Eating Ices in the West

Osip Mandelstam, one of the two greatest Russian poets of the twentieth century, went to a labor camp in 1937 for writing an incautious lyric. When Mandelstam died, Stalin is said to have phoned the other greatest poet, Boris Pasternak. Stalin began talking of Mandelstam, but Pasternak interrupted. “This is not what I would like to speak with you about.” “What about then?” Stalin asked. “About Life and Death,” replied Pasternak earnestly. Stalin hung up.

Pasternak’s—the early Pasternak’s— self-absorption is one of two possible artistic reactions against a regime or a society; the other is to oppose the society directly. It is impossible to say which produces better art. For every Milton scourging man’s ways to man, one can find a Henry Vaughan, serenely, even childishly, indifferent to social forces.

About the Author

Richard Brookhiser

Historian Richard Brookhiser is a senior editor of National Review and a senior fellow at the National Review Institute.

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Osip Mandelstam, one of the two greatest Russian poets of the twentieth century, went to a labor camp in 1937 for writing an incautious lyric. When Mandelstam died, Stalin is said to have phoned the other greatest poet, Boris Pasternak. Stalin began talking of Mandelstam, but Pasternak interrupted. “This is not what I would like to speak with you about.” “What about then?” Stalin asked. “About Life and Death,” replied Pasternak earnestly. Stalin hung up.

Pasternak’s—the early Pasternak’s— self-absorption is one of two possible artistic reactions against a regime or a society; the other is to oppose the society directly. It is impossible to say which produces better art. For every Milton scourging man’s ways to man, one can find a Henry Vaughan, serenely, even childishly, indifferent to social forces.