Elena Shvarts (1948-2010)

Elena Shvarts, the Russian poet, died earlier this year. As one of her translators I found myself summing up her life and works over and over again — a sad task, and one which feels somehow intrusive and limiting: the condensing of a life of poetry into three paragraphs, mostly for people who are not yet readers of her poems; an element of marketing, to win over the non-readers; a few anecdotes and beautiful phrases… Nothing of the bewilderment and disbelief we feel in bereavement, or even of the nature of bereavement which deceives us, tells us we should wait for more poems, convinces us it is impossible that the wise and eloquent voice is no longer at the end of the phone line in a St Petersburg flat. Read more