Konets Prekrasnoi Epokhi. Stikhotvoreniia, 1964 - 1971 (The End of a Wonderful Era. Poems, 1964 - 1971)

Ann Arbor, MI: Ardis, 1977. Softcover. First edition; 8 1/4 x 5 1/4; pp. [6], 5-114, [1]; beige wraps, printed and illustrated in black; a bit of age-toning to spine and margins of wraps; minor wear to corners and tips of spine; small rubbed spot to upper corner of ffep (removed bookshop label); small, closed puncture to lower margin of back wrap; very good or better condition.Brodskii began writing poetry in the 1950s and by 1960, after meeting and becoming close friends with several leading figures of the Russian literary scene, including Anna Akhmatova and Dmitrii Bonyshev. In 1963, his poetry was denounced for being anti-Soviet and pro-Jewish, he was accused of parasitism, arrested, and sentenced to hard labor. He would be eventually released and would emigrate, first to Vienna in 1972, and then permanently to Ann Arbor. He would go on to teach at the University of Michigan, Columbia, Queens College, Smith, and Cambridge, and would win the Nobel Prize in 1987. All of his life's work, but for 4 poems, would be published abroad. Arguably one of his most celebrated volumes of verse, "The End of a Wonderful Era" would solidify the widespread of Brodskii being the biggest living poet, writing in his native Russian.