This time it is not social parasitism that our ginger is officially being accused of, but something akin to “political incorrectness”. As in 1964, these official terms lack real meaning and are only a cover for what the actual crime is — the writing itself. Just as in 1964 Brodsky is on trial for what he has written. While the official charge may change …

Since the publication of Amanda Haight’s Biography of Anna Akhmatova, A Poetic Pilgrimage in the 1980s interest in Akhmatova has been growing. Since Haight’s work, several other biographies about the great Russian poet have been published: Poet and Prophet by Roberta Reeder and the book in question, Anna of All the Russias – a life of Anna Akhmatova …