Chapter 7 Is Brodsky a Poet for Our Time?
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In the late 1980s, when Valentina Polukhina published the first monograph about Joseph Brodsky, she called it A Poet for Our Time. Now, over 30 years later, Brodsky remains one of the most contested cultural personalities. He is regarded by many as a canonized poet, the last Russian classic, a charismatic philosopher and a cult figure. The ideologues of Russkii mir have laid claim on Brodsky on account of his ostensible imperialist sensibilities. Others, for the same reason, either demonize the poet or feel the need to justify him. While some contemporary Russian writers attempt to deflate his status, among informal Russian audiences Brodsky has become a popular brand. Brodsky liked to say that the poet is but a tool of language – once written, texts assume an existence of their own, independent of their authors’ will, design and perhaps even understanding. Focusing on a range of his works (poems, essays, plays, interviews, publicistic pieces) this chapter considers the relevance of his legacy for our troubled time, when the geopolitical and existential situation forces us to revisit basic notions about human nature, the trappings of the mind, Artificial Intelligence, totalitarianism, freedom, and the phenomenon of cancel culture. This examination is not limited to the reception of Brodsky in the 21st century. Rather it aims to identify recurrent elements of his discourse, ideas, insights and speech patterns that can inform a deeper understanding or at least a more complex articulation of today’s reality.