Andrey Bely - Russian poet, writer, critic. Biography of Andrei Bely, creativity

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

The biography of Andrei Bely, for all its inconsistency, is an undoubted reflection of that turning point era, which accounted for a significant part of the life of this extraordinary thinker and versatile gifted person. Russian literature of the early twentieth century, and especially poetry, cannot be imagined without him. Andrei Bely, whose brief biography can only give a very superficial impression of his place and significance in the general cultural context of the era, was constantly at the very center of the turbulent whirlwinds of Russian public life. And in Russia at the beginning of the twentieth century, a premonition of great changes was approaching. Today, no one denies the well-known fact that the entire Russian culture of this period was, to one degree or another, permeated with a premonition of future wars and revolutions.

Andrey Bely. Biography. What defined her

It is not uncommon to come across the fact that creative pseudonyms grow so tightly to their carriers that no one even remembers that these names are fictitious. So, if not everyone, then very many have heard about the poet Andrei Bely. But the fact that this is only his pseudonym, few people come to mind. Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev - these are his real name, patronymic and surname - was born on October 26, 1880 in the family of a professor at Moscow University. It will not be a big exaggeration to say that this circumstance largely predetermined the future life of the future famous writer. The biography of Andrei Bely began in the center of Moscow. The apartment on the Arbat, where he was destined to live for about a quarter of a century, today has the status of a memorial.

Moscow University

The status of this educational institution has never been in doubt, in the Russian Empire it was in every sense the first. Boris Bugaev studied at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics, but he was more interested in questions of culture, literature, aesthetics, philosophy, mysticism and occultism than the natural sciences. Therefore, after successfully completing the course, he entered the Faculty of History and Philology of the same Moscow University. It was in his student years that the path to great literature began for him. The intellectual environment in which a person has to develop is often of decisive importance and determines his entire future life. And the circle of future poetic themes was designated precisely in these years.

Alexander Blok

Perhaps it would not be a big exaggeration to say that the literary biography of Andrei Bely began with an acquaintance and correspondence with the great Russian symbolist poet. That is, even before meeting with Blok, he was a member of the circles of the highest artistic bohemia in both capitalsRussian Empire. Even the pseudonym that later became famous helped him come up with the famous Russian philosopher M. S. Solovyov. But only Alexander Blok was able to discern and feel in Andrei Bely an equal interlocutor and, in many ways, a competitor. Then for many years they were connected by a bizarre relationship of friendship-enmity. Andrei Bely (poet) was in constant rivalry with the genius of Russian poetry. And you can only compete with a great man on an equal footing. But the biography of Andrei Bely will be incomplete if not to mention his relationship with the wife of Alexander Blok, Lyubov Dmitrievna Mendeleeva. There was more to them than just acquaintance. And this love triangle greatly complicated the relationship between the two poets. But, of course, it was reflected in their work.

Abroad

Departure from Russia was an attempt by the poet to break out of the established social circle and discover new horizons of creativity. And of course, to put an end to the protracted ambiguous relationship with Alexander Blok and his wife. The trip around Europe took more than two years. This period in the poet's work was very fruitful. Poems were often dedicated and addressed to the circle of friends left in Russia, including Blok and Mendeleeva. After returning from Europe, the poet became friends with A. Turgeneva (they would officially marry only five years later) and went abroad again. This time in a different direction - through Sicily to Palestine, Egypt and Tunisia. He will return to Russia only at the height of the war, shortly before the revolution.

Change of historical eras

Andrey Bely, whose biography and work are far from everyday life and even more so from politics, could not but reflect in his poetic works and critical articles the growing turbulence of public life and the cataclysm approaching Russia. The poet cannot do otherwise, even if he pretends that nothing that is happening around has anything to do with him. And he was not alone. The theme of the impending catastrophe was one of the dominant ones in Russian art. The range of her perception fits into the gap between horror and delight. Some met the revolution as the end of the world, while others perceived it as the beginning of a new world. Both of them were right in their own way. Andrei Bely entered the history of Russian literature as one of the most prominent representatives of symbolism. Classics were his early poetry collections "Gold in Azure", "Ashes", "Urn" and the novel "Silver Dove". At the cutting edge of the controversy, his essays on Tolstoy and Dostoevsky were perceived as topical. Widespread popularity among the educated public had his novel "Petersburg". Peru Andrei Bely owns many journalistic articles during the First World War.

After the revolution

In the history of Russia of the twentieth century, the moment came when the inevitable catastrophe became a fait accompli. Perceived by symbolist poets, one of the brightest representatives of which was Andrei Bely, as an impending inevitability, the revolutionbecame a legal daily routine. Along with the social system, the whole paradigm of the worldview of the Russian intelligentsia has also changed. Before many "knife to the throat" the question arose of whether it is possible to live at all in that country, which not so long ago was called the Russian Empire? The biography of Andrei Bely of this post-revolutionary period is chaotic and contradictory. The poet rushes about in different directions for a long time, even manages to travel abroad, which in those days was not at all easy. This drags on for quite some time. But he still ends his days in the Soviet Union. He died on January 8, 1934 and is buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow. It is impossible to call the Soviet period of Andrei Bely fruitful even with a strong desire. Symbolism, like many other poetic schools and phenomena, remained on the other side of the revolution. During these years, the poet tries to work, and he succeeds a lot. But several of his novels and many literary works no longer had their former success. For Soviet literature, Andrei Bely remained nothing more than a remnant of a bygone era.