Poet. Russia's first openly lesbian author, she is better remembered today as the lover and muse of poet Marina Tsvetaeva. Their tempestuous two-year relationship inspired Tsvetaeva's famous poem sequence "Girlfriend", completed in 1921 but unpublished for 50 years. Sofia Yakovlevna Parnok was born and raised in Taganrog, Russia. After a brief, unhappy marriage she settled in Moscow in 1909 and supported herself as a journalist and translator. She met Tsvetaeva at the beginning of World War I and their romance spurred her own creativity; her first book of verse, "Poems", appeared shortly before their breakup in 1916. Tsvetaeva never forgot or forgave her and the poems of "Girlfriend" are filled with bitter longing. Parnok's subsequent books, "Roses of Pieria" (1922), "The Vine" (1923), "Music" (1926), and "Half-Voiced" (1928), are more confident assertions of the lesbian experience. After 1928 her poetry was banned by the Soviet authorities and her last works, the cycles "Ursa Major" and "Useless Goods", would not see print until the 1990s. Long afflicted with poor health, she died of a heart attack at 48.
Poet. Russia's first openly lesbian author, she is better remembered today as the lover and muse of poet Marina Tsvetaeva. Their tempestuous two-year relationship inspired Tsvetaeva's famous poem sequence "Girlfriend", completed in 1921 but unpublished for 50 years. Sofia Yakovlevna Parnok was born and raised in Taganrog, Russia. After a brief, unhappy marriage she settled in Moscow in 1909 and supported herself as a journalist and translator. She met Tsvetaeva at the beginning of World War I and their romance spurred her own creativity; her first book of verse, "Poems", appeared shortly before their breakup in 1916. Tsvetaeva never forgot or forgave her and the poems of "Girlfriend" are filled with bitter longing. Parnok's subsequent books, "Roses of Pieria" (1922), "The Vine" (1923), "Music" (1926), and "Half-Voiced" (1928), are more confident assertions of the lesbian experience. After 1928 her poetry was banned by the Soviet authorities and her last works, the cycles "Ursa Major" and "Useless Goods", would not see print until the 1990s. Long afflicted with poor health, she died of a heart attack at 48.
Bio by: Bobb Edwards
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