Not a Diatribe
Joseph Brodsky’s “On the Independence of Ukraine”
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
Joseph Brodsky’s much-maligned verses “On the Independence of Ukraine” (1991) are read by his critics as a lyrical poem. In it, there is a lyrical ego speaking, and this is supposed to represent the author’s voice. Brodsky, they argue, is personally insulting Ukraine. This view is untenable. Rather, Brodsky is arranging several voices into a small dramatic work in verse. In the poem, he is putting on display precisely and straightforwardly the views of the Russian public at the time.
(Osteuropa 12/2023, pp. 195–204)