AKHMATOVA Anna Andreevna (nee Gorenko) (1889-1966), poet, Honorary Doctor of Oxford University (1965). She spent her childhood (until 1905) in Tsarskoe Selo (the corner of Shirokaya Street and Bezymyanny Lane, the house and the lane have not been preserved, today Vokzalnaya Square), studied at Mariinskaya School (17 Leontievskaya Street, memorial plaque), at Kiev High Women’s Courses (1908-10). After marriage (in 1910-18 she married N.S. Gumilev) she settled in Tsarskoe Selo again, and had been living mainly there until 1916 (Malaya Street, the house has not been preserved, today lot of house 57); in 1914-17 she lived also in Petersburg (17 Tuchkov Lane). In 1911 she joined the Poets' Guild and became the major representative of the acmeism trend; collections of verses Evening (1912), Rosary (1914), The White Flock (1917), Plantain (1921), Anno Domini MCMXXI (1922) were reprinted many times. Akhmatova herself was a bright figure of St. Petersburg (Petrograd) literaterary life, frequent sitter of painters, and addressee of many poetic dedications. Akhmatova was one of the authors and the brightest examples of Petersburg text of Russian literature (V.N. Toporov). St. Petersburg of the early 20th century and Tsarskoe Selo were not only background but also a constant hero of Akhmatova's lyrics (In Tsarskoe Selo, Verses about Petersburg, A Statue from Tsarskoe Selo, Leningrad in the March of 1941, Ode of Tsarskoe Selo, Pushkin's Town, and others); many of her memorial notes are devoted to them. The image of St. Petersburg - Leningrad changed in Akhmatova's works in due course: a number of significant details shading subjacent novel themes of the early lyrics; horrible reality of the terror of the 1930s and the Siege (Requiem, verses of Wind of War cycle); historical descriptions and histriosophic insights of the 1940-60s (key role of the city in Poem Without a Hero). Many addresses of Akhmatova are at Fontanka River Embankment: № 18, autumn 1921 to autumn 1923; № 2, 1924; № 34 (south wing of Fontanny Dom, - see Sheremetev Palace, from 1989 - Memorial Museum of A.A. Akhmatova; memorial plaque) - 1918-20, 1926-52 (with intervals), or close to Fontanka: the spring of 1921 - 7 Sergeevskaya Street (today Tchaikovskogo Street); 1919-25 (periodically) 5 Millionnaya Street (servant's corps of the Marble Palace). In 1941-44 Akhmatova was in evacuation in Tashkent. In 1946 she became (together with M.M. Zoshchenko) an object of shattering criticism in a resolution of Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party about Zvezda and Leningrad journals, was excluded from the Union of Writers. In 1952-61 she lived at 4 Krasnoy Konnitsy Street (today Kavalergardskaya); then at 34 Lenina Street. After the War she spent a lot of time in Moscow and Komarovo at a summer cottage of the Literature Foundation (the so called “Booth” at 3/5 Osipenko Street). She was awarded Etna Taormina International Literature Prize (Italy, 1964). She died in Domodedovo, near Moscow. She was buried at Komarovskoe Cemetery. There is a monument of Akhmatova in the yard of gymnasium № 209 (8 Vosstaniya Street). Former Vokzalnaya Street in Pushkin was renamed to Akhmatovskaya Street for her 100 anniversary.
References: Топоров В. Н. Петербург и петербургский текст русской литературы: (Введение в тему) // Топоров В. Н. Миф. Ритуал. Символ. Образ: Исслед. в области мифопоэтического: Избранное. М., 1995. С. 259-367; Попова Н. И., Рубинчик О. Е. Анна Ахматова и Фонтанный дом. СПб., 2000; Бунатян Г. Г. Город муз: Лит. памят. места г. Пушкина. СПб., 2001. С. 347-365; Вербловская И. С. Горькой любовью любимый: Петербург Анны Ахматовой. 2-е изд., испр. и доп. СПб., 2003.
T. M. Dvinyatina.
