THE DEATH OF A POET: The Last Days of Marina Tsvetaeva

Drawing on interviews, diaries and recently available KGB records, Kudrova, who has written on the life and work of Marina Tsvetaeva (1892–1941), details the Russian poet's last years before her suicide at the age of 49. Despite the somewhat uneven translation, Kudrova's narrative is consistently gripping and exudes an aura of relentless tragedy. In 1922, the poet left Moscow to join her husband, Efron, who had been forced to emigrate to Paris for political reasons. With her son, Mur, and daughter, Alya (another daughter died earlier of malnutrition), she lived there and continued to write poetry. In 1937, Efron, who worked for the Soviet secret police, was ordered to return to Russia, where Alya now lived. In 1938, Tsvetaeva and their son followed and, for a time, all were housed by the state at a dacha in Bolshevo. Virtually a prisoner, Tsvetaeva had little to do with Russia's literary world. There is no evidence that she was even contacted at this time by her friend Boris Pasternak. After her husband and daughter were arrested, she fell into a depression. Kudrova successfully evokes the world of 1930s Russia, where no one was safe from purges and informers; trials and executions were common. The author traces Tsvetaeva's desperate attempts to find work that would support herself and Mur—an unsuccessful quest that ended when she hung herself. Although Kudrova posits several reasons—mental illness, political prosecution—for Tsvetaeva's decision to end her life, it is reasonable to conclude that she was simply overwhelmed by the harsh conditions of her life. Kudrovo continues with her heartbreaking narrative: under the duress of interrogations, Efron and Alya informed on each other; Alya was sent to prison and Efron was shot two months after Tsvetaeva's suicide. Photos. (Feb.)