Joseph Brodsky's birthday: memories of loved ones about the poet's life in New York

On May 24, 1940, the Russian poet Joseph Brodsky was born. In honor of his birthday and to honor his memory, the edition «Radio Svoboda» collected the memoirs of Brodsky's contemporaries.

Bookseller Alexander Rabinovich

“I am a former Leningrader. In 1956 he graduated from a bookselling college and went to work in a bookstore in the department of old books. There I worked under the guidance of experienced book antique dealers. In 1959 I met Joseph Brodsky, who was brought to me by my close friend, later famous writer Seryozha Wolf. I already worked in a store on the corner of Liteiny and Zhukovsky, and Muruzi's house was a few blocks away. Joseph every time he walked towards Nevsky, he came to us. That was the time when they just began to allow the sale of books by poets of the Silver Age, and we had a very interesting showcase - the first editions of Akhmatova, Tsvetaeva, Mandelstam, Blok. It was still a forbidden fruit at the time. Of course, everyone was interested, - said Rabinovich. - Brodsky and I had good friendly relations, but there were no close contacts, I was busy at work, and he had a completely different circle of acquaintances and friends. He was interested in books in which all the youth of this circle were interested. These are the first editions of Akhmatova and Tsvetaeva. The guys who were drawn to poetry came and looked at these books ”.

Later, a second-hand bookseller left the USSR and moved to the USA and met an old acquaintance there, writes «Radio Svoboda».

“I came here in 1977, and in 1984 Brodsky performed in Soho, at Yasha Ryklin's gallery. I read about this in the newspaper, it said that strictly by invitation, I found Joseph's phone, called him. He says: "Come." There was poetry reading. I came, there were many acquaintances. We had a pleasant meeting, and we began to call back from time to time. Once he called me and asked me to find him a two-volume edition of the Austrian writer Musil in Russian. I was just in Manhattan, I dropped in to him, there was no paper at hand, I heard that name for the first time then, he tore the check out of the checkbook, we wrote it down here. Thus, I still have his check. At the same time, he asked if I had Mariengof's book "Cynics", he wanted to read it. I got this book, it was published in Berlin in 1928. I brought him this book. All this ended with the fact that he presented me with an autographed collection "With gratitude for the help", - Rabinovich recalls.

“Brodsky's favorite poet of the 1826th century is Baratynsky. I had a copy of the first book of poems by Baratynsky, 15, in its original form. And I just gave it to him, because I knew he was interested in it. The poet, whom he valued, as he said, higher than Pushkin, says the second-hand bookseller. - Joseph came to me, there is a photo where we are photographed together. Once I called him and told him that I managed to find an album with painted engravings of views of St. Petersburg by artist Patterson. This thing is extremely rare. The album contained XNUMX sheets; the Hermitage did not have a complete album of this kind. He says, "I would like to see." I say: "Come, take a look, we will talk." He got out, came. I showed him this album. He said: "I will tell Misha Baryshnikov to buy." And so it happened, Misha bought it. At the same time, I showed him books on the history of St. Petersburg. "

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Rabinovich has a huge collection of Brodsky's autographs, some he received in gratitude, some he bought from friends. For him, this is both a memory of a friend and a tribute to the memory at the same time.

Asya Pekurovskaya - philologist and writer, the first wife of Sergei Dovlatov

“I met Joseph in 1959, we met somewhere on a visit. We wore anything, and he volunteered to see me off and put on a doha. He looked so imposing. This was the first thing that struck me about him, ”Pekurovskaya recalls.

“I left for the USA in 1973, 8 months after his departure. He invited me to a Chinese restaurant on 82nd Street. When we went there in a taxi, I asked him: "Why don't you drive a car?" To which he pompously replied that he was used to ignoring reality, so he would never drive cars. Of course, after some time he already drove an old Mercedes, - says the writer. “I must, of course, owe him. When I arrived, I was being considered for a job as some junior insect at Stanford University. I call Osya and say: "Osya, I need a characterization." Osya gives me a characterization and, violating all the canons of university life, sends me a copy. And what am I reading? It turns out that I am a great connoisseur of the Bible, I know classicism, sentimentalism. One cliché after another. And these clichés worked so well that I was immediately brought on a stretcher to Stanford, and I taught there until I was safely kicked out of there. "

“Osya fell in love with New York. It was the city that entered him, and he could no longer write about it. He loved jazz, but he never went to jazz clubs in New York. I think that this is such a St. Petersburg leaven, we were not interested in culture at all. We listened to jazz at jam sessions, we didn't go to museums. Petersburg culture was different. Muscovites, in my opinion, looked at these things differently, but we somehow didn’t have it. Dovlatov was proud that he did not go to the Hermitage, ”Pekurovskaya recalls.

A relative of the poet Elena Ostashevskaya

“The Brodskys moved to number 22 on Pierpont Street in Brooklyn Heights in the fall of 1992. The apartment they had rented for many years on Moreton Street in Manhattan has risen in price, and the family has expanded. Brodsky got married, Anechka was born, so they needed a big apartment, more space, more air. Their choice fell on Brooklyn Heights, an area of ​​old New York. This area was inhabited even in the days when Brooklyn was an independent city, it merged with New York in 1898, says a relative. - It was the center of residence of fairly wealthy families. This is evidenced by the architecture of Brooklyn Heights, and the famous collection of mansions built in the second half of the XNUMXth century, whose facades are covered with characteristic brown marble, or granite, or sandstone. The house where they moved, in color and in its chamber appearance, is very consistent with the general character of Brooklyn Heights. It was here, in Brooklyn Heights, that Walt Whitman lived, worked and founded his newspaper, and Auden, Brodsky's favorite poet, also decided to settle here. "

The apartment had a huge living room with very high ceilings, two high windows. From the living room one could see a small kitchen, very cozy and pleasant. And from the fools' bedroom there was a descent to the back yard, where the windows from the living room looked out.

“They moved here in the fall of 1992. At that time Brodsky felt bad, as always, heart problems, a little girl in Maria's arms, a mountain of boxes. A particularly difficult task was unpacking boxes and arranging books on high shelves. The ceilings were very high, and all the walls of the living room were shelves that needed to be filled. Realizing the complexity of this task, we offered help to Joseph and Mary. And two or three days after their move, four of them came to them: me, my husband Osya Ostashevsky, my son Zhenya and his then girlfriend Maya, - recalls Ostashevskaya. - The four of us all together unpacked boxes, placed books on the shelves. With interesting conversations with Brodsky, with conversations with Maria, discussions of books, general problems, the work went briskly. We unpacked the whole pile of books within a few hours. The work was over by the evening. Everyone, naturally, got hungry, then Brodsky suggested: "Let's go and have lunch." Maria and the baby stayed at home, and we went to Joseph's favorite Japanese restaurant. He was very fond of exotic cuisine - Japanese, Thai, Indian. Spicier, spicier, saltier, pepperier - this was his favorite version of the lunch menu. Brodsky, as always, said: "Guys, close the menu, I will choose." He was an amazing connoisseur of all kinds of sushi, all kinds of rolls, all kinds of fish. "

“His last birthday was memorable. It was celebrated on the courtyard in May 1995. A huge number of people came. Roman Kaplan organized a meal. Maria organized a small chamber ensemble that entertained the guests in the living room. They played some chamber music from his favorite repertoire, baroque music, - says a relative of the poet. - We came here many times just to sit, talk, talk. When we came to them in the last days, we started talking about some poetry or about some book that was in his office, and we were sitting in the living room. He, so as not to go up and down again, because it was already hard for him, asked Lyubka to drive him upstairs and bring what he asked. Obviously it was going to a bad end, although no one wanted to even think about it. "

Death of poet

“Despite the fact that he was ill for many years - he had very serious heart problems, a heart attack, many times the blood vessels of the heart were cleared, - this death was unexpected, like a thunderclap, like lightning,” says Ostashevskaya. - He was constantly offered a heart transplant operation, but Brodsky always reacted negatively to this idea, because he heard that the recovery period after such a difficult operation was very long, and in addition, threatened with a loss of intellectual abilities. He was very afraid of this and categorically resisted, he refused any offer ”.

On January 28, 1996, the poet died suddenly. On the evening of January 27, his wife went to bed and he went to his office to complete the work. In the morning, not finding him on the bed next to her, Maria found him dead at the work table. He died of sudden cardiac arrest due to a heart attack.

My wife wanted for at least a day or two only family members and the closest circle of friends to share this grief, to come to the inevitable conclusion that Joseph is no longer there, that only his poems remained, his “image unique in our hearts”.

The funeral took place on January 30. Maria decided that the body should be displayed at the Bleecker Street funeral home in Greenwich Village. This place was available to all who wanted to say goodbye to him. For two days there was an endless line of admirers of Brodsky's genius, his poetry, everyone who wanted to say goodbye to him. Maria tried her best to restrict arrogant journalists.

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“Maria came up to us and said:“ I heard that Chernomyrdin (who was then the Prime Minister of Russia) is in New York and is going to come to the funeral home with his entire retinue. He wants to be photographed with Brodsky's coffin in the background. I implore you with all your might to prevent this. " She did not want Chernomyrdin to be photographed against the background of Brodsky, and then this photograph went around the whole world, - says Ostashevskaya. “Therefore, when we saw that Chernomyrdin was entering, surrounded by his retinue, and they were approaching the coffin, my Osya rushed to him and his bodyguards and said:“ The poet's widow categorically forbade taking pictures with Brodsky in the background ”. - "What? Why?" - "The poet's widow categorically forbade." I must say that they obeyed. "

On the day of the funeral, a huge crowd gathered, all friends came from all over the world in order to say goodbye to Brodsky in this church.

«When the farewell ceremony was over, everyone went to the cemetery, where he was temporarily buried. This is the Holy Trinity Cemetery, which is located in Upper Manhattan and looms over the Hudson. This is an old Catholic cemetery. Brodsky's coffin was placed in a small sarcophagus. First there was a ceremony at the cemetery. Not everyone who said goodbye to him in this church came to the cemetery. Then the burial itself. I remember that we stood for quite a long time in the cold, it was a very frosty day. After the funeral, everyone arrived at an apartment in Greenwich Village, where everyone took turns reading his poems in Russian, his poems translated into English. After 40 days, a more extended farewell took place in St. John's Cathedral, near Columbia University, on Amsterdam Avenue and 113th Street, recalls a relative of the poet. - A year after his death, a small circle of his friends gathered in the same church. Losev, Roman Kaplan, Thomas Venclova, and many others. We sat down where there are wooden altar chairs. Maria warned us in advance that she wants each of us to read Brodsky's favorite poem. "