My friend and colleague Valentina Polukhina, who has died aged 85, was the leading authority on the life and work of the Nobel Laureate poet Joseph Brodsky. She wrote more than 20 books of literary criticism and did much to foster new Russian poetry. After arriving at Keele University as a language assistant, she rose to become its professor of Russian literature.
Valentina was born in a poor Siberian village to Polina and Platon Borisov, who were farmworkers. She studied Russian language and linguistics at Tula University, graduating in 1962, and there met and married an engineering student, Vladimir Polukhin. Although their marriage did not last long, Valentina retained the surname of Polukhina throughout her life.
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