Brodsky's list - what is it? This is not just a list of books born of the stroke of the pen of an outstanding poet and essayist. This is his own way of learning literature. It is optimized for a person living in the 70s of the last century. After all, a person must read many good books before becoming a poet or writer. Brodsky considered the value and virtue of aesthetes of his generation that people from him, acting “exclusively by intuition”, paved the way for creativity in a hostile environment, in principle, a totalitarian environment.
Joseph Alexandrovich is a wonderful person. His biography is also unique. Doesn’t it look somehow special - to be a poet and an essayist, creating for two diametrically opposite countries, the USSR and the USA, and, having gone all the way to the poet, to be buried in Venice, the birthplace of the Renaissance and the X region of the Roman Empire !
Nadezhda Mandelstam, an elderly woman, once tried to predict the fate of young Brodsky: “He is glorious ... small, but I'm afraid that he will end badly.” And so it happened with Joseph Alexandrovich: they stopped publishing it in the USSR, after which he ended up in the USA.
Brodsky's recognition abroad
Brodsky’s list, as you know, was written by him in the mid-seventies of the last century, during forced emigration to the United States. Across the ocean, he was a professor at five American colleges. The assignment of academic titles to a person who has been self-educating since the age of 15 was a precedent for the recognition of his powerful intellect.
In the USA, the professor consistently lived in three cities: first in Ann Arbor, then in New York, and finally in South Hadley.
Criteria for selecting books to Brodsky's list
The teacher did not just strive to turn his students into people who were knowledgeable in literature. He tried to transform their attitude towards language.
The starting point of his developed route map for adepts (Brodsky's list) is a quote from a British poem by William Oden “In memory of W. B. Yeats,” which states that only a developed sense of language can “plunge”, “drag” a person into poetic art.
And to accomplish this spiritual action without stimulating the craving for self-education is impossible. An American professor of Soviet descent gained fame as an eccentric student. He was a unique teacher, requiring students to read many works creatively, in each of them young people needed to catch the author's aesthetics. Assessing the professor’s wise pedagogical method should not be from the point of view of a schoolboy, but from the standpoint of a practical poet.
Sense of language as Alpha and Omega becoming a poet
Having a great personal poetic experience and holding his finger on the pulse of world culture for a long time, Iosif Alexandrovich argued that the formation of a real poet does not come from “thirst for creativity” and not from a clear understanding of the laws of creating poems. The main feature of such a person, according to Brodsky, is precisely the “sense of language”. Without it, poetry is dead.
Russian-speaking Internet users sometimes express bewilderment arising from the absence of the poets Pushkin and Lermontov in the list of works, seeing any political insinuations in this. In reality, they can hardly be discussed.
After all, Brodsky’s list was written by an American teacher for his students. And the students were native English speakers. Therefore, the list compiled by the poet contains authors gravitating to Western values. In the end, we ourselves are to blame: poets, “walking barefoot on the blade of a knife” and “cutting their living souls into blood”, should be heard in their own country, perceived, understood by its people. Then Brodsky would not have been arrested and exiled, and he would have written his list for Russian-speaking students. And in the latter, Pushkin, Lermontov, and many others would surely have been ...
Brodsky and the beginning of poetry
Joseph Alexandrovich did not make his way into poetry a secret under seven castles. He told students that in his youth, until the age of 15, he wrote poetry occasionally and accidentally. Once, when he was 16 years old, he signed up for a geological expedition. He worked near the Chinese border, north of the river. Amur.
On the expedition, he read a volume of poetry by Baratynsky, a poet of the 19th century (Pushkin's associate). It was Yevgeny Abramovich’s poetry in its effect on Brodsky that triggered his “sense of language”. The impression of the work of Baratynsky prompted him to develop, made the poet write truly good poems.
Subsequently, the St. Petersburg young writer took note of the many tips of his senior colleague, the poet Yevgeny Rein, whom until the end of his days he considered one of the best in Russia.
By the way, Joseph Alexandrovich was sent to his first link because he fell into the scope of the special services (they constantly watched Anna Akhmatova, whom the poet met).
The most original teacher and his list
His student Sven Birkets, who became a well-known literary critic, recalls that his classmates remembered Brodsky at the same time as the worst teacher, on the one hand, and the most charismatic, on the other.
Why is it worse (it’s unusual to hear this word in the context of the name of a famous poet)? Sven answers this question in detail. The fact is that Joseph Alexandrovich did absolutely nothing to captivate the bulk of the student body with literature.
He was an individualist, and Brodsky's list implied an individual mastery of it by each adherent. But those students who bothered to read the books indicated in it, could always hope for a consultation, a conversation with the Master. According to the memoirs of contemporaries, Brodsky's voice was unusually saturated with shades. He spoke lightly in the nose and always spoke interestingly. His friends jokingly called him a "brass man."
The minutes of his frank conversation with students were not worth the price.
The teaching methodology of Joseph Alexandrovich, according to the memoirs of Sven Birkets, was unique. The teacher, rather, did not teach literature, but tried to convey the attitude towards it.
The illusion of immersion in literature
At the beginning of the pair, he briefly presented one of the outstanding works, which filled Brodsky's list, terrifying to some lazy students. And then he asked about the feelings evoked by a poem by Akhmatova or Montale, led the student to the arena, saying the famous quote by Sergey Diaghilev: “Surprise me.” It was not easy for an American boy or girl to explain, for example, whether Akhmatova was able to successfully portray a fire scene, or to reveal the imagery of the Iliad.
Far from all addressed Brodsky's highest praise: the only word "wonderful." Most often, the average student corny revealed his misunderstanding. And Brodsky at this time crumpled an unlit cigarette in his hand ...
But behind all this action there was a considerable share of humor. After listening to the efforts of the student, Joseph Alexandrovich made his famous deep exhale, looked around the whole class, and then began to speak. He asked questions and answered them himself. He led his followers through thickets of sounds and associations, filled the imagination of his listeners with the realization of the amazing power of language. Sven Birkets and students like him left those meetings with a sensation of invisible forces swirling around them, but unclaimed in ordinary life.
American humanities rated the list
Brodsky’s reading list turned out to be an innovative step in educating young Americans. They, previously trained according to the John Dewey system, had the skills of independent thinking, the ability to critically evaluate social phenomena. But Joseph Alexandrovich did not recognize this system. In the very first classes, he distributed an impressive list to his students, briefly informing adherents that the next two years of their lives should be devoted to this canon.
Indeed, Brodsky’s list for reading begins with outstanding canonical texts and ends with fiction from the 70s of the last century.
Obviously, for modern students this list can be supplemented. Among the sea of ​​fiction, which appears annually and in abundance on bookshelves, one should choose books that have real artistic value. Recall that the main criterion for this should remain a sense of language, talentedly interpreted by Brodsky.
The content of Brodsky's list. Bhavat-gita, Mahabharata
The list of Joseph Brodsky begins with the Bhavat-gita (songs of God). The value of this work lies in its focus on the development of human spirituality. It helps him resolve the primary question: “Who am I?”, Helps to achieve the internal state necessary for achieving spiritual values. At the same time, the Bhavat-gita encompasses being from everyday life to spiritual life, and is also closely connected with reality.
The second work, which mentions Brodsky’s reading list, is the Mahabharata. It captures an epic reflecting the problems of the social essence of a person, the correlation of her freedom and destiny (fate). Mahabharata, on the one hand, welcomes selflessness, and on the other hand, condemns the complete rejection of personal benefits.
Old Testament
Joseph Alexandrovich in third place among the main books that open Brodsky's famous list, mentions the Holy Scriptures of Christians and Jews - the Old Testament. As you know, it was originally written in Hebrew. Its central philosophical and ideological part is the Sinai Testament, the obligations God imposed on the people of Israel that became the basis of the Torah (the law for fulfillment).
There is in the list of the famous poet and the first bestseller in the world that has reached us - a book about a hero of the entire ancient world, an adventurer, the successful and charismatic king Gilmagesh.
Ancient literature
Brodsky's list is a voluminous list of literature that can be classified. The poet was not the first person to compile such a list. The well-known list of Leo Tolstoy is more balanced in chronology, in the direction of the impact on readers. The list of Joseph Alexandrovich is aimed at maintaining a “basic conversation” with them.
Following the spiritual works, according to Brodsky’s logic, there follows a voluminous block of ancient literature: Sophocles, Homer, Herodotus, Horace, Marcus Aurelius, Aristophanes ... This list is not complete, it has about 20 names. In an interview, Brodsky himself described his commitment to the literature of the ancient world by the development of a “sense of time”. So he called his understanding of the nature of time and its impact on people.
Why did Joseph Aleksandrovich pay so much attention to the ancient Greek and Roman literature? It is no secret that in literary circles he was called a Roman. The poet used a conceptualizing and liberating literary mask. Speaking about the USSR, he allegorically called it "Rome."
A deep understanding of the essence of the empire (cult worship of Caesar, despotic power) was characteristic of him, identifying himself with the disgraced and exiled poet Ovid.
The poet presented the bill not so much to the Soviet (Roman) authorities as to the intelligentsia, resigned to the lack of freedom.
Brodsky's list contains after the antique several more consecutive blocks of books. The next is Renaissance literature. Presented are the books of Francois Rabelais and Dante Alighieri, a knight of platonic love.
Western and Russian poetry
The next block on the list is Western European literature from the time of the bourgeois social formation and Russian poetry of the Silver Age. The authors are selected with taste, according to their talent and significance of the literary heritage:
- Russians: Anna Akhmatova, Marina Tsvetaeva, Boris Pasternak, Osip Mandelstam, Nikolai Zabolotsky, Vladislav Khodasevich;
- British and American: Thomas Hardy, Thomas Eliot, Robert Frost, Marianne Moore, Wisten Oden, Elizabeth Bishop;
- German: Rainer Rilke, Ingeborg Bachmann, Georg Trakl, Gottfried Benn;
- Spanish: Frederico Garcia Lorca, Antonio Machado, Rafael Alberti, Juan Ramon Jimenos;
- Polish: Zbigniew Herbert, Cheslav Milos, Leopold Staff, Wisław Shimborska;
- French: Jules Supervielle, Blaise Sandrar, Guillaume Apollinaire, Max Jacob, Henri Michaud;
- Greek: Yorgos Seferis, Konstantin Kavafis, Yannis Ritsos;
- Swedish: Harry Martinson, Gunnar Ekellef.
Conclusion
So far, the resonance is Brodsky's list. The reviews of true book lovers are unanimous that this list certainly deserves attention, based on the genius of Brodsky himself.
Disputes also arise. Some readers dispute the advisability of reading a huge array of antique literature. Others answer them that the value of the literature of the ancients lies in the subtle (now they do not write it) elaboration of human relations.
Many reader comments are formal. Someone recalls that structurally the Bhavat-gita is part of the Mahabharata. Someone doubts the authenticity of the list, motivating their position by the presence in it of the works of Nikolay Klyuyev, an anti-Semitic and pro-partisan person.
Summing up the above, it is worth noting the main thing: books from Brodsky’s list served as stepping stones to the work of Joseph Alexandrovich himself. It is his own path to the recognition of the beauty of poetry that Brodsky offers readers of his list.
For whom is it of practical value? Not all people have a special philological and literary education. But in some of them there is a poetic or prose talent. How to wake him up? The answer is obvious: you should read a lot of good books. And from this point of view, Brodsky’s list is complete - a good option to start.