Esenin: A Life

Esenin: A Life by Gordon McVay. Paperback edition. ISBN: 9781557780041.

Esenin, the most popular of all 20th century poets in Russia, is known here chiefly as Isadora Duncans most colorful lover. This is the first objective and thoroughly researched biography of Esenin. Gordon McVay has had access to unpublished material and has conducted interviews with members of Esenins circle. Esenin lived in an extraordinary historical period, during the years before and after the October Revolution; he is seen here within the framework of his times. Esenin enjoyed early fame, both in the salons of Petrograd in the cafés of Moscow; alcoholic, paranoid, a poet passed his artistic prime, he died, of suicide, at age 30. The product of 12 years of research, McVays Esenin correlates the facts of Esenins biography and elucidates some aspects of Esenins puzzling and unstable personality. --- from books back cover