Joseph Brodsky was always a Russian poet, even after he was exiled to America and became famous, was given the Nobel Prize and appointed U.S. Poet Laureate. 
His story is a compelling one, fertile ground for considering the interaction between a poet’s life and work, and there’s a new biography of Brodsky I’ve just added to my summer reading list—Joseph Brodsky: A Literary Life by his long-time friend Lev Losoff (translated by Jane Ann Miller, Yale University Press, 
). The book is reviewed in this week’s New Yorker by “critic at large” Keith Gessen (himself born in Russia, but brought to the U.S. as a child), and Gessen’s essay offers a few fascinating glimpses into Brodsky’s story, including this quotation from the transcript of the trial which sent him away from Leningrad and ultimate into exile out of Russia altogether:
from The New Yorker:
“The Gift, Joseph Brodsky and the Fortunes of Misfortune,” by Keith Gessen
JUDGE: Tell the court why in between jobs you didn’t work and led a parasitic life style?
BRODSKY: I worked in between jobs. I did what I do now: I wrote poems.
JUDGE: You wrote your so-called poems? And what was useful about your frequent job changes?
BRODSKY: I began working when I was 15 years old. Everything was interesting to me. I changed jobs because I wanted to learn more about life, about people.
JUDGE: What did you do for your motherland?
BRODSKY: I wrote poems. That is my work. I am convinced... I believe that what I wrote will be useful to people not only now but in future generations.
More on Poets in Society and Making a Living:
Poets’ Work, Poets’ Jobs
Making Poetry in a Community and Making a Living as a Poet
Poets and Paid Work
Readers Respond: How Do We Make a Living?—Tell us how you survive.
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