Simon Karlinsky's MARINA TSVETAEVA: The Woman, Her World, and Her Poetry is a biography of this Russian poetess who after initial fame experience tragedy and exile and died, in tragic suicide and decades before her time, in some of the darkest days of Soviet history.
The biographical element of the book is well-written. We are taken from Tsetaeva's birth to her untimely death. Her numerous infidelities which had great influence on her writing--including her two lesbian affairs long neglected in Soviet scholarship--are detailed. Karlinsky's attempt to explain Tsetaeva's world is also generally commendable. He shows the social circles in which the poet moved in Moscow and in exile in Berlin, Prague, and Paris, tracking her intersections with numerous other intellectuals. The work betrays its Cold War origins in criticizing the Soviet Union at every opportunity. While Communism was a barbaric system partly responsible for Tsvetaeva's end, it often seems like the author is going out of his way to take a shot at it. Karlinsky's final aim, to cover her poetry, is mostly unrealised. While some large poems, especially ones difficult to understand such as "On a Red Steed", are covered, most of her oeuvre is neglected. Stand-out gems such as "Night of the Soul" are missing completely.
For lovers of literature interested in this great poet, I would recommend Karlinsky's MARINA TSETAEVA. However, one should also acquire critical commentary on her works in order to compensate for Karlinsky's meagre treatment.
