The Modern Novel

Biography

Irina Odoevtseva was born Iraida Heinike in Riga in 1895 (some sources say 1901). Her father Gustav Heinike was a Baltic German lawyer. She moved to St Petersburg in 1918 (which had just become Petrograd) and changed her name to Irina Odoevtseva. She joined the Guild of Poets and was very much influenced by its founder, Nikolay Gumilev. She had considerable success with her first book of poetry. She married her fellow poet Georgy Ivanov and the couple emigrated to Paris. She wrote five novels, three of which have been translated into English. During the war, the couple moved to Biarritz, though their house was requisitioned by the Germans when they occupied the town. After the war they moved back to Paris, finding their flat had been looted. Because of their alleged Nazi sympathies, they were ostracised by the literary world. Ivanov became an alcoholic and died in 1958. Odoevtseva later married Jacques Gorbof (born Yakov Gorbov), a fellow émigré writer. They remained a couple till he died in 1981. In 1987 she returned to Leningrad, where she had considerable success, particularly with her memoirs. She died in 1990.

Books about Irina Odoevtseva

Ella Bobrow: Irina Odoevtseva: Poetess, Novelist, Memoirist – A Literary Portrait

Other links

Irina Odoyevtseva
Odoevtseva, Irina (c. 1895–1990)
Odoevtseva, Irina Vladimirovna (1895–1990)
Odoevtseva I.V. (1895-1990), writer
Одоевцева Ирина (in Russian)
Одоевцева, Ирина Владимировна (in Russian)