Register of the Joseph Brodsky papers
Finding aid prepared by Lora Soroka
Hoover Institution Library and Archives
© 2016
434 Galvez Mall
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-6003
hoover-library-archives@stanford.edu
Title: Joseph Brodsky papers
Date (inclusive): 1964-2013
Collection Number: 88072
Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives
Language of Material: Russian and English
Physical Description:
2 manuscript boxes, 2 oversize boxes, 1 oversize folder
(4.5 Linear Feet)
Abstract: Correspondence, poems, other writings, printed matter, photographs, and drawings relating to Russian literature and dissent.
Includes transcript of 1964 trial of Joseph Brodsky in the Soviet Union. Mainly collected by Diana Myers. Includes some papers
of Diana Myers.
Creator:
Brodsky, Joseph, 1940-1996
Creator:
Myers, Diana
Physical Location: Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Access
The collection is open for research; materials must be requested in advance via our reservation system. If there are audiovisual
or digital media material in the collection, they must be reformatted before providing access.
Use
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Acquisition Information
Acquired by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives in 1988 and 2016.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Joseph Brodsky papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Related Collections Outside of Stanford
Joseph Brodsky Papers. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
Biographical Note
Joseph Brodsky (24 May 1940 – 28 January 1996) was a Russian and American poet and essayist.
Born in Leningrad in 1940, Brodsky disliked Soviet school education and ended his formal schooling at the age of fifteen.
He then worked in various places, including a factory and a morgue, and was a part of geological expeditions. He began writing
poetry as a teenager and soon became interested in translating poetry, for which he taught himself Polish and English. In
1960 he was introduced to Anna Akhmatova, one of the leading poets of the Silver Age. She encouraged his work and would go
on to become his mentor. Brodsky's early writings in the Soviet Union were circulated in samizdat (self-published) collections.
In 1963, Brodsky's poetry was denounced by a Leningrad newspaper as "pornographic and anti-Soviet." His papers were confiscated,
and he was interrogated, twice put in a mental institution, and arrested. He was charged with "social parasitism" and sentenced
to five years of exile in the village of Norenskaia (Arkhangel'skaia oblast', northern Russia), where he lived from March
1964 through October 1965 and wrote prolifically. The authorities were forced to allow Brodsky to return to Leningrad after
eighteen months of exile by protests of preeminent Soviet cultural figures, including poet Anna Akhmatova and composer Dmitriî
Shostakovich. Brodsky's trial and sentence brought him international attention when Frida Vigdorova's court transcript started
circulating in the Western media. Around this time his first book
Stikhotvoreniia i poemy, edited by Gleb Struve and Boris Filippov, was published in the United States (Washington, D.C. & New York: Inter-Language
Literary Associates).
In 1972, Brodsky was suddenly granted a visa (for which he had not applied) to immigrate to Israel. He had to leave Russia
within a matter of weeks and never returned. After a short stay in Vienna and London, Brodsky settled in the United States
and spent his first year as poet in residence at Michigan University, Ann Arbor. He taught thereafter at Mount Holyoke College,
Yale, Columbia, Cambridge, Michigan, and other universities.
Brodsky was awarded the 1987 Nobel Prize in Literature "for an all-embracing authorship, imbued with clarity of thought and
poetic intensity." He was appointed U.S. Poet Laureate in 1991.
Among Brodsky's many other awards and honors are a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship (1977), a John D.
and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Award (1981), a National Book Critics Circle Award (1986), France's Order of the Legion
of Honor (1991), and honorary degrees from Yale University (1978), Dartmouth College (1989), and Oxford University (1991).
During his lifetime, much of Brodsky's collected poetry and prose was published by Ardis in Ann Arbor, Michigan (Russian-language
poetry), and Farrar, Straus and Giroux in New York (English-language poetry, English translations, and prose collections).
Brodsky suffered from heart disease throughout his adult life and had several open-heart surgeries. He died of heart failure
on January 28, 1996.
Scope and Content of Collection
Joseph Brodsky's papers, meticulously collected by his longtime friend Diana Myers, include their correspondence from 1968
(when they both lived in Leningrad) through 1970 to 1972 (when Brodsky still lived in Leningrad, while Diana married Alan
Myers and left for London), and through Brodsky's life in the United States. The most intensive correspondence between them
(1970–1980) relates to Brodsky's last two years in the Soviet Union before immigration (1970–1972) and his first years in
the United States. These sincere and direct letters document Brodsky's life as he was establishing himself in the United States.
In London Brodsky often stayed at the home of Diana and her husband, Alan Myers, who translated Brodsky's poetry into English.
Letters to Brodsky from various people during these times, as well as Diana's own letters to Brodsky and letters to her from
various people concerning Brodsky, were preserved by Diana. She also saved Brodsky's notes and ink and chalk drawings.
The papers also document Brodsky's professional life through his writings, including drafts, holographs, typescripts, and
computer-generated texts, allowing us to catch a glimpse of stages of his work. Photographs, mostly taken by Diana during
the 1991 conference in memory of Osip Mandelstam, depict Brodsky in informal discussions. Materials from Brodsky's memorial
services include invitations, programs, and tributes. The papers also include the proceedings of Joseph Brodsky's trial on
charges of social parasitism in the court of Leningrad's Dzerzhinskii district.
Related Collections
Irwin and Shirley Holzman collection, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Gleb Struve papers, Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Joseph Brodsky papers from the archives of the Katilius family, Stanford Special Collections
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Russian literature
Dissenters -- Soviet Union
Political crimes and offenses -- Soviet Union
Drawings
Biographical File
1964-1997
box 1, folder 1
Transcript of Joseph Brodsky's trial in Leningrad (Saint-Petersburg)
1964
Honorary degrees
1981-1991
Arrangement Statement
Arranged chronologically.
box 1, folder 1
Nomination for Honorary Degree, University of Birmingham, draft
1981
Language of Material: English.
drawer J07
Honorary Diploma of Doctor of Letters, Oxford University
1986
box 1, folder 1
Encaenia, Honorary Degrees, University of Oxford
1991 June 19
Scope and Contents note
A booklet listing recipients of honorary degrees on 19 June 1991.
Memorial and commemoration services
1996-1997
Language of Material: English.
box 1, folder 2
Memorial service at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York, program and invitation
1996 March 8
box 1, folder 2
"Each Man Before God Is Naked: A Tribute to the Russian Joseph Brodsky," Steiner Theatre, London, program and flyer
1996 July 11
box 1, folder 2
Tribute to Joseph Brodsky at the Brunei Gallery organized by Diana Myers, School of Slavonic and East European Studies, London
University
1997 January 31
Scope and Contents note
Includes a planning document, a program, an invitation, texts of presentations by Seamus Heaney and Diana Myers, and related
correspondence.
Diana Myers,
1967-1992
Arrangement Statement
Arranged chronologically.
Letters to her
1967-1992
Language of Material: Russian.
box 1, folder 3
From Leningrad,
1967-1972, undated
box 1, folder 4-5
From the United States
1972-1992, undated
Scope and Contents note
Holograph and photocopies. Includes letters and postcards to her husband Alan Myers, 1972-1985 and undated.
box 1, folder 6
Letters from her
1970s-1989
Language of Material: Russian.
With others
1977-1991
Arrangement Statement
Arranged alphabetically by last name of correspondent.
box 1, folder 7
Unidentified
1978
Scope and Contents
Arranged alphabetically by name of sender.
box 1, folder 7
Bearden, Maureen
1982, undated
Language of Material: English.
box 1, folder 7
Heyman, Arlene
1988
Language of Material: English.
box 1, folder 7
Iakimchuk, N.,
1991
Language of Material: Russian.
box 1, folder 7
Jangfeldt, Bengt
1988
Language of Material: Russian.
box 1, folder 7
Klass, Stephen I.,
1988
Language of Material: English.
Scope and Contents
Includes two poems by Werner Asperström.
box 1, folder 7
Korobova, Era
1991
Language of Material: Russian.
Scope and Contents note
Photocopies. Includes drawing by Brodsky in verso of letter pages.
box 1, folder 7
Kruzhkov, Grigoriî
1987
Language of Material: Russian.
box 1, folder 7
Murray, Les
1986
Language of Material: English.
box 1, folder 7
Naiman, Anatoliî (photocopy)
1977
box 1, folder 7
Polukhina, Valentina (letter to her)
1988
box 1, folder 7
Reidel, Jim
Language of Material: English.
box 1, folder 7
Reîn, Evgeniî
1988
Language of Material: Russian.
box 1, folder 7
Skidelskiî, I.
1978
Language of Material: Russian.
box 1, folder 7
Ufliand, Vladimir (?)
1991
Language of Material: Russian.
box 1, folder 7
Yevtushenko, Yevgeniî
1977
Language of Material: Russian.
box 1, folder 8
Notes
1977, 1982, undated
Scope and Contents note
Some notes include ink drawings by Brodsky.
Drawings
1977, 1982, undated
box 1, folder 9
Ink drawings
1977, 1982, undated
box 4
Six black chalk drawings
undated
Speeches and Writings
1968-1992, undated
Holographs
1967, undated
Arrangement Statement
Drafts and undated poems arranged alphabetically, followed by the 1967 poem.
box 1, folder 10
"Articulation of Siberia,"
undated
Language of Material: English.
box 1, folder 10
"Thank You for You Appear ...,"
undated
Language of Material: English.
box 1, folder 10
"Po vecheram, ne pokladaia ruk...,"
undated
box 1, folder 10
"What Use Are Days?...,"
undated
Language of Material: English.
box 1, folder 10
"Kak nynche vam zhivetsia...," unpublished
1967
Original typescripts
1965-1995
Arrangement Statement
Arranged chronologically.
box 1, folder 11
"Ne zabudem zhe Tiutcheva," unpublished
undated
box 1, folder 11
"A Postcard: Elegy,"
undated
Language of Material: English.
box 1, folder 11
"Akh, byt' bede...," unpublished
1965
box 1, folder 11
"Chto-to zdes' nespravedlivo...," unpublished
1965
box 1, folder 11
"Muzhchina, zasypaiushchii odin...,"
1965
box 1, folder 11
"Elegiia: Robertu Louellu,"
1977
Scope and Contents note
Includes translation of the poem by V. Strochkov, 1983.
box 1, folder 11
"Otkrytka iz goroda L.,"
1988
Scope and Contents note
One of the first versions of the poem later entitled "Otkrytka iz Lissabona." Includes holograph corrections and changes.
box 1, folder 11
"V kafe," two versions
1988
box 1, folder 11
"Posviashchaetsia Piranezi,"
1993-1995
Computer printouts
1989-1992
Arrangement Statement
Arranged chronologically by date according to Brodsky's own chronology. If a different date is found on the same published
work, it is shown in parentheses.
box 1, folder 12
"Ispanskaia tantsovshchitsa,"
1989 (1993)
box 1, folder 12
"Ritrato di donna,"
1990 (1992)
box 1, folder 12
"Snaruzhi temneet, vernei - sineeet, tochnei - cherneet...,"
1990 (1993)
box 1, folder 12
"Tomasu Transtremeru,"
1990 (1992)
box 1, folder 12
"Podrazhanie Goratsiiu" (incomplete)
1992 (1993)
box 1, folder 12
"Pamiati N.N.,"
1992
Scope and Contents note
Dated according to Valentina Polukhina's book
Iosif Brodskiî: Zhizn', trudy, epokha. Sankt-Peterburg : Zhurnal
Zvezda, 2008.
box 1, folder 12
"Podruga, durniia litsom, poselilas' v derevne...,"
1992
box 1, folder 12
"Pristan' Fagerdala,"
1992
box 1, folder 12
"Vid s kholma,"
1992 February
Photocopies
1973-1993
Arrangement Statement
Arranged chronologically, according to Brodsky's chronology. When undated by him, dates were established by Valentina Polukhina's
book
Iosif Brodskiî: Zhizn', trudy, epokha. Sankt-Peterburg : Zhurnal
Zvezda, 2008.
box 2, folder 1-2
"Osennii krik iastreba,"
1975 (1978)
box 2, folder 1-2
"Piataia godovshchina,"
1977
box 2, folder 1-2
"To ne Muza vody nabiraet v rot...,"
1980
box 2, folder 1-2
"Ekloga V-ia: letniaia,"
1980-1981
box 2, folder 1-2
"Teper', znaia mnogoe...,"
1984
box 2, folder 1-2
"V gorakh,"
1985/1988
Scope and Contents note
Includes several versions of the poem.
box 2, folder 1-2
"Predstavlenie,"
1986 (1988)
box 2, folder 1-2
"Rozhdestvenskaia zvezda,"
1987
box 2, folder 1-2
"Begstvo v Egipet,"
1988 December 25
box 2, folder 1-2
"Otkrytka iz Lissabona,"
1988
box 2, folder 1-2
"Posviashchaetsia Dzhiralamo Marchello,"
1988 (1991)
box 2, folder 1-2
"Avstraliia (Pamiati ottsa: Avstraliia),"
1989
box 2, folder 1-2
"Dorogaia, ia vyshel segodnia iz domu...,"
1989
box 2, folder 1-2
"Elegiia (Postoianstvo sut' evolitsiia printsipa...),"
1989
box 2, folder 1-2
"Landsver Kanal, Berlin,"
1989
box 2, folder 1-2
"Na stoletie Anny Akhmatovoi,"
1989
box 2, folder 1-2
"Pchely ne uleteli, vsadnik ne uskakal...,"
1989
box 2, folder 1-2
"Primechaniia paporotnika,"
1989
box 2, folder 1-2
"Metel' v Massachusetse,"
1990
box 2, folder 1-2
"Mikhailu Baryshnikovu,"
1992
box 2, folder 1-2
"Ia slyshu ne to, chto ty mne govorish'...,"
1993
Essays and lectures
1984-1992, undated
Arrangement Statement
Arranged chronologically.
box 2, folder 3
Commencement address at Williams College
1984
box 2, folder 3
Nobel Prize lecture
1987
Language of Material: English.
box 2, folder 3
"Collector's Item," first draft (photocopy)
1992
Language of Material: English.
box 2, folder 3
Untitled (photocopy with holograph corrections)
undated
box 2, folder 5
"Storm" by John Donne
1988
box 2, folder 5
Poems translated by Gennadii Shmakov and edited by Brodsky
1988
box 3
Photographs
1972, 1991
Scope and Contents note
Includes 24 prints depicting mostly Brodsky at the 1991 Mandelstam conference; four portraits, 1972-1991; and two prints depicting
Brodsky on June 4, 1972, the day he left the Soviet Union.
Memorabilia
1972-1991
undated
os_folder 1
Poster for the play
Marmur by Joseph Brodsky at the Teatr Śląski, Katowic, Poland
1991
box 2, folder 6
Memorabilia
1972-1991
Scope and Contents
Includes Joseph Brodsky's astrological chart; tickets to a lecture and presentation by Brodsky in London; and a book
V Anglii (limited edition of 60 copies, 1977) dedicated to Diana and Alan Myers, copy #44, with inscription.
box 2, folder 7
Printed Matter
1988-1996
Scope and Contents note
Includes photocopies of publications by and about Joseph Brodsky.
Diana Myers Correspondence
1976-2013
Arrangement Statement
Arranged alphabetically by name of correspondent.
box 2, folder 8-9
Two unidentified letters
1976, 2004
Scope and Contents note
The 1976 letter is addressed to Diana and Alan Myers.
box 2, folder 8-9
Brodsky, Maria
1998-2004
Scope and Contents note
Includes greeting cards from Maria Brodsky, widow of Josef Brodsky, with photographs of their daughter Anna; a fundraising
letter from the Joseph Brodsky Memorial Fellowship Fund; and a greeting card from Diana Myers to Maria Brodsky.
box 2, folder 8-9
Bukovsky, Vladimir (letter to him)
2005
box 2, folder 8-9
Gosudarstvennyj literaturno-memorial'nyi muzei Anny Akhmatovoi v Fontannom dome,
2009
box 2, folder 8-9
Gandlevskiî, Sergeî
1995
1997
box 2, folder 8-9
Golyshev, Viktor (Mika)
1997
box 2, folder 8-9
Katilius, Ramünas
circa 1977
1985
1997
box 2, folder 8-9
Kjelberg, Ann
1996-2000
Scope and Contents note
Includes one letter from Diana Myers to Ann Kjelberg (undated) and a letter to Ann Kjelberg from Brodsky's friends regarding
Valentina Polukhina's book
Iosif Brodskiî: Zhizn', trudy, epokha. Sankt-Peterburg: Zhurnal
Zvezda, 1988.
box 2, folder 8-9
McCarthy, Liam,
1977-1979, 2013
box 2, folder 8-9
Memorial, Dobrovol'noe istoriko-prosvetitel'skoe obshcheestvo
1991
box 2, folder 8-9
Petrushanskaia, Elena
1996
box 2, folder 8-9
State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts
2001
box 2, folder 10
Writings by Others
1989-1991, undated
Scope and Contents note
Includes writings and translations by unidentified authors and by Sergeî Martirosov and Elena Ushakova.
