Innokenty Annensky
Innokenty Annensky | |
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Born | Innokenty Fyodorovich Annensky 1 September [O.S. 20 August] 1855 Omsk, Russian Empire |
Died | 13 December [O.S. 30 November] 1909 (aged 54) Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire |
Innokenty Fyodorovich Annensky (Russian: Инноке́нтий Фёдорович А́нненский, IPA:
Biography
Annensky was born into the family of a public official in
In 1879, Annensky graduated from the
Annensky was somewhat reluctant to publish his original poems and first gained fame with his translations of Euripides and the French Symbolists. From 1890 until his death in 1909, he translated all the works of Euripides from Ancient Greek . At the beginning of the 1900s, Annensky wrote a series of tragedies modelled after those of ancient Greece: Melanippe the Wise (1901), King Ixion (1902), Laodamia (1906), and Thamyris the Citharode (1913).
As a literary critic, Annensky published Book of Reflections and Second Book of Reflections on Russian and European novelists, poets, and playwrights. His essays were sometimes termed "critical prose" because of the artistic value of these texts. During his last months, Annensky worked as an editor of
In
On 13 December [O.S. 30 November] 1909, while heading to a meeting to discuss an unpublished essay about Euripides at the Society of Classical Philology, Annensky died from a heart attack at the Tsarskoe Selo railway station in Saint Petersburg.[8]
Poetic assessment
Annensky was interested in Symbolism, and he followed its growth in both Europe and Russia. This, combined with his knowledge of poetry, can be seen in his verses. Setchkarev, the author of the first critical study of Annensky, claims that Annensky was likely the "most pessimistic of the Russian Symbolists".[9][10] Annensky saw life as a "wicked enchantment" and an unhappy nightmare that he knew would end in death.[11] The specificities and unknowns of death raise questions within Symbolist poetry, and it has a particularly strong position in Annensky's poetry. He sensed that life was nothing without the inescapable concept of death and wrote often about symbols of life and time.
Shown below are the poems "October Myth" and "Tears Fall in My Heart" by Annensky and the French Symbolist Verlaine respectively. "October Myth" showcases Annensky's poetic style while taking inspiration from "Tears Fall in My Heart," displaying a contrast between Annensky's poetry and French Symbolism.[12]
"October Myth" and "Tears Fall in My Heart"
Октябрьский миф |
Il pleure dans mon cœur |
—Innokenty Annensky, The Cypress Chest, Published by Grif (1910), Moscow, Russia | —Paul Verlaine, Romances sans paroles, in Ariettes oubliées, no. 3, Sens, Typographie de Maurice L'Hermite (1874) |
Legacy
- Asteroid Lyudmila Zhuravlyova in 1979 was named in his honor.[13]
- Memorial stone to Innokenty Annensky in Omsk, Russia (established in 2008).
References and notes
- ^ Kelly, C. (1986). Innokenty Fedorovich Annensky and the classical ideal (PhD). University of Oxford. p. 3, Abstract
- ^ Kelly 1986, p. 3, Abstract.
- S2CID 164589871.
- JSTOR 40245919– via JSTOR.
- ^ Kelly 1986, p. 19, Abstract.
- ^ In the memoirs of Annensky's son, Valentin Krivich, the birth year was stated incorrectly as 1856. From there the date propagated in many biographies. The same incorrect birth year is even stated on Innokenty Anennsky's grave. Only in the 1970s a special archive investigation determined the correct birth year as 1855. See [1]
- ISBN 0882334743.
- ^ Kelly 1986, p. 100, Abstract.
- ^ Morrison 1982, p. ix.
- ^ "Faculty of Arts and Sciences — Memorial Minute — Vsevolod Setchkarev". Harvard Gazette. 2000-05-18. Retrieved 2021-10-19.
- ^ Morrison 1982, p. x.
- ^ V. E. Gitin, “’Intensivnyi metod’ v poezii Annenskogo (Poetika variantov: dva ‘pushkinskikh’ stikhotvoreniia v ‘Tikhikh pesniakh’).” Russkaia literatura, 4, 1997, 34-53
- ISBN 3-540-00238-3.
External links
- Works of Innokenty Annensky - in Russian
- Works and Biography of Innokenty Annensky - in Russian
- Biography of Annensky - in Russian
- Yevgeny Bonver Translations of Annensky -in English
- Biography of Annensky- in English
- English translations of 4 poems
- Another translation of "Amid Worlds"
- Works by Innokenty Annensky at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)