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Under whose influence the pseudonym a appeared. Short biography of Andrei White. The personal life of Andrei Bely

Briefly:

Andrei Bely (1880-1934). The pseudonym of Bugaev Boris Nikolaevich. The writer was born in the family of a famous mathematician. Later he entered the Physics and Mathematics Department of Moscow University, where he organized a circle of “Argonauts”. In 1904, A. Bely's first poetry collection, Gold in Blue, was released. In 1910, a book of articles “Symbolism” was published, which was important for understanding his attitude to creativity. The poet seeks to bring literature closer to music, which is reflected in four of his Symphonies: Dramatic (1901), Severnaya (1904), Return (1905), Tangle of Snowstorms (1908). Two more collections of his poems - “Ashes” and “Urn” - were published in 1909.

Poetic collections printed after the revolution - “Star” (1919) and “After Separation” - testified to a passion for anthroposophy (the result of a trip to Europe). Bely and his wife accompanied the founder of anthroposophy R. Steiner on his trips across the continent.

The prose works of the writer include the novels “Silver Dove” (1909), “Petersburg” (1912), “Kotik Letaev” (1917), “Moscow” (1926). Andrei Bely also left interesting memoirs “At the Turn of Two Centuries” (1930), “Beginning of the Century” (1933), “Between Two Revolutions” (1934).

Source: Student Quick Reference. Russian literature / Auth. I.N. Agekyan. - М .: Modern writer, 2002

More details:

Andrei Bely (real name - Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev) - poet, prose writer (10.26.1880 Moscow - 8.1.1934 in the same place). He was born in a highly educated noble family. Father is a professor of mathematics at Moscow University. The first hobbies of Andrei Bely are related to German culture (Goethe, Heine, Beethoven), since 1897 he has been intensively engaged in Dostoevsky and Ibsen, as well as contemporary French and Belgian poetry. At the end of the gymnasium in 1899, he became an adherent of Vl. Soloviev and Nietzsche. In music, his love now belongs to Grieg and Wagner. Along with philosophy and music, Andrei Bely was interested in the natural sciences, which led him to the mathematical faculty of Moscow University, which he graduated in 1903, but until 1906 he continued to attend the philological faculty.

Around 1903, he met A. Blok and K. Balmont, became close to the circle of St. Petersburg symbolists, headed by D. Merezhkovsky and 3. Gippius, until 1909 collaborated with the magazine "Libra". Bely’s numerous publications begin with rhythmic prose " Symphony"(1902), which attracted attention with the unusual language and structure of the author’s thoughts. Andrei Bely collected the first poems in a collection" Gold in Azure"(1904), followed by collections" Ash"(1908) and" Urn"(1909), which already reflected in the names the phase of disappointment experienced by the author. Andrei Bely published his first novel under the title" Vedas " Silver dove" (1909).

From 1910 a new period began, which lasted until approximately 1920, the period of Bely’s creativity, due to his philosophical passions. In the years 1910-11. he takes a trip to Italy, Egypt, Tunisia and Palestine. From 1912 to 1916 he lived mainly in Western Europe, for some time - in Dornach by Rudolf Steiner, whose anthroposophical teachings greatly influenced him. In Germany, Andrei Bely made friends with Christian Morgenstern.

His second novel " Petersburg"(1912) in spirit continues the first. Upon his return to Russia in 1916, he published his third novel," Kotik Letaev"(1917-18), more autobiographical. He joined the literary group" Scythians "(with R. Ivanov-Razumnik and A. Blok).

Andrei Bely took the October Revolution in a mystical vein as an opportunity for religious and spiritual renewal of Russia. Bely taught at the Proletcult Studio. In November 1921, he left for Berlin, where he published many collections of poems, prose and theoretical works. In October 1923, Andrei Bely returned to Russia. The past is reflected in his essay " One of the cloisters of the kingdom of shadows"(1924). He later wrote mostly autobiographically, his works preserve the traditions of symbolism and stand out in Soviet literature, but are still qualitatively different from the early texts. Only perestroika created the prerequisites for the work of Andrei Bely from the late 80s became widely published in the homeland.

Bely is one of the most significant Russian symbolists, this applies to philosophy, the theory of creativity, as well as poetry and prose. He is one of the pioneers of Russian modernism. His art is to a large extent determined by mystical experiences; he insists on a comprehensive renewal. Four " Symphonies"Bely (1902-08) is united by the desire in the synthesis of poetry and music to achieve the renewal of the syntax and rhythmic structures of the language, to achieve its" liberation ". The first collection of his poems -" Gold in Azure"- belongs to the" apocalyptic "phase of Russian symbolism with its threatening image of a big city. The following collections of this author are closer to Russian reality, although they remain faithful to the magical ideas about the word. Occupations of Bely were reflected in the novel" Silver dove", where he develops an old cultural-philosophical problem of the position of Russia between East and West, using the example of a man brought up by Western civilization and captured by the occult forces of the East. The author is primarily interested in the image technique, figurative language, musical principles of repetition and rhythmic construction. Andrei Bely continues the tradition Gogol's grotesque. Roman " Petersburg"arising in the same circle of problems (the opposite of the eastern and western worldviews), but related to anthroposophy and showing the conflict between the senator father and his son, who fell under the influence of terrorists," focuses on the reflection of consciousness, but consciousness distorted in grotesques and split into independent segments "(Holthusen). White violates the laws of poetic art, traditionally striving for the unity of form in macro- and microstructure. In the poem" Christ is Risen"(1918) the chaos of the Bolshevik revolution is seen as a spiritual and mystical event of world-historical significance, and hopes for Russia are associated only with the recognition of the Resurrection of Christ. The most expressive is the stylized prose of Bely in the novel." Kotik Letaev". The author shows the consciousness of a child in which time borders on space, reality on myth. This is a work that" anticipated Joyce's most daring formal experiments ... "(Struve). One of the ways of philosophically-anti-rationalistic deepening of the image depicted in accordance with anthroposophical settings - identification of characters with mythological images The memoirs written in 1929-33, although brilliant in stylistic terms, are historically unreliable.

Andrei Bely (1880-1934) - Russian poet and writer, was one of the leading figures in Russian modernism and symbolism, also known for his work as a poet, memoirist and critic.

Childhood

The real name of Andrei Bely is Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev. He was born on October 26, 1880 in Moscow.

His father, Nikolai Vasilievich Bugaev, was a well-known Russian philosopher and mathematician, a corresponding member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg, an honored professor and dean at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics at Moscow University.

Mom, Alexandra Dmitrievna (Egorova's maiden name), was considered one of the first beauties in Moscow.

Long years of life (almost 26 years) of the future poet passed in the house of his parents, which was located at the intersection of Money Lane with Arbat. Now in this place in the very center of Moscow there is the world's only memorial museum dedicated to Andrei Bely.

Among the representatives of the old Moscow professors, his father, Nikolai Bugaev, had very wide acquaintances, so Andrei’s childhood passed in the high atmosphere of cultural and professorial Moscow. The great writer Leo Tolstoy was a frequent guest in the house.

A difficult relationship developed between the parents, which severely affected the emerging character and psyche of the future poet. In the future, this was expressed in the strangeness and conflict of Andrei Bely with others.

Training

At the age of 11, Andrei went to study at the best Moscow private gymnasium of L.I. Polivanov, where his favorite hobbies were oriental religion (occultism, Buddhism) and literature (especially the boy was interested in the works of Ibsen, Nietzsche and Dostoevsky). In his last years, the young man was very interested in poetry. Among the poetic works, he gave particular preference to the poets of France and the symbolists of Russia (Merezhkovsky, Bryusov and Balmont).

When the guy was 15 years old, he became close to the future Russian poet Sergei Solovyov, the son of a famous translator. Andrei quite closely entered their family, here he met with new art in music, painting, philosophy. It was in the Solovyov’s house that his first poetic experiments were met with sympathy and the creative pseudonym Andrei Bely was invented.

In 1899, he graduated from high school and at the insistence of his parents passed the exams for admission to Moscow University. At the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics, he chose the natural branch, because from an early youthful years, despite his mystical and artistic moods, Andrei strove for exact sciences.

At the university, he intensively engaged in the study of Darwin's theory and invertebrate zoology, paid much attention to chemistry. At the same time, he did not miss a single issue of the monthly art illustrated magazine “The World of Art”, in which he studied the novelties of the work of Russian Symbolists.

In 1903, Bely graduated from the university with honors.

In 1904, Andrei became a student of the Faculty of History and Philology at the same Moscow University. As his leader, he chose the famous Russian logician, translator and philosopher Boris Alexandrovich Vokht. However, a year later, Bely stopped attending classes, and in 1906 he wrote to the dean’s office a request for his expulsion from the university. He decided to devote himself entirely to literary activity.

Literary activity

In the winter of 1901, Bely met experienced symbolists Bryusov, Gippius and Merezhkovsky. And already in 1903, a circle of young symbolists began to form around it, which consisted mainly of university students. The mug was given the name Argonauts, and Andrei became his ideological inspirer and undoubted leader.

In 1903, Andrei began to correspond with the poet Alexander Blok, and a year later they already met in person. This acquaintance in the future resulted in many years of excruciating hostility and friendship.

In January 1904, the monthly scientific and literary magazine Libra began to be published in Moscow. Andrei Bely led close cooperation with the publishing house.

The Argonauts circle held their meetings in the apartment of the famous Russian public figure and lawyer Pavel Ivanovich Astrov. At one of the meetings it was decided to publish a literary and philosophical collection. In 1906, the first two books of this collection were published, which were given the name “Free Conscience”.

In 1909, Bely worked at the Musaget publishing house in Moscow, he was one of its founders, here the poet was engaged in translations, and also printed his poems.

In 1911, Andrei went on a trip to the Middle East and North Africa. The impressions of this trip are reflected in the Travel Notes.

Returning to Russia in 1912, Bely worked as an editor in the journal Trudy i Days. Then he again went abroad, where in Berlin he met Rudolf Steiner, the Austrian founder of the religious-mystical teaching of anthroposophy. Andrei plunged headlong into this teaching and became Steiner's pupil.

During this period, three volumes of his theoretical and critical articles were published:

"Symbolism";
"The meadow is green";
"Arabesques."

Little White began to move away from the poetry of symbolism, more and more prosaic works appeared in his work, for example, the novels “Silver Dove” and “Petersburg”, as well as the autobiographical novel “Kotik Letaev”.

From 1914 to 1916, Andrei lived in Switzerland, where he took part in the construction of the Goetheanum Church. At the end of 1916, Bely was summoned to Russia to test his attitude to military service. Asya’s wife didn’t go with Andrei, she stayed in Switzerland, having decided to completely surrender to the Steiner case and the construction of the church.

White considered the First World War a universal disaster, and he perceived the revolution in Russia in 1917 as a possible way out of the global impasse. These ideas are embodied in his works:

the essay cycle “On the Pass”, consisting of three parts, “The Crisis of Life”, “The Crisis of Thought” and “The Crisis of Culture”;
essay "Revolution and culture";
the poem "Christ is Risen";
poetry collections “The Queen and the Knights” and “Star”.

Along with creativity, Andrei was engaged in teaching. For young proletarian writers and poets in the proletcult in Moscow, he lectured on the theory of prose and poetry.

From 1921 to 1923, Bely again spent abroad, but after a complete breakdown in his marital relations with his wife, he returned to Russia, where he began a particularly fruitful period of his work, mainly now he wrote prose:

the dilogy of the novels “Moscow” (“Moscow Eccentric” and “Moscow under attack”);
the novel "Masks";
memoirs “Memories of the Block”;
trilogy “At the Turn of the Century”, “Beginning of the Century”, “Between Two Revolutions”.

A significant contribution to literary science was Bely's research works “Gogol’s Mastery”, “Rhythm as a Dialectic, and The Bronze Horseman”.

Personal life

Having met and drawn closer with the poet Alexander Blok, Andrei Bely began to look after his wife Lyubov Mendeleeva, later they became lovers. In this dramatic love triangle, all three were tormented for almost four years, until the final break occurred, reflected in Blok's play “The Carrier”. The poet Andrei Bely went abroad and poured his sufferings in the poetry collections “Ashes” and “Urn”.

Almost at the same time, Bely consisted in another love triangle - with his fellow poet in symbolism, the poet Valery Bryusov and his wife, the poetess Nina Petrovskaya. This novel by Andrei and Nina began innocently, but soon Petrovskaya fell in love with Bely so much that she reached in her feelings a mystical worship of him. Andrei decided to break off this relationship, he had enough of a love affair with Mendeleeva Lyuba, Blok's wife, but Petrovskaya literally began to pursue him. It got to the point that Nina attempted to kill her lover. During a break in the lecture that Andrey gave at the Polytechnic Institute, she came up and shot him point-blank. Fortunately, Browning misfired. All this collision was later reflected in Bryusov's novel “The Fiery Angel”.

In 1909, Bely met the artist, niece of the great Russian writer Ivan Turgenev. The girl's name was Anna (close people called her Asya), they became close and began to live in a civil marriage. She shared with him the years of wandering, when from 1910 to 1912 he traveled to Egypt, Palestine, Tunisia and Sicily. In the spring of 1914, Andrei officially married Asa; their marriage took place in Burn.

In 1916, he alone left for Russia, Asya did not follow him, remaining in the Dorn. Five years later, he returned to his wife, but after explanation it became clear that further cohabitation is no longer possible.

Having wandered a couple of years abroad, Bely returned to Moscow. Marital life with Anna Turgeneva remained in the past, but another woman appeared in his fate. Vasiliev Claudia Nikolaevna became the last lover of the poet. In 1925, at the invitation of their friends, they left for Kuchino, where they settled in a summer house of acquaintances. As Andrei Bely later said, this estate became for him as Yasnaya Polyana for Leo Tolstoy or as Yalta for Anton Chekhov. Here he finally was able to immerse himself in creativity with his head. In 1931, Claudia and Andrei legalized their relationship.

Claudia Nikolaevna made the last years of Bely’s life happy, she was quiet and very caring, surrounded him with his attention, and in response he affectionately called her Claude.

January 8, 1934, Andrei suffered a stroke, he died in the arms of his wife, they buried him in Moscow at the Novodevichy cemetery.

His real name is Bugaev Boris Nikolaevich (born in 1880 - d. In 1934). Writer, poet, philologist, philosopher, one of the leading representatives of Russian symbolism, theorist of literature.

The birth of a new century has always been perceived by many as an exceptional phenomenon, marking the end of the historical cycle and the beginning of a new era. It was 1900 that became the year of birth of Andrei Bely, a remarkable symbolist poet of the late XIX - early XX centuries, whose work expressed the feeling of a total crisis of life and world order. His contemporary, the philosopher F. Stepun, wrote: “Bely’s work is the only embodiment of non-existence of“ the turn of two centuries ”in strength and originality; earlier than in any other soul, the building of the 19th century collapsed in the soul of Bely and the outlines of the 20th were blurred.

Andrei Bely (Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev) was born on October 14 (26), 1880 in Moscow, in a house on the corner of Arbat Street and Denezhny Lane (now Arbat 55). A significant part of his dramatic and eventful life passed there.

His father, Nikolai Vasilyevich Bugaev, was an outstanding scientist-mathematician, philosopher-Leibnizian. From 1886 to 1891, Bugaev Sr. served as dean of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics at Moscow University. He became the founder of the Moscow Mathematical School, which under his leadership anticipated many of the ideas of Tsiolkovsky and other Russian space flight theorists. N.V. Bugaev was known to wide European circles for his scholarly works, and to Moscow students for his phenomenal absent-mindedness and eccentricities, which were anecdotes in the student community. For decades, first-graders studied according to a textbook of arithmetic compiled by Bugaev Sr. He liked to repeat: “I hope that Borya will come face to mother, and mind to me.” Behind these joking words was a family drama. The math professor was very ugly. Once, one of Andrei Bely’s acquaintances, not knowing his father’s face, said: “Look, what a man! Do you know who this monkey is? .. "

But the mother of Boris Bugaev was unusually pretty. In the picture K.E. Makovsky's "Boyar's Wedding" with Alexandra Dmitrievna wrote the bride. The boy’s mother was much younger than her famous husband and loved social life. Neither the mind nor the level of interests of the couple did not fit together. The situation was the most ordinary: a sleazy ugly husband and forever busy with mathematics and a beautiful flirty wife. No wonder that there was discord in their relationship. And every day the family was shocked by quarrels and scandals on every, even the smallest, occasion. Little Borya has repeatedly witnessed the clarification of relations between parents. Not only the nerves, but also the boy’s mind was forever struck by the “family life thunderstorms”, as he wrote in his novels, becoming a famous writer. The consequences of family drama left a lasting impression, having a profound impact on the formation of the character of Boris, on his whole future life.

He was afraid of his father and secretly hated, and his mother felt sorry and admired her. Later, having matured, the boy felt reverence for his father, revealing for himself the depth of his knowledge; and the love of the mother coexisted in the wounded soul of the child with an unflattering opinion of her mind. Boris learned to combine the incompatible, because everything that was accepted by his mother was not accepted by his father and vice versa. Later, this brought him the notoriety of a two-faced man. According to A. Bely, he was “torn apart” by his parents: his father wanted to make him his successor, and his mother struggled with this intention with music and poetry, “I was an apple of discord. I left myself early. ”

Borya grew up in a greenhouse “female” atmosphere. Everyone spoiled him: mother, aunt, governess. The boy was nervous and capricious, but he studied well and was attracted to knowledge. He received an excellent home education: he read poetry of Goethe and Heine in the original, loved the tales of Andersen and Afanasyev, and with his mother listened to the music of Beethoven and Chopin.

The boy entered the famous private gymnasium L.I. Polivanova, one of the best in Moscow. The director of the gymnasium remained the object of worship for Boris Bugaev for life. The lessons of Polivanov awakened a young schoolboy's love of languages \u200b\u200band literature. Boris became interested in Ibsen, the French and Belgian modernists. Already in the gymnasium, Bugaev's literary talent was clearly manifested: the boy began to write for a class magazine.

In late 1895 - early 1896, the young man became close to the family of M.S. Solovyov, his wife and son. In 1901, a young poet read from them his first poems and “symphonies” (rhythmic poetry). Test pen was successful. It was decided that a new poet was born. The young man called Solovyov his godfather. It was he who suggested the novice writer to take the pseudonym “Andrei Bely” in order to hide his “decadent hobbies” from loved ones and not upset his father with a “symbolic debut”. The choice of a pseudonym was not accidental. The departure of student Boris Bugaev in literary creation, according to M. Tsvetaeva, was akin to religious associates. White color is divine, a symbol of the second baptism. The name Andrew is also symbolic. It translates as “courageous”, besides that was the name of one of the 12 apostles of Christ.

In 1903, Boris Bugaev brilliantly graduated from the Natural Department of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Moscow University, the following year he entered the Faculty of History and Philology, but in 1905 the studies were interrupted. And a year later he filed a request for expulsion in connection with a trip abroad.

Before entering the university, the young man experienced, according to him, the condition of the “scissors”. He did not choose whether to be a “physicist” or a “lyricist”. The young man composed his plan for the passage of subjects: 4 years - Faculty of Natural Sciences, 4 years - philological, in order to realize the idea of \u200b\u200bmastering the facts in the spirit of a world view built on 2 columns - “aesthetics and natural sciences”.

While studying at the university A. Bely is fond of not only literature, but also philosophy. He sits in his father’s office over books devoted to the problems of hypnosis, spiritualism, occultism, Indian culture. B. Bugaev seriously studies the works of Darwin and philosophers-positivists. The encyclopedic “dispersion” of his hobbies amazed and at the same time delighted contemporaries. I.F. Annensky recalled: “The nature is richly gifted. Bely simply does not know which of his muses will once again smile at him. Kant is jealous of poetry. Poetry - to the music. ”

In the fall of 1903, Andrei Bely with a group of like-minded people, among whom were A.S. Petrovsky, S.M. Soloviev, V.V. Vladimirov and others made up the Argonauts circle. Its members became servants of the special mythology of life-making, the worship of the glorified Vl. Soloviev Eternal Femininity. The “young symbols," as they called themselves, sought to know the mystical secrets of being. A. Bely called this time “dawns” of symbolism, ascending after the twilight of the decadent paths that ended the night of pessimism in the attitude of the young poet.

Following the general desire of the Symbolists for the synthesis of arts, Bely created 4 literary works that have no analogues - a symphony, where the prose narration was built according to the laws of a musical symphonic form. The young poet tried to completely move away from the traditional denouement of the plot and replaced it with the intersection and alternation of “musical themes”, refrains, and the rhythmization of phrases. The most striking work of this genre was The Northern Symphony, which, according to Bely, has arisen from improvisation to the music of E. Grieg. Unfortunately, the criticism did not appreciate the symphony of the aspiring poet. The duality pervading them was alien to new literature, but certain stylistic finds of the young author had a strong influence on “ornamental prose”. For as long as 20 years, A. Bely anticipated the technique of describing the chaos of city life in the novel by J. Joyce "Ulysses".

After the release of the dramatic symphonies, A. Bely, at the suggestion of V. Bryusov, began to prepare a collection of poems for the journal Scorpio. Soon he met with the organizers of the St. Petersburg religious and philosophical meetings and the publishers of the magazine "New Way" D.S. Merezhkovsky and Z.N. Gippius. In the same year, correspondence ensued between A. Bely and A. Blok, which marked the beginning of a dramatic friendship and enmity between poets. Young people have known each other in absentia for a very long time. A. Bely was enthusiastic about Blok's poetry, and he, in turn, decided to enter into a polemic with the author of the article “On the Forms of Art”, which was Bely. It was the dissimilarity of views on the art of the young Symbolists that was the reason for the first letter. And exactly one year later, in 1904, in his apartment on Arbat B. Bugaev met his pen pal and his wife, Lyubov Dmitrievna.

Everyone who knew both poets noted sharp differences in their characters. Z.N. Gippius wrote: "It is difficult to imagine two beings more opposed than Borya Bugaev and Blok." But despite the obvious differences, they had much in common: attitude to life and literature, interest in philosophy, wide erudition, and, of course, the literary gift manifested in different ways. Young symbolists worshiped the cult of the Beautiful Lady, professed love-mystery as a way to eschatological knowledge of the world. Young poets sought to find the embodiment of the Beautiful Lady on earth. And such a woman was Lyubov Dmitrievna Blok. Andrei Bely imperceptibly fell in love with a friend's wife, and she reciprocated. Frightened, the poet stepped back, explaining that he was misunderstood. A loving woman took these words as an insult. The character of Boris Bugaev complicated their relationship to the extreme. He always adhered to the same tactics in relations with women. White conquered them with his charm, not even allowing a hint of any sensual relationships. But the poet did not fulfill his role to the end and in every possible way solicited the subject of his adoration, each time he became furious if he was rejected. If the woman agreed to share his feelings, then Bely felt desecrated.

In 1904, Andrei Bely published his first poetic collection, "Gold in Azure." Everything ideal, mythical, exalted in the poems included in this collection is indicated by light (sun, dawn) and color (description of precious stones and fabrics) symbols. In his poems, the poet first destroyed the traditional syllabotonic meter, mixed the two-syllable and three-syllable sizes of the poem. He arranged the lines according to intonation, anticipating the "columns and ladders" of V. Mayakovsky’s tonic verses. Formal literary critic V. Shklovsky remarked: “Without Russian poetry, new Russian literature is impossible.”

In January 1905, the poet became close to Merezhkovsky, who accepted him into his "religious community" as the seventh member. Z.N. Gippius presented the young poet with a pectoral cross, which he pointedly wore over his clothes.

After the revolutionary events of 1905, which swept through Russia in a whirlwind, the famous poet, distinguished by the instability of his worldview, again changed his life position. He developed an interest in social problems: “This winter. changed me a lot: once again I doubted everything. in art, in God, in Christ. wanted to become Andryukha Krasnorubakhin, ”he wrote in a letter to P.A. Florensky. Andrei Bely takes an active part in student rallies, goes in the ranks of demonstrators at the funeral of Trubetskoy and N.E. Bauman. Impressed by the December barricade battles, Bely writes the poem "He is here again, among the fighters." The poet gets acquainted with the brochures of social democrats, socialist revolutionaries and even anarchists, reads the "Capital" of K. Marx.

A. Bely and L.D. The block decided to go to Italy, but the trip failed. The explanation with A. Blok was difficult, and Lyubov Dmitrievna decided to break off all relations with Bely. This period of his life, the poet recalled with pain: "How many days - so many heart explosions, ready to jump out, as many crises of tormented consciousness."

Soon, A. Bely's second - Ellis - appeared on the estate of Blok with a challenge to a duel, which did not take place.

The following year, a controversy arose again between friends-rivals, the reason for which was A. Blok's collection “Unexpected Joy.” A. Bely, unashamedly, denigrated the poems that entered into him and the play “The Balts Fairy”: “A fake for children’s and idiots. The block ceased to be a block. " And Blok answered him in his own way: “I have ceased to understand you. That’s why I don’t dedicate this book to you. ” Only many years later, after the death of Blok, Bely admitted that his criticism was unfair.

The hostility was reinforced by polemics related to the work of realist writers, which led to a new challenge to a duel, but Bely sent several conciliatory letters and the conflict was resolved.

Soon, Blok arrived in Moscow, and a long and frank conversation took place between enemy friends. The fragile peace established after reconciliation was broken by another quarrel over S. Solovyov's collection of poems, Flowers and Incense. The poets went their separate ways, but they couldn’t “get rid of them forever”.

A. Bely again took the first step towards reconciliation. Between them resumed correspondence. Since that time (1910), their “zigzag relationships,” according to Bely, have taken on the character of an “even, calm, but somewhat distant friendship.” As in past years, their letters began with the words: “Dear, close, beloved Sasha!” and "Darling, dear Borya."

In the autumn of that year, A. Bely left St. Petersburg to rethink his relationship with L.D. Block. Then the poet drew attention to Asya Turgenev, became close to her and her family. Having entered into a civil marriage, at the end of 1910 they went abroad, where they traveled to Italy, Tunisia, Palestine. The poet remained the same as he was: expansive, impetuous, but something was broken in his attitude to life. He is trying to heal his wounds with work, which he writes in a letter to his mother: “Upon returning to Russia, I will take all measures to defend myself from the influx of unnecessary impressions. Before my eyes, a plan of future literary works is ripening, which will create a completely new form of literature. ”

At this time, A. Bely is experiencing a number of "tantrums, disruptions, landslides and precipices." He is interested in philosophy and takes a serious interest in "exact knowledge." A. Bely seeks to create a “philosophical brick” under the title “Theory of Symbolism”. Since 1909, the poet has been planning an epic trilogy on the philosophy of Russian history “East or West”. The first part of this unrealized plan was the then-published novel Silver Pigeon, in which one can feel the influence of Gogol's works. In it, the author tries to answer the traditional question: where should one seek the salvation of Russia - in the West or in the East? - and, desperate to solve this problem, explains that he is lost in fog and chaos.

In the collection "Ashes" (1909), which is dedicated to N.A. Nekrasov, placed genre poems and works of social subjects. A. Bely wrote: “The theme of the new book is Russia with its decaying past and unborn future. Analyzing the collection "Ashes", S.М. Soloviev wrote: “Ashes of what? The former subjective experiences of the poet or objective reality are the ashes of Russia. Both one and the other, ”he replies firmly. Another collection, The Urn, includes poems of the same years as Ashes. A. Bely wrote it as "meditations on the perishability of human nature with its passions and impulses." The author’s thoughts and feelings are largely inspired by Bely’s “St. Petersburg drama”, his tragic and exalted feeling for L.D. Block. “Ashes” is a book of self-immolation and death: but death itself is only a veil that covers the horizons of the distant to find them in the near. In the "Urn" I collect my own ashes so that it does not obscure the light of my living "I". ” - the poet wrote in the preface.

In 1910, the Musaget publishing house in Moscow, which united the symbolists of religious and philosophical orientation, published collections of critical and theoretical articles by Bely, Symbolism and Arabesques. Unfortunately, contemporaries did not appreciate the philosophical works of A. Bely. He was considered a poet, a mystic, a creator of unusual art forms, a genius or a madman, a prophet, a clown — but not a philosopher. Symbolists have repeatedly said that "Bely’s attempt to leave the" path of madness "on the strict path of critical thought could not fail to end in complete failure." "In theoretical interests, I was alone." - Bely realized woefully.

In the spring of 1911, Bely and his wife returned to Russia. In search of work, he worked part-time in small newspapers and magazines. He has to wander around the corners that casual acquaintances offer, lack of money leads the vulnerable, restless poet to a dejected state. Driven to complete despair, in mid-November 1911 he wrote to A. Blok: “I must either drop literature and hang around in the front guardians of the district, or demand from society that A. Bely, who can write good things, be provided with society. After 2 weeks, I will shout with good obscenities at all thresholds of the rich bourgeois bastard: "Give Christ for the sake of A. White". ” Despite the intricate relationship between famous poets, A. Blok immediately sent the friend the necessary money. For some time, a way out was found.

At the same time, A. Bely began work on the second part of the trilogy, but realized that he would not succeed in directly continuing the “Silver Pigeon”. The main theme of the new novel was Petersburg. This city in the novel is an inanimate vision, a haze that hides the intersection of two main trends in historical development. Its inhabitants are poisoned by the poison of contradictions, corroded by duality, which has broken the life of A. Bely himself. The novel "Petersburg" became the pinnacle of prose of Russian symbolism. This is the first in the world literature "novel of consciousness." His publication was organized with the support of the Bloc.

In 1912, the poet and his wife again went abroad. In Germany, A. Bely met the founder of the anthroposophical movement, R. Steiner, and became his loyal follower. Since 1914, the couple moved to Switzerland, where, together with other followers of Steiner’s ideas, they participate in the construction of the St. John’s Church.

A. Bely was carried away by the problem of internal self-knowledge and wrote several autobiographical novels - Kotik Letaev (1917), Baptized Chinese (1921).

The February revolution was for Bely an inevitable breakthrough to the salvation of Russia. And he met the October Revolution joyfully. For the famous symbolist, it was a symbol of "saving the creative principles from the inertia of stagnation, the possibility of Russia entering a new round of spiritual development." The result of the spiritual upsurge of A. Bely was the poem “Christ” (1918), where the main character is a certain symbol of the cosmic revolution. From his pen go “Essay”, “Revolution and Culture”, a collection of poems “Star”.

The famous symbolist gravitated to the ideas of "spiritual communism", therefore, it was no accident that in the first post-revolutionary years he actively responded to calls to launch cultural and educational activities among the masses. A. Bely acts as an orator and lecturer, teacher and one of the organizers and creators of the Free Philosophical Organization (Wolfila). He writes a lot of critical and journalistic articles, striving to become "understandable to people", moving away from the darkened, torn language of previous years. Since the end of 1920, the poet has lived in Petrograd, dreaming of traveling abroad. He even thought about running away, but he talked to everyone about his plans. Mocking questions from friends about the timing of the escape caused A. Bely attacks of wild fear.

In the summer of 1921, A. Bely managed to travel to Europe with the aim of organizing the publication of his books and founding a branch of Wolfila in Berlin. The breakup of the poet with Steiner and his followers was a real blow for him. Berlin witnessed his prolonged hysteria, which was expressed in drunken dances. Living his life in foxtrot and polka, Bely sought to trample all the best in himself, falling lower and lower. So he tried to drown out the pain caused by his break with L.D. Block. In a half-mad state, having retained the remains of cunning, the poet procured a visa and left for Moscow.

On August 7, 1921, A. Blok died. Bely was suffering a loss. The obituary, written by him, began with the words: “A.A. died Blok is the first poet of our time; the first voice fell silent, the song ended with the song. ”

Over the years spent abroad, A. Bely published 16 books and the poem "Gossolalia" on the cosmic meanings of the sounds of human speech. Returning to Russia, he married K.N. Vasilyeva and even for some time conducted anthroposophical work. He was hardly published, and the famous poet himself has worked on autobiography in three years, consisting of three volumes - “At the Turn of the Century” (1930); The Beginning of the Century (1933); “Between Two Revolutions” (1934). The life story of the writer is revealed in the trilogy against the background of the cultural life of the era, and she herself becomes the protagonist.

His plan to create a novel about Moscow was doomed to failure: only two parts of the first volume were written - “Moscow Eccentric” and “Moscow under attack” and the second volume - “Masks”. The author sought to bring to life a picture of history that has lost its meaning, but this plan became anti-epic.

The most important part of Bely’s legacy was his work on philology, primarily on poetry and poetic stylistics. In them, he develops the theory of "rhythmic sense", the principles of the study of sound recording and the dictionary of writers. The works “Rhythm as Dialectic”, “The Bronze Horseman”, “Gogol’s Mastery”, “Rhythm and Meaning” and others had a decisive influence on literary criticism of the 20th century — formalist and structuralist schools in the USSR, “new criticism” in the USA, laid the foundations modern scientific poem (distinction of meter and rhythm, etc.).

A. Bely died on January 8, 1934 from the effects of a sunstroke. Before his death, he asked him to read his early verses:

I believed in gold glitter.

He died of sun arrows.

I’ve measured by the thought of the century

But he could not live life.

Listening to these lines for the last time, he seemed to have lived his rebellious and extravagant life again.

Valentina Sklyarenko

From the book “100 Famous Muscovites”, 2006

poetry; one of the leading figures of Russian symbolism and modernism in general.

Biography

In 1899, at the insistence of his father, he entered the natural department of the Physics and Mathematics Faculty of Moscow University. From his youth, he tried to combine artistic and mystical moods with positivism, with a desire for exact sciences. At university, he works on the zoology of invertebrates, studies the works of Darwin, chemistry, but does not miss a single issue of the World of Art. In the fall of 1899, Boris, as he put it, “completely devotes himself to the phrase, the syllable”.

In December 1901, Bely met the “senior Symbolists” - Bryusov, Merezhkovsky and Gippius. In the fall of 1903, a literary circle was organized around Andrei Bely, called the Argonauts. In 1904, the "Argonauts" gathered at Astrov’s apartment. At one of the meetings of the circle, it was proposed to publish a literary and philosophical collection entitled "Free conscience", and in 1906 two books of this collection were published.

In 1903, Bely entered into correspondence with Alexander Blok, and a year later their personal acquaintance took place. Prior to this, in 1903 he graduated with honors from the university. Since the founding of the Libra magazine in January 1904, Andrei Bely began to work closely with him. In the fall of 1904 he entered the Faculty of History and Philology of Moscow University, choosing B. A. Voht as the leader; however, in 1905 he stopped attending classes, in 1906 he filed a petition for expulsion and began to engage exclusively in literary work.

After a painful break with Blok and his wife Lyubov Mendeleeva, White lived for six months abroad. In 1909 he became one of the co-founders of the Musaget Publishing House. In 1911 he made a number of trips through Sicily - Tunisia - Egypt - Palestine (described in the Travel Notes). In 1910, Bugaev, relying on his knowledge of mathematical methods, gave lectures on prosody to beginner poets, according to D. Mirsky, "the date from which the very existence of Russian poetry as a branch of science can be counted off."

Since 1912 he edited the journal "Works and Days", the main theme of which was the theoretical issues of the aesthetics of symbolism. In 1912, in Berlin, he met Rudolf Steiner, became his student and, without looking back, surrendered to his apprenticeship and anthroposophy. In fact, moving away from the previous circle of writers, he worked on prose works. When the war of 1914 broke out, Steiner with his students, including Andrei Bely, were in the Swiss Dornach, where the construction of the Goetheanum began. This temple was built with the hands of students and followers of Steiner. Before the start of World War I, A. Bely visited the grave of Friedrich Nietzsche in the village of Röcken near Leipzig and Cape Arkona on the island of Rügen.

In 1916, B.N. Bugaev was called to Russia "to test his attitude to military service" and arrived in Russia in a roundabout way through France, England, Norway and Sweden. The wife did not follow him. After the October Revolution, he taught classes on the theory of poetry and prose in the Moscow Proletcult among young proletarian writers.

Since the end of 1919, Bely thought about returning to his wife in Dorny, he was released abroad only at the beginning of September 1921. From the explanation with Asya it became clear that the continuation of a joint family life was impossible. Vladislav Khodasevich and other memoirists remembered his broken, comradely behavior, the “dancing” of the tragedy in Berlin bars: “his foxtrot is pure whip: not even a whistle, but a christ dance” (Tsvetaeva).

In October 1923, Bely unexpectedly returned to Moscow for his girlfriend Claudia Vasilyeva. “Bely is a dead man, and in no spirit will he be resurrected,” wrote Trotsky, the all-powerful at that time, in Pravda. In March 1925, he rented two rooms in Kuchin near Moscow. The writer died in the arms of his wife Claudia Nikolaevna on January 8, 1934 from a stroke - a consequence of a sunstroke that happened to him in Koktebel. This fate was predicted by him in the collection "Ashes" (1909):

I believed in the golden glitter
He died of sun arrows.
I’ve measured by the thought of the century
But he could not live life.

Personal life

In the years when the Symbolists enjoyed the greatest success, Bely consisted of “love triangles” with two current brothers at once - Valery Bryusov and Alexander Blok. Relations Bely, Bryusov and Nina Petrovsky inspired Bryusov to create the novel "Fiery Angel" (1907). In 1905, Nina Petrovskaya shot at Bely. Triangle White - Block - Lyubov Mendeleev intricately refracted in the novel "Petersburg" (1913). For some time Lyubov Mendeleeva-Blok and Bely met in a rented apartment on Shpalernaya Street. When she told Bely that she was staying with her husband, and wanted to erase him from life forever, Bely entered a period of deep crisis, which almost ended in suicide. Feeling himself abandoned by all, he went abroad.

Upon his return to Russia in April 1909, Bely became close to Anna Turgeneva (Asya, 1890-1966, niece of the great Russian writer Ivan Turgenev). In December 1910, she accompanied Bely on a trip to North Africa and the Middle East. March 23, 1914 married her. The wedding ceremony took place in Bern. In 1921, when the writer returned to her in Germany after five years in Russia, Anna Alekseevna invited him to leave for good. She remained to live in Dornach, devoting herself to serving the cause of Rudolf Steiner. She was called the "anthroposophical nun." Being a talented artist, Asya managed to develop a special style of illustrations, which replenished anthroposophical publications. Her “Memories of Andrei Bely”, “Memories of Rudolf Steiner and the construction of the first Goetheanum” contain interesting details of their acquaintance with anthroposophy, Rudolf Steiner and many talented people of the Silver Age. Her image can be recognized in Katya from the Silver Dove.

In October 1923, Bely returned to Moscow; Asya is forever in the past. But a woman appeared in his life who was destined to spend the last years with him. Claudia Nikolaevna Vasilieva (nee Alekseeva; 1886-1970) became Bely's last friend. Quiet, caring Claude, as the writer called her, July 18, 1931 became the wife of the White.

Creation

Literary debut - “Symphony (2nd, dramatic)” (M., 1902). It was followed by the “Northern Symphony (1st, heroic)” (1904), “Return” (novel, 1905), “Cup of Snowstorms” (1908) in the individual genre of lyrical rhythmic prose with characteristic mystical motifs and a grotesque perception of reality. Entering the circle of Symbolists, he participated in the magazines World of Art, The New Way, Libra, The Golden Fleece, and Pass.

An early collection of poems “Gold in Azure” () is distinguished by formal experimentation and characteristic symbolist motifs. After returning from abroad, he published collections of poems “Ashes” (1909; the tragedy of rural Russia), “Urn” (1909), the novel “Silver Dove” (1909; ed. Publ. 1910), essays “The Tragedy of Creativity. Dostoevsky and Tolstoy ”(1911). The results of his own literary and critical activity, partly symbolism as a whole, are summarized in collections of articles Symbolism (1910; includes poetry), Green Meadow (1910; includes critical and polemical articles, essays on Russian and foreign writers), " Arabesques ”(1911).

In 1914-1915 the first edition of the novel Petersburg was released, which is the second part of the East or West trilogy. In the novel "Petersburg" (1913-14; revised abridged version of 1922) symbolized and satirical depiction of Russian statehood. The novel is widely recognized as one of the peaks of prose of Russian symbolism and modernism in general.

The first in a series of autobiographical novels conceived - "Kotik Letaev" (1914-15, ed. 1922); the series is continued by the baptismal Chinese (1921; ed. 1927). In 1915, Bely wrote a study "Rudolf Steiner and Goethe in the worldview of our time" (M., 1917).

Influence

Bely's stylistic style is extremely individualized - it is a rhythmic, patterned prose with numerous fantastic elements. According to V. B. Shklovsky, “Andrei Bely is an interesting writer of our time. All modern Russian prose bears its traces. Pilnyak is the shadow of smoke, if White is smoke. ” To indicate the influence of A. Bely and A. M. Remizov on post-revolutionary literature, the researcher uses the term “ornamental prose”. This direction became the main one in the literature of the first years of Soviet power. In 1922, Osip Mandelstam urged writers to overcome Andrei Bely as “the pinnacle of Russian psychological prose” and to return from weaving words to pure plot action. Beginning in the late 1920s Bel's influence on Soviet literature is steadily fading away.

Addresses in Petersburg

01.1905 years - Merezhkovsky’s apartment in the apartment building of A. D. Muruzi - Liteiny prospect, 24;
01. - 02.1905 years - furnished rooms "Paris" in the apartment building of P. I. Likhachev - 66 Nevsky Prospect;
12.1905 years - the furnished rooms "Paris" in the apartment building of P. I. Likhachev - 66 Nevsky Prospect;
04. - 08.1906 years - furnished rooms "Paris" in the apartment building of P. I. Likhachev - 66 Nevsky Prospect;
01/30. - March 8, 1917 - apartment of R.V. Ivanov-Razumnik - Tsarskoye Selo, 20 Kolpinskaya Street;
spring 1920 - 10.1921 - apartment building of I. I. Dernov - Slutsky street, 35 (from 1918 to 1944 the so-called Tavricheskaya St.).

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Notes

(original in the ImWerden library)

A passage characterizing Andrei Bely

The adjutant looked back at Pierre, as if not knowing what to do with him now.
“Don't worry,” Pierre said. “I'll go to the mound, can I?”
- Yes, go, from there everything is visible and not so dangerous. And I'll pick you up.
Pierre went to the battery, and the adjutant rode on. They didn’t see each other again, and much later Pierre found out that this adjutant had his arm torn off that day.
The mound Pierre entered was famous (later known to the Russians as the Kurgan battery or Raevsky battery, and the French as la grande redoute, la fatale redoute, la redoute du center [big redoubt, fateful redoubt, central redoubt ] a place around which tens of thousands of people are laid and which the French considered the most important point of position.
This redoubt consisted of a mound on which ditches were dug from three sides. In the dug-in place there were ten firing cannons, stuck out in the shaft opening.
In line with the mound were guns on both sides, also firing continuously. A little behind the guns were infantry troops. Entering this mound, Pierre did not think that this place, dug in small ditches, on which several guns stood and fired, was the most important place in the battle.
On the contrary, it seemed to Pierre that this place (precisely because it was located on it) was one of the most insignificant places of the battle.
Entering the mound, Pierre sat down at the end of the ditch surrounding the battery, and with an unconsciously joyful smile looked at what was happening around him. Occasionally Pierre got up with the same smile and, trying not to interfere with the soldiers who were loading and rolling the guns, constantly running past him with bags and charges, walked around the battery. The cannons from this battery fired incessantly one after another, stunning with their sounds and covering the whole neighborhood with powder smoke.
In contrast to the eerieness that was felt between the infantry soldiers of the cover, here, on the battery, where a small number of people engaged in business are white, limited, separated from the others by a ditch, there was felt the same and common to everyone, like a family revival.
The appearance of a non-military figure of Pierre in a white hat at first unpleasantly struck these people. The soldiers, passing him, looked at him in surprise and even frightened. The senior artillery officer, a tall, with long legs, pockmarked man, as if in order to look at the action of the extreme guns, went up to Pierre and looked at him curiously.
A young chubby officer, still a perfect child, obviously, just released from the corps, disposing of two cannons very carefully entrusted to him, strictly turned to Pierre.
“Sir, let me ask you out of the way,” he told him, “you cannot be here.”
The soldiers shook their heads disapprovingly, looking at Pierre. But when everyone was convinced that this man in a white hat not only did nothing wrong, but either quietly sat on the slope of the shaft, or with a timid smile, politely avoiding the soldiers, walked on the battery under the shots as calmly as on the boulevard, then little by little, the feeling of unfriendly perplexity towards him began to turn into an affectionate and humorous participation, similar to that which the soldiers have for their animals: dogs, roosters, goats and in general animals living with military teams. These soldiers immediately mentally accepted Pierre into their family, appropriated themselves and gave him the nickname. “Our master” was nicknamed him and laughed affectionately about him.
One core exploded the ground a stone's throw from Pierre. He, clearing the earth sprinkled with a core from the dress, looked around him with a smile.
- And how are you not afraid, master, right! - the red-necked wide soldier turned to Pierre, grinning strong white teeth.
“Are you afraid?” Asked Pierre.
- But how? - the soldier answered. - After all, she will not have mercy. She sniffs, so guts out. You can't help but be afraid, ”he said, laughing.
Several soldiers with cheerful and affectionate faces stopped beside Pierre. They did not seem to expect him to speak like everyone else, and this discovery pleased them.
- Our business is soldier's. But the master, so amazing. Here so master!
- In places! The young officer shouted at the soldiers gathered around Pierre. This young officer, apparently, was fulfilling his post for the first or second time, and therefore he treated both soldiers and the commander with particular clarity and uniformity.
The erratic firing of guns and guns intensified throughout the field, especially to the left, where there were flashes of Bagration, but because of the smoke of the shots from the place where Pierre was, almost nothing could be seen. Moreover, the observation of how a family (separated from all others) circle of people who were on the battery, absorbed all the attention of Pierre. His first unconsciously joyful excitement, produced by the look and sounds of the battlefield, has now been replaced, especially after the sight of this lonely soldier in the meadow, with a different feeling. Sitting now on the slope of the ditch, he watched the faces surrounding him.
By ten o’clock twenty people had already been taken from the battery; two guns were broken, more and more shells hit the battery and flew, distant bullets buzzing and whistling. But the people on the battery did not seem to notice this; from all sides there was a cheerful talk and jokes.
- Chinenka! - the soldier shouted at the approaching grenade flying with a whistle. - Not here! To the infantry! - the other added with laughter, noting that the grenade flew over and fell into the ranks of the cover.
- What, friend? - the other soldier laughed at the crouched man under the flying core.
Several soldiers gathered at the rampart, looking at what was happening ahead.
“And they removed the chain, you see, they went back,” they said, pointing through the shaft.
“Look at your own business,” the old non-commissioned officer shouted at them. - They went back, so there is a thing back. - And the non-commissioned officer, taking one of the soldiers by the shoulder, pushed him with his knee. There was laughter.
- Roll to the fifth gun! - shouted from one side.
“At once, in a friendlier way, according to Burlack,” we heard funny cries of changing the gun.
“Ah, our master almost knocked off his hat,” the red-necked joker laughed at Pierre. “Oh, awkward,” he added reproachfully to the core, which hit the man’s wheel and leg.
- Well you foxes! - the other laughed at the bending militias entering the battery for the wounded.
- Al porridge is not tasty? Ah, the crows, started to sway! - they shouted at the militias, who were hushed up in front of a soldier with a torn leg.
“That one, small one,” mimicked the men. - They don’t like passion.
Pierre noticed how, after each hit nucleus, after each loss, general revitalization flared up more and more.
Like lightning from a moving thundercloud, more and more often, lighter and brighter on the faces of all these people (as if in rebuff of the occurring) lightning of a hidden, flaring fire.
Pierre did not look forward at the battlefield and was not interested in knowing what was being done there: he was all absorbed in the contemplation of this, more and more flaring fire, which in the same way (he felt) flared in his soul.
At ten o’clock the infantry soldiers who were ahead of the batteries in the bushes and along the Kamenka River retreated. From the battery you could see how they ran back past her, carrying the wounded on their guns. A general and his retinue entered the mound and, having talked with the colonel, looked angrily at Pierre, went down again, ordering the infantry cover behind the battery to lie down to be less exposed to shots. Following this, in the ranks of the infantry, to the right of the battery, a drum was heard, command screams, and from the battery it was visible how the ranks of the infantry moved forward.
Pierre was looking through the shaft. One face caught his eye. It was an officer who walked backwards with a pale young face, carrying a lowered sword, and looked around uneasily.
Rows of infantry soldiers hid in smoke, they heard a long cry and the frequent shooting of guns. After a few minutes, crowds of wounded and stretchers passed from there. Shells began to hit the battery even more often. Several people lay uncleared. Around the guns, soldiers moved more troublesome and livelier. No one paid attention to Pierre. Two times they shouted at him angrily because he was on the road. The senior officer, with a frown, with large, quick steps, passed from one gun to another. The young officer, even more reddened, even more diligently commanded the soldiers. The soldiers filed charges, turned, charged and did their job with intense panache. They bounced on the move, like on springs.
A thundercloud moved forward, and that fire burned brightly in all faces, the ignition of which was followed by Pierre. He stood beside the senior officer. A young officer ran up, with his hand to the shako, to the elder.
“I have the honor to report, Mr. Colonel, there are only eight charges, will you order to continue the fire?” - he asked.
- Kartech! - without answering, the senior officer shouted, looking through the shaft.
Suddenly something happened; the officer gasped and, curled up, sat down on the ground, like a shot bird on the fly. Everything became strange, obscure and cloudy in Pierre's eyes.
One after another, the kernels whistled and fought at the parapet, at the soldier, at the cannon. Pierre, who had not heard these sounds before, now only heard these sounds. On the side of the battery, on the right, with a cry of “Hurray,” the soldiers ran not forward, but backward, as Pierre thought.
The nucleus hit the very edge of the shaft, in front of which Pierre stood, poured earth, and a black ball flickered in his eyes, and at the same instant it plopped down at something. The militiamen who entered the battery ran back.
- All buckshot! Shouted the officer.
The non-commissioned officer ran to the senior officer and in a frightened whisper (as the butler reports to the master that there is no more wine required) said that there were no more charges.
“Rogues, what are they doing!” Cried the officer, turning to Pierre. The senior officer’s face was red and sweaty, his frown glittered. - Run to the reserves, bring the boxes! He shouted, angrily looking around Pierre and turning to his soldier.
“I'll go,” said Pierre. The officer, not answering him, with great strides went to the other side.
- Do not shoot ... Wait! He shouted.
The soldier who was ordered to follow the charges collided with Pierre.
“Oh, gentleman, there is no place for you here,” he said, and ran downstairs. Pierre ran after the soldier, bypassing the place where the young officer sat.
One, another, the third core flew over him, hit in front, from the sides, behind. Pierre ran down. "Where am I?" He suddenly remembered, running up to the green boxes. He stopped in indecision, to go back or forward. Suddenly a terrible push threw him back to the ground. At the same instant, the brilliance of a big fire illuminated him, and at that instant there was a deafening thunder, ringing in the ears, crackling and whistling.
Pierre, waking up, was sitting in the back, resting his hands on the ground; the box near which he was was not; only green burnt boards and rags were lying on the scorched grass, and the horse, gritting debris from the debris, galloped away from him, and the other, like Pierre himself, lay on the ground and screeched, piercingly, drawn out.

Pierre, not remembering himself with fear, jumped up and ran back to the battery, as the only refuge from all the horrors that surrounded him.
While Pierre was entering the trench, he noticed that no shots were heard on the battery, but some people were doing something there. Pierre did not have time to understand what kind of people they were. He saw the senior colonel, back to him lying on the shaft, as if looking at something below, and he saw one soldier he noticed, who, breaking forward from the people holding his hand, shouted: “Brothers!” - and saw something else strange.
But he still did not have time to realize that the colonel was killed, that he shouted "brothers!" was a prisoner, that in his eyes was slammed with a bayonet into the back of another soldier. As soon as he ran into the trench, a thin, yellow, sweaty-faced man in a blue uniform, with a sword in his hand, ran upon him, shouting something. Pierre, instinctively defending himself from the shock, as they, having not seen, fled against each other, put out his hands and grabbed this man (it was a French officer) with one hand on his shoulder, the other on proudly. The officer, firing his sword, grabbed Pierre by the scruff of the neck.
For a few seconds they both looked with frightened eyes at faces alien to each other, and both were at a loss about what they had done and what they should do. “Am I captured or is he captured by me?” - each of them thought. But, obviously, the French officer was more inclined to think that he was taken prisoner, because Pierre's strong hand, driven by involuntary fear, gripped his throat more and more tightly. The Frenchman wanted to say something, when suddenly over their heads the core whistled low and terribly, and Pierre thought that the head of the French officer was torn off: so quickly he bent it.
Pierre also bent his head and let go of his hands. Without thinking anymore about who captured whom, the Frenchman ran back to the battery, and Pierre down the hill, stumbling over the dead and wounded, who seemed to him to catch him by the legs. But before he had time to go downstairs, dense crowds of running Russian soldiers appeared towards him, who, falling, stumbling and screaming, gaily and violently ran to the battery. (This was the attack that Yermolov attributed to himself, saying that only his courage and happiness could make this feat possible, and the attack in which he allegedly threw George Crosses in his pocket on the barrow.)
The French, occupying the battery, ran. Our troops shouting "Hurray" drove the French so far behind the battery that it was hard to stop them.
The prisoners, including the wounded French general, who was surrounded by officers, were brought from the battery. Crowds of wounded, acquaintances and strangers to Pierre, Russians and French, with faces disfigured by suffering, walked, crawled and rushed from a battery on a stretcher. Pierre entered the mound, where he spent more than an hour, and from the family circle that took him to him, he did not find anyone. There were many dead, unfamiliar to him. But he recognized some. The young officer sat still curled up at the edge of the shaft, in a pool of blood. The red-haired soldier was still twitching, but he was not removed.
Pierre ran down.
“No, now they will leave it, now they will be horrified at what they did!” Thought Pierre, aiming aimlessly for the crowds of stretchers moving from the battlefield.
But the sun, covered with smoke, stood still high, and ahead, and especially to the left of Semenovsky, something was boiling in the smoke, and the rumble of shots, shooting and cannonade not only did not subside, but intensified to desperation, like a man who, tearing himself, screaming with all his might.

The main action of the battle of Borodino took place in the space of a thousand fathoms between Borodin and the flashes of Bagration. (Outside this space, on the one hand, the Russians made a demonstration by the cavalry of Uvarov on the one hand, and on the other hand, behind Utitsa, there was a clash between Poniatowski and Tuchkov; but these were two separate and weak actions in comparison with what happened in the middle of the battlefield. ) On the field between Borodin and the Flushes, near the forest, on an open and visible from both sides, the main action of the battle took place, in the simplest, most ingenious way.
The battle began with a cannonade on both sides of several hundred guns.
Then, when the smoke covered the whole field, two divisions, Desse and Kompana, flushed to the right and two regiments of the vice king to Borodino moved to this smoke (from the French side) on the right.
From the Shevardinsky redoubt on which Napoleon stood, the flushes were at a distance of a mile and Borodino more than two miles in a straight line, and therefore Napoleon could not see what was happening there, especially since the smoke, merging with the fog, hid all the terrain. The soldiers of the Desse division, aimed at the flushes, were visible only until they went down to the ravine that separated them from the flush. As soon as they descended into the ravine, the smoke of gun and gun shots on the flushes became so dense that it blocked the entire rise of that side of the ravine. Something black flashed through the smoke - probably people, and sometimes the gleam of bayonets. But whether they were moving or standing, whether it was French or Russian, it was impossible to see from the Shevardinsky redoubt.
The sun rose light and slanted beams directly into the face of Napoleon, who looked from his hands at the flushes. Smoke fell before the flushes, and it seemed that the smoke was moving, it seemed that the troops were moving. Sometimes people heard cries from the shots, but it was impossible to know what they were doing there.
Napoleon, standing on the mound, looked into the chimney, and in the small circle of the chimney he saw smoke and people, sometimes his own, sometimes Russian; but where was what he saw, he did not know when he looked again with a simple eye.
He came down from the mound and began to walk back and forth in front of him.
Occasionally he stopped, listened to the shots and peered into the battlefield.
Not only from the place below where he stood, not only from the mound on which some of his generals were now standing, but also from the very flushes on which were now together and alternately Russian, French, dead, wounded and alive, scared or maddened soldiers, it was impossible to understand what was being done at this place. For several hours at this place, amidst the relentless shooting, gun and cannon, some Russians, then French, now infantry, or cavalry soldiers appeared; appeared, fell, shot, collided, not knowing what to do with each other, shouted and ran back.
From the battlefield, his adjutants and ordinaries of his marshals with reports on the progress of the case constantly jumped to Napoleon; but all these reports were false: both because in the heat of battle it is impossible to say what is happening at this moment, and because many adjuttants did not reach the real place of the battle, but transmitted what they heard from others; and also because while the adjutant was passing by the two three versts that separated him from Napoleon, the circumstances were changing and the news he was carrying was already becoming incorrect. So the adjutant jumped from the vice king with the news that Borodino was busy and the bridge on Koloch was in the hands of the French. The adjutant asked Napoleon if he would order troops to cross? Napoleon ordered to line up on that side and wait; but not only while Napoleon gave this order, but even when the adjutant had just left Borodin, the bridge had already been repelled and burned by the Russians, in the very battle in which Pierre had participated at the very beginning of the battle.
The adjutant jumping from a flash with a pale, frightened face informed Napoleon that the attack was repelled and that Kompan was wounded and Davout was killed, while the flushes were occupied by another part of the troops, while the adjutant was told that the French were repulsed and Davout was alive and only slightly shell-shocked. Conscious of such necessary false reports, Napoleon made his orders, which were either already executed before he made them, or could not and were not executed.
Marshals and generals, who were closer to the battlefield, but like Napoleon, who did not participate in the battle and only occasionally drove into the fire of bullets without asking Napoleon, made their orders and gave their orders about where and where to shoot, and where to ride a horse, and where to run on foot soldiers. But even their orders, just like the orders of Napoleon, in the same way, to the smallest degree, were rarely enforced. For the most part it turned out to be contrary to what they ordered. The soldiers, who were ordered to go forward, having fallen under a shot by a shot, fled back; the soldiers, who were ordered to stand still, suddenly, seeing the Russians suddenly appearing against themselves, sometimes fled back, sometimes rushed forward, and the cavalry galloped without orders to catch up with the fleeing Russians. So, two regiments of cavalry galloped across the Semenovsky ravine and just drove up the mountain, turned around and galloped backwards. Infantry soldiers moved in the same way, sometimes running at a different place than where they were told. The entire order about where and when to move the guns, when to send foot soldiers — to shoot, when horseback — to stomp Russian pedestrians — all these orders were made by the closest unit chiefs who were in the ranks, not even asking Ney, Davout and Murat, not only Napoleon. They were not afraid of punishment for non-execution of orders or for unauthorized orders, because in a battle the matter concerns the person most dear to them - their own life, and sometimes it seems that salvation consists in running backwards, sometimes in running forward, and these people acted in accordance with the mood of the minute who were in the heat of battle. In fact, all these movements back and forth did not facilitate or change the position of the troops. All their attacks and bumping into each other did almost no harm to them, and the damage, death and injuries were caused by nuclei and bullets flying everywhere in the space through which these people darted. As soon as these people left the space through which the cores and bullets flew, the chiefs immediately standing behind them formed, subordinated to discipline and, under the influence of this discipline, entered again into the area of \u200b\u200bfire, in which they again (under the influence of the fear of death) lost discipline and rushed about the random mood of the crowd.

Andrei Bely (real name Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev) - Russian writer, poet, critic, memoirist, poet one of the leading figures of Russian symbolism and modernism in general.

Born in the family of mathematician Nikolai Vasilyevich Bugaev, dean of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics at Moscow University, and his wife Alexandra Dmitrievna, nee Yegorova. Until twenty-six years he lived in the very center of Moscow, on the Arbat; In the apartment where he spent his childhood and youth, a memorial apartment is currently operating. Bugaev Sr. had wide acquaintances among representatives of the old Moscow professors; I’ve been to the house.

In the years 1891-1899. Boris Bugaev graduated from the famous Moscow gymnasium of L.I. Polivanov, where in the last classes he became interested in Buddhism, occultism, while studying literature. Boris had a special influence then,. Here he woke up an interest in poetry, especially in French and Russian Symbolists (,). In 1895, he became close friends with Sergei Solovyov and his parents - Mikhail Sergeyevich and Olga Mikhailovna, and soon with his brother Mikhail Sergeyevich - the philosopher Vladimir Solovyov.

In December 1901, Bely met with the "senior Symbolists" - Bryusov, Merezhkovsky and. In the fall of 1903, a literary circle was organized around Andrei Bely, called the Argonauts. In 1904, the "Argonauts" gathered at Astrov’s apartment. At one of the meetings of the circle, it was proposed to publish a literary and philosophical collection entitled "Free conscience", and in 1906 two books of this collection were published.

In 1903, Bely entered into correspondence with, and a year later their personal acquaintance took place. Prior to this, in 1903 he graduated with honors from the university. Since the founding of the Libra magazine in January 1904, Andrei Bely began to work closely with him. In the fall of 1904, he entered the Faculty of History and Philology of Moscow University, choosing B. A. Voht as the leader; however, in 1905 he stopped attending classes, in 1906 he filed a petition for expulsion and began to engage exclusively in literary work.

Since 1912 he edited the journal "Works and Days", the main theme of which was the theoretical issues of the aesthetics of symbolism. In 1912, in Berlin, he met Rudolf Steiner, became his pupil and, without regard, gave himself up to his apprenticeship and anthroposophy. In fact, moving away from the previous circle of writers, he worked on prose works. When the war of 1914 broke out, Steiner with his students, including Andrei Bely, were in the Swiss Dornach, where the construction of the Goetheanum began. This temple was built with the hands of students and followers of Steiner. Before the start of World War I, A. Bely visited the grave of Friedrich Nietzsche in the village of Röcken near Leipzig and Cape Arkona on the island of Rügen.

In 1916, Andrei Bely was called to Russia “to test his attitude to military service” and arrived in Russia in a roundabout way through France, England, Norway and Sweden. The wife did not follow him. After the October Revolution, he taught classes on the theory of poetry and prose in the Moscow Proletcult among young proletarian writers.

Since the end of 1919, Bely thought about returning to his wife in the Dorny, he was released abroad only at the beginning of September 1921. From the explanation with Asya it became clear that the continuation of a family life together was impossible. Vladislav Khodasevich and other memoirists remembered his broken, comradely behavior, the “dancing” of the tragedy in Berlin bars: “his foxtrot is pure whip: not even a whistle, but a christ dance” (Tsvetaeva).

I believed in the golden glitter
He died of sun arrows.
I’ve measured by the thought of the century
But he could not live life.

Creation

Literary debut. It was followed in the individual genre of lyrical rhythmic prose with characteristic mystical motifs and a grotesque perception of reality. Entering the circle of symbolists, he participated in the magazines World of Art, The New Way, Libra, The Golden Fleece, and Pass. Back in 1903, in the magazine "New Way" published a note "Regarding the book Merezhkovsky: Leo Tolstoy and Dostoevsky." An early collection of poems, “Gold in Blue”, is distinguished by formal experimentation and characteristic symbolic motifs. After returning from abroad, he published collections of poems “Ashes” (1909; the tragedy of rural Russia), “Urn”, the novel “Silver Dove”, essays “The Tragedy of Creativity. Dostoevsky and Tolstoy. "

The results of his own literary and critical activity, partly symbolism as a whole, are summarized in collections of articles Symbolism (1910; includes poetry), Green Meadow (1910; includes critical and polemical articles, essays on Russian and foreign writers), " Arabesques. " In 1914-1915 the first edition of the novel Petersburg was released, which is the second part of the East or West trilogy.

In the novel "Petersburg" (1913-14; revised abridged version of 1922) symbolized and satirical depiction of Russian statehood. The first in a series of autobiographical novels conceived - "Kotik Letaev"; the series is continued by the baptized Chinese. In 1915 he wrote the study "Rudolf Steiner and Goethe in the worldview of our time."

Understanding of the First World War as a manifestation of the general crisis of Western civilization is reflected in the cycle “On the Pass” (“I. The Crisis of Life”, 1918; “II. The Crisis of Thought”, 1918; “III. The Crisis of Culture”, 1918). The perception of the life-giving element of the revolution as a saving way out of this crisis is in the essay “Revolution and Culture”, the poem “Christ Has Risen”, and the collection of poems “The Star”. Also in 1922 in Berlin he published the “sound poem” “Glossolalia”, where, based on the teachings of R. Steiner and the method of comparative historical linguistics, he developed the theme of creating a universe from sounds. Upon returning to Soviet Russia, he creates an epic novel (Moscow Eccentric, Moscow under Attack, Masks), writes memoirs - Memoirs of the Bloc and the memoir trilogy “At the Turn of the Century”, “Beginning of the Century”, “ Between Two Revolutions. ”

Among the latest works of Andrei Bely are theoretical and literary studies “Rhythm as a dialectic and The Bronze Horseman” and “Gogol’s Mastery”, which allowed him to be called the “genius of corrosiveness”. An abridged presentation of Bely's theoretical calculations on the rhythm of the Russian verse is given by Nabokov in the appendix to the translation into English.

Influence

In 1922, Osip Mandelstam urged writers to overcome Andrei Bely as “the pinnacle of Russian psychological prose” and to return from weaving words to pure plot action. Beginning in the late 1920s Bel's influence on Soviet literature is steadily fading away.