Anna Akhmatova [Documentary]

(5 stars; 5 reviews)

Where The Walls Have Ears, Listening In To, Anna Akhmatova  Radio Documentary Anna Akhmatova (1889-1966) is today regarded as one of the greatest Russian poets of the twentieth century; a commanding figure, known for her striking beauty, regal poise and, above all, her inspirational courage in writing about the victims of the terror that pervaded the USSR during the Stalinist era, with its devastating purges and gulags. Writer and broadcaster Robyn Ravlich visited Akhmatova’s apartment in St Petersburg, where the gifted poet secretly wrote her poetic masterpieces, Requiem and Poem Without a Hero – right under the noses of KGB forces, who kept watch on her 24 hours a day and bugged her apartment. It would take decades for the poems to be published, first abroad in translation, and then at last they appeared in full in Russian in the 1980s, during the last period of the Soviet empire. This personal literary pilgrimage revealed surprising details of the poet’s intimate and dramatic life that are not widely known, shedding new light on her poems. The program captures what one of Robyn’s specialist guide-companions described as ‘trembling moments’. Although long absent, Akhmatova remained a powerful presence in the apartment where she lived for over twenty five years: it is still furnished as it was when she lived there, replete with her memorabilia and treasured artwork. The apartment - in a former palace that was nationalised after the Russian Revolution - is now a museum devoted to the enduring legacy of Anna Akhmatova. Music in the program is from the album The Trackless Woods, Iris DeMent. Alena Mankova               Specialist guide Irena Kazantseva            Guide/interpreter ABC Radio Australia Duration: 28min 46sec Broadcast: Wed 18 May 2016, 11:05am

This recording is part of the Old Time Radio collection.