Allperestroika
Marina Ivanovna Tsvetaeva was born in Moscow on September 26, 1892, into an educated family. Her father, Ivan Vladimirovich Tsvetaev, was a professor at Moscow University, a renowned philologist and art historian, the director of the Rumyantsev Museum, and the founder of the Museum of Fine Arts (now the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts).
Marina's mother, Maria Main was a creative person, and a talented pianist. She passed away at a young age in 1906, and the upbringing of the two daughters - Marina, Anastasia, and their stepbrother Andrei - became the responsibility of their father. He endeavored to provide the children with a solid education, knowledge of European languages, and introduced them to the classics of Russian and world literature and art.
The Tsvetaev family lived in a mansion in one of Moscow's lanes; the family spent summers in the town of Tarusa, and sometimes traveled abroad. All of this formed the atmosphere in which young Marina Tsvetaeva's lived. She early understood her independence in tastes and habits, staunchly defended this characteristic of her character, and continued to do so in the future. While attending private schools in Moscow, Marina stood out for the breadth of her general cultural interests. She studied a lot: at a young age, she attended a music school, then Catholic boarding schools in Lausanne and Fribourg, the Yalta Women's Gymnasium, and private boarding schools in Moscow. She completed seven classes at a private gymnasium in Moscow. At the age of sixteen, she traveled to Paris, where she studied literary history at the Sorbonne.
At the age of six, Marina Tsvetaeva began writing poetry, not only in Russian but also in French and German. And when she turned eighteen, she published her first collection of poems, "Evening Album" (1910), which mainly contained works from her period of study. Judging by the content, the poems were dedicated to family and domestic impressions. However, this poetry collection caught the attention of other poets.
Among the first to notice the "Evening Album" was Valery Bryusov. In his review in 1911, he wrote: "Marina Tsvetaeva's poems always stem from some real fact, from some actual experience".
In addition, the poet, critic, and essayist Maximilian Voloshin, who lived in Moscow at the time, spoke positively about this published collection of poems. He even had a personal conversation with the young Tsvetaeva. A substantive discussion of poetry marked the beginning of their friendship. Marina Tsvetaeva subsequently visited Voloshin in Koktebel in 1911, 1913, 1915, and 1917. Many years later, she recalled her time spent there as one of the happiest periods of her life. Upon learning of the poet's death in 1932, she dedicated a cycle of lyrical memoir poems and reminiscences
Following the poetry collection "Evening Album," two more collections were published: "The Magic Lantern" (1912) and "From Two Books" (1913), made with the assistance of Tsvetaeva's childhood friend Sergey Efron, whom she married in 1912. The tone of hope for her future achievements was also striking. In 1913, Tsvetaeva wrote: "My poems, like precious wines, will be in demand in the future."
Marina Tsvetaeva had a negative attitude towards the Communist Revolution of 1917 in Russia. In May 1922, she obtained permission to leave the country with her daughter to join her husband, Sergei Efron, who was in emigration. He was then a student at the university in Prague. While abroad, Tsvetaeva lived in Berlin for a while. Life was marked by tight financial circumstances. Renting accommodation in the European capitals was expensive, so they had to live in the suburbs. The places where Tsvetaeva lived are partially described in her works ("The Poem of the Mountains")
During her initial period abroad, she managed to publish several poetry collections, including the main ones: "Separation," "Psyche," "Craft," and, six years later, her final book published during her lifetime, "After Russia," which included poems from 1922-1925.
Twelve years into a life of poverty, she said in a private letter: "Here, they mock over me, playing on my pride, my need, and my rightlessness (no protection available)." She continued: "The poverty in which I live, you cannot imagine; I have no means of livelihood apart from literary work. My husband is sick and unable to work. My daughter knits caps and earns 5 Francs a day. The four of us live on that amount — so we essentially slowly dying from hunger".
Stoically fighting with poverty and illnesses, she continued to work, creating poems, epics, and prose.
In 1939, after seventeen years of living abroad, Marina Tsvetaeva obtained Soviet citizenship and returned to the USSR. On August 31, 1941, Marina Tsvetaeva took her own life in the city of Yelabuga. Probably, she was buried on September 2, 1941, in Yelabuga, but the exact location of her grave is unknown.