Akhmatova became acquainted with the works of the great writer Franz Kafka no later than 1959. There were no official publications in Russian at that time. The poetess read the novel “The Trial” in English, but she was not satisfied with the quality of the translation. Then Anna Andreevna turned to the original text, but reading in German turned out to be difficult for her. Immediately, Akhmatova realized how Kafka was “a wonderful, great and necessary writer.” She named him among the greatest writers of the twentieth century along with Marcel Proust
And James Joyce. It is not surprising that “The Trial” made an incredible impression on the poetess.
Anna Andreevna was familiar firsthand with the merciless bureaucratic machine and the cruel judicial system. In 1921, Nikolai Stepanovich Gumilyov, her first husband, was shot. Their common son, Lev Nikolaevich Gumilev, spent about ten years in the camps. The common-law husband of the poetess, Nikolai Nikolaevich Punin, died in custody. Akhmatova herself practically did not publish in the period from 1923 to 1934, which led to the so-called internal emigration - in her native country she turned out to be a stranger, unnecessary.
In 1960, Anna Andreevna wrote the poem “Others Take Their Loved Ones Away...”, which often appears under the title “Imitation of Kafka.” The lyrical heroine of the work is a woman with a broken fate. She has been sitting in the dock for almost half a century, during which time prosecutors, jurors, and guards have changed more than once. Akhmatova, who refused to emigrate, could imagine herself abroad, but she could easily imagine herself in a completely different role - a prisoner in the camps. Therefore, in the last lines the image of a woman appears, tearing down her quilted jacket to the ground. The endless trial described in the poem in question is a kind of reflection of the persecution of Anna Andreevna, which began in 1946 after the release of the resolution on the magazines “Zvezda” and “Leningrad”.
In it, Akhmatova’s lyrics were called alien to the people of the USSR, imbued with the spirit of pessimism and decadence, and unprincipled. “Others take away their loved ones...” - the poetess’s awareness of the absurdity of Soviet reality, so similar to the one depicted by Kafka. It is not for nothing that the catchphrase arose later: “We were born to make Kafka come true.” In addition, the text in question is a mourning for a country that “has exposed a poet strung up on the rack to the shame of the whole world.”
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Today I read Akhmatova.
Mom also listened a little. I specially read aloud to her several early poems and several later ones...
They seemed to me very intimate, sincere, slightly reminiscent of Akhmatova’s aristocracy...
Mom said: "What a lonely woman she is"
It seems to me that everyone understands the degree of their loneliness, but poets - triple.
And fate, circumstances, life, adversity... did not break her proud and self-sufficient disposition, her always aristocratic bearing, her inner core. That's why I love and respect her...
Today I feel like in this poem of hers:
“Imitating Kafka” Anna Akhmatova
Others take away their loved ones -
I don’t look after you with envy, -
Alone in the dock
I'll soon be in jail for half a century.
There is bickering and crush all around
And the cloying smell of ink.
Kafka invented this
And Charlie did.
And in those important disputes,
Like in the tenacious embrace of sleep,
All three generations of jurors
They decided: she is guilty.
The faces of the convoy are changing,
The sixth prosecutor has a heart attack...
And somewhere it’s getting dark from the heat
Vast expanse of heaven
And a summer full of delights
Walking on the other side...
I am this blissful “somewhere”
I can't imagine.
I'm going deaf from loud curses,
I tore the quilted jacket down to the ground.
Am I really the one to blame?
Have you been on this planet?
I also read about Korney Ivanovich Chukovsky and his fate "The Adventures of Crocodile Krokodilovich" - from success and huge circulations in young Soviet Russia to the devastating article by N.K. Krupskaya in "Pravda" in 1928. Excellent analysis from literary critic Miron Petrovsky. Next come Mayakovsky's children's poems, their review and interesting analysis. A most interesting analysis.
Anna Akhmatova's literary creative arsenal contains many grandiose poems. The reader admires their inner and deep meaning every time.
A famous work is the poem “Others Take Their Loved Ones Away...”, which has the second title “Imitation of Kafka.” Akhmatova had great respect for his work, believing that this man was truly talented and great.
The poetess read the novel “The Process,” which was created by the writer. However, the English translation of the text did not impress Anna Andreevna. Then she began reading the original work. The German language caused difficulties in reading, but this did not stop the poetess at all! The work of Franz Kafka captivated Akhmatova. From her life experience, she thoroughly felt what the cruelty and ruthlessness of the bureaucratic machine is!
Akhmatova’s poetry was often called alien, pessimistic, and therefore was not published in literary sources. The poetess's husband, Nikolai Gumilyov, was shot, and his son was in the camps for many years. Therefore, the main character of the poem “Imitation of Kafka” is an unhappy woman, whose fate was repeatedly disfigured by surrounding circumstances.
She's in the dock. The woman is on trial and it lasts an incredibly long time, almost endlessly. Therefore, the last lines of the poetic work indicate that the main character was demolishing the quilted jacket to the ground.
This situation is incredibly similar to the true fate of Anna Andreevna. The poetess herself was constantly persecuted. Anna Akhmatova's literary works were called idealess, decadent and simply alien. Against this background, the woman realizes all the utopia that Soviet power brings with it. Akhmatova encountered the idea of such absurdity precisely in the works of Franz Kafka. This is where the second title of the literary poem “Imitation of Kafka” comes from!
Anna Andreevna Akhmatova
Others take away their loved ones -
I don’t look after you with envy, -
Alone in the dock
I'll soon be in jail for half a century.
There is bickering and crush all around
And the cloying smell of ink.
Kafka invented this
And Charlie did.
And in those important disputes,
Like in the tenacious embrace of sleep,
All three generations of jurors
They decided: she is guilty.
The faces of the convoy are changing,
The sixth prosecutor has a heart attack...
And somewhere it’s getting dark from the heat
Vast expanse of heaven
And a summer full of delights
Walking on the other side...
I am this blissful “somewhere”
I can't imagine.
I'm going deaf from loud curses,
I tore the quilted jacket down to the ground.
Am I really the one to blame?
Have you been on this planet?
Franz Kafka
Akhmatova became acquainted with the works of the great writer Franz Kafka no later than 1959. There were no official publications in Russian at that time. The poetess read the novel “The Trial” in English, but she was not satisfied with the quality of the translation. Then Anna Andreevna turned to the original text, but reading in German turned out to be difficult for her. Immediately, Akhmatova realized how Kafka was “a wonderful, great and necessary writer.” She named him among the greatest writers of the twentieth century, along with Marcel Proust and James Joyce. It is not surprising that “The Trial” made an incredible impression on the poetess. Anna Andreevna was familiar firsthand with the merciless bureaucratic machine and the cruel judicial system. In 1921, Nikolai Stepanovich Gumilyov, her first husband, was shot.
Nikolay Gumilyov
The last photo of Nikolai Gumilyov without retouching
Their common son, Lev Nikolaevich Gumilev, spent about ten years in the camps.
Lev Gumilev
The common-law husband of the poetess, Nikolai Nikolaevich Punin, died in custody.
Nikolay Punin
Akhmatova herself practically did not publish in the period from 1923 to 1934, which led to the so-called internal emigration - in her native country she turned out to be a stranger, unnecessary.
In 1960, Anna Andreevna wrote the poem “Others Take Their Loved Ones Away...”, which often appears under the title “Imitation of Kafka.” The lyrical heroine of the work is a woman with a broken fate. She has been sitting in the dock for almost half a century, during which time prosecutors, jurors, and guards have changed more than once. Akhmatova, who refused to emigrate, could imagine herself abroad, but she could easily imagine herself in a completely different role - a prisoner in the camps. Therefore, in the last lines the image of a woman appears, tearing down her quilted jacket to the ground. The endless trial described in the poem in question is a kind of reflection of the persecution of Anna Andreevna, which began in 1946 after the release of the resolution on the magazines “Zvezda” and “Leningrad”. In it, Akhmatova’s lyrics were called alien to the people of the USSR, imbued with the spirit of pessimism and decadence, and unprincipled. “Others take away their loved ones...” - the poetess’s awareness of the absurdity of Soviet reality, so similar to the one depicted by Kafka. It is not for nothing that the catchphrase arose later: “We were born to make Kafka come true.” In addition, the text in question is a mourning for a country that “has exposed a poet strung up on the rack to the shame of the whole world.”
“Imitating Kafka” Anna Akhmatova
Others take away their loved ones -
I don’t look after you with envy, -
Alone in the dock
I'll soon be in jail for half a century.
There is bickering and crush all around
And the cloying smell of ink.
Kafka invented this
And Charlie did.
And in those important disputes,
Like in the tenacious embrace of sleep,
All three generations of jurors
They decided: she is guilty.The faces of the convoy are changing,
The sixth prosecutor has a heart attack...
And somewhere it’s getting dark from the heat
Vast expanse of heaven
And a summer full of delights
Walking on the other side...
I am this blissful “somewhere”
I can't imagine.
I'm going deaf from loud curses,
I tore the quilted jacket down to the ground.
Am I really the one to blame?
Have you been on this planet?
Analysis of Akhmatova’s poem “Imitation of Kafka”
Akhmatova became acquainted with the works of the great writer Franz Kafka no later than 1959. There were no official publications in Russian at that time. The poetess read the novel “The Trial” in English, but she was not satisfied with the quality of the translation. Then Anna Andreevna turned to the original text, but reading in German turned out to be difficult for her. Immediately, Akhmatova realized how Kafka was “a wonderful, great and necessary writer.” She named him among the greatest writers of the twentieth century, along with Marcel Proust and James Joyce. It is not surprising that “The Trial” made an incredible impression on the poetess. Anna Andreevna was familiar firsthand with the merciless bureaucratic machine and the cruel judicial system. In 1921, Nikolai Stepanovich Gumilyov, her first husband, was shot. Their common son, Lev Nikolaevich Gumilev, spent about ten years in the camps. The common-law husband of the poetess, Nikolai Nikolaevich Punin, died in custody. Akhmatova herself practically did not publish in the period from 1923 to 1934, which led to the so-called internal emigration - in her native country she turned out to be a stranger, unnecessary.
In 1960, Anna Andreevna wrote the poem “Others Take Their Loved Ones Away...”, which often appears under the title “Imitation of Kafka.” The lyrical heroine of the work is a woman with a broken fate. She has been sitting in the dock for almost half a century, during which time prosecutors, jurors, and guards have changed more than once. Akhmatova, who refused to emigrate, could imagine herself abroad, but she could easily imagine herself in a completely different role - a prisoner in the camps. Therefore, in the last lines the image of a woman appears, tearing down her quilted jacket to the ground. The endless trial described in the poem in question is a kind of reflection of the persecution of Anna Andreevna, which began in 1946 after the release of the resolution on the magazines “Zvezda” and “Leningrad”. In it, Akhmatova’s lyrics were called alien to the people of the USSR, imbued with the spirit of pessimism and decadence, and unprincipled. “Others take away their loved ones...” - the poetess’s awareness of the absurdity of Soviet reality, so similar to the one depicted by Kafka. It is not for nothing that the catchphrase arose later: “We were born to make Kafka come true.” In addition, the text in question is a mourning for a country that “has exposed a poet strung up on the rack to the shame of the whole world.”