Evgeny Evtushenko

 

 

 

 

 

Biography

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yevgeny_Yevtushenko

Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Yevtushenko (Russian: Евге́ний Алекса́ндрович Евтуше́нко) (also transliterated as Evgenii Alexkasandrovich Evtushenko, Yevgeniy Yevtushenko, or Evgeny Evtushenko) (born July 18, 1933) is a Russian poet. He was also a novelist, essayist, dramatist, screenwriter, actor, and editor. He also directed several films. Reportedly, before the appearance of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Andrei Sakharov and the dissident movement in Russia, Yevtushenko, through his poetry, was the first voice to speak out against Stalinism.^[1]

Biography

Early life

Born Yevgeni Aleksandrovich Gangnus (later he took his mother's last name, Yevtushenko) in the Irkutsk region of Siberia in a small town called Zima Junction^[2][3][4][5] on 18 July, 1933 to a peasant family of mixed Russian, Ukrainian and Tatar heritage.^[6]. His maternal grandfather, named Ermolai Naumovich Evtushenko, had been a Red Army officer during the Russian Revolution and the Civil War (both of Yevtusheko's grandfathers were arrested as "enemies of the people" in 1937 during Stalin's purges). The future poet's father, named Aleksandr Rudolfovich Gangnus, was a geologist, as was his mother, named Zinaida Ermolaevna Evtushenko, who later became a singer. The boy accompanied his father on geological expeditions to Kazakhstan in 1948, and to Altai, Siberia, in 1950. Young Yevtushenko wrote his first verses and humorous songs "chastushki" while living in Zima, Siberia.

After the Second World War, Yevtushenko moved to Moscow. From 1951-1954 he studied at the Gorky Institute of Literature in Moscow, from which he dropped out. He published his first poem in 1949 and his first book three years later. In 1952 he joined the Union of Soviet Writers after publication of his first collection of poetry. His early poem So mnoyu chto-to proiskhodit (Something is happening to me) became a very popular song, performed by actor-songwriter Aleksandr Dolsky. In 1955 Yevtushenko wrote a poem about the Soviet borders being an obstacle in his life. His first important publication was the poem Stantsiya Zima (Zima Junction 1956). In 1957, he was expelled from the Literary Institute for "individualism". He was banned from traveling, but gained wide popularity with the Russian public. His early work also drew praise from the likes of Boris Pasternak, Carl Sandburg and Robert Frost.^[7], ^[8]

During the Khrushchev Thaw

Yevtushenko was one of the authors politically active during the Khrushchev Thaw (Khrushchev declared a cultural "Thaw" that allowed some freedom of expression). In 1961 he wrote what would become perhaps his most famous poem, Babi Yar, in which he denounced the Soviet distortion of historical fact regarding the Nazi massacre of the Jewish population of Kiev in September 1941, as well as the antisemitism still widespread in the Soviet Union. The usual Soviet policy in relation to the Holocaust in Russia was to describe it as atrocities against Soviet citizens, and to avoid mentioning that it was a genocide

 specifically of the Jews. Therefore, Yevtushenko's work Babi Yar was quite controversial and politically incorrect, "for it spoke not only of the Nazi atrocities, but the Soviet government's own persecution of Jewish people."^[1] Following a centuries-old Russian tradition, Yevtushenko became a public poet. The poem achieved widespread circulation in the underground samizdat press, and later was set to music, together with four other Yevtushenko poems, by Dmitri Shostakovich in his Thirteenth Symphony, subtitled Babi Yar. Publication of the poem in the state-controlled Soviet press was delayed until 1984. Reportedly, the poem "was published abroad and appeared in clandestine fashion in the Soviet Union."^[9] Alternatively, some note that the poem was published in a major newspaper "Literaturnaya Gazeta" ^[10] and achieved widespread circulation in numerous copies. Of Yevtushenko’s work, Shostakovich has said, “Morality is a sister of conscience. And perhaps God is with Yevtushenko when he speaks of conscience. Every morning, in place of prayers, I reread or repeat by memory two poems by Yevtushenko: ‘Career’ or ‘Boots.’”^[7]

In 1961, Yevtushenko also published Nasledniki Stalina (The Heirs of Stalin), in which he stated that although Stalin was dead, Stalinism and its legacy still dominated the country; in the poem he also directly addressed the Soviet government, imploring them to make sure that Stalin would "never rise again". Published originally in Pravda, the poem was not republished until a quarter of a century later, in the times of the comparatively liberal party leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

Yevtushenko became one of the best known poets of the 1950s and 1960s in the Soviet Union. He was part of the 1960s generation, which included such writers as Vasili Aksyonov, Andrei Voznesensky, Bella Akhmadulina, Robert Rozhdestvensky; as well as actors Andrei Mironov, Aleksandr Zbruyev, Natalya Fateyeva, and many others. During the time, Anna Akhmatova, a number of whose family members suffered under the communist rule, criticised Yevtushenko's aesthetic ideals and his poetics. The late Russian poet Victor Krivulin quotes her saying that "Yevtushenko doesn't rise about an average newspaper satirist's level. Yevtushenko and Andrei Voznesensky's works just don't do it for me, therefore neither of them exists for me as a poet."^[11] Alternatively, Yevtushenko was much respected by others at the time both for his poetry and his political stance toward the Soviet government. In 1963 (until 1965), for example, Yevtushenko, already an internationally recognised literateur, was banned from travelling outside the Soviet Union.^[12]. Generally, Yevtushenko was the most extensively travelled Soviet poet, possessing an amazing capability to balance between moderate criticism of Soviet regime, which gained him popularity in the West, and, as noted by some, a strong Marxist-Leninist ideological stance, which allegedly proved his loyalty to Soviet authorities.^{[citation needed]} At that time the KGB Chairman Vladimir Semichastny and the next KGB Chairman Yuri Andropov reported to the Communist Politburo on the "Anti-Soviet activity of poet Yevtushenko." Nevertheless, some Soviet dissidents in the 1960s nicknamed Yevtushenko "Zhenya Gapon," comparing him to Father George Gapon^[13], a Russian priest who at the time of the Revolution of 1905 was both a leader of rebellious workers and a secret police agent.

Films

He was filmed as himself during the 1950s as a performing poet-actor. Yevtushenko contributed lyrics to several Soviet films and contributed to the script of Soy Cuba (1964), a Soviet propaganda film. His acting career began with the leading role in Vzlyot (1979) by director Savva Kulish, where he played the leading role as Russian rocket scientist Tsiolkovsky. Yevtyshenko also made two films as a writer/director. His film 'Detsky Sad' ('Kindergarten', 1983) and his last film, 'Pokhorony Stalina' ('Stalin's Funerals', 1990) deal with life in the Soviet Union.

Yevtushenko Controversy

In 1965, Yevtushenko joined Anna Akhmatova, Kornei Chukovsky, Jean-Paul Sartre and others and co-signed the letter of protest against the unfair trial of Joseph Brodsky (a fellow poet influenced by Anna Akhmatova) as a result of the court case against him initiated by the Soviet authorities.^[14] He subsequently co-signed a letter against the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. Nevertheless, "when, in 1987, Yevtushenko was made an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Brodsky himself led a flurry of protest, accusing Yevtushenko of duplicity and claiming that Yevtushenko's criticism of the Soviet Union was launched only in the directions approved by the Party and that he criticised what was acceptable to the Kremlin, when it was acceptable to the Kremlin, while soaking up adulation and honours as a fearless voice of dissent."^[12] Brodsky repeatedly criticised Yevtushenko for what he perceived as his "conformism".^{[15] [9]} Commenting on this controversy in A Night in the Nabokov Hotel, an anthology of Russian poetry in English translation, Anatoly Kudryavitsky wrote the following: "A few Russian poets enjoyed the virtual pop-star status, unthinkable if transposed to other parts of Europe. In reality, they were far from any sort of protest against Soviet totalitarianism and therefore could not be regarded as anything else but naughty children of the regime."^{[16][opinion needs balancing]} Responding to the criticism, Yevtushenko reportedly said

Who could sanction me to write Babi Yar, or my protests against the (1968 Soviet) invasion of Czechoslovakia? Only I criticised Khrushchev to his face; not even Solzhenitsyn did that. It is only the envy of people who couldn't stand against the propaganda machine, and they invented things about my generation, the artists of the '60s. Our generation was breaking the Iron Curtain. It was a generation crippled by history, and most of our dreams were doomed to be unfulfilled - but the fight for freedom was not in vain.^[9]

Critics differ on the statutue of Yevtushenko in the literature world, with "most Western intellectuals and many Russian scholars extol[ing] him as the greatest writer of his generation, the voice of Soviet life."^[17] They "acknowledge that his speaking tours have won him converts among audiences impressed with his dramatic readings and charismatic personality. Tina Tupikina Glaessner (1967) refers to him as “one of the greatest poets of the modern age.” She states that “Bratsk Station” offers the greatest insight into Soviet life of any other work in modern Russian literature. Two decades later, in his 1988 article, Michael Pursglove echoes her sentiments referring to Stantisiya Zima as “one of the landmarks of Soviet literature."^[17] Others, however, notably Russian critics like "Patricia Pollock Brodsky (1992) takes issue with the interpretation that Yevtushenko has been persecuted by the Russian government."^[17] "And most scathing, Tomas Venclova asserts, in his 1991 essay, that few in the Russian literary community “consider his work worthy of serious study."^[17]

Post-Soviet period

In 1989 Yevtushenko was elected as a representative in the Soviet Parliament, where he was a member of the pro-democratic group supporting Mikhail Gorbachev. In 1991, he supported Boris Yeltsin, as the latter's defended the parliament of the Russian Federation during the hardline coup that sought to oust Gorbachev and reverse "perestroika".^[9], ^[8] Later, however, when Yeltsin sent tanks into restive Chechnya, Yevtushenko reportedly "denounced his old ally and refused to accept an award from him."^[9]

In the post-Soviet era Yevtushenko actively discussed environmental issues, confronted Russian Nationalist writers from the alternative Union of the Writers of Russia, and campaigned for the preservation of the memory of victims of Stalin's Gulag. In 1995 he published his huge anthology of contemporary Russian poetry entitled Verses of the Century.^[18] Reviewing this anthology, Russian poet Alexey Purin referred to it as "a huge book, a huge flop. Really, a collection of names rather than a collection of good poetry."^[19] Purin (himself a traditionalist)^{[citation needed]} mentioned that Yevtushenko included only mainstream poetry written according to "good old canons"^{[citation needed]}, and totally ignored nearly all of the avant-garde authors^{[citation needed]}, notably Gennady Aigi, Vladimir Earle and Rea Nikonova. More recently, Yevtushenko has been criticised for refusing to speak out against Russian President Vladimir Putin's liberties during his presidency. Yevtushenko responded by saying that "Putin, like Russia, is struggling to find his way in a time when ideals have been shattered and expedience reigns."^[9]

Yevtushenko in the West

Yevtushenko, who now (October, 2007) divides his time between Russia and the United States, teaches Russian and European poetry and the history of world cinema at the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma and at Queens College of the City University of New York. In the West he is best known for his criticism of the Soviet bureaucracy and appeals for getting rid of the legacy of Stalin. He is now working on a three-volume collection of Russian poetry from the 11th-20th century, and plans a novel based on his time in Havana during the Cuban Missile Crisis (he was, reportedly, good friends with Che, Salvador Allende and Pablo Neruda).^[9], ^[8], ^[7]. In October 2007 he was an artist-in-residence with the School of Arts and Humanities at the University of Maryland, College Park, and recited his poem Babi Yar before a performance of Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 13, which sets five of his poems, by the University of Maryland Symphony Orchestra and the men of the UM Choirs, with David Brundage as the bass soloist. A similar performance with Yevtushenko present took place at the University of Houston's Moore's School of Music in 1997. In addition to the Babi Yar symphony, Shostakovich's Execution of Stephan Razin (another text setting by Yevtushenko) was also performed.

Personal life

Yevtushenko is allegedly known for his many liaisons.^[9] He has been married four times, once to Jan Butler, an English translator of his poetry with whom he visited Ireland several times. He has five children, all boys.^[9] His current wife teaches Russian at Thomas Edison Preparatory Academy in the United States, near the University of Tulsa, where Yevtushenko himself spends half the year, lecturing on poetry and European cinema.^[9]

Honors

In 1961, Yevtushenko was featured on the cover of Time magazine. In 1993, Yevtushenko received a medal as 'Defender of Free Russia,' which was given to those who took part in resisting the hard-line Communist coup in August 1991. In July of 2000 the Russian Academy of Sciences named a star in his honor. In 2001, his childhood home in Zima Junction, Siberia, was restored and opened as a permanent museum of poetry.^[8]

Bibliography

• RAZVEDCHIKI GRIADUSHCHEGO, 1952
• TRETI SNEG, 1955
• SHOSSE ENTUZIASTOV, 1956
• 'Stantsiia Zima', 1956 - Winter Station (tr. Oliver J. Frederiksen, 1964) / 'Zima Junction' (in Selected Poems, tr. by Peter Levi and R.R. Milner-Gulland, 1962)
• OBESHCHANIE, 1957
• DVE LIUBIMYKH, 1958
• LUK I LIRA, 1959
• STIKHI RAZNYKH LET, 1959
• CHETVERTAIA MESHCHANSKAIA, 1959
• IABLOKO, 1960
• Red Cats, 1961
• BABY YAR, 1961 - Babiy Yar (in Selected Poems, tr. by Peter Levi and R.R. Milner-Gulland, 1962) / Babi Yar (tr. 1968) - 'Babi Jar' (suom. Markku Lahtela Lahtela, teoksessa Olen vaiti ja huudan, 1963) translation: The Milky Way by D. Ulzytuev, 1961 translation: A Network of Stars by T. Chiladze, 1961 translation: Don't Fall to Your Knees! by G. Dzagorov, 1961
• POSLE STALINA, 1962
• VZMACH RUKI, 1962
• Selected Poems, 1962 (tr. by Peter Levi and R.R. Milner-Gulland)
• NEZHNOST': NOVYE STIKNI, 1962
• NASLEDNIKI STALINA, 1963 - 'The Heirs of Stalin' (in Current Digest of the Soviet Press, 1962)
• AUTOBIOGRAFIA, 1963 - A Precocious Autobiography (tr. by Andrew R. MacAndrew, 1963)
• Selected Poetry, 1963 (ed. R.R. Milner-Gulland)
• Soy Cuba, 1964 (screenplay with Enrique Pineda Barbet, film dir. by Mikhail Kalatozov)
• The Poetry of Yevgeny Yevtusenko, 1964 (tr. by George Reavey, as Early Poems, 1989)
• KHOCHU IA STAT' NEMNOZHKO STRAROMODYM, 1964
• BRATSKAYA GES, 1965 - 'The Bratsk Station,' in Bratsk Station and Other New Poems (tr. by Tina Tupikina-Glaessner, Geoffrey *Dutton, Igor Mezhakoff-Koriakin, 1967)
• KHOTIAT LI RUSSKIE VOINY?, 1965
• Poems, 1966 (tr. Herbert Marshall)
• Yevtusenko Poems, 1966 (tr. Herbert Marshall)
• Yevtusenko's Reader: The Spirit of Elbe, A Precocious Autobiography, Poems, 1966
• KATER ZVIAZI, 1966
• KACHKA, 1966
• The Execution of Stepan Razin, op. 119, 1966 (score by Dinitri Shostakovich, 1966
• Poems Chosen by the Author, 1966 (tr. by Peter Levi and Robin Milner-Gulland)
• The City of the Yes and the City of the No and Other Poems, 1966 (tr. by Tina Tupikina-Glaessner, Geoffrey Dutton, Igor Mezhakoff-Koriakin) - Kyllä ja Ei (trans. by Erkki Peuranen)
• SO MNOIU VOT CHTO PROISKHODIT, 1966
• New Works: The Bratsk Station, 1966 (tr. by Tina Tupikina-Glaessner, Geoffrey Dutton, Igor Mezhakoff-Koriakin, as Bratsk Station and Other New Poems, 1967)
• STIKHI, 1967
• New Poems, 1968
• TRAMVAI POEZII, 1968
• TIAGA VAL'DSHNEPOV, 1968
• BRATSKAIA GES, 1968
• IDUT BELYE SNEGI, 1969
• Flowers and Bullets, and Freedom to Kill, 1970
• KAZANSKII UNIVERSITET, 1971 - Kazan University and Other New Poems (tr. by Eleanor Jacka and Geoffrey Dutton
• IA SIBIRSKOI PORODY, 1971
• DOROKA NOMEN ODIN, 1972
• Stolen Apples, 1972 (translated by James Dickey et al.)
• IZBRANNYE PROIZVEDENIIA, 1975 (2 vols.)
• POIUSHCHAIA DAMBA, 1972
• Under the Skin of the Statue of Liberty, 1982 (play)
• POET V ROSSII - BOL'SHE, CHEM POET, 1973
• INTIMNAIA LIRIKA, 1973
• OTTSOVSKII SLUKH, 1975
• IZBRANNYE PROIZVEDENIIA, 1975 (2 vols.)
• PROSEKA, 1976
• SPASIBO, 1976
• From Desire to Desire, 1976 (G.B. title: Love Poems, 1977)
• V POLNYI ROST, 1977
• ZAKLINANIE, 1977
• UTRENNYI NAROD, 1978
• PRISIAGA PROSTORU, 1978
• KOMPROMISS KOMPROMISSOVICH, 1978
• The Face Behind the Face, 1979 (tr. by Arthur Boyars and Simon Franklin)
• Ivan the Terrible and Ivan the Fool, 1979 (tr. Daniel Weissbort) translation: Heavy Earth, 1979
• TIAZHELEE ZEMLI, 1979
• KOGDA MUZHCHINE SOROK LET, 1979
• DOROKA, UKHODIASHCHAIA VDAL', 1979
• SVARKA VZRYVOM, 1980
• TALENT EST CHUDO NESLUCHAINOE, 1980
• TOCHKA OPORY, 1980
• TRET'IA OAMIAT', 1980
• POSLUSHAITE MENIA, 1980
• ARDABIOLA, 1981 - Ardabiola (tr. by Armorer Wason) - Ardabiola (suom. Ulla-Liisa Heino, 1984)
• YAGODNYYE MESTA, 1981 - Wild Berries (tr. by Antonina W. Bouis, 1984) - Mansikkamaat (suom. Ulla-Liisa Heino, 1982)
• Invisible Threads, 1981 (tr. by Paul Falla and Natasha Ward) - Näkymägttömät langat (suom. Pentti Saaritsa, 1982)
• IA SIBIRIAK, 1981
• SOBRANIE SOCINENIY, 1982
• A Dove in Santiago, 1982 (tr. by D.M. Thomas)
• DVE PARY LYZH, 1982
• BELYE SNEGI, 1982
• MAMA I NEITRONAIIA BOMBA I DRUGIE POEMY, 1983
• OTKUDA RODOM IA, 1983
• VOINA - ETO ANTIKULTURA, 1983
• SOBRANIE SOCHINENII, 1983-84 (3 vols.)
• KINDERGARTEN, 1984 (screenplay)
• FUKU, 1985 - Fuku: runoelma (suom. Ulla-Liisa Heino, Ilpo Tiihonen, 1986)
• POCHTI NAPOSLEDOK, 1985 - Almost at the End (tr. by Antonina W. Bouis, Albert C. Todd, and Yevgeny Yevtushenko, 1987)
• DVA GORODA, 1985
• MORE, 1985
• POLTRAVINOCHKI, 1986
• STIKHI, 1986
• ZAVRTRASHNII VETER, 1987
• STIKHOTVORENIIA I POEMY 1951-1986, 1987 (3 vols.)
• POSLEDNIAIA POPYTKA, 1988
• POCHTI V POSLEDNII MIG, 1988
• NEZHNOST, 1988
• Divided Twins: Alaska and Siberia - Razdel'ennye bliznetsy, 1988 (tr. by Antonina W. Bouis)
• POEMY O MIRE, 1989
• DETSKII SAD MOSCOW, 1989 (screenplay)
• STIKHI, 1989
• GRAZHDANE, POSLUSHAITE MENIA..., 1989
• LIUBIMAIA, SPI..., 1989
• DETSKII SAD, 1989
• POMOZHEM SVOBODE, 1990
• POLITIKA PRIVILEGIIA VSEKH, 1990
• PROPAST - V DVA PSYZHKA?, 1990
• Fatal Half Measures, 1991
• The Collected Poems 1952-1990, 1991 (ed. by Albert C. Todd)
• NE UMIRAI PREZHDE SMERTI, 1993 - Don't Die Before You're Dead (tr. by Antonina W. Bouis)
• MOE SAMOE-SAMOE, 1995
• PRE-MORNING. PREDUTRO, 1995 (bilingual edition)
• MEDLENNAIA LIUBOV', 1997
• IZBRANNAIA PROZA, 1998
• VOLCHII PASPORT, 1998
• The Best of the Best: a New Book of Poetry in English and Russian, 1999
• Walk on the Ledge: a New Book of Poetry in English and Russian , 2005
• SHESTIDESANTNIK, 2006

Notes

1.       ^ ^{a b} RENOWNED POET TO VISIT CITY. DONALD W. PATTERSON. News & Record (Greensboro, NC). CITY LIFE, Pg. 3. April 8, 1999.

2.       ^ Encarta.msn.com

3.       ^ Zhurnal.lib.ru

4.       ^ Columbia Dictionary of Modern European Literature By Jean Albert Bédé, William Benbow Edgerton. Pg. 886.

5.       ^ Touch of the poet. JAMES D. WATTS JR. Tulsa World (Oklahoma). LIVING; Etc.; Pg. D1. April 27, 2003.

6.       ^ http://www.answers.com/topic/yevgeny-yevtushenko

7.       ^ ^{a b c} QUEENS COLLEGE PRESENTS AN EVENING OF POETRY AND MUSIC WITH YEVGENY YEVTUSHENKO ON DECEMBER 11. Queens College Office of Communications website. November 18, 2003. Last visited Jan. 10, 2009

8.       ^ ^{a b c d} Famed Russian Poet Yevtushenko to Perform and Sign Books at TU on April 28. The University of Tulsa News/Events/Publications. 3/28/03. Last visited Jan. 10, 2009.

9.       ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j} West awakes to Yevtushenko: One of the greatest poets alive will perform at the Galway Arts Festival, but he is not without his critics. Daniel McLaughlin. The Irish Times.CITY EDITION; WEEKEND; Pg. 56. July 17, 2004.

10.    ^ Literaturnaya Gazeta, September 19, 1961.

11.    ^ http://www.kid.com.ua/news10154.html Russian language website news article - www.kid.com.ua; Interview with Krivulin, Victor. Recollections about Akhmatova. July 14, 1995(Кривулин В.Б. "Воспоминания об Анне Ахматовой". Беседа с О.Е. Рубинчик. 14 июля 1995)]

12.    ^ ^{a b} A Demanding Kind of Genius. Irish Independent. May 8, 2004

13.    ^ МЫ, Я И ЕВТУШЕНКО by Stanislav Rassadin, Novaya Gazeta 2 October 2000 (Russian)

14.    ^ Timelessness: Water Frees Time from Time Itself. Natalia Zhdanova. 1st August 07. Neva News (St. PETERSBURG FIRST MONTHLY ENGLISH NEWSPAPER). Last visited Jan. 11, 2009. NevaNews.com

15.    ^ Dovlatov, S. And then Brodsky said... Graph, Issue 3.3, 1999, p.10.

16.    ^ Kudryavitsky, A. Introduction. In A Night in the Nabokov Hotel. 20 Contemporary Poets from Russia Edited by Anatoly Kudryavitsky. Dublin, Dedalus Press 2006) (Online)

17.    ^ ^{a b c d} "Yevtushenko, Yevgeny: Introduction." Poetry Criticism. Ed. David Galens. Vol. 40. Gale Cengage, 2002. eNotes.com. 2006. 11 Jan, 2009 <[1]>

18.    ^ Строфы века. Антология русской поэзии (Verses of the Century, 1995) Edited by Yvgeny Yevtushenko

19.    ^ Russian language website - www.newkamera.de - with Purin's commentary.

References

• A Night in the Nabokov Hotel. 20 Contemporary Poets from Russia Edited by Anatoly Kudryavitsky. Dublin, Dedalus Press 2006) (Online)
• (Russian) Строфы века. Антология русской поэзии (Verses of the Century, 1995) Edited by Yevgeny Yevtushenko
• Krivulin, Victor. Memoirs about Akhmatova
• Purin, Alexey. Tsar-Book. Verses of the Century ed. by Yevtushenko.

Further reading

• "Yevtushenko, Yevgeny: Introduction." Poetry Criticism. Ed. David Galens. Vol. 40. Gale Cengage, 2002. eNotes.com. 2006. 11 Jan, 2009 <[2]>
• Soviet Russian Literature: Writers and Problems by M. Slonim (1967);
• 'The Politics of Poetry: The Sad Case of Yevgeny Yevtushenko' by Robert Conquest, in New York Times Magazine (30 September, 1973);
• Soviet Russian Literature Since Stalin by Deming Brown (1978);
• Evgenii Evtushenko by E. Sidorov (1987);
• Soviet Literature in the 1980s by N.N. Shneidman (1989);
• Reference Guide to Russian Literature, ed. by Neil Cornwell (1998)

External links

• Yevgeny Yevtushenko online archive
• Yevgeny Yevtushenko at the Internet Movie Database
• Yevgeny Yevtushenko. Collected Poems in English. Part 1
• Yevgeny Yevtushenko. Collected Poems in English. Part 2
• Yevgeny Yevtushenko. Zima Station Poem
• Chingiz Aitmatov on Yevgeny Yevtushenko
• Andrey Voznesensky's article on Yevgeny Yevtushenko
• Audio/Video recordings of a Poetry Reading by Yevgeny Yevtushenko at the University of Chicago