the poetess was quite familiar with Russian literature. She was personally acquainted with Anna Akhmatova, who helped her fashion the translations of her Yiddish poems into Russian. 12 According to Baumvol s son, she often read the poems of Marina Tsvetaeva and enjoyed them. 13 Nevertheless, Baumvol s own poems do not reflect the poetic trends of her own time. They even give the impression that they are not Russian poetry, even though, as noted, some of her poems were originally written in Russian and others were translated from Yiddish into Russian during her lifetime and under her supervision. Her poetic conception does not conform to any of the conceptions accepted in the Russian artistic milieu of her time. Her works emphasise the truth concealed behind superficial appearances; they portray paradox, and they express humor and self-âmockery. In other words, they are rich in cogent observations and clever content. This is in sharp contrast to the accepted approach to poetry in Russia in her day, which emphasised the art and manner of expression at the expense of content. It is difficult to fit Baumvol s poems into any particular genre. They come closest, perhaps, to the genre of metered and rhymed parables. 14 Baumvol s nature poems occupy an important place in her overall poetic oeuvre. She portrays there the breath-âtaking beauty of the Russian countryside, constantly changing in appearance and color. Nature is seen in the poetess s eyes as an enormous and powerful giant, now in a situation of declining powers, in the waning calm of exhaustion: Autumn Peace (Osennii pokoi) The colors became paler, [...] The wind blows the cherries about, The wind separates the branches, The light is spurting between the leaves, It blinds me and disappears. The days pass, flowing by, [...] I am filled with peace. 15 The poet compares herself to nature: the ripe silence of the vastness of nature makes her feel serene, pacified, and gives her a feeling of exhaustion, described

123 110 Rakhil Baumvol ( ) here as a pleasant sensation. Although Baumvol s poetry does not belong to any of the poetic schools of her day, it is still close to traditional Russian poetry in terms of its themes. In this respect, Baumvol s work most resembles the poetry of Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev, 16 one of the patriarchs of Russian poetry and heir to the path of Aleksandr Pushkin. 17 The following poem illustrates these points: Illuminated Place (Svetloe mesto) Has it ever happened to you on a dank and dreary rainy day, When not even a fleck of light is present in the sky, [...] That you suddenly see a bright spot above your head? And above you the darkness has become powerless, [...] And down your cheeks, tears of joy stream, Under that illuminated place, stand! [...] As if you yourself, with your shoulder, Had moved apart the stormy clouds. 18 We find here a poem about nature that is also a parable. The intention is to offer encouragement to the reader by creating an allegory: just as the wind disperses the heavy clouds in the sky, so will the reader s troubles be dispelled and his face brightened as if by the sun. This is an optimistic, sentimental, and naive poem, far removed from a realistic worldview. It speaks in slogans and portrays the state of affairs schematically and simplistically, poster-âstyle, ignoring all of life s complexities and dilemmas and likening human existence to the wind blowing in the heavens. The content of this poem is reminiscent of Fedor Tyutchev s Gleaning Ray of Light (Russian: Problesk), 19 albeit apart from the subject matter the two works have very little in common. Tyutchev was a nineteenth century Slavophile much admired by the twentieth century Russian Symbolists, whereas Baumvol did not belong to this school. While the topic of her poem may have been drawn from Tyutchev and the Russian poetic tradition of the previous century, its method of description and linguistic style are far from Russian Symbolism. The following is another poem by Baumvol, which is again an allegorical parable presented in the guise of a song about nature: The End of Winter (Konets zimy) It is winter, and the sky is like a lump of lead. The horizon freezes. Harsh white colors without limits [...] Everywhere frost. [...] And like fragments of a knife blade, The snow sparkles, dry, [...] But in the windows winter has begun to give way. Homes have become enveloped in puffs of vapor; And I have begun to feel, like a shiver, In the heavens The rain yet to be born. 20

124 Rakhil Baumvol ( ) 111 The subject-âmatter of this poem is reminiscent of Tyutchev s poem, The Winter, Not without Reason, Grows Wroth (Zima nedatom zlitsia). The poet speaks there of the end of winter and the arrival of the first signs of spring, which gladden the heart, as follows: The Winter, not without reason, grows wroth: Her season is past, Spring knocks at the window And drives her out of doors. And everything has begun to stir, Everything drives the Winter away, And the larks in the sky Have already raised their chime. [...] 21 The structure of these two poems differs. Tyutchev s poem is dramatic and flowery; he bestows human attributes on the seasons, calling winter an angry witch and spring a pretty child. Baumvol s poem, on the other hand, is starker and more realistic in style, abounding in similes. Here, too, nature s winter is an allegory for the winter in people s lives that is, their troubles, problems, and suffering. The coming rain sensed by the speaker in the poem is an allegory for the first signs of spring in a person s life for the moment when one begins to find solutions to one s difficulties. One can trace thematic affinities to Tyutchev s verses, not only in Baumvol s nature poems, but in other works as well. For example: Poet (Poet) What kind of a being is a poet? [...] He can sprout wings [be inspired] Simply by virtue of a glance. And even by one not at all directed at him. [...] Behind himself he calls.[...] And the poet sings of himself, [...] Himself in everything, and himself everywhere. The unusual and the ordinary, [...] Radiating warm light, But not warming himself at times. And this odd fellow, he is a poet! 22 The subject-âmatter of this poem is reminiscent of Tyutchev s poem: Don t Trust, Don t Trust the Poet, Young Maiden (Ne ver, ne ver poetu, deva) Don t trust, don t trust the poet, young maiden; Don t you ever call him yours And more than fiery anger

125 112 Rakhil Baumvol ( ) Fear the poet s love! [...] The poet is all-âpowerful [...] Except that over himself he has no power; [...] But inadvertently he might smother your life Or carry you away beyond the clouds. 23 Many of the messages Baumvol wishes to convey are similar to those of Tyutchev. For example, if a girl wishes to protect her soul, she must steer clear of poets. Poets ruin their friends and loved ones unintentionally, even though they may be persons of truth. Poets do not belong even to themselves, and certainly not to their friends and loved ones. They fly away on the wings of their imagination to places beyond the comprehension of ordinary mortals; therefore they should be left to themselves. Baumvol s verses are formulated in a manner that accentuates the tone of irony toward herself, a motif less prominent in Tyutchev s works. For example, Baumvol asserts that a single glance from a fine lady can sometimes give the poet wings, even one that is not directed at him. The Jewish poetess was an expert in Yiddish literature, and it is not unreasonable to assume that the inspiration for her self-âirony came from that source. There is, however, no explicit evidence that her poems were directly influenced by Tyutchev s works. We may suppose that whatever influence Tyutchev may have had on Baumvol s verses came by way of the poetess thorough familiarity with classical Russian poetry, especially that of Pushkin and his followers. That source surely played a part also in the deliberately simple and clear style of Baumvol s writing. Baumvol s poetry also includes formulations clearly drawn from Yiddish literature and culture. One example of this is her frequent use of the tree as a symbol for the human being. Mentioning trees in general and likening them to human beings has deep roots in all types of Jewish literature throughout the ages. 24 The tree as a symbol appears numerous times in the Bible and the Midrash, 25 in the classics of ancient Jewish literature, 26 and elsewhere. Likening the tree to a person was also widespread in Yiddish folklore. 27 This allegory was often used in the composition of Yiddish songs, and the national poet of the Jewish people, Hayyim Nahman Bialik, took this idea from those songs 28 and used it in several of his poems. 29 Bialik s poetry was well-âknown to readers of Yiddish and Hebrew, and had also been translated into Russian by Samuil Marshak. It therefore should not be surprising to find that the tree allegory appears frequently in Baumvol s works. The following verses are a good example: The Tree (Derevo) When instead of a leaf a prickly thorn, Can it really be that a tree does not want warmth? [...] And will a thick and hard bark really Protect it from the axe? There is no such tree in the whole world Who knows this better than the poet? 30

126 Rakhil Baumvol ( ) 113 The equating of a tree with a person appears frequently in Baumvol s poetry. 31 Thus, the above-âcited poem serves as an elaboration of the well-âknown maxim that the strong and sturdy are also doomed to perish. Baumvol fashions her allegorical poem by giving its subjects human traits and by dramatising the action. Thus, she portrays the tree as having an inner world of thoughts, feelings and secret wishes, and as a creature torn between opposite poles and inner contradictions. In Baumvol s case, the sources for this image may be found in Yiddish literature. The special importance she grants to the image of the tree is expressed, among other things, in the fact that her two collections of Yiddish poems are both named for trees, whose associations are positive and refreshing. 32 In striking contrast with Baumvol s warm and positive attitude towards trees, her ironic and mocking tone is directed, not only against herself, but also against those poets whom she considered unworthy. Thus, for example her poem: Everyone Writes (Vse pishut) Everything, that which breathes and that which does not, In whatever way it is able, writes: The animal writes tracks, My neighbor writes letters. [...] Executing its flight, The airplane writes by its vapor trail. [...] However, the children in our school write Better than anything in the world. 33 This poem serves as a sarcastic settling of accounts with those of her fellow-âpoets whose writing she considered to be pretentious, being in reality no higher than that of the trail left by an airplane flying in the sky. The bizarre tone of Baumvol s poem is combined with harsh and bitter social criticism. In the end, Baumvol comes to the seemingly naïve conclusion that the highest level of artistic writing in the Soviet Union is to be found among small school children. Using this image, she could disparage those of her literary colleagues who were severely critical of her with an air of light humour, while complimenting the Soviet school system for its success in producing such talented pupils. Notwithstanding, there is no clear indication in the poem that Baumvol is making fun of other writers. Perhaps she has in mind only herself. Here too, we might understand there is an element of self-âcriticism and irony directed against the poetess herself. The following poem is marked by mocking and stinging self-âirony: My Book at the Publishing House (Moia kniga v izdatel stve) I composed a collection. The editorial council approved it. Only one thing remained so that the book might see the light. However, like a thorn that has penetrated one s body deeply, An unnecessary verse I removed and right away I felt better. Then the proof-âreading came to an end, and they sent the manuscript to the printers.

127 114 Rakhil Baumvol ( ) However, I found a pretext and stole up to the verses like a thief. Looking around, I leafed through the pages, nitpicking, searching for something, And stealthily I filched some unloved lines from the printer s copy. After that the proofreader said angrily: Too bad, We will not meet with you any more, never! But as for me, like a fireman, from a house about to collapse, I succeeded in snatching from the manuscript just a few more words! 34 In this poem Baumvol portrays her own behaviour as ridiculous, paradoxical, absurd. Here she is a poetess and author trying to have her works published yet she reveals herself as lacking in self-âconfidence and full of indecision and perplexities. As a means of adding to the self-âirony, she also portrays the people at the publishing house, who are awestruck by her. They view her as annoying and bewildering. She angers them, and they want to distance themselves from her. This poem is a satire directed at the author herself, dealing specifically with her efforts to write perfect poetry. This is in sharp contrast to the usual case, in which poets relate to themselves and their writing with the greatest respect and reverence. But Baumvol s atypically humorous and self-âironic style coincides nicely with the best traditions of Yiddish literature, as expressed by Sholom Aleichem 35 and Mendele Mocher Sforim, 36 and testifies to her connections with that literature. We thus find in Baumvol s works a blending of elements from the traditions of both classical Russian literature and Jewish literature throughout the ages, especially modern Yiddish literature. One of the most outstanding traits in Baumvol s poetry is its abundance of humor, and especially irony directed at herself. 3 Baumvol s self-âimage as a woman Rakhil Baumvol s self-âperception as a woman differed from that of most Russian women writers. She saw herself, first and foremost, as a mother. In her collection, Poems (Stikhotvoreniia, 1958), she almost never mentions men with whom she has had any kind of personal relationship. By contrast, she devotes a great deal of her writing to her experiences as a mother, experiences that gave her genuine pleasure. She identifies completely with her baby son and in effect sees him as herself. Thus: At the Cradle (U kolybeli) So that your eyes might look at you, You approach the cradle quietly, You bend over your son, opening your heart: Here, as in a mirror, you can look at yourself. 37 This being so, stand calmly and smile, In order to hide the tear of parental happiness. [...]

128 Rakhil Baumvol ( ) 115 Isn t it your life here in this bed? Many, many days ago the days of your childhood flew away. Your eyes, here with your son, have begun to shine. Isn t this your second birth With a different destiny! 38 In this poem the poetess views the birth of her son as her own second birth, she does not distinguish between herself and her child. Such a perception of the experience of motherhood represents the quintessence of the concept of the Yiddishe mama ( Jewish mother ). Even when mentioning her husband in the poem, he does not appear as a person in his own right, but only as the father of her child. The child fills her world completely, doing away with the need for any serious involvement with a man. Baumvol s relationship with her son naturally developed and underwent changes as he grew up and matured. However, this bond continued to saturate her emotional experience, as expressed in the following poem: To My Son (Synu) So I am a mommy; mommies may Fool around and laugh a bit. You said: It s time to set off On a trip, on the sofa. Well, then, let us steam away more quickly On our sofa-âsteamship, [...] You are a child and I am a child. Except that I am just a bit taller, [...] But I love, with you, on the sly, To play, launching toy-âships. [...] You have grown up, the years have flown by, But I am still a child sometimes. 39 Over the years Baumvol maintained her close connection with her son, even at the expense of her relationships with other men, including her husband. She adopted the role of life partner with her son so completely that she felt herself as a young girl even when her son became an adult. She seems to have clung to that period in the past when, not only did her son fill her entire world, but she also filled his entire world; a period when they shared a mutual love that was total and all-âencompassing. The following verses illustrate this state of affairs: Mommy, why are you sad? Why are there dark shadows under your eyes? You do not know, my son, why I am sad: I want only one thing for you to be alongside me. Thus the mother raved on about the son Who, for several days already, was not with her. [...]

129 116 Rakhil Baumvol ( ) The years give way to one another, flying, But I remain just the same mother. In my eyes you are just the same child I want to hold you in my arms. But I can no longer reach [you], You have outgrown me. And so, in order not to cry, I laugh I am cheerful to tears. 40 As her son matures, Baumvol begins to worry that he will distance himself from her; she is afraid of abandonment and is seized by a storm of mixed emotions. On the one hand, she is happy that he is growing up successfully, but on the other she is filled with an intense desire to continue holding on to him, mixed with sadness because she is unsure if she can keep him at her side. This storm of emotions brings her to tears. When her son leaves her for a few days, she not only falls into a bad mood, but also suffers from poor health. It is as if she cannot live without the boy, even for a short time. Baumvol s poem indicates that she considered her son to be the whole of her family, the essence of her whole life, and her reason to continue living. Baumvol s emotional dependency on her son intensified with the passing years. The Russian painter Zoia Maslennikova, 41 in her memoirs about the Russian Orthodox theologian Aleksandr Men, 42 describes meeting Rakhil L vovna Baumvol with her son, Julius Telesin on a pleasure cruise from Moscow to Gorky on the Oka and Volga rivers. 43 This meeting occurred in 1967, when Rakhil was 53 years old and her son was 34 in other words, when Julius was already a mature man. It is noteworthy that Rakhil chose to go on vacation, not with her husband, Zinovii Telesin, to whom she was married until he died, but with her son. Moreover, he agreed to come along with her even though, as a mature man, he doubtless had other options available to him. It seems likely that the trip was initiated and planned by Rakhil, its tranquil and sedentary character being more appropriate for someone of her age than it was for her son, who might have preferred a more active holiday. While Rakhil Baumvol remained extremely attached to her son, he eventually asserted his independence in a radical fashion. In 1970, at the age of 37, Julius left Moscow to settle in Israel. But he did not remain alone for long. In 1971 Rakhil and Zinovii Telesin also emigrated from the USSR to Israel, settling not far from Julius, in southwest Jerusalem, where they lived until their deaths Zinovii in 1996 and Rakhil in It should be noted that Julius only married at the age of 60 and that, at the time of this writing, had no children of his own. 5 Jewish motifs in Rakhil Baumvol s poems Rakhil Baumvol s collection, Poems (Stikhotvoreniia,1958), includes several poems with explicitly Jewish motifs:

130 Rakhil Baumvol ( ) 117 Grandpa and Grandma (Dedushka i Babushka) Today I stretched out facedown And banged my forehead on a floorboard. I walk around proudly with my first bruise, While grandma, under her breath, scolds. [...] And grandpa does not come over to me, He is whispering something, having turned away toward the wall. Swaying back and forth slightly, just like a clock, He is, as always, requesting something from God. I want to go and stand between grandpa and the wall, But grandma strictly forbids it. [...] Languidly I walk up to the mirror, [...] By chance I look at my bruise And remember suddenly that I fell. 44 This poem is written in a tone of feigned innocence, with a smile, reflecting the pleasure and sense of joy of childhood, as well as the candor and curiosity of that time, and its vision of the world as harmonious and meeting one s expectations. The poem portrays how the observance of Jewish customs stimulates the little girl s curiosity and sense of wonder. The fearful attitude toward being Jewish, often found in the works of other Russian Jewish women poets and writers, is absent from Baumvol s verses. On the contrary, this poem is imbued with the author s sense of humor, her ironic perspective on herself, and her love for her grandparents. We find here an approach to Jewishness that is quite different from that of other Russian Jewish women writers: an ordinary, cheerful, and optimistic tenor, lacking in dramatic tension or a sense of tragedy. But Baumvol also knew, from first-âhand experience, that Jewishness can also involve confrontation with racism, troubles, pogroms and death. Against this background, the distinction she draws between the negative attitude of the Polish army to Jews and the positive one of the Russian army is particularly striking. Here she gives expression to the harsh experiences she underwent in her childhood at the hands of people from the Polish army, as against her sense of gratitude towards the Russian army and the Communist rule. One must nevertheless remember that this poem was published in Russian in the Soviet Union. Thus, in addition to herown genuinely warm feelings towards the Russian world as embodied in the poem, there are also elements of ingratiation to the Soviet authorities. In the Town of Berdichev (V gorode Berdicheve) 45 The shops under lock and key. Likewise the homes. In the town of Berdichev, There are Polish soldiers in uniform. [...] Yid! Blood of a cur! A bitch! [...] Next door, people are weeping:

131 118 Rakhil Baumvol ( ) There lies a murdered victim. [...] Someone runs in [...]: The Red Army is approaching. [...] Merciful God! Will we really survive till then? [...] The Russian bent down: Little One, do you understand, What the Russian word Red Secret Service means? A smile of the child [...] And the mother looks For the first time, with shining eyes. 46 The above poem portrays in realistic tones the experience of the Jews in Eastern Europe during the period between the two world wars, which was colored in hues of constant fear, a sense of helplessness in face of the future, and of no escape. It should be noted that all these also follow from the writings of the decisive majority of other authors discussed in this work. Nostalgic longing for the long-âgone Jewish world of yesterday appears a great deal in Baumvol s poems. Thus: The Past (Byloe) I saw our old way of life from early infancy. My grandmother [...] On weekdays, she bustled about doing housework, On the Sabbath she sat down, arms folded. It was so pleasant on the eve of a holiday: The candles spluttering and dripping in the candlesticks, And myself [...] What did the little girl make of the old way of life, [...] Not knowing that [...] the world will burn up, like a matchstick, just like that. That they will fell down with no way back, [...] Candlesticks, grandma, strudel, the comfort, That all that will be called, in brief, the past. 47 The banal routine of the traditional Jewish way of life is presented here in an idealised, sentimental light. The Jewish tradition represents universal good and justice, while everything outside that world is unstable, evil and diabolical. In many other of Baumvol s poems, one may also perceive the pride she takes in her typically Jewish name, and the satisfaction she takes from her knowledge of the Yiddish language. She lived and breathed that language, together with Jewish culture in general, and her own Jewish identity in particular, and gave joyous expression to these feelings in her poetry.

132 9 Margarita Aliger ( ) A Soviet poetess devoted to Stalin One, two! One, two! And through and through The vorpal blade went snicker-âsnack! ( Jabberwocky, from Through the Looking-ÂGlass and What Alice Found There, by Lewis Carroll,1871) 1 Margarita Aliger, a lonely woman who survived all her family Margarita Iosifovna Aliger (born, 24 September 1915, Odessa, Ukraine; died, August 1992, Peredelkino, near Moscow, Russia) was a poet, essayist, and translator. 1 Born in Odessa to a Jewish family of petty clerks, her family was assimilated and supported the 1917 Revolution. Margarita s father, Iosif, had no higher education, but was a highly gifted man who was able to provide impromptu technical translations from several European languages and enjoyed listening to and playing music. He died, however, before Margarita reached the age of ten. After graduating from a seven-âyear grammar school, Margarita began studies in a technical school that specialised in chemistry, while simultaneously working in a factory. As she grew older, Aliger traveled a great deal around the Soviet Union, visiting Karelia, Central Asia, the Caucasus and Belarus. Thereafter she began working as a translator of poetry, producing an anthology of Azerbaijani poetry and translating works by the Ukrainian author Lesia Ukrainka. 2 During the Second World War she worked as an editor for the newspaper of the Soviet Air Force and for that of the Soviet Army. Aliger suffered considerable misfortune in her personal life. In the late 1930s she married the composer Konstantin Makarov-ÂRakitin, a last-âyear student at the Moscow Conservatory. Their one-âyear-old son died after an excruciating illness, 3 and shortly after the beginning of the Second World War Konstantin himself, who had volunteered for the army, was killed at the front. She was later involved in a relationship with Alexander Fadeev, 4 Stalin s right hand man in the cultural life of the Soviet Union, and gave birth to their daughter, Masha. But in 1956, three years after Stalin s death, Fadeev committed suicide. Aliger then entered a second marriage, this time with a man who was blind.

133 120 Margarita Aliger ( ) Margarita placed great hopes in her older daughter by her first husband, Tatiana. However, Tatiana died from leukemia in Margarita s younger daughter by Fadeev, Masha, married a foreigner and went to live in Germany, and later moved to London. In 1991 this daughter committed suicide, and her body was returned to Russia for burial. Having outlived both her children, Margarita Aliger was herself killed in a tragic accident in August 1992: she fell into a deep ditch not far from her dacha, where she was found dead the next day. 5 2 Aliger and her path in the Soviet elite literature milieu Margarita Aliger began writing verse at the age of eight, while still in Odessa. She had left her birthplace of Odessa in 1931and moved to Moscow, where she came into her own. She began working as a librarian, then as a literary editor for a mass-â edition factory newspaper, and began attending gatherings of the literary group affiliated with the prestigious journal Zest (Ogonyok). Aliger s verses were first published by that periodical in the summer of During Margarita studied at the Maxim Gorky Literary Institute in Moscow, and between 1938 and 1940 published her first three volumes of poems: Year of Birth (God rozhdeniia), Railroad (Zheleznaia doroga), and Stones and Blades of Grass (Kamni i travi). Through her poetry, Aliger reveals her belief and devotion to the Soviet system and its official ideology. In 1942 she joined the Communist Party, an event that she considered the most important one in her life. That same year she wrote and published a lengthy patriotic poem, Zoia, in the style of Socialist Realism, dedicated to the memory of Zoia Kosmodem ianskaia, a patriotic young woman and Soviet partisan who died heroically at the hands of the Nazis. Zoia is described as a kind of Soviet superwoman who, alongside her personal modesty and artlessness, embodies the truth and uprightness of Communism. Zoia is thereby elevated to the level of a Communist goddess, an example of the perfect Communist new man that Socialist Realism sought to fashion. 6 Both the work as a whole and the image of its heroine Zoia are portrayed in a tendentious, one-âdimensional and superficial manner. 7 Although works of this type were not rare in the Soviet Union, it may have enjoyed special attention and praises due to the fact that Zoia s torturers mocked the figure of Stalin, while prior to her death she justified him and declared that she was dying for his sake. Aliger thus followed the pattern of deification of the figure of Stalin. In 1943 Aliger was awarded the Stalin Prize for this poem, 8 which not only brought her fame, but transformed her into a symbol of Stalinist patriotic propaganda. In 1945 her poem, A Tale about Truth, (Skazka o pravde), dedicated, like her earlier Zoia, to Zoia Kosmodem ianskaia, appeared. 9 All of Aliger s verses expressed faith in the triumph of Communism. Her post-âwar works include the poems First Thunder (Pervyi grom), Your Victory (Tvoia pobeda), as well as the collection of verse, First Signs (Pervye primety). In 1953 her collection, Lenin Hills (Leninskie gory), was published. Following Stalin s death in 1953, Aliger quickly lost her popularity, and her poem Zoia was labeled mediocre by the critics.

134 Margarita Aliger ( ) 121 Aliger belonged to the heart of the Soviet literary elite and enjoyed everything that this elite was able to provide to its members, including both material benefits and the publication of numerous, attractive and varied editions of her poetry. She enjoyed an illustrious reputation, her name being widely disseminated throughout the Soviet public, her poem Zoia being studied in schools throughout the breadth of the Soviet Union. 10 Nevertheless, the intensive promotion of her work did not spare Aliger from pangs of jealousy for another poetess. Aliger both admired and envied Anna Akhmatova, who at that time was rejected and denounced by the regime, which had for decades prohibited the publication of her poetry. 11 Aliger deeply esteemed her and attempted to emulate her in the area of poetic art. She once read her own poetry to Akhmatova, but the latter commented that her poems were hypocritical and untruthful. In the final analysis, Aliger was shocked, and agreed with Akhmatova. During the period of Thaw 12 under Khruschev, 13 when the Soviet regime permitted a certain measure of freedom of expression, Aliger attempted to promote the publication of Akhmatova s poetry in the journal Literary Moscow (Literaturnaia Moskva), where she served as a literary editor, but this was thwarted by the powers-âthat-be. Within their own circles, it was well-âknown that Aliger attempted to imitate Akhmatova. However, Akhmatova had nothing but contempt for Aliger s hypocritical kowtowing to the Soviet line and her exaggerated self-âimage. Following Akhmatova s death in 1968, Aliger claimed that she had been close to her during her lifetime, but this only aroused distrust and rejection among mutual acquaintances. 14 Despite her own great success, Aliger felt that Akhmatova s poetry was superior to her own. 3 Aliger s poetry As implied by her work, Aliger believed totally and whole-âheartedly in the truth of Communist doctrine. One of the principles of Communism is that one should sacrifice one s own personal interests on the altar of society. True to this approach, Aliger preferred to ignore her own troubles and to focus upon the problems of the collective. This approach was not without its advantages, for those who believed in it in general and for Aliger in particular, as it allowed Aliger to enter into the problems of Soviet society and to turn her attention away from her personal pains. This approach thus served Aliger as a tool for self-â psychotherapy. The first poem in her poem cycle, Approaching the Gate (Priblizhaias k vorotam), 15 which consists of three poems in all, 16 portrays the nature of reality once the Socialist Soviet Union would finally establish full communism. The poem reads: On Near Approaches (Na blizhnih podstupah) The way to the future is like the road home. To the cherished home of the Leninist dream.

135 122 Margarita Aliger ( ) To the cherished home of the Stalinist plan. [...] Let us, the first ones, open its doors, Let us occupy the rooms flung open Thanks to the workers thinking and festive labor, [...] What is there, beyond the upcoming five year plan? [...] In the future, selfless human labor Will show up as the first reconnaissance unit. And the plans are so huge, [...] The feeling grows stronger and stronger in my heart: My best verses I will have written under Communism! 17 (1948) Communism, according to the poetess, was already on the threshold, and was about to change the lives of citizens of the Soviet Union. Aliger states here that all those positive things already present in the socialist fatherland will exist more fully in the future age of Communism and, first and foremost, the hard labour in which citizens of the Soviet Union will engage. Labour, particularly physical labour, will be a source of supreme happiness to the citizens so much so, that it will serve as a substitute for vacations and cause them to forget everything else. In this, Aliger accepts the Stalinist line involving the idealisation and utopian vision of labour, and particularly of physical labour. According to this doctrine, labour will bring about a heaven on earth for the workers. Hence, labour is elevated to a level superior to any other human value higher even than religion or Eros. In this connection, one ought to mention the tendency to eroticise physical labour and to see it as an instrument capable of providing greater satisfaction and happiness to the Soviet man than relations with a woman, as alluded in the film Tractor Drivers (Traktoristy, 1939). 18 Soviet man finds his happiness in labour, and Aliger affirms this doctrine: the more Soviet man sacrifices himself for the sake of his labour, the better for him. The ideal Soviet worker is lacking in self-âconsciousness and in any personal element, but is like a perpetual and well-âdisciplined work-âmachine, who assists his Soviet masters to utilise him so as to derive the maximum benefit and productivity. In retrospect, one wonders whether the saccharine-âsweet picture of manual labour portrayed here is meant honestly or out of feigned innocence. The criticism of Aliger s poetry tends to represent her as writing simplistic and superficial poems. Regarding this poem, the Soviet critic Dementiev noted: Noticeably, that simplification of life s processes which included the metaphor, The way to the future is like the road home, at times began to assume literal meaning. 19 However, the simplicity and superficiality of her poetry seem a deliberate choice rather than an expression of the simplicity and superficiality of the poetess own personality. This choice is related to her gender world-âview: Aliger was accustomed, both generally and in the choice of her life path, to rely upon dominant and famous men who stood at the center of concrete reality and, first and foremost, upon Stalin. She elevated his image to the level of the Divine and, in keeping with his own policy, elevated the interest of the Soviet collective while

136 Margarita Aliger ( ) 123 negating that of the private individual (on Aliger s gender world-âview, see in detail below). Aliger s poetry serves the propaganda aim of glorifying Stalin and the Soviet reality under his leadership. Nevertheless, beyond the shop-âworn Communist cliches a good measure of authentic talent and wit also emerges in her poetry. Most of her poetry was written in the style of Socialist Realism, an approach which did not stand the test of time from the artistic-âaesthetic viewpoint; however, her poem, And Our Destinies, Thoughts and Glory was outstanding in terms of its powerful and expressive imagery: And Our Destinies, Thoughts and Glory (A nashi sud by, pomysly i slava) And our destinies, thoughts and glory, Dreams, hopes, joy and misfortune At present, still molten lava, Flowing into the coming years. [...] And this lava, made into an alloy by our destinies, Will cool down from the breath of time, The finest forms having been found for the new alloy. [...] Along with them will live through the ages That first master, who, in an excess of vigor, Took the living lava in his bare hands Burning his fingers and shaped it. 20 (1947) This poem exalts the figure of Stalin, depicting him as the father and builder of the Soviet people. He educates and molds them, he is the founder of the history and culture of the Soviet Union indeed, he is portrayed as a kind of god, omnipotent and supremely energetic, who in his great kindness gives of himself for the sake of the people. The poem consists of a series of interesting images. Aliger compares Stalin to a sculptor, shaping Soviet society and the Soviet people themselves, while manifesting courage, determination, self-âsacrifice and spiritual greatness. This is a colorful and plastic image of great expressiveness, concretising the power and motion of his hands, his muscles, the body of the grandiose divine sculptor, as presented by Aliger. The artistic beauty of this image is far superior to its hackneyed propaganda contents. Aliger s poetry was conformist and consistent with the official Soviet propaganda. Nevertheless, one cannot deny that she had a considerable degree of poetic talent, expressed among other things in her invention of unique and interesting imagery. 4 Women in Aliger s poetry and Aliger s self-âconcept as woman Aliger s relation to the subject of the woman is simultaneously simplistic and manipulative. On the one hand, the portrait of woman in her poetry conforms

137 124 Margarita Aliger ( ) with the accepted image of woman in Socialist Realist literature and does not deviate from the patriarchal and chauvinistic norms accepted by Soviet society. 21 On the other hand, in her personal life as a woman, Aliger s behaviour was calculated, carefully planned and clever. The image of woman in her poetry is fashioned by well-âtrodden, traditional criteria. The woman stands in a secondary place behind her man; he is responsible for her, makes decisions on her behalf, and she relies upon him. Her happiness, her position in society and her very desire to live all depend upon him. For example: The Girl (Devushka) Remember his eyes, of such bright color, His tender voice... And how long the evening was, [...] You were growing prettier Just from his glance, [...] You started to dance, by yourself. [...] And a golden-âhued, happy flush Suddenly painted your swarthy cheeks. Thus you parted, thus you finished, [...] Only to live in expectation, in expectation of a future meeting! [...] Wait a little! Be careful! Where is your happiness? [...] Clench your teeth, endure, it s not so bad! Did you see how he looked at another [girl], With the same look you cast upon him? [...] A heavy heart, listlessly and dully, Beats in an empty and cold breast. So there it is! He did not glance at you, Even once. Is it possible to remain silent? Perhaps it is better to rush about and at once Begin crying out frightfully about your pain? [...] Remain such as you were before. [...] Smile at the new dawn early in the morning. [...] 22 (1938) Even though the man is not the hero of this poem, the young girl s entire life revolves around him. He chooses her and she is happy, shows off before her jealous friends, lives and breathes through his glances at her. But as soon as he leaves her for another girl she is transformed into a miserable creature whose life loses its value, and who reaches a suicidal state. In this connection the poem carries a banal message of comfort: even if it is destined for the woman to be

138 Margarita Aliger ( ) 125 abandoned by her man, she may still pin her hopes on the fact that tomorrow another man will come along who will want her. The implication is that, so long as she still has hopes of finding a partner, a young woman has no reason to kill herself. The corollary that would seem to follow is that, if a girl loses hope of finding another man, then her suicidal thoughts would presumably be justified for, according to Aliger, a woman cannot find self-ârealisation except in the arms of a man. In Aliger s next poem, the implication is that a woman s most significant accomplishment lies in her ability to manage without a man under difficult conditions. Aliger schematically depicts the woman as a shallow and simple figure, confining her to a small number of uniform and simple characteristics. This is a stereotyped and limited approach, consistent with Stalin s policy regarding the subject of women. In this poem, the poetess is depicted, together with other people, wandering aimlessly about in the frozen and snowy Russian winter during the period of the Second World War. They wish to sleep in a house in one of the villages close to the front, where they encounter the young widow of a Soviet soldier who has been left alone to raise four small children. Aliger describes the woman in the spirit of Soviet propaganda slogans: The Landlady (Hoziaika) Our landlady is young, She gave us shelter, a night s lodging. [...] Her house is tidy and habitable. How many children are there? Four. And where is the landlord? He was killed. [...] She knew, with that quiet knowledge, That for ever and ever has preserved the common people [narod]: Right after misfortune and suffering Comes relief. [...] That is why she does not cry, Steeling her soul. [...] Let the banner of your wrath Be sacred three times over, As a woman, as the wife of a soldier, And as the mother of my people [narod]. 23 ( ) It almost seems as if the heroine of the poem is not a real person, but a kind of poster embodying the determination, stamina and durability of Mother Russia. The woman is capable of coping successfully with even the most difficult challenge; she is an unconquerable super-âwoman. The source of her strength lies in her confidence that the Soviet people, under the leadership of Stalin, will protect her and her children against any and every enemy and trouble in the world.

139 126 Margarita Aliger ( ) The poem is written in a surge of power and is reminiscent of the heroic patriotic poems by Nekrasov 24 devoted to a portrayal of the traditional, authentic Russian woman. Nekrasov was the first Russian poet whose works Aliger read and adored. 25 This poem of Aliger s possibly continuing Nekrasov s tradition, in his well-âknown poem, For Whom is it Good to live in Russia also fashions a kind of existential myth of the primal suffering of the Russian woman capable of overcoming every difficulty, even at the price of self-âsacrifice. 26 Such a poem is clearly far from realistic, but is written in the style of Socialist Realism, presenting the reader with an ideal model of the Soviet woman. The poem was intended to provide encouragement to the Soviet public at a time when the Red Army was suffering the loss of millions of young men on the front with Germany. The next poem is phrased as the appeal of the widow of a Soviet soldier to that of a Nazi soldier. The former addresses the latter because of the similar situation of both, the only difference being that they each see the war from the opposite side of the fence. Each woman is alone with her mourning and her hopelessness, filled with anger and the wish to take revenge upon the people that killed her husband: in the case of the Russian woman against the German people; in that of the German woman against the Russian people. Aliger calls upon her German counterpart to direct her vengeance, not against the Russian people, whose women suffer like herself, but against the one that began the war namely, Hitler. Aliger s heroine asks her German counterpart to turn the hatred between the two nations the Russian and the German into a movement of solidarity to suppress Nazism: To a German Woman (Nemetzkoi zhenschine) I think about the German woman, [...] About my contemporary, the wife of a [killed German] soldier, [...] How is she getting on there now, alone? [...] Come, let us talk together as women. [...] Let us draw up some final reckonings, Let us figure out how we can take revenge against each other. [...] [But] together we can, [...] Consider a plan of cold and eager vengeance, Against someone else, a third party. Against whom? Against the one who set in motion, [...] The muffled tramping of feet, the madness of fire. [...] Hurry, hurry! The time to decide has come. 27 In this poem, Aliger expresses the view that each one has his/her own counterpart: the men in the way of men, the women in the way of women. The men make war and are killed, while the women remain widows, spending their entire lives weeping. While the men slaughter one another and make their women miserable, the women are able to correct the situation, to create a situation of reconciliation

140 Margarita Aliger ( ) 127 and dialogue, of joint understanding, thereby bringing about the reign of peace in the world. Even though those who lead the world are men and the women stand behind them in an inferior position, the latter are also able to act. Aliger s approach was integrated with the sweeping and stereotyped policy towards women accepted during the Stalin period, reflecting her own personal opinions regarding the relations between the sexes. Even in her private life Aliger attempted to take shelter in the shadow of a man, was dependent upon him, and seized the possibility to advance her own professional interests from this position of weakness. 28 In order to achieve certain things from her relatively weak position, in 1942 she attached herself to one of the outstanding and leading figures in Soviet society Alexandr Fadeev, Stalin s right-âhand man in the area of literature, an individual with a highly exaggerated image of his own spiritual worth. At that time, Aliger was 27 while Fadeev was 41, in a second marriage to another woman, a famous Russian movie and theater star. Aliger and Fadeev had a tumultuous relationship, separating and reuniting frequently. Aliger expected him to divorce his wife for her sake; while he felt guilty, justifying himself by saying that he needed to cultivate his own talent and to refrain from involvement in the upheavals likely to be caused by a divorce. That same year Aliger published the poem Zoia, which enjoyed tremendous prestige and was studied in schools throughout the Soviet Union (see above). In 1943 a daughter, Maria, was born to the couple. That same year Aliger won the Stalin Prize, the most highly coveted award in the Soviet Union of that era, in recognition of her poetry. Thus the greatest achievements of her life came about during the period of her relations with Fadeev, the like of which she never attained either before or after. One may assume that Fadeev had a hand in gaining her this recognition, thereby compensating for his refusal to divorce his wife and marry her. 29 Thus, in addition to love, Aliger s relation to Fadeev involved certain elements of manipulation, craftiness and calculated expectation of assistance in advancing her career which were, in the final analysis, realised. 5 Jewish themes in Margarita Aliger s work At the end of 1944 and the beginning of 1945, Aliger wrote her well-âknown long poem, Your Victory (Tvoia Pobeda), in which she praised Soviet Russia for its victory over Nazi Germany, stressing the decisive role played by Stalin as the almost exclusive architect of this victory. This poem is a panegyric to the Soviet fatherland s efforts during the war. In this work Aliger, among other things, touches upon the Jewish question, engaging in an imaginary conversation with her mother, who was evacuated from Odessa during the war to a small town on the Kama river. Aliger describes her mother s abandonment of her home in the Ukraine and her wanderings to a new place of refuge in wake of the war as a metaphor for the uprooting of the Jewish people. The Jews were periodically uprooted from those places where they had settled and were accustomed to seeking new refuge, from which they were expelled in turn and so on over the millennia, from the

141 128 Margarita Aliger ( ) Exodus from Egypt until their arriving in Russia. Generation after generation, from one trouble to the next, Jews wandered over the length and breadth of the world miserable, wretched, dejected, but prepared to sacrifice everything on behalf of their God, their religion and their distant, arid land. But the sacrifices they made on behalf of their religion did not help them, and they continued to suffer and to wander, even when they were sick, old and helpless, like the poetess s mother, who in old age was uprooted from her warm home in the Ukraine. To the contrary thus Aliger argues the situation of the Jews only gets worse, and their attachment to their religion brought them, at the hands of the Nazis, to Treblinka, to the gas chambers and to the crematoria. Aliger rebukes her mother as follows: Enough, dear mother! Give up on your Jewishness, which never brought you anything but pointless suffering. Give up on the questionable blood-âties with other Jews. We were born in Russia and Russia has accepted us with love; our true blood links are with our Slavic brethren. Do you want to be among those brought to be killed by the Nazis? Or would you rather identify with the brave Russian boys who fought the Nazis? Here is a fragment from her poem, Your Victory : Your Victory (Tvoia pobeda) Mother answered me, So you forgot it? How dare you let yourself?! We are Jews. Yes, I dared, you understand, I dared to! [...] You don t choose the country where your home is as you start to breathe and know and see, all at once you just receive your homeland, as your parents did, immutably, [...] I was born in autumn and in Russia, Russia took me in and welcomed me. 30 ( ) In light of this poem, it would appear that Aliger sincerely believed in assimilation to the great Soviet dream as the solution to anti-âsemitism; that the Jewish people could be absorbed within the Russian people and become like them, no longer needing to confront the various manifestations of anti-âsemitism. Yet one may also ask: for how long did Aliger remain confident? Would Russia truly embrace the Jews as its own sons, or would they eternally remain as step-âsons of Mother Russia? There are evidently two answers to this question. On the one hand, Aliger s arguments seem to have expressed her inner feelings and belief that one indeed ought to give up ones Judaism. During the years that she wrote this poem, , membership in the Jewish people was a proven formula for troubles and even death almost everywhere in the progressive world, with the exception of the Soviet Union and the United States, the ideological enemy of Communist Russia. But neither did the Soviet Union always welcome its Jews with open arms, as is indicated, for example, by the affair of the Jewish doctors, which emerged with all its force in 1953, several years after Aliger s

142 Margarita Aliger ( ) 129 poem was written. 31 Thus, it may have been naïve on Aliger s part to expect that Mother Russia would accept Jews as her authentic children. 32 Aliger rejects the possibility of affiliation with the Jewish people. 33 The Jewish motif appears in her poem simply in order to show the reader how the Soviet person should relate to it namely, by ignoring it, by forgetting about it. More than anything else, Aliger served as a court Jew and a fig leaf for the Soviet regime. She simultaneously personified the emancipated Soviet woman and internationalism, with the implication that there was no anti-âsemitism in the Soviet system. 34 Nevertheless, her attitude towards the Jewish issue was not completely free of ambivalence, as she did, for example, support the publication of Vasily Grossman and Ilia Ehrenburg s book about the extermination of Soviet Jewry by the Nazis. 35 Aliger s desire to assimilate was not blind; rather, it was subject to certain boundaries, in which her conscience led her to speak the truth. In Your Victory she also referred to the destruction of the Jews by the Nazis, including a description of an innocent young Jewish girl who was slaughtered by the German storm troopers. She depicted the girl in a manner that aroused compassion and reflected identification on the part of both author and readers. It follows from her description that the Jews suffered more than the rest of the Soviet population. Aliger likewise emphasised the contribution of Soviet soldiers and officers of Jewish origin to the victory of the Red Army over Nazi German. Due to her emphasis on the suffering of the Jewish people as against that of other peoples of the Soviet Union, the original version of this poem was banned from publication by the Propagation and Agitation Authority of the Soviet Union. In a letter from 3 August 1944 sent by the Authority to Malenkov, 36 it states that In this poem, a number of serious political errors fell, and it may not be published. 37 The poem was nevertheless published in 1946, after the censorship removed extensive sections relating sympathetically to the Jews and praising them.

143 10 Sarah Levina-ÂKul neva (1920??) Love story in the era of Stalinist prosecutions Circumcision made the Jew Sander L. Gilman, Freud, Race, and Gender, Sarah Levin-ÂKul neva: a Jewish storyteller with a limited personal background Sarah Mikhailovna Levina (born Odessa, 1920, maiden name unknown; married names: Levina, later Kul neva) was an actress in the Yiddish theater and a memoirist. In 1941 she graduated from the studio school of the S. M. Mikhoels 1 State Yiddish Theater, where she played minor roles until its closure by the Stalin regime. During the war she was evacuated to Bashkiria with her small son, and from there to Tashkent. During the summer of 1943 Levina returned to Moscow, where she headed a theatrical arts studio. After her studio was shut down in 1949, she earned her living by sewing. Then, in November 1950, she was arrested as a socially dangerous element, sentenced to exile for eight years, and transported to the village of Taseevo in the Krasnoiarsk region. 2 In 1955 she was rehabilitated, and with the help of K. I. Chukovsky began to present children s plays and organise concerts. In the 1960s and 1970s she conducted cultural work for the masses at the Trade Unions House of Culture in Riga. Levina took an active part in the work of the Latvian Jewish Culture Society. She immigrated to Israel with her family in 1993, where they lived in the Pisgat Ze ev neighbourhood in Jerusalem. At this point her whereabouts are unknown, and it is not known whether she is alive or dead. 2 Levina-ÂKul neva s memoir-ânovel Sorele Sarah Levina s autobiographical tale Sorele was recorded by her acquaintance Anna Vladimirovna Mass 3 and first published in the journal Star (Zvezda) in This novel-âmemoir tells the story of a little Jewish girl, Sarah, who grew up near Odessa and passed through a life-âcycle typical of Russian Jews in the Stalinist period, involving arrest and interrogation, followed by repression and

144 Sarah Levina-Kul neva (1920??) 131 expulsion to a remote north-âeastern area. She also describes her later rehabilitation and attempts to return to a normal life. In her story, Levina also describes the Nazis harsh treatment of her mother in a Jewish shtetl in Belarussia. She relates how her stepfather hid from the Nazis in a cellar, how they captured him, and how he later escaped from a concentration camp despite his many bayonet wounds. She describes service at the front and the wounding of her first husband, Nokhim Yakovlevich Levin, a member of the Jewish Anti-ÂFascist Committee, and how he was later executed during the Stalinist repressions. She tells of her own arrest and deportation, the difficult life she led, and her later rehabilitation. Sarah Levina is not a fiction writer, but rather writes a documentary narrative in the form of a memoir. This makes her dramatic and moving description of the lives of Jews and other citizens of the Soviet Union during the Stalinist era all the more convincing. She describes scenes that capture the terrible atmosphere of fear in the Moscow Yiddish theater after the murder of Mikhoels and before the liquidation of the other actors. The members of the theatre felt helpless in face of the official declaration of the Soviet authorities that the violent murder of Mikhoels was nothing but an ordinary road accident, a commonplace occurrence. [...] at about seven in the morning, some man left his house and noticed that a hand was sticking out of a pile of snow. [...] it was discovered that it was part of the body of the corpse of Mikhoels. [...] When people at his theater learned what had happened, they rushed to the morgue and demanded to be shown the body; they raised a hue and cry [...] The heads of the theater were summoned to the office of the state security organs and were told that he had been run over by a car and there could be no question of anything else [...] Shimeliovich, 5 who had seen the body, said that there were clear signs of blows to the head and that Solomon Mikhailovich [Mikhoels] had been beaten on the head with an iron rod. [...]. The funeral was held in the theater. I saw Zhemchuzhnaia, 6 the wife of Molotov. 7 She was greeted by Zuskin. 8 He was distraught, numbed, crushed. [...] She caressed his hand and said: If you only knew how serious this matter is! When we returned home, Nokhim said: Well then, now it is starting. What is starting? Oh! he said but did not explain. [...] It was the 30th anniversary of Leibl Kvitko s 9 beginning as a writer, which was being celebrated at the Writers House (Dom literatorov). The atmosphere in the hall was terrible. [...] We sat with our heads down, our souls filled with mortal fear. 10 These words of Levina Kul neva reveal the emotional tension she felt upon the tragic developments that were the fate of the members of the theater. They are the words of a simple young woman who lived her life in accordance with her natural instincts, who had sensitive feelings and was responsive to the moods of those around her.

145 132 Sarah Levina-Kul neva (1920??) She later describes how her beloved husband Nokhim prepared himself for his expected arrest, and how he concerned himself with her fate and that of their children after it would take place. She tells how he removed the doors of their two-â room apartment together with the lintels, and thus, after his arrest, when there were fewer people in the apartment, the authorities were unable to order another person to be brought into the apartment, because without a connecting door and without the possibility of adding a door because the lintels had been removed, the two rooms had become one. But Nokhim Levin seems not to have realised the harshness of the judgment that had been passed on them. Not only was he arrested and eventually sentenced to death, but his innocent wife also had a bitter fate in store for her. She too was arrested as a socially dangerous element, interrogated, and sentenced to five years exile in Siberia. Their children were abandoned to their fate, and the relatives refused to take them into their homes (see later) for fear of the authorities. Finally, the two children reached an orphanage, in each case a different one. She gives an extraordinary account of her arrest and her time in prison: I was again taken out into the courtyard of the prison and seated in a black raven 11 [...] we were taken to a collection point, where the prison train awaited us. [...] People were sitting crushed together [...] We reached Chelyabinsk. There they put us on trucks and took us to a transit prison [...] we underwent a long registration process in the jail corridor. [...] Suddenly I heard: Levina... Levina... Levina... Some man I didn t know was asking: Are you Levina? Yes I answered. I have regards for you. From whom? From Kerler. 12 Where is he? In Butyrki [Prison]. 13 What s with him? He received a sentence of 10 years. [...] I didn t know that he had also been arrested. [...] 14 Later, Sarah was taken to a prison cell that she describes as a kind of hell-âonearth. No imagination could have conceived it: Finally we were taken to a cell. When I got there, I thought that no director could have created such a scene if he had not been there himself, if he had not seen this with his own eyes. It was not possible to imagine it. [...] Suddenly I became dizzy and fell down. [...] I was lifted onto a bunk and someone put a piece of chocolate into my mouth and a bit of cheese. 15 Sarah sank into a state of total despair. Threatened and terrorised, she felt herself to be on the brink of death. This abnormal and unnatural condition caused her to

146 Sarah Levina-Kul neva (1920??) 133 make personal decisions that she would certainly not have made if she were in a balanced and calm state of mind. 3 Levina Kul neva s personal interpretation of Judaism The consciousness of being different from the Russians and belonging to the Jewish people accompanied Sarah constantly, even when later, during her exile in Siberia, she met the Russian nobleman Vladimir Kul nev and marries him. In Levina s tale, being Jewish is a way of thinking and feeling and understanding oneself and the world and this is true for her life too. She loved her first husband, Nokhim, to whom her memoirs are dedicated, because, among other things, he was a Jew. On the other hand, she married the Russian nobleman Kul nev, a goy, because no Jew would take her on account of her big dowry, as she put it i.e., her two children from her first marriage. For many years after the wedding, Sarah had to force herself to live with Kul nev because she felt that he was alien to her. Her Jewishness was always with her, despite the absence of religious practices and the fact that she raised pigs and enjoyed eating pork products. Levina s Jewishness was her own self. Her perception of herself as a woman and a Jew are fused in her heart and life, and she gives them a personal and intimate interpretation which at the same time is original and natural. As a 16 year-âold adolescent filled with ambition, Sarah left her parents home in an act of youthful rebellion to conquer the world. Fired with a youthful dream of becoming a great star of the theater, she set out for the capital Moscow, for the Jewish Theater there, which for her symbolised her conquest of the world. Upon reaching her Mecca, the Jewish Theater in Moscow, she met Nokhim Levin, one of the minor actors in the theater and its manager. He was ten years older than her, which represented a huge disparity of age between them. She saw him as an authoritative, mature, fatherly figure, something she lacked after her father had died when she was eight years old, and which she subsequently missed. Levin impressed Sarah both with his spiritual authority and with his mature masculinity. He seemed to her a kind of legendary figure, and her love for him went straight to her defenseless heart and overpowered her. Moreover, her love for him was not one-âsided, but was reciprocated, and was not violated, but was sanctified by him marrying her in an honourable manner after obtaining permission from her mother and stepfather. Sarah relates an enchanting, moving, captivating love-âstory: He [Nokhim] told me how he had first noticed me. It was at the entrance exams. [...] He walked me to the dormitory. From that day on we began to go out together. [...] Since I was afraid that he would find me foolish, initially I was very constrained in my behaviour with him. It was not enough that he was ten years older than I was, he was also my teacher! Nevertheless, every day I felt closer to him.

147 134 Sarah Levina-Kul neva (1920??) Once we [...] sat on the grass under a tree. Or rather, I sat and he lay down, with his arms behind his head. His light-âcolored shirt was pulled tight and revealed his handsome torso. Suddenly I had an irresistible desire to lie down next to him and put my head on his chest. I had never experienced anything like that before. I felt that I must be the most sinful creature. I was frightened and ashamed, on the brink of tears... He looked at me and understood everything. He got up and said: Oh Lord, this person is hungry and I am just lying down here and resting! He took me to the Poplavok restaurant and ordered a meal, but I couldn t touch anything, I was so upset I couldn t get over it. The waitress came over and asked: Why isn t your wife eating? These words pierced me like a jolt of electricity. On another occasion he invited me to visit his sister. [...] We entered [...] His sister wasn t home. There was a note on the table: I couldn t wait and had to go out [...] So I sat on the small couch, alarmed and uncertain of what to expect. Suddenly he [Nokhim] became silent, then he came over and picked me up. He began to carry me around the room to and fro, then put me back on the sofa. I said in a voice that could hardly be heard: Let s leave! He replied Alright, let s go and we did. [...] I completely lost my head and decided that the only thing left for me to do was to run away, to save myself. 16 Sarah tells of the beginnings of the ardent and rapturous desire of the two young people in the first person. Nothing stood in the way of their consummating their desire, which later became a serious and enduring love. Her desire for Levin so overpowered her that she found it difficult to restrain herself, and was frightened that she was unable to prevent herself from initiating sexual relations between them, and she saw from his look that he had sized up the situation at first glance, and that he too desired her. It was a burning mutual love, a true recipe for happiness. Sarah was giddy with desire for Nokhim. She was frightened of herself and tried to run away from herself and her desire for him. He was more experienced than she was and knew how to court a girl; he understood how she felt, and treated her tactfully and gently. He respected and honoured her. It would seem that she was the love of his life no less than he was the love of hers. It was the absolute embodiment of earthly happiness. Sarah experienced a storm of emotions. Her desire for Levin overcame her: she was literally sick from love. The emotional tension she was under was so powerful that it had physiological repercussions such as an increase in her bodily heat. She was cured of the love sickness only when Nokhim came from Moscow to Odessa and she finally met him. Nokhim came from Moscow to Odessa, to Sarah s parents home, in order to stop her leaving him, in order to make her understand that he had no intention of exploiting her ardent love for evil purposes, to reassure her that she had nothing to fear from him or from herself, and that he would conduct the relationship between them in a correct, loving, honourable way. The love of Sarah and Nokhim was mutual, which made it even more intense:

148 Sarah Levina-Kul neva (1920??) 135 I invited him [Nokhim] home and introduced him to Mamma and Yasha [Sarah s stepfather]. [...] Judith [Sarah s cousin] said that she was taking a boat to Nikolaev the next day. Why don t we accompany Judith to Nikolaev? Nokhim asked me. [...] The three of us spent a marvelous night on the steamship [...] and in the evening Nokhim went to buy tickets for the return trip. Judith said: Just you wait and see, he will take one cabin for the two of you! You re crazy! I said. We ll see! Judith replied. Nokhim returned and announced: How unfortunate! I wanted to take a cabin for two but there weren t any left! [...] On that night, the 8th of August 1937, Nokhim proposed to me. [...] I agreed immediately, without thinking about it for a moment. 17 For many decades she treasured her relationship with Nokhim as a real paradise, as the happiest time of her life, as a dreamlike sequence of wonderful experiences. Her utopian attitude towards things reflected both her emotional condition at that time and her feelings about these events throughout her life. It would be difficult to imagine a state of elation greater than that of Sarah: My soul was overflowing. I wanted to be alone, to reflect on what had happened in my life. We parted [...] and I went home. Mamma saw me and asked: What s the matter with you? Did something happen? [...] Levin proposed to me. And what did you say? I accepted. In the morning she [Mamma] gave me a basket of fruit and I went off [to invite Levin to my parents home]. [...] Nokhim stayed overnight at the house. A bed was made for him in the courtyard. It was August in the southern city. I slept in my room. There was a window between us so we spoke late into the night, holding hands. In the morning Nokhim said: Let s go and see whether we can be registered now as a married couple. [...] When we entered [the ZAGS 18 office] and asked, they responded: Of course, you can be registered right now! Yes, let s do it, what do you say? Let s! So that s how we were married. As we left ZAGS, Nokhim [...] started singing an aria [...] Everyone was looking but he continued singing! It was morning, the streets smelled clean, the leaves were wet. We walked along Deribasovsky Street and he bought me a huge bouquet of flowers. When we got home, we announced: We are married! Mamma burst into tears. 19 Everything concerning Levin is idealistically described by Sarah as perfect. Even the weather on the morning of their wedding-âday, the streets of the city and the leaves on the trees everything around her became noteworthy, gladdening, refreshing, optimistic, and glowed with happiness owing to this dreamlike

149 136 Sarah Levina-Kul neva (1920??) Ârealisation of their mutual love. Sarah was in a state of euphoria, didn t feel hungry, never got tired and needed no sleep at night. It was not only a matter of her love for Levin being the realisation of her dreams, but that her romantic and erotic dreams were crystallised through the person of Levin. He took her out of childhood and made her into a woman, he educated her and gave her a model of what a man should be. Her experience with him could be compared to the phenomenon of imprinting, 20 known in animal psychology. The person of Levin with all his characteristics and qualities remained perpetually in Sarah s consciousness as the very prototype of a man. Any other man Sarah met in her life was assessed in relation to the prototype of Levin, and in order for her to love him he had to be more Levin than Levin himself. But of course she obviously did not find and could not find another man like him. But the Stalinist regime had no consideration for the feelings of Nokhim and Sarah Levin, and, along with tens of millions of other citizens of the Soviet Union at the time of Stalin, it decided their fate against their will. Nokhim and Sarah were separated by the Soviet authorities during the period of the Great Terror 21 and never saw each other again; he was executed and she was sentenced to exile. Moreover, the bitterness of Sarah s fate was augmented by the real danger of the loss of their two young children: their son Michael, called Misha, and their daughter Mira, called Mirushka. 22 Levin s uniqueness for Sarah as a man and as a personality was revealed more clearly after reports of his death, when she began to consider the involvement of another man in her life. Sarah was able to have distant relationships with other men, but as soon as another man drew close to her, she became increasingly inhibited. She was unable to open up personally or emotionally to any man other than Nokhim Levin, who left a deep imprint on her consciousness as a woman. To sleep with any man other than Levin seemed impossible to her, a kind of rape. In examining this psychological and behavioural aspect of her personality, we find that what disgusted Sarah most at the prospect of a sexual encounter with anyone other than Nokhim was the issue of circumcision. Sexual relations with an uncircumcised man were unbearable and repulsive to her. Sarah had internalised the idea that a male sexual organ had to be circumcised. The cruelty of fate brought Sarah into difficult and intolerable situations in which she had to adapt to inhuman conditions. She was forced to join herself to another man, from a Russian noble family, who like herself had been arrested, interrogated, tortured, given a prison sentence and exiled to Siberia. All her life, Sarah suffered pangs of conscience because she had joined herself to another man and not only that, but one who was not Jewish. In her book she tried a great deal to justify herself and put the blame on external circumstances. From her descriptions, one feels that her self-âjustifications were honest and real: I found myself among a group [of political] prisoners that included Volodya Kul nev. We were exiled to the remote northern Siberian village of [...]

150 Sarah Levina-Kul neva (1920??) 137 Glinnaya, where we were fated to live. [...] They began sending us out to work. We went out into the forest [...]. The snow was higher than our heads and was covered with a thin crust of ice. I crawled [...] along this crust of ice on my stomach, because if someone fell in, he couldn t pull himself out. I would come back from the woods half dead with fatigue. [...] Many people there began to establish some kind of families. [...] They shouldn t be criticized for this because it was very hard to be alone, very hard especially for a woman. I had no one to help me. [...] I could scarcely move my feet. I suffered terrible apathy. I didn t want to live. [...] And on that day Volodya Kul nev proposed to me and I accepted his proposal. [...] I was terrified to remain alone that was the main reason. After all, we were exiled together with the bytoviki [the criminals] who were thieves and the repeated offenders. There was no guarantee that tomorrow these people would not lay cards for you, 23 stab you, or rape you. You simply needed some kind of protection. 24 Sarah, in her new, difficult and dangerous place of residence. where unforeseen death lay in wait at every step, joined herself to another man out of despair, fright and shock. What drove her to him was the trauma of the exile to Siberia and the feeling of helplessness in that unknown and threatening situation: As for feelings, I had none for Volodya. In general, everything inside me was dead. But I thought that we would be able to help each other. I would try to create some kind of domestic warmth for this unfortunate person, to wash his clothes and do his sewing [...] He was already a middle-âaged man in his fifties.[...] The temperature there ranged from degrees below zero. His ears had suffered frost-âbite and he covered his, pardon the expression, private parts so they didn t freeze. [...] The jailers [in his interrogation] punished him by staging a mock execution. He was awakened at dawn, led to an open pit, and shots were fired. That s the kind of tricks the jailers would play. Since that time he had a slight tremor of the head, which was particularly noticeable when he became nervous. [...] And then his case was reviewed: his new file said 15 years incarceration. So from camp he was sent back to jail, to solitary confinement. There he tried to commit suicide by hanging himself with a sheet. From her account, it is not clear whether she really had pity for Volodya, or whether she used her pity as a justification for joining him. It would appear that both answers are correct. But when Sarah and Vladimir tried to engage in intimate relations, she could not bear it because she looked for Levin in the person of Kul nev. We rented a room and there, in the village of Glinnaya, we had a modest wedding. A month later I regretted what I had done. Volodya became repulsive to me. That s hard to explain. Perhaps because I was still madly in love

151 138 Sarah Levina-Kul neva (1920??) with Nokhim and unconsciously sought in Volodya something that resembled him. But Volodya was a different type of person, quite different... When I came to my senses, [...], I understood what a mistake I had made. I told him that I wouldn t sleep with him. In that case he said: give me clean clothes to hang myself in. Forget it, hang yourself in dirty clothes, I responded with a cruelty I hadn t thought myself capable of. [...] Everything about him was alien to me. [...] I understood that without him I would perish but I still could not live with him. 25 Sarah does not have a good word to say about her intimate relations with Kul nev, but only feelings of disgust. What was it in Kul nev s body that distinguished it so drastically from that of Levin? The main physical difference between the two men was the circumcision that marked the first, but not the second. A woman who was accustomed to having sexual relations with a circumcised man found it difficult to break away from this and have pleasurable relations with another man. The solution to the difficulties between this couple involving sentiment, emotions and sexuality was a very typical one. In the case of a woman who recoils from her man, what can help to solve the problem is to approach the woman through her children, especially if they are her children from another man whom she had before. In such a case, the present man is seen by her as paternal, patriarchal, protective, strong, noble and trustworthy. She comes to see him as a man who, although he repels her physically, provides her with security and the feeling that he shares her feelings and worries camaraderie. The woman is grateful to him for his good relationship with her children. The approach of a man to a woman who is repelled by him is thus indirect, by engaging the true object of her love, and not direct, through his erotic attraction to her. And this is what happened to Sarah: When we approached the post office, I asked them to stop and find out if I had received a letter. [...] Yes, there was a letter for you but this morning the postman took it to Glinnaya. [...] That was my first letter from [Sarah s son] Misha. [...] Misha sent me the addresses of the orphanages where he and [Sarah s daughter] Mirushka were living. I wrote immediately, asking that my children be sent to join me. And then I waited. After some time, I received an answer informing me that the children had been sent off [...] on the journey to me. Every day I waited for them and was consumed with worry. Volodya tried to calm me and that somehow softened my attitude toward him. My personal sufferings no longer seemed as important as they had been. A man whose wife is repelled by him can ease the unpleasant erotic tension between them by a temporary renunciation of sexual relations, and from a potential lover whom she finds repulsive he becomes a compassionate friend,

152 Sarah Levina-Kul neva (1920??) 139 Âespecially if he is a good man who will complete the family circle. Sarah further relates how she finally saw her children after many years of separation, and how all this took place with Kul nev s support and assistance: I was really afraid that something had happened to the children on the way. [...] One day Volodya came back from the woods for lunch. [...] tears were falling into my bowl. He asked: Why are you sitting and crying? Let s go to Taseevo and ask once more where the children are. Just then the door behind us opened. Some woman asked: Does Levina live here? I turned round to face her and asked: The children? Yes, she replied. It turned out that they were already in the village. [...] I ran through the village. [...] While I was running, I suddenly saw Mirushka and Mishenka sitting there [waiting for me]... Somehow that really tore me apart. [...] As soon as she saw me, Mirushka asked: Mamma, why do you look so different? I remember that they were horribly covered with lice. Volodya brought a pair of scissors and we sat both of them down [...] and cut their hair [...] then washed them thoroughly in the bath-âhouse. 26 Volodya Kul nev proved himself to be a husband of great wisdom, patience, and highly developed intuition. He de-âeroticised himself in Sarah s eyes, and instead developed a warmer and more understanding relationship with her. She depicts him as a good person, a family man with warm feelings. He became one with her children, and this enabled her to open up to him erotically. Kul nev played an active role in locating Sarah s children, in getting them returned to her, and later in caring for them and bringing them up. Then Sarah drew closer to him and they became a couple in the full sense of the word, and were finally also officially married and had a daughter, Irena Kul nev. In Sarah s book, there is a personal and even intimate interpretation of Judaism. She was accustomed to having sexual relations with a man like her first husband and, specifically, a circumcised man, and found it difficult to adapt to someone who was uncircumcised. In the course of time, she also got used to having sexual relations with an uncircumcised man, but only after she had passed through a long and painful spiritual process.

153 11 Sarah Pogreb (b. 1921) The history of silence I lost my father [...] and in a sense, my mother too Sarah Pogreb 1 Sarah Pogreb: a father s death as a life-âshaping trauma Sarah Abramovna Pogreb (born, 1921, Zaporozh e Ukraine; maiden name, Bronisman) is a poetess. She is believed to have been born on 1 January 1921, in the Golta railway station in the town of Pervomaisk, or in the village of Yusefpol, not far away. Both places were in the district of Zaporozh e in the Ukraine. Sarah s parents were Ester [Esfir ] Himmelfarb and Abraham Bronisman. Sarah s father died of consumption when he was only 32, and his daughter was a two-âyear-old toddler. He was an educated, intelligent man. Little Sarah also suffered from consumption. Later she said about herself: I suspect that my tuberculosis was inherited. [...] What was left of my father? In my memory, nothing. [...] Not the smallest scrap of paper was left, not a line, not even a specimen of handwriting. Only two photographs. At his funeral, Mama [...] took me, wrapped me in a blanket, and went in a passing cart to her parents. Mother was a beauty [...] and very soon got married again, to Uncle Boris. A little sister was born, Iskra. 1 Sarah s stepfather, Uncle Borya, had no affection for little Sarah, and she felt as if she did not belong in her parents home, nor was she able to call Uncle Borya father. Her mother felt under an obligation to her stepfather for feeding her daughter by a former husband. Sarah began writing poetry as a refuge from her loneliness. Young Sarah spent most of her time with her grandparents on both sides, to whom she was very close. These were her father s parents, Grandma Nehama and Grandpa Yankel, and her mother s parents, Grandma Doba and Grandpa Moishe. Sarah remembers them with affection. Grandma Nehama, her father s mother, showed little Sarah all her love for her late son. She used to bathe Sarah after a hot day, and dress her in starched clothes, and let her go for a walk in

154 Sarah Pogreb (b. 1921) 141 white striped stockings, with neat ribbons on her plaits, to show that her granddaughter was just as happy as other little girls who had not lost their father. Grandpa Moishe used to pray, putting on a prayer shawl, and strapping to his forehead a black box of tefillin. 2 Grandfather was a tradesman, a small shopkeeper. Though he himself had hardly studied, he had great respect for learning and knowledge. When Sarah read her poems at a children s competition in Kharkov and her photograph was printed in the News (Vesti) newspaper, Grandpa clipped the photo and carried it around with him in a wallet, wrapped in a sheet of white paper, until he died, almost 15 years later. As an adolescent, before the war, Sarah began writing. She was preparing herself to be a literary critic, and started working at one of the universities in the Ukraine. She wrote studies of Andrei Bely, 3 Tyutchev, early Mayakovsky and late Tsvyetaeva. In 1937, Sarah won the Pushkin prize for literature for her poetry. But at the same time, in 1937, her stepfather was prosecuted and expelled from the Party and sacked from work. Sarah, as the adopted daughter of an enemy of the people, was about to be expelled from the Komsomol. But thanks to the secretary of the Regional Committee this did not happen, as he said: We must re-âeducate her; [and not expel her from the Komsomol] we need talented people. From that time on, Sarah stopped writing for 40 years, feeling that it was a dangerous time for writing poetry. Soon, the Second World War began. Sarah suffered from exhaustion, hunger, malaria and tuberculosis all while caring for two small children, whom she brought up without any help, and with a husband crippled by the war. Nevertheless, she continued to write poetry for herself at night. She started studying for a doctorate in Kharkov. The subject of her intended dissertation was Tyutchev, but the topic was not approved for ideological reasons, as Tyutchev s ideas were not consistent with the Communist ideology of the revolution. She was advised to choose another topic, this time Mayakovsky, and she spent years writing about it. But she was also prevented from defending her new dissertation by the campaign against rootless cosmopolitans 4 i.e. Jews, a campaign being launched against the Soviet Jews at the end of the 1940s. Sarah was likewise expelled from the working staff of the Zaporozh e Pedagogical Institute. Distressed, she started working as a schoolteacher, which provided greater scope for honesty. In 1990, she immigrated to Israel. In 2000 Pogreb was widowed, and she now lives in Ariel, a town in the hills of Samaria. She has two sons, one of whom also lives in Ariel, next to his mother. 5 This son bears the name of the father Sarah never knew: Avrum. 2 The melancholy poetry of Sarah Pogreb In Sarah Pogreb s first collection, I Kept Silent Until Poetry..., a lengthy section is devoted to memories of her childhood, her home and the friends of her youth. Thus, as follows:

155 142 Sarah Pogreb (b. 1921) I kept Silent Until Poetry (Ia domolchalas do stihov) I kept silent until poetry, But I was as devoutly silent As if I had vowed To spend my whole life without words. Whether up or down, but more often down, My fate led me, And this sad song I sang clearly, not lying. I know no way out of trouble, But my childhood shed clear light on the entire world, The deserted and silent hills, And all around poetry, poetry. [...] 6 Here Pogreb describes the history of her poetry-âwriting. Because her work was of an artistic nature and did not reflect the official ideology, the Soviet authorities regarded it as subversive. She relates her attempts to restrain herself and not write poetry. These efforts were so intense that they are compared, paradoxically, to the devotion with which poets generally do write poetry At times her fate lifted her to the heights of happiness, but it more often cast her down into the depths of misery and that was the song she sang for most of her life. Indeed, it was a sad song, but the poetess continued to sing it owing to the harshness of the reality she faced. Pogreb had no miracle-âcures for the afflictions she suffered, but the freshness of her childhood always remained with her, and the quiet, soothing scenes of nature always reminded her of the possibility of writing poetry. Poems of childhood memories are dominant in Pogreb s work. Here is one of her best-âknown poems devoted to memories of her infancy: I m Going to See My Grandparents (Ia edu k dedu s babushkoi) I m going to see my grandparents; [...] I must be four, Or maybe older one whole lifetime back, From Golta to Yuzefpol 7 is no quick drive; [...] And there is the old house, first one on the right. My Grandma poured warm water in a trough And gave me baths, [...] She combed out my rough shock Of hair and wove bright ribbons in the braid, [...] what is always With me, the main thing: There, beside the wattles, Along the sloping path we both go walking. [...] How many times I ve dreamt of this place! And still I dream of it. The grief keeps glowing. [...] Because in all the world they had just me, [...]

156 And so in that hungry year, in 33, They passed away, in the Odessa poorhouse. Don t soothe your conscience thinking you were much Too weak to help, too little on your own. Ask yourself rather, did you always rush [...] to help, as soon as you were grown? 8 Sarah Pogreb (b. 1921) 143 In this poem, an analogy is drawn between nature and the poet s state of mind: the heart-âwarming beauty of nature reflects her exalted mood. The beauty and impressiveness of nature corresponds to the beauty and impressiveness of the meeting of little Sarah with her grandparents, and the abundance of love and attention they shower on her. 9 Pogreb s use of nature descriptions may perhaps have been influenced by similar descriptions by Tolstoy, 10 to whose work she directly alludes in the next poem: This Little Oval Skating-ÂRink (Tot oval nyi katok nebol shoi) This little oval skating-ârink, With a lantern, a lengthening shadow, [...] It is both near and strangely distant, That evening with no special events. Literally, I remember the skating-ârink, Where Levin and Kitty met. [...] And the touch of a cheek, and the confusion [...] Like a fine poem. 11 The poem is characterised by an idealisation of her memories, represented in a romantic light as something magical, complete, ideal, out of this world. The poem contains an allusion to Leo Tolstoy s War and Peace, the relationship between the young Sarah and her partner in the skating-ârink being compared to that between Levin and Kitty, the only couple in Tolstoy s novel who had a good relationship and who survived various hardships in the course of their marriage. Among Pogreb s poems of memories of childhood is the following poem devoted to a settling of accounts with fate. Here Pogreb expresses unhappiness at the bitterness of her fate the physical loss of her father and emotional loss of her mother in infancy but at the same time feels satisfaction at her later success, despite the fact that she felt herself to be orphaned: Further from Troubles the River Runs away (Podal she ot bedy bezhit reka) [...] Neither the light features, nor the bright face, Nor the white-âtoothed mother s smile Were left to me. [...] My father died. I resemble my father completely. [...] Like him, I screw up my brown eyes, I love poetry, [...]

157 144 Sarah Pogreb (b. 1921) My sons are married already And simple truths are so comforting. His golden drops of blood surge Out of the darkness, into the light on the tree of life. 12 The experience of being mistreated by her parents remained with Pogreb throughout her existence. In reflecting upon her life, she complains that she did not receive the good legacy of her mother, which could have given her external beauty and a cheerful temperament, because she had the bad luck to resemble her father. She could have received from him a positive emotional legacy one of love, warmth and affection but he died when she was just a toddler. Pogreb felt that something good was stored up for her which was never given to her because the person meant to bestow it disappeared from her world prematurely through the cruelty of fate. She sensed that she belonged to someone whose soul was imprinted on her face, her body, her character and her entire nature, but was prevented from giving her the benefit of belonging to him. Moreover, she felt that in contending with the difficulties of life she had to engage in a dual struggle, on behalf of herself and of her father, who was unable to protect her from these troubles. The spiritual legacy of her father could also have benefited young Sarah. She was told that he was a talented man, a poet and a brilliant writer. But he was not next to her in order to develop these splendid qualities properly. She was unable to enjoy the awareness that she inherited them from her father and thereby receive the confirmation that she belonged to him and his family. But it would seem that Pogreb ultimately felt some satisfaction at her success in struggling with the pitfalls of life. The proof of this is in the last verse of the poem, where it is stated that she married, brought up two children well, and even lived to see her grandchildren. Symbolically speaking, Pogreb rescued her father from the depths of oblivion and brought his blood, his line and himself from the realm of the dead to the light on the tree of life her children and grandchildren. A large part of Pogreb s poetry is devoted to her feelings of frustration at being orphaned from her biological father and her alienation from her stepfather, and at her mother s insistence on siding with him at the expense of a warm and loving relationship with her. It is likely that her urge to write poetry derived, not only from her authentic and original poetic talent, but also from her feeling of belonging to her father who, according to her mother, was a poet, and her own desire to continue his spiritual line and thereby confirm her feeling of closeness to him and to boost her personal self-âconfidence. Pogreb s poetry writing was a lifelong struggle for the perpetuation of the name and memory of her father whom she never actually knew, as well as a reaction to the lack of affection shown towards her by her stepfather. Although Pogreb complained of the bitterness of her fate in that, together with the loss of her father, she also lost her mother, the true loss of her mother when she died brought to the surface the profound connection she also felt towards her:

158 Sarah Pogreb (b. 1921) 145 These Titles Would Squeeze into a Line (Eti zvaniia vtisnutsia v strochku) These titles would not squeeze into a line. I am a mother and grandmother. And a wife. And a child in the never-âending night, While my mother is alive. It was bad. But as my mother s daughter, I lived both near and far. We are all children in the nasty night, While our mother is alive. My childhood ended one night in May. She died. She died. 13 As long as her mother was alive, Pogreb felt that she was not alone, that she was protected, especially in difficult periods. Her mother s presence gave her a sense of security and the hope that her troubles would disappear, but this Edenic existence ended with her mother s death. This is a poem evoking deep-âseated feelings familiar to anyone who has lost a mother, who has felt alone and orphaned. It is a poem which calls for a mother who will never come again. A second subject that appears a great deal in Pogreb s poetry consists of memories of the period of the Second World War. These poems also evoke deep-âseated, painful feelings. For example: Both Far and Near, and Mainly before Dawn (I v dal, i v bliz, i vse pered rassvetom) Both far and near, and mainly before dawn In sleep, [...] That the answer was not sent To those letters torments me. [...] Whence? No, they don t arrive from there, Where the tiny pebble does not reach the bottom. 14 Pogreb describes her feelings of guilt at not sending a reply to the letters of one of her friends who was fighting at the front and who was finally killed in the war. Now the man is in a place to whose bottom a thrown pebble will not reach that is, the world beyond death. Pogreb is full of regrets, as in the poems about her sense of being orphaned by her father and the neglect of her mother or, on the other hand, in those about pain caused by her to others, such as this poem. She alternates between blaming her late father, who simply died; blaming the mother, who deliberately withdrew from her emotionally; and self-âaccusation, as here. The moralistic coloring of her poems may not only be due to the nature of her personal life, but also to the works of Leo Tolstoy, by whom she appears to have been influenced. Pogreb returns to the subject of the war repeatedly. The following is a poem describing the enlistment of Pogreb s husband Misha to the front and her parting from him as he enters the army train on the station platform:

159 146 Sarah Pogreb (b. 1921) In June, in That Inclement Year (V iune, v tom godu surovom) In June, in that inclement year, There is a check-âup: is everyone there? Misha and Leva are drafted to the front, [...] Against that parting edge of the platform, [...] The army trains bear away fathers, The army trains bear away sons, The army trains bear away loved ones, Quite unlike the normal trains. 15 Pogreb describes the routine of checking the conscripts, which t arouses fear: the army trains are going westwards to some unknown and dangerous destination, and the thunderous sound of explosions heard in the background is horrifying. The atmosphere is macabre, portending evil. Fear for the lives of those drafted and the feeling of parting for ever involuntarily enters the heart of every woman on the railway platform. The army trains are thus different from normal trains, which carry their passengers to a hoped-âfor destination and which hold the promise of a joyful reunion. Pogreb describes the fate of her husband fighting as a soldier on the front, where he is wounded and has to walk on crutches permanently. 16 The following are lines from a poem describing snow falling on a crutch: War Again (Esche voina) The snow fell and fell without end.[...] I recognized over and over again The dark spirit of the face. [...] And the light snow falls on the crutch. 17 The poem is based on the contrast between the lightness of the white snow and the wretched fate of the wounded man, with the agreeable and pure associations of the snow emphasising the associations of black despair connected with the crutches. The war and its consequences were the central experience of Pogreb s life, as they were of most citizens of the Soviet Union of that generation. Pogreb s poetry is realistic. It deals with small personal experiences with profound emotional content hidden deep in the heart of the poetess. Her poetry reflects the influence of Leo Tolstoy, as seen first of all in her descriptions of childhood and the war. As in Tolstoy, the child in her poems looks at reality clear-âsightedly and makes penetrating criticisms of the adults around it, and particularly of its parents. The little girl is the moral judge of the people around her, and her judgment is correct, without the extraneous considerations that cloud those of the adults. 18 The war is also described by Pogreb in a manner resembling that of Tolstoy. The war confronts the figures in the poems with hard, uncompromising choices, and they are thus forced to reveal the hidden recesses of their souls. 19 It is also likely that Pogreb s simple and eloquent linguistic style is influenced by the similar style of Tolstoy s works.

160 3 Sarah Pogreb s tender love-âpoetry Sarah Pogreb (b. 1921) 147 Pogreb s love-âpoems are an integral part of her poetry devoted to memories of her childhood, family and friends. They include memories of an especially dear friend, described as a soul-âmate and a much-âloved companion. She speaks of him with longing, tenderness and delicacy. Upon the demise of this beloved individual, Pogreb lost an entire world of emotional support, mutual dependence, closeness, intimacy and self-âconfidence that she received from him. She finds it difficult to resign herself to his death; she misses him, she never ceases calling for him inwardly. She expects him to reappear in the next moment. One of the poems of this kind is the following, dedicated to the memory of this friend, Izya (Israel) Boleslavsky: As in a Song (Kak v pesne) In memory of I.B. If you are loved, it is as if You are raised above the ordinary, [...] You were my friend. You were a priceless companion. You were the whole universe for me. But now, I called, and you did not answer. It grew dark in the world. [...] I shall never forget you. 20 This poem is a conglomeration of words of love and affection which the poetess is now unable to say to this person, but can only write in a poem. The honesty and immediacy of her words and the simplicity of her language give the poem its authenticity. The following poem is also dedicated to the memory of Boleslavsky: I Cannot Mourn My Friend in Any Way (Nikak ia ne mogu oplakat druga) Dedicated to Izia Boleslavsky I cannot mourn my friend in any way. [...] He s gone, like a stone sunk in the water in the night, [...] I wander, I seek: where is he, what happened? [...] But the devil appeared with an invincible argument, With that black frame on the page of the newspaper. [...] I have no quarrel with the simple truth of events, But I feel the warmth of arms which have since cooled down.[...] He lives as long as we are alive. [...]. 21 Pogreb speaks of her difficulty in coming to terms with the knowledge of his death She is unable to mourn him but continues to await him tensely and nervously. On the other hand she is aware, if only in her mind, that people die, and that this is what has happened to her friend. She is surprised at herself for being unable to understand something as natural as death. Finally, Pogreb finds a

161 148 Sarah Pogreb (b. 1921) Âcompromise, convincing from both the emotional and the intellectual point of view: the dead are alive so long as there is someone to remember them. Thus, as long as she lives and remembers Izya, he too continues to live, not only in her consciousness but also objectively; hence he is not alone and abandoned in his grave. Pogreb s love-âpoetry, like her poetry as a whole, focuses on painful memories, on grieving over the dear and beloved dead whom she is unable to help, on feelings of loss and absence. It would seem that Pogreb s tendency to feel this way in most of her life situations derives from the mind-âset she developed with the loss of her biological father, and the sense that with his death her own life had soured. She emerged from this experience robbed and despoiled for the rest of her existence. Indeed, she interprets most of the things that befell her, such as the necessity of rewriting her dissertation something that can be part of the work of writing a dissertation in any country, all the more so in a totalitarian state such as that under the rule of Stalin in light of these feelings. Pogreb lived most of her life in that terrible era when tens of millions of Soviet citizens lost their lives in the Second World War and during the long years of Stalinist terror, not to mention the millions of Jews who perished in the Holocaust. But despite this, she felt frustrated and complained directly or indirectly of the bitterness of her fate, without taking into account the unbalanced nature or lack of objectivity of these complaints. Yet from Pogreb s emotional and subjective point of view, these feelings of loss and absence were justified, particularly if one remembers that the source of these sentiments lay in her childhood experiences which had a decisive influence on her psychological development. The sense of being traumatised is the hallmark of Pogreb s poetry, even when scores of years had passed since her initial trauma in early childhood. 22

162 12 Zinaida Mirkina (b. 1926) Suffering as a path toward faith I will fear no evil for Thou art with me Psalm 23:4 1 Zinaida Mirkina: childhood and adolescent anguish Zinaida Aleksandrovna Mirkina (born in Moscow, 10 January 1926) is a poet, author, essayist and translator. Her father and her mother, an engineer and an economist, respectively, were both devoted Communists. Mirkina enjoyed a typical Soviet upbringing. Her father had been a member of the Bolshevik party since 1920, and a member of the Baku underground. At home, there was an atmosphere of profound belief in the ideals of the Revolution, of asceticism and willingness to give up everything for the sake of one s ideals. The Party seemed to her parents to be the glory and conscience of their time. But this idealistic atmosphere did not last long. Writing of her childhood and of herself in the 1930s, she states: And suddenly it was The parents of half the children I knew were arrested. [...] For two months, my father slept without getting undressed and, at night, would take leave of us, possibly not just for the night. 2 Already in her youth Mirkina began to seek refuge in esoteric worlds of her own imagining, to experience visions, and to cut herself off from reality. She explained her own psychological situation in terms of a quest for the true, original, pure God. She wrote of herself: In 1940, when I was fourteen, [...] I understood that the burning passion in itself is more important than all that is produced by it. 3 For example, as a part of her spiritual search, she argues that the existence of the flame within the heart is more important than the reason or cause for this flame itself. This idea may have been influenced by one expressed by Marina Tsvetaeva: namely, that the flight of the soul is more important than its destination. In other words, it is not important where one flies on the wings of the imagination, so long as there is flight (on Mirkina s relationship to Marina Tsvetaeva, see below). 4 In Mirkina was evacuated to Novosibirsk. At the school in Novosibirsk she took her first steps in literature, serving as editor of the school newspaper. Life there during the war years was difficult and harsh, the students

163 150 Zinaida Mirkina (b. 1926) often finding themselves on the edge of starvation. In 1943, she returned to Moscow to go to university, and was admitted to the Faculty of Languages and Literature at Moscow State University, where she studied philology. 5 Her spiritual quest continued throughout the period of her university studies. In 1944, at the age of 18, while still a university student, she began to read religious literature and to believe with a personal religious faith that is difficult to define clearly in confessional terms. Members of her family who, in accordance with their communist worldview, adhered to an explicitly atheistic approach, did not understand her, shrank back from her, and to a certain extent felt sorry for her. For her part, she attempted to convey her faith to members of the family, to persuade them to believe in God as she did, as this in her opinion would bring them salvation, light and happiness. But contrary to her expectations, these attempts only led to misunderstanding, shock, and estrangement on the part of her family. From 1943 to 1948, Mirkina studied at the Moscow Governmental University, where she defended her M.A. thesis, but was unable to take the State examinations, as a serious illness confined her to bed for five years. The nature of her disease was not clearly diagnosed, and was evidently of a psychosomatic nature. In her early twenties, Mirkina underwent a spiritual crisis, probably intensified by her ill-âhealth, on account of which she was prevented from continuing her education and pursuing a career. During the early 1950s there was no opportunity for her to publish her own poetry. From the mid-â 50s Mirkina began translating noteworthy works, purely out of her own interest translations of Sufi poetry, works by Rabindranath Tagore, and Rainer Maria Rilke s Sonnets to Orpheus. In addition, she found work translating the poetry of Soviet poets from various republics. The work was gruelling, and often humiliating, the poems were poor, and translating them was torture. In 1960, she met her future husband, Grigory Pomerantz, and in 1961, they were married. Mirkina s husband admired her for her spiritual and intellectual talents, and particularly for her religious faith. He took upon himself the burden of supporting both of them, and cared for her and nursed her when she was affected by further attacks of the disease. With his encouragement, she ceased to engage in translations for her livelihood and only translated those works which truly interested her, such as those from the works of Rilke. 6 Her own poetry only began to appear in print from the early 1990 s on, in a series of poetic collections: Loss of Loss (1991, re-âedited and reprinted in 2001), Grain of Peace (1994), My Moments of Calm (1999). She also wrote several books of a religious and philosophical nature: Truth and its Double essays about Dostoevsky and Pushkin (1993), The Great World Religions (written together with her husband, 1995, reprinted 2001), The Invisible Cathedral essays on Rilke and Tsvetaeva (1999).

164 2 Mirkina s individualistic esoteric creative works Zinaida Mirkina (b. 1926) 151 Mirkina began writing poetry as a child, but on account of her illness there was a lengthy gap in her writing during her adolescence, between ages 17 and 22. For a long time she wrote without hope of publishing. Her works are abstract and permeated with spirituality and the search for truth, 7 God, and the meaning of suffering and death. Following the years of her illness, her spiritual quest strengthened and deepened something to which her psychosomatic illness almost certainly contributed. She recorded her experiences as moments of Divine revelation: One day, [...] I had a great shock. A spiritual cataclysm, fantastic, supernatural light pierced my heart, as it were, yet did not kill it, but recreated it. [...] my inner eyes saw God. I cannot convey it in any other words. [...] I was born again. I was then nineteen. 8 Such descriptions of the Divine light, as opposed to the darkness belonging to the Demonic Side, appear frequently in Mirkina s writings. When the light ascends, it banishes the darkness that conceals the Divine image. 9 It would seem that Mirkina found it difficult to deal with the terrible experience of her disease and, in order to protect herself, entered into an esoteric world of the spirit. Moreover, she even interpreted her disease in a positive way, as a means by which she was so fortunate as to come to know God, the absolute good, and other positive and desirable things. Already in her youth there was a discernable tendency on her part to see her disease as a positive event, liable to contribute to her and to improve her spiritual life. In this manner Mirkina protected herself, acting in an auto-âpsychotherapeutic manner; her passionate belief in God serving as a refuge from her sufferings. Her work may thus be understood in light of her frightening encounter with death during the outbreak of her illness in her youth as well as thereafter, during periods of trouble and repeated attacks of the disease later in life. Mirkina thus saw the lengthy period of her illness, that extended over a period of many years, as a manifestation of supernal grace through which the true God was revealed to her, filled her with supernal inspiration, and thereby changed her life for the good. She sees her life is divided into two parts: before the illness, which was a period of darkness, as opposed to her subsequent life, which was a period of light: Perhaps my whole life may be divided into two parts up to, and the time of my illness. The second part continues to this day. An expression occurred to me: diving under my illness. It is a process, somehow reminiscent of diving under the waves, during a storm. [...] My self-âhealing process is one of profound contemplation, coming out into those spaces of the Soul, which are actually eternal, and not subject to the laws of this world. 10 Mirkina was accustomed to interpreting the outbreaks of her disease as a positive event, in order to limit the degree of suffering and pain caused her by the

165 152 Zinaida Mirkina (b. 1926) disease. She sought a way to deal with the attacks, primarily by ignoring each one as it occurred, and by focusing through meditation upon the inner recesses of her soul, thereby bringing herself to a state of calm. The illness with which Mirkina was afflicted in her youth constituted the most severe trauma of her life, a breaking point within her life, whose deep and decisive impression was never eradicated from her consciousness. Her confrontation with illness and her quest for an outlet in religious faith and in spiritual creation became the central experience in her life. The main theme of Mirkina s work is man s relationship to God, and to his own spiritual existence. She understands life as coming out from there and going back to there, whereas death is like returning to one s roots and the joy of meeting oneself. In her book, Truth and Its Doubles, Mirkina engages with a number of subjects, including the nature of fear, God s acts as against those of the Satan, the issue of the good person who suffers evil and the evildoer who enjoys good, as well as the issue of being and creativity as opposed to ownership and control. Thus: The fear of God [...] is the eternal, inner trembling of the free heart. [...] We know the expression the fear of God. But somehow the opposite is not widely known: fear of the Devil. There is just fear, ordinary fear in the face of unknown, [...] Fear of creatures of flesh and blood [...] like the demeaning fear of a slave, trembling before his master [...] This fear crushes, shatters the soul. God teaches us not to fear the Devil. The Devil teaches us not to fear God. [...] Perfect love [...] of the Creator [...] drives away fear of the greatest suffering. [...] The most perfect of beings Jesus Christ was not entirely free from [...] fear. [...] But his utter readiness to dissolve his human will in the Divine will overcame it. Yes, let them kill, let them crucify me, but love is still perfect, light remains in my heart. [...] [Jesus Christ] avoids spiritual death by embracing physical death for the sake of internal, everlasting, spiritual life. Why did God allow this? [...] People persist in imagining God as a power, which may allow somebody something, or not allow it [...]. No, God does not interfere with life from the outside. [...] The essence of God is to be and to create, whereas the Devil cannot do either. [...] He has nothing to do with the creation of life. What, then, can he do? Only destroy and take over that which God has created. Destroy and act as if he was running the place. Creating and destroying are concepts diametrically opposed to each other. [...] The Devil can only take over that which God has created. 11 Mirkina argues that fear and terror are among the essential elements of the human condition. However, one must distinguish between two opposite kinds of fear: positive fear as against negative fear. Positive fear refers to the fear of

166 Zinaida Mirkina (b. 1926) 153 God, whereas negative fear is demonic in essence. A person who fears God is freed from dependence upon matters of this world; he is focused upon his own inner world and fears God alone, in whom he believes. Such fear is a superior kind, an experience that uplifts and calms the human spirit. By contrast, demonic fear refers to the fear of other human beings who are stronger, who have control over our own lives, it is equivalent to the servant s fear of his master a humiliating fear that enslaves the soul. Demonic fear is the fear of concrete, earthly, objective things, such as the attacks of disease experienced by the author herself. This is fear of external circumstances which the person is unable to overcome, the fear of the weak in face of the strong, the fear of the slave before his master. It is a depressing, humiliating, destructive form of fear, a disturbing and frightening experience, showing the extent to which man is helpless before his destiny. People who do not believe in God suffer from this fear; it is a fear that denies the existence of God and of His help. Moreover, as the nature of this fear is demonic, one must distance oneself from it. Fear of God refers to religious faith, helping one to overcome that demonic fear which is the fear of suffering and pain. Mirkina goes on to say that it is difficult to transcend earthly fear and to achieve the fear of God. Even Jesus was not completely free of earthly fear, but within his own heart he was ready to forego his own will in order to carry out God s will. According to Mirkina, Jesus agreed to die and thereby fulfill the will of God. 12 It is significant that Mirkina always writes of Jesus as a human being, albeit the most perfect one. 13 This is very different from Christian doctrine, in which Jesus is simultaneously Divine and human in nature. Might this be a reflection of whom she was in fact: a Jew who discovered Christian faith, but in an idiosyncratic way? Mirkina argues, that God does not control the world: rather, He created it and is reflected within it, whereas Satan seized control over the world. Satan feels empty and suffers from jealousy; he cannot create anything by himself, and is envious of He who is able to do so God. Hence, he attempts to dominate the goodly fruit of God s creation namely, this world. Satan experiences feelings of inferiority and frustration in relation to God, leading to relentless, passionate activity so as to draw the world towards himself and to act as if it were his own realm. Mirkina examines the subject of theodicy the suffering of the righteous in most of her writings, discussing it repeatedly from a variety of aspects: But why does God so often punish the most upright, when the evil and the sinful flourish? [...] Job is a righteous man, [...] And lo, to such a man come all the evils, which are only conceivable on Earth. Where is justice? Indeed, where is God? God, it seems, knows everything. Satan boasted before him that no righteousness remains on earth, that no-âone reveres or loves God. And what of Job? asked God. He is only devoted to you, replied Satan, because he is rich and prosperous. Allow me to take everything away from him, and he will curse you. And God did so. 14

167 154 Zinaida Mirkina (b. 1926) Mirkina engages in a constant quest for the meaning of suffering, 15 reaching the conclusion that suffering exists because God is too great and overwhelming to rule over this world. He does not involve Himself in the small, petty matters of this world and does not impose His will and power from without. This view appears in most of her works. She may have been influenced in this respect by Nikolai Berdyaev, 16 who argued that God does not run the world but merely shows Himself therein. 17 Mirkina goes on to develop the idea of the meaning of suffering as an expression of God s greatness: Job took it with fortitude. He [...] said: Everything is from God. [...] I accepted happiness from God, and shall also accept evil. Mirkina identifies with Job and with his sufferings, seeing herself as a kind of latter-âday Job; when she writes of him, she is really writing about herself. Suffering is the very basis of Mirkina s existence. She also compares herself to the prisoners in Auschwitz and, on the other hand, compares herself to Jesus, in terms of her absolute love for God and her total devotion to His will. Job s relations with God were unique and incomprehensible to other people. So, too, Mirkina s relations with her God are unique and special. She was thereby transformed into a unique person and this, by virtue of the suffering caused by her disease. As implied by her words, her disease created a unique relationship between herself and her God: And here come Job s friends [...] If you are punished, it means you are guilty. Repent, and God will forgive you. [...] All their reasoning, all their settling of accounts with God was pitiful and sinful in the face of the magnitude of Job s misfortune. 18 Mirkina asserts that suffering constitutes a kind of covenant between the sufferer and his God. Suffering serves as a kind of representative of God; hence, suffering is also tremendous, great, awesome. A person cannot disagree with suffering or oppose it; suffering is simply the destiny that has been imposed upon one, with which one cannot quarrel. God visits man by forcing sufferings upon him; hence, suffering is a sign of man s relationship with his God, in the sense of a revelation of God s supreme kindness towards men. By contrast, the attitude towards suffering held by ordinary people is mistaken and therefore negative. Those who interpret suffering as a kind of punishment from which one ought to free oneself do not correctly understand the power of God. It should be mentioned here that Mirkina s position regarding suffering is fundamentally dialectical and ambivalent: at times she sees suffering as an injury or affront to the sufferer and as a heavy burden that he is forced to carry. This attitude on her part may have been influenced by the ideas of Fyodor Dostoevsky. One of her more philosophical papers 19 is named for the chapter, The Grand Inquisitor in Dostoevsky s famous novel, The Brothers Karamazov, concretising her powerful connection to his philosophical teaching. Another factor that brings Mirkina especially close to Dostoevsky is that both of them suffered from disease that deeply affected their mental and emotional balance. Dostoevsky s epilepsy worsened, particularly after his trial during which he received a severe punishment. 20 Dostoevsky frequently alluded to his disease, fashioning the central figures of his novels as suffering from this illness. In his writings, he

168 Zinaida Mirkina (b. 1926) 155 describes attacks of the disease, the periods of fearful anticipation of the next attack, his fear that he might die at any moment from the next attack. 21 It seems likely that Mirkina s attitude towards her own disease, as expressed in her own writings, may have inspired by Dostoevsky s manner of relating to his disease. Like Dostoevsky, Mirkina thought that suffering originates in Satan s attempts to seduce people to follow his path by dominating them and making them subject to him. To this end, he created a confusing mixture of good and evil, of truth and falsehood, which offhand creates a trustworthy impression and thereby deceives people and attracts them to it. 22 According to Dostoevsky, suffering is the consequence of faults within the world; hence, suffering as such is of no positive value. Suffering ought not to be perceived as something likely to elevate man s spirit, to purify it, or to atone for his sins. Nevertheless, there is no way to avoid suffering in this world, as suffering entails an element of punishment for man s separation from God. So long as man is alive, he is not unified with God; hence, life without punishment in the form of suffering would be unjust. The individual as such is not a part of God; rather, he is a sinner, deserving of suffering. 23 Suffering is rooted in the disturbance of the Divine harmony in this world, in the sin that someone commits, be it that of the sufferer himself or of some other person. Were the world truly conducted according to the Divine will, there would be no suffering. Sins committed by individuals disturb the Divine harmony in the world, leading to punishment in the form of suffering. The very existence of suffering derives from a disturbance in the laws and rules of God. 24 This approach of Dostoevsky is consistent with that of Mirkina. The following poem concretises her approach: Repent, Poor Soul, Repent (Pokaisia, bednyi duh, pokaisia) Repent, poor soul, repent For your fear and for lowering your wings, [...] Because you exchanged fiery praise For this dull hour, [...] After having sold your birthright, For a mess of pottage. [...] And penitence alone remains [...]. 25 Mirkina describes her feelings of guilt over those occasions when she preferred material things to spiritual values. She regrets that she was born as a person of flesh and blood, dependent upon bodily needs, which detract from her spirituality and do not allow her to transcend the temporal, earthly reality. To quote her: having knelt down to kiss the hem of a garment, I touch my God, but she has failed to realise her desire to nullify her separation from Him, to come under His wings, and to unite with Him to the fullest extent. Instead of mingling with God and foregoing this world, she takes hold of it and remains therein for which reason she feels guilt. So long as a person is not united with God and people do not sustain the Divine harmony in this world, the suffering of human beings is justified. Inner

169 156 Zinaida Mirkina (b. 1926) freedom is the exclusive condition for man s spiritual existence; hence the acceptance of suffering must also come from the person s own free will. In other words, man needs to accept suffering with agreement, with humility, and with love: 26 The voice of God [...] wants man never to lose his intuitive trust in life, and to know that life is bigger and more significant than any suffering. Living love and trust in life must grow in you, deepen as your suffering grows. The soul must be worthy of its suffering, must outgrow it. [...] Thus, in the face of great things [such as love for God], the petty things [like personal sufferings] lose their significance, and the temporary things are overshadowed by the eternal. 27 The trust and belief that a person places in God must be greater than any possible suffering. A person is meant to devote himself completely to God and thereby to ascend, to find satisfaction, happiness and supernal spiritual pleasure. Man must be prepared to give everything he has to God even his only son, like the biblical Abraham. He can live in a truly happy manner only if he is completely exposed to God and nothing of his own remains with him. Suffering serves as preparation for this type of total devotion to the service of God. 28 The idea of happiness through belief in God has already been expressed by Dostoevsky in his great works, Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov, to which Mirkina refers. 29 The following poem concretises this approach: Freedom, Lord, O freedom! (Svoboda, Gospodi, svoboda!) All my love [...] to God I impetuously give. [...] The soul will indeed only be free Upon giving everything to God. Indeed, I have given everything to God; Today, I haven t a penny to my name. 30 As follows from this poem, both supernal Divine grace and faith in God are given by virtue of the great suffering of the believer. This is indescribable suffering, similar to that undergone by Abraham, who was prepared to sacrifice his only son as a burnt offering. Only one who pays dearly for this supernal Divine grace is able to truly receive it. Mirkina feels herself very close to her God; her God belongs to her alone. Her poems are a kind of esoteric personal prayer addressed to Him, outside of any official or accepted confession. Her poems are her means of connection with her God. 31 Mirkina s relationship with God is expressed in the fact that she is completely exposed before Him and is prepared to accept any suffering from Him. 32 This relationship involves a kind of forced masochism or, to be more precise the desperate attempt on the part of the poetess to protect herself from the harsh suffering caused by her health condition. Submission to God, devotion to His will, foregoing her own will for the sake of carrying out the Divine will, regret for the

170 Zinaida Mirkina (b. 1926) 157 development of her own independent will all these are the foundations of Mirkina s faith. 33 Beyond Mirkina s philosophical approach towards the satisfaction felt in devotion to God, one can see in this poem a kind of personal response to her difficulty in dealing with her disease. She found a way of dealing with it psychologically by transforming the harsh experiences of the attacks into a kind of pleasure, on the basis of a certain masochistic model. Mirkina prefers that her love of suffering fall under the rubric of a kind of masochistic love for God, rather than be perceived merely as a source of constant pain. It should nevertheless be noted that her love of suffering does not answer the criterion of authentic masochistic love, 34 as it was not voluntary but more a matter of choosing the lesser of two evils, rather than viewing her suffering with revulsion and hatred. Her unavoidable encounters with suffering and pain would in such a case have brought her further suffering and unpleasantness derived, not only from the disease itself, but also from the negative emotional feeling towards the pain caused by the disease. Mirkina s love of suffering and her attribution to it of a high spiritual value was her means of dealing with the disease and a form of self-âprotection to a large extent similar to the means of self-âprotection adopted by those suffering from Stockholm syndrome. 35 Mirkina is troubled by existential insecurity. She feels that her existence in this world is tenuous, that the foundations on which she stands are disintegrating and crumbling. She is filled with constant awareness of the chance, random nature of things, of nullity, of the short-âterm nature of her physical existence. It seems almost certain that her severe disease contributed to these feelings. 36 Another way Mirkina found to deal with her disease and its potentially tragic repercussions was through acceptance of and reconciliation with the possibility of death. She argues that a person, while still alive, needs to learn how he ought to die. If a person attains a high degree of development of the spirit, then death will constitute for him no more than a transition from one kind of life to another, one that is higher from an ethical viewpoint: This is what one has to turn away from: the grave. [...] Only a person who has tried to stare Death out will understand this [...] To pass through Death, as through an empty space, and to come out on the other side of life and death, is to come face to face with oneself. Perhaps death really is such a confrontation. Whoever cannot stand it, [really] dies. But one who can withstand it, feels what he has never felt before: his own immortality. [...] One must go out into the silence. Into the inner silence. This is necessary for this silence to grow, grow, grow.... And it would reveal inexhaustibility, the unthinkable, unimaginable, unlimited dimensions of the inner being, the eternal being. 37 According to Mirkina, the existence of the spirit is eternal, unrelated to bodily existence, which is temporal and transient. The spirit of man existed even before his birth, and will continue to exist after his death, without any connection to his

171 158 Zinaida Mirkina (b. 1926) deteriorating and transient bodily existence. She asserts the eternity and supremacy of the spirit as opposed to the material world. 38 The numerous descriptions of nature in Mirkina s poetry represent the physical expression of God s will. Nature serves in her poetry as the means whereby Godly forces act upon man. Godly energy impacts us through natural objects in this case, appearing as symbols of God. 39 This idea of Mirkina s was probably influenced by Grigory Palama s book Theology, 40 which she read intensively. Mirkina sees God as so elevated that even a small act of grace on His part, such as the beauty of nature, fills her heart with feelings of gratitude towards Him. The beauty, grandeur and magic of nature are the truest testimonies to God s greatness and to His incomprehensible essence. God is not the address for man s petty accountings and one ought not to present him with various kinds of arguments and complaints. His greatness lies in His love for the world and for the human race as well as for the entire universe: The World is Love (Mir est lubov ) The world is love. [...] by love alone created. And, washing myself in my own blood, Over and over again I ask, choking back my tears: How much more love do we still need? [...] Who can question the Creator of the Universe? [...] And if it is clear to us that God is Love, Then we are ready for a further sacrifice. 41 As implied in Mirkina s words, God demands of her more and more precious sacrifices, that are too difficult to bear. She has no choice but to endure the attacks of her disease and to try to find a measure of comfort in her unending suffering. According to her, one should take comfort in the beauty of nature and in the impressive vistas that metaphorically symbolise the power of God. Moreover, after God has revealed Himself in His grandeur to us, puny human worms, we cannot turn to Him with any sort of requests. Another interpretation of suffering: even when God causes us suffering, He still loves us, as there is naught in God but a world-âembracing love. In other words, God s infinite power and majesty are the surety of His supreme justice and righteousness, even when we do not understand it. In this poem, it is fitting to take note of the expression, to wash in her own blood, which shows Mirkina s ambivalent attitude to the morality of religion. 42 The above phrase is seemingly an oxymoron, as one usually bathes in order to become clean and fresh, while this cynical and sarcastic phrase is intended to describe the double measure of suffering experienced by Mirkina. But surely it is also an allusion to the Christian phrase to wash in the blood of the lamb, where the lamb symbolises Jesus is a vicarious sacrifice. Perhaps Mirkina is saying that she herself is the sacrificial lamb! The next poem expresses the idea that the world following death is more positive and desirable than this world, which is lowly, earthly and filled with fear

172 Zinaida Mirkina (b. 1926) 159 and suffering. The next world is noble, and there is nothing therein but the figure of God. Mirkina s awareness of the existence of the World to Come allows her to feel an elevated, unique and special feeling of transcendence above this world and this life: There is a Boundary to Worlds (Est gran mirov) There is a boundary to worlds. [...] At the dividing line in the vault of heaven, The world is divided into here and there. And there, beyond the glowing border, There is no beginning and no end. Just the extent of the great silence The sacred work of the Creator. [...] you see: cancelled Is the law of earthly gravity, And the law of the gravity of death. Freedom, Lord, O freedom! And a mighty, undivided Holy Ghost, [...]! 43 One of the important motifs in Mirkina s poetry is that of silence as a symbol of the Divine kingdom this, in addition to other symbols, such as the absence of beginning and end, being cut off from the earthly world, and a kind of special radiance that is spiritual in its essence. This poem, one of Mirkina s most lyric poems, which is fashioned in the spirit of symbolism, also bears a religious message, and even involves a measure of preaching. The image that emerges from Zinaida Mirkina s poetry is that of a person who was deeply afflicted by a trauma from which she never succeeded in recovering. Her poetry served as a vehicle for auto-âpsychotherapy; but while it eased her burden, it did not help her to return to normal life. Mirkina failed to learn the manner of thought and of feeling of ordinary, healthy people which is the basic challenge confronting people who have undergone a trauma that shaped their inner psychological world. She failed to adjust to regular life and remained captive to the world of an injured person, an esoteric world of her own imagining, dictated by the psychological problems that emerged against the background of her trauma. Mirkina s works were printed by a publisher who specialised in Christian missionary literature a fact indicative that the value of her poetry is largely horatory, as opposed to their philosophic or poetic value, and that her poetry was intended to comfort people who had been spiritually and psychologically hurt. 3 The attitude to gender in Mirkina s work There is little reference to the subject of gender in Mirkina s poetry, this being a subject that belonged explicitly to the earthly world. It would appear that there was hardly any place for men in Mirkina s life. She married her husband,

173 160 Zinaida Mirkina (b. 1926) Gregory Pomerantz, when she was 35, and they had no children. Her husband admired her in an extreme way, and valued her spiritual accomplishments more than his own. 44 By contrast, in the relations between the two, Mirkina placed herself first. In speaking of him, she noted his economic contribution to her life, in the fact that he took upon himself the burden of supporting both of them. He thereby enabled her to delve deeply into those activities most beloved to her, such as philosophical speculation and writing on those subjects. She also observed that she was dependent upon our husband in a physical way, and that he nursed her in times of distress during attacks of the disease. It was he who enabled her to survive the attacks of her disease. It is clear from these statements that Mirkina married and remained alongside her husband, not only because she had feelings towards him or admired him, but also because she was able to utilise his material help. By contrast, Mirkina s unique relation to the Russian poetess Marina Tsvetaeva 45 is striking: she loved and admired her, identified with her, and developed a complex and deep relationship towards her. 46 The bulk of her book, Invisible Cathedral, is devoted to the work of Tsvetaeva. One of the chapters of Mirkina s book is entitled In the Light of Conscience, 47 based upon Tsvetaeva s essay, Art in the Light of Conscience. This fact confirms and even emphasises her connection to Tsvetaeva. In this paper Tsvetaeva lays down the basic claim that art is opposed to ethics, as presented in the conscience of the artistic creator; therefore, in her opinion, one must suppress ethics and conscience in favour of the existence of art. While Mirkina concurs in this basic assumption, she argues in opposition to her that one ought to preserve art for the sake of those aesthetic values from which there follows via symbol and metaphor the image of God. But, with the exception of such marginal differences as these, Mirkina s words regarding Marina Tsvetaeva are filled with enthusiasm, excitement and amazement at her personality and her work. Mirkina identifies with Tsvetaeva, engaging in arcane and detailed exegesis of every jot and tittle of her writings. Some of Mirkina s ideas were also influenced by those of Tsvetaeva s. Thus, for example, Mirkina s idea that the flame within the heart is more important than the source of this flame (see above) was influenced by an idea of Tsvetaeva s that the flight of the soul is more important than its destination that is to say, it is not important where one flies upon the wings of the imagination, provided only that there is flight. 48 There are cases in which Mirkina writes of Tsvetaeva in a warm and sensuous manner. She also discusses Tsvetaeva s relationships with the numerous men whose company she enjoyed. It is not clear whether this is stated in astonishment, jealousy, or regret that Tsvetaeva never troubled her red lips to say No and that the list [of her men] could be extended indefinitely. 49 Mirkina relates to Tsvetaeva in an extremely personal, even intimate manner. Whereas Mirkina tended to relate to men, and particularly to her husband, in a manner that entailed more than a measure of superficiality, simplicity, materialism and possessiveness, she relates to the world of women in a serious,

174 Zinaida Mirkina (b. 1926) 161 well-âconsidered, profound and complex way, as may be seen from her relations with Tsvetaeva. 4 Mirkina s Jewish identity Mirkina s faith is individualistic and can hardly be identified with any established confession or religion. From a formal point-âof-view she is a Jew who professes a personal creed that lies somewhere in between Christianity and Judaism. Her worldview is infused with Christian ethics. At the same time, she knows that she is Jewish, in the religious sense. Who am I, a Christian or a Jew? I am that destitute spirit who has no handrails, no external ideological supports, no authorities, [...] But only [...] a huge empty heaven and a full heart. 50 The figure of Jesus serves in Mirkina s writings as the embodiment of the highest level of Divine spirit present in a mortal human being and this, to such a high degree, that Jesus himself becomes part of the Divine: Christ bears within himself that hidden, personal knowledge of God which can only be inner knowledge. [...] Jesus Christ is the very man who bore God inside himself and said: The kingdom of God is within us. 51 On the other hand, Jesus serves for Mirkina as the supreme ideal, whereas her relationship to Judaism is ambivalent and filled with internal contradictions. She identifies herself as being Jewish, although this fact seems above all to evoke in her a feeling of guilt before Christians, thus: Did the Jews crucify Christ? Yes, those very Jews, for whom the letter [of the law] was more important than the spirit, that is, Jews imbued with authoritarian thinking, gave Christ over for crucifixion. But all Christians, members of respectable churches, free of persecution, [...] have risen up under a certain banner [Christ], but they have not taken into the very depths of their heart the image of God. 52 Mirkina, as it were, makes excuses before the Christians for the fact that the ancient Jews, her forefathers, served as the cause of the crucifixion of their Christ. However, Mirkina argues, they themselves are no better than those Jews for whom she is now answering. Her Jewishness is an esoteric conception with a religious tendency and serves her as a source of remorse.

175 Notes Introduction: Jewish women writers in the Soviet Union and the present study 1 None of the Russian Jewish women writers discussed in the present book is even mentioned in Kalechovsky and Kalechovsky, The Global Anthology of Jewish Women Writers. 2 Shrayer, An Anthology of Jewish ÂRussian Literature: Two Centuries of Dual Identity in Prose and Poetry. 3 Startzev, The Belles Lettres of the Peoples of the USSR in Russian Language Translations, Bibliography [Russian], 1957, Startzev, ibid., Literature and political regime in Russia 1 In recent years, several original and instructive books have been devoted to the situation of Jewish women in the cultural, social and language reality of this period. Particularly striking in this regard are the comprehensive and precise descriptions of the manner in which the image of the woman was reflected in the literature of the Hebrew Haskalah in Russia. See: Cohen, The One Beloved and the One Hated; Parush, Women Read; Balin, To Reveal Our Hearts. 2 Berlowitz, I am Soil and Man. 3 Balin, To Reveal Our Hearts, Vladimir Sergeyevich Solovyov ( ) was an eminent Russian philosopher, poet and literary critic. Solovyov believed that his mission in life was to move people toward absolute unity, called by him as sobornost. He sought to create a form of philosophy that would reconcile all the various bodies of knowledge. See Deutsch Kornblatt, Vladimir Sergeevich Solov ev. 5 Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev ( ) was an eminent Russian novelist and playwright. Nabokov and ranked Turgenev fourth among nineteenth century Russian prose writers. 6 Although Khin was seemingly alienated from what was occurring in Jewish society in Russia, she nevertheless turned her attention to the Jewish problem in Russia, which found expression in her earliest belletristic works. It is clear from her writings that there is a tension between her positive relation to Russian culture and her Jewish identity. 7 Vyacheslav Ivanovich Ivanov ( ) was a Russian poet and playwright, philosopher, translator and literary critic, associated with the movement of Russian Symbolism. 8 Valery Yakovlevich Bryusov ( ) was a Russian poet, prose writer, dramatist, translator, critic and historian. He was one of the principal members of the

176 Notes 163 Russian Symbolist movement. Though many of his fellow Symbolists fled Russia after the Russian Revolution of 1917, Bryusov remained in the Soviet Russia until his death in See P. Willhardt, Briusov, Valerii Iakovlevich, Who s Who in Twentieth Century World Poetry, Simon Dubnow (Simon Meyerovich Dubnov, ) was a Jewish historian, writer and activist. He is the father-âin-law of Henryk Erlich, a famous Bundist leader. Dubnow s magnum opus was the ten-volume World History of the Jewish People (in German, ). During 1927 Dubnov initiated a search in Poland for pinkeysim (record books kept by Kehillot and other local Jewish groups) on behalf of the YIVO (Jewish Scientific Institute, Yidisher Visnshaftlekher Institut). He was executed by the Nazis in December Nikolay Stepanovich Gumilev ( ) was an influential Russian poet. Gumilev was married to Anna Akhmatova. Dissatisfied with the vague mysticism of Russian Symbolism, Gumilev and Sergei Gorodetsky established the so-âcalled Guild of Poets (in Russian: Tzeh poetov), which was modelled after the medieval guilds of Western Europe, He also established the Acmeism movement. In 1921 he was arrested by Cheka on allegations of participation in monarchist conspiracy and in the same year executed. See Christian, Cornwell, Reference Guide to Russian Literature, 375ff. 11 Anna Akhmatova ( ) was the pen name of Anna Andreevna Gorenko, a Russian and Soviet poet, one of the best-âknown Russian poets of twentieth century, credited with a large influence on Russian and world s poetry. Her work has been widely translated into many languages. In 1910, she married the poet, Nikolay Gumilyov (see above). Andrei Zhdanov, put in charge of the Soviet Union s cultural policy in 1946 by Stalin, publicly labelled her half harlot, half nun and had her poems banned from publication. In 1968, a two volume collection of Akhmatova s prose and poetry was published by Inter-ÂLanguage Literary Associates of West Germany. 12 Andrei Bely (born as: Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev, ), a Russian novelist, poet, theorist and literary critic. Bely s creative works notably influenced several literary schools, especially Symbolism. They feature a striking mysticism and a sort of moody musicality. 13 Brooks, Readers and Reading at the End of Tsarist Era, See the explanation of women s fiction in particular after 1905, See the list of names and dates of these women, whose oeuvres still await the redeeming hand of research, above in the Introduction. 15 Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Blok ( ) was a Russian lyrical poet. The idealised mystical images presented in his first book helped establish Blok as a leader of the Russian Symbolist movement. Block was an extreme anti-âsemite. 16 Sergei Alexandrovich Yesenin ( ) was one of the most popular and well-â known Russian poets of the twentieth century. His early poetry was inspired by Russian folklore. 17 Nikolai Alekseevich Kliuev ( ), Russian poet, was born into an Old Believer peasant family, which influenced his poetry. Klyuev combined his native village folklore with the modernist style and versification developed by the Russian Symbolist poets. An article about Klyuev by Leon Trotsky (1922), which appeared in a central press publication, played a decisive role in his fate. In 1937, Klyuev was arrested for counter-ârevolutionary activity to promote insurgence and executed. He was rehabilitated posthumously. 18 Eduard Georgevich Bagritsky (real surname: Dziubin, ) was a Russian and Soviet poet, recognised as the classic of the revolutionary romantic style. Bagritsky was renowned for his poems written and published in the 1920s and 1930s. 19 Vladislav Felitsianovich Khodasevich ( ) was an influential Russian poet and literary critic. Patronised by Maxim Gorky, Khodasevich left Russia for Italy, later moved to Berlin, where he presided over the Berlin circle of Russian émigré. 20 Boris Leonidovich Pasternak ( ) was a poet and a novelist. Initially

177 164 Notes ÂPasternak was fascinated with the new ideas that Revolution brought to life, but during the Great Terror he became disillusioned with Communism. Pasternak was named the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1958 for his epic novel Doctor Zhivago, but under pressure from Soviet authorities he refused it. A famous Bill Mauldin cartoon at the time showed Pasternak and another prisoner in a Soviet labour camp in Siberia. (1959). In the caption Pasternak is saying, I won the Nobel Prize for literature. What was your crime? 21 Osip Emilyevich Mandelstam ( ) was a Russian poet and essayist. His poetry became closely associated with Symbolist imagery and, in 1911, he and several other poets formed the so-âcalled Poets Guild (Tzeh poetov), which then become known as Acmeists. In the autumn of 1933 Mandelstam wrote the poem Stalin Epigram, in which he criticised the Kremlin highlander. He was consequently arrested and exiled to Northern Ural. In 1938 he was again arrested and sentenced to five years in correction camps. He perished at a transit camp in Vladivostok; in 1956, he was posthumously rehabilitated. 22 Marina Ivanovna Tsvetaeva ( ), one of the most original of the Russian twentieth century poets. In 1922 Tsvetaeva emigrated with her family to Berlin, but returned to the Soviet Union in 1938, the next year her husband was executed and her daughter was sent to a labour camp. In despair, Tsvetaeva hanged herself. 23 Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky ( ), a poet and playwright, among the foremost representatives of early twentieth century Russian Futurism. He became increasingly disillusioned with the course the Soviet Union took under Stalin. In 1930, Mayakovsky shot himself. 24 Georgii Vladimirovich Ivanov ( ) was a leading poet and essayist of the Russian emigration between the 1930s and 1950s. After dallying with a puerile variety of Russian Futurism, Ivanov came to associate himself with the Acmeism movement. 25 Velimir Khlebnikov (pen-âname of Viktor Vladimirovich Khlebnikov, ), belonged to the most significant Russian Futurist group Hylaea, along with Vladimir Mayakovsky, Aleksei Kruchenykh, David Burliuk and Benedikt Livshits. Khlebnikov, along with Kruchenykh, experimented with the Russian language and originated trans-ârationalist language (Russian: zaum ). 26 Mikhail Svetlov (born as: Scheinkman, ) was a Russian and Soviet poet. One of Svetlov s best works from the 1930s was the Song of Kakhovka (1935) which became extremely popular among Soviet soldiers during the Second World War. 27 In preparation of the following text, use was made of the following resources: Shikman, Leaders in National History. Biographical Reference; [in Russian]; Gershtein, Memuars [in Russian]. 28 In preparation of the above text were used the following researches: Ezhov, Shamurin, Russian Poetry of 20th Century. Anthology of the Russian Lyrics of the First Quarter of the Century [in Russian]; Kolobaeva, Russian Symbolism; Brodsky, L vov- Rogachevsky, Sidorov, Literary Manifestos. From Symbolism to the October Revolution, Collection of Articles, 9 39 [in Russian]. 29 Nikolaev, Ovcharenko et al., Russian Poetry of the 19th and the Beginning of the 20th Centuries [in Russian]. 30 Sergey Mitrofanovich Gorodetsky ( ) was a Russian poet, one of the founders of the Guild of Poets. Despite his start as a Symbolist and end as a Soviet writer, Gorodetsky is associated with Acmeists as Mandelstam, Gumilev and Akhmatova. In 1917 Gorodetsky joined the Bolsheviks and was a supporter of the October Revolution. He denounced former members of the Guild of Poets, Nikolai Gumilev and Osip Mandelstam, who were later both executed. 31 Mikhail Zenkevich ( ) was a Russian poet and translator. Zenkevich became an active member of the Guild of Poets after its foundation in October 1911 and the Acmeist circle in general.

178 Notes Vladimir Ivanovich Narbut ( ), was a Russian poet and member of the Acmeist movement. After the February Revolution broke out in 1917, Narbut joined the Bolsheviks. In 1928 he was expelled from the Communist Party, was arrested in 1936, and was executed in See: Terras, Handbook of Russian Literature, Brodskii, L vov-rogachevskii, Sidorov, Literary Manifestos. From Symbolism to the October Revolution, Collection of Articles [Russian], 40 50; see also Krasovsky, History of Russian Literature of the 19th Century [Russian]. 34 Brodskii, L vov-rogachevsky, Sidorov, Literary Manifestos, 77 8; Lawton, Eagle, Words in Revolution, Mirimanov, The Russian Avant-ÂGarde and the Aesthetic Revolution of the Twentieth Century. 36 Aleksei Kruchenykh ( ), a Futurist and trans-ârationalist language (zaum in Russian) poet and literary theoretician. 37 Brodskii, L vov-rogachevskii, Sidorov, Literary Manifestos, Krasovsky, History. 39 Vasily Kamensky ( ), futurist and trans-ârational poet and writer who created the idea of trans-ârational language (Russian: zaum ). 40 Hylaea is the ancient Greek name for the region that in tsarist times was called Tauride Province (Russian: Tavricheskaya guberniia), where the group of poets of that name gathered in On Cubo-ÂFuturism see: Bobrinskaya, Futurism and Cubofututrism [Russian], and Sarychev, Cubofuturism and Cubofuturists. 41 Igor Severyanin (real surname: Lotariov, ) was a Russian poet who presided over the circle of Ego-ÂFuturists. After the October Revolution of 1917, Severyanin was one of the first poets to leave Russia. See: Lawton, Eagle, Words in Revolutionm, Konstantin Olimpov (Konstantin Konstantinovich Fofanov, ) was the son of the poet K. M. Fofanov. Taking his own personality cult to extremes, Olimpov identified himself with the creator of the Universe, setting against Christianity a new religion: Olympianity, leading mankind towards Science. In , Olimpov was arrested on charges of forming anti-âsoviet groups among part of the Bohemianising writers ; however he was released in Brodsky, Lvov-ÂRogachevsky, Sidorov, Literary Manifestos, Lawton, Eagle, Words in Revolution, Vadim Shershenevich ( ) was a Futurist poet, founder of the Mezzanine of Poetry group. In 1919, he turned from Futurism to Imagism. 46 Ryurik Ivnev (real name: Mikhail Aleksandrovich Kovalev; ) was a poet and Futurist. Chukovsky noted that Ivnev, only pretends to be a Futurist, but that he was, in fact, a modernist eclectic. The emotions in his poetry from religious ecstasy through masochistic erotica are taken to the extreme. From the 1930s through the 1970s, Ivnev published numerous collections of normative Soviet poetry. 47 Lev (Leon) Vasilevich Zak (pseudonyms: Khrisanf, Mikhail Rossiyansky, ), painter, scenic designer and sculptor. 48 Sergei Tretiakov ( ), was a poet and a playwright, former member of the Mezzanine of Poetry. Tretyakov collaborated with Burliuk, Eisenstein, Meyerhold and Rodchenko. 49 Konstantin Aristarkhovich Bol shákov ( ), Russian poet and prose writer. In 1918 he enlisted in the Red Army, and reached the position of Military Commander of Sebastopol. Later on, he composed a number of historical and autobiographical stories and novels. He was arrested in 1937 and executed in 1938; in 1956, he was rehabilitated posthumously. 50 Boris Andreevich Lavrenev (real surname: Sergeev, ), Russian poet, who belonged to the Mezzanine of Poetry Futurist group in Moscow. He was among of the founders of the genre of heroic revolutionary drama, together with K. A. Trenev and Vs. V. Ivanov.

179 166 Notes 51 Lawton, Eagle, Words in Revolution, Sergey Pavlovich Bobrov ( ), Russian poet, critic, translator, mathematician and student of prosody; he was one of the organisers of Russian Futurism. From 1914, he headed the Centrifuge (Tzentrifuga) group of Futurists. During the 1920s and 1930s, Bobrov was the victim of political repressions. 53 Nikolai Alekseevich Aseev ( ), was a Russian poet. His poems were imbued with romanticised revolutionary pathos, and political messages permeated his lyrics. Marina Tsvetaeva s daughter Ariadna Efron calls him her mother s murderer in her letter to Pasternak, because immediately following a conversation with Nikolai Aseev, Marina Tsvetaeva committed suicide. 54 Lawton, Eagle, Words in Revolution, Alexei Vladimirovich Chicherin ( ) was a literature scholar, winner of the Belinsky Prize by the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union (1979). 56 Ilya L vovich Sel vinsky ( ) was a Russian poet, prose writer and playwright. He establishe the LTzK group (Constructivists Literary Center) in In 1928, Selvinsky composed the Constructivists Codex, formulating the fundamental aesthetic principles of this movement. 57 Kornely Lyutzianovich Zelinsky ( ), specialist in Soviet literature and literary critic. He is noted for his major contribution to the study of literatures of the peoples of the USSR. 58 Brodsky, L vov-rogachevsky, Sidorov, Literary Manifestos, Drozdkova, Zakharova, Savchenko, Russian Imagism, ; Schneiderman, The Imagist Poets; Zakharov, Savchenko, Esenin and Imagism, 3 40; Makarova, Russian Literature of the Twentieth Century, ; Brodsky, L vov-rogachevsky, Sidorov, Literary Manifestos, Ippolit Vasil evich Sokolov ( ), literature and film critic. He became an active member of the All-ÂRussian Union of Poets in After 1925, became a renowned film critic and cinema historian. 61 Brodsky, Sidorov, Literary Manifestos., Ibid., Venyamin Moiseevich Kissin ( ) was a poet and literature critic, who published also under the pen-âname of Bavli. Kissin was killed by a stray bullet, aged Dmitry (real name: David) Maisels ( ), in 1918 published his only volume of poetry; in 1921 participated in the composing of the literary manifesto of the Luminist poets. 65 Taras Grigorevich Machtet ( ), poet, journalist, author of a poetry collection, from the mid-â1920s, focused mainly on journalism. 66 Brodsky, Sidorov, Literary Manifestos, Boris Zemenkov ( ), poet, artist and theoretician of Expressionism in painting. He believed that the value of an art work lay in the purity of the immanent form and expression. 68 Brodsky, Sidorov, Literary Manifestos, Ibid., In the above text, I made use of the following studies: Tukh, Guide to the Silver Era; Timina, Russian Literature of the 20th Century; Dzhimbinova, Literary Manifestos; Kursanov, The Russian Avant-Âgarde; Mariengof, My Era; Niv, Serman, Strada, Etkind, History of Russian Literature. 20th Century. Silver Age; Shamurin, Fundamental Trends; Shershenevich, The Magnificent Eye-ÂWitness. 71 Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (born Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, ), was a Russian revolutionary, the principal leader of the October (Bolshevik) Revolution of In 1998 he was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of the twentieth century. His contributions to Marxist theory are referred to as Leninism. 72 Lev Borisovich Kamenev (real surname, Rozenfel d, ) was a Bolshevik revolutionary and prominent Party and state activist. In 1936 he was convicted on

180 Notes 167 trumped up NKVD charges of belonging to the Trotsky-ÂZinoviev Center and executed by shooting. 73 Leon [Lev] Davidovich Trotsky (real surname, Bronshtein; ) was one of the most important Russian and Soviet political figures. In 1905 he developed the major portion of his theory of permanent revolution, which held that the Russian proletariat, having carried out the bourgeois revolution itself, would begin the socialist stage of revolution, which could be successful only with the aid of the world proletariat. The struggle between Trotsky and Stalin for leadership of the Soviet Union ended in Trotsky s defeat in In 1927 he was expelled from the Communist party and exiled. In 1940 he was murdered by an agent of the NKVD in Mexico. 74 See: Fitzpatrick, Sheila, Images of Abundance, In preparation of the text above, also the following resources were used: Shikman, Leaders in National History; Torchinov, Leontyuk, Around Stalin. 75 Terror as loss of the basic freedoms of the individual is not only a means towards a sublime end; it is a basic concept of the system itself. Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, Part 3, xxi. 76 Stalin s policy during the course of the Second World War and thereafter singled out the Jews as target. See: Brezezinski, The Grand Failure, Gilboa, The Black Years of Soviet Jewry, , 321ff.; Fitzpatrick, The Party is Always Right, Applebaum, Gulag. A History. 79 Eckman, Soviet Policy towards Jews and Israel, , 43 ff. 80 Low, Soviet Jewry and Soviet Policy, 43ff.; Pinkus, The Jews of the Soviet Union, 84ff.; Aronson, The Jewish Question During the Stalin Era, 171ff. 81 Levin, The Jews in the Soviet Union since Paradox of Survival, vol 1, 68ff.; Eckman, Soviet Policy towards Jews and Israel, , 44ff. 82 Schulman, The Fate of Soviet Jewry, 6ff. 83 Judt, Postwar. A History of Europe since 1945, 215ff. 84 Redlich, Propaganda and Nationalism in Wartime Russia. 99ff.; Redlich, The Jews under Soviet Rule during World War II, 190ff. 85 Judt, Postwar. A History of Europe since 1945, 182 ff.; Redlich, The Jews under Soviet Rule, 137ff. 86 Rapoport, Stalin s War against the Jews; Gilboa, Black Years, 293ff., 327ff.; Pinkus, The Jews of the Soviet Union, ; Chesler, The Russian Jewry Reader, 97ff. 87 Saivetz, Levin-ÂWoods, August 12, 1952, The Night of the Murdered Poets; Levin, The Jews in the Soviet Union since Paradox of Survival, vol 2, 527ff.; ibid., 574ff.; Low, Soviet Jewry and Soviet Policy, 62ff.; Eckman, Soviet Policy towards Jews and Israel, , p Brent, Naumov, Stalin s Last Crime, For example, see the following study of literary history published in the Soviet Union: Dolgopolov, On the Boundary between Eras. 90 On the history of the origins of Socialist Realism, see: Clark, The Soviet Novel History as Ritual, 27ff. 91 On Socialist Realism, see: Metchenko, Polyak, Timofeev, History of Russian Soviet Literature, Vol 1, 11ff. 92 New Soviet man as postulated by the ideologists of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, was an archetype of a person with certain qualities that were said to be emerging as dominant among all citizens of the Soviet Union, creating a single Soviet nation. Ideologists of Communism claimed that Communism creates not only a new society, but also a new man. The Soviet man was to be selfless, healthy and enthusiastic in spreading the ideas of Communism. 93 Frolov, Philosophical Dictionary, 134.

181 168 Notes 94 In writing this section, I made use of the following book: Ivin, Introduction to the Philosophy of History. 95 Dobrenko, Deliverance from Illusions; Malia, The Soviet Tragedy. 2 Alexandra Brushtein ( ): the tears behind the smiles 1 Brushtein, The Indestructible Force (Russian: Nesokrushimaya Sila ), in Literary Gazette (Literaturnaya Gazeta), 27 January 1946; ibid., Hero and Peer (Russian: Geroy Sverstnik ), Soviet Art (Sovetskoe Iskusstvo), 26 November 1948; ibid., Beloved Hero (Russian: Lyubimyi Geroy ), Literary Gazette (Literaturnaya Gazeta) 29 June 1946; ibid., In Search of the Person (Russian: V Poiskakh Cheloveka ), Literary Gazette (Literaturnaya Gazeta), 11 August 1945; ibid., Cinematographic Story of the Strength of Our Homefront (Russian: Kinopovest o moschi nashego tyla ), Soviet Siberia (Sovetskaya Sibir ), 13 December 1948; ibid., The Children are Watching Us. A Book about Childhood. A Discussion of T. Khmelnitskiy s Book (Russain: Obsuzhdeniya knigi T. Khmel nitskoy Deti smotryat na nas. Kniga o detstve ), Northern Worker (Severnyy rabochiy), 15 February 1948; ibid., A Simple Operation (Russian: Prostaya operatsiya ), New World (Novyy Mir) 11 (1962), 80 1; ibid., Plays by New Authors (Russian: P esy novykh avtorov ), Literaturnaya Gazetta (Literary Gazette), 13 April Brushtein, Pages of the Past, [Russian], S. A. Brushtein, On the Influence of Electrolyte Baths on Human Combined-ÂMotor Reflexes (Russian: O vliyanii obschikh elektro-âsvetovykh vann na sochetatel nodvigatel nyi refleks u cheloveka), Doctoral Dissertation, 1910; ibid., with E.T. Zal kindson, Diathermy (Russian: Diatermiya), 1919; ibid., with B. M. Broderzon, Physical Methods of Treating Nervous Diseases (Russian:Fizicheskie metody lecheniya nervnykh boleznei), Krotova, The Book and its Author [Russian], afterword to Brushtein, The Never-Â Ending Path..., Lapidus, Between Snow and Desert Heat, Krotova, Afterword to: Spring: A Novel [Russian], 313ff. 7 Ibid., 316ff. 8 Sashenka sings two lines from the famous Russian song My campfire is shining in the fog Farewell of a Gypsy Woman ( Moi koster I tumane svetit... Proschanie Tzyganki ), music by an unknown composer, words by Yakov Polonsky ( ). 9 The latter refer to two wonder-âworking icons famed for saving cities in Poland. 10 Brushtein, The Never-ÂEnding Path..., 453 8; ibid., Spring, Kornei Ivanovich Chukovsky, nom de plume of Nikolai Vasilevich Korneichukov ( ), poet, prose writer, and translator, who was especially known for his works of children s literature. Chukovsky wrote a number of works on the art of translation. The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, vol 29 (1978): See, for example, the collection of articles devoted to Chukovsky s life and work: Berestov, The Life and Creativity of Kornei Chukovsky [Russian]. 13 Brushtein, An Enviable Life [Russian], Lozovskaya et al., Recollections of Kornei Chukovsky [Russian]. 15 For example: see her chapter, The Nation without a Theatre, in Brushtein, Pages of the Past, Brushtein, The Never-ÂEnding Path..., Ibid., Pushkin, Once There Lived a Poor Knight [Russian], Brushtein, The Never-ÂEnding Path..., Ibid., Brovarnia is a small town where their family lives. 22 Ibid., 40 4.

182 Notes Ibid., Ibid., It is worth mentioning that the pet name for Alexandra in Russian is also Sasha, like that of the protagonist of her novel. 26 Lybov Kabo, The Fate of a Person Alexandra Yakovlevna Brushtein [Russian]. 27 The French teacher s nickname. 28 The top grade. 29 Another teacher s nickname. 30 Ibid., Ibid., Votyaki (this nation is also known as Udmurti) is a Finn-ÂUgorski people, living in areas of the Udmurt Republic in the east of Russia. 33 Vladimir Galaktionovich Korolenko ( ), prose writer and public figure. Korolenko was inspired by Narodnik (populist) ideas, developed democratic and humanitarian views, and opposed the oppression of minorities, capital punishment, and the lack of rights in Russia. 34 Korolenko, The Offering of Sacrifices Among the Multani [Russian], Ibid., A Tale of Flora, Agrippa, and Menachem son of Yehudah [Russian], Ibid., Day of Atonement [Russian], Ibid., House Number 13: a Sketch [Russian], Brushtein, The Never-ÂEnding Path..., ; ibid., At Dawn, Elizaveta Polonskaia ( ): a concealed storm of emotion 1 Frezinskii, Cities and Encounters. Elizaveta Polonskaia [Russian], 7ff.; Dorfman Davis, Serapion Sister: The Poetry of Elizaveta Polonskaja, 18ff.; Frezinskii, Fates of the Serapions, [Russian] Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (born Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, ), was a Russian revolutionary, the principal leader of the October (Bolshevik) Revolution of His contributions to Marxist theory are referred to as Leninism. 3 Grigorii Evseevich Zinoviev (Gershen Aronovich Radomysl skii, ), was Lenin s closest comrade-âin-arms. In 1926 he joined the bloc headed by Leon Trotsky that constituted an opposition group within the Communist Party. In 1935 he was sentenced to ten years in prison, where he was later assassinated. 4 Lev Borisovich Kamenev (real surname, Rozenfel d, ) was a Bolshevik revolutionary and prominent Party and state activist. In 1936 he was convicted on trumped up NKVD charges of belonging to the Trotsky- Zinoviev Center and executed by shooting. 5 Anatolii Vasil evich Lunacharsky ( ) was a prominent Soviet writer, translator, publicist, literary and art critic, and public and political activist. 6 Ilya Grigoryevich Ehrenburg ( ) was a famous Russian writer, publicist, and translator. The name of his novel, The Thaw (written in ), was adopted as the metaphorical designation for the period of Soviet history following the death of Stalin. He and Polonskaia had a short love affair ( ), after which they remained good friends for many years. See Frezinskii, Fates of the Serapions, ; Dorfman Davis, Serapion Sister, 21ff. 7 Frezinskii, Fates of the Serapions, Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hoffmann ( ), better known by his pen name, E.T.A. Hoffmann, was a German Romantic author, composer and music critic. 9 Konstantin Aleksandrovich Fedin ( ) was a prominent Soviet author. Like Polonskaia, he was known in the Serapion Brotherhood as called Brother without a Nickname. Later he became an ideologically oriented pro-âsoviet writer and was proclaimed a classic of Socialist Realism literature. See Prokopova, ; Frezinskii, Fates of the Serapions,

183 170 Notes 10 Vsevolod Viacheslavovich Ivanov ( ) gained much attention through his first works written in However, his best compositions, written in the 1920s, only appeared only posthumously. See Prokopova, ; Frezinskii, Fates of the Serapions, Nikolai Nikolaevich Nikitin ( ) was a member of the Serapion Brotherhood, where he was known as Brother Ritor were the best years of his creative work. His later works followed the dictates of Socialist Realism. At the end of his life Nikitin came out against his former Serapion Brother, Michail Zoschenko, and prevented publication of Zoschenko s works. See Prokopova, ; Frezinskii, Fates of the Serapions, Nikolai Semenovich Tikhonov ( ) was a disciple of Nikolai Gumilev. In his years in the 1920s as a Serapion Brother, Tikhonov became a leading master of lyrical and romantically colored prose. See Prokopova, ; Frezinskii, Fates of the Serapions, Michail Leonidovich Slonimskii ( ), known as Brother Cupbearer in the Serapion Brotherhood, was a professional writer, along with many of his relatives, including his grandfather, father, uncle (S. A. Vengerov), and aunt (Zinaida Vengerova). See Prokopova, ; Frezinskii, Fates of the Serapions, Lev Natanovch Lunts ( ), known as Brother Buffoon in the Serapion Brotherhood, was an extremely gifted fledgling writer. He wrote the most important manifestos and declarations of the Serapion Brotherhood; unfortunately, he died at a young age and did not leave behind many writings. However, his literary heritage is striking for its multi-âfaceted character. See Prokopova, ; Frezinskii, Fates of the Serapions, Veniamin Aleksandrovich Kaverin (real surname, Zil ber, ) was known as Brother Alchemist in the Serapion Brotherhood. He employed complicated and entertaining plot constructions and wrote fantastic and imaginative novels. See Prokopova [Russian], ; Frezinskii, Fates of the Serapions, Michail Michailovich Zoschenko ( ) was known, like Polonskaia, as Brother without a Nickname in the Serapion Brotherhood. His satirical stories, plays, and articles brought him great popularity. However, in the mid-â1940s the Central Committee of the Communist Party adopted a resolution criticising Zoschenko and Akhmatova, and from then on no publisher would print their works. See Frezinskii, Fates of the Serapions, Il ia Aleksandrovich Gruzdev ( ), known as Brother Abbot in the Serapion Brotherhood, was a literary scholar and critic. Gruzdev became known in the history of Russian literature as the biographer and scholar of Maxim Gorky. See Frezinskii, Fates of the Serapions, 56 67, Viktor Borisovich Shklovskii ( ), was a Soviet writer, literary scholar and critic, cinematographer and film-âscript writer. He was close to the Serapion Brotherhood, but from the 1930s he was compelled to undertake broader social and historical studies. In the 1960s researchers in the West began to show interest in his works. See Frezinskii, Fates of the Serapions, Vladimir Solomonovich Pozner ( ) was a Russian and French poet, translator, journalist, script writer and literary critic. See Frezinskii, Fates of the Serapions, See Frezinskii, Fates of the Serapions, 101ff. 21 Literary Notes (1922), no Saianov, Contemporary Literary Groupings [Russian]; Polonskii, Essays on the Literary Movement of the Revolutionary Period ( ) [Russian]. On the Serapion Brothers, see Kern, Introduction, The Serapion Brothers. A Critical Anthology, 9 38; Oulanoff, Introduction, in The Serapion Brothers, See the author s Preface in her book: Polonskaia, Selected Poems from the Poetry of the Different Years,

184 Notes Leon [Lev] Davidovich Trotsky (real surname, Bronshtein; ) was one of the most important Russian and Soviet political figures. In 1905 he developed the major portion of his theory of permanent revolution, which held that the Russian proletariat, having carried out the bourgeois revolution itself, would begin the socialist stage of revolution, which could be successful only with the aid of the world proletariat. The struggle between Trotsky and Stalin for leadership of the Soviet Union ended in Trotsky s defeat in In 1927 he was expelled from the Communist party and exiled, and in 1940 was assassinated by an agent of the NKVD in Mexico. 25 In his book, Literature and Revolution [Russian], (1923), Trotsky suggested a national interpretation of Soviet social power. In particular, he argued that the October Revolution relied on the national tendencies in the Russian literature and culture, such as the Slavophile and folk (Narod) movements. See Trotsky, Literature and Revolution. 26 Trotsky, Literature and Revolution, Preface of the author in her book: Polonskaia, Selected Poems, See the author s Preface in her book: Polonskaia, Selected Poems, The Persian poet Nezami Ganjavi Abū Muhammad Ilyās ibn-âyūsuf (c.1141 c.1209) was one of the greatest poets of the medieval Middle East and Central Asia. 30 Ali-ÂShir Nava i ( ) was a prominent poet and philosopher of the Middle East and Central Asia. 31 Preface of the author in her book: Polonskaia, Selected Poems, In Russian: Narodnaia Vol a was a Russian terrorist organisation that advanced demands in the realm of liberalisation. 33 Alexander II Nikolaevich ( ), also known as Alexander the Liberator, was Emperor of the Russian Empire ( ). 34 The Khruschev Thaw (Khruschovskaya Ottepel or simply: Ottepel ) refers to the period from the mid 1950s to the early 1960s when repression and censorship in the Soviet Union were partially reversed. 35 Nikita Sergeyevich Khruschev ( ), was a Soviet leader. He served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union ( ) and was responsible for the partial de-âstalinisation of the country. 36 Preface of the author in her book: Polonskaia, Selected Poems, Polonskaia, Selected Poems, Lapidus, The Essay in Hebrew Literature, Polonskaia, Selected Poems, Mandel stam, Literary Moscow [Russian], 275 6; Eikhenbaum, Review of the Collections of V. Rozhdestvenskii and E. Polonskaia [Russian], Polonskaia, Selected Poems, 136; translation published in: Dorfman Davis, Serapion Sister, 202; see there, 42 for interpretation of this poem. 42 Preface of the author in her book Polonskaia, Selected Poems, Dorfman Davis, Serapion Sister, Dorfman, Serapion Sister: Elizaveta Polonskaia and the Critical Perception of Feminine Lyric Poetry, in Feminist Theory and Practice: East-ÂWest [Russian], Michail Lvovich Polonsky, Dorfman Davis, Serapion Sister, The translation of the above part of the poem was published in: Dorfman Davis, Serapion Sister, Frezinskii, Elizaveta Polonskaia Introductions and Publication [in Russian]. 49 Lapidus, Passion, Humiliation, Revenge, Stites, Sexual Revolution, On Polonskaia as the embodiment of women s sexual freedom, see Dorfman Davis, Serapion Sister, 28. Dorfman argues that the maternal instinct [of Polonskaia] is secondary to [her] sexual passion or even antithetical to the heroine s need for self-âassertion, Published in: Frezinskii, Elizaveta Polonskaja Introductions and Publication [Russian]. The translation of the last five lines was published in: Dorfman Davis,

185 172 Notes ÂSerapion Sister, 30. The translation of the line, I smert tvoia razniala ruki, Anna is found in Leslie Dorfman Davis book as: And your death has unbound my hands, Anna. This seems to me to be incorrect. I think the more appropriate translation should be: And your death has unbound your [meaning: both your own and your husband s] hands, Anna. 53 The translation of the title was published in: Dorfman Davis, Serapion Sister, Published in Frezinskii, Elizaveta Polonskaja, Lapidus, Between Snow and Desert Heat, In Yiddish: precious Jewish child (translation by Rina Lapidus). 57 In Yiddish: a Jew is always a Jew (translation by Rina Lapidus). The poem is published in: Shrayer, An Anthology of Jewish Russian Literature, Vol I: 326 7, translated from Russian by Larissa Szporluk. 58 The translation of the first line and the last strophe was published in: Dorfman Davis, Serapion Sister, Published in: Katsis, Elizaveta Polonskaia [Russian]. 60 The note is by Rina Lapidus. 61 The note is by Rina Lapidus. The translation of this fragment of the poem is published in: Dorfman Davis, Serapion Sister, Raisa Bloch ( ): a genius unaware of her talent 1 Yupp, Inventory of Poetry Books from the Russian Diaspora of the Twentieth Century ( ) [Russian], Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli ( ) was an Italian diplomat, political philosopher, musician, poet, and playwright. His name is synonymous with ruthless politics, deceit and the pursuit of power by any means. 3 Count Carlo Gozzi ( ) was an Italian dramatist. 4 Carlo Gozzi, Fairy Tales for Theater. 5 Mikhail Leonidovich Lozinsky ( ) was a poet and a translator, who earned two degrees at St. Petersburg University. He was the son of the bibliophile L. Ia. Lozinsky and a relative of Raisa Bloch. He had close ties with Osip Mandelstam, Anna Akhmatova, and Nikolai Gumilev, and participated in the Poets Workshop seminar. While he was connected with the Acmeists, he did not renounce Symbolism. See Segal, Poetry of Michail Lozinsky, José-Maria de Heredia (in Spanish: José María de Heredia; ), Cuban-Âborn French poet, who wrote mainly sonnets. 7 These translations saw light only in 1973, in the Russian language series Literary Monuments. 8 Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli, Mandrake: Comedy in Five Acts [in Russian], Berlin, Petropolis, 1924, translated from Italian into Russian by V. N. Rakint. 9 Voronova, Raisa Blokh [Russian], Berlin: Petropolis, Vadim Kreyd, tr. by: Jill Roese in: Ledkovskaia-ÂAstman et al., Dictionary of Russian Women Writers, Evgeniia Kannak, Faithfulness Memories, Stories, Essays, [in Russian], 161ff. 13 Mikhail Gorlin, N. V. Gogol und E. Th. Hoffman, Leipzig Berlin, Veroeffentlichungen des Slavischen Instituts an der Freidrich-ÂWilhems-Universitaet, Zeitschrift fuer slavische Philologie vols 9 10 (Leipzig and Berlin, 1933). 15 Max and Moritz A Story of Seven Boyish Pranks, original: Max und Moritz Eine Bubengeschichte in sieben Streichen, is a German illustrated story in verse. It is an inventive tale, blackly humorous, told in rhymed couplets, first published in Cited from: Klemen tev, notes for: Kannak, Memories of Those Who Have Departed (Paeans by Elena Kannak over the poets Mikhail Gorlin and Raisa Blokh) [Russian], 251.

186 Notes Evgeniia Kannak, Memories of Those Who Have Departed (Paeans by Elena Kannak over the poets Mikhail Gorlin and Raisa Blokh) [Russian], Also known as Hroswitha, Hrotsvit, Hrosvit and Roswitha. 19 Department of Manuscripts of the Russian National Library, Fund 254, Storage Unit Klemen tev, Klemen tev, notes for: Kannak, Memories (above. n. 17). 21 Paul-ÂMarie Verlaine ( ) was a French poet associated with the Symbolist movement. He is considered one of the greatest representatives of the fin de siècle in international and French poetry. 22 Pol Arbruaze Valery ( ), French poet, essayist, critic. 23 The citation is from her letter of 8 August 1936, private collection, Paris. See: Klemen tev, notes for: Kannak, Memories, Ibid., letter of 20 September Mirra Ivanovna Borodina ( ? or 1965?) was a philologist-âmedievalist, the daughter of the prominent Russian botanist I. P. Borodin ( ), later wife of the French historian Ferdinand Lot. She published her only work of poetry together with Raisa Bloch in Brussels in 1939 (Legacies [Russian]: first half verses and translations by Borodina, second half works by Bloch), published by Petropolis. 26 Leonidov, Foreword to the collection of Raisa Bloch s works, Foreign Towns, with All Their Din... [in Russian], 3 18, especially 3 16; see Skatov et al., vol I: Mikhail Alekseevich Kuzmin ( ) was a Russian poet, prose writer, and playwright. Kuz min has been numbered sometimes among the Symbolists and sometimes among the Acmeists. He proclaimed the Apollonian conception of art with its characteristic demands for harmony, going back to the tradition of Pushkin. 28 Bloch, Gorlin, Selected Poems, Bloch, Selected Poems; see also her poem A Dove in My Hand My Heart..., in which she describes her longing for her beloved Motherland, which is St. Petersburg in particular, and swears to remain faithful to it: Bloch, Gorlin, Selected Poems, Aleksandr Nikolayevich Vertinsky ( ) was a Russian artist, poet, singer, composer, cabaret artist, and actor who exerted seminal influence on the Russian tradition of artistic singing. Kelner, Foreign Towns, with All Their Din, Names of famous sites in Petrograd. 32 Bloch, Gorlin, Selected Poems, 84; reprinted in Shrayer, An Anthology of Jewish-Â Russian Literature, vol I: Kelly, A History of Russian Women s Writing, , 255ff. 34 Bloch, Gorlin, Selected Poems, 12; Bloch, My City, 22, 57, 71, Bloch, Silence, Bloch, Silence, Bloch, Silence, Sergei Aleksandrovich Yesenin ( ) was a Russian lyrical poet. His early poetry was inspired by Russian folklore. Thanks to his collections of poignant poetry about love and the simple life he became one of the most popular Russian poets. 39 Lapidus, Between Snow and Desert Heat, Bloch, Gorlin, Selected Poems, 7, 8, 13, 14ff; op cit.., My City, 20, 21, 61, 93, 105ff; idem., Silence, Bloch, Gorlin, Selected Poems, 8, 11 12, 48 9; ibid., 21, 69, 96 7, Bloch, Silence, 11; ibid., My City, A two- or four-âline folk poem on a given topic. 44 Bloch, My City, Babylonian Talmud, Sotah 12a; Midrash Avot de-ârabbi Natan Luke 2:9; John 1:9; Matthew 2: Bloch, Gorlin, Selected Poems, Bloch, My City, Ibid., Op cit., Silence, 10.

187 174 Notes 51 Op cit., Silence, 89. printed in: Shrayer, An Anthology of Jewish-ÂRussian Literature, vol I: Bloch, Silence, 90, in Shrayer, An Anthology of Jewish-ÂRussian Literature, vol I: Bloch, My City, Hanna Levina ( ): a Jewish communist fighter 1 Perets Davidovich Markish ( ) was a Soviet Jewish poet and prose writer who wrote in Yiddish. A victim of Stalin, after torture and a secret trial, Markish was executed along with more than 20 other Soviet Jewish literary and intellectual figures. 2 On Hanna Levina s path in Yiddish literary world, see also: Shneer, Yiddish and the Creation of Soviet Jewish Culture, , Levina, First Rain, Fitzpatrick, Images of Abundance, Ibid., The poem relates to the pogroms of the Jews during the Civil War in Soviet Russia in Levina, Mite, The events described refer to the Civil War between the Red Army (Bolsheviks) and the White Army in , in which Sima took part on the side of the Communists as a grown young woman. 9 Levina, Mite, The Yiddish lullaby Rozhinkes mit Mandlen was written by Avraham Goldfaden ( ), Ukrainian-Âborn Jewish poet, playwright, stage director. 11 Levina, First Rain, Ol ga Ziv ( ): an unknown Jewish author 1 Tizenhauzen, The Declaration of the Forme Llibre, Russian formalism was a distinguished school of literary criticism in Russia from the 1910s to the 1930s, which included the work of a number of highly gifted Russian and Soviet scholars such as Viktor Shklovsky, Yuri Tynianov, Boris Eichenbaum and Roman Jakobson, who revolutionised literary criticism. The movement s members had a significant influence on modern literary criticism. The term Russian Formalism describes two distinct movements: the OPOJAZ (Society for the Study of Poetic Language, in Russian: Obschestvo Izucheniia Poeticheskogo Iazyka) in St. Petersburg and the Linguistic Circle in Moscow. 3 Giller, The Quiet Tyrant. 4 Giller, Two Long Days. 5 Golitsyno a location 40 km. west of Moscow. Many great figures lived in or visited Golitsyno in the nineteenth century. During the twentieth century the poets and prose writers Anna Akhmatova, Konstantin Paustovsky, Marina Tsvetaeva, Arkadii Gaidar and Alexei Tolstoy lived there. 6 The exact date of Gumilev s execution is not known. For Gumilev s life and works, see Strahovsky, Craftsmen of the Word; Polushin, Nikolai Gumilev. 7 Timenchik, Notes of Acmeism ; Lekhmanov, Book on Acmeism and Other Works [in Russian], Giller and Ziv, People Trust You. 9 Sergeeva, On People of the Humanitarian Professions, Ziv, The Burning Hour, Alexey Grigoryevich Stakhanov ( ) was a miner in the Soviet Union. He became a celebrity in 1935 as part of a movement intended to increase worker productivity and demonstrate the superiority of the socialist economic system. It was reported that he had mined a record 227 tons of coal (about 30 times his quota) in a single shift. Stakhanov was promoted in the press, literature and cinema, and other

188 Notes 175 workers were urged to emulate his heroic examples. In reality, the Stakhanovite movement was a propaganda maneuver. 12 Ziv, The Burning Hour, A quotation from Pushkin s poem The Bronze Horseman ( Bronzovyi vsadnik ) referring to the founding of St. Petersburg by Peter the Great. 14 Ziv, The Burning Hour, See for example: Aleksandrova, Russian Soviet Literature, 260ff. 16 Ziv, The Burning Hour, Ibid., Aleksandrova, Russian Soviet Literature, 209ff. 19 Ziv, The Burning Hour, Ibid., See Lapidus, Passion, Humiliation, Revenge, The Marten stove was a furnace for transforming cast iron and scrap-âiron into steel of the required chemical composition and quality. It appears in the popular Soviet song, The Day of Victory, as a symbol of heavy industry. 23 Ziv, The Burning Hour, Lapidus, Between Snow and Desert Heat, 86 8; ibid., Passion, Humiliation, Revenge, 11, Lapidus, Passion, Humiliation, Revenge, Ziv, The Burning Hour, Ibid., The Communist Union of Youth, known as Komsomol (an abbreviation from the Russian Kommunisticheskiy Soyuz Molodyozhi), was the youth wing of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. 29 Ibid., Lapidus, Passion, Humiliation, Revenge, 32 5, 44 5, Ibid., Ibid., Ibid., Ibid., Ziv, The Burning Hour, Cf. Lapidus, Passion, Humiliation, Revenge, Ibid., Ibid., Ibid., Ibid., Raisa was an accepted name for a woman in the Jewish community, a contraction of Raizel, the Yiddish form of Rachel. 41 Ziv, The Burning Hour, Ibid., Yulia Neiman ( ): brilliant philosopher and poetess 1 Because they did not come from proletarian families, but from the families of intellectuals. 2 Arsenii Alexandrovich Tarkovsky ( ) was a poet, prose writer, and translator, father of the film director Andrei Tarkovsky. 3 Mariya Petrovykh ( ) was a poet, translator, and editor. Her poem Set me a time for a rendezvous in this world, addressed to the writer Alexander Fadeyev, is considered a masterpiece of twentieth century Russian love poetry. 4 See for example: Y. Neiman, Bypassing Life (On the subject of one collection) (Mimo zhizni ((po povodu odnogo sbornika)), Shift (Smena) 1, (1940), See for example: Y. Neiman, The Tale of the Officer-Âto-be (Povest o byduschem ofitzere), The Pioneer (Pioner) 7 (1945), 35.

189 176 Notes 6 Samuil Yakovlevich Marshak ( ) was a poet, playwright, translator and literary critic. He came from a Jewish family and his first publication, the collection Zionides (Sionidy, 1907), was devoted to Jewish themes. Marshak translated poems by Chaim Nahman Bialik from Yiddish and Hebrew. He was widely known for his children s stories, numerous didactic writings, works devoted to World War II, and translations from European classics. 7 Cited by Khelemsky, Uncompromising Muse [Russian]. 8 Yukhvidin, The Russian Vernacular and My Forefathers Blood [Russian]. 9 Chukovsky, High Art of Words [Russian], 124; Kugul tinov, From My Autobiography, in his book, Quenching Thirst [Russian], Khelemsky, website. 11 Neiman, Caprices of Memory. Verses [Russian], Synecdoche is a small part, representative of the whole. 13 Ibid., Ibid., On children s ongoing relation to their parents after the death of the latter, see Pizon, Death by Despair. Shame and Suicide, 85ff. 16 Neiman, Caprices of Memory. Verses [Russian], Ibid., Yukhvidin, The Russian Vernacular and My Forefathers Blood [Russian]. 19 Kolyma and Vorkuta were regions in north-âeastern Siberia where many of the Gulags were located. 20 Neiman, Caprices of Memory. Verses [Russian], The Cranes of Ibycus is a reference to a ballad of that name by Schiller, translated into Russian by Vassily Zhukovsky. The ballad recounts the legend of the Greek poet Ibycus, who was the defender of the poor members of society, to the distress of the ruling powers. The rulers hired a gang of ruffians to get rid of this troublesome poet. Luring Ibycus into the woods, they planned to murder him, making sure that there were no witnesses. However, a flock of cranes flying over saw his last moments. The poet beseeched them to tell people the truth about his death and then he expired. The following day, on the main square of the city, an investigation was held that was supposed to determine who had murdered the poet. The same flock of cranes flew over the crowd. One of the murders shouted to another: Look, there are Ibycus cranes! Thus the murderers were caught and executed. The cranes of Ibycus became a symbol of revealing the truth. Many twentieth century Russian poets alluded to the cranes of Ibycus. The Ibycus legend is also referred to in Alexandra Brushtein s book The Never-ÂEnding Path... [Russian], Neiman, Caprices of Memory. Verses [Russian], Alvarez, The Savage God. A Study of Suicide, 29ff.; Jobes, Shneideman s Contribution to the Understanding of Suicidal Thinking, 33ff.; Buie, Maltsberger, The Psychological Vulnerability to Suicide, 59ff. 24 This ambivalence is particularly reflected against the background of the conflict between the person s wish to commit suicide and the life instinct. See Thom, The Human Nature of Social Discontent. Alienation, Anomie, Ambivalence, 107ff. 25 On the duality of the suicidal wish, see: Lester, Why People Kill Themselves. 14ff., Jensen, The Fantasy of Being Rescued in Suicide, 132ff. 26 Neiman, Caprices of Memory. Verses [Russian], Neo-ÂRealism was a trend in philosophy which considered being to have neither a material nor an ideal nature, but rather to be a combination of neutral elements that, depending on the situation, assumed either a physical or a psychic significance. In the 1930s the influence of neo-ârealism declined and was replaced by the so-âcalled critical realism. Bogomolov, The Philosophy of Anglo-ÂAmerican Neo-ÂRealism, [Russian]; Lukanov, The Gnosiology of American Realism [Russian]. 28 Italian Neo-Ârealism was a style of cinema, whose principles were formulated in the

190 Notes s by the Italian dramatist and film-âcritic Cesare Zavattini during a period of serious economic depression, after his country had been ravaged by the Second World War. Zavattini called for realistic dramas that would portray the everyday life of ordinary people. He wanted people not to be diverted by melodramatic subjects which, due to their deceptive happy-âendings, entertained but could in no way help their audiences solve real problems. This approach was intended as an attack upon Hollywood films. 29 Neiman, Caprices of Memory. Verses [Russian], On self-humiliation and excessive devotion to the other as masochistic elements, see: Coen, Sadomasochistic Excitement: Character Disorder and Perversion, 53ff. 31 Noyes, The Mastery of Submission. Inventions of Masochism, 168ff.; Noble, The Masochistic Pleasures of Sentimental Literature, 28ff. 32 Neiman, Caprices of Memory. Verses [Russian], Krylov, Bear and Mosquitoes [Russian], Bauman, Modernity and Ambivalence, 53 ff., 65ff. 35 For a psychological analysis of the behavior of women who connect themselves to men who are committed to other women, see: Caplan, The Myth of Women s Masochism, 90 ff. 36 Neiman, Caprices of Memory. Verses [Russian], Gedo, Masochism and the Repetition Compulsion, 140ff. 38 Neiman, Caprices of Memory. Verses [Russian], Richmond, Shadows of a Violent Mind, 11ff.. 40 Rancour-ÂLaferriere, The Slave Soul of Russia. Moral Masochism and the Cult of Suffering, 86ff. 41 Neiman, Caprices of Memory. Verses [Russian], Khan, Alienation in Perversions, ; Shainess, Sweet Suffering. Woman as Victim, 17 ff., 83ff; Baumeister, Escaping the Self, 115ff.; Phillips, A Defence of Masochism, 47 ff.; Panken, The Joy of Suffering. 17ff., 127ff. 43 Neiman, Caprices of Memory. Verses [Russian], Ibid., Ibid., 23, translated from Russian by Sibelan Forrester, printed in: Shrayer, Anthology of Jewish Russian Literature, Ibid., Ibid., Neiman most likely derived her knowledge from books on archeology published in the USSR. 49 Yukhvidin, The Russian Vernacular and My Forefathers Blood [Russian]. 8 Rakhil Baumvol ( ): the joy of creativity and motherhood 1 Zinovii (Zyama) L vovich Telesin ( ), also known as Shlomo Telesin, was a Yiddish author. 2 In the Western World, the term the Great Terror was popularised by the title of Robert Conquest s book, The Great Terror. The Great Terror was a series of campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin in The Soviet Communist Young Pioneer Organisation, a mass movement for children aged Baumvol, Pioneers [Yiddish], Baumvol, Poems [Russian] (1936), Baumvol, The Little Pine Tree [Yiddish], 8. 7 See, for example: Baumvol, Cherry Trees in Blossom [Yiddish], See, for example: Baumvol, Poems [Russian], 1940, 3.

191 178 Notes 9 Baumvol, Lovingly Poems [Yiddish], See, for example, Poems [Russian], 1958; Looking into Your Eyes [Russian]. 11 See, for example, At the Demonstration (Russian: Na demonstratsii ), 19; Reading Lenin (Russian: Chitaia Lenina ), 63; In the Mausoleum (Russian: V mavzolee ), 65; Evening Moscow (Russian: Moskva vecherniaia ), p. 81; and others (all Russian). 12 See: Chukovskaia, Notes about Anna Akhmatova [Russian], vol Julius Telesin lives in the southern part of Jerusalem, where he was twice interviewed by the present author, on 31 January 2009 and on 25 March Parable or fable; Russian: Basnia. 15 Baumvol, Looking into Your Eyes [Russian], Fedor Ivanovich Tiutchev ( ) was a Russian poet. In 1854 his series of poems about love, dedicated to Elena Aleksandrovna Denis eva ( ), was published. 17 Aleksandr Sergeevich Pushkin ( ), poet, prose writer, playwright, publicist, critic, founder of the new Russian literature, creator of the Russian literary language. 18 Baumvol, Poems [Russian], 1958, Tiutchev, Gleaning Ray of Light [Russian: Problesk ], Baumvol, Poems [Russian], 1958, Tyutchev, The Winter, Not without Reason, Grows Wroth (Russian: Zima nedatom zlitsia ), 134. This translation is taken from: Rudzinsky, Gardiner, Poems Selected from Karamzin, Pushkin, Tyutchev, Lermontov, Count A. Tolstoy, Nikitin, Plescheyev, Nadson, and Sologub, 48, see also: poemsselectedfro00rudz_djvu.txt. 22 Baumvol, Poems (1958), Tyutchev, Don t trust, don t trust the poet, young maiden (Russian: Ne ver, ne ver poetu, deva ), See the comparison of a tree to a person in the Hebrew Bible: Deut 20:19; Jer 17:7 8; Ps 1:1 3; Job 14:7 11. Rabbinic literature of the post-âbiblical period also offers examples of the tree being compared to a person: Genesis Rabbah 53; Yalkut Shimoni, at Genesis 1 15; b. Sukkah 28a; Ta anit 7a; Sanhedrin110b; and others. Hundreds of cases in which the tree is compared to a human being might also be cited from Rabbinic literature of all types in later periods. 25 Midrash is the Hebrew term used to refer to various Talmudic and Post-ÂTalmudic compilations of homiletic teachings and commentaries on the Hebrew Bible. These take many forms, including both legalistic and legendary materials, moralising tales and folklore. 26 For example, in the Geonic literature works on Jewish law written by the Geonim, the religious leaders of the Jewish communities of Babylonia in the period For example, Papernikoff, Moishe s Shloime s Under the Polish Little Green Trees [Yiddish]; Bialik, Milner, Under the Little Green Trees [Yiddish]; Bostomsky, Under the Little Green Trees [Yiddish]; Cf. Manger, By the Road Stands a Tree [Yiddish]; Amitai, By the Road Stands a Tree [Hebrew]. 28 Hayyim Nahman Bialik ( ), Jewish poet who wrote Russian, Yiddish, and Hebrew. Bialik was one of the pioneers of modern Yiddish and Hebrew poetry. 29 For example: Bialik, The Blessing [Hebrew: Habrakha ], Baumvol, Poems (1958), Ibid., 32 3, 40, 42, 95, 103, 127, 161, Baumvol, The Little Pine Tree [Yiddish]; ibid., Cherry Trees in Blossom [Yiddish]. 33 Baumvol, Poems (1958), Ibid., Sholom Aleichem ( ), pen name of Sholom Naumovich Rabinovich, a Jewish author and popular humorist, who wrote in Hebrew, Russian and Yiddish. His works have been widely translated. 36 Mendele Mocher Sforim ( ), pseudonym of Shalom Yakov Abramovich

192 Notes 179 (Russian: Solomon Moiseyevich Abramovich), Yiddish author and one of the founders of modern Yiddish and Hebrew literature. 37 This author interviewed Rakhil Baumvol s son, Julius Telesin, twice and came away with the deep impression that he resembled his mother very closely, both in physical appearance and in his way of thinking. 38 Baumvol, Poems (1958), Ibid., Ibid., Zoia Afanas evna Maslennikova ( ), Russian painter, sculptor, poet, and playwright. 42 Aleksandr Vladimirovich Men ( ), Russian Orthodox clergyman, theologian, preacher, author of books on theology of Christianity. He was born in Moscow to a family of Jewish origin. He had a leading position among the Christian preachers in Russia. Men was the spiritual mentor, and often the godfather, of many Soviet dissidents during the 1970s and 1980s. However, certain representatives of Orthodox circles considered his activities to be un-âorthodox. He was murdered by unknown assailants in Maslennikova, Baumvol, Poems (1958), Berdichev is a historic city in the Zhitomyr province of northern Ukraine. Jews were a major driving force in the town s commerce during the first half of the nineteenth century. By the end of the eighteenth century, Berdichev had became an important center of Hasidism. In 1861 its Jewish comunity constituted the second largest Jewish community in the Russian Empire. In early 1919, the Jews of Berdichev were victims of a pogrom. 46 Baumvol, Looking into Your Eyes, [Russian] Ibid., Margarita Aliger ( ): a soviet poetess devoted to Stalin 1 Lisa Taylor, in: Tomei, Russian Women Writers, 1225ff. 2 Larysa Petrivna Kosach-ÂKvitka ( ) better known under her literary pseudonym Lesya Ukrainka, was one of Ukraine s best-âknown poets and writers. 3 Antokolsky, Introduction to: Aliger, Verses and Poems [Russian], vol 1, 6ff. 4 Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Fadeev (Bulyga) ( ), prose writer, critic, literary scholar and public figure. Fadeev enjoyed great authority with Stalin. Stalin invented the title of General Secretary of the Writers Union especially for Fadeev, intending thereby to emphasise the similarity between the positions of leader of the Communist Party and leader of the Writers s Union. For many years Fadeev served as a leading figure in the leadership of various Soviet writers organisations. (See: Ehrenburg, People, Years, Life [Russian], vol ) After Stalin s death, Fadeev lost almost all his public and professional positions and power and in 1956 he killed himself. (Svirskii, At the Place of Execution [Russian], 69; Avdeenko, Punishment without Crime [Russian], 241). 5 Aliger, Autobiography [Russian], Introduction to Aliger, Poems. Zoia, [Russian], 5 29; Ardov, Around Ordynka. Portrets [Russian]; Chuprinin, New Russia. The World of Literature. Encyclopedic Dictionary and Reference [Russian], vol 1. 47; Brainina, Dmitrieva, Soviet Authors. Autobiographies [Russian], vol 4, Ershov, History of Soviet Russian Literature [Russian], 188 9; Dement ev et al., History of Soviet Russian Literature [Russian], vol 2, 90 2; ibid., vol 3, Vykhodtsev, History of Soviet Russian Literature [Russian], Rosina Neginsky, in: Ledkovsky, See also, Golovashenko, The Diversity of Realism [Russian], Dement ev, et al., History of Soviet Russian Literature [Russian], vol

193 180 Notes 10 Antokolsky, Introduction to: Aliger, Verses and Poems [Russian], vol 1. 9ff. 11 A decree issued by the Central Committee of the All-ÂUnion Communist Party Â(Bolshevik) in 1947 gave instructions to cease access [...] of creative works by Akhmatova [to publishing houses and journals]. Zhdanov evaluated her creative work thus: her poetry is limited to the point of wretchedness; it is the poetry of an enraged madam, tossing about between the boudoir and praying. 12 The Khruschev Thaw (Russian: Khruschovskaya Ottepel or simply Ottepel ), refers to the period from the mid 1950s to the early 1960s, when repression and censorship in the Soviet Union were partially reversed due to Nikita Khruschev s policy of de-â Stalinisation. 13 Nikita Sergeevich Khruschev ( ), became the First Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party Central Committee after Stalin s death. He began the process of exposing and denouncing the personality cult of Stalin and brought about the mass rehabilitation of the victims of Stalin s regime. In 1964, the Party leadership, led by L. I. Brezhnev and A. N. Shelepin, carried out a coup against Khruschev. He was dismissed and sent home on pension. 14 Ardov, Around Ordynka. Portraits [Russian]. 15 The opening or gate referred to is the gate towards building full Communism in the Soviet Union. 16 Aliger, First Signs [Russian], Ibid., Tractor Drivers (1939) is a romantic comedy about the lives and loves of tractor operators in a pre-âsecond World War Soviet collective farm (kolkhoz). It is the mid-â1930s and Klim Yarko, a demobilised tank crew member, returns to his Ukrainian kolkhoz. There he finds Mariana Bazhan, also a tractor driver, with whom Klim had fallen in love long before. In the beginning our hero has trouble with the tractor, and all the women, led by Mariana, make fun of him. Finally, he manages to become adept at handling the machine, which earns him the respect and sympathy of the local women, and even attracts the beautiful Mariana. Thus, the message delivered by the film is basically that the skills a man needs in dealing with a beautiful woman are about the same as those needed in order to operate a tractor. One is prompted to wonder whether a beautiful woman must somehow look and behave in her intimate relations like a tractor working in the fields. 19 Dement ev et al., History of Soviet Russian Literature [Russian], vol 3, Aliger, First Signs [Russian], Catriona Kelly, Aliger, Verses and Poems [Russian], vol 1, Ibid., vol 1, Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov ( ) was a Russian poet, also involved in publishing activity, particularly of socio-âpolitical journals. He attained great popularity with his poems about Russian women, e.g. Who in Russia Lives Well? ( Komu na Rusi zhit khorosho?, ) and Russian women ( Russkie zhenschiny, ). Nekrasov became a symbol of the democratic-ârevolutionary approach of his age. 25 Lazar Medovar, Margarita Aliger: Life in Literature [Russian]. 26 Rancour-ÂLaferriere, The Slave Soul of Russia. 27 Aliger, Verses and Poems [Russian], vol Mozgovaia, Literary General. The Triumph and Tragedy of the Writer Aleksandr Fadeev [Russian]; Ivanova, The Poetess Margarita Aliger a Symbol of Stalinist Propaganda, an Ideological Saboteur, and Simply a Woman [Russian]. 29 Aliger, My Autobiography [Russian], 17ff. 30 Aliger, Verses and Poems [Russian], vol 1, 261ff. English translation by Sibelan Forrester, published in: Shrayer, An Anthology of Jewish-ÂRussian Literature, vol 1, 567ff.

194 Notes The 1953 Doctors Plot ( Delo vrachei ) was an alleged conspiracy launched by Stalin in which Jewish doctors had supposedly set out to eliminate the leadership of the Soviet Union by poisoning important public figures. After Stalin s death in March 1953, the new Soviet leaders declared that the case was fabricated. 32 Budnitzkii, Paying with a Hangover for the Feasting of Others: Jews and the Russian Revolution [Russian], Aleksandrova, Jews in Soviet Literature [Russian], in: Frumkin et al., Book about Russian Jewry, [Russian], Ibid., She was a member of the editorial committee for the famous book of Grossman and Ehrenburg, The Black Book. 36 Georgy Maximilianovich Malenkov ( ) was a Soviet politician, Communist Party leader and close collaborator of Joseph Stalin. After Stalin s death, he became Premier of the Soviet Union ( ) and was in 1953 briefly considered the most powerful Soviet politician before being overshadowed by Nikita Khrushchev. 37 Babichenko, Literary Front, Sarah Levina-ÂKul neva (1920??): love story in the era of Stalinist prosecutions 1 Solomon Mikhoels (born: Shloyme Vovsi, ) was a Soviet Jewish actor and the artistic director of the Moscow State Jewish Theater. Mikhoels served as the chairman of the Jewish Anti-ÂFascist Committee (JAC) during the Second World War. However, as Stalin pursued an increasingly anti-âsemitic policy after the war, Mikhoels was murdered in 1948 at Stalin s orders and his body was run over to create the impression of a traffic accident. 2 The Krasnoiarsk region in North-ÂEastern Siberia was a major center of the Gulag system to which political exiles were banished during the epoch of Stalinism. 3 Anna Mass graduated in 1961 from the philological faculty of Moscow University. Her first book Harsh Sun (Zhestkoe sol ntse) was published in Levina-ÂKul neva, Sorele [Russian], recorded by Mass [Russian], Zvezda, 1991 (12), Boris Abramovich Shimeliovich ( ) was active in the Jewish Anti-ÂFascist Committee. He was arrested in 1949 and executed together with 12 other members of the Jewish Anti-ÂFascist Committee in a massacre known as the Night of the Murdered Poets, on 12 August See: Saivetz, Levin-ÂWoods, August 12, 1952, The Night of the Murdered Poets. 6 Polina Semyonovna Zhemchuzhina ( ), born to the family of a Jewish tailor in the Ukraine, joined the Bolshevik Party in In 1921, she married Vyacheslav Molotov (see below). Stalin thought that Zhemchuzhina was a negative influence on Molotov. She was arrested in December 1948 and sentenced to five years in a labour camp, and Molotov was forced by Stalin to divorce her. She was eventually reunited with her husband after the death of Stalin, in March Vyacheslav Molotov (born Vyacheslav Skryabin, ), was a Soviet political and government official. He directly participated in the repressions of the 1920s and 1930s. 8 Benjamin Zuskin ( ) was a Jewish actor and director in the Moscow State Jewish Theater. He was a partner of Mikhoels until the latter s suspicious death in Minsk in January 1948, when he became the theater s artistic director. As a prominent member of the Jewish Anti-ÂFascist Committee, he was arrested and later executed on Stalin s orders on 12 August See: Saivetz, Levin-ÂWoods, August 12, Leib Kvitko ( ) was a prominent Yiddish poet and a member of the Jewish Anti-ÂFascist Committee. He was executed in Moscow on 12 August 1952, See: Saivetz, Levin-ÂWoods, August 12, 1952.

195 182 Notes 10 Levina-ÂKul nena, Sorele [Russian], A slang expression for a police van; English equivalent: Black Maria. 12 Iosif Kerler ( ) was a Yiddish poet. He was arrested in April 1950 and sentenced to ten years of a strict regime camp for bourgeois-ânationalistic activity and sent to internal exile in Vorkuta. In 1955 Kerler was rehabilitated and allowed to return to Moscow. He immigrated to Israel with his family in This author was a neighbor of the Kerler family in the Ramat Eshkol neighborhood of Jerusalem, Israel. 13 Butyrki was the central transit prison in pre-ârevolutionary Russia, located in Moscow. Following the October Revolution Butyrka remained a place of internment for political prisoners and a transfer camp for people sentenced to be sent to the Gulag. 14 Levina-ÂKul neva, Sorele [Russian], Ibid Ibid., Ibid., ZAGS was the Soviet office dealing with personal status in the Soviet Union. One of its main functions was registering marriage and divorce. 19 Levina-ÂKul neva, Sorele, Imprinting is a process by which a permanent bond is created between a young human and the objects and beings which surround it. 21 In the Western world the term the Great Terror was popularised by Robert ÂConquest s book, The Great Terror. Stalin s Purge of the Thirties. The Great Terror was a series of campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin. Many hundreds of thousands of death sentences were issued during this period and many more prisoners died in Gulag labour camps. 22 Destroying the institution of the family was a Stalinist policy. See Conquest, The Great Terror, The criminal prisoners played a card game in which the two players would not wager money, but the possessions of a third party or even the third party itself. The one who lost the game had to go up to the third person on whose possessions they had gambled and force him to give them to the loser without receiving anything in exchange, and the loser would give them to the winner of the game. Sarah is implying here that, as an attractive woman, two men would play cards and bet on her. After the game, the loser would go to her and force her to sleep with the winner of the game, and thereâ after he too could sleep with her. Sarah needed protection, as they gambled less often on married women. 24 Ibid., Ibid., Ibid., Sarah Pogreb (b. 1921): the history of silence 1 Shalit, Now I am returning to Ariel... (On the poet Sarah Pogreb) [Russian]. 2 Tefillin are a pair of small leather boxes worn by observant Jewish men during morning prayers containing parchment scrolls inscribed with verses from the Torah. 3 Andrei Bely was the pseudonym of Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev ( ), a Russian novelist, poet, theorist and literary critic. Bely s work was influenced by several literary schools, especially symbolism. 4 In January 1949, the newspaper Pravda published an editorial launching a propaganda campaign against unpatriotic forces in the country, meaning Jews. This led to the discovery of rootless cosmopolitans amongst writers, literary critics, philosophers, historians, artists, journalists and scholars. The persecution of undesirables strengthened the ideological positions of the Soviet regime. 5 Shalit, Now I am returning to Ariel...

196 Notes Pogreb, I Kept Silent Until Poetry... [Russian], 7; reprinted in: Under the Eye of Heaven [Russian], 6; repr.: Ariel [Russian], Golta is a town in the Nikolaev Province in south-âcentral Ukraine. Yuzefpol is a village north of Golta in the direction of Uman. Most of the Jewish population of these regions was murdered in the Second World War. 8 Pogreb, I Kept Silent Until Poetry... [Russian], 44 5; repr.: Beneath the Eye of Heaven [Russian], 38 9, English translation by Sibelan Forrester, published in Shrayer, An Anthology of Jewish-ÂRussian Literature, vol 2, Shturman, The Neighbourhood of the Sovereign Soul [Russian], Lapidus, Between Snow and Desert Heat, Pogreb, I Kept Silent Until Poetry... [Russian], 50 (repr.: Beneath the Eye of Heaven [Russian], 45). 12 Ibid., 43 (37). 13 Ibid., 135 (96). 14 Ibid., Ibid., 54 5 (47 8). 16 Shturman, The Neighbourhood of the Sovereign Spirit [Russian], Pogreb, I Kept Silent Until..., Lapidus, Between Snow and Desert Heat, Ibid., Pogreb, I Kept Silent Until, 97 (77). 21 Ibid., 62 (53). 22 Samoilov, Introduction [Russian], to Pogreb, I Kept Silent Until Poetry... [Russian], Zinaida Mirkina (b. 1926): suffering as a path toward faith 1 By this she means: the era of prosecution by Stalin began. 2 Mirkina, Christ and the Grand Inquisitor [Russian]. 3 Ibid. 4 Melichov, Two opinions on Zinaida Mirkina s book, Fire and Ash [Russian], Elena Trofimova, tr. Natasha Yefimov, in: Ledkovsky, Mirkina, Christ and the Grand Inquisitor. 7 Mirkina, Truth and Its Doubles [Russian], Mirkina, Christ and the Grand Inquisitor. 9 Schroeder, The Light of the Depths [Russian], introd. to: Mirkina, Grain of Peace [Russian], 4ff. 10 Mirkina, Christ and the Grand Inquisitor. 11 Mirkina, Truth and Its Doubles, See also on Christ as a suffering one: Phillips, A Defence of Masochism, 135ff. 13 Weigert, Mixed Emotions, Certain Steps toward Understanding Ambivalence, 127ff. 14 Mirkina, Pomerantz, The Great World Religions [Russian], See: Frankl, Man s Search for Meaning. 16 Nikolai Alexandrovich Berdyaev ( ) was a Russian religious and political philosopher. Berdyaev influenced Russian existential philosophy and Orthodox theology. He is credited with developing an influential school of thought, reflecting aspects of Russian philosophic thought not usually seen in the West. 17 Schroeder, The Light of the Depths [Russian], introduction to: Mirkina, Grain of Peace [Russian], Mirkina Pomerantz, The Great World Religions, Mirkina, Christ and the Grand Inquisitor. 20 In 1846 Dostoevsky joined a group of utopian socialists. He was arrested in 1849 and sentenced to death, but eventually the sentence was commuted to imprisonment in Siberia and service in the Russian army as a soldier.

197 184 Notes 21 Blagoy, Dostoevsky and Puskin [Russian], Losskiy, Dostoevsky and His Christian Understanding of the World [Russian], 225ff. 23 Ibid., 290ff. 24 Martsinovsky, The Meaning of Suffering [Russian], Mirkina, A Grain of Peace, Solov ev, F.M. Dostoevsky as a Preacher Ecumenical Slavic Orthodoxy [Russian], Mirkina Pomerantz, The Great World Religions, Martsinovsky, The Meaning of Suffering, 18ff. 29 Anthony (Khrapovitsky), Archbishop, F.M. Dostoevsky as a Preacher of the Christian Revival [Russian], 15 16, 28ff. 30 Mirkina, A Grain of Peace, Schroeder, The Light of the Depths, [Russian], introd. to: Mirkina, Grain of Peace [Russian], 5ff.; Zorin, The Obvious Nature of the Invisible [Russian], On masochistic admiration, see: Noble, The Masochistic Pleasures of Sentimental Literature, 28ff. 33 On a kind of religious masochism, see: Rancour-ÂLaferriere, The Slave Soul of Russia. Moral Masochism and the Cult of Suffering, 18ff.; on a passion sufferer, see ibid., 86 7ff. Cf. Pokrovkiy (Medynskiy), A Martyr of God Seeking [Russian], 63ff. 34 Masochism is a psychiatric disorder characterised by obtaining feelings of pleasure or gratification through inflicting suffering upon oneself; it involves a tendency to find pleasure in self-âdenial, submissiveness, or being physically or emotionally abused. See Weinberg, Levi Kamel, S&M: An Introduction to the Study of Sadomasochism, The Stockholm syndrome is a psychological shift that occurs in captives or hostages when they are gravely threatened but simultaneously shown acts of kindness by their captors. Under conditions of prolonged captivity, the captives may develop a strong bond with their captors. The explanation of the Stockholm syndrome is cognitive dissonance: people cannot tolerate being unhappy for protracted periods of time. To resolve cognitive dissonance, the victims begin to identify with their captors as a defense mechanism. See Blunder, Strasser, Burton, Mechanisms of Lasting Change in Anxiety Induced by Severe Stress, 61ff.; Kuleshnyk, The Stockholm Syndrome: Toward an Understanding, 37ff.; Lawler, Ouimette, Lawler, Posttraumatic stress symptoms, coping, and physical health status among university students seeking health care, 741ff. 36 Pomerantz, Learning to Fall [Russian], Mirkina, The Invisible Cathedral [Russian], Mirkina, The Loss of Loss [Russian], 13. Cf. Losskiy, Dostoevsky, Schroeder, The Light of the Depths [Russian], introduction to: Mirkina, A Grain of Peace [Russian], St. Grigory Palama ( ) was a Byzantine mystic and philosopher of the Middle Ages, one of the founders of Isichasm. Isichasm (in Greek: rest, quiet ) is a mystical practice wherein silent prayer is used for contemplation of the divine light. 41 Mirkina, A Grain of Peace, Weigert, Mixed Emotions, Certain Steps toward Understanding Ambivalence, 125ff. 43 Mirkina, A Grain of Peace, Kolchina, The Emergence and Development of Personality; The Grigoriy Pomerants Jubilee [Russian]. 45 Marina Ivanovna Tsvetaeva ( ) was a Russian and Soviet poet and writer. Among other topics, she dealt with female sexuality and the tension in women s private emotion. Tsvetaeva was married to Sergei Yakovlevich Efron; however, this did not preclude her from having numerous affairs, including an affair with the poetess Sofia Parnok, a relationship that profoundly affected both women s writings. After the 1917 Revolution, Tsvetaeva maintained a close and intense friendship with the actress Sofia Evgenievna Holliday, who ended up betraying her.

198 Notes Schroeder, Two opinions on Zinaida Mirkina s book, Fire and Ash [Russian], Mirkina, Invisible Cathedral, Melichov, Two opinions on Zinaida Mirkina s book, Fire and Ash [Russian], Mirkina, The Invisible Cathedral, Ibid., Mirkina, Christ and the Grand Inquisitor. 52 Mirkina, The Invisible Cathedral, 269.

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200 Bibliography 187 Revival, in: Anthony (Khrapovitsky), Archbishop, Solov ev, V.S., F. M. Dostoevsky as a Preacher of the Christian Revival and Ecumenical Slavic Orthodoxy, Moscow: Publication by the Authors, 1908: (Russian Source: Антоний (Храповицкий), Архиепископ, Достоевский, как проповедник христианского возрождения, в: Антоний (Храповицкий), Архиепископ, Соловьев, В.С., Ф. М. Достоевский как проповедник христианского возрождения и вселенского православия, Москва, издание авторов, 1908, стр ) Antokol sky, Pavel, Introduction Margarita Aliger (Review of her Creative Work), in: M. I. Aliger, Verses and Poems, Moscow: Bellettres Literature Publishers, 1970, in 2 vols, vol 1: (Russian Source: Антокольский, Павел, Предисловие: Маргарита Алигер, (Очерк творчества), in: М. И., Алигер, Стихотворения и Поэмы, Москва, Художественная Литература, 1970, в 2 тт., том. 1, стр ) Applebaum, Anne, Gulag. A History, London: Penguin Books, Ardov, Mikhail, Around Ordynka. Portrets, New World 6, ru/novyi_mi/1999/6/ardov.html (Russian Source: Ардов, Михаил, Вокруг Ордынки. Портреты, Новый Мир 6, 1999.) Arendt, Hannah, The Origins of Totalitarianism, San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Aronson, Gregor, Jacob Frumkin, Alexis Goldenweiser, Joseph Lewitan (eds), Russian Jewry, , Cranbury, NJ: Thomas Yoseloff, 1969, trans. from the Russian: Joel Carmichael. Auerbach, Erich, Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature, ed. and trans. by Willard Trask, Princeton: Princeton University Press, Avdeenko, А. О., Punishment without Crime. Memories, Moscow: Soviet Russia, (Russian Source: Авдеенко, А. О., Наказание без преступления. Воспоминания, Москва, Советская Россия, 1991.) Babichenko, D. L. (ed.), Literary Front. The History of Political Censorship from , A Collection of Documents, Moscow: Russian Center for preservation and study of documents from Modern History, Assoc. for the Research of Russian Society in the Twentieth Century, (Russian Source: Бабиченко, Д. Л., ред., Литературный фронт. История политической цензуры гг. Сборник документов, Москва, Российский центр хранения и изучения документов Новейшей истории, Ассоц. исслед. Российского о-ва XX века, 1994.) Babylonian Talmud, Wilno-ÂJerusalem: Tora from Sion, 1968, in 10 vols (Hebrew Source: (תלמוד בבלי, וילנה-ירושלים, תורה מציון, תשכ ח, 10 כרכים Baek, Т. А., The Silhouette of The Silver Age, introduction to: Baek, T. A. (ed.), The Silver Age. Poetry, Moscow: АSТ, 1997: (Russian Source: Бек, Т.А., Силуэт серебрянного века, introduction to: Бек, Т.А., ред., Серебряный век. Поэзия, Москва, АСТ, 1997, стр ) Balin, Carole B., To Reveal Our Hearts: Jewish Women Writers in Tsarist Russia, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College Press, Bauman, Zygmunt, Modernity and Ambivalence, Oxford: Polity Press, Baumeister, Roy F., Escaping the Self. Alcoholism, Spirituality, Masochism, and Other Flights from the Burden of Selfhood, New York: Basic Books, Baumvol, Rakhil, Children s Poems, Moscow Kharkov Minsk: Central Publishing House of the People s of the USSR. (Yiddish Source:, Cherry Trees in Blossom, Minsk: State Publishing House of Bellarussia, בוימוואל, ראכל, וויינשל-ביימער בליענ, מינסק, מעלוכע-פארלאנג פונ ווייסרוסלאנד, Source: (Yiddish 1939)

201 188 Bibliography, Looking into Your Eyes, Moscow: Soviet Writer, (Russian Source: Баумволь, Рахиль, Глядя в глаза, Москва, Советский писатель, 1968.), Lovingly Poems, Moscow: State Publishing House The Truth, (Yiddish:, Pioneers, Moscow: The Truth, (Yiddish Source:, Poems, Minsk: State Publishing House of Bellarussia, (Yiddish Source: בוימוואל, ראכל, לידער, מאסקווע, Source:, Poems, Moscow: The Truth, (Yiddish (עמעס, 1940, Poems, Moscow: Soviet Writer, (Russian Source: Баумволь, Рахиль, Стихотворения, Москва, Советский Писатель, 1958.), The Little Pine Tree, Moscow: The Truth, (Yiddish Source: Berestov, Valentin (ed.), The Life and Creativity of Kornei Chukovsky, Moscow: Children s Literature, (Russian Source: Берестов, Валентин, ред., Жизнь и творчество Корнея Чуковского, Москва, Детская Литература, 1978.) Berlowitz, Yaffa (ed.), I am Soil and Man: Women s Stories at the Rise of the State, Tel Aviv: Ha-ÂKibbutz Ha-ÂMeuhad, (Hebrew Source: Bialik, Ch. N., Collected Poems, Tel-ÂAviv: Devir, 1970, in 4 vols (Hebrew Source: Bialik, Ch. N. (words), Milner, M. M. (music), Under the Little Green Trees, Leipzig, Sankt-ÂPeterbourg: Gesellschaft fuer Juedische Volksmusik, (Yiddish Source: Blagoy, D. D., Dostoevsky and Puskin, in: A. L. Grishunin, U. A. Gural nik, K. L. Lomunov, B. C. Nechaeva (eds), Dostoyevsky Artist and Philosopher, Moscow: Bellettres Literature Publishers, 1972: (Russian Source: Благой, Д. Д., Достоевский и Пушкин, в: А. Л. Гришунин, У. А. Гуральник, К. Н. Ломунов, В. С. Нечаева, ред.-ы, Достоевский художник и мыслитель, Москва, Художественная литература, 1972, стр ) Bloch, Raisa, Letter to her from her Leningrad [formerly Petrograd] University advisor Dobiash-ÂRozhdestvenskaia, dated 16 February 1932, Department of Manuscripts of the Russian National Library, Fund 254, Storage Unit 343. (Russian Sourse: Отдел Рукописей Российской национальной библиотеки, Фонд 254, единица хранения 343.), My City. Foreign Cities Make Noises Here..., Moscow: Home Museum of Marina Tzvetaeva, Isograf, 1996, (Russian Source: Раиса Блох, Мой город. Здесь шумят чужие города..., Москва, Дом-музей Марины Цветаевой, Изограф, 1996.), Selected Poems, Paris, Rhyme Irina: Yassen Publishing House, (Russian Source: Раиса Блох, Избранные стихотворения, Париж, Рифма, 1959.), Silence. Poems , Berlin: Petropolis, (Russian Source: Раиса Блох, Тишина. Стихи , Берлин, Петрополис, 1935.) Bloom, Harold, The Anxiety of Influence A Theory of Poetry, Oxford: Oxford UP, 1973, repr Bobrinskaia, Е. А., Futurism and Cubofututrism, Moscow: Galart, (Russian Source: Бобринская, Е.А., Футуризм и кубофутуризм, Москва, Галарт, 2000.) Bogomolov, А. S., Philosophy of Anglo-ÂAmerican Neo-Ârealism, Moscow: MGU Press,

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205 192 Bibliography Ershov, L. F., History of Russian Soviet Literature, Moscow: Высшая школа, (Russian Source: Ершов, Л.Ф., История Русской Советской Литературы, Москва: Высшая школа, 1982.) Ezhov, I. S., Е. I. Shamurin (eds), Russian Poetry of 20th Century. Anthology of the Russian Lyrics of the First Quarter of the Century, Kiev: Amirus, (Russian Source: И. С. Ежов, Е. И. Шамурин, ред.-ы, Русская поэзия XX века. Антология русской лирики первой четверти века, Киев, Амирус, 1991.) Fitzpatrick, Sheila, Everyday Stalinism. Ordinary Life in Extraordinary Times: Soviet Russia in the 1930s, New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, Frankl, Viktor E., Man s Search for Meaning, introd. by Gordon W. Allport, New York: Washington Square Press, Frenzinsky, B. Ya., (ed. and introd.), Cities and Encounters. Elizaveta Polonskaja, Moscow: New Literary Review, (Russian Source: Фрезинский, Б.Я., ред. и введ., Города и встречи. Елизавета Полонская, Москва, Новое литературное обозрение, 2008.), Elizaveta Polonskaja Introductions and Publication, Arion Journal of Poetry 1 (2007) (Russian Source: Фрезинский, Б.Я., Елизавета Полонская Вступительное слово и публикация, Арион Журнал поэзии 1 (2007) Fates of the Serapions: Portraits and Lives, Saint-ÂPeterburg: Academic Project, (Russian Source: Фрезинский, Б.Я., Судьбы Серапионов. Портреты и сюжеты, Санкт-Петербург, Академический проект, 2003.) Frolov, I. T. (ed.), Dictionary of Philosophy, Moscow: Political Publishers, (Russian Source: Фролов, И.Т., ред., Философский словарь, Москва, Политиздат, 1981.) Frumkin, Ia. G., G. Ia. Aronson, A. A. Gol denveizer (eds), Book on Russian Jewry: , Jerusalem: Gesharim, and Moscow: Culture Bridges, 2002, repr. from: Translated into English: Aronson, Gregor, Jacob Frumkin, Alexis Goldenweiser, Joseph Lewitan (eds), Russian Jewry , New York-ÂSouth Brunswick-Â London: Thomas Yoseloff, 1969, trans.: Joel Carmichael (Russian Source: В. Александрова, Евреи в советской литературе, в: Я.Г.Фрумкин, Г.Я.Аронсон, А.А.Гольденвейзер, ред-ы, Книга о русском еврействе , Иерусалим, Гешарим Москва, Мосты культуры, 2002, переизд. с: 1968.) Gedo, John E., Masochism and the Repetition Compulsion, in: Glick, Robert A., Donald I. Meyers (eds), Masochism: Current Psychoanalytic Perspectives, London: The Analytic Press, 1988: Gershtein, E. G., Memories, St. Petersburg: Inapress, (Russian Source: Герштейн, Э. Г., Мемуары, Санкт-Петербург, Инапресс, 1998.) Gilboa, Ye. (Jehoshua) A., The Black Years of Soviet Jewry, , Boston and Toronto: Little, Brown and Company, 1971, trans. from the Hebrew by Yosef Shachter and Dov Ben-ÂAbba. Giller, V. E., and O. M. Ziv, People Trust You, Moscow: Soviet Writer, (Russian Source: Гиллер, В.Е., Зив, О.М., Вам доверяются люди, Москва, Советский писатель, 1963.) Giller, V. E., The Quiet Tyrant, Moscow: Soviet Writer, (Russian Source: Гиллер, В.Е., Тихий тиран, Москва, Советский писатель, 1976.), Two Long Days, Moscow: Soviet Writer, (Russian Source: Гиллер, В.Е., Два долгих дня, Москва, Советский писатель, 1983.) Glick, Robert A., Donald I. Meyers (eds), Masochism: Current Psychoanalytic Perspectives, London: The Analytic Press, 1988.

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207 194 Bibliography Kannak, Evgeniia, Memories of Those Who Have Departed (Paeans by Evgeniia Kannak over the poets Mikhail Gorlin and Raisa Blokh), texts prepared, published and Âcommentated by Aleksandr Klement ev, in: Parkhomovsky, Mikhail (ed.), Jews in the Culture of the Russian Diaspora. Articles, Publications, Memoirs and Essays, in 5 vols, Jerusalem: Publication by the Editor, 1992, vol I: (Russian Source: Каннак, Evgeniia, Памяти ушедших (Воспинания Каннак о поэтах Михаиле Горлине и Раисе Блох), подготовка текстов, публикация и примечания Александра Клементьева, в: Михаил Пархомовский, ред., Евреи в культуре русского зарубежья. Статьи, публикации, мемуары и эссе, в 5 тт., Иерусалим, публикация редактора, т. 1, 1992, стр ), Faithfulness Memories, Stories, Essays, Paris: YMCA PRESS, (Russian Source: Каннак, Евгения, Верность Воспоминания, рассказы, очерки, Париж, YMCA-ÂPRESS, 1992.) Katsis, Leonid, Elizaveta Polonskaia, Lechaim, November 2007, Kheshvan (187) (Russian Source: Леонид Кацис, Елизавета Полонская, Лехаим, ноябрь 2007, Хешван (187) www. lechaim.ru/arhiv/187/slovo.htm.) Kelly, Catriona (ed.), A History of Russian Women s Writing: New York: Oxford UP, Kel ner, Victor, Foreign Towns, with All Their Din... about the poetress Raisa Blokh, in: Parkhomovsky, Mikhail (ed.), Jews in the Culture of the Russian Diaspora. Articles, Publications, Memoirs and Essays, in 5 vols, Jerusalem: Publication by the Editor, 1992, vol 1: (Russian Source: Келльнер, Виктор, Здесь шумят чужие города, и чужая плещется вода... О поэтессе Раисе Блох, в: Михаил Пархомовский, ред., Евреи в культуре русского зарубежья. Статьи, публикации, мемуары и эссе, Иерусалим, публикация редактора, , в 5 тт., т. 1, 1992, стр ) Kern, Gary, Introduction, in: Kern, Gary, and Christopher Collins (eds), The Serapion Brothers. A Critical Anthology, Ann Arbor, Michigan: Ardis, 1975: Khan, M., R. Masud, Alienation in Perversions, London: The Hogarth Press, Khelemskii, Yakov, Uncompromising Muse, (Russian Source: Хелемский, Яков, Неуступчивая Муза www. peoples.ru/art/literature/poetry/contemporary/neyman/.) Klemen tev, Alexander, texts prepared, published and commentated for the article: Kannak, Evgeniia, Memories of Those Who Have Departed (Paeans by Evgeniia Kannak over the poets Mikhail Gorlin and Raisa Blokh), in: Parkhomovsky, Mikhail (ed.), Jews in the Culture of the Russian Diaspora. Articles, Publications, Memoirs and Essays, in 5 vols, Jerusalem: Publication by the Editor, 1992, vol 1: (Russian Source: Клементьев, Александр, подготовка текстов, публикация и примечания к: Kannak, Evgeniia, Memories of Those Who Have Departed (Воспинания Evgeniia Каннак о поэтах Михаиле Горлине и Раисе Блох), в: Михаил Пархомовский, ред., Jews in the Culture of Russian Emmigration. Статьи, публикации, мемуары и эссе, в 5 тт., Иерусалим, публикация редактора, т. 1, 1992, стр ) Kolobaeva, L. A., Russian Symbolism, Moscow: MGU Press, (Russian Source: Колобаева, Л. А., Русский символизм, Москва, издательство МГУ, 2000.) Kolchina, Anna, The Emergence and Development of Personality. The Grigoriy Pomerants Jubilee, Radio Liberty, , html. (Russian Source: Анна Колчина, Возникновение и становление личности. Юбилей Григория Померанца, Радио свобода article/ html.)

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209 196 Bibliography Lawton, Anna, Herbert Eagle (eds and trans.), Words in Revolution: Russian Futurist Manifestos , Washington DC: New Academia Publishing, Ledkovskaia-ÂAstman, Marina, Charlotte Rosenthal, Mary Fleming Zirin (eds), Dictionary of Russian Women Writers, Westport, CT.: Greenwood Press, Lekhmanov, О. А., Book on Acmeism and Other Works, Tomsk: Aquarius, (Russian Source: Лекманов, О. А., Книга об акмеизме и другие работы, Томск, Водолей, 2000.) Leonidov, Viktor, Foreword to: Raisa Blokh, Foreign Towns, with All Their Din..., Moscow: The Marina Tsvetaeva House and Museum, Izograf Publishers, 1996: (Russian Source: Виктор Леонидов, Предисловие к: Раиса Блох, Здесь шумят чужие города..., Москва, Изограф, Дом-музей Марины Цветаевой, 1996, стр ) Lester, David., Why People Kill Themselves. A 1980 s Summary of Reseearch Findings on Suicidal Behavior, Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas Publisher, Levin, Nora, The Jews in the Soviet Union since Paradox of Survival, New York and London: New York University Press, 1988, in 2 vols. Levina, Hanna, First Rain, Moscow: Soviet Writer, 1963, trans. from Yiddish. (Russian Source: Левина, Хана, Первый дождь, Москва: Советский писатель, 1963, перевод с идиш.), Mite, Kharkov: Governmental Publishing House of Ukraine, 1929 (Yiddish Source: Lossky, Nikolay, Dostoevsky and His Christian Understanding of the World, New York: Chekhov Publishing House, (Russian Source: Лосский, Николай, Достоевский и его христианское миропонимание, Нью-Йорк, Издательство имени Чехова, 1953.) Low, A. D., Soviet Jewry and Soviet Policy, New York: Columbia University Press, Lozovskaya, K. I., Z. S. Papernyi, E. Tz. Chukovskaia (eds), Reminiscences of Kornei Chukovsky, 2nd edn, Moscow: Soviet Writer, (Russian Titile: Лозовская, К.И., З.С. Паперный, Е.Ц. Чуковская, ред-ы, Воспоминания о Корнее Чуковском, Москва, Советский Писатель, 1983, изд. 2-е.) Lukanov, D. M., Gnosiology of American Realism, Moscow: Higher School, Moscow, Высшая школа, (Russian Source: Луканов Д. М., Гносеология американского реализма, Москва, Высшая школа, 1968.) Makarova, I. А., Poetics and the Theory of Russian Imagism, in: S. I. Timina (ed.), Russian Literature of the 20th Century: Schools, Trends, Artistic Methods, Textbook for students in Institutions of Higher Education, Saint-ÂPetersburg, Logos and Moscow: Higher School, 2002: (Russian Source: Макарова, И. А., Поэтика и теория русского имажинизма, в: C. И. Tиминa ped., Русская литература XX века: Школы. Направления. Методы творческой работы. Учебник для студентов высших учебных заведений, Санкт-Петербург, Logos Москва, Высшая школа, 2002, стр ) Malia, M. E., The Soviet Tragedy: A History of Socialism in Rissia, , New York: Free Press, Maltsberger John T., Mark Goldblatt (eds), Essential Papers on Suicide, New York: NYU Press, Mandel shtam, O. E., Literary Moscow, in: S. Averintsev, P. Nerler (eds), Osip Mandel shtam, Bellettres Works, Moscow: Bellettres Literature Publishers, 1990, in 2 vols (Russian Source: Мандельштам, О.Э., Литературная Москва, в: С.

210 Bibliography 197 Аверинцев, П. Нерлер, ред.-ы, Осип Мандельштам, Сочинения, Москва, Художественная литература, 1990, в 2 тт.) Manger, Yitzik, Between Folklore and Literature, Newspaper 77 for Literature and Culture, No. 219, May 1988: (Hebrew Source: Mariengoff, A. B., My Era, My Friends, My Female Friends, Moscow: Direct-ÂMedia Publishing, (Russian Source: Мариенгоф, А.Б., Мой век, мои друзья, мои подруги, Москва, Директ-Медиа, 2007.) Martsinovsky, V. F., The Meaning of Suffering, Praha: Publication by the Author, (Russian Source: Марциновский, В. Ф., Смысл Страдания, Прага, издание автора, 1928.) Maslenikova, Z. A., The Life of Father Aleksandr Men, Moscow: Pristsel s, (Russian Source: Масленикова, З.А., Жизнь отца Александра Меня, Москва, Присцельс, 1995.) Medovar, Lazar, Margarita Aliger: Life in Literature, Lechaim, June 2000 Sivan (98), (Russian Source: Медовар, Лазарь, Маргарита Алигер: Жизнь в литературе, Лехаим, Июнь 2000 Сиван (98), Melichov, Alexander, Julius Schroeder, Two opinions on Zinaida Mirkina s book, Fire and Ash, New World. Monthly Journal of Belles Lettres, 1994 (7): (Russian Source: Шрейдер, Юлий, Александр Мелихов, Два мнения о книге Зинаиды Миркиной Огонь и пепел, Новый Мир. Ежемесячный литературнохудожественный журнал 1994 (7), стр ) Metchenko, А. I., L. M. Poliak, L. I. Timofeev (eds), History of Russian Soviet Literature, Moscow: MGU Press, , in 2 vols (Russian Source: Метченко, А.И., Л.М.Поляк, Л.И.Тимофеев, ред-ы, История Русской Советской Литературы, Москва, МГУ, , в 2 тт.) Mirimanov, V. B., The Russian Avant-Âgarde and the Aesthetic Revolution of the Twentieth Century. Another Paradigm of Eternity, Moscow: Russian Govermental University for Humanities, (Russian Source: Мириманов, В.Б., Русский авангард и эстетическая революция ХХ века. Другая парадигма вечности, Москва, РГГУ, 1995.) Mirkina, Zinaida, The Loss of Loss (Poems), Moscow: R. Elinin Literature-ÂPublishing, (Russian Source: Миркина, Зинаида, Потеря потери (стихи), Москва, Литературно-издательское агенство Р.Элинина, 1991.), Truth and Its Doubles, Moscow: Protestant, (Russian Source: Зинаида Миркина, Истина и ее двойники, Москва, Протестант, 1993.), Fire and Ash. The Spiritual Path of Marina Tsvetaeva, Grigory Pomerantz, Lectures on the Philosophy of History, Moscow: DOK Agency, (Russian Source: Зинаида Миркина, Огонь и пепел. Духовный путь Марины Цветаевой, Григорий Померанц, Лекции по философии истории, Москва, Агенство ДОК, 1993.), Grain of Peace. Collected Poems, Mainly , Moscow: DOK Agency, (Russian Source: Миркина, Зинаида, Зерно Покоя. Избранные стихотворения, в основном гг., Москва, Агенство ДОК, 1994.), Invisible Catherdral. About Rilke. From Rilke. About Tsvetaeva. Holy of Holies, St. Petersburg: University Book, (Russian Source: Зинаида Миркина, Невидимый собор. О Рильке. Из Рильке. О Цветаевой. Святая Святых, Санкт-Петербург, Университетская книга, 1999.), Christ and the Grand Inquisitor, The Herald of Europe, Journal of European

211 198 Bibliography Culture, 21, 2007, pomeranz.ru/m/index.html. (Russian Source: Зинаида Миркина, Христос и великий инквизитор, Вестник Европы, Журнал европейской культуры, 21, 2007, pomeranz.ru/m/index.html.) Mirkina, Zinaida, Grigory Pomerantz, The World s Great Religions, Moscow: Ripol, (Russian Source: Миркина, Зинаида, Григорий Померанц, Великие религии мира, Москва, Рипол, 1995.) Mozgovaia, Ol ga, The Triumph and Tragedy of the Writer Aleksandr Fadeev, Evening Moscow (162), 31 August 2004 (Russian Source: Мозговая, Ольга, Литературный Генерал. Триумф и трагедия писателя Александра Фадеева, Вечерняя Москва, (162), 31 August 2004.) Neiman, Yulia, Caprices of Memory. Verses, Moscow: Soviet Writer, (Russian Source: Юлия Нейман, Причуды памяти. Стихи, Москва, Советский писатель, 1988.) Niv, George, Il ia Serman, Vittorio Strada, Efim Etkind (eds), History of Russian Literature of the 20th Century. The Silver Age, Moscow: Progress-ÂLitera Publishers, (Russian Source: Нив, Жорж, Илья Серман, Витторио Страда, Ефим Эткинд, ред.-ы, История русской литературы. ХХ век. Серебряный век, Москва, Прогресс-Литера, 1995.) Nikolaev, P. A., А. I. Ovcharenko et al., Russian Poetry of the 19th and the Beginning of the 20th Centuries, Moscow: Bellettres Literature Publishers, (Russian Source: Николаев, П. А., А. И., Овчаренко, и др., Русская поэзия 19- начала 20 веков, Москва, Художественная литература, 1987.) Noble, Marianne, The Masochistic Pleasures of Sentimental Literature, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, Noyes, John K., The Mastery of Submission. Inventions of Masochism, Ithaca, NY and London: Cornell University Press, Orwell, George, 1984, New York: Signet, Oulanoff, Hongor, The Serapion Brothers, The Hague Paris: Ohio State University, Panken, Shirley, The Joy of Suffering. Psychoanalytic Theory and Therapy of Masochism, New York: Jason Aronson, Papernikoff, Joseph, Moishe s Shloime s Under the Polish Little Green Trees, New York: Hensley Music Co. and Metro Music Co., (Yiddish Source: New York, Hensley Music Co. and Metro Music Co., 1966.) Parush, Iris, Women Read The Advantage of Marginality in Eastern European Jewish Society in the Nineteenth Century, Tel-ÂAviv Working People, (Hebrew Source: Phillips, Anita, A Defence of Masochism, New York: St. Martin s Press, Pinkus, Benjamin, The Jews of the Soviet Union. The History of a National Minority, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, Pizon, Ramon Martinez de, Death by Despair. Shame and Suicide, New York: Peter Lang Publishing, Pogreb, Sarah, I Silenced Myself Up to Poems..., Moscow: Palace of Books, (Russian Source: Погреб, Сара, Я домолчалась до стихов..., Москва, Книжная палата, 1990.), Beneath the Eye of Heaven, Israel [sic. Jerusalem?]: Scopus Publishers, (Russian Source: Погреб, Сара, Под Оком Небосвода, Израиль [sic. Иерусалим?], Скопус, 1996.)

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217 Index Abot De-Rabbi Natan 186 Academy of Ego-Poetry 13 Acmeism (Adamism) 1, 12, 55, 56, 98, 164, 196, 201, 202; Acmeist school 53; Acmeist tradition 53 Adamec, R. 186 Agababov, M. 14 Akhmatova (Gorenko) Anna Andreevna 10 12, 50, 75, 91, 96, 98, 106, 109, 121, 163, 164, 174, 180, 190 Aksel rod, Elena Meerovna (Markovna) 7 Aksel rod (Orthodox), Lubov (Esfir ) Isakovna 7 Aleksandrova, L. P. 175, 181, 186 Aleksandrova, Vera 186 Alexander II, Tsar 37, 170; Alexander II Nikolaevich (Alexander Liberator) 171 Aliger, Margarita Iosifovna ix, xii, 3, 5, , 179, 180, 186, 187, 193, 197 Aliger, Iosif 119 Alvarez, A. 176, 186 Amitai, Mordehai 178, 186 Ansell-Brauner, Gila xii Antokol sky, Pavel 179, 187 Applebaum, Anne 167, 187 Ardov, Mikhail 179, 180, 187 Arendt, Hannah 167, 187 Aronson, I. Michael xii Aronson, Gregor Ia. 167, 186, 187, 192 Aseev, Nikolai Alekseevich 13, 166 Auerbach, Erich 187 Avant-Garde, Russian 165, 195, 202 Avdeenko, А. О. 179, 187 Averintsev, S. 196 Babel, Isaak 72 Babichenko, D. L. 165, 166, 181, 187 Babylonian Talmud 187 Baek, Т. А. 187 Bagritsky (Dziubin), Eduard Georgevich 163 Baliasnaia, Riva Naumovna 7 Balin, Carole B. 162, 187 Bauman, Zygmunt 177, 187 Baumeister, Roy F. 177, 187 Baumvol, Judah Leib 106 Baumvol, Rakhil L vovna ix, xii, 5, , 177 9, 187, 188 Belkina, Maria Iosifovna 7 Bely (Bugaev), Andrei (Boris Nikolaevich) 10, 141, 163, 182 Ben-Abba, Dov 192 Berdichev 179 Berdyaev, Nikolai Alexandrovich 154, 183 Berestov, Valentin 168, 188 Berlowitz, Yaffa 162, 188 Bestuzhev Higher Courses for Women 20, 168 Bialik, Hayyim Nahman 2, 112, 175, 176 Bio-Cosmism 14 black raven 132 Blagoy, D. D. 183, 188 Bloch, Elena 51 Bloch (Gorlina, M. Leonidova), Raisa Noevna ix, xii, 4, 48, 49 61, 172 4, 188, 189, 193, 194, 196, 202 Bloch, Yaakov 48 Blok, Aleksandr Aleksandrovich 11, 52, 57, 163 Blokh, Noi L vovich 48 Bloom, Harold 188 Blunder, J. 184, 186 Bobrinskaia, Е. А. 165, 188 Bobrov, Sergey Pavlovich 13, 166 Bogomolov, А. S. 176, 188 Bol shákov, Konstantin Aristarkhovich 13, 165 Bolshevik 179

218 Bolshevik Party 37, 149 Bolsheviks 37, 174 Bonner, Yelena Georgevna 8 Borodin, I. P. 173 Borodina, Mirra Ivanovna 51, 173, 189 Bostomsky, Shlomo 178, 189 Brainina, B. Ya. 179, 189 Brakman, Professor M. 49 Brecht, Bertolt 36, 170 Brent, Jonathan 189 Brezezinski, Z. 167, 189 Brezhnev, L. I. 179, 180 Broderzon, B. M. 168 Brodsky, N. L. 164, 165, 189 Bronisman, Abraham 140 Bronisman, Nehama 140 Bronisman, Yankel 140 Brooks, Jeffrey 163, 189 Brown, Herbert N. 190 Brushtein (Nadezhdina), Nadezhda Sergeevna 21, 168 Brushtein (Vygodsky), Alexandra Yakovlevna ix, 3, 4, 20 4, 29, 30, 31, 168, 176, 189, 195, 193 Brushtein, Mikhail Sergeevich 21, 168 Brushtein, Sergei Alexandrovitch 20, 29, 30, 168 Bryusov, Valery Yakovlevich 10, 162, 163 Budnitskii, Oleg 181, 190 Buie, Dan H. 176, 190 Bund 10 Burliuk, David 164, 165 Burton, P. 184, 186 Butyrki (Prison) 132, 182 bytoviki 137, 182 Caplan, Paula 177, 190 Carroll, Lewis 119 Centrifuge (Tzentrifuga) 13, 166 Cervantes, Miguel de 26 Chagall, Marc 106 Chastyshka 57 Cheka 163 Chekhov, Anton 83, 108 Cherikover, I. M. 190 Chesler, E. R. 167, 190 Chicherin, Alexei Vladimirovich 13, 166 Chipman, Jonathan xii Cholodenko, Shifra 7 Chopin, Frederic 92, 93 Christian, Nicole 163, 190 Chukovskaia, E. Ts. 178, 189, 196 Chukovskaia, L. K. 190 Chukovsky (Korneichukov) Kornei Index 205 Ivanovich (Nikolai Vasilevich) 24, 36, 130, 168, 176, 187, 188, 189, 196 Chuprinin, I. S. 179, 190 Civil War 4, 15, 38, 39, 66, 71 Clark, Katerina167, 190 Coen, Stanley J. 177, 190 Cohen, Elliot F. xii Cohen, Tovah 162, 190 Collins, Christopher 194 Conquest, Robert 177, 182, 190 Constitutional Democratic Party (Kadets) 37 Constructivists sub-stream 13; Constructivists Codex 166 Cornwell, Neil 163, 190 Cosmopolitanism 88 Dement ev, A. G. 122, 179, 180, 190 Denis eva, Elena Aleksandrovna 178 Deutsch Kornblatt, Judith 162, 191 Dickens, Charles 20 Dmitrieva, А. N. 179, 189 Dobiash-Rozhdestvenskaia, Ol ga 48, 50, 51 Dobrenko, Evgeny A. 168, 191 Doctor s Plot (Delo vrachei) 27, 199 Jewish doctors 128, 180 Dolgopolov, L. K. 167, 191 Domal sky, I. (M. Bytal sky) 191 Donald I. Meyers 190, 192 Dorfman Davis, Leslie Jane xi, 41, 170, 172, 191 Dostoevky, Fyodor Michailovich 154 6, 186, 188, 191, 196, 199, 201 Drew D. Lawler 195 Dreyfus Affair 22, 31 Drozdkova, V. А. 166, 191 Dubnow, Simon 10, 163 Dzhimbonov, S. B. 166, 191 Eagle, Herbert 165, 196 Eckman, L. S. 167, 191 Efimova, N. А. 202 Efron, Sergei Yakovlevich 184 Egypt, exodus from 128 Ehrenburg, Ilya Grigoryevich 35, 129, 169, 170, 179, 181, 191, 193 Eikhenbaum, Boris 191 Eisenstein, Sergey 165 Ellis, Thomas E. 193 Emotzionalisty 74, 174 Erlich, Henryk 10, 163 Ershov, L. F. 179, 192 Etkind, Efim 166, 198

219 206 Index Expressionism 14 Ezhov, I. S. 164, 192 Ezrochi, Lidia L vovna 7 Ezrochi, Zoia Evseevna 7 Fadeev (Bulyga), Aleksandr Aleksandrovich 3, 90, 119, 127, 175, 179, 198 Fadeeva, Masha 119, 127 Fainberg, Nora Saulovna 7 Fasster, Professor Max 49 Fedin, Konstantin Aleksandrovich 35, 169, 170 Fedoseev P. N. 193 First World War 10, 35 Fitzpatrick, Sheila 167, 174, 192 Fleming Zirin, Mary 196 Fofanov, K. M. 165 Formalism 74 Forme Llibre 74, 174, 202 Forrester, Sibelan xii, 177, 182 Frankl, Viktor E. 183, 192 Freidenberg, Ol ga Michailovna 7 Frenzinsky, B. Ya. 169, 170, 192 Frolov, I. T. 167, 192 Frumkin, Ia. G. 181, 186, 187, 192 Fuism 14 Futurism 1, 12, 14, 188 Futurists 13; Ego-Futurism 13, 165; Cubo-Futurism 13, 164, 165, 188 Gaidar, Arkadii 174 Gamzatov, Rasul 90 Gandersheim, Hrotsvitha von 50 Ganjavi, Abū Muhammad Ilyās ibn-yūsuf Nezami 37, 170, 171 Garf, Anna L vovna (Garfunkel ) 7 Gauzner, Zhanna Vladimirovna 7 Gedo, John E. 177, 192 Gershtein, E. G. 192 Gershtein, Emma Grigor evna 7, 164 Gilboa 167 Gilboa, Ye.(Jehoshua) A. 192 Giller, Vil iam (William) Efimovitch 74, 75, 76, 77, 174, 192, 201 Gilman, Sander L. 130 Ginzburg, Evgeniia Semenovna 8 Ginzburg, Lidia Yakovlevna 7 Glick, Robert A. 190, 192 Gol denveizer A. A. 186, 192 Golden Age 14 Goldblatt Mark 193, 196 Goldenweiser, Alexis 186, 187 Goldfaden Avraham 174 Golovaschenko, Iu. A. 192 Golovashenko 179 Golubeva, O. D. 193 Gorbachev thaw 104, 105, 178 Gorky (Peshkov), Maxim 17, 18, 163, 170; Maxim Gorky Literary Institute 120 Gorlin, Dora Mikhailovna 51, 52 Gorlin, Mikhail 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 56, 57, 58, 59, 172, 173, 193, 194 Gorodetsky, Sergey Mitrofanovich 12, 75, 163, 164 Gozzi, Carlo 48, 49, 193 Grishunin, A. L. 188 Grossman, Vasily 129, 181, 193 Gruzdev, Il ia Aleksandrovich 35, 170 Guild of Poets (Tzeh poetov) 75, 163, 164 Gulag 187 Gumilev, Nikolay Stepanovich 10 12, 15, 41, 46, 48, 49, 52, 53, 57, 75, 163 4, 199 Gural nik, U. A. 188 Gurevich, Lubov Yakovlevna 7 Gurfinkel, Nina Lazorevna 7 Gurshtein, A. 8 Haskalah 162 Heredia, José-Maria de 49 Himmelfarb, Doba 140 Himmelfarb, Ester (Esfir ) 140 Himmelfarb, Moishe 140 Hoffmann, Ernst Theodor Wilhelm (E. T. A. Hoffmann) 35, 168, 169, 170 Holliday, Sofia Evgenievna184 Hugo, Victor 36, 170 Hylaea 13, 165 Ibycus 97, 176, 177 Il ichev, L. F. 193 Il ina (Praiss), Elena (Lea Yakovlevna) 7 Il inskii, I. 30 Imaginism 1, 14, 55, 56, 196; Imaginists 201 Imprinting 136 Inber, Vera Michailovna 7 Isichasm 184 Itkin, A. 30 Ivanov, Georgii Vladimirovich 11, 164 Ivanov, Viacheslav Ivanovich 10, 162 Ivanov, Vsevolod Viacheslavovich 35, 36, 165, 170 Ivanova, Natal ia 180, 193 Ivin, А. А. 168, 193 Ivnev (Kovalev), Ryurik (Mikhail Aleksandrovich) 13, 165

220 Jacobs, Douglas 190 Jakobson, Roman 174 Jan (Yoselevich), Ira (Esphir Yosifovna) 7 Jensen, Viggo W. 176, 193 Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee 15, 131, 181, 182 Jewish shtetl 131 Jobes, David A. 176, 193 Judt, Tony 167, 193 Kabo, Lybov 169, 193 Kalechovsky, Robert and Roberta 162, 193 Kamenev (Rozenfel d), Lev Borisovich 34, 37, 166, 169, 170 Kamensky, Vasily 13, 165 Kannak, Evgeniia 51, 172, 173, 193 Karamzin, Nikolay 199 Karsavin, Irina 50 Karsavin, L. P. 50 Kato, Nobymasa 186 Katsis, Leonid 194 Kaverin (Zil ber), Veniamin Aleksandrovich 35, 170 Kawata, Mitzuhire 186 Kel ner, Victor 194 Kelly, Catriona xi,173, 180, 194 Kerler, Iosif 132, 173, 182 Kern, Gary 170, 194 Khan, M. 177, 194 Khelemskii, Yakov 176, 194 Khin, Rachel 9, 162 Khlebnikov, Velimir (Viktor Vladimirovich) 11, 13, 164 Khodasevich, Vladislav Felitsianovich 11, 163 Khrapovitsky, Anthony, Archbishop 184, 186, 187 Khruschev, Nikita Sergeyevich 121, 171, 179, 180 Khruschev Thaw (Khruschovskaya Ottepel, Ottepel ) 179, 180 Kissin, Veniamin Moiseevich 14, 166 Klemen tev, Alexander 172, 194 Kliuev, Nikolai Alekseevich 11, 163 Kogan, Feige 10 Kolchina, Anna 184, 195 Kolkhoz. 179, 180 Kolobaeva, L. A. 164, 194 Kolyma 96, 176 Komsomol (Kommunisticheskiy Soyuz Molodyozhi), 74, 80, 81, 83, 86, 141 Korolenko, Vladimir Galaktionovich 31, 32, 168, 169, 194, 195 Index 207 Kosmodem ianskaia, Zoia 120 Kozhevnikov, E. I. 193 Kozhevnikov, V. M. 194 Krasovsky, V. E. 195 Krey, Vadim 172 Krotova, I. 168, 195 Kruchenykh, Aleksei 12, 13, 164, 165 Krusanov, A. V. 195 Krylov, I. A. 100, 177, 195 Kugul tinov, David 90, 195 Kul nev, Vladimir 5, 133, 136, 137, 138, 139 Kuleshnyk, I. 184, 195 Kul nev, Irena 139 Kuz min, Mikhail Alekseevich 52, 57 Kvitko, Leibl 131, 181 L vov-rogachevsky, V. 164, 165, 189 Lachman, Gozella Sigizmundovna (Rabinerson) 7 Lapidus, Rina 168, 171, 172, 175, 195 Latvian Jewish Culture Society 130, 181 Lavrenev (Sergeev), Boris Andreevich 13, 165 Lawler, Casey 195 Lawler, Drew D. 195 Lawton, Anna 165, 196 Ledkovskaia-Astman, Marina 174, 179, 183, 196 Lekhmanov, О. А. 196 Lenin (Ulyanov) Vladimir Ilyich 15, 37, 166, 170; Leninism 166 Leonidov, Viktor 173, 196 Leontiuk, А. М. 167, 202 Lermontov, Yu. M. 199 Lester, David 176, 196 Levi Kamel, G. W. 203 Levin, Michael 136 Levin, Mira 136 Levin, Nokhim Yakovlevich 6, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 167, 181 Levin, Nora 196 Levina, Hanna Mironovna ix, 4, 62 73, 174, 196 Levina-Kul neva, Sarah Mikhailovna ix, 5, 130 9, 181, 182 Levin-Woods, Sheila 167, 181, 182, 200 Levinzon, Rina Semenovna 7 Lewitan Joseph 186, 187 Lisnianskaia, Inna L vovna 7 Litvakova (Radvolina), Yudif (Ida) Markovna 7 Livshits. Benedikt 164 Lomunov, K. L. 188

221 208 Index Lossky, Nikolay 183, 184, 196 Low, A. D. 167, 196 Lozinsky, Mikhail Leonidovich 49, 50, 51, 52, 54, 57, 58, 59, 200 Lozovskaya, K. I. 168, 189, 196 LTzK group (Constructivists Literary Center) 13, 166 Lukanov, D. M. 176, 196 Luminism 14 Lunacharsky, Anatolii Vasil evich 34, 169, 170 Lunts, Lev Natanovch 35, 36, 170 Lur e, Vera Osipovna (Iosifovna) 7 Midrash 112, 173 Mikhoels (Vovsi), Solomon (Shloyme) Mikhailovich 130, 131, 181 Mirimanov, V. B. 165, 197 Mirkina, Zinaida Aleksandrovna ix, xii, 6, , 183 5, 197, , 203 Molotov (Skryabin), Vyacheslav 131, 181 Moritz, Yunna Petrovna 7 Moroz, Anna 42, 43, 44 Movshenson (Meilakh), Sharlotta Il inichna 34, 37 Movshenson, Grigorii L vovich 34 Mozgovaia, Ol ga 180, 198 Machiavelli, Niccolò di Bernardo dei 48, 49, 172 Machtet, Taras Grigorevich 166 Magen David 44 Maisel, David xii Maisels, Dmitry (David) 14, 166 Makarova, I. А. 166, 196 Makarov-Rakitin, Konstantin 119 Makarov-Rakitin, Tatiana 120 Malenkov, Georgy Maximilianovich 129, 181 Malia, M. E. 168, 196 Melichov, Alexander 185, 200 Maltsberger, John T. 176, 190, 193, 196 Mandel shtam (Chazin), Nadezhda Yakovlevna 7 Mandelstam, Osip Emilyevich 5, 12, 41, 44, 56, 98, 164, 171, 196 Manger, Yitzik 178, 197 Mariengoff, A. B. 166, 197 Markish, Perets Davidovich 62, 174 Marshak, Samuil Yakovlevich 112, 175 Marten stove, Martenov workshop 81 Martsinovsky, V. F. 184, 197 Maskilim 9 Maslennikova, Zoia Afanas evna 116, 179, 197 Mass, Anna Vladimirovna 130, 181 Masud, R. 194 Matztet, Taras 14 Mauldin, Bill 164 Mayakovsky, Vladimir 12, 13, 141, 164 Medovar, Lazar 180, 197 Melichov, Alexander 183, 197 Men, Aleksandr Vladimirovich 116, 179, 197 Mendele Mocher Sforim (Shalom Yakov Abramovich) 114, 178 Metchenko, А. I 167, 197 Mezzanine of Poetry 13, 165 Narbut, Vladimir Ivanovich 12, 165 Narodnaia Vol a 37, 170; Narodnik movements 171 Naumov, Vladimir Pavlovich 189 Nava I, Ali-Shir 37, 170, 171 Nechaeva, B. C. 188 Neginsky, Rosina 179 Neiman, Yulia Moiseevna (Yu. Novikova) ix, xi, 5, , 175, 177, 198 Neiman, Isidor 89 Neiman, Mariya 89 Neiman, Moisei 89 Neiman, Solomon 89 Nekrasov, Nikolai Alekseevich 2, 126, 180 Nelson, Kathryn N. 193 Neo-Realism 98, 176, 177, 188 Nerler, P. 196 New Socialist man 18; Soviet person 129, 167 Nichevoki 14 Nikitin, Nikolai Nikolaevich 35, 170, 199 Nikolaev, P. A. 164, 194, 198 Niv, George 166, 198 NKVD 167 Noble, Marianne 184, 198 Noyes, John K. 177, 198 Old Breliever 163 Olimpov (Fofanov), Konstantin Konstantinovich 13, 165; Olympianity 165 OPOJAZ (Obschestvo Izucheniia Poeticheskogo Iazyka) 174 Orwell, George 64, 198 Ouimette, Paige 195 Oulanoff, Hongor 170, 198 Ovcharenko, А. I. 164, 198 Palama, St. Grigory 158 Palei, Marina Anatol evna 7

222 Panken, Shirley 177, 198 Papernikoff, Joseph 178, 198 Papernyi, Z. S. 189, 196 Parker, Alan Michael 203 Parkhomovsky, Mikhail 193, 194 Parnok, Sofia 7, 184 Parush, Iris 162, 198 Pasternak, Boris Leonidovich 11, 13, 163, 164 Paustovsky, Konstantin 174 Pereleshin, Boris 14 Perestroika 7 Petrograd House of Art 36, 170 Petrovykh, Mariya 90, 91, 175 Petty, Thomas A. 176, 193 Phillips, Anita 177, 183, 198 Pinkus, Benjamin 167, 198 Pittmen, Roger K. 186 Pizon, Ramon Martinez de 176, 198 Pogreb (Bronisman), Sarah Abramovna ix, xii, 6, 140 9, 182, 183, 198, 202 Pogreb, Michail (Misha) 145 Pokrovsky (Medynsky), G. A. 184, 199 Poliak, L. M. 190, 197 Political Red Cross 20, 168 Polonskaia (Movshenson, Bertram) Elizaveta Grigor evna ix, 4, 34 47, 191, 192, 194, 199 Polonskii, Lev Davidovich 42, 43, 44 Polonsky, Michail L vovich 42 Polonsky, V. P. 199 Polushin, Vladimir 174, 199 Pomerantz, Grigory 150, 160, 194, 198, 199 Pozner, Vladimir Solomonovich 35, 170 Pregel, Sofiia Iul evna 7 Prismanova, Anna Semenovna 7 Prokopova, T. F. 170, 199 Pushkin prize 141 Pushkin, Aleksandr Sergeevich 2, 15, 26, 110, 151, 178, 188, 199 Rakint, V. N. 172 Ralov, R. Yu. 91 Rancour-Laferriere, Daniel 177, 180, 184, 199 Rapoport, Luis 167, 199 Rapov, A. 14 Red Army 62, 72, 74, 129 Redlich, Shimon 167, 199 Reisner, Larisa Michailovna 7 Revolution 36, 37, 40, 119, 149, 201, 202; October Revolution 1, 15, 189; Russian Revolution 163; Bolshevik Revolution 72 Richmond, Guy 177, 199 Rilke, Rainer Maria 90, 150, 198 Roese, Jill 172 Rosenberg, Marion xii Rosenthal, Charlotte 196 Rousseau, Jean-Jacques 21 Rozhdestvensky, V. 191 Rubina, Riva (Rivka, Revekka) Ruvimovna 7 Rudyard, Kipling 36, 170 Rudzinsky, B. A. 199 Rudzinsky, Gardiner 178 Index 209 Sabaoth 46 Saianov, V. M. 170, 199 Saivetz 167 Saivetz, Carol R. 181, 182, 200 Saksaganskaia (Nemirovskaia), Anna Abramovna 7 Samoilov, David 182, 183, 200 Sarychev, V. A. 165, 200 Savchenko 166 Savchenko, T. K. 191, 203 Sazhin, V. N. 202 Schneiderman 166 Schroeder, Julius 183, 197, 200 Schulman, Elias 167, 200 Second Temple period 31 Segal, Dmitrii Michailovich 172, 200 Sel vinsky, Ilya L vovich 13, 166 Serapion Brotherhood 35, 36, 169 Sergeeva, Z. 174, 200 Serman, Il ia 166, 198 Severyanin (Lotariov), Igor 13, 165 Shachter Yosef 192 Shakespeare, William 36, 170 Shalit, Shulamit 182, 200 Shamurin Е. I. 164, 166, 192, 200 Sharpe, M. E. xi Shelepin, A. N. 179, 180 Shepeleva, L. S. 193 Shershenevich, Vadim G. 13, 165, 166, 200 Shikman, А. P. 164, 167, 200 Shimeliovich, Boris Abramovich 131, 181, 182 Shklovsky, Viktor Borisovich 35, 170 Shneer, David 174, 201 Shneidman, Edwin S. 186, 201 Shnyderman, E. M. 201 Sholom Aleichem (Sholom Naumovich Rabinovich) 2, 114, 178 Shrayer, Maxim D. xi, 1, 162, 174, 183, 201

223 210 Index Shtern, Liudmila Yakovlevna 7 Shturman (Shtok, Tiktina), Dora Moiseeva 7, 182, 183, 201 Shvartz, Elena Andreevna 7 Sibelan Forrester 180 Sidorov, N. P. 164, 165, 189 Silver Age 14, 15, 55, 57, 98; Silver Era 202 Skatov, N. N. 173, 201 Slonimskii, Mikhail 35, 170 Social-Democratic Party 34 Socialist Realism 18, 63, 77, 119, 120, 123, 124, 125, 191; Socialist Realist mode 64; Socialist-Realist style 78 Sokolov, Ippolit Vasil evich 14, 166 Soloviev, Vladimir Sergeyevich 10, 162, 184, 187, 190, 201 Stakhanov, Alexey Grigoryevich 78; Stakhanovite 80, 174 Stalin (Dzughashvili), Joseph (Iosef Vissarionovich) 1, 5, 15 18, 37, 38, 41, 76, 79, 95, 119, 122, 123, 127, 163, 177, 181, 189, 199, 202; Stalinist 122, 193; Stalin Literary Prize 3, 75, 120, 127; Stalinist period 41, 80, 130; Stalinist era 131; time of Stalin 136; Great Terror of Stalin 1, 92; Stalin s rule 1, 57, 74, 96; Stalin s Great Terror 107; Stalinist persecutions ix, 1, 5, 47, 74, 107; Stalinist period 1, 3, 77; Stalinist regime 16, 37, 40, 41, 129, 130, 136; Great Terror 15, 16, 37, 136, 164, 177, 190; Stalin s terror 40; Stalinist repressions 107, 131; the rule of Stalin 148 Stalinist terror 96, 148; Great Purge 15, 148; Stalinist Great Terror 15, 17; Soviet authorities 48 Stalin s Purge 190; de-stalinization 179, 180 Startzev, I. I. 162, 201 Stella Gardiner 199 Stites, Richard 171, 201 Stockholm syndrome 157, 184 Strada, Vittorio 166, 198 Strahovsky, L. 174, 201 Strasser, K. 184, 186 Sukharevsky, L. 14 Svetlov (Scheinkman), Mikhail 11, 164 Svirsky, Grigorii 179, 201 Svyatogor, Aleksandr 14 Symbolism 1, 11, 12, 14, 56, 163, 164, 172, 189, 191, 201, 202 Symbolists 110, 163; Russian Symbolists 10; Russian Symbolism 11, 163, 194 Szporluk, Larissa 172 Tagore, Rabindranath 150 Talmud 173 Tarakhovskaia (Parnoch), Elizaveta Yakovlevna 7 Tarasenkov, А. К. 201 Tarkovsky, Andrei 175 Tarkovsky, Arsenii 90, 91, 175 Tauber, Ekaterina Leonidovna 7 Taylor, Lisa 179 Tefillin 141, 182 Telesin, Julius xii, 107, 116, 178, 179 Telesin, Zinovii L vovich 106, 116, 177 Tene, Biniamin 186 Terras, Victor 165, 201 Theater, Jewish in Moscow 133; Moscow Yiddish 131, 182 Thaw 90, 121 Khruschev Thaw (Khruschovskaya Ottepel, Ottepel ) 171 Thom, Gary 176, 202 Tiesenhausen, Dmitri Orestrovitch 74, 174 Tiesenhausen, Orest (Ernest) Dmitrievich 74, 174, 202 Tikhonov, Nikolai Semenovich 35, 36, 170 Timenchik, Roman Davydovich 174, 202 Timina, S. I. 166, 202 Timofeev L. I. 167, 190, 197 Tiutchev, Fedor Ivanovich 2, , 178, 199, 202 Todd, William M. III 202 Tokareva, Viktoria Samoilovna (Samuilovna) 7 Tolstoy, Alexei 174, 199 Tolstoy, Leo 21, 83, 143, 145, 146; Tolstoyen tradition 24 Tomei, Ch. D. 179, 202 Torchinov, V. A. 167, 202 Trenev, K. A. 165 Tretiakov, Sergei 13, 165 Trofimova, Elena 183 Trotsky (Bronshtein), Leon (Lev) Davidovich 36, 37, 70, 163, 167, 171, 202 Tsvetaeva, Marina Ivanovna 109, 141, 149, 150, 160, 161, 164, 174, 184, 198 Tukh, B. I. 166, 202 Turgenev, Ivan Sergeyevich 10, 162 Ukrainka (Kosach-Kvitka), Lesia (Larysa Petrivna) 119, 179 Ulanovskaia, Izabella (Bella) Yur evna 7 Valery, Pol-Arbruaze 50

224 Vasil ev, I. Е. 202 Vasserman, Lubov Shamovna 7 Vengerova, Polina 6 Vengerova, Zinaida Afanas evna 7, 170 Verlaine, Paul-Marie 50 Vertinsky, Aleksandr Nikolayevich 53, 173 Vigdorova, Frida Abramovna 8 Vitkovsky, Evgenii 202 Vladimirova, Liia 7 Vorkuta 96, 176 Voronel, Nina Abramovna 7 Voronova, Т. P. 172, 202 Votiaki (Multani) 31 Vserossiiskii soiuz poetov 49, 52 Vygodsky, Yakov Efimovich 20 Vykhodtsev, P. S. 179, 203 War: First World 176; Great Patriotic War (Patriotic War) 37; Second World 1, 15, 16, 32, 37, 75, 93, 119, 125, 141, 145, 148, 176; war 141, 145, 146 Weigert, Andrew J. 183, 184, 203 Weinberg, Levi Kamel 184 Weinberg, Thomas S. 203 White Army 71 Willhardt, Mark 163, 203 Yefimov, Natasha 183 Yesenin, Sergei Alexandrovich 11, 50, 56, 57, 163 YIVO (Jewish Scientific Institute, Yidisher Visnshaftlekher Institut) 163 Yukhvidin, P. А. 175, 176, 177, 203 Yupp, М. I. 172, 203 Index 211 ZAGS 135 Zak, Lev Vasilevich 13, 165 Zakharov, A. N. 166, 203 Zakharova, А. N. 166, 191 Zal kindson, E. T. 168 Zaum 164, 165 Zavattini, Cesare 176, 177 Zelinsky Kornely Lyutzianovich 13, 166 Zemenkov, Boris 14, 166 Zenkevich, Mikhail 12, 164 Zernova (Zevina), Ruf Aleksandrovna 7 Zhdanov, Andrei 163, 179, 180 Zhemchuzhina, Polina Semyonovna 131, 181 Zhukova, Yu. 191 Zhukovsky, Vassily 97, 177 Zinoviev (Radomysl skii), Grigorii Evseevich (Gershen Aronovich) 34, 37, 170 Zinovyev, Aleksandr 74 Ziv (Vikhman), Ol ga Maximovna ix, 4, 74 7, 79, 80, 86, 88, 174, 175, 201 Zola, Emile 31 Zorin, Alexander 184, 203 Zoschenko, Michail Michailovich 35, 83, 170 Zuskin, Benjamin 131, 181 Zvuchaschaya Rakovina 75, 174

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