The poetry-collection Tristia by Osip Mandelstam and the origin of its title: essay on its Greek and Latin sources and its reception

Abstract

In this article, we discuss how the title Tristia, given to the first edition of the second poetry book by Osip Mandelstam, not by the author himself but rather by the poet and musician Mikhail Kuzmin, has influenced the reception and subsequent readings of this work, probably explaining why critics have sought, perhaps excessively, for Ovidian references.