The German edition of Ralf Dutli's book about Mandelstam is the first complete biography in the West of one of the greatest poets of the 20th century. The author managed to avoid two main dangers that await anyone who writes about the life of Mandelstam: Dutli does not try to create the life of the holy martyr and does not strive to follow the currently fashionable “revelatory” trends, when in the pursuit of everyday details the poet’s main work is forgotten. The central idea of the biography is that throughout his life Mandelstam was first and foremost a Poet, and only from this point of view is it permissible to consider all the vicissitudes of his difficult fate. The author of the book, essayist, poet, translator Ralph Dutli, has prepared a complete annotated collection of Osip Mandelstam’s works in German language.