Joseph Brodsky

Lev Loseff was professor of Russian and chair of the Russian language and literature department at Dartmouth College. He published eight collections of verse and fiction in Russian, as well as numerous works of criticism. Jane Ann Miller is a Russian-English interpreter and translator. Her previous translations include works by Joseph Brodsky, Yuz Aleshkovsky, Ludmilla Petrushevskaya, and Yegor Gaidar.

“[A] warm and appreciative study.”—Derek Mahon, Literary Review“The author of Joseph Brodsky: A Literary Life has accomplished the feat of discussing a poet’s work persuasively in a language other than his own, and allowed us to glimpse the unique brilliance of the originals.”—Carol Rumens, The Independent“Lev Loseff’s Joseph Brodsky is partly a biography of the Nobel Prize–winning poet (though Loseff denies that biography was his intention) as well as a critical study and a memoir. It’s valuable on all three counts. . . . A pleasure to read.”—Mark Jay Mirsky, Haaretz“Indispensable.”—Stephan Delbos, Prague Post“Loseff ’s book is less the story of Brodsky’s life than an account of the growth of the poet’s mind, the kind of book that is rarely written in English now, as it falls between the monograph and biography.”—Justin Quinn, Edinburgh Review“The academic and poet Lev Loseff takes the reader through the fascinating life and work of his fellow Russian poet and friend Joseph Brodsky. . . . Loseff provides much insight into Brodsky’s personal and literary life under Stalin and Khrushchev, as well as detailed commentary on the development of Brodsky’s poetry.”—Pol O Mulrl, Irish Times“Joseph Brodsky: A Literary Life handles the life with intelligence and tact, while its treatment of Brodsky’s art and mind will remain of permanent value.”—Andrew Kahn, Times Literary Supplement“A meditation on the essential nature of poetry and the poet through the contrasting examples of two friends.”—Atar Hadari, Jewish Quarterly“The first authoritative literary biography of Nobel Prize–winning Russian-American poet Joseph Brodsky. This is a book which will remain the canonical work for years to come.”—Jane Taubman, Amherst College“Witty, urbane, engaging. . . . Lev Loseff, an important Russian poet in his own right, provides a wealth of new, important information. A magnificent contribution.”—David M. Bethea, University of Wisconsin-Madison“Wonderfully full and yet concise, both scholarly and elegant at the same time. A necessary guide to Brodsky’s poems.”—Andrei Zorin, Oxford UniversityPraise for the Russian edition:  “The best single literary biography of the writer yet to have appeared in any language.”—Times Literary Supplement