Open Access‘UNIQUE STYLISTICS’ OF THE BIOGRAPHER, OR THE UNSOLVABLE TSVETAEVA
Author(s) -
Tat'Iana Gevorkian
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
voprosy literatury
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.1
H-Index - 1
ISSN - 0042-8795
DOI - 10.31425/0042-8795-2018-3-84-122
Subject(s) - poetry , stylistics , biography , ilya , presentation (obstetrics) , literature , philosophy , art , art history , history , medicine , radiology
This critical review extensively discusses Ilya Falikov’s book Marina Tsvetaeva. Harsh and gentle [Marina Tsvetaeva. Tvoya nelaskovaya lastochka], published in The Lives of Remarkable People series in 2017. Unlike other Tsvetaeva biographers, Falikov had access to a wealth of materials introduced in the past twenty years. Yet his attempt to produce the poet’s new biography is far from successful. The article points out numerous factual errors, including incorrect numbers of poems in the poetic cycles, mixed up dates and events, as well as careless and inaccurate citations, which, being the book’s systemic issue, works to distort Tsvetaeva’s image. Particularly disturbing are the biographer’s very arbitrary treatment of documentary sources, their biased selection and presentation, as well as unsubstantiated interpretations and ambitious claims.