The Complete Poems Of Anna Akhmatova
- 8 Aug 2000
- 9780862417161
- £35
- 992 pp
- 154×228mm
In a few words
The greatest, most comprehensive, and best translated edition of one of the twentieth century’s greatest and most relevant poets.
We needn't worry again about how to read Akhmatova in translation... the translations are remarkable. Reading this enormous, impeccable book, we watch her work achieve the supreme goal of lyric poetry: to transfigure loss without belittling it, commemorate love without cooling it, and embody the truth of disparate lives in a single self.
Andrew Motion
The ObserverHemschemeyer's versions are the best I have ever seen. This great lilac brick of a book is a stupendous bargain.
Michael Hoffman
The TimesMore about
the book
From the artistic passion of the St Petersburg poets and bohemians, to the collective suffering of a nation, Anna Akhmatova spoke to, and for, the soul of her people.
This magnificent edition includes: more than 800 poems, half of them available in no other translated edition: translator’s preface: biographical introduction by Roberta Reeder: more than 125 photographs, including a 65 page photo biography, and ‘The Artist’s Muse’ images of Akhmatova in art: memoir by Isaiah Berlin: comprehensive notes to the poems: index of first lines: bibliography.
This edition is an enormous achievement . . . usefully annotated and well illustrated. The text is the definitive English-language edition of Akhmatova . . . a ground-breaking work.
Elizabeth Burns
The ScotsmanA fitting tribute to one of the greatest poets of the century... this is a volume to be treasured.
This is one of the most important publications of the year, if not the decade.
Adam Thorpe
Literary Review
