The diaries of Nikolay Punin

"This volume presents the first English translation of ten diary notebooks that Punin wrote between 1915 and 1936. Also included are selections from Punin's earlier (1904-1910) and later (1941-1946) diaries, as well as some thirty notes and letters relating to his affair with Anna Akhmatova. These materials offer a rare glimpse into the life of art and artists in Russia, as well as into the intimate relationship of Punin and Akhmatova."--BOOK JACKET.

"The Punin diaries contain vivid and dramatic scenes from the 1905 Revolution, World War I in Russia, the 1917 Revolutions, World War II and Stalinist oppression, imaginatively perceived by a talented man who lived to tell the tale. Together with the editors introductions on Punin and Russian Futurism and Punin and Akhmatova, the diaries broaden our understanding of the Modernist movement in art and culture and the central, though unjustly overlooked, place that Punin occupies within it."--BOOK JACKET.