Arseny Aleksandrovich Tarkovsky (russian: link=no, Арсений Александрович Тарковский; 27 May 1989) was a Soviet and Russian poet and translator. He was predeceased by his son, film director

Andrei Tarkovsky Andrei Arsenyevich Tarkovsky ( rus, Андрей Арсеньевич Тарковский, p=ɐnˈdrʲej ɐrˈsʲenʲjɪvʲɪtɕ tɐrˈkofskʲɪj; 4 April 1932 – 29 December 1986) was a Russian filmmaker. Widely considered one of the greates ...

Biography

Family

Tarkovsky was born on 25 June N.S. 1907 in Yelisavetgrad,

Kherson Governorate The Kherson Governorate (1802–1922; russian: Херсонская губерния, translit.: ''Khersonskaya guberniya''; uk, Херсонська губернія, translit=Khersonska huberniia), was an administrative territorial unit (als ...

, Russian Empire (now

Kropyvnytskyi Kropyvnytskyi ( uk, Кропивницький, Kropyvnytskyi ) is a city in central Ukraine on the Inhul river with a population of . It is an administrative center of the Kirovohrad Oblast. Over its history, Kropyvnytskyi has changed its nam ...

, Ukraine). His father, Aleksandr Tarkovsky (in pl, link=no, Aleksander Tarkowski), was a bank clerk, Russian revolutionary (

Narodnik The Narodniks (russian: народники, ) were a politically conscious movement of the Russian intelligentsia in the 1860s and 1870s, some of whom became involved in revolutionary agitation against tsarism. Their ideology, known as Narodism, ...

), and amateur actor of Polish origin and his mother was Maria Danilovna Rachkovskaya.

Youth

In 1921, Tarkovsky and his friends published a poem which contained an

acrostic An acrostic is a poem or other word composition in which the ''first'' letter (or syllable, or word) of each new line (or paragraph, or other recurring feature in the text) spells out a word, message or the alphabet. The term comes from the F ...

about

Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1 ...

. They were arrested, and sent to Nikolayev for execution. Tarkovsky was the only one that managed to escape.

Career

By 1924 Tarkovsky moved to Moscow, and from 1924 to 1925 he worked for a newspaper for railroad workers called ''Gudok'', where he managed an editorial section written in verse. In 1925–1929 he studied literature at a

university college In a number of countries, a university college is a college institution that provides tertiary education but does not have full or independent university status. A university college is often part of a larger university. The precise usage varies ...

:ru:Высшие государственные литературные курсы in Moscow. At that time he translated poetry from Turkmen, Georgian, Armenian and Arabic. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

he volunteered as a war-correspondent at the army newspaper ''Boevaya Trevoga'' (War Alarm). He was wounded in action in 1943. The leg wound he received caused

gas gangrene Gas gangrene (also known as clostridial myonecrosis and myonecrosis) is a bacterial infection that produces tissue gas in gangrene. This deadly form of gangrene usually is caused by '' Clostridium perfringens'' bacteria. About 1,000 cases of gas ...

, and Tarkovsky had to undergo six gradual amputations. Arseny Tarkovsky was mainly known as a translator of Abu'l-Ala-Al-Ma'arri, Nizami, Magtymguly, Kemine,

Sayat-Nova Sayat-Nova ( Armenian: Սայեաթ-Նովայ ( сlassical), Սայաթ-Նովա ( reformed); ka, საიათნოვა; ; ; born Harutyun Sayatyan; 14 June 1712 – 22 September 1795) was an Armenian poet, musician and ''ashugh'', w ...

, Vazha-Pshavela,

Adam Mickiewicz Adam Bernard Mickiewicz (; 24 December 179826 November 1855) was a Polish poet, dramatist, essayist, publicist, translator and political activist. He is regarded as national poet in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus. A principal figure in Polish Ro ...

Mollanepes , russian: imeni Poltoratskogo (1975-1993) , native_name = , settlement_type = Town , image_skyline = , imagesize = , image_caption = , image_flag = , flag_size = , im ...

Grigol Orbeliani Prince Grigol Orbeliani or Jambakur-Orbeliani ( ka, გრიგოლ ორბელიანი; ჯამბაკურ-ორბელიანი) (2 October 1804 – 21 March 1883) was a Georgian Romanticist poet and general in Imper ...

and many other poets. His first collection of poetry, ''Before snow'', was published in 1962.

Death

He lived mostly in Moscow and

Peredelkino Peredelkino ( rus, Переде́лкино, p=pʲɪrʲɪˈdʲelkʲɪnə) is a dacha complex situated just to the southwest of Moscow, Russia. History The settlement originated as the estate of Peredeltsy, owned by the Leontievs (maternal rela ...

and died on 27 May 1989, in Moscow. In 1989 he was posthumously awarded the

USSR State Prize The USSR State Prize (russian: links=no, Государственная премия СССР, Gosudarstvennaya premiya SSSR) was the Soviet Union's state honor. It was established on 9 September 1966. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, t ...

Books

*''Перед снегом'' – ''Before snow'' (1962); *''Земле земное'' – ''To Earth Its Own'' (1966); *''Вестник'' – ''Messenger'' (1969); *''Стихотворения'' – ''Poems'' (1974); *''Зимний день'' – ''Winter Day'' (1980); *''Избранное'' – ''Selected works'' (1982); *''Стихи разных лет'' – ''Poems of different years'' (1983)compilation of early verse; *''От юности до старости'' – ''From Youth to Old Age'' (1987); *''Благословенный свет'' – ''The Blessed Light'' (1993).

Notes

External links

Biography

Some poems translated to English

A selection of three poems in English translation in ''Harvard Review'': "Housewarming," "Dreams," and "The Azov Steppe". {{DEFAULTSORT:Tarkovsky, Arseny 1907 births 1989 deaths 20th-century Russian male writers 20th-century Russian poets 20th-century Russian translators Writers from Kropyvnytskyi People from Yelisavetgradsky Uyezd Recipients of the Order of Friendship of Peoples Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Recipients of the Order of the Red Star Recipients of the USSR State Prize Translators from Arabic Translators from Armenian Translators from Georgian Translators from Polish Translators from Serbian Translators from Turkmen Translators to Russian Russian people of Polish descent Soviet male poets Soviet translators