Sophia Parnok
| Sophia Yakovlevna Parnok | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
11 August 1885 Taganrog, Yekaterinoslav Governorate, Russian Empire |
| Died | 26 August 1933 (aged 48) Moscow, Soviet Union |
| Occupation | poet |
| Nationality | Russian Jewish |
| Period | 20th Century |
Sophia Yakovlevna Parnok (11 August 1885 – 26 August 1933) (first name is sometimes spelled Sofia or Sofya) (Russian: Софи́я Я́ковлевна Парно́к), was a Russian poet and translator, sister of poet Valentin Parnakh, and children's author Yelizaveta Tarakhovskaya. She earned the moniker of "Russia's Sappho" after a relationship with fellow Russian poet Marina Tsvetaeva.
Parnok was born in the city of Taganrog to a Jewish pharmacist's family. She studied at the Mariinskaya Gymnasium in 1894–1903, traveled through Europe, then studied at the Geneva Conservatory, although a lack of financial means made her return to Taganrog in 1904. She entered Saint Petersburg Conservatory in late 1904, but abandoned her studies and left again for Geneva where she had her first experience as a playwright with the play The Dream. In June 1906, she returned to Taganrog. In 1907, she married poet Vladimir Volkenstein and moved to Saint Petersburg. In January 1909, Parnok divorced her husband and settled in Moscow.
She also survived a train crash, owned a pet monkey, and was Russia’s first openly-lesbian poet.
Parnok finally succumbed to her illness in 1933 with three of her lovers at her bedside. Her funeral procession of her friends and fans extended 75 kilometers outside of Moscow.
At the beginning of World War I, she met the young poet Marina Tsvetaeva, with whom she became involved in a love affair that left important imprints on the poetry of both women.
The lyrics in Parnok's Poems presented the first, non-decadent, lesbian-desiring subject ever to be heard in a book of Russian poetry.
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