Loving Brodsky the poet has already become something of a pleasant duty for every intellectual. But to love Brodsky the man was a much more difficult matter.
Loving Brodsky the poet has already become something of a pleasant duty for every intellectual. But to love Brodsky the man was a much more difficult matter. But Bengt Jangfeldt, a writer, Slavic philologist and translator, who perfectly saw the complexity of Brodsky’s character, truly loved him. As he loved his poems, he realized before many others that he was dealing with a truly great poet. Love and understanding, together with an underlined restraint of style, create a very calm and convincing intonation — perhaps one of the main virtues of the book. True, the beginning of it may disappoint someone. Describing Brodsky’s life in the USSR, Yangfeldt obviously does it from other people’s words, and even trying to explain what a foreigner (the book was published in Sweden, and then was translated into Russian by the author) is still difficult to understand, but Russian is already clear. However, the author soon acquires his own voice, and his subsequent reflections on Brodsky’s poetry, and even more so memories of personal meetings, will be of interest even to «advanced» readers. Well, those who are just discovering this poet may well begin to get acquainted with his creative biography from this book.
The Body, 368 c.