Description of the attraction
Despite the fact that the famous poet, Nobel laureate Joseph Brodsky has never been or lived in the Fountain House, but it is there, on the ground floor, that there is an unusual exposition - "American Cabinet", once in which you will feel the "effect of the presence" of the poet … The opening of the exposition was timed to coincide with the 65th anniversary of the birth of I. Brodsky. The unusual name of the exposition is due to the fact that it presents exclusively things from the poet's American house in South Headley (Massachusetts), donated by his widow to the museum A. Akhmatova. The poet confessed to reporters that it was in South Headley that he really felt at home, in a natural environment, where no one asks questions. Indeed, in the house in South Headley, in addition to many books, paintings and photographs, there was furniture similar to that in the poet's parental home. It was there that he wrote the famous essay "One and a half rooms", where he recalled home, his parents, whom he could not see after leaving.
Now, in St. Petersburg, in the "American Study" of the A. Akhmatova Museum, you can see not only some of these things, but also much more, no less significant evidence of the stages of his creative and life path: an extensive library, a collection of photos and postcards, posters, the owner's authenticity: a table lamp and furniture.
In one corner of the office there is a large comfortable armchair covered with a red cape with a geometric pattern, next to it is a desk with a lamp shaded in the form of a world map, next to it is a portrait of the poet Whisten Auden with a dedicatory inscription. W. Auden helped I. Brodsky a lot after emigration, and also had a strong influence on his work. On the table was a typewriter (the poet did not use a computer), but he had typewriters with Russian and Latin fonts - for writing poems and essays.
Above the table is a photograph of A. Akhmatova, taken by the poet himself - he loved to take pictures, and on one of the walls of the office we see a selection of photographs, including the communal apartment of the Leningrad house of Muruzi, where Brodsky lived for 17 years.
We will find a number of interesting finds on a secretaire with many drawers. Here, for example, are photographs of M. Tsvetaeva, whose work he loved very much, portraits of parents, a portable radio, and next to them are American cigarettes - by the way, of the same brand that W. Auden smoked. The secretaire's drawers are full of everyday little things - pens, notebooks, medicines, envelopes - it seems that the owner of the office, who has returned to his homeland, is about to come in for something. This impression is only reinforced by an old Chinese leather suitcase standing on the floor of the office, and a hat resting on it. It is worth noting that I. Brodsky emigrated with one, this very suitcase, in which there was a typewriter, a collection of works by D. Donne and vodka for W. Auden.
In the American Cabinet, in addition to the exposition itself, you can watch many films about Brodsky (both documentary and fiction), in which he talks about life and death, about the poet's loneliness in the big world, about the fate of a generation. You can even hear the recording of poems recited by the author. It is in the "American Cabinet" that the audio recording from the court session made by F. Vigdorova - the trial of the "renegade" I. Brodsky, is heard piercingly sadly. The printed version of this recording was sold at one time in many copies, printed by samizdat.
It is known that I. Brodsky is an honorary citizen of St. Petersburg, however, paradoxically, there is no personal museum or monument to the poet in St. Petersburg. Let's hope that the American Cabinet is only the first step in perpetuating the memory of the great son of the Russian people.
