A. Akhmatova. Autograph manuscript of the poem "Requiem", signed and inscribed to Viktor Ardov, 1957

AKHMATOVA, ANNA
Autograph manuscript of the poem "Requiem", signed and inscribed on the wrapper ("to Viktor Efimovich Ardov with gratitude, Anna Akhmatova, 7 April 1957, Moscow Ordynka")

the complete fair-copy draft of the poem written in light violet ink, with the author's underlinings, reinforced capitals and ornaments in orange crayon, and signed ("Anna Akhmatova"), at the end, beginning with 'Instead of a Preface' ("In the terrible years of the Yezhov era, I spent seventeen months on prison lines in Leningrad"), dated 1 April 1957, followed by the 'Dedication', 'Prologue' and ten numbered poems, including an early version of no. X ('Crucifixion') and the 'Epilogue', which was evidently reordered later,
18 pages, folio (c.19.7 x 21cm), 9 single sheets within a paper wrapper, paginated by the author in orange crayon, booklabel of Viktor Ardov, Leningrad and Moscow, 1-7 April 1957, light browning to the first leaf

THIS IS A MAJOR AUTOGRAPH MANUSCRIPT BY ANNA AKHMATOVA OF A FAMOUS POEM NOT PUBLISHED IN RUSSIA DURING HER LIFETIME. 'Requiem' describes her reaction to the Stalinist purges under Nikolai Yezhov, head of the NKVD from 1936 to 1938; it was therefore still excluded from the first Soviet edition of her poems in 1976. The Russian text was published in Munich in 1963, but not until 1987 in the Soviet Union. The vicissitudes of Akhmatova's own life are recalled in the poem, including the loss of her husband Nikolay Gumilev in 1921 and her son Lev in 1935 ("No.2 "Husband in grave, son in jail"). Her former lover Mandelshtam was denounced and sentenced to the Gulag in 1938, where he died that winter. The same year, Lev was sentenced to five years but survived, only to be sentenced again in 1949, this time for ten years. The first numbered poem ("They took you away at dawn") dated Autumn 1935 recalls the first arrest of her partner Nikolay Punin and Lev, whilst no.VII ("The word fell, dropping like a stone"), recalls their sentencing. Akhmatova deals with all these arrests in this remarkable and famous poem, but particularly the Red Terror under Yezhov.

This manuscript contains the complete poem, including the recently-added preface, 'Instead of a Foreword'. The inclusion of the 'Prologue' is notable, since this section is said to have been only added in 1960, whereas this manuscript bears a dedication date of 1957. Otherwise, the most substantial difference is that no.X ('Crucifixion': "Do not weep for me Mother, when I am in the grave"), encompasses more than merely two verses, containing most of the text later assigned to the 'Epilogue'. The date at the end of the 'Dedication' on page 3 is "1940" and the end of the 'Prologue' on page 5 is "1935", both without the month specified.

Victor Efimovich Zilberman (nom de plume: "Ardov"), (1900-1976) was a Soviet satirist and a life-long friend of Anna Akhmatova. In his memoirs, he wrote, "Anna Andreevna spent as much time with us in our home during 1934-1966 as she spent in her own place in Leningrad." Ardov and his family comforted Akhmatova and shielded her from the severe oppression of the Stalinist regime (including not just Stalin and Yezhov, but the attacks by Zhdanov too), and supported her rehabilitation and eventual readmittance into the Union of Soviet Writers.

LITERATURE:
N.K. Anderson, Anna Akhmatova: The Word That Causes Death's Defeat (Yale, 2004), pp.135-142 & 181-193; A. Akhmatova, Rekviem, ed. T. Lilja (2008)

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