Akhmatova's Mirrors

The outstanding actress Alla Demidova, who has performed works by Anna Akhmatova on stage several times, once decided to explore the cryptography of one of the most mysterious works of Russian literature – “Poem without a Hero.” It conceals names and events, and without knowing them, the reader is unlikely to penetrate the depth of the text and understand its true meaning. Who are the people behind the fictional names of the characters, what are their relationships, how are the described events related to real historical phenomena – on these questions A. Demidova provides her answers. The actress admits that she “sifted through” letters, poems, diary entries, and memoir prose of the poet, as well as the memories of his contemporaries. This work, which provided a rich material for reflection, resulted in the book “Akhmatova's Mirrors.”