Irina Odoyevtseva
Encyclopedia
Irina Vladimirovna Odoyevtseva ( , real name Iraida Heinike; born in Riga, Russian Empire, June 15, 1895, according to some sources in 1901; died in Leningrad, Soviet Union, October 14, 1990) was a Russian
poet, novelist and author of memoirs. In 1922 Irina Odoevtseva (with her husband Georgy Ivanov) left Russia but returned in 1987, enjoying warm reception, not long before her death in 1990.
, she «enchanted everybody, her teacher included, with her brilliant, masterful poetry» and had tremendous success with her debut book Dvor Tcude′s (The Yard of Wonders, 1922), «skint bohemia learning her Cabman and Pressed-down Glass poems by heart». Formally an acmeist
, Odoevtseva developed her own distinctive style and was in many ways ahead of her times, preceding the latter experiments of oberiu
ts and even 1960s Soviet conceptualists
.
In 1923 Odoevtseva with her husband Georgy Ivanov emigrated to Paris. There she wrote several novels (Angel of Death, 1927, Isolda, 1931, Leave Any Hope, 1954) but became famous for her memoirs, On the Banks of Neva (1967) and On the Banks of Seine (1983), about people she knew well: Nikolai Gumilyov, Zinaida Gippius
, Andrey Bely, Osip Mandelshtam, Ivan Bunin among others. These two books caused much controversy among the Russians in France but still «might be regarded as a priceless document of the time, even if full of aberrations and frivolous twists of fantasy».
In 1987 Odoevtseva managed to make her long-sought after and very emotional return home. She came back to Leningrad to enjoy the warmest kind of publicity and for a couple of years, according to Yevtushenko, «was transported from one concert stage to another as a kind of a talking relic and was, indeed, talking a lot — in the most gracious manner, at that».
Making a bit of a sensation on the post-Perestroyka Russian TV, the poet enjoyed even a glimpse of commercial success, 200,000 of her memoirs copies having been pressed — a figure by far surpassing whatever she might have sold through her 65 years abroad. Irina Odoevtseva died on October 14, 1990.
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
poet, novelist and author of memoirs. In 1922 Irina Odoevtseva (with her husband Georgy Ivanov) left Russia but returned in 1987, enjoying warm reception, not long before her death in 1990.
Biography
Iraida Heinike was born in Riga in a family of a lawyer. In 1918 she moved to Petrograd to adopt Irina Odoevtseva artistic pseudo name, join the Second Guild of Poets, tutored by Nikolai Gumilyov and become his favourite student. According to Yevgeny YevtushenkoYevgeny Yevtushenko
Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Yevtushenko is a Soviet and Russian poet. He is also a novelist, essayist, dramatist, screenwriter, actor, editor, and a director of several films.-Early life:...
, she «enchanted everybody, her teacher included, with her brilliant, masterful poetry» and had tremendous success with her debut book Dvor Tcude′s (The Yard of Wonders, 1922), «skint bohemia learning her Cabman and Pressed-down Glass poems by heart». Formally an acmeist
Acmeist poetry
Acmeism, or the Guild of Poets, was a transient poetic school which emerged in 1910 in Russia under the leadership of Nikolai Gumilyov and Sergei Gorodetsky. The term was coined after the Greek word acme, i.e., "the best age of man"....
, Odoevtseva developed her own distinctive style and was in many ways ahead of her times, preceding the latter experiments of oberiu
Oberiu
OBERIU was a short-lived avant-garde collective of Russian Futurist writers, musicians, and artists in the 1920s and 1930s...
ts and even 1960s Soviet conceptualists
Conceptual art
Conceptual art is art in which the concept or idea involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic and material concerns. Many of the works, sometimes called installations, of the artist Sol LeWitt may be constructed by anyone simply by following a set of written instructions...
.
In 1923 Odoevtseva with her husband Georgy Ivanov emigrated to Paris. There she wrote several novels (Angel of Death, 1927, Isolda, 1931, Leave Any Hope, 1954) but became famous for her memoirs, On the Banks of Neva (1967) and On the Banks of Seine (1983), about people she knew well: Nikolai Gumilyov, Zinaida Gippius
Zinaida Gippius
Zinaida Nikolaevna Gippius, was a Russian poet, playwright, editor, short story writer and religious thinker, regarded as a co-founder of Russian symbolism and seen as "one of the most enigmatic and intelligent women of her time in Russia"....
, Andrey Bely, Osip Mandelshtam, Ivan Bunin among others. These two books caused much controversy among the Russians in France but still «might be regarded as a priceless document of the time, even if full of aberrations and frivolous twists of fantasy».
In 1987 Odoevtseva managed to make her long-sought after and very emotional return home. She came back to Leningrad to enjoy the warmest kind of publicity and for a couple of years, according to Yevtushenko, «was transported from one concert stage to another as a kind of a talking relic and was, indeed, talking a lot — in the most gracious manner, at that».
Making a bit of a sensation on the post-Perestroyka Russian TV, the poet enjoyed even a glimpse of commercial success, 200,000 of her memoirs copies having been pressed — a figure by far surpassing whatever she might have sold through her 65 years abroad. Irina Odoevtseva died on October 14, 1990.