Marina Tsvetaeva: Difference between revisions

{{for|other people with the same surname|Tsvetayev (disambiguation)}}

| children = 3, including [[Ariadna ÈfronEfron]]

'''Marina Ivanovna Tsvetaeva''' ({{lang-rus|Марина Ивановна Цветаева|p=mɐˈrʲinə ɪˈvanəvnə tsvʲɪˈta(j)ɪvə|links=yes}}; {{OldStyleDate|8 October|1892|26 September}}{{spaced ndash}}31 August 1941) was a Russian poet. Her work is considered among some of the greatestmost well-known in twentieth -century Russian literature.<ref name="Who">"Tsvetaeva, Marina Ivanovna" ''Who's Who in the Twentieth Century''. Oxford University Press, 1999.</ref> She lived through and wrote ofabout the [[Russian Revolution]] of 1917 and the subsequent Moscow famine that followed it. In

Marina an attemptattempted to save her daughter Irina from starvation, sheby placedplacing her in a state orphanage in 1919, where sheIrina died of hunger. Tsvetaeva left Russia in 1922 and lived with her family in increasing poverty in Paris, Berlin and Prague before returning to Moscow in 1939. Her husband [[Sergei Efron]] and their daughter [[Ariadna Èfron|Ariadna]] (Alya) were arrested on espionage charges in 1941;, when her husband was executed.

Tsvetaeva died by suicide in 1941. As a lyrical poet, her passion and daring linguistic experimentation mark her as a strikinghistorical chronicler of her times and the depths of the human condition.

Tsvetaeva's two half-siblings, Valeria and Andrei, were the children of Ivan's deceased first wife, Varvara Dmitrievna Ilovaiskaya, daughter of the historian [[Dmitry Ilovaisky]]. Tsvetaeva's only full sister, [[Anastasia Tsvetayeva|Anastasia]], was born in 1894. The children quarrelled frequently and occasionally violently. There was considerable tension between Tsvetaeva's mother and Varvara's children, and Tsvetaeva's father maintained close contact with Varvara's family. Tsvetaeva's father was kind, but deeply wrapped up in his studies and distant from his family. He was also still deeply in love with his first wife; he would never get over her. Likewise, Tsvetaeva's mother Maria had never recovered from a love affair she'd had before her marriage. Maria disapproved of Marina's poetic inclination; sheMaria wanted her daughter to become a pianist, holding the opinion that herMarina's poetry was poor.

In May 1922, Tsvetaeva and Ariadna left [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Soviet Russia]] and were reunited in [[Berlin]] with Efron, whomwho she had thought had been killed by the Bolsheviks.<ref name="OCEL">"Tsvetaeva, Marina Ivanovna" The Oxford Companion to English Literature. Edited by Dinah Birch. Oxford University Press Inc.</ref> There she published the collections ''Separation'', ''Poems to Blok'', and the poem ''The Tsar Maiden''. Much of her poetry was published in Moscow and Berlin, consolidating her reputation. In August 1922, the family moved to [[Prague]]. Living in unremitting poverty, unable to afford living accommodation in Prague itself, with Efron studying politics and sociology at the [[Charles University]] and living in hostels, Tsvetaeva and Ariadna found rooms in a village outside the city. She wrote: "We are devoured by coal, gas, the milkman, the baker... the only meat we eat is horsemeat." When offered an opportunity to earn money by reading her poetry, she had to beg a simple dress from a friend to replace the one she had been living in.<ref name="x">Feinstein (1993) px</ref>

Efron and Alya were arrested on espionage charges in 1941,; Efron was sentenced to death. Alya's fiancé was actually an [[NKVD]] agent who had been assigned to spy on the family. Efron was shot in September 1941; Alya served over eight years in prison.<ref name="OCEL"/> Both were exonerated after Stalin's death. In 1941, Tsvetaeva and her son were evacuated to [[Yelabuga]] (Elabuga), while most families of the [[Union of Soviet Writers]] were evacuated to [[Chistopol]]. Tsvetaeva had no means of support in Yelabuga, and on 24 August 1941 she left for Chistopol desperately seeking a job. On 26 August, Marina Tsvetaeva and poet [[Valentin Parnakh]] applied to the Soviet of Literature Fund asking for a job at the LitFund's canteen. Parnakh was accepted as a doorman, while Tsvetaeva's application for a permission to live in Chistopol was turned down and she had to return to Yelabuga on 28 August.

On 31 August 1941, Tsvetaeva hunghanged herself in Yelabuga.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.poetrymagazines.org.uk/magazine/record.asp?id=15049|title=Marina Tsvetaeva, Poet of the extreme|last=Cooke|first=Belinda|access-date=21 April 2009|archive-date=20 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170820200941/http://www.poetrymagazines.org.uk/magazine/record.asp?id=15049|url-status=dead}}</ref> She left a note for her son Georgy ("Mur"): "Forgive me, but to go on would be worse. I am gravely ill, this is not me anymore. I love you passionately. Do understand that I could not live anymore. Tell Papa and Alya, if you ever see them, that I loved them to the last moment and explain to them that I found myself in a trap."<ref name="Feiler">Feiler, Lily (1994). ''Marina Tsvetaeva: the double beat of Heaven and Hell''. Duke University Press. p264 {{ISBN|978-0-8223-1482-0}}</ref>

In 1973, Soviet composer [[Dmitri Shostakovich]] set six of Tsvetaeva's poems in his ''[[Six Poems by Marina Tsvetayeva]]''. Later the Russian-Tatar composer [[Sofia Gubaidulina]] wrote an ''Hommage à Marina Tsvetayeva'' featuring her poems. Her poem "Mne Nravitsya..." ("I like that..."), was performed by [[Alla Pugacheva]] in the film ''[[The Irony of Fate]]''. In 2003, the opera ''Marina: A Captive Spirit'', based on Tsvetaeva's life and work, premiered from [[American Opera Projects]] in New York with music by [[Deborah Drattell]] and libretto by poet [[Annie Finch]]. The production was directed by [[Anne Bogart]] and the part of Tsvetaeva was sung by [[Lauren Flanigan]]. The poetry by Tsvetaeva was set to music and frequently performed as songs by [[Elena Frolova]], [[Larisa Novoseltseva]], [[Zlata Razdolina]] and other [[Bard (Soviet Union)|Russian bards]]. In 2019, American composer [[Mark Abel]] wrote ''Four Poems of Marina Tsvetaeva'', the first classical song cycle of the poet in an English translation. Soprano [[Hila Plitmann]] recorded the piece for Abel’s album ''The Cave of Wondrous Voice''.<ref>[http://gendelev52.wordpress.com/%D1%86%D0%B2%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%B5%D0%B2%D0%B0/ Page of Marina Tsvetaeva at Synthesis of Poetry and Music website] dedicated to [[Russian Romance]]</ref><ref>Songs by [[Elena Frolova]]: [http://elenafrolova.info/album/%D0%B8-%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B3%D0%B5%D0%BB-%D0%B8-%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%B2/ Angel and lion] – Tsvetaeva, Blok and Mandelshtam, 1992; ''My Tsvetaeva'' [http://www.bard.ru/cgi-bin/disk.cgi?disk=1398 part 1] and [http://www.bard.ru/cgi-bin/disk.cgi?disk=1399 part 2]; ''[http://elenafrolova.info/album/%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%8C-%D0%B1%D0%BB%D0%B0%D0%B3%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B5%D1%89%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%8F/ Annunciation Day]'' (1995 record); ''[http://elenafrolova.info/album/%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%B1%D0%BE%D0%BC-4/ El sol de la tarde]'', 2008, ''[http://elenafrolova.info/album/%D1%85%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%8B%D0%BD%D1%8C-%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%BB%D1%8B%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%BD%D1%8C/ Khvanyn'-Kolyvan]'', 2007</ref><ref>Songs by [[Larisa Novoseltseva]]: [http://www.russiandvd.com/store/product.asp?sku=56344&genreid= Candle] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306083656/http://www.russiandvd.com/store/product.asp?sku=56344&genreid= |date=6 March 2016 }}, poetry by [[Akhmadulina]] and [[Tsvetaeva]].</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=10 Aug 2020 |title=From Poetry to Song: A Russian Poet's Work Makes a Debut |url=https://russianlife.com/stories/online/from-poetry-to-song-a-russian-poets-work-makes-a-debut/ |access-date=24 Aug 2022 |website=Russian Life}}</ref>

On 8 October 2015, [[Google Doodle]] commemorated her 123rd birthday.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://wwwdoodles.google.com/doodlesdoodle/marina-ivanovna-tsvetaevas-123rd-birthday/|title=Marina Ivanovna Tsvetaeva's 123rd Birthday|date=8 October 2015}}</ref>

[[Category:WomenRussian women diarists]]

[[Category:Russian LGBTLGBTQ poets]]

[[Category:20th-century Russian LGBTLGBTQ people]]