The identity shifts in Brodsky’s exiled fate

【Abstract】Joseph Brodsky （24 May 1940 – 28 January 1996） was a Russian and American poet and essayist. 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. He was awarded the 1987 Nobel Prize in Literature ?for an all-embracing authorship， imbued with clarity of thought and poetic intensity?. In an interview he was asked： ?You are an American citizen who is receiving the Prize for Russian-language poetry. Who are you， an American or a Russian？? ?I?m Jewish； a Russian poet， an English essayist – and， of course， an American citizen?， he responded.

【Key words】linear principle； identity； depart； exile

【作者簡介】高玉煥，青島大學(xué)。

The Poet Identity

Brodsky was a Russian poet known to a handful of audiences before he was exiled to America. In 1963， Brodsky’s poetry was denounced by a Leningrad newspaper as “pornographic and anti-Soviet”. His papers were confiscated， he was interrogated， twice put in a mental institution， he was three times put in the prison， he was abused without any interpretation. He was charged with social parasitism by the Soviet authorities in a trial in 1964， finding that his series of odd jobs and role as a poet were not a sufficient contribution to society. They called him ?a pseudo-poet in velveteen trousers? who failed to fulfill his ?constitutional duty to work honestly for the good of the motherland?. For his ?parasitism? Brodsky was sentenced to five years hard labor and served 18 months on a farm in the village of Norenskaya， in the Archangelsk region， 350 miles from Leningrad.

The Political Identity

In 1964， the world famous Brodsky Case made him known to other parts of the globe. Based on the paragraph and with little knowledge of the social-political condition of the Soviet， the western writers made full use of their imagination to create their own version of that case or to express their opinions about it. Moreover， Brodsky Case was adapted into a radio play broadcast over the BBC in England. The American-based poet， John Berryman， voiced for Brodsky in his poem named Dream Songs， which was popularized widely. Brodsky’s sentence was commuted in 1965 after protests by prominent Soviet and foreign cultural figures， making him a symbol of artistic resistance in a totalitarian society， much like his mentor Akhmatova. Persecuted for his poetry and his Jewish heritage， he was denied permission to travel.

The Diasporic Identity

In 1971， Brodsky was twice invited to emigrate to Israel. When called to the Ministry of the Interior in 1972 and asked why he had not accepted， he stated that he wished to stay in the country. Within 10 days officials broke into his apartment， took his papers， and on 4 June 1972 put him on a plane for Vienna， Austria. He never returned to Russia and never saw Basmanova again. After a short stay in Vienna， Brodsky settled in Ann Arbor， with the help of poet Auden and Proffer and became poet in residence at the University of Michigan for a year.

The Intellectual Identity

To restore his born culture of Russian poetry， he began to translate the previous poem from Russian to English， rewriting the past history and constructing a new identity. He had his own opinion of translation. Translation delivers the culture of Russian poetry to those who are unfamiliar with it and connects the poet with his previous memories. This shows his eagerness to re-present exactly the full picture of his Russian poems. His English Essays marks his success in reestablishing himself， he was reborn with a new skin at this time. In 1991， Brodsky became Poet Laureate of the United States. The Librarian of Congress said that Brodsky had ?the open-ended interest of American life that immigrants have.

In Brodsky’s life， different stages generate different identities. It develops as the linear principle， he never come back to the original position.

References：

[1]Ilan Stavans.2001.Living in Another Language[J].New England Review，22（3）：168-172

[2]Joseph Brodsky.1992.Less Than One[M].New York：Farrar，Straus Giroux.

[3]Lev Loseffle Valentina Polukhina.1990.Brodsky’s poetics and Aesthetics[M].London：Macmillan Press.

[4]Salman Rushdie.1991.Imaginary Homeland：Essays and Criticism 1981-1991[M].London：Granta.

[5]Valentina Polukhina，Thomas Bigelow.1997.Bibliography of Joseph Brodsky’s Essays，Introductions，Reviews，Letters（In English and Russian）[J].Russian Literature，7：241-254.