Collection Overview
Brodsky, Joseph
Joseph Brodsky Collection1970-2010
1993-1994
MS 0863
18 boxes
(9 linear ft.)
Collection is primarily in English, with some materials in Russian.
English
Russian
Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections
Joseph Brodsky, (1940-1996); Russian Poet and Literature professor, Mount Holyoke College. Papers contain a letter, select writings, teaching materials, biographical information and multi-media materials documenting his teaching and life in the Five College community.
Biographical Note
Joseph Aleksandrovich Brodsky, the Russian poet was born in Leningrad, U.S.S.R. on May 24, 1940 to Russian Jewish parents. His mother worked as a professional translator, and his father served as a photographer for the Soviet Navy. As a teenager, Brodsky taught himself English and Polish and began writing poetry at age eighteen. Famed Russian poet Anna Akhmatova encouraged his poetry when they met in 1960. In 1962, in Saint Petersburg, Anna Akhmatova introduced Brodsky to the artist Marina Basmanova, with whom he would have a son, Andrey. The U.S.S.R. government charged and arrested Brodsky in 1963 for “social parasitism” or failure to work. The government tried and convicted Brodsky in March of 1964. Successful protests led by Anna Akhmatova, Evgeny Evtushenko, Dmitri Shostakovich and Jean-Paul Sartre during Brodsky’s detention eventually reduced his sentence from five years of physical work in a gulag labor camp to eighteen months in Siberia. Upon release, the KGB ordered him to leave the country and sent him to Vienna. While in Vienna, Brodsky lost his citizenship and soon immigrated to the United States. Brodsky settled in Ann Arbor, with the help of poet W. H. Auden. During the 1972-73 academic year, Brodsky was Poet in Residence and Professor of English and Russian at both the University of Michigan and Queens College in New York. Initially connected to the Pioneer Valley through professional collaboration with Peter Viereck, Brodsky filled the position of Poet in Resident and Distinguished Acting Professor at The Five Colleges from 1974-1975, as well as filling the position of the first of The Five College Distinguished Visiting Professorships. In 1981, Brodsky received the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Award and became a professor in the Five College Consortium, based in Amherst, Massachusetts. In 1982, Brodsky served as the Five College Professor of Literature at Mount Holyoke College. In 1986, he served as an Andrew Mellon Professor of Literature at Mount Holyoke College.
Brodsky was granted United States citizenship in 1977. In 1978, Brodsky was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters at Yale University. In 1979, he was inducted as a member of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters and two years later received the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation's "genius" award. Brodsky was a recipient of The International Center in New York's Award of Excellence. In 1986, his collection of essays
Less Than One won the National Book Critics Award for Criticism and he was given an honorary Doctorate of Literature from Oxford University. Brodsky received the National Book Award for criticism in 1986. In 1987 he was honored with the Nobel Prize for Literature. Brodsky married a student named Maria Sozzani in 1990 while teaching literature in France and they had one daughter, Anna. In September of 1991, he became the fifth Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress or as the award is more commonly know, U.S. Poet Laureate. Brodsky died in New York City at the age of fifty-five on January 28, 1996.
Poetry Collections
1965
Stikhotvoreniia i poemy(Poems and Narrative Verse)
1967
Elegy for John Donne and Other Poems
1968
Velka elegie
1970
Ostanovka v pustyne(A Stopover in the Wilderness)
1972
Poems
1973
Selected Poems
1977
Konets prekrasnoi epokhi(The End of the Beautiful Epoch)
1977
Chast’ rechi(A Part of Speech)
1977
Poems and Translations
1980
A Part of Speech
1981
Verses on the Winter Campaign 1980
1982
Rimskie elegii (Roman Elegies)
1988
To Urania : Selected Poems, 1965-1985
1990
Primechaniia paporotnika(Commentaries of Fern)
1995
On Grief and Reason: Essays
1995
V okrestnostiakh Atlantidy(In the Environs of Atlantis)
1996
So Forth: Poems
1996
Peizazh s navodneniem(A Flooded Landscape) Essay and interview collections
Essays and Plays
1986
Less Than One: Selected Essays
1992
Watermark
1996
On Grief and Reason: Essays Plays
1989
Marbles: a Play in Three Acts
1991
Democracy!
Scope and Contents of the Collection
The papers of Joseph Brodsky (1940-1996) span the years 1972-1996, with the bulk of materials dating from 1993 to 1994. The collection is in English and Russian and is organized into the following series: Correspondence, Writings, Teaching Materials, Biographical Information, and Audio Visual Materials. The majority of which relate to poetry courses Brodsky taught as Professor of English while at Mount Holyoke College. Writings (1972-1996) include poetry published in the New Yorker. Writing include ssays published in the
New Republic, Chronicle of Higher Education and the New Yorker, articles published in the New York Times Magazine and reviews published in the New York Times Book Review.
Teaching Materials include 94 audio cassettes that capture all of his class lectures for Russian 230:
Poetry in Translation: The Nineteenth Century taught in the spring of 1993, and English 265: Lyric Poetry taught in the spring of 1994 as a Mount Holyoke College English and Russian faculty member. Also included are 55 CDs that are digital surrogates of the original audio cassettes, as well as transcriptions from the lectures delivered Poetry in Translation: The Nineteenth Century. Also included in Teaching Materials are course catalog descriptions of Poetry in Translation: The Nineteenth Century and Lyric Poetry. There are course notes in Brodsky’s hand, copies of course readings and student work both graded and ungraded. These course materials document Brodsky’s teaching style and vast knowledge of the poetic genre.
Biographical Information includes original and photocopies of Joseph Brodsky's published poetry, essays, articles and reviews in the
New York Times, New York Times Magazine, New York Times Book Review, the New Republic, Chronicle of Higher Education, New York Review and the New Yorker. Included are two interviews with Brodsky from 1986 and 1989, reflections from a former Mount Holyoke College student, Lynnette Labinger who visited Brodsky in 1970, articles that document Brodsky being awarded the Poet Laureate Consultant on Poetry to the Library of Congress or Poet Laureate in 1991, as well as programs and obituaries documenting Brodsky's death in 1996 and the Mount Holyoke College community memorial service held on February 20, 1996.
Audio Visual Materials include 3 audiocassettes, 2 CDs, 3 VHS recordings, 1 reel of 35mm film and 1 DVD of lectures, readings, speeches and panel discussions given or led by Brodsky, as well as a Mount Holyoke College memorial service honoring Brodsky after his death in 1996 and an October 8, 2010 anniversary celebration sponsored by the Russian Studies Department on DVD.
Organization of the Collection
This collection is organized into five series:
-
[Correspondence June 1, 1982](list-ser1)
-
[Writings ca. 1972-1996](list-ser2)
-
[Teaching Materials 1993-1994](list-ser3)
-
[Biographical Information 1972-2003](list-ser4)
-
[Audio Visual Materials 1972-2010](list-ser5)
Unrestricted
Please use the following format when citing materials from this collection:
Joseph Brodsky Collection, Mount Holyoke College, Archives and Special Collections, South Hadley, Massachusetts
Arranged by Sarah Wilkinson and Patricia Albright. Finding aid and Encoding by Lori Satter, 2010
Brodsky, Joseph
Mount Holyoke College - Faculty.
Mount Holyoke College - English department.
Authors and Publishers- United States
College teacher- United States
teachers- United States
English teachers- United States
Lectures and lecturing-- Massachusetts
Poets laureate-- United States
Poets, Russian-- 20th century
Audiocassettes-- Recordings
Video recordings
Correspondence
June 1, 1982
1 letter
Unrestricted.
This series consists of one letter written on June 1, 1982 by Joseph Brodsky spent to George Brockway editor of W.W. Norton publishing house. In the letter Brodksy urges Brockaw to publish his colleague Peter Viereck's manuscript Applewood.
Writings1972-1996
3 folders
This series is arranged in chronological order.
Unrestricted.
This series contains an introductory essay written by Joseph Brodsky in
50 Poems by Osip Mandelstam published in 1977, typescripts of Brodsky's translation work on the poem To Urania published in 1980 and several poems published in the New York Times.
Teaching Materials1992-1994
13 boxes
This series is arranged in chronological order.
Unrestricted.
This series includes 94 audio cassette recordings of Joseph Brodsky's lectures delivered as a Mount Holyoke College English and Russian faculty member in his courses Russian 230:
Poetry in Translation: The Nineteenth Century taught in the spring of 1993 with transcripts, and English 265: Lyric Poetry taught in the spring of 1994. Also included are 55 CDs that are digital surrogates of the original audio cassettes, course catalog descriptions, lecture notes, course readings and student work.
Russian 230: Poetry in Translation: the Nineteenth Century1993
7 boxes
This series is arranged in chronological order.
Unrestricted.
English 265: Lyric Poetry1994
6 boxes
This series is arranged in chronological order.
Unrestricted.
Biographical Information1973-2003
1 boxes
This series is arranged in chronological order.
Unrestricted.
This series includes original and photocopies of Joseph Brodsky's published poetry, essays, articles and reviews in the
New York Times, New York Times Magazine, New York Times Book Review, the New Republic, Chronicle of Higher Education, New York Review and the New Yorker. Included are two interviews with Brodsky from 1986 and 1989, reflections from a former Mount Holyoke College student, Lynnette Labinger who visited Brodsky in 1970, articles that document Brodsky being awarded the Poet Laureate Consultant on Poetry to the Library of Congress or Poet Laureate in 1991, as well as programs and obituaries documenting Brodsky's death in 1996 and the Mount Holyoke College community memorial service held on February 20, 1996.
Audio Visual Materialsca. 1985-2010
3 boxes
This series is arranged in chronological order.
Unrestricted.
This series consists of two 3 1/2 inch floppy discs containing Joseph Brodsky's course notes and records, one DVD recording of the 1985 Mount Holyoke College Commencement where Brodsky spoke as the ceremony's commencement speaker, 2 CDs recording panel discussions Brodsky participated in in 1985, a WGGB VHS television segment reporting Brodsky's Nobel Prize in Literature award in 1987, 3 audio cassette recordings of Brodsky reading his poetry, 1 VHS tape of
A Maddening Space recorded for the New York Center for Visual History in 1991, 7 audio cassette recordings, 1 digital surrogate captured on CD of the Mount Holyoke College community memorial service honoring Brodsky on February 20, 1996 and 1 DVD recording of Mount Holyoke College's celebration of the 70th anniversary of Brodsky's birth that took place on October 8, 2010.
Correspondence
June 1, 1982
1
1
Letter by Brodsky June 1, 1982
Writings
1972-1996
1
2
Essays and Articles, 1972-1996
1
3
Poems, 1973-1995
1
4
50 Poems, by Osip Mandelstam with an Introductory essay by Joseph Brodsky
Teaching Materials
1993-1994
Russian 230: Poetry in Translation: The Nineteenth Century Spring 1993
2
1
Course Descriptions for Russian 230 Poetry in Translation: The Nineteenth Century (Russian 230, Spring 1993) and Lyric Poetry (English 265, Spring 1994)
2
2
Handouts (English 265, Spring 1994)
2
3
Registers of audio recorded material for Russian 230, Graded student poems, Copies of poems, Handouts, Copies of reading list
2
4
Handouts, Yevgeny Baratynsky Spring 1993 (Russian 230)
2
5
Handouts: Gavrila Derzhavin, Mikhail Lomonasov, Antiokh Dmitriyevich Kantermir Spring 1993 (Russian 230)
2
6
Handouts: Alexander Pushkin Spring 1993 (Russian 230)
3
1
Transcript of Lecture: Introduction, January 28, 1993
3
2
Transcript of Lecture: "Bikini Course in Russian History", February 2, 1993
3
3
Transcript of Lecture: Derzhavin I, undated
3
4
Transcript of Lecture: Poetic Meter in Roberst Frost, W.H. Auden and Gavrila Derzhavin works, February 9, 1993
3
5
Transcript of Lecture: Gavrila Derzhavin's ("On the Death of Prince Meshchersky"), February 11, 1993
3
6
Transcript of Lecture: Derzhavin's ("On the Death of Prince Meshchersky") continues, February 16, 1993
3
7
Transcript of Lecture: Derzhavin's ("On the Death of Prince Meshchersky") continues, February 18, 1993
3
8
Transcript of Lecture: Derzhavin's ("On the Death of Prince Meshchersky") continues,February 23, 1993
3
9
Transcript of Lecture: Derzhavin's ("On the Death of Prince Meshchersky") continues, February 25, 1993
3
10
Transcript of Lecture: Yevgeny Baratynsky's ("The Muse"), and an introduction to Mikhail Lomonosov, March 2, 1993
3
11
Transcript of Lecture: Lomonosov's ("Evening Meditation"), March 9, 1993
3
12
Transcript of Lecture: Antiokh Dmitriyevich Kantemir ("To His Own Verses"), March 11, 1993
3
13
Transcript of Lecture: Discussion of Kantemir continues, March 25, 1993
3
14
Transcript of Lecture: Baratnsky's ("Desolation"), March 29, 1993
3
15
Transcript of Lecture: Alexander Pushkin's ("God grant that I not lose my mind"), April 6, 1993
3
16
Transcript of Lecture: Baratnsky's ("To My Italian
Tutor") April 8, 1993
3
17
Transcript of Lecture: Baratnsky's ("To My Italian
Tutor"), April 13, 1993
3
18
Transcript of Lecture: Baratnsky's ("To My Italian
Tutor"), April 15, 1993
3
19
Transcript of Lecture: Concludes discussion of Baratnsky, discusses Dante and Virgil, April 20, 1993
3
20
Transcript of Lecture: Pushkin's ("Monument"), April 22, 1993
3
21
Transcript of Lecture: Pushkin's ("Again have I visited..."), April 27, 1993
3
22
Transcript of Lecture: Pushkin's ("Monument"), April 29, 1993
3
23
Transcript of Lecture: May 4, 1993
4
1
Janurary 28, 1993 Lecture, Audiocassette
4
2
January 28, 1993 Lecture, CD
4
3
February 2, 1993 Lecture, Audiocassette
4
4
February 2, 1993 Lecture, CD
4
5
February 9, 1993 Lecture, Audiocassette
4
6
February 9, 1993 Lecture, CD
4
7
February 11, 1993 Lecture, Audiocassette
4
8
February 11, 1993 Lecture, CD
4
9
February 16, 1993 Lecture, Audiocassette
4
10
February 16, 1993 Lecture, CD
5
1
February 18, 1993 Lecture, Audiocassette
5
2
February 18, 1993 Lecture, CD
5
3
February 23, 1993 Lecture, Audiocassette
5
4
February 23, 1993 Lecture, CD
5
5
February 25, 1993 Lecture (incomplete), Audiocassette
5
6
February 25, 1993 Lecture (incomplete), CD
5
7
February 25, 1993 Lecture (complete), Audiocassette
5
8
February 25, 1993 Lecture (complete), CD
5
9
March 2, 1993 Lecture, Audiocassette
5
10
March 2, 1993 Lecture, CD
5
9
March 2, 1993 Lecture, Audiocassette
5
10
March 2, 1993 Lecture, CD
5
9
March 2, 1993 Lecture, Audiocassette
5
10
March 2, 1993 Lecture, CD
6
1
March 9, 1993 Lecture, Audiocassette
6
2
March 9, 1993 Lecture, CD
6
3
March 11, 1993 Lecture, Audiocassette
6
4
March 15, 1993 Lecture, CD
6
5
March 15, 1993 Lecture, Audiocassette
6
6
March 29, 1993 Lecture, Audiocassette
6
7
March 29, 1993 Lecture, CD
6
8
March 30, 1993 Lecture, CD
6
9
April 1, 1993 Lecture, Audiocassette
6
10
April 1, 1993 Lecture, CD
6
11
April 6, 1993 Lecture, Audiocassette
6
12
April 6, 1993 Lecture, CD
7
1
April 8, 1993 Lecture, Audiocassette
7
2
April 8, 1993 Lecture, Audiocassette
7
3
April 8, 1993 Lecture, CD
7
4
April 13, 1993 Lecture, Audiocassette
7
5
April 13, 1993 Lecture, CD
7
6
April 15, 1993 Lecture, Audiocassette
7
7
April 15, 1993 Lecture, CD
7
8
April 20, 1993 Lecture, Audiocassette
7
9
April 20, 1993 Lecture, CD
8
1
April 22, 1993 Lecture, Audiocassette
8
2
April 22, 1993 Lecture, CD
8
3
April 27, 1993 Lecture, Audiocassette
8
4
April 27, 1993 Lecture, CD
8
5
April 29, 1993 Lecture, Audiocassette
8
6
April 29, 1993 Lecture, CD
8
7
May 4, 1993 Lecture, Audiocassette
8
8
May 4, 1993 Lecture, CD
9
1
Register of Audio Recordings for Eng 265: Lyric Poetry, Spring 1994
9
2
February 3, 1994 Lecture on Poet Robert Frost, Audiocassette
9
3
February 3, 1994 Lecture on Poet Robert Frost, CD
9
4
February 3, 1994 Lecture on Poet Robert Frost, DVD
9
5
February 3, 1994 Lecture on Poet Robert Frost, DVD
9
6
February 8, 1994 Lecture on Poet Robert Frost, Audiocassette
9
7
February 8, 1994 Lecture on Poet Robert Frost, CD
9
8
February 10, 1994 Lecture on Poet Robert Frost, Audiocassette
9
9
February 10, 1994 Lecture on Poet Robert Frost, CD
10
1
February 15, 1994 Lecture on Poet Robert Frost, Audiocassette
10
2
February 15, 1994 Lecture on Poet Robert Frost, CD
10
3
February 17, 1994 Lecture on Poet Robert Frost, Audiocassette
10
4
February 17, 1994 Lecture on Poet Robert Frost, CD
10
5
March 8, 1994 Lecture on Poet Thomas Hardy, Audiocassette
10
6
March 8, 1994 Lecture on Poet Thomas Hardy, CD
10
7
March 10, 1994 Lecture on Poet Thomas Hardy, Audiocassette
10
8
March 10, 1994 Lecture on Poet Thomas Hardy, CD
11
1
March 17, 1994 Lecture on Poet Thomas Hardy, Audiocassette
11
2
March 17, 1994 Lecture on Poet Thomas Hardy, CD
11
3
Undated Lecture on Poet Thomas Hardy, Audiocassette
11
4
Undated Lecture on Poet Thomas Hardy, CD
11
5
March 29, 1994 Lecture on Poet W. H. Auden, Audiocassette
11
6
March 29, 1994 Lecture on Poet W. H. Auden, CD
12
1
March 29, 1994 Lecture on Poet W. H. Auden, Audiocassette
12
2
March 29, 1994 Lecture on Poet W. H. Auden, CD
12
3
March 31, 1994 Lecture on Poet W. H. Auden, Audiocassette
12
4
March 31, 1994 Lecture on Poet W. H. Auden, CD
12
5
April 5, 1994 Lecture on Poet W. H. Auden, Audiocassette
12
6
April 5, 1994 Lecture on Poet W. H. Auden, CD
12
7
April 7, 1994 Lecture on Poet W. H. Auden, Audiocassette
12
8
April 7, 1994 Lecture on Poet W. H. Auden, CD
13
1
April 7, 1994 Lecture on Poet W. H. Auden, Audiocassette
13
2
April 7, 1994 Lecture on Poet W. H. Auden, CD
13
3
April 12, 1994 Lecture on Poet W. H. Auden, Audiocassette
13
4
April 12, 1994 Lecture on Poet W. H. Auden, CD
13
5
April 13, 1994 LectureMiss Gee, In Memory of Sigmund Freud", Audiocassette
13
6
April 13, 1994 Lecture Miss Gee, In Memory of Sigmund Freud, CD
13
7
April 19, 1994 Lecture Auden, In Memory of Sigmund Freud, Audiocassette
13
8
April 19, 1994 Lecture Auden, In Memory of Sigmund Freud, CD
14
1
April 21, 1994 Lecture on Poet W.H. Auden, Sigmund Freud September 1, 1939, Audiocassette
14
2
April 21, 1994 Lecture on Poet W.H. Auden, Sigmund Freud September 1, 1939, CD
14
3
April 26, 1994 Lecture on Poets W.H. Auden and Rainer Maria Rilke Audiocassette
14
4
April 26, 1994 Lecture on Poets W.H. Auden and Rainer Maria Rilke, CD
14
5
April 28, 1994 Lecture on Poet W.H. Auden In Praise of Lime Stone, Audiocassette
14
6
April 28, 1994 Lecture on Poet W.H. Auden In Praise of Lime Stone, CD
14
7
May 3, 1994 Lecture on Three Polish Poets, George Herbet, and Czeslaw Milosz, Audiocassette
14
8
May 3, 1994 Lecture on Three Polish Poets, George Herbet, and Czeslaw Milosz, CD
Biographical Information
ca. 1974-2003
15
1
ca. 1974- 1989
15
2
1990-1995
15
3
January- February 1996
15
4
March 1996-
15
5
Peter Viereck's Recommendation Letter for Joseph Brodsky, October 23, 1973
15
6
Published interviews with Joseph Brodsky, 1987, 1989
15
7
Notes and Correspondence concerningConsersations with Joseph Brodsky in Leningrad, Russia, 1970
15
8
Exhibit Catalog, 2003
15
9
Photographs
Audio Visual Materials
1972-2010
16
1
Course related work, 3 1/2 inch floppy disc
16
2
Mount Holyoke College Memorial Service for Joseph Brodsky, February 20, 1996, Audiocassette
16
3
Mount Holyoke College Memorial Service for Joseph Brodsky, February 20, 1996, Audiocassette
16
4
Mount Holyoke College Memorial Service for Joseph Brodsky, February 20, 1996, Audiocassette
16
5
Mount Holyoke College Memorial Service for Joseph Brodsky, February 20, 1996, Audiocassette
16
6
Mount Holyoke College Memorial Service for Joseph Brodsky, February 20, 1996, CD
16
8
Anniversary Celebration of Joseph Brodsky at Mount Holyoke College, October 8, 2010, DVD
17
1
Panel Discussion, October 16, 1985 (on 2 CDs)
17
2
Video Recording, 1987
17
3
Mount Holyoke College Commencement Ceremony, 1988, DVD
17
4
A Maddening Space Video Recording, 1991
17
5
Joseph Brodsky Reads His Poetryundated, Audiocassette
17
6
PJoseph Brodsky Reads His Poetryundated, Audiocassette
18
1
JosephVideo recording, undated
18
2
Unidentified 35mm film