From Publishers Weekly
Drawing on interviews, diaries and recently available KGB records, Kudrova, who has written on the life and work of Marina Tsvetaeva (1892-1941), details the Russian poet's last years before her suicide at the age of 49. Despite the somewhat uneven translation, Kudrova's narrative is consistently gripping and exudes an aura of relentless tragedy. In 1922, the poet left Moscow to join her husband, Efron, who had been forced to emigrate to Paris for political reasons. With her son, Mur, and daughter, Alya (another daughter died earlier of malnutrition), she lived there and continued to write poetry. In 1937, Efron, who worked for the Soviet secret police, was ordered to return to Russia, where Alya now lived. In 1938, Tsvetaeva and their son followed and, for a time, all were housed by the state at a dacha in Bolshevo. Virtually a prisoner, Tsvetaeva had little to do with Russia's literary world. There is no evidence that she was even contacted at this time by her friend Boris Pasternak. After her husband and daughter were arrested, she fell into a depression. Kudrova successfully evokes the world of 1930s Russia, where no one was safe from purges and informers; trials and executions were common. The author traces Tsvetaeva's desperate attempts to find work that would support herself and Mur-an unsuccessful quest that ended when she hung herself. Although Kudrova posits several reasons-mental illness, political prosecution-for Tsvetaeva's decision to end her life, it is reasonable to conclude that she was simply overwhelmed by the harsh conditions of her life. Kudrovo continues with her heartbreaking narrative: under the duress of interrogations, Efron and Alya informed on each other; Alya was sent to prison and Efron was shot two months after Tsvetaeva's suicide. Photos. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
The great Russian poet Marina Tsvetaeva chronicled her tragic struggles within the crush of Soviet madness in edgy essays translated into English for the first time in Earth Signs (2002). Now Kudrova, an intrepid and passionate Tsvetaeva expert, reports in shattering detail on the searing events that led to Tsvetaeva's suicide. Unbeknownst to the poet, who had been living in exile in Paris, her husband became involved in Soviet espionage. Also unaware of the severity of the Stalinist purges, Tsvetaeva loyally returns in his wake to Moscow, where he and their daughter are promptly arrested, leaving a terrified Tsvetaeva and her son destitute. Kudrova's probing and assiduously researched day-by-day account of these harrowing events is grimly fascinating as she excerpts KGB interrogation reports and asks with frank outrage how such horrors could have occurred. Tsvetaeva's sorrowful story embodies the horrors of systematic terror and resonates mournfully in these days of terrorism and endangered civil rights. And how heartrending are the poet's brave words: "There's just one answer to your / Senseless world--refusal." Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Book Description
The Death of a Poet is a harrowing account of how the forces of fate combined to destroy the life of one of twentieth-century Russian literature’s most talented and esteemed poets during the bloodiest period of Stalin’s regime. In 1937, at the height of her creative powers and living comfortably in exile in Paris, Marina Tsvetaeva made the fateful decision to follow her husband, Sergei Efron, back to Moscow. Soon after their reunion, both Alya, their daughter, and Efron were arrested for "anti-Soviet activity." Cast onto the street and living in fear that her own arrest was imminent, the poet who once stood at the pinnacle of Russian letters descended into a living hell, compounded by official persecution, the indifference of peers, and finally, the beginning of World War II and Nazi air raids over Moscow. Incorporating unprecedented access to KGB records, Irma Kudrova has recreated the final days of the poet, examining several theories of the events that culminated in Tsvetaeva’s suicide at the age of forty-nine. The Death of a Poet is both a tribute and indictment, and a moving chronicle of the struggle of a great mind to endure.

About the Author
Irma Kudrova is a graduate of Leningrad University and a former editor of the journals Zvezda and Iskusstvo. One of the world’s leading specialists on Marina Tsvetaeva’s life and work, Kudrova has lectured at universities around the world and published two other books about Tsvetaeva since The Death of a Poet was first published to great acclaim in Russia in 1995.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The Death of a Poet is the harrowing narrative account of how the forces of history and fate combined to destroy the life of one of twentieth-century Russian literature's most talented and esteemed poets during the bloodiest period of Stalin's regime. In 1937, at the height of her creative powers and living in exile in Paris, where rumors of Stalin's purges had been circulating in the emigre community, Marina Tsvetaeva made the fateful decision to follow her husband, Sergei Efron, who had been forced to flee from French authorities, back to Moscow. Soon after their reunion, both Alya, their daughter, and Efron were arrested for "anti-Soviet activity." Cast onto the street and living in fear that her own arrest was imminent, the poet who once stood at the pinnacle of Russian letters descended into a living hell, compounded by official persecution, the indifference of peers and friends, and finally, the beginning of World War II and Nazi air raids over Moscow.

Incorporating unprecedented access to KGB records, Irma Kudrova has uncovered both the depth of Efron's complicity in Soviet espionage, including the assassination that forced him to flee France, and the nobility and stoicism with which he endured the brutal interrogations. She also re-creates the final days of the poet, examining several theories of the events that culminated in Tsvetaeva's suicide at the age of forty-nine. The Death of a Poet is both a tribute and an indictment, and above all a moving chronicle of the struggle of a great mind to endure.

FROM THE CRITICS

The New York Times

The Death of a Poet is a compelling account of individual anguish shrouded in national tragedy. The efficent translation from the Russian is by Mary Ann Szporluk. — Natayla Sukhonos

Publishers Weekly

Drawing on interviews, diaries and recently available KGB records, Kudrova, who has written on the life and work of Marina Tsvetaeva (1892-1941), details the Russian poet's last years before her suicide at the age of 49. Despite the somewhat uneven translation, Kudrova's narrative is consistently gripping and exudes an aura of relentless tragedy. In 1922, the poet left Moscow to join her husband, Efron, who had been forced to emigrate to Paris for political reasons. With her son, Mur, and daughter, Alya (another daughter died earlier of malnutrition), she lived there and continued to write poetry. In 1937, Efron, who worked for the Soviet secret police, was ordered to return to Russia, where Alya now lived. In 1938, Tsvetaeva and their son followed and, for a time, all were housed by the state at a dacha in Bolshevo. Virtually a prisoner, Tsvetaeva had little to do with Russia's literary world. There is no evidence that she was even contacted at this time by her friend Boris Pasternak. After her husband and daughter were arrested, she fell into a depression. Kudrova successfully evokes the world of 1930s Russia, where no one was safe from purges and informers; trials and executions were common. The author traces Tsvetaeva's desperate attempts to find work that would support herself and Mur-an unsuccessful quest that ended when she hung herself. Although Kudrova posits several reasons-mental illness, political prosecution-for Tsvetaeva's decision to end her life, it is reasonable to conclude that she was simply overwhelmed by the harsh conditions of her life. Kudrovo continues with her heartbreaking narrative: under the duress of interrogations, Efron and Alya informed on each other; Alya was sent to prison and Efron was shot two months after Tsvetaeva's suicide. Photos. (Feb.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Marina Tsvetaeva (Earthly Signs: Moscow Diaries, 1917-1922) is considered one of the four greatest 20th-century Russian poets, along with Anna Akhmatova, Osip Mandelstam, and Boris Pasternak. Her poetry and letters give life to the Stalinist era, where political and personal upheaval reigned supreme. From her promising beginnings in intellectual Muscovite surroundings to her spiral into despair and finally suicide, Tsvetaeva's story is here skillfully sketched through interspersed anecdotes of key conversations and interactions with family and friends. Kudrova, a leading Tsvetaeva scholar, captures the rhythm of Russian storytelling and intertwines it with facts she has carefully gathered from archival and oral accounts. Although her style is at times overly dramatic, the reader gets a clearer understanding of the poet's desperation than if the facts were merely flatly stated. Recommended as a companion to any of the more general accounts of the poet's life, such as Viktoria Schweitzer's Tsvetaeva; for upper-level academic libraries and collections focusing on character, culture studies, and Russian literature. [This book was originally published to great acclaim in Russia in 1995.-Ed.]-Kim Harris, Rochester P.L., NY Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews