Marina Tsvetaeva’s place as a cultural icon in post-Soviet Russia is comparable to that achieved in English literature today by Virginia Woolf, whose presence both in high and popular culture instigates continuous debate about art, politics, sexuality, gender, the canon, feminism and fashion. Tsvetaeva is acknowledged by many as Russia’s greatest twentieth-century poet, with a martyr’s status in her native country for her fierce opposition to Stalin’s regime: post-Soviet readers see her suicide in 1941 in Elabuga as a powerful gesture of opposition to Stalin’s cultural élite and totalitarianism. Although she died relatively young (aged 49), Tsvetaeva’s prolific legacy extends over many genres, including correspondence with established European and Russian modernist authors,…
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Citation: Smith, Alexandra. "Marina Tsvetaeva". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 20 July 2005 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=4466, accessed 22 November 2024.]
