Biography according to Mayakovsky. Mayakovsky's death: the poet's tragic finale

Mayakovsky V.V. - biography Mayakovsky V.V. - biography

Mayakovsky Vladimir Vladimirovich (1893 - 1930)
Mayakovsky V.V.
Biography
He was born on July 19 (according to the old style - July 7), 1893 in the village of Baghdadi near Kutaissi (Georgia), in the family of a forester. In 1901 - 1906 he studied at the classical gymnasium in Kutaissi. In 1906, after the death of his father, Mayakovsky moved to Moscow with his mother and sisters. He studied at the fifth gymnasium, in 1908 - in the preparatory class of the Stroganov School, in 1911 - 1914 - in the figure class of the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, from which he was expelled for participating in the scandalous speeches of the futurists. In 1908 he joined the RSDLP (b), engaged in propaganda, worked in an illegal printing house, was arrested three times. In 1909 he spent 11 months in the Butyrka prison, later calling this time the beginning of his poetic activity. November 17, 1912 for the first time made a public reading of poetry in the St. Petersburg cafe-cabaret "Stray Dog". The first publication of poems took place in 1912, in the futuristic collection Slap in the Face of Public Taste. In 1912 - 1913 about 30 poems were published. In December 1913, the tragedy "Vladimir Mayakovsky" was staged at the Luna Park Theater in St. Petersburg, where he acted as a director and performer of the main role. in St. Petersburg he met Blok and V. Khlebnikov, in 1914 - with Gorky Maxim, in 1915 - with I. E. Repin, with K. I. Chukovsky. From 1915 to March 1919 he lived in Petrograd. From October 1915 to October 1917 he passed military service as a draftsman at the Petrograd Automobile School. After the October Revolution, he worked in the People's Commissariat for Education. In November 1918, Mayakovsky's play "Mystery-buff" was staged in the hall of the Musical Drama Theater (now the Great Hall of the Conservatory) (directors V.E. Meyerhold and Mayakovsky, artist K S. Malevich.) In 1919 the first collected works "All Composed by Vladimir Mayakovsky" were published.
In March 1919 he moved to Moscow, where he worked in the "ROSTA Windows" (Russian Telegraph Agency) - he draws posters with poetic propaganda texts (about 1100 "windows" were created in 3 years), engaged in industrial and book graphics. He made many trips to the USA (for 3 months in 1925), Germany, France, Cuba. Mayakovsky headed the literary group LEF (Left Front of the Arts), and later - REF (Revolutionary Front of the Arts); in 1923 - 1925 he edited the magazine "LEF", and in 1927 - 1928 - "New LEF". Having come to the conclusion that closed groups impede the normal creative communication of Soviet writers, in February 1930 he joined the RAPP (Russian Association of Proletarian Writers), which caused condemnation from his friends. Alienation and public persecution were aggravated by personal drama: he was stubbornly denied permission to travel abroad, where a meeting with the woman with whom the poet intended to connect his life was to take place. Since April 1926, Mayakovsky lived mainly in Moscow, in Gendrikov Lane (since 1935 - Mayakovsky Lane; since 1937, the Mayakovsky Library Museum has been located in the house), 15/13, together with the Brik spouses. A.V. Lunacharsky, V.E. Meyerhold, S.M. Eisenstein, M.E. Koltsov, I.E. Babel, V.B. Shklovsky. April 14, 1930 Vladimir Mayakovsky died by suicide. He was buried in Moscow, at the Novodevichy cemetery.
During a trip to the United States, Mayakovsky entered into a relationship with the American Ellie Jones, from whom he had a daughter, Patricia, who became a well-known feminist, a specialist in philosophy, sociology and family economics, the author of 15 books (including the book "Mayakovsky in Manhattan" (Mayakovsky in Manhattan) and a lecturer at Lehman College in New York.Patricia Thompson, Ph.D., who claims to have inherited a rebellious character from her father, considers herself "Mayakovsky in a skirt."
According to the All-Union Book Chamber, as of January 1, 1973, the total circulation of V. Mayakovsky's books was 74 million 525 thousand; his works were translated into 56 languages ​​of the peoples of the USSR and into 42 foreign languages.
Works by Mayakovsky the artist: portrait sketches, sketches of popular prints, theatrical works, posters, book graphics.
Film work: scripts for the films "The Pursuit of Glory" (1913), "The Young Lady and the Hooligan" (based on the work "The Teacher of the Workers" by E. D'Amichis, 1918, starred in the title role), "Not Born for Money" (based on "Martin Eden" J. London, 1918, starred), Chained by Film (1918, starred), To the Front (1920, propaganda film), Children (Three, 1928), Dekabryukhov and Oktyabryukhov "(1928), "The Elephant and the Match" (1926 - 1927, was not staged), "The Heart of Cinema" (1926 - 1927, was not staged), "Lyubov Shkadolyubova" (1926 - 1927, was not staged), "How are you doing?" (1926 - 1927, was not staged), "The Story of a Revolver" (1926 - 1927, was not staged), "Comrade Kopytko" (1926 - 1927, was not staged; some moments were used in the play "Bath"), " Forget the fireplace" (1926 - 1927, was not staged; the script was reworked into the comedy "The Bedbug").
Literary works: poems, poems, feuilletons, public articles, plays: "Vladimir Mayakovsky" (1913, tragedy), "Civilian shrapnel" (November 1914, article), "War declared" (July 1914), "Mother and the evening killed by the Germans" (November 1914), "Cloud in Pants" (1915 lyric poem), "Flute-Spine" (1916, poem), "War and Peace" (1916, separate edition - 1917, poem), "Man" (1916 - 1917, published - 1918, poem), "Mystery Buff" (1918, 2nd version - 1921, play), "Left March" (1918), "Good attitude towards horses" (1918), "150,000,000" (1919 - 1920, 1st edition without the name of the author, 1921, poem), "The Sitting Ones" (1922), "I Love" (1922), "About This" (1923), "Vladimir Ilyich Lenin" (1924, poem), "Paris "(1924 - 1925, a cycle of poems), "Poems about America" ​​(1925 - 1926, a cycle of poems), "To Comrade Netta, a steamboat and a man" (1926), "Sergey Yesenin" (1926), "Good!" (1927, poem), "Letter to Tatyana Yakovleva" (1928), "Pompadour" (1928), "Bedbug" (1928, staged in 1929, play), "Conversation with Comrade Lenin" (1929), "Poems about the Soviet passport "(1929), "Bath" (1929, staged in 1930, play), "Out loud" (1930, poem), poems for children, "I myself" (autobiographical story).
__________
Sources of information:
Encyclopedic resource www.rubricon.com (Great Soviet Encyclopedia, Encyclopedic reference book "St. Petersburg", Encyclopedia "Moscow", Encyclopedia of Russian-American relations, Encyclopedic dictionary "Kino")
Project "Russia congratulates!" - www.prazdniki.ru

(Source: "Aphorisms from around the world. Encyclopedia of wisdom." www.foxdesign.ru)

Consolidated encyclopedia of aphorisms. Academician. 2011 .

See what "Mayakovsky V.V. - biography" is in other dictionaries:

Vladimir Vladimirovich (1894-1930), the greatest poet of the proletarian revolution. R. in with. Baghdad, Kutaisi Province. in the family of a forester. He studied at the Kutaisi and Moscow gymnasiums, but did not finish the course. The psychology of the child was under the impression ... ... Literary Encyclopedia

Vladimir Vladimirovich (1893-1930), Russian poet. In pre-revolutionary creativity, the eccentric confession of a poet who perceives reality as an apocalypse (tragedy Vladimir Mayakovsky, 1914; poems Cloud in pants, 1915, Flute spine, ... ... Russian history

Vladimir Vladimirovich (1893-1930) Poet, poetic language reformer. In his ideas about what constitutes the basis of the poetic language, how the spoken language differs from the literary one, and how speech passes into the language, he was close to scientific views ... Encyclopedia of cultural studies

Mayakovsky. I will do this with a perfectly clear conscience. I'm quite calm about him. Explanatory Dictionary of Ushakov. D.N. Ushakov. 1935 1940 ... Explanatory Dictionary of Ushakov

The source of the name of the great Soviet poet was lost on the geographical map. The ancestor of Mayakovsky, most likely, came from a village called Mayak, or Mayaki. There were several of these in old Russia, most of all in the south. (F). (Source ... Russian surnames

The name of the city of Baghdati in 1940 90 ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

Vladimir Vladimirovich (1893 1930). Russian futurist poet; well-known figure in world literature. In his youth, he leaned towards anarchism and was arrested for revolutionary activities. Fully supported the October Revolution and to a large extent ... ... 1000 biographies

MAYAKOVSKY, the name of the city of Bagdati (see BAGDATI) in 1940 90 ... encyclopedic Dictionary

I Mayakovsky Vladimir Vladimirovich, Russian Soviet poet. Born in the family of a forester. After the death of his father, the family moved to Moscow (1906). M. studied at ... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

MAYAKOVSKY- (Vladimir Vladimirovich (1893 1930) Russian poet; see also VLADIMIR, VLADIMIR, VOVA, VOLODIMIR, VE VE) Baby! / ... / Do not be afraid, / that again, / in bad weather, / I will cling to thousands of pretty faces, / loving Mayakovsky! / yes, this is ... ... Proper name in Russian poetry of the XX century: a dictionary of personal names

Russian poet. In pre-revolutionary creativity, the confession of a poet forced to a cry, perceiving reality as an apocalypse (the tragedy "Vladimir Mayakovsky", 1913, the poems "A Cloud in Pants", 1915, "Flute-Spine", 1916, "War and Peace", 1917). After 1917 - the creation of a myth about the socialist world order (the play "Mystery-Buff", 1918, the poems "150,000,000", 1921, "Vladimir Ilyich Lenin", 1924, "Good!", 1927) and the tragically growing sense of its depravity (from verse "Seated", 1922, before the play "Bath", 1929). In the poem "Out loud" (1930) affirmation of the sincerity of one's path and the hope of being understood in the "communist far away". A poetic language reformer, he had a great influence on the poetry of the 20th century. Committed suicide.

Biography

Vladimir Vladimirovich (1893-1930), poet.

Born on July 7 (19 NS) in the village of Baghdadi, near Kutaisi, in the family of a forester, a man of progressive views, humane and generous. He studied at the Kutaisi gymnasium (1902 - 06). Then for the first time I read revolutionary poems and proclamations. "Poems and revolution somehow united in my head," the poet later wrote.

In the turbulent 1905, a twelve-year-old schoolboy took part in demonstrations and a gymnasium strike.

In 1906, after the sudden death of his father, the family moved to Moscow, where Mayakovsky continued his education. However, he soon took up serious revolutionary work, was arrested three times (in 1909 he was imprisoned in Butyrka prison). Released from prison as a minor in 1910, he decided to devote himself to art, entered the studio of the artist P. Kelin to prepare for exams at the School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, where he began to study in 1911. Here he met D. Burdyuk, the organizer of a group of Russians futurists. From 1912 he began to publish his poems, becoming a professional poet. Published in futuristic almanacs. For participating in public speaking, he was expelled from the school in 1914.

In the same year, he traveled with a group of futurists to seventeen cities in RUSSIA, promoting the new art among the masses. However, in his work, Mayakovsky already in these years was independent and original. In 1915 he created his best pre-revolutionary poem "A Cloud in Pants" about the belief in the inevitability of an imminent revolution, which he expected as a solution to the most important problems of the country and the determination of personal destiny. The poet even tries to predict the timing of her arrival ("In the crown of thorns of revolutions // The sixteenth year is coming").

The poems of 1916 sound gloomy and hopeless, making up a special cycle ("Tired", "Giveaway", "Darkness", "Russia", etc.).

Gorky invited Mayakovsky to cooperate in the Chronicle magazine and the Novaya Zhizn newspaper, and helped in the publication of the second collection of poems, Simple as Lowing. During these years, Mayakovsky created the poems "War and Peace" and "Man", where, as it were, an anti-war panorama is presented.

He called the October Revolution "My Revolution" and was one of the first figures of culture and art who responded to the call of the Soviet authorities to cooperate with it; participated in the first meetings and gatherings of representatives of culture. At this time, he publishes "Our March", "Ode to the Revolution", "Left March". The play "Mystery-buff" was written and staged. During 1919 he worked on the poem "150,000 Ltd.".

In October 1919, he produced the first posters in the ROSTA Windows, which marked the beginning of his work as an artist and poet (until 1921).

In 1922 - 1924 he made his first trips abroad (Riga, Berlin, Paris, etc.), the impressions of which he will describe in essays and poems.

In 1925 he went on his longest journey - overseas: he visited Havana, Mexico City and for three months performed in various US cities with reading poetry and reports. Later, poems were written (the collection "Spain. - Ocean. - Havana. - Mexico. - America") and the essay "My Discovery of America".

Of great importance in the life of the poet were trips around his native country. Only in 1927 he performed in 40 cities in addition to Moscow and Leningrad. In 1927, the poem "Good!" appeared.

Dramaturgy occupies an important place in his work. He created the satirical plays Bedbug (1928), Bathhouse (1929). In February, Mayakovsky joined the RAPP (Russian Association of Proletarian Writers), for which many of his literary associates broke off relations with him. On the same days, the exhibition "20 Years of Mayakovsky's Work" was opened, which was not successful due to the deliberate isolation of the poet. His personal life also remained difficult and unsettled. Mayakovsky's health and mood in the spring of 1930 deteriorated sharply.

In Vladimir Mayakovsky, he did not immediately begin to write poetry - at first he was going to become an artist and even studied painting. The fame of the poet came to him after meeting the avant-garde artists, when the first works of the young author were enthusiastically greeted by David Burliuk. Futuristic group, "Today's Lubok", "Left Front of Arts", advertising "ROSTA Windows" - Vladimir Mayakovsky worked in many creative associations. He also wrote for newspapers, published a magazine, made films, created plays and staged performances based on them.

Vladimir Mayakovsky with his sister Lyudmila. Photo: vladimir-mayakovsky.ru

Vladimir Mayakovsky with his family. Photo: vladimir-mayakovsky.ru

Vladimir Mayakovsky in childhood. Photo: rewizor.ru

Vladimir Mayakovsky was born in Georgia in 1893. His father served as a forester in the village of Baghdadi, later the family moved to Kutaisi. Here, the future poet studied at the gymnasium and took drawing lessons: the only Kutaisi artist Sergei Krasnukha worked with him for free. When the wave of the first Russian revolution reached Georgia, Mayakovsky - as a child - participated in rallies for the first time. His sister Lyudmila Mayakovskaya recalled: “The revolutionary struggle of the masses also influenced Volodya and Olya. The Caucasus experienced the revolution especially acutely. There, everyone was involved in the struggle, and everyone was divided into those who participated in the revolution, who definitely sympathized with it and who were hostile..

In 1906, when Vladimir Mayakovsky was 13 years old, his father died from blood poisoning: he injured his finger with a needle while stitching papers. Until the end of his life, the poet was afraid of bacteria: he always carried soap with him, took a folding basin on his travels, carried cologne for rubbing with him, and carefully monitored hygiene.

After the death of his father, the family was in a difficult situation. Mayakovsky recalled: “After the funeral of my father, we have 3 rubles. Instinctively, feverishly, we sold out tables and chairs. Moved to Moscow. What for? Didn't even have friends.". In a Moscow gymnasium, the young poet wrote his first "incredibly revolutionary and equally ugly" poem and published it in an illegal school magazine. In 1909-1910, Mayakovsky was arrested several times: he joined the Bolshevik Party, worked in an underground printing house. At first, the young revolutionary was given "on bail" to his mother, and for the third time he was sent to prison. Mayakovsky later called the conclusion in solitary confinement "11 Butyr months." He wrote poetry, but the notebook with lyrical experiments - "stilted and tearful", as their author assessed - was taken away by the guards.

In conclusion, Mayakovsky read many books. He dreamed of a new art, a new aesthetic that would be fundamentally different from the classical one. Mayakovsky decided to study painting - he changed several teachers and a year later entered the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. Here the young artist met David Burliuk, and later - with Velimir Khlebnikov and Alexei Kruchenykh. Mayakovsky again wrote poetry, from which his new comrades were delighted. Avant-garde authors decided to unite against the "aesthetics of junk", and soon a manifesto of a new creative group appeared - "A slap in the face of public taste."

David has the wrath of a master who has overtaken his contemporaries, while I have the pathos of a socialist who knows the inevitability of the collapse of junk. Russian futurism was born.

Vladimir Mayakovsky, excerpt from the autobiography "I myself"

Futurists spoke at meetings - read poems and lectures on new poetry. For public speaking, Vladimir Mayakovsky was expelled from the school. In 1913–1914, the well-known tour of the Futurists took place: a creative group with performances toured Russian cities.

Burliuk rode and promoted futurism. But he loved Mayakovsky, stood at the cradle of his verse, knew his biography to the smallest detail, knew how to read his things - and therefore, through the butads of David Davidovich, the appearance of Mayakovsky arose so material that he wanted to be touched with his hands.
<...>
Upon arrival in the city, Burliuk first of all organized an exhibition of futuristic paintings and manuscripts, and in the evening he made a report.

Futurist poet Pyotr Neznamov

Vladimir Mayakovsky, Vsevolod Meyerhold, Alexander Rodchenko and Dmitri Shostakovich at the rehearsal of the play "The Bedbug". 1929. Photo: subscribe.ru

Vladimir Mayakovsky and Lilya Brik in the film Chained by Film. 1918. Photo: geometria.by

Vladimir Mayakovsky (third from left) and Vsevolod Meyerhold (second from left) at the rehearsal of the performance "Banya". 1930. Photo: bse.sci-lib.com

Vladimir Mayakovsky was interested not only in poetry and painting. In 1913, he made his debut in the theater: he himself wrote the tragedy "Vladimir Mayakovsky", he himself staged it on stage and played the main role. In the same year, the poet became interested in cinema - he began to write scripts, and a year later he starred in the film “Drama in the Futurist Cabaret No. 13” for the first time (the picture has not been preserved). During the First World War, Vladimir Mayakovsky was a member of the avant-garde association "Today's Lubok". Its participants - Kazimir Malevich, David Burliuk, Ilya Mashkov and others - drew patriotic postcards for the front, inspired by the traditional popular popular print. They created simple colorful pictures for them and wrote short poems in which they ridiculed the enemy.

In 1915, Mayakovsky met Osip and Lilya Brik. This event in his autobiography, the poet later noted the subtitle "the most joyful date." Lilya Brik became Mayakovsky's lover and muse for many years, he dedicated poems and poems to her, and even after parting continued to declare his love. In 1918, they starred together for the film Chained by Film - both in the lead roles.

In November of the same year, the premiere of Mayakovsky's play Mystery Buff took place. It was staged at the Musical Drama Theater by Vsevolod Meyerhold, and designed in the best traditions of the avant-garde by Kazimir Malevich. Meyerhold recalled working with the poet: “Mayakovsky was well versed in very subtle theatrical, technological things that we, directors, usually learn for a very long time in different schools, practically at the theater, etc. Mayakovsky always guessed every right and wrong stage decision, precisely as a director”. The “revolutionary folk spectacle,” as the translator Rita Wright called it, was staged several more times.

A year later, the tense era of "Windows of GROWTH" began: artists and poets collected hot topics and produced propaganda posters - they are often called the first Soviet social advertising. The work was intense: both Mayakovsky and his colleagues more than once had to stay late or work at night in order to release the batch on time.

In 1922, Vladimir Mayakovsky headed the literary group "Left Front of the Arts" (later "left" in the title changed to "revolutionary"), and soon the eponymous magazine of the creative association. On its pages published prose and poetry, pictures of avant-garde photographers, bold architectural projects and news of the "left" art.

In 1925, the poet finally broke up with Lilya Brik. He went on tour to France, then went to Spain, Cuba and the USA. There, Mayakovsky met the translator Ellie Jones, a short but stormy romance broke out between them. In autumn, the poet returned to the USSR, and in America his daughter, Helen-Patricia, was soon born. After returning from the United States, Vladimir Mayakovsky wrote the cycle "Poems about America", worked on scripts for Soviet films.

Vladimir Mayakovsky. Photo: goteatr.com

Vladimir Mayakovsky and Lilya Brik. Photo: mayakovskij.ru

Vladimir Mayakovsky. Photo: peter.my

In 1928–1929, Mayakovsky wrote the satirical plays Bedbug and Bathhouse. Both premieres were held at the Meyerhold Theatre. The poet was the second director, he followed the design of the performance and worked with the actors: he recited fragments of the play, creating the necessary intonations and placing semantic accents.

Vladimir Vladimirovich was very fond of any kind of work. He went to work with his head. Before the premiere of "The Bath" he was completely exhausted. He spent all his time in the theatre. He wrote poems, inscriptions for the auditorium for the production of "Baths". He himself supervised their hanging. Then he joked that he was hired at the Meyerhold Theater not only as an author and director (he worked a lot with actors on the text), but also as a painter and carpenter, since he himself painted and nailed something. As a very rare author, he was so burned and sick of the performance that he participated in the smallest details of the production, which, of course, was not at all part of his authorial functions.

Actress Veronika Polonskaya

Both plays caused a stir. Some viewers and critics saw in the works a satire on the bureaucracy, while others - criticism of the Soviet system. "Banya" was staged only a few times, and then banned - until 1953.

The loyal attitude of the authorities to the "main Soviet poet" was replaced by coolness. In 1930, for the first time, he was not approved to travel abroad. Official criticism began to fiercely attack the poet. He was reproached for satire in relation to phenomena allegedly defeated, for example, the same bureaucracy, and bureaucratic delays. Mayakovsky decided to hold the exhibition "20 Years of Work" and present the results of his many years of work. He himself selected newspaper articles and drawings, arranged books, hung posters on the walls. The poet was assisted by Lilya Brik, his new beloved actress Veronika Polonskaya and an employee of the State Literary Museum Artemy Bromberg.

On the day of the opening, the hall for guests was packed. However, as Bromberg recalled, none of the representatives of literary organizations came to the opening. And there were no official congratulations of the poet on the twentieth anniversary of his work either.

I will never forget how in the House of Press at the exhibition of Vladimir Vladimirovich "Twenty Years of Work", which for some reason was almost boycotted by "great" writers, we, several Smenovites, were literally on duty for days near the stands, physically suffering from how sad and strict A large, tall man, with his hands behind his back, walked up and down the empty halls with his face, as if waiting for someone very dear and becoming more and more convinced that this dear person would not come.

Poet Olga Bergholz

Non-recognition was exacerbated by personal drama. Vladimir Mayakovsky, in love with Polonskaya, demanded that she leave her husband, leave the theater and live with him in a new apartment. As the actress recalled, the poet either made scenes, then calmed down, then again began to be jealous and demand an immediate solution. One of these explanations became fatal. After Polonskaya left, Mayakovsky committed suicide. In his suicide letter, he asked the "comrade government" not to leave his family: “My family is Lilya Brik, mother, sisters and Veronika Vitoldovna Polonskaya. If you give them a decent life, thank you.”.

After the death of Mayakovsky, the entire archive of the poet went to the Briks. Lilya Brik tried to preserve the memory of his work, wanted to create a memorial room, but constantly ran into bureaucratic obstacles. The poet was almost never published. Then Brik wrote a letter to Joseph Stalin. In his resolution, Stalin called Mayakovsky "the best and most talented poet of the Soviet era." The resolution was published in Pravda, Mayakovsky's works began to be published in huge editions, and the streets and squares of the Soviet Union were named after him.

Vulgarity, not contesting it in life, challenged it in death. But lively, agitated Moscow, alien to petty literary disputes, stood in line at his coffin, not organized by anyone in this line, spontaneously, by itself recognizing the unusualness of this life and this death. And lively, excited Moscow filled the streets on the way to the crematorium. And lively, agitated Moscow did not believe his death. Still does not believe.

The fatal shot that the last affection of the poet, Veronika Polonskaya, heard when leaving the room on Lubyanka, sounded on April 14, 1930 ...

Mayakovsky's death at the age of thirty-seven raised many questions from his contemporaries. Why did the genius, beloved by the people and the Soviet government, "singer of the revolution" voluntarily die?

There is no doubt that it was suicide. The results of an examination conducted by criminologists 60 years after the death of the poet confirmed that Mayakovsky shot himself. established the authenticity of what had been written two days earlier. The very fact that the note was drawn up in advance speaks in favor of the thoughtfulness of this act.

When Yesenin passed away three years earlier, Mayakovsky writes: “It is not difficult to die in this life.
Make life much more difficult." With these lines, he puts a bitter assessment of escaping from reality with the help of suicide. About his own death, he writes: "... this is not a way ... but I have no way out."

We will never know the exact answer to the question of what broke the poet so much. But Mayakovsky's voluntary death can be partly explained by the events preceding his death. In part, the choice of the poet reveals his work. The famous lines from the poem "Man", written in 1917: "And the heart is eager for a shot, and the throat is raving with a razor ...", speak for themselves.

In general, Mayakovsky's poetry is a mirror of his nervous, contradictory nature. His poems are full of either almost teenage delight and enthusiasm, or bile and bitterness of disappointment. This is how Vladimir Mayakovsky was described by his contemporaries. The same main witness to the poet's suicide writes in her memoirs: “In general, he always had extremes. I do not remember Mayakovsky ... calm ... ".

The poet had many reasons to draw the last line. Married Lilya Brik, the main love and muse of Mayakovsky, all her life approached and moved away from him, but never completely belonged to him. Long before the tragedy, the poet had already flirted with his fate twice, and the reason for this was an all-encompassing passion for this woman. But then Mayakovsky, whose death still worries the minds, remained alive - the weapon misfired.

Serious health problems that began due to overwork and severe flu, the deafening failure of the play "Bath" in March 1930, parting with which the poet asked to become his wife ... All these life collisions, indeed, blow after blow, seemed to be preparing Mayakovsky's death. Kneeling in front of Veronika Polonskaya, persuading her to stay with him, the poet clung to his relationship with her like a saving straw. But the actress was not ready for such a decisive step as a divorce from her husband ... When the door closed behind her, a revolver with a single bullet in the clip put an end to the life of one of the greatest poets.

I
Since the time of Plutarch, the productivity of comparative biographies has been noticed. Indeed, it is easiest to conduct a presentation by comparing two persons, for "everything is known in comparison." The most productive, however, is to find couples who are in opposition to each other and even better if they are contemporaries and people of the same culture. If we take Russian literature of the 20s of the last century, this is undoubtedly Mayakovsky and Bulgakov.

These are people of the same generation, of the same social origin, both were born in the provinces. Both lost their father early. Both are exceptionally talented. Both are sociable and beautiful - such people become the soul of society and plant their own culture of communication and thoughts around them. Both are, so to speak, "lyro-satirists."

But one of them rejected Russian culture and built his life on its denial and even overthrow, and the second considered it his life task to be its successor.

What is the bottom line? The answer to this question is very important, because here lies the answer not only to what happened to our civilization, but also to what will happen to us next.

II
Mayakovsky knew only one foreign language - Georgian. He spoke it quite well, but learned it as a child, that is, by itself. Paradoxically, exceptional philological abilities can make it difficult to consciously study languages, because. verbal forms are remembered "creatively". Ignorance of foreign words and grammar is replaced by their invention. Chekhov, Bunin and Gorky were completely incapable of languages, and this despite the fact that all three lived abroad for a long time.

It is believed that the Mayakovskys are descended from the semi-mythical "Zaporozhian Cossacks", such references in nine cases out of ten are lies. The so-called "Little Russian nobility" comes from the children of priests, shopkeepers, soldiers and the like, who were approved in the list order in the nobility in defiance of the real nobility of the Western Territory, that is, the Polish gentry. Having received the nobility at the beginning of the 19th century, all these people subsequently claimed to have been nobles in the 18th century and even in the 17th, but the documents were “lost”. At the same time, noble, in their opinion, ancestors were either invented or taken from among well-known historical characters, often by the consonance of names.

The real facts are that Mayakovsky's father was born in the Caucasus and knew the Georgian language well, his mother was also born in the Caucasus and also spoke Georgian. Both husband and wife also spoke Armenian. Representatives of the Caucasian community in Moscow considered the Mayakovskys to be a Georgian family. The admixture of Mayakovsky's eastern blood is also indicated by his appearance, not Russian, but rather Mediterranean, as well as early puberty, characteristic of Caucasians.

Mayakovsky was born in the village of Baghdadi, not far from the Turkish border, in the family of a forester. In 1901, he moved with his mother to Kutais, where he soon entered the local gymnasium. His father (did not finish) and his uncle, his father's older brother, studied at this gymnasium at one time. Uncle graduated from the Forestry Institute in St. Petersburg, it was he who gave patronage to his brother in the forestry department.

Mayakovsky in the first grade of the Kutaisi gymnasium. Do not suffer - he is sitting in the first row, third from the left.

This is just in case the class of Stalin. The contingent is generally similar.

Mayakovsky and Stalin close-up. Both were desperate fighters.
Mayakovsky's father continued to live in Baghdadi, where in February 1906 he accidentally pricked himself with a pin and died. Ironically, he pricked himself with a pin while preparing papers for moving to a new service in Kutais, that is, to his family.

It is believed that due to the tragicomic death of his father, Mayakovsky went a little crazy, began to wash his hands ten times a day, take hold of the doorknobs with his jacket sleeve and go to visit with a soap dish.

In fact, the mania for cleanliness appeared in Mayakovsky earlier. At the age of 9, he fell ill with typhoid fever, his mother explained to him that this was a consequence of poor hygiene, and little Volodya remembered the lesson for life.

I remembered because it corresponded to his psychotype. Mayakovsky was a neat man, he washed and darned his own linen, put things on the shelves, and wiped the shelves with a cloth. The trouble is that in his youth, Mayakovsky was a hooligan and a playboy by the nature of his activity, moreover, in 1917 the sanitary service collapsed in Russia. Therefore, Vladimir Vladimirovich had to constantly be treated for venereal diseases. He did this in detail, in compliance with quarantine precautions, which from the outside created a picture of compulsive behavior. If there was one, then at the level of accentuation (that is, not a mental disorder, but personality traits).

I must say that the story of Mayakovsky's father is rather strange. He must have been quite wealthy. The death of an influential official in the colony (he was in charge of about 100,000 hectares of forest), whose activities are related to financial supervision, is always suspicious. Especially when it happens before a new appointment and under very strange circumstances. Yes, even in conditions of rebellion and martial law.

It is not clear why, after the death of Vladimir Konstantinovich, his family did not have any means of subsistence. It is even more incomprehensible why a family with minor children was allocated a mocking pension of 10 (!) Rubles a month and was not paid a solid lump-sum allowance. And it is completely incomprehensible why the widow of Vladimir Konstantinovich hastily sold all her property and left for Moscow, where she had no connections or relatives (not counting her daughter, a poor student), and where she never lived. But in the Caucasus, she and her deceased husband had a lot of relatives and friends.

Vladimir Konstantinovich could be killed and robbed - foresters, especially foreigners, aroused hatred among the population, and armed clashes with the Russian authorities began in Georgia. But this would have aroused double the help and sympathy of the administration.

We have to assume that Vladimir Konstantinovich committed a serious malfeasance and committed suicide. Out of compassion for the children, the case was not initiated, and the voluntary departure from life was filed as an accident - in the conditions of the extremely negative attitude of Orthodoxy towards suicides, this was a common practice.

I am not asserting anything, but this topic should be investigated in detail. And it hasn't been explored at all.

(By the way, Vladimir Mayakovsky was a pathological gambler. Everyone played cards then, everyone for money and everything for a long time. There was little entertainment. But Mayakovsky stood out even against this background, and most importantly he had one very bad trait. He played until he was blue in the face. the only thing that saved it was that he was a celebrity and played mostly with fans.)

The Mayakovskys arrived in Moscow in August 1906. Before that, they had never been to Russia. Volodya was sent to the 4th grade of the gymnasium. The Russians immediately dubbed him "The Idiot Polifemovich" (a surprisingly accurate nickname that delighted Bunin) and staged a boycott. In addition, the level of knowledge gained in Kutais (i.e., in the province of the province, moreover, the colonial one) did not at all correspond to Moscow's requirements. Volodya studied for one deuce and was expelled from the "golden fifth grade." He did not reach the "physics of Kraevich".

It was, as Polya from Mayakovskaya's Bathhouse says, "not funny." In a critical adolescence, Mayakovsky survived the death of his father, lost his familiar surroundings, was subjected to harassment by his peers, and, finally (more on that below), he ended up in prison.

All his life he wrote with spelling errors, and he did not know grammar at all. Commas and dots in his poems were placed by Osip Brik. Mayakovsky could write “recognized” instead of “having learned”, and said “lie down”. About physics, chemistry, geography, he had the most distant ideas, his speeches at numerous meetings were a mixture of ignorance and Soviet office worker:

“First of all, what I insist on is that Shklovsky is a deeply learned person in the literary line. He is the founder of the formal school. It is customary to think that the formal school is contrary to Marxism and that the formal school has completely embraced Lef. The formal school does not contradict Marxism in this respect. You know, comrades, that, for example, all chemistry is in its sources of origin, that all chemical processes are wholly dictated by social conditions. The transition, for example, to other dyes is dictated by the transformation of the textile industry. This means that chemistry must be considered in relation to sociology. But within chemistry there are special chemical compounds. One can speak of chemistry by taking the periodic table of elements.

All this is a consequence of the secondary education not received on time. By his natural qualities, Mayakovsky was an intelligent person. He thought logically and rationally, easily navigated in an unfamiliar environment, and was witty. Due to these qualities, he made up for a lot. But he never completed his secondary education. Under normal conditions, this would create some inconvenience. In a cultural crisis, this was a disaster.

What Mayakovsky did not have, and what Bulgakov did have. And the author of this picture is a wonderful children's artist Konstantin Kuznetsov.

Wikipedia knows ten Konstantinov Kuznetsovs. But the Russians are not interested in knowing about one of them. Yes, and it is not necessary. (I remind you that missing articles are highlighted in red.)

But what the Russians really need to know. Hark-snot-chmyak. Mayakovsky thought he was painting in ROSTA about 1918. And he painted about his 1908. (Clickable.)
Leaving for Moscow, the Mayakovskys counted on support from their father's older brother, Mikhail Konstantinovich. With his help in St. Petersburg, it was possible to secure an increase in pensions from 10 to 50 rubles. It's still unbelievably small. In Soviet times, the Mayakovskys could simply lie about this, but the circumstances of their life in Moscow testify to cramped material circumstances. For example, they were forced to sublet part of their housing to poor students. And the children moonlighted as handicrafts (burning on wood, painting plates, etc.)

Mikhail Konstantinovich by this time lived in the Grodno province, where he continued to work in the forest department. However, in September 1906 he died suddenly. Apparently from a pin prick - a bloody revolution was going on in the country with permanent armed uprisings.

According to the Ukrainian custom, Mayakovsky called his mother “you” all his life, but did not respect and did not take into account her opinion - according to the Georgian custom. After the death of his father, he began to behave like the master of the family. What is most interesting, the mother found this behavior of a 12-year-old (!) son acceptable.

At first, the Mayakovskys' acquaintances in Moscow consisted of Caucasians. Mostly Caucasians were their tenants. They treated Volodya very well. The first tenant was a young Kutaisi resident Isidor Morchadze, he spoke Georgian with Mayakovsky and generally considered him a Georgian - because of his appearance and because of his lack of accent. Morchadze was a member of an international terrorist organization, an armed bandit, a Socialist-Revolutionary militant. With a high degree of certainty, it can be assumed that he was also an agent of the security department. The kind uncle gave Volodya wine to drink and told enticing stories about how in 1905 he was a member of the "Caucasian Combat Squad" and Gorky's bodyguard, robbed banks and shot policemen. All this contrasted sharply with the boring and inhospitable fifth gymnasium, where Boris Pasternak studied at that time and which Vladimir Solovyov had previously graduated from.

In the spring of 1906, Morchadze and his accomplices robbed the Moscow bank "Mutual Credit Merchant Society". Soon he left for the western border to ensure the smuggling of weapons, and together he brought a second tenant, the Georgian Vasily Kandelaki, also a murderer of a revolutionary. At this time, Mayakovsky became friends with student Ivan Karakhan (Karakhanyan), who decided to seriously engage in the education of Mayakovsky. He let me read Masonic gibberish (“Engels’ correspondence with Kautsky”), told me how to get away from surveillance:

“Here I am sitting in the horse-drawn carriage, I see that they are watching me, I quickly jump out through the front platform and on the go jump into another horse-drawn carriage, into the third and, thus, cover my tracks; or, knowing the passage yards in Moscow, I quickly disappear through them ".

They trained the puppy, then they began to send it to small things - to get used to it. Dali drove. There was no longer any talk of studying at the gymnasium.

The boy is 14 years old. Height is 180 cm. The hat is also good. "Slushay, high school student, yes."
The first time Mayakovsky was arrested in the spring of 1908 - in an illegal printing house in the Bolshaya Gruzinskaya area (which is symbolic). They held him for a week and released him for infancy. They didn’t let him out right away, because during the arrest he said that he was 17 years old, and when examined by the police, the doctor specified: “physical development is 17-19 years old.”

The second time Mayakovsky was arrested in January 1909 and kept in prison for more than a month. It is noteworthy that in the protocol of detention it was written that Mayakovsky appeared to be about 21 years old. The arrest was preventive - Mayakovsky was a spy, hanging around a gang of robbers. But they found a Browning with cartridges on him. And that took things to a different level.

Mayakovsky was rescued by Caucasian connections. A friend of his father stood up for him - the former deputy head of the Kresty prison, Makhmud-Bekov, who was accidentally arrested in the Mayakovsky apartment. He stated that the gun was his, he accidentally forgot it during a previous visit. The pistol itself was given to him after an assassination attempt by the revolutionaries, when he resigned from prison employees and went to work in the post office. I forgot the browning number.

Mayakovsky was released.

He sat down firmly for the third time - in July 1909. Paradoxically, this was the greatest success of his life. But more on that in the next post.

III
I will dwell on the oddities with age. And on the oddities of Mayakovsky's family relationships.

Mayakovsky at the age of 14 looked 17-19, had a height of about 180 cm and spoke in a bass voice. He considered himself the head of the family and his mother obeyed.

In total, five children were born in the Mayakovsky family:

Lyudmila was born in 1884, Alexander was born in 1886 and soon died, Konstantin was born in 1888 and died in 1891 of scarlet fever, Olga was born in 1890 and Vladimir was born in 1893.

Vladimir looked like his father, a tall man who spoke in a bass voice. He looks like his sisters. But Mayakovsky looks very remotely like his mother.

From left to right: sister Olga, mother Alexandra Alekseevna, sister Lyudmila. Both sisters are clearly similar to Vladimir Vladimirovich. As for the mother...
Before Vladimir, two boys died in the family. But what if the third one also died, and the Mayakovskys adopted the illegitimate son of Vladimir Konstantinovich from a Georgian woman? Who was older by a year, two or three, and besides, because of the southern blood, developed faster?

Mayakovsky's father is sitting on the left, his older brother is standing (Vladimir Vladimirovich looks more like him). On the right is Volodya's mother and older sister Lyudmila. It is believed that the baby in the center of Volodya. But it could also be Kostya.

Volodya with his younger sister. It looks like it's photoshopped - compare the head of the child and his legs - and they are in the foreground.
Gorky's wife Andreev describes her acquaintance with Mayakovsky in 1914 in this way.

“Come on,” I suggest, “let's go to the forest to pick mushrooms.
- Yes, I have never been in the forest.
Sorry, but I can't believe this. Are you twenty years old?
- Oh, - he says, - I have much more.
So he didn't say how old he was.
- Well, let's go!
- I don't know mushrooms, I've never picked them.
- Well, let's figure it out. You see a mushroom, you - to me. Show me, and I'll tell you what it is, grebe, or russula, or some other mushroom.
We went. An hour or an hour and a half walked through the forest. And suddenly all this husk peeled off him. He began to tell how small he was, how he lived in the Caucasus. He told me that his mother seemed to be a laundress, then I found out that his mother was a teacher. I don’t know why he said this: he didn’t want to laugh at me, or something else. It is difficult to understand such people immediately.
Then he began to tell me about his poems, to read them aloud, and not at all like those I read. I remember one thing I really liked, it started like this:

Listen!
After all, if the stars are lit -
Does that mean someone needs it? .. "

According to the circumstances of the conversation, it is clear that Mayakovsky behaved sincerely, and he had no need to lie about his mother. Yes, and not in his character were such hoaxes.

In 1916, Mayakovsky wrote the poem "Man". Already by the name it is clear that this is a futuristic abstraction. However, the pedantic author is extremely accurate in describing the father encountered in the abstract afterlife:

Near father.
Same.
Only the ear is tighter
yes poistersya
a little

on the elbow
uniform forester frock coat.
Annoys.
Too
stared at the ground.
What is the old idea clear?
Quietly says:
"In the Caucasus,
probably spring.

intellectless herd,
well, it's sad
drives!
The Apache's anger flared up.
papa,
I'm bored!
I'm bored, dad!

Shortly before this, in 1913, Mayakovsky wrote a kind of triptych: “A few words about myself”, “A few words about my mother” and “A few words about my wife” (the wife turns out to be the moon).

There is nothing in the poem about mother. Moms are not. Only

"I have a mother on cornflower blue wallpaper"

Next is a set of words. Mom is sick, maybe she died, some symbols are associated with her. What kind of mother is on the cornflower blue wallpaper is not clear. This is some kind of photograph, or maybe just an icon of the Virgin Mary. There is no image of a mother in Mayakovsky's poems.

1905 In the center is Volodya, on the right is his mother. There is no particular resemblance.

It is also interesting that A Few Words About Myself begins with the infamous phrase:

"I love watching children die."

And it ends like this:

I'm lonely as the last eye
from a man going to the blind!

This poem can be interpreted in different ways, the meaning will always be elusive. And only in one case will the focus become clear - BASTARD.

Then all the torments of Mayakovsky, and in general all his work (and his personal life) will stand in a single row of the world literary tradition. And Mayakovsky was a very neat, rational and direct person. “Everything I see, I sing.” He did not see his mother. And I really saw myself as a world outcast and misunderstood loner. When you want to be sorry, but for what to regret, it is impossible to explain. Sorry, that's all. Like an animal.

One of the fans asked Mayakovsky about "dying children". Mayakovsky could have become furious or laughed it off. But he (after a long silence) answered simply and incomprehensibly:

- You need to know why it was written, when it was written and for whom it was written ...

Speaking about the origin of Mayakovsky, two lines were quoted in Soviet schools:

I am a Cossack grandfather
The other is a sechevik.

It is a little illogical, since the Sich are Cossacks, but it is clear that Mayakovsky is from Ukraine, a Ukrainian. Three lines were quoted in higher education institutions

I am a Cossack grandfather
The other is a sechevik.
And by birth Georgians.

This testified that Mayakovsky was an internationalist. But very rarely the rich thought of the poet was quoted in full:

I am not one of the razin katsapov.
I am a Cossack grandfather
The other is a sechevik.
And by birth Georgians.

The main line here is the first. This is the nationality that the bastard Mayakovsky deliberately chose for himself - NERUSSIAN. Although in terms of language, biography, and culture (albeit rejected by him), he is, of course, a Russian person. It was simply unprofitable for him to be Russian since 1917, and even dangerous. And there were clues for straightening the papers. He straightened them, straightened them for 12 years, like he straightened everything.

And then he took it and shot himself. Following the open-minded Yesenin.