Serapion brothers: history and photos

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

After the October and February revolutions, which turned a huge country in a completely opposite direction, a rapid flowering of all forms of modernism in art began in Russia. The literary group "Serapion Brothers" did not last long, however, it left a noticeable mark both in the history of literature and in the personal life of each of its members. The stigma of "Serapion" remained with them until the end of their days. In the early 1920s, it was one of the most famous literary associations, such writers as Mikhail Zoshchenko, Veniamin Kaverin, Lev Lunts, Vsevolod Ivanov, Mikhail Slonimsky came out of its ranks. Having flared up on the horizon of young Soviet prose and quickly burned out, The Serapion Brothers nevertheless managed to illuminate new paths for many other writers.

Backstory

In 1919, the Literary Translation Studio was established under the publishing house "World Literature". However, soon the meetings of the youth who came to master this art began to be more comprehensive. Conversations about literature, the skill of the writer and the essence of art were the main content of the meetings. Soonthey were transformed into the Literary Studio. N. Gumilyov was the initiator of its organization, and K. Chukovsky took over the leadership. Andrey Bely, N. Zamyatin, K. Chukovsky, N. Gumilyov, V. Shklovsky conducted seminars and gave lectures at meetings. The number of followers grew and by 1920 was 350 people. The writers, who became cramped within the framework of this studio, separated and created the Serapion Brothers group. The members of this association insisted that they were not a literary school, but only a commonwe alth of critics, prose writers and poets, connected by common views on the content of art.

Poetics of the name of a literary association

If it weren't for the book of short stories Serapion's Brothers (Hoffmann), which had been lying on the publisher's desk for a long time, the name of the community of young writers could have been different. However, it turned out to be in tune with the main principle of the group. Hoffmann's 22-story book tells of a group of friends who meet after a long separation. One of them talks about his meeting with the mad count, who is sure of the illusory nature of the surrounding reality. The rejection of reality, the retreat into the world of free creativity, which constitute the main idea of this work, perfectly characterized the aspirations of young writers.

Who are the writers? "Serapion Brothers": composition of participants

Almost immediately after the creation, the admission of new members to the literary group stopped. The first - and last line-up of participants was immortalized in a 1921 photograph. On herLev Lunts, Nikolai Nikitin, Mikhail Slonimsky, Ilya Gruzdev, Konstantin Fedin, Vsevolod Ivanov, Mikhail Zoshchenko, Veniamin Kaverin, Elizaveta Polonskaya, Nikolai Tikhonov were captured. Approximately in this order they were accepted into the group. Some researchers included Viktor Shklovsky among the participants, although he himself considered his work beyond the jurisdiction of any associations.

Content of the meetings of the Serapions

The literary group "Serapion Brothers" chose Slonimsky's room as the place of their meetings. His image even became the emblem of the group. Literary critics agree that the meetings took place on Saturdays, although in fact like-minded people could gather on another day of the week. At the meetings, the works of the members of the group were read, which were then discussed in detail and exactingly. Writers argued about art, considered new ways of developing literature. You can guess that the discussions were heated and emotional.

Almanac release

The only joint collection of the Serapions was released in 1922. It was published in Russia, and then in Berlin, supplemented by I. Gruzdev's article "Face and Masks". Even before the release of the almanac, the works of the members of the Serapion Brothers group were well known in literary circles. Among the admirers of their work was M. Gorky, as can be seen from his correspondence with Shklovsky. He was keenly interested in the release of new works and gave them a very high rating.

Yu. Tynyanov was much more restrained. AThis article “The Serapion brothers. Almanac I" he characterizes the collection as an unsteady first step, where there are not quite completed stories (and not always better ones). The advocate of "beautiful clarity" M. Kuzmin even disapproved of this almanac, writing that the stories of the Serapions of 1920 were already outdated in 1922.

Brothers' nicknames

At first, the meetings of the "Serapion Brothers" strongly resembled the meetings of the "Arzamas Society of Unknown People", which united the writers of Pushkin's circle. From there, the idea of comic nicknames was taken, which remained with the writers for the rest of their lives. Some of them are mentioned by V. Pozner in a letter to A. M. Remizov. I. Gruzdev received the nickname "brother rector", N. Nikitin - "brother canonarch", L. Lunts - "brother buffoon", V. Pozner - "young brother", V. Shklovsky - "brother brawler". Zamyatin, Zoshchenko and N. Chukovsky remained without a nickname. A. Akhmatova, B. Annenkov, I. Odoevtseva and others often came to meetings. They also participated in discussions and disputes, although they were not part of the group. In addition, there was an "Institute of Serapion girls", which included M. Alonkina, L. Sazonova, Z. Gatskevich (later Nikitin's wife), I. Kaplan-Ingel (later Slonimsky's wife).

Lev Lunts and the Serapion Brothers

Young 20-year-old Lev Lunts became the unspoken leader of the group. Smart, always lively, incredibly talented - in the first meetings of the Serapions, it was he who “warmed up” his colleagues. Luntz lived only 23 years, but managed to leave a noticeable markin the minds of writers. The obituary for Lunts was written by M. Gorky, N. Berberova, Yu. Tynyanov, K. Fedin. They called him the "faun boy", the overflowing energy of this guy filled all the meetings of the group called "Serapion Brothers". The literary association elected him as its ideological leader. They even wanted to dedicate a whole collection to the young man, however, they did not have time to do this.

By the end of the 1920s, Luntz's work received an indelible stigma as deeply anti-Soviet and reactionary, and it was no longer published. The reason for this attitude can be understood if you read Luntz's article "Why are we" Serapion Brothers ", which became the group's manifesto. In it, he proclaims the principles of freedom of creativity, life without charter and regulations.

The fate of the unification

For the Soviet state, the existence of an independent group of writers was very undesirable. In 1922, autobiographical essays of the serapions appeared in the journal Literaturnye Zapiski. After that, a whole campaign began to separate the writers, led by Lunacharsky and Trotsky. The task was set clearly: to subordinate the group to their will. Those who agreed to cooperate with the authorities were promised that their works would be published. For the Soviet writer, this was already a huge success. Some of the serapions joined the Krug artel, which existed on the money of the party.

Gradually the meetings became less and less frequent. The group was not officially dissolved, friendly relations between its membersmaintained throughout life. However, Zoshcheko did not come to the anniversary evening in 1926. Until 1929, the Serapion Brothers association was still smoldering in the literary environment. With the advent of the Union of Writers, the existence of any independent association, in general, became impossible.

Despite its short history, the Serapion Brothers group was of great importance for Russian literature of the 20th century. A number of remarkable writers came out of her midst, and how noticeable a mark she left is evidenced by the fact that in 1946, in the famous decree of Zhdanov, its members were again mentioned. So, many years after the collapse, the Soviet punitive hand got the recalcitrant writers, bringing down a number of prohibitive sanctions on Zoshchenko, Tikhonov and Slonimsky.