Shadow of a Soul marks the premier appearance of Russian poet Bella Dizhur in English. It is also the first complete collection of her poetry in any language. Included, in facing page translations, are poems, (written over a period of 50 years before the book was published in 1990) some of which brought her sharp criticism in the Soviet Union: she was denounced for being the "Akhmatova of her time" and criticized for an "aesthetic pessimism."Included for the first time is the entire poem "Janusz Korczak," which won Dizhur the title of Korczak Laureate from the West German Korczak Committee. It is a moving account of his life, and ultimate death when he chose to accompany "his" children to the gas chambers of Treblinka during World War II.