Nadezhda Mandelstam facts for kids
Nadezhda Yakovlevna Mandelstam (born Khazina) was a Russian writer and teacher. She lived from 1899 to 1980. She was married to the famous poet Osip Mandelstam. He died in 1938 in a prison camp in Siberia.
Nadezhda Mandelstam wrote two important books about their lives. These books also described the difficult time under the Stalinist government. Her books are called Hope Against Hope (1970) and Hope Abandoned (1974). They were first published in English in other countries. A writer named Clive James said her first book was a "masterpiece." He said it showed her as a strong person who stood up against the Soviet Union's harsh rules.
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Early Life and Education
Nadezhda Yakovlevna Khazina was born in Saratov, Russia, in 1899. She was the youngest of four children. Her family was Jewish and quite wealthy. Her mother was one of the first women in the Soviet Union to become a doctor. Her father was a lawyer. The family later became Christian.
They moved to Kiev, Ukraine, for her father's job. Kiev offered more chances for education and culture. Nadezhda went to school there. After finishing high school, she studied art.
Life with Osip Mandelstam
Nadezhda met the poet Osip Mandelstam in Kiev in 1919. They got married around 1921 or 1922. They first lived in Ukraine. Later, they moved to Petrograd in 1922. They also lived in Moscow and Georgia.
In 1934, Osip was arrested. This happened because of a poem he wrote about Joseph Stalin. He was sent away to a town called Cherdyn. Nadezhda went with him. Later, their punishment was made a bit easier. They were allowed to move to Voronezh in southwestern Russia. But they were still not allowed to live in the big cities. These cities were the centers for art and culture.
Protecting Her Husband's Work
Osip Mandelstam was arrested again in May 1938. He died later that year in a transit camp near Vladivostok. After his death, Nadezhda Mandelstam lived a life of constant movement. She often changed where she lived and worked. She did this to avoid being arrested herself. One time, in Kalinin, the secret police came for her the day after she had left.
Nadezhda's main goal was to save her husband's poems. She wanted them to be published one day. She memorized most of his poems because she did not trust paper. She feared that written copies would be found and destroyed. Many years later, she worked with other writers to get his poems published.
Later Life and Memoirs
During these difficult years, Nadezhda Mandelstam earned a college degree. She taught English in different towns. After Joseph Stalin died in 1953, the government became less strict. Nadezhda went back to her studies. She finished her advanced degree in linguistics in 1956.
She was not allowed to return to Moscow until 1964. This was after her husband, Osip, was officially cleared of his charges. She had lived away from Moscow for 20 years. Nadezhda then started writing her memoirs. Her first book, Hope Against Hope, was published in 1970. She wrote it to remember her husband and share her own struggles. It was first shared secretly in the Soviet Union in the 1960s. This was called samizdat.
In her books, Hope Against Hope (1970) and Hope Abandoned (1974), she wrote a powerful story of her husband's life. She showed him as an artist who suffered under Stalin's harsh rule. She also criticized the decline of culture in the Soviet Union. The titles of her books are a clever play on words. This is because nadezhda means "hope" in Russian.
In 1976, Mandelstam gave her important papers to Princeton University in the United States.
Nadezhda Mandelstam died in Moscow on December 29, 1980. She was buried on January 2, 1981, at the Kuntsevo Cemetery.
Works
See also
In Spanish: Nadezhda Mandelshtam para niños
