The Diaries of Nikolay Punin

Nikolay Punin was the most articulate Russian/ Soviet critic of the 1920's. He strongly advocated Constructivism, and proclaimed a movelment to bring art into the centre of popular life. In the US, he perhaps best remembered for his love affair wth one of the great poets of the 20th century. This volume presents an English translation of 10 diary notebooks that Punin wrote between 1915 and 1936, as well as selections from his earlier and later diaries and some 30 notes and letters relating to his affair with Anna Akhmatova. These materials seek to offer a glimpse into the life of art and artists in Russia. They are also present vivid scenes from the 1905 Revolution, World War I, the 1917 Revolutions, World War II and Stalinist oppression through the reflections of a talented man who unlike many of his generation, lived to tell the tale.