Talented cowards are all around And an insolent mediocrity!.. And only you, Valery Bryusov, Like some equal sovereign... I. Severyanin Plan: 1. Biography of the poet. 2. The first collection. 3. Bryusov is a symbolist. Biography. Main dates of creation. 1881 begins to write poetry. 1893-99 enters to study at the Faculty of History and Philology of Moscow University, first at the Department of Classical Philology, then at the Department of History. 1894-95 Bryusov produced three collections of "Russian Symbolists", consisting of his own translations from the French Symbolists and the works of some emerging poets. 1894 collection of translations from P. Verlaine "Romances without words". 1895 the first author's book of poems "Masterpieces". 1896 married Ioanna Matveevna Runt, who became his devoted assistant, after his death - the keeper of the archive and the publisher of the heritage. 1897 second book of poems "This is I". 1899 he becomes one of the organizers and leaders of the Scorpio publishing house. 1899 graduated with a diploma of the 1st degree. 1901 Bryusov - the main organizer of the almanac "Northern Flowers". April 1903 arrives in Paris for the first time. 1904-09 was the de facto editor of the journal "Vesy", which became the central organ of Russian symbolism. 1909 a book of poems "All tunes" was published. from September 1910 he headed the literary-critical department in the journal "Russian Thought" (edited by P. B. Struve). In 1921 he organized the Higher Literary and Art Institute and until the end of his life was its rector and professor. BRYUSOV Valery Yakovlevich Russian poet, prose writer, playwright, theorist of symbolism, critic, translator, literary critic. Creation. In 1894-95 Bryusov published three collections of "Russian Symbolists", consisting of his own translations from the French Symbolists and the works of some beginning poets. In this edition, as well as in the first poetry collections Chefs d "oeuvre" ("Masterpieces", 1895), "Me eum esse" ("This is me", 1897) and a collection of translations from P. Verlaine "Romances without words" ( 1894) Bryusov declared himself not only as a symbolist poet, but also as an organizer and propagandist of this movement.Books of poems 1900-09 - "Tertia vigilia" ("Third Guard", 1900), "Urbi et orbi" (" City and the World", 1903), "Stephanos" ("Wreath", 1906), "All Melodies" (1909) - determined the antinomic orientation of his poetics on the traditions of the French "Parnassus" with its solid genre and verse forms, verbal plasticity, inclination to historical and mythological subjects and exoticism, and at the same time to the French Symbolists, with their poetics of nuances, moods, and musical uncertainty. After 1910, there is a turn towards greater simplicity of form (the collection “Mirror of Shadows”, 1912), however, in later work, tendencies to complicate language and style again win. The poems of this period also demonstrate the figurative-thematic complexes characteristic of all his work: urbanism, "scientific" poetry, historicism, conviction in the plurality of truths and the self-goal of art. In the second half of the 1890s. Bryusov’s circle of literary connections is expanding (acquaintance with K. K. Sluchevsky, D. S. Merezhkovsky, Z. N. Gippius, K. D. Balmont, N. M. Minsky, K. M. Fofanov, F. K. Sologub and etc.). The coming Huns Topchi their paradise, Attila. Vyach. Ivanov Where are you, future Huns, And we, wise men and poets, That hang over the world like a cloud! I hear your cast-iron clatter, Through the still undiscovered Pamirs. Keepers of secrets and faith, Let's take the lit lights Into the catacombs, into the deserts, into the caves. On us with a drunken horde Fall down from the dark stands - Revive the decrepit body With a wave of flaming blood. And what, under a flying storm, Under this thunderstorm of destruction Will the playing Chance Save From our cherished creations? Set up, slaves of the waves, Huts near the palaces, as it used to be, Shake up a merry field In the place of the throne room. Without a trace, everything will perish, perhaps, What was known to us alone, But you, who will destroy me, I meet with a welcoming hymn. Fold books like fires, Dance in their joyful light, Do abomination in the temple - You are innocent in everything, like children! Autumn 1904, July 30 - August 10, 1905. The theme of Bryusov's poem is death traditional culture. The Huns - an ancient nomadic people - symbolizes the power that brings this death. on the one hand, Bryusov considers himself to be among those “wise men and poets” who go “to the catacombs, to the deserts, to the caves”, saving their “cherished creations” from the invasion of the “drunk horde”, creating “an abomination in the temple”; on the other hand, he feels the need to “revive the decrepit body / With a wave of flaming blood” and justifies the destructive pathos of the Huns with young enthusiasm seething in them: “You are innocent in everything, like children!” Bright epithets (“cast-iron ax”, “fun field”, “flying storm”), metaphors (the main symbolic image is the Huns, a metaphorical “cloud” hanging over the world, living in “dark camps”, i.e. parking lots, temporary settlements, and ready to fall on the world with a “thunderstorm of destruction”), an oxymoron combination of words (the Huns are called “slaves of the will”, that is, they are tools of the destructive element - will against their will) and other examples of style testify to the sophisticated skill of the author. The poem is saturated with pathetic intonations: the call to the Huns, riddled with verbs in the imperative mood, resembles an ecstatic half-mad incantation. Rhetorical questions and exclamations also contribute to the creation of a high emotional intensity. The nervous rhythm (the three-foot dactyl is freely replaced by the three-foot anapaest and amphibrach; sometimes a contraction occurs on one of the feet - then we have a three-beat dolnik) serves the same purpose. The young poet A pale young man with burning eyes, Today I give you three testaments: Take the first one: do not live in the present, Only the future is the domain of the poet. Remember the second: do not sympathize with anyone, Love yourself infinitely. Keep the third: worship art, Only him, thoughtlessly, aimlessly. The poem "To the Young Poet" succinctly and aphoristically formulated the philosophy of the individualist poet, his attitude to society, to art. Contrary to the proclaimed "precepts": "do not live in the present", "love yourself infinitely" and "worship art, only it recklessly, aimlessly" - Bryusov stubbornly develops a view of art as a "means of circulation", that is, emphasizes its social social role, fundamentally at odds with the consistent symbolists, who considered art to be "divine revelation" and an end in itself. A pale young man with an embarrassed look, If you accept my three testaments, Silently I will fall as a defeated fighter, Knowing that I left a poet in the world. Who is it? Answers.
In the spring of 1899, Bryusov takes his final exams at the university. Now nothing prevents him from doing what he loves, the business of life. In the autumn of 1900, the publishing house "Scorpion" published a book by V. Bryusov - "The Third Guard". "The Third Watch" begins with the confession of the poet: he heard a certain voice and returned from the desert to the people. In the world, he found himself a wife and seems to have found happiness. Willingness to sacrifice everything acquired in the name of a new dream. The Third Watch is a book of two planes. In the cycle "Favorites of the Ages", the poet illuminates the past of mankind through the faces of various heroes. Bryusov dreamed of the 20th century from his youth. It seemed to him that in the very change of centuries some kind of spring of active life would open up. There will be a kind of insight, and everyone will see a way out of what has been created in modern society dead end. And many people were aware of the impasse and hopelessness of the existing relationships between different strata of society. Class contradictions became more and more fierce. Nevertheless, the 20th century came relatively calmly. Outwardly, life went on as before. "Third Watch" introduced the poet into officially recognized literature. However, Bryusov, as a poet, having outlived his former self in The Third Watch, is ready to again look for other ways of TV. An indispensable member of the Scorpion publishing house, secretary of the Russian Archive magazine, correspondent for the London magazine Athenaeum, for which he writes annual reviews of Russian literature, Bryusov is active and self-confident. There is a noticeable shift in the mind of the poet: he is ready to "take up the hammer." At the same time, it would be a mistake to see Bryusov as a conscious revolutionary. He is alienated from concrete actions by an often contemplative attitude. Probably his understanding of the revolution, as soon as destructive anarchy. But, rejecting the modern system, he is ready to take a step towards those who will erect barricades. In the circle of the first Russian symbolists, he was predicted a great future. Bryusov met Konevsky in St. Petersburg, at a party with F. Sologub. Both the poems and the personality of Konevsky made a huge impression on Valery Yakovlevich. Konevsky - painfully shy and at the same time confident in his every word, he knew French poetry of the end of the century well and lived only by his intense spiritual quest. Petersburgers and Muscovites are trying to act as a united front, giving each other the pages of their publications. With enthusiasm, Bryusov composes the almanacs "Northern Flowers", each issue of which can be considered as an anthology of new poetry. The second wave of symbolism rises, giving the names of Andrei Bely, Alexander Blok, Vyacheslav Ivanov. Bryusov was the “teacher of taste” and “teacher of poetry” for the novice writer A. Bely, with whom he would develop a relationship at the beginning of affection and love, then - zealous hatred that almost led to a duel, and later - mutual understanding. Upon returning to his homeland, from a trip to Italy, Bryusov, enriched with new impressions and new thoughts, writes a theoretical treatise "Keys of Secrets" about the essence of art. This work did not go beyond the aesthetic framework. The author considered the problem in isolation from issues of public life and expressed a moderate symbolist understanding: art is not limited to "usefulness"; art cannot be only "pure"; science does not explain art. In 1903 Bryusov publishes a book of poems "Urbi et orbi" ("City and Peace"). This book belongs, without a doubt, to the heights of Bryusov's work. It includes poems written over the past three years. By the breadth of thoughts, by the channel of passions, by the variety of verse sizes, which, nevertheless, constituted a strictly “architectural unity”, the book put forward V. Bryusov among the greatest poets of his time. Considering the language of poetry "the most perfect form of speech", Bryusov demonstrates mastery in the most diverse layers of human existence. Enormous erudition and powerful fantasy expands the possibilities to live creatively in the images of mythology, in utopian insights, in the nakedness of that “I” that comes into contact with the realities of reality. Thanks to Bryusov, the Scorpion publishing house publishes books one after another that can be called the heights of Russian symbolism. The exacting taste of Bryusov, the ability to attract a talented author, to interest, to select the best that he is rich in, cannot be ignored. Valery Yakovlevich knew how to speak with this or that poet, what to promise him. From the beginning of the century, symbolism not only grows into Russian literature, but in the field of poetry with the stamp "Scorpio" on books of poetry becomes the most significant phenomenon. The fifth book of poems by V. Bryusov "Stethanos" ("Wreath") was published when the December uprising broke out in Moscow. The book "Wreath" has a dedication: "To Vyacheslav Ivanov, poet, thinker, friend." In a verse address, Bryusov praises Ivanov for drawing attention to the poetry of the ancient Greeks. Bryusov's poetic chronicle of the events of 1904-1905 makes it possible to judge the change in the poet's civic moods: from the official-patriotic appeal "To fellow citizens" to the sobering discovery of the possibilities of other perspectives in the development of events ("Julius Caesar", "Street Rally", "Face of Medusa" ). The political turn was made by Bryusov in the poem "The Coming Huns". For a long time, Bryusov had been hatching the idea of a novel from the life of Germany during the Reformation. The turning point in the struggle of free humanistic thought with the feudal Catholic and burgher authorities attracted the poet for many reasons. The basis of the love triangle (Rupecht - Renata - Count Heinrich) in the novel "The Fiery Angel" was based on the personal relationship of Bryusov, Nina Petrovskaya and Bely. Bryusov's attacks on the art theater had a far-reaching goal: the realist theater, he argued, should be replaced by the symbolic theater. Bryusov then took the theory of the symbolist drama of the Belgian poet Maurice Matherlinck, who was also a very prolific playwright. Matherlinck proved with his creativity that mind and soul are incompatible. March 26, 1907 at the Historical Museum Bryusov gives a lecture "The Theater of the Future". In symbolic works, the speaker emphasized, one can observe two main elements: an abstract idea and artistic creation. Bryusov's attitude to the role of the actor in the play also changed accordingly. The actor must obey the author's text, the actor - the material of the play. In essence, in this lecture, Bryusov rejected the methods of puppet staging in the play, resurrecting the ancient traditions of the theater, formed by Aristotle. Long before the World War (1915), while simultaneously working on the book “Mirror of Shadows”, Bryusov conceived a collection of poems, the core of which would be “an invincible, invincible call to life.” The collection was close to completion when the poet interrupted his literary business and went to the front as a correspondent. Now, having included military poems and some of the new ones in the manuscript, Bryusov compiled a book, giving it the title "Seven Colors of the Rainbow", which included poems from 1912-1915. Due to wartime conditions, Bryusov cannot publish new book"The Ninth Stone", poems 1915 - 1917. The publishing house "Sirin" was liquidated and thus the publication was interrupted complete collection works of V.Ya. Bryusov. Of the collected works, only eight scattered volumes came out. In the poet's office, the number of folders with ready-made materials is growing, which there is no place to print yet. Only Maxim Gorky in a few months will give from issue to issue in his “chronicle” of the study “Teachers of Teachers”. In lectures on literature, Bryusov assigned an honorable place to Pushkin. Predecessors - Lomonosov, Batyushkov, Zhukovsky were considered in the direct impact on Pushkin and in his attitude to their work. Bryusov spoke of Pushkin as if he knew the poet personally and was present at the writing of his works. In 1921, on the initiative of Bryusov, the Higher Literary and Art Institute (VLHI) was created. It was a creative university, a lively active school that helped a naturally gifted person to open up and find himself. In October he fell ill again. Doctors made a diagnosis: croupous and creeping inflammation of the lungs, complicated by pleurisy. When the temperature was brought down, Valery Yakovlevich asked Ioanna Matveevna, who did not leave him, to read Plato and the latest magazines aloud to him. Lying down, he tries to write a review of Bezymensky's book. But the disease progresses, and the forces leave the poet. Despite the pain, consciousness does not leave him for a long time. He understands what is happening, and several times from his lips breaks: "The end!". On October 8, he took his wife by the hand and with difficulty said a few comforting words to her. After an agonizing pause, he slowly said: "My poems ..." - lost consciousness. Ioanna Matveevna understood: "save it." The night passed uneasily: the patient tossed about and suffered greatly. At ten o'clock in the morning Valery Yakovlevich Bryusov died.
Biography and creative path
Childhood
Carried away by the races, the father squandered his entire fortune on; he became interested in racing and his son, whose first independent publication (in the magazine "Russian Sport" for) is an article in defense of the sweepstakes. Parents did little to educate Valery, and the boy was left to his own devices; a lot of attention in the Bryusov family was paid to “principles and”, so Valery was strictly forbidden to read religious literature (“From fairy tales, from any“ devilry ”, I was diligently guarded. But I learned about ideas and principles before I learned to multiply, ”Bryusov recalled ); but at the same time, no other restrictions were imposed on the young man’s reading circle, therefore, among the “friends” of his early years were both literature on and “French boulevard novels”, books and scientific articles - the word “everything that came to hand”. At the same time, the future poet received a good education- he studied at two Moscow gymnasiums (from to 1889 in the private classical gymnasium of F. I. Kreiman, in - - in the gymnasium of L. I. Polivanov; the latter, an excellent teacher, had a significant influence on the young poet); in the last years of the gymnasium, Bryusov did a lot of work.
entry into literature. "Decadentism" of the 1890s
Young Bryusov
Already at the age of 13, Bryusov connected his future life with poetry. Bryusov's earliest known poetic experiments refer to; somewhat later, his first (rather unskilful) stories appeared. While studying at the Kreyman gymnasium, Bryusov composed poetry and published a handwritten journal. In adolescence, Bryusov considered his literary idol, then he was fascinated by poetry.
By the beginning of the 1890s, the time had come for Bryusov's passion for the works of the French Symbolists -,. “Acquaintance in the early 90s with the poetry of Verlaine and Mallarmé, and soon Baudelaire, opened up a new world for me. Under the impression of their work, those of my poems that first appeared in print were created, ”recalls Bryusov. In he writes a letter (the first known to us) to Verlaine, in which he speaks of his mission to spread symbolism in Russia and presents himself as the founder of this new literary movement for Russia. Admiring Verlaine, Bryusov at the end of 1893 creates the drama “The Decadents. (End of the Century) ”, which tells about the short-lived happiness of the famous French symbolist with Mathilde Mote and touches on Verlaine’s relationship with.
In the 1890s, Bryusov wrote several articles on French poets. In the period from to he published (under the pseudonym Valery Maslov) three collections "Russian Symbolists", which included many of his own poems (including under various pseudonyms); most of them were written under the undoubted influence of the French symbolists; in addition to Bryusov's, the collections widely represented poems by A. A. Miropolsky (Lang), a friend of Bryusov, as well as A. Dobrolyubov, a mystic poet. In the third issue of "Russian Symbolists" Bryusov's "" was placed, which quickly gained popularity, ensuring the rejection of criticism and the Homeric laughter of the public in relation to the collections. For a long time, the name of Bryusov, not only in the bourgeois environment, but also among the traditional, “professorial”, “ideological” intelligentsia, was associated with this particular work - the “literary circle” (in the expression). He treated the first works of Russian decadents with irony, writing a witty review of the collection for "" (Soloviev also owns several well-known parodies of the style of "Russian Symbolists"). However, later Bryusov himself spoke of these first collections in the following way:
I remember these books
Like half asleep a recent day
We were bold, there were children,
Everything seemed bright to us.
Now in the soul and silence and shadow.
The first step is far
Five fleeting years are like five centuries.
(Collection "Tertia Vigilia", 1900)
In 1893, Bryusov entered the Faculty of History and Philology. His main interests in his student years were history, philosophy, literature, art, and languages. (“... If I could live a hundred lives, they would not saturate all the thirst for knowledge that burns me,” the poet noted in his diary). In his youth, Bryusov was also fond of theater and performed on the stage of the Moscow German Club; here he met Natalya Alexandrovna Daruzes (she performed on stage under the surname Raevskaya), who soon became the poet's lover (Bryusov's first love, Elena Kraskova, died suddenly in the spring of 1893; many of Bryusov's poems of 1892-1893 are dedicated to her); love for "Tala" Daruzes Bryusov experienced before.
In 1895, the first collection of exclusively Bryusov's poems appeared - "Chefs d'oeuvre" ("Masterpieces"); The title of the collection itself caused press attacks, which, according to critics, did not correspond to the content of the collection (narcissism was characteristic of Bryusov; for example, the poet wrote in his diary: “My youth is the youth of a genius. I lived and acted in such a way that only great deeds can justify my behavior. Moreover, in the preface to the collection, the author states: “Printing my book today, I do not expect it to be properly assessed either by critics or by the public. I do not bequeath this book to my contemporaries and not even to humanity, but to eternity and art. As for "Chefs d'oeuvre", and in general for Bryusov's early work, the theme of the struggle against the decrepit, obsolete world of the patriarchal merchant class, the desire to escape from "everyday reality" - to a new world, which was drawn to him in the works of French symbolists, is characteristic. The principle of "art for art's sake", detachment from the "outside world", characteristic of all Bryusov's lyrics, was already reflected in the poems of the collection "Chefs d'oeuvre". In this collection, Bryusov is generally a "lonely dreamer", cold and indifferent to people. Sometimes his desire to break away from the world comes to those of suicide, "the last verses." At the same time, Bryusov is constantly looking for new forms of verse, creating exotic rhymes, unusual images. See for example:
Shadow of Uncreated Creatures
Swaying in a dream
Like blades of patching
On the enamel wall.
purple hands
On the enamel wall
Sleepily draw sounds
In resounding silence...
A strong influence is felt in the poems of the collection.
In the next collection - "Me eum esse" ("This is me",) Bryusov progressed slightly compared to "Chefs d'oeuvre"; in "Me eum esse" we still see the author as a cold dreamer, detached from the "outside" world, dirty, insignificant, hated by the poet. Bryusov himself later called the period "Chefs d'oeuvre" and "Me eum esse" "decadent" (see also:). The most famous poem is "Me eum esse" - "To a young poet"; it opens the collection.
In his youth, Bryusov was already developing a theory of symbolism (“The new direction in poetry is organically connected with the former<ними>. It’s just that new wine requires new skins,” he writes to the young poet F. E. Zarin (Talin)).
In the second half of the 1890s, Bryusov became close to the Symbolist poets, in particular - with (acquaintance with him refers to; it soon turned into friendship, which did not stop until Balmont's emigration) became one of the initiators and leaders of the founded in SA. Polyakov of the publishing house "Scorpion", which united supporters of the "new art".
In later collections, mythological themes gradually fade, giving way to ideas - Bryusov sings of the pace of life big city, its social contradictions, the urban landscape, even the chimes of the trams and the piled dirty snow. The poet from the "desert of loneliness" returns to the world of people; he seems to be regaining his "father's house"; the environment that nurtured him is destroyed, and now, in the place of "dark shops and barns," shining cities of the present and future(“The dream of the prison will dissipate in the light, and the world will reach the predicted paradise.” One of the first Russian poets, Bryusov, fully revealed the urban theme (although elements of “urban lyrics” can be found long before Bryusov - for example, in “ The Bronze Horseman", in some poems). Even poems about nature, of which there are few in the collection, sound “from the mouth of a city dweller” (“Electric Monthly Light”, etc.). The "Third Watch" also contains several translations of poems, the admiration for whose work followed the admiration for music and the "fuzzy images" of Verlaine's poetry.
At this time, Bryusov was already preparing a whole book of translations of Verharn's lyrics - "Poems about Modernity." The poet is carried away not only by the growth of the city: he is excited by the very premonition of impending changes, the formation of a new culture - the culture of the City; the latter should become the "king of the universe" - and the poet is already bowing before him, ready to "throw into dust" in order to open "the path to victories." This is the key theme of the Tertia Vigilia collection.
A characteristic feature of Bryusov's poetics from this period is stylistic inclusiveness, encyclopedism and experimentation, he was a connoisseur of all types of poetry (he visits ""), a collector of "all tunes" (the name of one of his collections). He speaks about this in the preface to Tertia Vigilia: “I equally love the faithful reflections of the visible nature in Pushkin or Maikov, and the impulses to express the supersensible, the superearthly in Tyutchev or Fet, and the mental reflections of Baratynsky, and the passionate speeches of a civil poet, say, Nekrasov. The stylization of a variety of poetic manners, Russian and foreign (up to the “song of the Australian savages”) is Bryusov’s favorite pastime, he even prepared an anthology “Dreams of Humanity”, which is a stylization (or translations) of poetic styles of all eras. This feature of Bryusov's work evoked the most polarizing responses; its supporters (primarily symbolists, but also such acmeist students of Bryusov as) saw in this the “Pushkin” trait, “proteism”, a sign of erudition and poetic power, critics (,) criticized such stylizations as a sign of “omnivorous”, “soullessness and cold experimentation.
"Urbi et Orbi"
Consciousness of loneliness, contempt for humanity, a premonition of inevitable oblivion (characteristic poems - “In the days of desolation” (1899), “Like otherworldly shadows” (1900)) are reflected in the collection “Urbi et Orbi” (“City and the world”), published in, Bryusov is no longer inspired by synthetic images; more and more often the poet turns to the "civil" theme. A classic example of civil lyrics (and perhaps the most famous in the collection) is the poem "The Mason". For himself, Bryusov chooses among all life paths"the path of labor, like a different path", in order to discover the secrets of "a wise and simple life." Interest in reality - knowing suffering and need - is expressed in the "city folk" "chastushkas" presented in the "Songs" section. "Songs" are written in life, in "" form; they attracted a lot of attention from critics, who, however, were mostly skeptical of these works, calling Bryusov's "pseudo-folk ditties" "falsification". The urban theme is more developed here than in Tertia Vigilia; the poet draws with separate strokes the life of a big city in all its manifestations: so, we see the feelings of the worker (“And every night I regularly stand here under the window, and my heart is grateful that I see your icon lamp”), and the true experiences of the inhabitant “at home with red flashlight."
In a few poems, far-fetched self-adoration is visible ("And the virgins and young men stood up, meeting, crowning me like a king"), in others - erotomania, voluptuousness (the section "Ballads" is largely filled with such poems). The theme of love receives a remarkable development in the section "Elegies"; love becomes a sacrament, a “religious sacrament” (see, for example, the poem “To Damascus”). If in all previous collections Bryusov took only timid steps along the path of New Poetry, then in the collection “Urbi et Orbi” he is a master who has already found his calling, determined his path; it was after the release of "Urbi et Orbi" that Bryusov became the recognized leader of Russian symbolism. The collection had a particularly great influence on the young symbolists -,.
The apotheosis of capitalist culture is the poem "The Bled Horse". In it, the reader is presented with a full of anxiety, intense life of the city. The city with its "roars" and "nonsense" erases the impending face of death, the end from its streets - and continues to live with the same furious, "noisy" tension.
Themes and moods in the work of this period
The great-power mood of the times of 1904-1905 (the poems “To Fellow Citizens”, “To the Pacific Ocean”) were replaced by Bryusov’s period of belief in the inevitable death of the urban world, the decline of the arts, and the onset of the “era of damage”. Bryusov sees in the future only the times of "last days", "last desolations". These sentiments reached their peak at the time; they are clearly expressed in the Bryusov drama "Earth" (, entered the collection " earth axis”), describing the future death of all mankind; then - in the poem "The Coming Huns" (); in Bryusov, the short story "The Last Martyrs" was written, describing the last days of the life of the Russian intelligentsia, participating in a crazy erotic orgy in the face of death. The mood of "Earth" (works of "extremely high", by definition) is generally pessimistic. The future of our planet is presented, the era of the completed capitalist world, where there is no connection with the earth, with the expanses of nature, and where humanity is steadily degenerating under " artificial light"The world of machines." The only way out for humanity in the current situation is collective suicide, which is the finale of the drama. Despite the tragic ending, the play occasionally still contains hopeful notes; so, in the final scene, a believer in the "rebirth of mankind" appears and in new life youth; according to it, only true humanity is entrusted with the life of the earth, and people who decide to die a “proud death” are only an “unfortunate crowd” lost in life, a branch torn from their tree. However, decadent moods only intensified in the subsequent years of the poet's life. Periods of complete dispassion are replaced by Bryusov’s lyrics of unquenched painful passions (“I love in the eyes of those swollen”,; “In a gambling house”,; “In a brothel”, 1905, and many others).
Stephanos
Bryusov's next collection was "Stephanos" ("Wreath"), written during the most violent revolutionary events (came out in December 1905); the poet himself considered him the pinnacle of his poetic creativity (""Wreath" completed my poetry, put on it truly a "wreath" - writes Bryusov). Bryusov's civic lyrics flourish brightly in it, which began to appear in the Urbi et Orbi collection. Only the cycles "Driven from Hell" and "Moments" are dedicated to love. Bryusov sings a “hymn of glory” to the “coming Huns”, knowing full well that they are going to destroy the culture of the contemporary world, that this world is doomed and that he, the poet, is its inseparable part. Bryusov, who came from the Russian peasantry, who was under the "master's yoke", was well acquainted with rural life. Peasant images appear even in the early - "decadent" - period of Bryusov's lyrics. Throughout the 1890s, the poet turned to the "peasant" theme more and more often. And even during the period of worship of the city, Bryusov sometimes has the motive of "escape" from the noisy streets to the bosom of nature. A person is free only in nature - in the city he only feels like a prisoner, a “slave of stones” and dreams of the future destruction of cities, the onset of “wild will”. According to Bryusov, the revolution was inevitable. “Oh, it’s not the Chinese who will come, beaten in, but those more terrible, trampled into mines and squeezed into factories ... I call them, because they are inevitable,” the poet writes to four symbolists in, after Three Conversations. The divergence of views on the revolution among the symbolists thus began already at the turn of the century. Bryusov himself feels himself a slave to bourgeois culture, the culture of the city, and his own cultural construction is the construction of the same prison that is presented in the poem "The Mason". Similar in spirit to "Mason" and the poem "Rowers" (1905). The poems "Dagger" (1903), "Satisfied" (1905) - poems of the "songwriter" of the growing revolution, ready to meet its overthrow with a "welcome anthem".
The organizational role of Bryusov in Russian symbolism and in general in Russian modernism is very significant. The Libra, headed by him, became the most careful in terms of material selection and authoritative modernist magazine (opposing the eclectic and not having a clear program to Pass and ""). Bryusov influenced the work of many younger poets with advice and criticism, almost all of them go through the stage of one or another “imitation of Bryusov”. He enjoyed great prestige both among his symbolist peers and among literary youth, had a reputation as a strict, impeccable "master", creating poetry as a "magician", "priest" of culture and among acmeists (, Zenkevich,) and futurists (, etc.) . The literary critic assesses the role of Bryusov in Russian modernist culture as the role of a “defeated teacher of victorious students”, who influenced the work of an entire generation. Bryusov was not without a feeling of "jealousy" for the new generation of symbolists (see the poem "The Younger": "They see her! They hear her! ...", 1903).
Bryusov also took an active part in the life of the Moscow literary and artistic circle, in particular, he was its director (c). Collaborated in the journal "New Way" (he became editorial secretary).
1910s
1910-1914 and, in particular, 1914-1916, many researchers consider the period of spiritual and, as a result, creative crisis of the poet. Already the collections of the late 1900s - "The Earth's Axis" (a prose collection of stories,), "All the Melodies" () - were criticized as weaker than "Stephanos", they basically repeat the former "tunics"; thoughts about the frailty of all things intensify, the poet’s spiritual fatigue manifests itself (poems “The Dying Bonfire”,; “The Demon of Suicide”,). In the collections “Mirror of Shadows” (), “Seven Colors of the Rainbow” () it is not uncommon for the author’s calls to himself to “continue”, “swim further”, etc., which betray this crisis, occasionally appear images of a hero, a worker. In 1916, Bryusov published a stylized continuation of the poem "Egyptian Nights", which caused an extremely mixed reaction from critics. Reviews 1916- (who wrote under the pseudonym Andrey Polyanin, etc.) note self-repetitions in Seven Colors of the Rainbow, breakdowns in poetic technique and taste, hyperbolic self-praise ("Monument", etc.), come to the conclusion that Bryusov's talent has been exhausted.
With an attempt to get out of the crisis and find a new style, researchers of Bryusov's work associate such an interesting experiment of the poet as a literary hoax - the collection "Nelli's Poems" (1913) dedicated to Nadezhda Lvova and the "Nelli's New Poems" (1914-1916) that continued it (1914-1916, remained unpublished under author's life). These poems are written on behalf of a “chic” urban courtesan, carried away by fashion trends, a kind of female equivalent of a lyrical hero, poetics reveals - along with the characteristic signs of Bryusov's style, thanks to which the hoax was soon exposed - the influence of Severyanin and, to whose appearance Bryusov treats with interest.
Bryusov and the revolution
Valery Bryusov. Portrait by S. V. Malyutin. 1913
Despite all his aspirations to become part of the new era, Bryusov could not become a “poet of the New Life”. In the 1920s (in the collections "Dali" (), "Mea" ("Hurry!", )) he radically renews his poetics, using a rhythm overloaded with accents, abundant alliteration, ragged syntax, neologisms (again, as in the era " Nelli's Poems", using the experience of futurism); , who is generally critical of Bryusov, not without sympathy evaluates this period as an attempt to find "new sounds" through "conscious cacophony". These poems are saturated with social motives, the pathos of "scientific" (in the spirit of "scientific poetry" by Rene Gil, which Bryusov was interested in even before the revolution: "The World", 1922, "The World of N-Dimensions", 1924), exotic terms and proper names (author supplied many of them with a detailed commentary). M. L. Gasparov, who studied it in detail, called the manner of the late Bryusov “academic”. In some lyrics, notes of disappointment with their past and real life, even the revolution itself (the poem "House of Visions" is especially characteristic). In his experiment, Bryusov was alone: in the era of building a new, Soviet poetry, Bryusov's experiments were considered too complex and "incomprehensible to the masses"; representatives of modernist poetics also reacted negatively to them.
The main features of Bryusov's work
In Bryusov's poems, the reader is faced with opposite principles: life-affirming - love, calls for "conquest" of life by labor, for the struggle for existence, for creation - and pessimistic (death is bliss, "sweet nirvana", therefore the desire for death is above all; suicide is "seductive", and insane orgies are "the secret pleasures of artificial edens"). And the main actor in Bryusov's poetry there is either a brave, courageous fighter, or a man who is desperate in life, who sees no other way but the way to death (such, in particular, are the already mentioned "Nellie's Poems", the work of a courtesan with a "selfish soul").
Bryusov's moods are sometimes contradictory; they replace each other without transitions. In his poetry, Bryusov either strives for innovation, or again goes back to time-tested forms. Despite the desire for classical forms, Bryusov's work is still not, but, which has absorbed contradictory qualities. In it, we see a fusion of difficult-to-combine qualities. According to the characterization, Valery Bryusov is a "poet of marble and bronze"; at the same time, he considered Bryusov a poet of "solemnity par excellence". According to Bryusov - "hammer fighter and jeweler".
Bryusov's versification
Valery Bryusov made a great contribution to the development of the form of verse, actively used inaccurate rhymes, “free verse” in the spirit, developed “long” sizes (12-foot iambic with internal rhymes: “Near the slow Nile, where Lake Merida is, in the realm of fiery Ra // you have loved me for a long time, like Osiris Isis, friend, queen and sister ... ", the famous 7-foot trochee without caesura in "The Pale Horse": "The street was like a storm. Crowds passed // As if they were pursued by the inevitable Rock ... " ), used alternating lines of different meters (the so-called "lowercase": "My lips are approaching // To your lips ..."). These experiments were fruitfully received by the younger poets. In the 1890s, in parallel with Bryusov, he developed tonic verse (a term he introduced into Russian versification in an article of 1918), but, unlike Gippius and later Blok, he gave few memorable examples and rarely referred to this verse in the future: Bryusov's most famous dolniks are The Coming Huns (1904) and The Third Autumn (1920). In Bryusov, he published the collection "Experiments ...", which did not set creative tasks and was specially dedicated to the most diverse experiments in the field of verse (extra-long line endings, etc.). In the 1920s, Bryusov taught versification at various institutes, some of his courses were published.
Bryusov in different genres
Bryusov tried his hand at many literary genres.
Prose
The most famous are Bryusov's historical "Altar of Victory" (describing life) and - in particular - "The Fiery Angel". In the latter, the psychology of the time described is superbly displayed ( ), the mood of the era is accurately conveyed; based on the "Fiery Angel" wrote. The motives of Bryusov's novels fully correspond to the motives of the author's poetic works; Like poetry, Bryusov's novels describe the era of the collapse of the old world, depict its individual representatives who paused in thought before the arrival of the new world, supported by fresh, revitalizing forces. Bryusov's short stories describing modern life ("Nights and Days", the collection "Earth's Axis",) are much weaker than novels; in them, Bryusov surrenders to the "philosophy of the moment", the "religion of passion." Noteworthy is the story "The Betrothal of Dasha", in which the author portrays his father, Yakov Bryusov, who was involved in the liberal social movement of the years.
Translations
As a translator, Bryusov did a lot for Russian literature. He opened the work of the famous Belgian urbanist poet to the Russian reader, and was the first translator of poems. Known are Bryusov's translations of works (poems), ("Liliuli"), ("Pelléas and Melesande", "Massacre of the Innocents"), ("Amphitrion"), ("The Duchess of Padua", "The Ballad of Reading Prison"). Bryusov completely translated "Faust", "Aeneid". In Bryusov he was fascinated by poetry, translated many poems by Armenian poets and compiled a fundamental collection "The Poetry of Armenia from Ancient Times to the Present Day", for which he was awarded the title of People's Poet, the Linguistic University bears his name.
Bryusov was a translation theorist; some of his ideas are still relevant today (see, for example, the preface to Verlaine's translations (), the review "Verharn on a Procrustean bed" (), etc.).
Criticism and literary criticism
Poet in last years life
As a literary critic, Valery Bryusov began to speak back in when he selected poems by novice poets (the same, however, as he himself) for the first collection "Russian Symbolists". The most complete collection of Bryusov's critical articles is Far and Near. In his critical articles, Bryusov not only revealed the theory of symbolism, but also made statements about the dependence of form on content in literature; Poetry, according to Bryusov, "can and should" be learned, because it is a craft that has an important educational value. According to Bryusov, separation from reality is fatal for the artist. Bryusov's works on versification are interesting ("Fundamentals of versification", etc.). Bryusov was sympathetic to the work of proletarian poets, which is expressed in his articles "Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow of Russian Poetry", "Synthetics of Poetry".
Of Bryusov's literary works, the most famous are his works devoted to biography and creativity (works on Pushkin's versification, "Pushkin's Letters to Pushkin", "Pushkin in the Crimea", "Pushkin's Relations with the Government", "Pushkin's Lyceum Poems". In latest work there are newly discovered and restored texts by Pushkin the lyceum student). Several articles (“Pushkin and serfdom”, an article on Pushkin’s poetic technique, etc.) were written by Bryusov for the collected works of the great Russian poet (edition). Bryusov studied creativity (which was expressed in his speech “Incinerated”), (Bryusov actually opened the work of this talented poet to Russian society),.
Bryusov was engaged in editorial activities - under his control the publication of collected works, several editions of Pushkin's works was carried out. He began editing the complete works of Pushkin (the work, which ended on the first volume, also included denial - adding unfinished works).
Bryusov and philately
It is known that V. Ya. Bryusov collected, specializing in stamps of the colonies of European states. He was a member and honorary member of the editorial board of the magazine "".
Selected Quotes
Brother - A. Ya. Bryusov - professor of art history, employee of the Historical Museum, participant in the search.
Compositions
Collected works- A complete collection of works and translations, which, alas, did not justify its name - only vols. 1-4, 12, 13, 15, 21 - released in
The chronological table of Bryusov in a brief form will tell about the life and creative way Russian poet.
The material will introduce Bryusov's studies at the gymnasium, at Moscow University. Here you can also learn about the first literary samples of the author. The table of the life and work of Valery Yakovlevich Bryusov will indicate the names of the author's poetry collections, the years of their publication. The chronology indicates the poet's place of work as an editor in the journal Libra. During the First World War, he worked as a war correspondent, collaborated with Russkiye Vedomosti and the Letopis magazine. At this time, he is responsible for registering the press of Russian publications. Since 1919, Bryusov was chairman of the poets' union, founded his own institute.
Bryusov's biography by date will help to independently consolidate the studied material, prepare additional information for the lesson.
1885-1893 - Studying at the gymnasium.
1893
- The first literary experiments. Fascination with Verlaine's poetry;
drama "The Decadents (End of the Century)".
1893-1899 – Studying at the Faculty of History and Philology of Moscow University.
1894-1895 – Publishes three collections "Russian Symbolists". The third collection contains the poem "O close your pale feet."
1895 - Release of the first collection of poems "Chefs d'oeuvre" ("Masterpieces").
1897 - Release of the second collection of poems "Me eum esse" ("It's me"). The collection opens with the poem "For a Young Poet".
1900 - The release of the third collection of poems "Tertia Vigilia" ("Third Guard") in the publishing house "Scorpion" - "urban" stage of Bryusov's work.
1903 - Collection "Urbi et Orbi" ("City and the world").
1904 - Drama "Earth".
1904-1909 - Becomes the de facto editor of the monthly magazine "Scales", the main organ of Russian symbolism.
1905 - Collection "Wreath".
1907 - Prose collection of short stories "Earth's Axis".
1914 - He is sent to the front as a war correspondent for Russkiye Vedomosti.
1915 - At the invitation of M. Gorky, he begins to collaborate in the Chronicle magazine.
1917-1919 - Heads the Press Registration Committee.
1919-1921 - Chairman of the Presidium of the All-Russian Union of Poets.
1919 - Accepted as a member of the RCP (b).
1921 - Organized the Higher Literary and Art Institute (VLHI).
1924 – Died in Moscow, buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery.
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