Andrey Bely (real name and surname Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev) (1880-1934), writer, theoretician of symbolism.

Born October 26, 1880 in Moscow in the family of a famous mathematician, professor of Moscow University Nikolai Vasilievich Bugaev. In 1899, on the initiative of his father, he entered the natural sciences department of the Physics and Mathematics Faculty of Moscow University.

During his student years, he began to write "symphonies" (a literary genre that he created himself). Lyrical rhythmic prose (the writer turned to it constantly) sought to convey the musical harmony of the surrounding world and the unstable structure of the human soul. Symphony (2nd, Drama) was Bely's first publication (1902); The Northern Symphony (1st, Heroic), written earlier, appeared in print only in 1904.

His literary debut drew derisive reviews from most critics and readers, but was highly regarded in Symbolist circles. In 1903, a group of like-minded people formed around Bely, consisting mainly of students from Moscow University. They called themselves "Argonauts" and started looking for the "golden fleece" - the highest meaning of symbolism, which ultimately meant the creation of a new man. The same motives are filled with Bely's poetry collection "Gold in azure" (1904). The year of publication of the book became significant for the author: he met A. A. Blok, began to publish in the new journal of the Symbolists "Libra".

The writer enthusiastically welcomed the Revolution of 1905, taking it in the spirit of his quest - as a cleansing storm, a fatal element.

In 1906-1908. Bely experienced a personal drama: he fell hopelessly in love with Blok's wife Lyubov Dmitrievna. This entailed a tragic breakdown in relations with a poet friend and eventually resulted in poignant lyrics (collection "Urn", 1909).

The novel "The Silver Dove" (1909) is an attempt to comprehend the catastrophic state of Russia as a prologue to its coming spiritual rebirth.

In the first half of the 10s. the most famous novel of Bely was created, which is one of the highest achievements of Russian symbolism - Petersburg, which combines grotesque and lyricism, tragedy and comic.

In the October Revolution of 1917, Bely saw another manifestation of the cleansing element. He sincerely tried to adapt to life in the new Russia, participating in the "cultural building", even wrote a poem permeated with revolutionary pathos - "Christ is Risen" (1918). However, in the early 20s. went abroad again.

Those who met him in Berlin noted a mental breakdown in him. The reasons were the betrayal of his wife, disillusionment with the teachings of the German mystic R. Steiner, and others. “Burnt talent” - so Bely said about himself after his return to Russia (1923).

In the last years of his life, he published three books of memoirs: "At the turn of two centuries" (1930), "Beginning of the century" (1933), "Between two revolutions" (1934). These memoirs are an invaluable source of information about the era and about literary pursuits.

In the summer of 1933, in Koktebel, Bely suffered a sunstroke. On January 8, 1934, after several cerebral hemorrhages, the "brilliant and strange" (according to Blok) writer died.

October 26 marks the 130th anniversary of the birth of the poet and writer Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev, who worked under the pseudonym Andrei Bely.

Poet, prose writer, philosopher, literary critic, one of the leading figures of Russian Symbolism, Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev (literary pseudonym - Andrei Bely) was born on October 26 (October 14 according to the old style), 1880 in Moscow, in the family of a prominent mathematician and philosopher, dean Physics and Mathematics Faculty of Moscow University, founder of the Moscow Mathematical School Nikolai Vasilievich Bugaev.

The childhood of the future poet passed under opposite influences from his father and mother. The mother, who studied music, tried to oppose the artistic influence to the rationalism of the father in raising her son.

This parental conflict would later be reflected in the writer's autobiographical novels.

In 1891-1899 he studied at the best private gymnasium in Moscow, the famous teacher Lev Polivanov. In 1895 1896, the young man became close to the family of Mikhail Solovyov, the brother of the philosopher, who lived next door to the Bugaevs. Under the influence of the Solovievs, Boris Bugaev began to engage in literary work, to be interested in the latest art, philosophy (Buddhism and especially Schopenhauer), and to study occult sciences. In their house, he met and became close to the symbolists of the "older" generation: Valery Bryusov, Konstantin Balmont, Dmitry Merezhkovsky, Zinaida Gippius.

In 1901, Bugaev created "Symphony (2nd, dramatic)" in a peculiar genre of lyric rhythmic prose. At the same time, Mikhail Soloviev suggested that the novice writer take the pseudonym "Andrey Bely".

In subsequent years, Andrei Bely published four "symphonies" written in rhythmic prose - "Northern Symphony" ("Heroic") (1903); "Dramatic" (1902); "Return" (1905); The Blizzard Cup (1908); collections of poems "Ashes" (1909); Urn (1909); the novels "The Silver Dove" (1910), "Petersburg" (1913 1914), the book of poems "The Princess and the Knights" (1919), etc.

In 1901-1903, Andrei Bely entered the environment first of the Moscow Symbolists grouped around the publishing houses Scorpion (Bryusov, Balmont, Baltrushaitis), Grif (Krechetov and his wife Petrovskaya), then met with the organizers of St. Petersburg religious and philosophical meetings and publishers religious and philosophical journal "New Way" Merezhkovsky and Gippius. During this period, Andrei Bely's articles "On Theurgy", "Forms of Art", "Symbolism as a Worldview" and others appeared.

In January 1903, Andrei Bely began a correspondence with Alexander Blok (a personal acquaintance took place in 1904), with whom he was connected by years of dramatic "friendship-enmity". In the fall of 1903, Andrei Bely became one of the organizers and ideological inspirers of the "Argonauts" circle, which professed the ideas of symbolism as religious creativity. In the same year he graduated from the Natural Sciences Department of the Physics and Mathematics Faculty of Moscow University.

In January 1904, the leading Symbolist magazine Vesy began to appear in Moscow, in which Bely published numerous articles, notes, and reviews.

In 1904, Andrei Bely's first collection of poetry, "Gold in Azure", was published.

In the fall of the same year, he entered Moscow University for the second time at the Faculty of History and Philology, but in 1905 he stopped attending lectures, and in 1906 he applied for expulsion in connection with a trip abroad.

In Bely's works of 1904-1905, the poetic image of Russia replaces the former vaguely mystical ideal.

In January 1905, having arrived in St. Petersburg, Andrei Bely became an eyewitness to the first revolutionary events. He took the revolution with great enthusiasm, although he remained far from its political awareness.

Bely was in love with Alexander Blok's wife, Lyubov Mendeleev. Their relationship lasted two years. Mendeleeva could not make up her mind completely, torn between feelings and common sense. Finally, she told the poet that she was staying with her husband. Andrei Bely left Petersburg and went abroad, hoping to forget about her.

Andrei Bely lived abroad for more than two years, where he created two collections of poems dedicated to Alexander Blok and Lyubov Mendeleeva.

October and November 1906 Andrei Bely spent in Munich, on December 1, at the invitation of the Merezhkovskys, he left for Paris and stayed there until March 1907.

Returning to Moscow in 1907, the poet continued his work in the magazine "Vesy", for a short time collaborated with the magazine "Golden Fleece", was published in a number of other publications, actively polemicized with "mystical anarchists".

In 1908-1909, Bely published two collections "Ashes" and "Urn", which reflected the "crisis" attitude of the poet.

Since 1909, Bely's attitude has marked the transition from pessimism to the search for a "way of life", this was facilitated by the rapprochement with the aspiring artist Anna Turgeneva (Asya), who became his de facto wife (the civil marriage was formalized in Bern (Switzerland) on March 23, 1914).

In 1909-1910, Bely published three volumes of critical and theoretical articles (Symbolism, 1910; Green Meadow, 1910; Arabesques, 1911), wrote the novel The Silver Dove (1910).

From December 1910 to April 1911, Bely and his wife made a trip (Sicily - Tunisia - Egypt - Palestine), the literary result of which was two volumes of Travel Notes.

In the fall of 1911, Bely, by prior agreement with the magazine Russkaya Mysl, began work on the novel Petersburg.

In April-May 1912, the poet and his wife lived in Brussels, in May 1912 in Cologne they met the Austrian writer Rudolf Steiner, the creator of the anthroposophical religious and mystical doctrine, and became his adherents.

In 1914-1916, Andrei Bely lived in Dornach (Switzerland), where, under the leadership of Steiner, he participated in the construction of an anthroposophical center - the "temple-theater" of the Goetheanum (Johannes-bau).

In 1915, Andrei Bely's research "Rudolf Steiner and Goethe in the worldview of our time" was published.

From October 1915 to October 1916 he wrote the novel "Kitty Letaev", which was supposed to begin a series of autobiographical works (later continued by the novel "The Baptized Chinese", another name is "The Crime of Nikolai Letaev").

Bely perceived the beginning of the First World War as the greatest disaster for mankind. In August 1916, he was drafted into military service and returned to Russia (via Paris, London, Norway), in September he received a reprieve. Until January 1917, he alternately lived in Moscow and Sergiev Posad.

He spent February and early March 1917 in Petrograd and Tsarskoe Selo.

He perceived the February revolution as a life-giving spontaneous force (essay "Revolution and Culture"), seeing in it a salutary way out of the general crisis.

From March to September 1917, Bely lived in Moscow and near Moscow, worked on the article "The Rod of Aaron. (On the Word in Poetry)", poetry research "On the Rhythmic Gesture", wrote the "poem about sound" "Glossalolia".

Bely met the October Revolution with great enthusiasm, accepting it unconditionally. The ideas of this time were embodied 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 essay "Revolution and Culture" (1917), the poem "Christ is Risen" (1918), the collection of poems "The Star" (1922).

In subsequent years, Bely participated in the construction of a new culture, worked in Soviet institutions. He was a lecturer, teacher, one of the organizers of the Free Philosophical Organization (WOLFILS), taught young writers at Proletkult (1918 1919), took part in the work of the Scythian literary group, published the journal Zapiski drechtatel.

The activities of the new government contributed to the increasingly aggravating conflict between Bely and reality; since 1919, he has made a number of attempts to travel abroad.

In 1921 he went to Europe with the aim of organizing the publication of his books and founding the WOLFILA branch in Berlin. In 1921-1923 he lived in Berlin, where he was experiencing a break with Turgeneva, and was on the verge of a mental breakdown, although he continued his active literary activity.

After 1923 he lived without a break in Russia, where he created the novelistic dilogy "Moscow" ("Moscow eccentric", "Moscow under attack", both 1926), the novel "Masks" (1932), acts as a memoirist "Memories of Blok" (1922 23); trilogy "At the turn of two centuries" (1930), "Beginning of the century" (1933), "Between two revolutions" (published posthumously, in 1935), writes theoretical and literary studies "Rhythm as a dialectic and" The Bronze Horseman "(1929) and The Mastery of Gogol (1934).

Upon his return to his homeland, Bely made many hopeless attempts to find a lively contact with Soviet culture, but the "rejection" of Bely, which lasted during his lifetime, continued in his posthumous fate, which was reflected in the long underestimation of his work, overcome only in recent decades.

Real name - Bugaev Boris Nikolaevich (born in 1880 - died in 1934). Writer, poet, philologist, philosopher, one of the leading representatives of Russian symbolism, literary theorist.

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 19th - early 20th centuries, in whose work the feeling of a total crisis of life and world order was expressed. His contemporary, the philosopher F. Stepun, wrote: “Bely's creativity is the only embodiment of the non-existence of the“ turn of two centuries ”in strength and originality; earlier than in any other soul, the building of the XIX century collapsed in the soul of Bely and the outlines of the XX were fogged. "

Andrey 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 55 Arbat). There passed a significant part of his dramatic and eventful life.

His father, Nikolai Vasilievich Bugaev, was an outstanding scientist-mathematician, philosopher-Leibnizian. From 1886 to 1891, Bugaev Sr. held the post of dean of the Physics and Mathematics Faculty of 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 scientific works, and to Moscow students - for his phenomenal absent-mindedness and eccentricities, about which jokes were circulating among the student community. For decades, first-graders studied using the arithmetic textbook compiled by Sr. Bugaev. He liked to repeat: "I hope that Borya will come out face to mother, and mind to me." Behind these jokingly spoken words was a family drama. The mathematics professor was very ugly. Once one of Andrei Bely's acquaintances, not knowing his father by sight, said: “Look, what a man! Do you know who this monkey is? .. "

But Boris Bugaev's mother was unusually pretty. In the painting by K.E. Makovsky "Boyarskaya wedding" with Alexandra Dmitrievna painted 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 spouses suited each other. The situation was the most common: a slovenly, ugly and always busy with mathematics husband and a beautiful flirtatious wife. It is not surprising that discord was felt in their relationship. And the family was shaken from day to day by quarrels and scandals on every, even the smallest, occasion. Little Borya more than once witnessed the clarification of the relationship between the parents. Not only the boy's nerves, but also the consciousness of the boy were forever struck by "family life thunderstorms", as he wrote in his novels, becoming a famous writer. The consequences of the family drama left an indelible impression, having a profound influence on the formation of Boris's character, throughout his future life.

He was afraid of his father and secretly hated, and he pitied his mother and admired her. Later, having matured, the boy felt respect for his father, revealing for himself the depth of his knowledge; and love for 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 the mother was not accepted by the father and vice versa. This later earned him the notoriety of being two-faced. According to A. Bely, he was “torn apart” by his parents: his father wanted to make him his successor, and his mother fought this intention with music and poetry - “I was a bone of contention. I retired early. "

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

The boy entered the famous private gymnasium of L.I. Polivanova, one of the best in Moscow. The director of the gymnasium remained an object of worship for Boris Bugaev for life. Polivanov's lessons awakened a love of languages ​​and literature in the young schoolboy. Boris became interested in Ibsen, French and Belgian modernists. Already in the gymnasium, Bugaev's literary talent was clearly manifested: the boy began to write for a cool 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 his first poems and "symphonies" (rhythmized poetry) with them. The pen test was successful. It was decided that a new poet was born. The young man called Solovyov himself his godfather. It was he who suggested that the aspiring writer take the pseudonym "Andrei Bely" in order to hide his "decadent hobbies" from those close to him and not to upset his father with a "symbolic debut." The choice of the pseudonym was not accidental. The departure of the student Boris Bugaev to literary creativity, according to M. Tsvetaeva, was akin to religious companionship. White is divine, a symbol of the second baptism. The name Andrey 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 sciences department of the Physics and Mathematics Faculty of Moscow University, the next year he entered the Faculty of History and Philology, but in 1905 his studies were interrupted. A year later, he applied for expulsion in connection with a trip abroad.

Before entering the university, the young man experienced, according to him, the state of "scissors". He did not choose whether to be a "physicist" or a "lyricist." The young man composed his own plan for passing the subjects: 4 years - Faculty of Natural Sciences, 4 years - Philology, in order to realize the idea of ​​mastering facts in the spirit of a worldview built on 2 columns - "aesthetics and natural science".

While studying at the university, A. Bely is fond of not only literature, but also philosophy. He sits up in his father's office over books on the problems of hypnosis, spiritualism, occultism, Indian culture. B. Bugaev seriously studies the works of Darwin and the positivist philosophers. The encyclopedic "scattered nature" of his hobbies amazed and at the same time delighted his contemporaries. I.F. Annensky recalled: “The nature is richly gifted. Bely simply does not know which of his muses to smile at him once again. Kant is jealous of his poetry. Poetry to 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 a special mythology of life-creation, worship of the glorified Vl. Solovyov of Eternal Femininity. "Young symbols", as they called themselves, strove to learn the mystical secrets of life. A. Bely called this time the "dawns" of symbolism, emerging after the twilight of the decadent paths, which ended the night of pessimism in the outlook of the young poet.

Following the general desire of the Symbolists to synthesize the arts, Bely created 4 literary works that have no analogues - symphonies, 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 crossing and alternation of "musical themes", refrains, and rhythmization of phrases. The most striking work of this genre was the Northern Symphony, which arose, according to Bely, from improvisation to the music of E. Grieg. Unfortunately, the critics did not appreciate the symphony of the beginning poet. The duality that pervaded them was alien to the new literature, but certain stylistic findings of the young author had a strong impact on the "ornamental prose" in the future. By as much as 20 years A. Bely anticipated the technique of describing the chaos of city life in J. Joyce's novel 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 Scorpio magazine. Soon he met with the organizers of 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, a correspondence began between A. Bely and A. Blok, which marked the beginning of a dramatic friendship-enmity between the poets. The young people had known each other in absentia for a very long time. A. Bely admired Blok's poetry, and he, in turn, decided to enter into polemics with the author of the article "On Forms of Art," which was Bely. It was the dissimilarity of views on the art of young Symbolists that was the reason for the first letter. And exactly a year later, in 1904, in his apartment on the Arbat, B. Bugaev met his pen pal and his wife, Lyubov Dmitrievna.

Everyone who knew both poets noted the sharp differences in their characters. Z.N. Gippius wrote: "It is difficult to imagine two beings more opposite than Borya Bugaev and Blok." But despite the obvious differences, they had a lot in common: attitude to life and literature, interest in philosophy, broad erudition and, of course, a different literary gift. The Young Symbols worshiped the cult of the Beautiful Lady, professed mystery love as a path to eschatological knowledge of the world. Young poets strove 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. The poet, frightened, retreated, explaining that he was misunderstood. And the loving woman took these words as an insult. The character of Boris Bugaev complicated their relationship to the extreme. He has always followed the same tactics in dealing with women. White conquered them with his charm, not allowing even a hint of any sensual relationship. But the poet did not fully fulfill his role and in every possible way coveted the object of his adoration, each time becoming furious if he was rejected. If the woman agreed to share his feelings, then Bely felt himself defiled.

In 1904 Andrei Bely published his first collection of poetry, Gold in Azure. Everything ideal, mythical, sublime 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 for the first time destroyed the traditional syllabotonic meter, mixed the two-syllable and three-syllable dimensions of the poem. He arranged the lines according to intonation, anticipating the "columns and ladders" of V. Mayakovsky's tonic poems. Formalist literary critic V. Shklovsky remarked: "Without Bely's poems 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 demonstratively wore over his clothes.

After the revolutionary events of 1905, which swept through Russia like a whirlwind, the famous poet, distinguished by the instability of his worldview, again changed his life positions. He developed an interest in social issues: “This winter. changed me a lot: I once again 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, walks in the ranks of the demonstrators at the funeral of Trubetskoy and N.E. Bauman. Impressed by the December barricade battles, Bely wrote the poem "He is here again, in the ranks of the soldiers." The poet gets acquainted with the brochures of the social democrats, socialist revolutionaries and even anarchists, reads "Capital" by K. Marx.

A. Bely and L. D. Blok decided to leave for Italy, but the trip was unsuccessful. The explanation with A. Blok was difficult, and Lyubov Dmitrievna decided to break off all relations with Bely. The poet recalled this period of his life with pain: "How many days - so many explosions of the heart, ready to jump out, the same number of crises of torn consciousness."

Soon, A. Bely's second, Ellis, appeared in Blok's estate with a challenge to a duel, which never took place.

The following year, a disagreement arose between rival friends, the reason for which was A. Blok's collection "Unexpected Joy". A. Bely, without hesitation, denigrated the poems and the play "Balaganchik" that were included in him: "A fake for childish and idiotic. The Block has ceased to be a Block. " And Blok answered him in his own way: “I have ceased to understand You. This is the only reason why I do not dedicate this book to You. " Only many years later, after the death of Blok, Bely admitted that his criticism was unfair.

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

Soon, Blok arrived in Moscow, and a long and frank conversation took place between his enemy friends. The fragile peace that was established after the reconciliation was disrupted by another quarrel over the collection of poems by S. Solovyov "Flowers and incense." The poets dispersed, but they could not "get rid of forever".

A. Bely again took the first step towards reconciliation. Correspondence resumed between them. Since that time (1910), their "zigzag relationship", according to Bely, took on the character of "even, calm, but somewhat distant friendship." As in the past, their letters began with the words: "Dear, close, beloved Sasha!" and "Dear, dear Borya".

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

At this time, A. Bely was going through a whole series of "hysterics, breakdowns, landslides and abysses." He is interested in philosophy and has a serious interest in "accurate knowledge". A. Bely seeks to create a "philosophical brick" under the title "Theory of Symbolism." Since 1909, the poet has conceived an epic trilogy about the philosophy of Russian history "East or West". The first part of this unrealized plan was the then published novel "The Silver Dove", in which one can feel the influence of the works of Gogol. In it, the author tries to answer the traditional question: where should the salvation of Russia be sought - 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, genre poems and works of social themes are placed. A. Bely wrote: “The theme of the new book is Russia with its decayed past and unborn future. Analyzing the collection "Ashes", S.M. Soloviev wrote: “Ashes of what? Former subjective experiences of the poet or objective reality - the ashes of Russia. And both, ”- he firmly replies. Another collection, "Urn", includes poems from the same years as "Ashes". A. Bely wrote it as "reflections on the frailty of human nature with its passions and impulses." The author's thoughts and feelings are largely inspired by the "Petersburg drama" of Bely, his tragic and sublime 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, in order 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." - wrote the poet in the preface.

In 1910, the Musaget publishing house in Moscow, which united the Symbolists of a religious and philosophical orientation, published collections of Bely's critical and theoretical articles, 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. The Symbolists have repeatedly said that "Bely's attempt to leave the" path of madness "on the strict path of critical thought could not but end in complete failure." "In theoretical interests, I was alone." - Bely realized woefully.

In the spring of 1911, Bely returned to Russia with his wife. In search of earnings, he worked part-time in small newspapers and magazines. He has to wander around the corners offered by casual acquaintances, lack of money brings the vulnerable, restless poet to a dejected state. Driven to complete despair, in mid-November 1911, he wrote to A. Blok: “I must either abandon literature and hang around in the front trustees of the district, or demand from society that A. Bely, who can write good things, be provided for by society. After 2 weeks, I roared good obscenities at all the doorsteps of the rich bourgeois bastard: "Give Christ for the sake of A. Bely." Despite the tangled relationship between famous poets, A. Blok immediately sent his friend the money he needed. 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 a direct continuation of The Silver Dove. Petersburg became the main theme of the new novel. This city in the novel is an inanimate vision, a haze that hides the crossroads of two main trends in historical development. Its inhabitants are poisoned by the poison of contradictions, corroded by a duality that has broken the life of A. Bely himself. The novel "Petersburg" became the pinnacle of the prose of Russian Symbolism. This is the first "novel of consciousness" in world literature. Its publication was organized with the support of the Bloc.

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

A. Bely became interested in the problem of inner self-knowledge and wrote several autobiographical novels - "Kitten Letaev" (1917), "The Baptized Chinese" (1921).

The February revolution was for Bely an inevitable breakthrough to save Russia. And he greeted the October Revolution with joy. For the famous symbolist, she was a symbol of "the salvific liberation of creative principles from the inertia of stagnation, the opportunity for Russia to enter a new round of spiritual development." The result of A. Bely's spiritual upsurge was the poem "Christ" (1918), where the main character is a kind of symbol of the cosmic revolution. From under his pen came "Sketch", "Revolution and Culture", a collection of poems "Star".

The famous symbolist gravitated towards the ideas of "spiritual communism", therefore, it was no coincidence that in the first post-revolutionary years he actively responded to calls to develop cultural and educational activities among the masses. A. Bely acts as an orator and lecturer, teacher and one of the organizers and founders of the Free Philosophical Organization (Volfily). He writes many critical and journalistic articles, striving to become "understandable to people", moving away from the darkened, torn language of previous years. From the end of 1920 the poet lived in Petrograd, dreaming of going abroad. He even thought about escaping, but told everyone about his plans. The mocking questions of his friends about the timing of his escape aroused fits of wild fear in A. Bely.

In the summer of 1921, A. Bely managed to travel to Europe with the aim of organizing the publication of his books and founding Wolfila's branch in Berlin. The poet's break with Steiner and his followers was a real blow to him. Berlin witnessed his prolonged hysteria, which was expressed in drunken dancing. Living his life in foxtrots and polkas, Bely tried to trample all the best in himself, falling lower and lower. So he tried to numb the pain inflicted on him by the break with L.D. Block. In a half-mad state, retaining the remnants of his cunning, the poet procured a visa and left for Moscow.

A. Blok died on August 7, 1921. Bely grieved at the loss. The obituary he wrote began with the words: “A.A. Blok is the first poet of our time; the first voice fell silent, the song of songs broke off. "

During the years spent abroad, A. Bely published 16 books and the poem "Gossolalia" about 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. It was almost never published, and the famous poet himself in recent years has been working on his autobiography, consisting of three volumes - "At the turn of two centuries" (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 main character.

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 strove to bring to life a picture of history that had lost its meaning, but this plan became anti-epic.

The most important part of Bely's legacy was his work in philology, primarily in poetry and poetic style. In them, he develops the theory of "rhythm meaning", the principles of studying sound recording and the dictionary of writers. The works "Rhythm as Dialectics", "The Bronze Horseman", "The Mastery of Gogol", "Rhythm and Meaning" and others had a largely decisive influence on literary criticism of the 20th century - the formalist and structuralist schools in the USSR, "new criticism" in the USA, laid the foundations modern scientific poem (distinguishing between meter and rhythm, etc.).

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

I believed in the golden shine.

And he died from the arrows of the sun.

The thought of the century measured

And he could not live life.

Hearing these lines for the last time, he seemed to live his rebellious and extravagant life once again.

Valentina Sklyarenko

From the book "100 Famous Muscovites", 2006

The biography of Andrei Bely, for all its contradictions, is an undoubted reflection of that crucial era, which saw 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 give only a very superficial impression of his place and significance in the general cultural context of the era, was constantly in the very center of the turbulent eddies of Russian social life. And a premonition of great changes was approaching. Today, no one denies the well-known fact that the entire Russian culture of this period, to one degree or another, is permeated with a presentiment of future wars and revolutions.

Andrey Bely. Biography. What defined it

It is not so rare that one has to deal with the fact that creative pseudonyms grow so tightly to their carriers that no one even remembers that these names are fictitious. So many, if not all, have heard about the poet Andrei Bely. But the fact that this is only his pseudonym, very 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 great 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.

University of Moscow

The status of this educational institution was never questioned, in the Russian Empire it was in every sense the first. Boris Bugaev studied at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics, but more natural sciences interested him in questions of culture, literature, aesthetics, philosophy, mysticism and occultism. 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 decisive and determines his entire future life. And the circle of future poetic themes became clear during these years.

Alexander Blok

Perhaps it will not be a great 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 included in the circles of the highest artistic bohemia of both capitals of the Russian Empire. Even the pseudonym that later became well-known helped him to come up with the famous M.S.Solovyov. But only Alexander Blok was able to discern and feel in Andrei Bely an equal interlocutor and, in many senses, a competitor. Then they were connected for many years by a bizarre relationship of friendship-enmity. Andrei Bely (poet) was in constant competition with the genius of Russian poetry. And with a great man you can only compete 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. They were connected by something more than just acquaintance. And this 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 circle of contacts and discover new horizons for creativity. And, of course, to put an end to the protracted ambiguous relationship with Alexander Blok and his wife. The trip to European countries took over two years. This period in the poet's work was very fruitful. Poems were often dedicated and addressed to the social circle left in Russia, including Blok and Mendeleeva. After returning from Europe, the poet became friends with A. Turgeneva (they would officially formalize the marriage 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

Andrei Bely, whose biography and work are pretty far from everyday life and even more so from politics, could not help reflecting in his poems and critical articles the growing turbulence of public life and the impending cataclysm in Russia. The poet cannot do otherwise, even if he pretends that nothing of what is happening around him has anything to do with him. And he was not alone. The theme of an impending catastrophe was one of the dominant in Russian art. The range of her perception fits between horror and delight. Some greeted the revolution as the end of the world, while others perceived it as the beginning of a new world. Both those and others were right in their own way. He entered Andrei Bely as one of the brightest representatives of Symbolism. His early poetry collections "Gold in Azure", "Ashes", "Urn" and the novel "The Silver Dove" became classics. His essays on Tolstoy and Dostoevsky were perceived at the forefront of the controversy. His novel "Petersburg" was widely popular among the educated public. Peru Andrey Bely owns many publicistic articles during the First World War.

After the revolution

The moment has come in the history of Russia in the twentieth century when the inevitable catastrophe became a fait accompli. Perceived by the Symbolist poets, one of whose brightest representatives was Andrei Bely, as an impending inevitability, the revolution has become a legitimate everyday life. Along with the social system, the whole paradigm of the worldview of the Russian intelligentsia also changed. Before many "knife to the throat" the question arose of whether it is generally possible to live in that country, which was not so long ago called the Russian Empire? The biography of Andrei Bely of this post-revolutionary period is chaotic and contradictory. The poet rushes in different directions for a long time, even manages to travel abroad, which in those days was not easy at all. This takes a long time. But he still ends his days in the Soviet Union. He died on January 8, 1934 and was buried at The Soviet period of Andrei Bely's work cannot be called 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 in many things. 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 fragment of a bygone era.

Real name and surname - Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev.

Andrey Bely - Russian poet, prose writer, theorist of symbolism, critic, memoirist - was born 14 (26) October 1880 in Moscow in the family of the mathematician N.V. Bugaev, who in 1886-1891 - Dean of the Physics and Mathematics Faculty of Moscow University, the founder of the Moscow Mathematical School, anticipating many of the ideas of K. Tsiolkovsky and Russian "cosmists". The mother studied music and tried to oppose the artistic influence to her father's “flat rationalism”. The essence of this parental conflict was constantly reproduced by Bely in his later works.

At the age of 15 he met the family of his brother Vl.S. Solovyova - M.S. Solovyov, his wife, artist O.M. Solovieva, and her son, future poet S.M. Soloviev. Their house became the second family for A. Bely, here he sympathetically greeted his first literary experiments, invented a pseudonym, introduced him to the latest art and philosophy (A. Schopenhauer, F. Nietzsche, Vl.S. Soloviev). In 1891-1899 Bely studied at the Moscow private gymnasium of L.I. Polivanova. In 1903 he graduated from the natural sciences department of the physics and mathematics faculty of Moscow University. In 1904 entered the Faculty of History and Philology, however in 1906 applied for expulsion.

In 1901 Bely put in print "Symphony (2nd, dramatic)". The genre of literary "symphony," created by A. Bely (during his lifetime, the "Northern Symphony (1st, heroic)" ( 1904 ), "Return" ( 1905 ), "Cup of Blizzards" ( 1908 )), demonstrated a number of essential features of his poetics: gravitation towards the synthesis of words and music (the system of leitmotifs, rhythmization of prose, transfer of the structural laws of musical form into verbal compositions), the combination of the plans of eternity and modernity.

In 1901-1903... was one of the Moscow Symbolists grouped around the Scorpion publishing house (V. Bryusov, K. Balmont, Y. Baltrushaitis) and Grif; then he met the organizers of the St. Petersburg Religious and Philosophical Assemblies and the publishers of the magazine "New Way" D.S. Merezhkovsky, Z.N. Gippius. Since January 1903 began a correspondence with A. Blok (personal acquaintance took place 1904 g.), with whom he was tied for years of "friendship-enmity". Autumn 1903 Andrey Bely became one of the organizers and ideological inspirers of the circle of "Argonauts" (Ellis, S.M. Soloviev, A.S. Petrovsky, E.K. equality of "texts of life" and "texts of art", love-mystery as a path to the eschatological transformation of the world. "Argonautical" motives developed in Bely's articles of this period, published in the magazines "World of Art", "Libra", "Golden Fleece", as well as in the collection of poems "Gold in Azure" ( 1904 ).

The collapse of the "Argonautic" myth in the minds of Andrei Bely ( 1904-1906 ) occurred under the influence of a number of factors: the shift of philosophical guidelines from the eschatology of F. Nietzsche and Vl.S. Solovyov to neo-Kantianism and the problems of the epistemological substantiation of symbolism, the tragic vicissitudes of unrequited love for L.D. Block (reflected in the collection "Urn", 1909 ), schism and fierce journalistic polemics in the Symbolist camp. Events of the Revolution 1905-1907 biennium were initially perceived by Bely in the mainstream of anarchist maximalism, but it was during this period that social motives and "Nekrasov" rhythms and intonations appeared in his poetry (collection of poems "Ashes", 1909 ).

1909-1910... - the beginning of a turning point in the attitude of A. Bely, the search for new positive life paths. Summing up the results of his previous creative activity, he published three volumes of critical and theoretical articles ("Symbolism", "Green Meadow", both 1910 ; "Arabesque" 1911 ). Attempts to find a "new soil", a synthesis of the West and the East are tangible in the novel "The Silver Dove" ( 1909 ). The beginning of the revival was the rapprochement and civil marriage with the artist A.A. Turgeneva, who shared years of wandering with him ( 1910-1912 , Sicily - Tunisia - Egypt - Palestine), described in two volumes of "Travel Notes". Together with her, Andrei Bely experienced years of enthusiastic apprenticeship with the creator of anthroposophy, R. Steiner. The highest creative achievement of this period was the novel Petersburg ( 1913-1914 ), which concentrated in itself the historiosophical problems associated with the comprehension of the path of Russia between the West and the East, and had a tremendous influence on the greatest novelists of the 20th century (M. Proust, J. Joyce, etc.).

In 1914-1916... lived in Dornach (Switzerland), participating in the construction of the anthroposophical temple "Goetheanum". In August 1916 returned to Russia. V 1915-1916 biennium... created the novel "Kitty Letaev" - the first in the planned series of autobiographical novels (continued - the novel "The Baptized Chinese", 1921 ). Bely perceived the beginning of the First World War as a universal human disaster, the Russian revolution. 1917 - as a possible way out of the global catastrophe. The cultural-philosophical ideas of this time were embodied in the essay cycle "At the Pass" ("I. Crisis of Thought", 1918 ; “II. Crisis of Thought " 1918 ; "III. Crisis of culture ", 1918 ), the essay "Revolution and Culture" ( 1917 ), the poem "Christ is Risen" ( 1918 ), a collection of poems "Star" ( 1922 ).

In 1921-1923... Andrei Bely in Berlin experienced a painful parting with R. Steiner, a break with A.A. Turgeneva and found himself on the verge of a mental breakdown, although he continued his active literary activity. Upon returning to his homeland, he undertook a series of hopeless attempts to find his place in Soviet culture, created a novel dilogy "Moscow" ("Moscow eccentric", 1926 ; "Moscow is under attack" 1926 ), the novel "Masks" ( 1932 ), acted as a memoirist ("Memories of Blok", 1922-1923 ; trilogy "At the turn of two centuries", 1930 ; "The beginning of the century" 1933 ; "Between two revolutions" 1934 ), wrote theoretical and literary research "Rhythm as a dialectic and" The Bronze Horseman "" ( 1929 ) and "The Mastery of Gogol" ( 1934 ). These studies have had a largely decisive influence on literary criticism of the 20th century. (formalist and structuralist schools in the USSR, "new criticism" in the USA) laid the foundations of modern scientific poetry (the distinction between meter and rhythm, etc.). A feeling of a total crisis of life and world order was expressed in the work of Andrei Bely.