Always be in the mood
By Masterweb
14.05.2018 23:00Bella Akhmadulina is one of the most outstanding Soviet poets, the owner of the USSR State Prize. Unlike other literary figures of this era, she did not deal with social problems in her work, and wrote her poems in a high, refined style. Bella Akhmadulina's life was bright, eventful and full of interesting events.
Childhood
On April 10, 1937, Isabella Akhatovna Akhmadulina was born in Moscow in the family of the Deputy Minister of the USSR Customs Committee and a translator from the KGB.
The girl was raised by her grandmother. It was she who instilled in the future poetess a love for literature, reading to her the works of Russian classics. The beginning of the Great Patriotic War turned the life of the Akhmadulins upside down. The father of the family went to the front. The girl and her grandmother were evacuated to Kazan. In the evacuation, Bella suffered a serious illness, after which she recovered with difficulty.
When the victorious volleys died down, the girl returned to Moscow and went to school. At school, she did not feel too comfortable, as she was used to loneliness in the evacuation. Therefore, the girl often skipped school.
The beginning of the creative path
Akhmadulina wrote her first poems at the age of 15. As a schoolgirl, she attended the literary circle of the Palace of Pioneers. When the time came to decide on a profession, at the insistence of her parents, the future poetess decided to enter the faculty of journalism at Moscow State University. But the girl failed the entrance exams. Then her parents advised her to get a job in the Metrostroyevets publication.
For the first time, Akhmadulina's poems were published by the October magazine in 1955. But in Komsomolskaya Pravda, the poems of the beginning poetess were criticized, calling them old-fashioned.
Literary Institute
A year later, Akhmadulina became one of the students of the Literary Institute. But she could not finish it because of ... Boris Pasternak. In 1958 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for his novel Doctor Zhivago. At home, Pasternak began to be severely persecuted. They called him a traitor. Akhmadulina refused to sign the letter denigrating the writer. This did not go in vain for her - the girl was expelled from the institute.
Akhmadulina got a job as a freelance correspondent for the Literaturnaya Gazeta in the city of Irkutsk. The editor-in-chief appreciated Bella's literary talent and helped her return to the institute. She graduated with honors in 1960.
The first poetry collection of the poetess Akhmadulina
In 1962, a collection of poems by Bella Akhmadulina "String" was first published. Success came to the poetess after performing on the stage of the Polytechnic Museum in Moscow. At this literary evening, in addition to Akhmadulina, such famous poets as Yevtushenko, Rozhdestvensky and Voznesensky performed. After that, Bella became a frequent guest of such creative events. And although her poems were condemned for mannerism and old-fashionedness, it was impossible not to be captivated by their grace and lightness. The original manner of recitation, special sophistication and charm, intelligent speech, aristocratic image favorably distinguished Akhmadulina from other poets.
Period 1960-1970
In 1968, in Frankfurt, Bella Akhmadulina released her second collection of poetry, Chills, and in 1969, her third collection, Music Lessons. Akhmadulina works fruitfully. In a fairly short period of time, she releases the following collections: "Poems", "Candle" and "Snowstorm".
In the 70s, Bella visited Georgia. The original culture and magnificent nature of the country delighted the poetess so much that she writes a considerable number of poems about this, combined in the collection Dreams of Georgia. Akhmadulina also translated poems by such remarkable Georgian poets as Galaktion Tabidze, Nikolay Baratshvili and Simon Chikovani. Even when ideological prohibitions acted on Akhmadulina's work in the USSR, the Literary Georgia magazine invariably published the poetess's poems.
In addition to poetry, Bella Akhmadulina wrote essays about prominent personalities. Such as Anna Akhmatova, Marina Tsvetaeva, Vladimir Vysotsky, Vladimir Nabokov and some other famous people.
Love in the work of the poetess
Bella Akhmadulina wrote a considerable number of poems about love. A romantic worldview and a rich personal life contributed a lot to this. Thanks to the film "Cruel Romance", her poem "And in the end I will say ..." became popularly known. Perhaps this poem is one of the most famous love poems by Bella Akhmadulina.
Social activity
More than once Bella spoke out in defense of the dissidents L. Kopelov, A. Sakharov and V. Voinovich. The New York Times published Akhmadulina's letters defending them. These letters were read on the air of Radio Liberty and Voice of America radio stations.
Bella Akhmadulina took part in some international festivals, in particular in the International Poetry Festival in 1988 in Kuala Lumpur.
Akhmadulina was among those who signed the famous "Letter of Forty-Two" addressed to the President of the Russian Federation B. Yeltsin in 1993, directed against the propaganda of violence, Nazism and chauvinism and containing a call for a ban on communist and Nazi parties. In 2001, Akhmadulina also signed a letter in defense of the disgraced NTV channel.
Poet and cinema
The biography of Bella Akhmadulina says that she starred in only two films.
In Vasily Shukshin's film "Such a Guy Lives" (1959), twenty-two-year-old Bella played the role of a Leningrad journalist. The Venice Film Festival awarded the film with the Golden Lion.
In the film "Sport, Sport, Sport" Akhmadulina played Elema Klimova.
The poetess is the screenwriter of such films as "Stewardess" and "Clean Prudy".
Bella Akhmadulina's poems were often heard in domestic films. For the first time her poem sounded in the "Zastava Ilyich" (1964). In 1973, a movie almanac called “My Friends” was released, in which Akhmadulina’s poems were repeatedly used.
In the popularly beloved "Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath!" Eldara Ryazanova, the main character Nadya, in the voice of Alla Pugacheva, sang the soulful song “Along my street that year ...” based on the poem of the same name by Akhmadulina.
In 1976, the poetess read her poem in the film "Key without the right to transfer." Two years later, the heroine of Svetlana Nemolyaeva in the cult film by Eldar Ryazanov "Office Romance" read Akhmadulina's poem "Oh, my shy hero" from the collection "Chills".
In 1984, in the film “I Came and I Say”, the famous singer Alla Pugacheva performed “Climb the stage” - a song based on the lyrics by Bella Akhmadulina. In the same year, the film "Cruel Romance" by Eldar Ryazanov was released, in which three wonderful poems by the poetess were used.
Akhmadulina's original declamatory intonations were used by Iya Savina, who voiced Piglet in the cartoon about Winnie the Pooh.
Bella Akhmadulina's personal life
Being an eighteen-year-old girl, the poetess married the famous poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko. But the marriage was short-lived. After three years of married life, the couple broke up.
A year passed after parting with her husband, and Akhmadulina again decided to marry. Her next husband was the writer - writer Yuri Nagibin. And this marriage was short-lived. The poetess lived with Nagibin for nine years. Vasily Aksenov in his biographical novel "Mysterious Passion" wrote that the reason for the divorce of the spouses was the betrayal of Akhmadulina.
In 1968, Akhmadulina decided to adopt Anya, an orphan. The middle name was given to the girl by Yuri Nagibin.
The third husband of the poetess was Eldar Kuliev. The couple had a daughter, Lisa. Alas, this marriage was short-lived.
In 1974, Bella became the wife of Boris Messerer, a talented theater artist. Their acquaintance was accidental - they met while walking their dogs. This time Akhmadulina was lucky. The poetess lived with her fourth husband until her death. Having entered into another marriage, Akhmadulina gave her daughters to her mother and a housekeeper for education. After some time, the poetess resumed her relationship with her daughters, but did not take an active part in their lives.
At the end of life
The last period of the life of the poetess was overshadowed by a serious illness. Bella Akhmadulina stopped being creative and almost never left her house in Peredelkino.
In 2010, the seventy-three-year-old poetess was hospitalized. She had an operation. Unfortunately, this did not save Akhmadulina. Four days later she was discharged home. November 29 Bella Akhmadulina left our world.
They said goodbye to their beloved poetess in the Moscow House of Writers a few days later. On December 3, Bella Akhmadulina was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery.
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