El diablo

It was in a gloomy apartment in Vanves, during her French exile, that Tsvetaeva wrote this text, which recounts little Marina's encounter with the devil in her sister's room, where she took refuge to read forbidden books. With mocking prose, sometimes exalted, sometimes icy, but always bewitching, the poet recounts the awakening of her fascination with words, embodied in the figure of the devil, whose implacable gaze transforms her into a creature as fearsome as it is seductive. An extraordinary lyrical evocation of childhood and the gestation of a unique literary genius.