Aronzon, Leonid Lvovich

Leonid Aronzon
Leonid Aronzon
Birth name	Leonid Aronzon
Date of Birth	March 24, 1939
Place of Birth	Leningrad , RSFSR , USSR
Date of death	October 13, 1970 (31 years)
Place of death	;
Citizenship	the USSR
Occupation	poet
Years of creativity	1955 - 1970
Language of Works	Russian

Leonid Lvovich Aronzon ( March 24, 1939 , Leningrad - October 13, 1970 , near Tashkent ) is a Russian poet.

Content

Biography

Born in Leningrad in the Russianized Jewish family of Lev Moiseevich Aronzon, a civil engineer, and Anna Efimovna Aronzon (née Geller), a doctor. The war years spent in evacuation in the Urals . He graduated from the Leningrad Pedagogical Institute . He taught at night school, writing scripts for popular science films for a living. In the early 1960s, he talked with I. Brodsky , in 1965, became close to Vladimir Erl and other poets Malaya Sadovaya , was friends with E. Mikhnov-Voytenko and A. Altshuler .

According to the official version, he shot himself from a hunting rifle during a trip to Central Asia . However, the nature of the injury, according to the results of the pathoanatomical examination, indicates an accident during careless handling of a gun.

Creativity

Like many of his peers, he absorbed elements of the poetics of Pasternak , Akhmatova , Mandelstam , but with particular attention developed the traditions of Khlebnikov , Zabolotsky (Aronzon devoted his institute’s diploma to the work of the latter) and other oberiuts . In the center of Aronzon's poetry, the motive of Paradise, while his lyrics, especially in recent years, are deeply tragic, the themes of death and emptiness appear more and more insistently in it. In the mid-1960s, he began writing prose.

In 2018, the Moscow Theater of MasterskayaI staged the play “Who Ascended the Top of the Hill”. This is the first theatrical production on the works of Leonid Aronzon.

Recognition and influence

During his lifetime, he was practically not published in the open press. Perceived one of the leaders of the Leningrad uncensored literature, some saw him as an alternative to Brodsky. He had a noticeable impact on contemporaries and the younger generation of Russian poets. In 1979 , a collection of his poems, compiled by E. Schwartz , was published as an addendum to the samizdat magazine Hours , later reprinted with additions in Jerusalem (Mahler Publishing House, preparing the text — Irena Orlova , 1985 ) and St. Petersburg ( Luggage Storage , 1994 ).

In 1990 the book "Poems", compiled by Vl. Erlem In 1998 , Leonid Aronzon’s bilingual book, Death of a Butterfly, was published: a parallel translation into English of Richard McCain, a preface by Victoria Andreeva, compiled by Victoria Andreeva and Arkady Rovner (M: Gnosis Press & Diamond Press). The most complete work of Aronzon is represented today in the commented two-volume “Collected Works” (St. Petersburg: Ivan Limbakh Publishing , 2006 ).

In 2009, the first book edition of Aronzon’s poems in German was published: Leonid Aronson. Innenfläche der Hand. Aus d. Russ. v. Gisela Schulte u. Marina Bordne. Edition ERATA | Leipziger Literaturverlag: Leipzig 2009 (bilingual edition). The book aroused great interest and was reviewed by most of the most important newspapers in the German-speaking space. In the same year, a volume of the Vienna Slavonic Almanac appeared, entirely devoted to the work and personality of Leonid Aronzon: Johanna Renata Döring, Ilya Kukui (ed.). Leonid Aronzon: Return to paradise. <Research, publications, translations>. Wiener Slawistischer Almanach. Volume 62. Munich, 2008. It can be said that in 2009 Leonid Aronzon, who was previously virtually unknown in the countries of the German language, was recognized here as one of the eminent poets of the 20th century.

On July 3, 2011, the Hessian Radio (Frankfurt am Main) was broadcast on Petersburger Zwillinge (Petersburg Twins, in German ), staged by Olga Martynova and Oleg Yuriev on radio plays, dedicated to Leonid Aronzon and Iosif Brodsky .

Quotes about the poet

“The poetry of Aronzon bears a strict form, sadness and sensitivity, as if he fell asleep in Paris in 1843 and woke up now, and all this time he saw dreams in reality. But even his sonnets bring with them an echo and tension of the best modern poetry ... His voice is not always so quiet. Spring and love create volcanic explosions in his poems. Perhaps Russian poetry embodied the Greek summer and the Greek light, ”these lines belong to the famous Oxford literary critic Peter Levy.

"For me personally, Aronzon is one of the few - next to Evgeny Baratynsky, Alexander Vvedensky, Stanislav Krasovitsky, maybe two more - three names - one of the poets - climbers throwing a ladder into the sky ... He carries with it the air of other worlds and absolutely unique authenticity ... ”- writes the poetess and literary critic Victoria Andreeva in the preface to the bilingual book of poems by Aronzon“ Death of a Butterfly ”.

His English translator Richard McCain writes about him: “For Aronzon, nature in all its glory is nevertheless metaphorical ... He is a brightly visual, even a visionary poet. His sense of humor borders on the surreal. He is also a product of the sixties, and his own "power of flowering" has created, perhaps, the most perfect poetry of this decade. For most readers, even Russians, it is unknown, and I envy their journey and the discovery of Aronzon, which began for me twenty years ago. ”

Bibliography

Aronzon L. L. Collection of works: In 2 t. Compilation, preparation of texts and notes by P. A. Kazarnovsky , I. S. Kukui , V. I. Erl . - SPb. : Ivan Limbach Publishing House , 2006. - V. 1. - 560 p. - 2000 copies - ISBN 5-89059-094-4 .
Aronzon L. L. Collection of works: In 2 t. Compilation, preparation of texts and notes by P. A. Kazarnovsky , I. S. Kukui , V. I. Erl . - SPb. : Ivan Limbach Publishing House , 2006. - Vol. 2. - 328 p. - 2000 copies - ISBN 5-89059-091-X.

Selected literature about the poet

In memory of Leonid Aronzon / Comp. A. Stepanov, Vl. Erl (Supplement to the magazine "Watch", 1985)
Avaliani D. About Leonid Aronzon // New Literary Review. - 1995. - № 14.
Zvyagin E. Leonid Aronzon // On the same. A letter to the best friend. St. Petersburg: Borey-Art, 1995.
Krivulin V. Leonid Aronzon - a contender of Joseph Brodsky // He. Mammoth Hunt St. Petersburg: Blitz, 1998. - p. 152-158.
Samizdat of Leningrad / Under total. ed. D. Ya. Severyukhin. M .: New Literary Review, 2003. - p. 80-81.
New classic: Leonid Aronzon // Critical Mass. - 2006. - № 4. - p. 52-64.
Ivanov, Boris. As well in the abandoned places ... (Leonid Aronzon, 1939-1970) // Petersburg poetry in persons: essays / Ivanov, Boris, comp. - Moscow: New Literary Review, 2011. - p. 158-238. - 392 s. - ISBN 9785867937980 .