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Letter to an Amazon
Translation from the French by SONJA FRANETA
I HAVE worked on my translation of Tsvetaeva's "Letter to an Amazon" ever since I knew it existed several years ago. I first read it in Russian--it was translated from the original French in the 1970's. But Professor Simon Karlinsky of Berkeley gave me a copy of it in French and I decided to translate Tsvetaeva's French text. (It is not yet known whether a Russian text by Tsvetaeva exists because her archives will not be opened until the year 2000.) My friend Elena Gusyatinskaya in Moscow who is fluent in French gave me invaluable help with Tsvetaeva's difficult style, and Christine Stockton helped me with the final editing and checking of the text.
Marina Tsvetaeva (1892-1941) was living in France near Paris when she wrote "Letter to an Amazon"--in 1932. She had Natalie Barney in mind at the time she wrote it. Apparently they had met and perhaps this meeting and Barney's book brought to mind one of Tsvetaeva's great loves--Sophia Parnok, also a poet. Their affair took place in Russia from 1914 to 1916. Tsvetaeva wrote a cycle of poems in in honor of their love affair called "Girlfriend." Tsvetaeva was married and had a child and Parnok was a known lesbian. Yet they carried on an open and very affectionate love affair. They were considered a couple by friends and others they met at parties in Moscow and St. Petersburg and travelling to the Crimea. When they broke up, Tsvetaeva said it was "the first great catastrophe in her life."
This last available revision of "Letter to an Amazon" was done shortly after Tsvetaeva learned of Parnok's death in the Soviet Union. Although they were estranged after they separated, Parnok appeared often in Tsvetaeva's diaries, and a portrait of Marina Tsvetaeva rested on Parnok's night table until she died.
I write this background because I think it explains some of the difficult emotional sections in the "Letter" and because I think Tsvetaeva took seriously her feelings for women. I get this from extensive reading of her incredibly beautiful poetry and equally fascinating prose work. Professor Karlinsky has written about her lesbianism in his book on her life and work called: Marina...