The life of Osip Mandelstam (1891–1938), the most significant poet of the 20th century, bright, short and tragic, continues to excite every new generation of readers and admirers of his talent. An Acmeist in pre-revolutionary times, he had an extremely complex relationship with his age. His fame spread far beyond the borders of Russia and that era. Italian director Pierre Pasolini wrote in 1972: “Mandelshtam... light-footed, intelligent, sharp-tongued... cheerful, sensual, always in love, open, clairvoyant and happy even in the twilight of his nervous illness and political nightmare... whimsical and sophisticated... - belongs to number of the happiest poetic insights of the 20th century." In the biography of the poet, Oleg Lekmanov draws on a wide historical and creative context, new archival and recently discovered documents, without avoiding the posthumous fate of Osip Mandelstam.