Akhmatova, Anna.

[SOVIET SAMIZDAT] Chetki: stikhi [Beads: poems].

[Soviet Union]: [self-published], 1970s?. Octavo (21.5 × 15.5 cm). Contemporary quarter-cloth over boards, with carbon-copy typescript to rectos and versos: 66, [2] pp. Boards lightly rubbed, else very good or better. Item #P6767

A samizdat volume of poems by Anna Akhmatova (1889–1966), one of the best loved poets of the Russian Silver Age of poetry, likely printed in 1970s and distributed through the unofficial channels. Akhmatova’s second volume of poems “Chetki” was originally published in 1914; it brought immediate fame to the author. The collection was then published abroad in 1921. Due to the poet’s perceived decadent and socially irreverent character, her poetry was not published widely in the early Soviet period (ca. 1922–1940). During World War II, Akhmatova's poetry experienced a brief revival. Famously, she also became the voice of besieged Leningrad after appearing in special radio broadcasts during the German Blockade of 1941–1944. However, this rehabilitation saw a swift end in 1946, when Party functionary Andrei Zhdanov singled out Akhmatova's and Zoshchenko's publications in the journals 'Leningrad' and 'Zvezda': "A Leningrad journal has opened wide its pages to Akhmatova and given her full freedom to poison the minds of our youth with the pernicious spirit of her poetry" (in Poems of Akhmatova, ed. Stanley Kunitz and Max Hayward, p. 23). This report led to her expulsion from the Writers' Union and to unabated harassment by secret police. Akhmatova was unable to publish until the late Thaw period, with a selection of poems appearing in print in 1958. The first samizdat volumes of “Chetki” seem to have appeared in the 1950s, with this volume likely dating back to the 1970s. Set in a hand-made but professional looking binding, the volume is an example of the nearly professional quality of some Soviet samizdat vilumes by the 1970s.

Price: €450.00

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