Yuri Zobnin Nikolay Gumilyov. Red and white illusion. Writer Yuri Zobnin about Gumilyov and the Russian Revolution
Maya Leonidovna Ivanova - the first reader of this book
... From sorrow comes patience, from patience comes experience, from experience hope, and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit given to us
(Rom. 5:1–5).
PART ONE
Chapter first
Persona non grata
January 9, 1951 at home, in the apartment of the Leningrad writers' house-commune on the street. Rubinshtein, 7, the daughter of a famous photographer, secretary of the poetic and dramatic section of the Leningrad branch of the Writers' Union, Ida Moiseevna Nappelbaum, was arrested. The investigation into her case lasted more than nine months. And indeed, even against the backdrop of the very original processes of that strict time, this one turned out to be out of the ordinary in jurisprudence.
“... Two Leningrad writers, “family friends,” I. M. Nappelbaum recalled much later, “put on the table evidence that they had seen a seditious portrait of the poet Nikolai Stepanovich Gumilyov on the wall of my house. […] I was surprised that I was never asked where the portrait went. Things were going like clockwork. I didn't deny anything. They were interested in what the portrait was like, its size, even its colors. I described it with pleasure, recalling it in my memory. I was just surprised at the senselessness of it all.” (Nappelbaum I.M. Portrait of a poet // Literator (L). 1990. November 30. (No. 45 (50). P. 6). Ida Moiseevna’s surprise can be understood - the notorious portrait, created in the immemorial 1920s by the artist N. K. Shvede-Radlova, was destroyed in 1937, fourteen years ago.
The investigators, however, were not bothered by this. Moreover, “the investigation did not even inquire about my relationship with the poet, nor our friendship, poetic meetings, conversations in the studio at the house of arts and at my home. The presence of a portrait of an executed poet in the apartment was enough to recognize me as a criminal" Sentence: ten years in a closed special regime camp.
Let's think about it. A portrait is not poetry, which may contain maxims hostile to the authorities, and not documents, which may contain anti-Soviet information. A portrait is a work of fine art, always amenable to a very free interpretation, and besides, since we are talking about the brush of a fairly famous master, it is not cheap. In the end, in Soviet times, in the exposition of the Russian Museum, the famous Repin painting depicting a meeting of the State Council was on display - so the Sovereign Emperor Nikolai Alexandrovich was present in person, and Konstantin Petrovich Pobedonostsev, and you never know who else, certainly not provocative the communist authorities have a surge of tender feelings. And everyone who was not too lazy looked at that picture and... nothing. The administration of the Russian Museum was not arrested and the grandmothers from the Repin halls were not exiled to Siberia. But here we must not forget that, in essence, there is no portrait. So, there once was, and now even the former owner herself is forced to restore it in her memory for a long time, forced by the urgent questions of the investigators: too much water has flown under the bridge... And there are no ashes, and no trace.
Here's something else you need to take into account. If the case of I.M. Nappelbaum urgently needed to be “fabricated” (and this was the case in reality, because the investigator himself honestly admitted that she simply “wasn’t caught in 1937”), then the Leningrad MGB officers were at the service of the MGB in 1951 year, one must think, the most abundant material, because since the 1920s, “enemies of the people” swarmed around the defendant. Ida Moiseevna was familiar with almost all the writers and public figures, most of whom later went either into exile or into camps. So, by the standards of the then specialists from State Security, the fact of storing (even in the distant past) a portrait of Gumilyov (even if it no longer exists in reality) outweighed in its “criminal” significance the acquaintance with at least the darkness of “enemies of the people” and the obvious appeal through the person under investigation entire libraries of anti-Soviet stuff. “Sewing” the storage of Gumilyov’s portrait was in this case more correct than anything else. There, presumably, in the opinion of the investigative authorities of the 1950s, it was still possible to somehow get out, but here it is absolutely impossible.
One can now evaluate, so to speak, the degree of rejection of Gumilyov by the communist authorities!
The story of I.M. Nappelbaum is remarkable, but by no means unique. Something similar, for example, previously happened to the writer Vivian Azaryevich Itin (1894–1945), an employee of the Siberian Lights magazine. In 1922, he published in his magazine a short review of Gumilyov’s newly published books: “Pillar of Fire”, “Shadow of a Palm Tree” and “Posthumous Collection”. V. A. Itin was by no means an opponent of Soviet power. His note is nothing more than a bibliographical summary: three paragraphs that are quite consistent with the style of that time: Gumilyov is an “incorrigible aristocrat”, a “cold esthete”, his Africa is the “Africa of the Negus”, and China is the “China of the Bogdykhanov”. In a word, everything is orderly, a mosquito won’t hurt your nose. But…
But at the end of the note, which appeared six months after the poet’s death, V. A. Itin, aware of the objective necrological nature of the response, considered it necessary to add: “The significance of Gumilyov and his influence on his contemporaries is enormous. His death will remain a deep tragedy for revolutionary Russia” (Siberian Lights. 1922. No. 4; quoted from: Nikolai Gumilyov: Pro et contra. St. Petersburg, 1995. P. 485).
All. This has not been forgotten to him - and in six years, in 1928, Itin wrote excitedly to Gorky: “There are annoying facts.
Recently, at the plenum of the Siberian Regional Party Committee, in connection with the report on the “cultural revolution,” the question of “Siberian Lights” and writers was raised. Neither me, nor even V. Zazubrin (Vladimir Zazubrin, present, name - Zubtsov Vladimir Yakovlevich, 1895–1937, writer, Bolshevik with pre-October experience, in 1928 - chairman of the Union of Siberian Writers. - Yu. 3.) We weren’t allowed into the high-profile meeting, although we are both party communists. Then we read the report. It said that “Siberian Lights”... are politically unreliable; for example, one boy dedicated his poems to N. Gumilyov, this is explained by the fact that five years ago (sic!) it was published in “Siberian Lights” that Gumilyov had a great influence on modern poetry (the note belongs to me, the responsible editor was then Em. Yaroslavsky...). The meeting was “impressed” by the certificate about Gumilyov.”(Literary heritage of Siberia. Novosibirsk, 1969.t. 1. P. 38–39). The “impression” was so strong that the “party communist” V. A. Itin never fully managed to justify himself. The “Gumilev episode” hung like a dead weight on him, and in the end Itin was arrested and killed in the camp.
One should not, however, think that all “Gumilyov’s stories” ended in such nightmares in Soviet times. There were endings that were quite innocent. So, the author of these lines learned about one of them, as they say, first-hand, and the participants in those events are happily alive to this day - which is why we will refrain from mentioning specific names.
So, the first half of the 1960s. Thaw. The culmination of early Soviet liberalism. "New World" by Tvardovsky. Solzhenitsyn. The poets of the sixties gather stadiums of listeners. Mass rehabilitation of victims of the cult of personality, and above all - the rehabilitation of previously banned writers.
The literary circle of the Leningrad Palace of Pioneers is holding another Olympiad. Essays on topical topics are accepted. One of the circle participants, at the suggestion of his leader, writes an essay "Creativity of N. Gumilyov." Much more topical! The essay begins like this: “Several years ago in Soviet literary criticism there were no names of Akhmatova and Tsvetaeva, Bunin and Yesenin, Babel and Bulgakov.
Yuri Zobnin
NIKOLAY GUMILEV
Maya Leonidovna Ivanova - the first reader of this book
... From sorrow comes patience, from patience comes experience, from experience hope, and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit given to us
(Rom. 5:1–5).
PART ONE
Chapter first
Persona non grata
January 9, 1951 at home, in the apartment of the Leningrad writers' house-commune on the street. Rubinshtein, 7, the daughter of a famous photographer, secretary of the poetic and dramatic section of the Leningrad branch of the Writers' Union, Ida Moiseevna Nappelbaum, was arrested. The investigation into her case lasted more than nine months. And indeed, even against the backdrop of the very original processes of that strict time, this one turned out to be out of the ordinary in jurisprudence.
“... Two Leningrad writers, “family friends,” I. M. Nappelbaum recalled much later, “put on the table evidence that they had seen a seditious portrait of the poet Nikolai Stepanovich Gumilyov on the wall of my house. […] I was surprised that I was never asked where the portrait went. Things were going like clockwork. I didn't deny anything. They were interested in what the portrait was like, its size, even its colors. I described it with pleasure, recalling it in my memory. I was just surprised at the senselessness of it all.” (Nappelbaum I.M. Portrait of a poet // Literator (L). 1990. November 30. (No. 45 (50). P. 6). Ida Moiseevna’s surprise can be understood - the notorious portrait, created in the immemorial 1920s by the artist N. K. Shvede-Radlova, was destroyed in 1937, fourteen years ago.
The investigators, however, were not bothered by this. Moreover, “the investigation did not even inquire about my relationship with the poet, nor our friendship, poetic meetings, conversations in the studio at the house of arts and at my home. The presence of a portrait of an executed poet in the apartment was enough to recognize me as a criminal" Sentence: ten years in a closed special regime camp.
Let's think about it. A portrait is not poetry, which may contain maxims hostile to the authorities, and not documents, which may contain anti-Soviet information. A portrait is a work of fine art, always amenable to a very free interpretation, and besides, since we are talking about the brush of a fairly famous master, it is not cheap. In the end, in Soviet times, in the exposition of the Russian Museum, the famous Repin painting depicting a meeting of the State Council was on display - so the Sovereign Emperor Nikolai Alexandrovich was present in person, and Konstantin Petrovich Pobedonostsev, and you never know who else, certainly not provocative the communist authorities have a surge of tender feelings. And everyone who was not too lazy looked at that picture and... nothing. The administration of the Russian Museum was not arrested and the grandmothers from the Repin halls were not exiled to Siberia. But here we must not forget that, in essence, there is no portrait. So, there once was, and now even the former owner herself is forced to restore it in her memory for a long time, forced by the urgent questions of the investigators: too much water has flown under the bridge... And there are no ashes, and no trace.
Here's something else you need to take into account. If the case of I.M. Nappelbaum urgently needed to be “fabricated” (and this was the case in reality, because the investigator himself honestly admitted that she simply “wasn’t caught in 1937”), then the Leningrad MGB officers were at the service of the MGB in 1951 year, one must think, the most abundant material, because since the 1920s, “enemies of the people” swarmed around the defendant. Ida Moiseevna was familiar with almost all the writers and public figures, most of whom later went either into exile or into camps. So, by the standards of the then specialists from State Security, the fact of storing (even in the distant past) a portrait of Gumilyov (even if it no longer exists in reality) outweighed in its “criminal” significance the acquaintance with at least the darkness of “enemies of the people” and the obvious appeal through the person under investigation entire libraries of anti-Soviet stuff. “Sewing” the storage of Gumilyov’s portrait was in this case more correct than anything else. There, presumably, in the opinion of the investigative authorities of the 1950s, it was still possible to somehow get out, but here it is absolutely impossible.
One can now evaluate, so to speak, the degree of rejection of Gumilyov by the communist authorities!
The story of I.M. Nappelbaum is remarkable, but by no means unique. Something similar, for example, previously happened to the writer Vivian Azaryevich Itin (1894–1945), an employee of the Siberian Lights magazine. In 1922, he published in his magazine a short review of Gumilyov’s newly published books: “Pillar of Fire”, “Shadow of a Palm Tree” and “Posthumous Collection”. V. A. Itin was by no means an opponent of Soviet power. His note is nothing more than a bibliographical summary: three paragraphs that are quite consistent with the style of that time: Gumilyov is an “incorrigible aristocrat”, a “cold esthete”, his Africa is the “Africa of the Negus”, and China is the “China of the Bogdykhanov”. In a word, everything is orderly, a mosquito won’t hurt your nose. But…
But at the end of the note, which appeared six months after the poet’s death, V. A. Itin, aware of the objective necrological nature of the response, considered it necessary to add: “The significance of Gumilyov and his influence on his contemporaries is enormous. His death will remain a deep tragedy for revolutionary Russia” (Siberian Lights. 1922. No. 4; quoted from: Nikolai Gumilyov: Pro et contra. St. Petersburg, 1995. P. 485).
All. This has not been forgotten to him - and in six years, in 1928, Itin wrote excitedly to Gorky: “There are annoying facts.
Recently, at the plenum of the Siberian Regional Party Committee, in connection with the report on the “cultural revolution,” the question of “Siberian Lights” and writers was raised. Neither me, nor even V. Zazubrin (Vladimir Zazubrin, present, name - Zubtsov Vladimir Yakovlevich, 1895–1937, writer, Bolshevik with pre-October experience, in 1928 - chairman of the Union of Siberian Writers. - Yu. 3.) We weren’t allowed into the high-profile meeting, although we are both party communists. Then we read the report. It said that “Siberian Lights”... are politically unreliable; for example, one boy dedicated his poems to N. Gumilyov, this is explained by the fact that five years ago (sic!) it was published in “Siberian Lights” that Gumilyov had a great influence on modern poetry (the note belongs to me, the responsible editor was then Em. Yaroslavsky...). The meeting was “impressed” by the certificate about Gumilyov.”(Literary heritage of Siberia. Novosibirsk, 1969.t. 1. P. 38–39). The “impression” was so strong that the “party communist” V. A. Itin never fully managed to justify himself. The “Gumilev episode” hung like a dead weight on him, and in the end Itin was arrested and killed in the camp.
Specialist in the works of Nikolai Gumilyov and author of the first Russian biography of Dmitry Merezhkovsky.
Biography
Merezhkovsky's radio message
The work of Yu. Zobnin “There was no “Radio Address” by Merezhkovsky (about the genesis of one historical and literary myth)”, published in 2007 in the collection “Russian History and Culture: Articles. Memories. Essay”, and the subsequent book “Dmitry Merezhkovsky: Life and Deeds” in the series “Life of Remarkable People” in 2008. In both works, Yu. Zobnin proves that Merezhkovsky’s accusations of collaboration related to the text of the so-called “radio address” “Bolshevism and Humanity” are unfounded, and this text itself is a propaganda fake, fabricated from fragments of Merezhkovsky’s essay “The Secret of the Russian Revolution” ( about Dostoevsky’s “Demons”) after the writer’s death. Yu. Zobnin's version was criticized by literary scholars committed to the “classical” version of Merezhkovsky’s biography. However, there is no detailed and generally accepted refutation of Yu. Zobnin’s version.
Titles and awards
Yu. V. Zobnin - Doctor of Philology (2001), professor of literature and Russian language (2009). In 2002 he received a certificate of honor from the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation. In 2004 - the medal “100 Years of Trade Unions of Russia”. In 2006, Yu. V. Zobnin was awarded the title “Honorary Worker of Higher Professional Education of the Russian Federation”.
Main works
Monographs :
- Nikolai Gumilyov is a poet of Orthodoxy. St. Petersburg: SPbGUP, 2000. - 384 p. - (New in the humanities; Issue 7)
- Execution of Nikolai Gumilyov. The solution to the tragedy. M.: Yauza, 2010. - 224 p.
- Poetry of white emigration. St. Petersburg: SPbGUP, 2010. - 256 p. - (New in the humanities)
- Dmitry Merezhkovsky: Life and deeds. Moscow: Young Guard, 2008. Life of wonderful people; Vol. 1291 (1091).
Textbooks :
- Literature of the Russian Abroad (1920-1940): a textbook for higher educational institutions of the Russian Federation. - St. Petersburg: Faculty of Philology of St. Petersburg State University, 2011. (chapter: “Poetry of the “younger generation””, p. 739-792).
Articles, publications :
- “The Lost Tram” by N. S. Gumilyov (to the problem of deciphering the ideological and philosophical content of the text) // Russian literature. 1993. No. 4. P. 176-192.
- Gumilyov’s poems dedicated to the World War of 1914-1918 (military cycle) // Nikolai Gumilyov. Research and materials. Bibliography. St. Petersburg: Nauka, 1994. pp. 123-143.
- Wanderer of the Spirit (about the fate and work of N. S. Gumilyov) // N. S. Gumilyov: pro et contra. - St. Petersburg, 1995. P. 5-52.
- The will to the ballad (lyric-epic in Gumilyov’s acmeistic aesthetics) // Gumilyov readings. Materials of the international conference of philologists-Slavists. St. Petersburg Humanitarian University of Trade Unions and the Anna Akhmatova Museum in the Fountain House. April 15-17, 1996. St. Petersburg: SPbGUP, 1996. P. 111-119.
- On the other side of truth (the case of Gorky) // Maxim Gorky: pro et contra. - St. Petersburg, 1997. P. 6-40.
- “...I will blow up your damned earth.” Freudian motifs in the expressionist aesthetics of Leonid Nikolaevich Andreev // Scientific notes of the Faculty of Culture. Issue 1. St. Petersburg: SPbGUP, 1999. pp. 62-66.
- Nikolai Gumilyov - poetry teacher // N. Gumilyov, A. Akhmatova: Based on materials from the historical and literary collection of P. N. Luknitsky / Institute of Russian. Lit (Pushkin House) RAS; resp. ed. A. I. Pavlovsky - St. Petersburg: Nauka, 2005. P. 69-90
- On the publication of the Complete Works of N. S. Gumilyov // Gumilyov Readings: Materials of the International Scientific Conference, April 14-16, 2006. - St. Petersburg: St. Petersburg State Unitary Enterprise Publishing House, 2006.C. 327-339.
- There was no “radio address” by Merezhkovsky (about the genesis of one historical and literary myth) // Russian history and culture: Articles. Memories. Essay. St. Petersburg: Nauka, 2007. pp. 256-286.
- Corvin-Piotrovsky, Gumilyov, Parisian note // Literature of Russian abroad (1920-1940): a view from the 21st century. Materials of the International Scientific and Practical Conference. St. Petersburg, 2008. pp. 227-236.
- Dialogue as a form of cultural existence // Bulletin of Europe. No. 25. M., 2009
- A new continuation of old disputes: the polemic of the poets of the “Parisian note” and the formists as a continuation of the polemic between the Acmeists and Symbolists // Time in the poetics of the Acmeists. Lyon: Research Center for Slavic Studies André Lirondelle; Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3, 2010, pp. 169-190.
- Persons of the “Silver Age”: Maria Grigorievna Veselkova-Kilshtet (1861-1931) // History and culture: Research. Articles. Publications. Memories. Vol. 8 (8). - St. Petersburg; Faculty of History of St. Petersburg State University, 2011. P. 183-228 (co-author E. A. Lyashenko).
Editing, comments :
- N. S. Gumilyov: pro et contra. - St. Petersburg, 1995.
- Maxim Gorky: pro et contra. - St. Petersburg, 1997.
- Likhachev D.S. Selected works on Russian and world culture / Compiled, ed. Yu. V. Zobnina - St. Petersburg: St. Petersburg State Unitary Enterprise Publishing House, 2006. - 416 p.
- Voznesensky A. A. Rhino plane: selected works about modern culture / Scientific editor Yu. V. Zobnin - St. Petersburg: SPbGUP Publishing House, 2008. - 408 p.
- Skatov N. N. About culture / Scientific editor Yu. V. Zobnin - St. Petersburg: St. Petersburg State Unitary Enterprise Publishing House, 2010. - 416 p.
The book “Nikolai Gumilyov. The Executed Singer of the Silver Age” appeared in metro kiosks in Moscow and St. Petersburg this week. The biography of the great poet was published in a series of AiF publications called “Man of Mystery”, in which residents of the two capitals have already become acquainted with the stories of celebrities from different eras - from Leonardo da Vinci and King Arthur to Marilyn Monroe and Nicholas Roerich.
An expanded version of “The Executed Singer” (almost three times larger) is planned for release in the legendary “ZhZL” series, but the author - one of the country’s first biographers of Gumilyov, Yuri Zobnin - is confident that it is the “folk” publication for subway passengers that can be considered a real literary success and an important step towards ensuring that the whole country takes a fresh look at its history. In an interview with the site, the writer spoke about the myths around the name Gumilyov debunked in the book, the importance of popular science literature, and why participants in the revolutionary struggle cannot be divided into “red” and “white.”
Lyubov Lesnikova, website: - The name Gumilyov looks somewhat strange in the “Man of Mystery” series. Firstly, no one associates it with mysticism. And secondly, so much has been written about him that it seems like nothing new can be said.
Yuri Zobnin:- I don’t know about mysticism (you can argue about this), but Gumilyov is very closely connected with the mysteries of our history, first of all, with that grandiose mystery that is now called the Great Russian Revolution. The book is about her, first and foremost.
Nikolai Gumilev - poet and warrior of the Silver Age. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
The main attention is paid to the last three years of Gumilyov’s life, when he was one of the prominent participants in the events in the “Northern Commune,” as Petrograd and the adjacent territories were called in 1918-1921. After all, Gumilyov is perhaps the most politically active of the Russian poets of that time; only Yesenin can compete with him here. And both of them died in the brutal social battles of this fantastic time.
- In the era of the Silver Age, dozens of poets lived and worked, if not equal in talent to Gumilyov, then close to him. And today, ask a passerby - he’ll name Akhmatova, Gumilyov, Tsvetaeva, and maybe even Mandelstam. Why is Georgy Ivanov, for example, rarely remembered today? Or Vladislav Khodasevich?This is a natural process of identifying reader priorities, unique to each historical era. Now is a time of big changes, dangers, big ideas and irreversible decisions. And Gumilyov wrote: “When bullets are whistling around, When waves break the sides, I teach them how not to be afraid, Not to be afraid and do what needs to be done!” A more comfortable, intimate time will come - and Gumilyov, together with Akhmatova, Pushkin and Lermontov, will then move away, become more “school” poets, and sophisticated intellectual lyricists and individualists will come to the fore. But this is still a long way off. Although I remember such a time - the Soviet “stagnation”. True, then Gumilyov was simply completely banned as a “counter-revolutionary.”
If you look at the shelves of bookstores in the “Literary Studies” section, you will see that they are divided between the memoirs of writers and the scandalous books of the notorious “Anti-Akhmatova”. Why is that?
At all times, the average person appreciates gossip, especially one of a scandalous nature. Let us remember Pushkin: “The crowd greedily reads confessions, notes, etc., because in their meanness they rejoice at the humiliation of the high, the weaknesses of the mighty. At the discovery of any abomination, she is delighted. He is small, like us, he is vile, like us! You’re lying, scoundrels: he’s both small and vile - not like you - otherwise...” As for Kataeva’s essay “Anti-Akhmatova” specifically, the saddest thing about this book is that it is “anti-scientific”.
The book "The Executed Singer of the Silver Age" is addressed to the widest audience. Photo: AiF
By the way, the most difficult thing in working on the biography of “Gumilev for the People” was the combination of fictional form and factual accuracy. Fortunately, I had to work a lot with scientific sources of the poet’s biography, edit the famous “Works and Days of N.S. Gumilyov" by Pavel Luknitsky in the publication of the Academy of Sciences. Well, how it turned out in the end is for the readers to judge.
In your book, Gumilyov’s life is shown through the prism of the great and tragic events that he had to witness and participate in. Aren't you afraid that the reader will find historical references a distraction from the main topic - the biography of the poet?
- Speaking about Gumilyov’s social activities, about his “politics”, I tried to identify and make clear the whole complexity of revolutionary events, which until now most readers who have attended school history courses are accustomed to viewing as a battle between “reds” and “whites”. In fact, the Great Russian Revolution, which began in February 1917 as a political “project” destructive for Russia by English politicians and domestic liberal traitors like Guchkov, later acquired a character completely unexpected for its original “architects.” This was the first “color revolution” in history, designed to prevent the strengthening of the victorious Empire after the end of the World War.In October 1917, power was suddenly seized by the “red imperialists” - the Bolsheviks, like Lenin and Trotsky. Already in 1919, even before the signing (without Russia and without taking into account its interests, as was originally intended) of the Treaty of Versailles, on the ruins of a defeated, humiliated Russia, a powerful stronghold of the Leninist World (III) International suddenly miraculously appeared, which declared its desire to spread to all European countries. The Red Army of Leon Trotsky appeared, which in the spring of the same year was eager to meet the internationalists in Bavaria, Hungary, and Slovakia.
The Chairman of the Northern Commune, Grigory Zinoviev, made a speech in Smolny on the second anniversary of the October Revolution, where he promised that the “banners of the Commune” would soon fly over Berlin, Paris and Rome. “It may be true,” he added, “that English capital will exist for several years next to the socialist regime in other European countries. But from the moment when the victory of socialism in Russia, Austria, Germany, France and Italy becomes a fact, from that moment English capitalism will live out the last months of its doggy old age.”
And Gumilyov himself called himself “an imperialist, traditionalist and pan-Slavist,” he perceived Russia’s defeat in the World War as a personal tragedy and dreamed of revenge. Of course, his attitude towards the Bolsheviks, towards Lenin, Trotsky, Zinoviev, towards his beloved Larisa Reisner, who became the “Red Valkyrie” - as well as towards everything that was happening in the Northern Commune and in the RSFSR, was complex and, as they like to say now, “ ambiguous." In any case, the recently published memoirs of the philosopher Aaron Steinberg record Gumilyov’s words that he believes in “Red Bonapartism” and dreams of the restoration of the Empire led by a new Bonaparte - Red Marshal Mikhail Tukhachevsky...In general, when I described this “Northern Commune”, trying not to hide anything - with all its horror, hunger, cold, terror - I often caught myself thinking that I don’t know anything more terrible and... beautiful in Russian history. Here, in Petrograd, Russia painfully and difficultly preserved itself. “It was the time of the titans - we are dwarfs compared to them!”
An expanded version of the book should be published in ZhZL. How do these two publications differ and are the readers to whom the books are addressed different?
In fact, “The Executed Singer” is only the third, final part of the work that is being prepared to be released in the “ZhZL” series. As a writer, I should probably be more flattered to see my work published in a solid, serious series than in a series intended for newsstands in the subway. But as a popularizer of science, I am sure that it is the “people’s” publication of Gumilyov’s biography that can truly stir up public consciousness, change the point of view on important events in Russian history and finally debunk some myths around the personality of Gumilyov himself.
The full version of the writer’s biography should be published in the “ZhZL” series by the end of the year. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
“ZhZL” is a wonderful series, but only a few people buy these books. There will be more comments, there will be a bibliography, a huge number of historical digressions, more scientific language - in a word, the “full version” of Gumilyov’s biography will be much more difficult to perceive. But I do not exclude that those who become acquainted with the “Northern Commune” will want to deepen their knowledge and turn to a more complex source.
From the point of view of idea, implementation and demand, the entire “Man of Mystery” series certainly succeeded. And quite successfully. I got acquainted with the works of my colleagues and was very pleased with the portraits of da Vinci, Richelieu, Plevitskaya, and King Arthur. It is especially gratifying that in the subway (at least in St. Petersburg) books in this series compete with romance novels and detective stories.
- In your book there is a long passage about Gorky’s plans to “civilize” the population through “World Literature.” Do you think his work continues today?I am very glad that I was able to move from scientific publications to popular forms of conversation about Gumilyov. I am sure that now the time has come for the historians of the “Silver Age”, who have been collecting materials that were closed and unknown during the Soviet period for two decades, to “throw away the stones.” Otherwise, all our efforts will be useless. Writers of the “Silver Age” must “earn” in the mass Russian culture of our days. Both through his books and through his personal example.
Vladimir Vysotsky wrote: “Our dead will not leave us in trouble, Our fallen are like sentries.” The entire Russian people are now worried, it’s difficult now. Therefore, mass “cultural expansion” is needed, poetry is needed, sublime human images are needed... After all, this is a direct continuation of what Gorky and Gumilev did in the disasters and upheavals of the Northern Commune...
Dostoevsky, 2010
Dostoevsky, 2011
Dostoevsky, 2013
Dostoevsky, 2014
On the eve of the Silver Age
Andrey Bely and his St. Petersburg
Merezhkovskys
Zobnin Yuri Vladimirovich (1966-2016)- an outstanding St. Petersburg scientist, philologist, literary critic, teacher, researcher of Silver Age literature.
A student of the philological faculty of Leningrad University and the graduate school of the Pushkin House, he defended the first dissertation in Russia on Nikolai Gumilev and became the author of the innovative book “Nikolai Gumilev - Poet of Orthodoxy.” Yuri Zobnin became one of the initiators of the preparation and the responsible editor of the complete works of N. S. Gumilyov in eight volumes. He participated in the process of transferring the archive of the biographer Gumilyov and Akhmatova to the Pushkin House.
Yuri Vladimirovich became the author of the first biography of D.S. Merezhkovsky in Russia. On the recommendation of D.S. Likhachev, Yuri Vladimirovich headed the department of literature at the St. Petersburg Humanitarian University of Trade Unions for 17 years. His last work was a study about Anna Akhmatova - “The Young Years of the Tsarskoe Selo Muse.”
Favorite lecturer at the St. Petersburg Institute. A man of endless charm and depth of knowledge, which he shared easily and generously.
