Russian poet denounced Stalin
OKLAHOMA CITY— Acclaimed Russian poet Yevgeny A. Yevtushenko, whose work focused on war atrocities and denounced antiSemitism and tyrannical dictators, has died. He was 84.
Ginny Hensley, a spokeswoman for Hillcrest Medical Center in the eastern Oklahoma city of Tulsa, confirmed Mr. Yevtushenko’s death. Roger Blais, the provost at the University of Tulsa, where Yevtushenko was a longtime faculty member, said he was told Mr. Yevtushenko died Saturday morning.
Mr. Yevtushenko’s son, Yevgeny Y. Yevtushenko, said his father died about 11 a. m. and that doctors said he was suffering from stage 4 cancer.
“He passed away pretty peacefully, painlessly,” the younger Yevtushenko said. He said family members and friends, including his widow, Maria Novikova, were with his father in his final hours.
Mr. Yevtushenko gained notoriety in the former SovietUnionwhile in his 20s, with poetry denouncing Josef Stalin. He gained international acclaim as a young revolutionary with “Babi Yar,” the unflinching 1961 poem that told of the slaughter of nearly 34,000 Jews by the Nazis and denounced the anti- Semitism that had spread throughout the Soviet Union.
At the height of his fame, Mr. Yevtushenko read his works in packed soccer stadiums and arenas, including to a crowd of 200,000 in 1991 that came to listen during a failed coup attempt in Russia. He also attracted large audiences on tours of theWest.
With his tall, rangy body, chiseled visage and declaratory style, he was a compelling presence on stages when reading his works.
“He’s more like a rock star than some sort of bespectacled, quiet poet,” said former University of Tulsa President Robert Donaldson, who specialized in Soviet policy during his academic years at Harvard.
Mr. Yevtushenko was born deep in Siberia in the town of Zima, a name that translates to winter. He rose to prominence during Nikita Khrushchev’s rule.
His poetry was outspoken and drew on the passion for poetry that is characteristic of Russia, where poetry is more widely revered than in theWest. Some considered it risky, though others said he was only a showpiece dissident whose public views never went beyond the limits of what officials would permit.
Dissident exile poet Joseph Brodsky was especially critical, saying “He throws stones only in directions that are officially sanctioned and approved.” Brodsky resigned from the American Academy of Arts and Letters when Mr. Yevtushenko was made an honorary member.
Donaldson extended an invite to Mr. Yevtushenko to teach at the university in 1992.
“He had a hard time giving bad grades to students because he liked the students so much,” Blais said.