Andrei Bely (1880–1934) - prose writer, poet, critic, playwright, memoirist, literary critic, one of the outstanding theorists of symbolism. He survived difficult periods for the country: the revolution of 1905, the First World War, the October Revolution and the Civil War, which affected his life and work. He created unique works in the form of lyrical rhythmic prose.
The material was prepared jointly with a teacher of the highest category
Ilina Galina Sergeevna.
Experience as a teacher of Russian language and literature - 36 years.
Childhood
The poet's real name is Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev. He was born in Moscow on October 14 (26), 1880 in the family of a mathematician. From him the boy adopted a love for exact sciences. The father wanted his son to follow in his footsteps, but in the end he chose his own path.
The boy was capable, he studied at the Moscow private gymnasium of L. I. Polivanov, where his love for literature first manifested itself. The talented family of historians and philosophers, the Solovyovs, had a great influence on the young man. For a long time, his views and creativity developed under the sign of the teachings of the philosopher Vladimir Solovyov. The philosophy of F. Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, and his passion for Buddhism and the occult played the most important role in his search for a new worldview.
Andrei Bely graduated from the natural sciences department of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Moscow University, and later studied at the Faculty of History and Philology. However, mathematics, in his opinion, did not explain life, but only systematized it; he never worked in his specialty. He was fascinated by creativity.
Brief biography - Andrey Bely
Option 1
Bely Andrey is a pseudonym. Real name: Bugaev Boris Nikolaevich, poet.
Born on October 14 (26 NS) in Moscow in the family of a professor at Moscow University. Received an excellent home education. He studied at the gymnasium of the prominent teacher L. Polivanov, where his extraordinary humanitarian talents were revealed, manifested in his studies in literature and philosophy.
Among Russian classics, he especially appreciated N. Gogol and F. Dostoevsky. In 1903 he graduated from the natural sciences department of the Faculty of Mathematics of Moscow University. Along with studying the works of Charles Darwin and positivist philosophers, he was interested in theosophy and occultism, religious philosophy and poetry of Vl. Solovyov and the philosophical and poetic works of F. Nietzsche. At the same time, he “took religious issues seriously.”
He belonged to the symbolists of the “younger generation” (together with A. Blok, Vyacheslav Ivanov, S. Solovyov, Ellis). In 1904, the first collection of poems, “Gold in Azure,” was published, supplemented by a special section “Lyrical passages in prose.” A. Bely was one of the theorists of Russian symbolism of the “second wave”, the developer of a new aesthetic worldview.
Developing the thesis about music as the dominant form of art and the need to subordinate others to it, he tried to create a literary work according to musical laws: these are his four “symphonies” - “Northern” (1901), “Dramatic”, “Return” (1902), “ Cup of Blizzards” (1907), embodying the basic ideas of Russian religious, philosophical, theurgic symbolism. From the “symphonies” begins a direct line to the ornamental style of Bely’s first novel, “Silver Dove,” written a year later.
The revolution of 1905 - 07 forced A. Bely to turn to reality and aroused interest in social problems. In 1909, the collections “Ashes” and then “Urna” were published.
In 1912, together with his wife, the artist A. Turgeneva, he left for Europe, where he became interested in the mystical teachings of R. Steiner, the founder of anthroposophy. In 1914 he settled in the anthroposophical center in Switzerland, and together with other followers of Steiner he took part in the construction of St. John's Temple. Here the war finds him, and only in 1916 does he return to Russia.
During these years, prose works occupied the main place in his work. Among them, the most famous is the novel “Petersburg” (1913 - 14, second edition - 1922). A. Bely was not hostile to the October Revolution, although he did not become its singer. In the post-revolutionary years, he taught classes on the theory of poetry with young writers at Proletkult, and published the journal “Notes of Dreamers.”
In the 1920s, the stories “Kotik Letaev” (1922), “The Baptized Chinese” (1927), and the historical epic “Moscow” were written.
A. Bely devoted the last years of his life to writing extensive memoirs that are of extremely great interest for history and literary criticism (“At the turn of two centuries”, 1930, “The beginning of the century. Memoirs”, 1933, “Between two revolutions”, 1934). On January 8, 1934 he died in Moscow.
Option 2
Born and died in Moscow. Father is a mathematician, dean of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Moscow University, which the poet himself attended with the same enthusiasm as the philological one. Having become fascinated by Vladimir Solovyov, Nietzsche, Grieg, Wagner, he remained open to other, very often contradictory, pursuits throughout his life. He gets close to Blok, Balmont, Merezhkovsky, collaborates with the magazine “Vesy”. In Europe he is friends with anthroposophists - Rudolf Steiner, Christian Morgenstern.
Returning to Russia before the revolution, he joined the “Scythians” group, which included Blok. Perceives the revolution as a mystical renewal. However, in 1921 he emigrated to Berlin, then returned. The most prominent theorist and practitioner of symbolism. The author of the innovative novel “Petersburg”, translated into many languages, other prose books, collections of poetry, and the famous memoir trilogy.
Without the controversial, convulsive, inspired figure of Andrei Bely, it is impossible to imagine the atmosphere of the era that preceded the revolution. He called for it together with Blok as retribution, which the collapsing tsarist system deserved. I could hardly imagine on whose heads the ruins would fall.
He had an extraordinary gift for improvisation, but without foresight. In all his sometimes childish, naive impulses, whimsically combined with deep education, Andrei Bely was defenselessly sincere and somewhat reminiscent of the knight of the Sad Image in literature.
Writing activity
The first works he wrote were enthusiastically received by philosophers and symbolists, but rejected by literary critics. He created a new genre of “symphony” in literature - rhythmic prose. In 1902, “Symphony (2nd, dramatic)” was born. It caused rejection by the general public and critics, but delighted adherents of symbolism.
At this time, Bely wrote programmatic articles: “Forms of Art”, “On Theurgy”, “Symbolism as a World Understanding”. And then his first novel, “Silver Dove,” was published, revealing the theme of the relationship between the intelligentsia and the people.
The largest work of Andrei Bely, whose biography is closely connected with Russian symbolism, is the novel “Petersburg” (1911–1914), the most significant novel of this movement. He was destined to become great and have a great influence on Russian literature. In this work, the writer continues the traditions of Pushkin, Gogol, Dostoevsky in depicting St. Petersburg.
The city is embodied as a historical fate that haunts and destroys the heroes. The novel combines high pathos and comedy; the psychology of the characters is revealed through lyrical intonations and grotesquery. The writer uses sound writing and author's neologisms. And this was a prose narrative new to our literature.
The life and death of Sashko Bely
“Boys, tick!” - these were the last words of Alexander Muzychko (better known as Sashko Bely) before a machine gun burst was fired at his legs. Sashko and his guards rushed in all directions. One managed to hide, the other two were detained, they are now sitting in the Kiev special detention center of the SBU.
“One guard Sashko is 19, he is an orphan, the other is 20, he thought about them, not about himself, because with his experience and sports training, these seconds could save his life,” and now Sergei Pandrak, Sashko Bely’s best friend, is sure. Pandrak was one of the first at the crime scene near the Three Crucians cafe near the village of Barmaki and the only one not from the members of the operational investigation team and doctors who examined his corpse in the morgue. “As soon as the shots rang out, we immediately received a call; the assault detachment (“Right Sector,” which had been stationed in the People’s House for several months) rushed to Barmaki in several cars—four minutes were not enough for us. If there had been a war, they themselves would have died, and “Falcon”, who executed Sashko, would have killed every single one of them.
Colleagues in the Right Sector and deputies of the Rivne City Duma called the murder of Alexander Muzychko political, demanding the resignation of the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Arsen Avakov. According to their version, it was he who gave the order to destroy the hero of the Maidan and videos and YouTube, who publicly shook the district prosecutor by the chest, promising to put him on a chain like a dog if he did not start an investigation, and in response to the call of the new Kiev authorities to disarm, he laid out a machine gun, a pistol and a dagger with the words “go and get it if you can.”
“I am a military man myself and have seen a lot of things in my life, so there is no need to tell me that Sashko shot himself, otherwise the traces of gunpowder on his body would have been different.” They killed him - first they shot him in the legs, threw him down and handcuffed him, then they tore his T-shirt to make sure that he was not wearing armor, and shot him straight in the heart, from about two meters, and from his own pistol - Pandrak takes out the forensic medical examination report , where the cause of death is listed as a gunshot wound to the heart. - I talked to specialists - they confirmed all this. I don’t believe that Sashko shot at someone from the Sokol - we have video from surveillance cameras, from all four, he simply would not have had time to do it.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine called Muzychko’s death during detention a tragic accident, assuring that there was no order to eliminate him. In the Right Sector, immediately after Sashko’s funeral in neighboring Zhitomir, an emergency meeting was held, at which the stormtroopers were given photos of the Falcon fighters who participated in the elimination of Bely - the faces of two of them were captured in the cameras. A source in the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine says that Minister Avakov, whom they publicly swore revenge on after the death of Sashko, got scared and moved into an armored car. Avakov promised to make the investigation into Bely’s death as open as possible - after the Right Sector entered the Kiev Maidan and was ready to storm the Rada again. As a result, after negotiations, a representative of the Right Sector was included in the commission.
“If now they hand over the Sokol, as they handed over the Berkut before, I don’t know what will happen, but there’s nothing good to expect,” says an interlocutor at the Ministry of Internal Affairs. “The murder of Sashka was planned, but it became a political mistake that could be costly.
An interlocutor in the Right Sector is sure that if Muzychko had been taken alive, they would have taken him from any prison. “We would have gone for an assault, repulsed them, and would not have taken the casualties into account,” he explains.
— We have almost 9 thousand well-trained fighters who have gone through almost all the hot spots of recent years, we do not have permanent allies and enemies, but we have interests, we have money, we have weapons, we have informants in different structures, we generally have long hands - if necessary, we will get anyone out of the ground - Sergei Pandrak tells us about the philosophy of the members of the UNA-UNSO (Ukrainian National Assembly - Ukrainian People's Self-Defense), which at the end of March this year became part of the Right Sector. The organizers and ideological inspirers of UNA-UNSO in the Rivne region were Pandrak himself, already a grandfather three times, who owns a large construction business, and Sashko Bely.
“They killed like a creature”
- They killed Sashka, they killed him like a creature - why, one wonders, did they stand on the Maidan? So that the police, the prosecutor's office and the judges are honest, so that everything is fair, but what in return? A bullet in the heart without trial or investigation, - Mikhail, Sashko’s second cousin, sweeps the yard and shows us the way to the house of Bely’s parents.
Near the green meadow, to the right, instead of asphalt, there is impassable dirt. There are planks thrown at a small, well-kept house, and Muzychko’s old men are fussing about on the porch. They are going to the cemetery with a lot of provisions - in case one of their friends comes to visit and remember them Sashka.
Muzychko was buried in the youth cemetery, next to the three “heroes of the heavenly hundred” who died on the Kiev Maidan. The grave is strewn with fresh flowers and wreaths with the inscriptions “Heroes do not die” and “Sashko, we will not forget you!”
- Sashko was unhappy - he had neither a wife nor children, our family was generally unhappy - all our relatives died tragically. My sister died at the age of 33, I was left with two children, my son later died on the railway, I have been poor all my life because I was left without relatives, and now without a son. I’ll take some pills and kill myself,” says Sashko’s mother Elena Pavlovna, straightening her mourning ribbons.
Sashko’s father, Ivan Dmitrievich, is soon 80. He was the middle son in the family, with only six children.
— My father Dmitry Makarovich had a brother who fought in the UPA (Stepan Bandera’s Ukrainian Insurgent Army - Izvestia), for this in 1947 we were all deported to Mordovian camps, then to settlements in the Perm region. My father worked at the Volodarskaya mine, I worked at the Lenin mine for 10 years and 1 month, and now I receive an increased pension for harmful activities,” says Sashko’s father. “And then the woman started having health problems, and in 1967 we were allowed to return to Ukraine. Sashko was 5 years old then.
Muzychko received his nickname - Sashko Bely - as a child, because he was blond. Then it became his journalistic pseudonym and call sign in Chechnya, during the first campaign, where he first headed the personal security of Dzhokhar Dudayev, and then became a field commander.
“I didn’t drink, I didn’t smoke, I read books avidly, since childhood, I especially loved history, I could read a thick book in a night, I couldn’t put it down,” recalls Adam, Bily’s older brother. “He understood history better than teachers, argued with them, in general, it’s not surprising that he later went into politics - he was always interested in it.” Already at the funeral we learned that Sashko wanted to get a higher education - he had only completed his studies at our university for a year, although he didn’t tell us about this. And by profession he is a master plumber, he graduated from technical school, he had his own team, they worked well. He served in the Soviet army in Tbilisi, in the anti-aircraft missile forces, and said that hazing there was terrible. But he was not in Afghanistan, these are all fairy tales.
Sashko Bely lived in the same village of Barmaki as his parents. It took him more than 10 years to build his two-story house, and in order to build the roof, he sold his car.
— He had an old Mercedes, it was more than 20 years old, he repaired it constantly. There was a sign: the windshield wipers are squeaking, which means Sashko is driving, they say in the village.
There was no money for the house itself either.
“I took care of my mother for a long time, she was very sick, and when she died, we sold everything in Belarus, and gave Sasha money for a house so that he could have his own house. Money was always tight; if he had been a bandit and a racketeer, would they have kissed my hands at his coffin? Would they say thank you for your son, huh? - the mother cries.
According to Muzychko’s parents, Sashko often went on business trips. For six years he was the editor-in-chief of the nationalist newspaper “Our Right”. In the issue dedicated to the elections for 1998, Sashko, still young, in a suit and tie, is running for deputy to the regional council. In his biography, he writes that he joined the revolutionary struggle in 1990, when he “began illegally publishing newspapers, brochures and books of a national-patriotic nature.” He didn’t get into the Duma then.
“We met in 1988, at a meeting of the intelligentsia of Rivne, dedicated to the work of Taras Shevchenko,” recalls Pandrak. - Sashko had a badge of Ukraine, and then we didn’t sell symbols at all, he made it himself, we became friends and created the All-Ukrainian Association of Sovereign Independence of Ukraine (DSU) - after 9 months I already headed the Rivne branch of the DSU, and Sashko was responsible for security, - says Pandrak. “He was an ideological person; his father and mother explained to him from childhood what Ukraine was and how our grandfathers fought for its freedom.
Who's the power here?
The nationalist movement in Western Ukraine was only gaining momentum, sweeping away everything Soviet in its path. On January 1, 1990, Moskovskaya Street in Rivne was renamed Stepan Bandera Street. On August 22, 1991, the day after the State Emergency Committee, a monument to Lenin was demolished in the city. Then they dismantled the monument to intelligence officer Nikolai Kuznetsov and partisan Dmitry Medvedev, replacing it with the only stele in Ukraine to Semyon Petlyura. Pandrak personally supervised the demolition of the monuments and still remembers how much they were later sold to Russia for: “Lenin - for 1 million Soviet rubles, Kuznetsov - for 300 thousand, Medvedev - for 250 thousand.”
Faithful friend Sashko Muzychko was always there until he left for Chechnya.
According to Pandrak, he went to Chechnya as a journalist with a video camera and had no intention of staying there - but an incident changed everything.
“At the press conference of Dzhokhar Dudayev, an attempt was made on his life, the security did not have time to react in time, but Sashko managed to cover Dudayev with himself, and for this he invited him to stay and lead his security,” says Pandrak. — Sashko was awarded an order, he is the Hero of Ichkeria, there was a street in Grozny in his honor under Dudayev, and women called the boys Sashka.
However, the Investigative Committee of Russia believes that Muzychko went to Chechnya to earn money as a mercenary for $3 thousand a month and personally took part in the torture and execution of at least 20 captured Russian soldiers, for which he was put on the international wanted list this year. Muzychko was buried with the Order of Ichkeria “Honor of the Nation,” and camouflage with Ichkerian stripes, according to his friends, was his favorite clothing. Dmitry, a close acquaintance of Bely for the past 10 years, says that he has spoken with him more than once about Chechnya and does not believe in his involvement in the murders.
“He was a warrior, he respected the enemy - yes, he lured soldiers into traps, but, knowing him for many years, it’s hard for me to believe that he killed them himself; in any case, he always denied it,” says Dmitry. — When Ramzan Kadyrov promised Yarosh (Dmitry Yarosh, head of the Right Sector - Izvestia) a “one-way ticket,” Sashko was terribly upset.
The confrontation in Kyiv led to the fact that the Right Sector became the government in Rivne and the region, and Sashko Bely became the main negotiator. When the crowd on the local Maidan, which had not yet been dismantled, demanded that the Berkut commander kneel down, Bely did not allow it. “They were doing their duty, don’t go crazy,” he admonished the crowd, rattling his gun. When Yanukovych’s residence in Mezhyhirya was robbed, hotheads rushed with pitchforks to the dacha of the former governor Bertash, 50 km from Rivne. Sashko forestalled the destruction: he posted guards and declared on the Maidan that he would stop the looting personally and shoot for it.
In the Rivne region, not a single military unit was robbed and not a single administrative building was damaged (there were eight of these in Lviv); advertisements with a mobile phone were posted throughout the city, where to call in case of an emergency. The first call was to the Right Sector, and then to the police. The same “Right Sector” burned the motor pumps with the help of which “black diggers” mined amber in the Rivne region, paying the cops $1 thousand per night for “roof.” They carried out “book therapy” with the diggers - they whipped them with rods, explaining that it was not good to steal people’s property. They told us all this in Rivne, at the farewell to Alexander Muzychko, explaining why 22 priests were performing his funeral service in the central Intercession Cathedral and hundreds of people came to the drama theater to say goodbye to him.
Even the sensational video on the Internet, where Sashko shakes district prosecutor Andrei Targonsky by the breasts, is considered a necessary measure here.
“One prosecutor ran away, another was hiding in the country, and more than 200 people with bats and Molotov cocktails gathered at the prosecutor’s office building, promising to burn everything to hell,” says Alexander, who was present at those events. “The bastard who strangled a woman in the village was caught right on the spot, the cops couldn’t process him for three days because the prosecutor’s office didn’t want to do anything, so the people couldn’t stand it. Sashko then flared up, promising on camera to hang the prosecutor like a dog if the case was not opened.
The case was eventually opened, and Muzychko asked the prosecutor for forgiveness on his Facebook page. Prosecutor Targonsky did not want to talk about this topic. A criminal case was opened against Bely, which became the formal reason for his detention. Sashko had problems with the law before; according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, he was twice under investigation and was in jail. Sergei Pandrak assures that gangster articles were “stitched” to almost all UNA-UNSO activists, and this was revenge for political activity.
New vs old
However, not everyone liked the methods of the Right Sector and Sashko Bely. Member of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Gennady Moskal publicly accused Muzychko of racketeering, which he justified by “the needs of the revolution.” In particular, Moskal claimed, Sashko Bely demanded $100 thousand from the director of a large trading company, Salanbek Ushakov. In an interview with Izvestia, Ushakov stated that he neither knows Sashka nor anyone from the Right Sector and has never seen them.
“I’m a believer, so this: I swear to God, they didn’t come to me, and they wouldn’t have come - I’m a Chechen, and they don’t touch us,” says Ushakov.
According to Moskal, Muzychko and Co. took away two cars and a minibus. Taco declined to comment. They demanded $700 thousand from the ex-head of the Rivne city administration Vasily Karpenchuk - and the issue of his abuses of office will be forgotten. Karpenchuk, hearing Izvestia’s questions, hung up.
Deputy Lyudmila Bushko from the district council is not surprised by this reaction.
“People are afraid because they are being intimidated,” she explains. Bushko was in the Party of Regions, and now she is accused of organizing and financing anti-Maidan, and is now under investigation. “Not all of us were for the Maidan, we also went to the anti-Maidan, and now the Right Sector comes to them and demands confessions that I paid them for this. We came to a pregnant woman with three children - of course, she signed, she was scared, people with weapons. Another was pulled straight out of the minibus - she later called me and apologized for being mean because she had no choice.
Elena Chekun, deputy chairman of the Zarechensky District Council, recalls how Sashko Bely came to the Rada with a machine gun and guys from the Right Sector, demanding that the deputies of the Party of Regions leave the hall and repent, “because you have blood on your hands.”
“We asked for forgiveness for unknown reasons,” she said. — Personally, I apologized for the authorities that were in Kyiv and allowed all this disgrace. And then they tried to take away my party car to give it to a kindergarten, and at my husband’s building materials store they broke all the windows.
Adam, the brother of Alexander Muzychko, says that Sashka had a heightened sense of justice and an explosive temper, which is why he was killed.
- Yes, he could come to the plant and demand money - but why did he do it? Because people there weren’t paid for several months, he wasn’t trying for himself, he didn’t need anything,” explains the brother.
— If a person goes to power, as a prosecutor or a policeman, he must do his job, right? Or do they go there to line their pockets? If so, then we need to drive them out! Sashko thought so, I think so too,” says his father Ivan Dmitrievich.
On the Maidan in Rivne, next to the portraits of the heroes of the “Heavenly Hundred” who died in Kyiv, there now stands a portrait of Alexander Muzychko. Flyers with his photo and the caption “Heroes Don’t Die” are posted all over the city. On Sunday, the ninth day, at the site of his death, the Right Sector erected a memorial stone so that “not a single foot would pass where his blood was shed,” the party explains. Dmitry Yarosh, head of the Right Sector, has already stated that thousands of others will take Sashko’s place.
War years
Before the revolution of 1917, the writer lived mainly abroad, in Germany and Switzerland. Under the influence of anthroposophical views, he writes poems that will be included in his collection “Star”.
The First World War is perceived by Andrei Bely as a catastrophe expressing the crisis of Western culture. On the eve of the February revolution, he returns to Russia.
The October Revolution first gives him hope, and he plunges into literary life: he works in new Soviet institutions and gives lectures. It was in the years from 1918 to 1921 that the writer developed a vigorous literary activity, created the writing community “Wolfila” (Free Philosophical Association), and also published his works and actively worked with novice poets.
The time of activity bore fruit: Andrei Bely became the largest figure in Russian literature of his time. After the Civil War it began to be published, and then the poet went abroad to Germany. In 1923, the writer returned to Russia. But the communists, led by Trotsky (article “Literature and Revolution”) did not accept the writer’s work.
Biography of Andrei Bely by year
1880, October 14 (26 n.s.) - in Moscow, a son, Boris, was born into the family of a famous mathematician, Moscow State University professor Nikolai Vasilyevich Bugaev and his wife Alexandra Dmitrievna Bugaeva (nee Egorova).
1891, September - Boris Bugaev enters the Moscow private gymnasium of L. I. Polivanov.
1895, end of the year - meets Sergei Solovyov and his parents - Mikhail Sergeevich and Olga Mikhailovna Solovyov, and soon with Mikhail Sergeevich's brother - philosopher Vladimir Sergeevich Solovyov.
1897, January - writes a romantic fairy tale.
1899, September - Boris Bugaev becomes a student in the natural sciences department of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Moscow University.
1900, January–December – working on the “Northern Symphony” and a cycle of symbolist poems; spring - begins to seriously study the philosophical works and poetry of V. S. Solovyov.
1901, March–August – working on the “2nd Dramatic Symphony”; December - meets V. Ya. Bryusov, D. S. Merezhkovsky and Z. N. Gippius.
1902, April – “2nd Dramatic Symphony” is published; it became the first publication of Boris Bugaev, for the first time signed under the pseudonym Andrey Bely; April–August – Andrei Bely writes the “3rd Symphony”
1903, January – beginning of correspondence with Alexander Blok; January 16 - M. S. Solovyov died suddenly; on the same day, unable to bear the loss, O. M. Solovyov shot herself; February–April – Andrei Bely’s poetic debut in the almanac “Northern Flowers”; March - Bely meets K. D. Balmont, M. A. Voloshin, Yu. K. Baltrushaitis, S. A. Sokolov (owner of the Grif publishing house) and other symbolists, writes an “open letter” “A few words of a decadent addressed to liberals and conservatives"; May - receives a university diploma;
1904, January - Bely meets Alexander Blok and his wife Lyubov Dmitrievna; March – Bely’s first poetry collection “Gold in Azure” is published; April - Bely meets Vyacheslav Ivanov; summer - enters the Faculty of History and Philology of Moscow University, stays with A. Blok in Shakhmatovo; November – “Return” is published. III Symphony".
1905, January 9 - Bely comes to St. Petersburg to visit the Bloks and Merezhkovskys, witnesses Bloody Sunday and takes part in subsequent events and protests; February - upon returning to Moscow, he receives a challenge to a duel from Bryusov, which did not take place after the reconciliation of the poets; February–March – writes the article “Apocalypse in Russian Poetry”; June - comes to Shakhmatovo to see the Bloks, makes a written declaration of love to Lyubov Dmitrievna Blok;
1906, February 26 – L. D. Blok declares his love; autumn - submits a petition for expulsion from the university and goes on a trip to Europe.
1907, end of February - Andrei Bely returns to Moscow; August – Blok challenges Bely to a duel; but in a personal meeting the conflict is resolved.
1908, April – “Blizzard Cup” is published. Fourth Symphony"; summer - writes poetry for the collections “Ashes” and “Urna”.
1909, end of March - the book “Urna: Poems” is published; April - the beginning of an affair with Asya Turgeneva; August–September – Bely participates in the organization of the publishing house “Musaget”;
1910, January–March – lives in St. Petersburg in the apartment (“Tower”) of Vyacheslav Ivanov; April – “Symbolism: A Book of Articles” is published; May – a separate edition of “Silver Dove” is published; November - gives a lecture at the Religious and Philosophical Society on the topic “The Tragedy of Creativity in Dostoevsky”, renews his friendship with Blok, after the death of Leo Tolstoy writes the brochure “The Tragedy of Creativity. Dostoevsky and Tolstoy";
1911, March – “Arabesques: A Book of Articles” is published; April 22 – Bely returns to Russia; October – December – writes.
1912, January - editor of the magazine “Russian Thought” P. B. Struve refuses to publish the novel; March - Bely hands over the written chapters of the novel “Petersburg” to the publisher K.F. Nekrasov and leaves with Asya Turgeneva for Europe.
1913, March 11 - Andrei Bely and Asya Turgeneva return to Russia; May - in St. Petersburg, Bely meets Ivanov-Razumnik, communicates with Blok, Vyach. Ivanov, Merezhkovsky, Gippius, Berdyaev; travels with a group of Russian anthroposophists to Helsingfors (Helsinki), where R. Steiner lectures; October – chapters of the novel “Petersburg” begin to be published in the almanac “Sirin”.
1915, January–June - Bely writes the book “Rudolf Steiner and Goethe in the worldview of our time”; October – begins to write the novel “Kotik Letaev”.
1916, April – a separate edition of the novel “Petersburg” is published in Russia; August 18 – September 3 – in connection with conscription for military service, Bely returns to Russia (Asya Turgeneva remains in Dornach); September - receives a three-month deferment from military service; October – completes the novel “Kotik Letaev”.
1917, January - again receives a two-month deferment from military service; January - early March - alternately lives in Petrograd and Tsarskoe Selo with Ivanov-Razumnik, meets S. Yesenin, N. Klyuev, other “peasant poets”, as well as M. Prishvin, E. Zamyatin, O. Forsh, A. Chapygin, K. Petrov-Vodkin and others; February 28 - a revolution occurred in Petrograd; March 9 – Bely returns to Moscow; August – the almanac “Scythians” publishes chapters of the novel “Kotik Letaev”, the article “Aaron’s Rod” and a cycle of poems by Bely;
1918, January-September - works on the epic “I” (“Notes of an Eccentric”) and the cycle of philosophical and journalistic sketches “At the Pass”, writes the poem “Christ is Risen”; July - enters service in the first Moscow branch of the Unified State Archival Fund as an assistant archivist; August-December - lectures at the first Moscow Anthroposophical Society; September – publishes the book “At the Pass: I. The Crisis of Life”; October–December – serves in the Moscow Proletkult and in the Theater Department of the People's Commissariat for Education.
1919, January February 16 – participates in the organization of the Palace of Arts in Moscow, publishes “At the Pass: II. Crisis of Thought”, in Detskoye Selo, together with Blok and Ivanov-Razumnik and others, established the Free Philosophical Academy (hereinafter referred to as the association) - Volfila; April – the poem “Christ is Risen” is published; August - Bely leaves Proletkult, he is elected to the Presidium of the All-Russian Union of Poets; September - serves (until March 1920) in the Department for the Protection of Ancient Monuments.
1920, February 17 - July 9 - in Petrograd he works in the Free Philosophical Association (Wolfila), the chairman of whose council he was elected; publishes “At the Pass: III. Crisis of culture"; July - December - in Moscow, working on the books: “Leo Tolstoy and Culture”, “Crisis of Consciousness”, “The Crime of Nikolai Letaev” (“Baptized Chinese”).
1921, March 31 - arrives in Petrograd, which is under siege due to the Kronstadt rebellion; May 25 – last meeting with A. Blok at the Spartak Hotel (A. Blok dies on August 7); June 19–20 – writes the poem “First Date” in one breath; August 11 - Bely begins to write memoirs about Blok; August - October - alternately lives in Petrograd and Moscow, speaks in different audiences with lectures and memories of Blok; October - publishes the poem “First Date”, meets actor M. A. Chekhov; October 17 – a meeting was held at the All-Russian Writers Union dedicated to seeing off A. Bely abroad; October 20 – Bely leaves for Berlin;
1922, February March - begins to collaborate with the Berlin newspaper “Voice of Russia”, prepares for publication a shortened and revised edition of the novel “Petersburg”, speaks at a rally dedicated to organizing assistance to the starving population of Russia; April – final break with Asya Turgeneva, a collection of poems “Star” is published in Russia; May - Bely becomes close to Marina Tsvetaeva, begins working on a book of poems “After Separation”; June – a separate edition of the novel “Kotik Letaev” is published in Russia; November-December - Bely goes to Gorky in Saarow (near Berlin), writes a book of memoirs, “The Beginning of the Century.”
1923, February–March - Bely collaborates in the magazine “Conversation”, published in Berlin under the editorship of Gorky; October 26 – returns to Moscow.
1924, January - writes the play “Petersburg” - a dramatization of the novel of the same name; May 3–4 – reads the play “Petersburg” by M. A. Chekhov to the artists of the 2nd Moscow Art Theater; June–September – rests with K.N. Vasilyeva in Koktebel with Maximilian Voloshin; last meeting with Bryusov.
1925, March-September - Bely writes the novel “Moscow”; October - begins to read a course of lectures on anthroposophy and cultural history entitled “The History of the Formation of the Self-Conscious Soul” at M. A. Chekhov’s apartment; November 14 – premiere of the play “Petersburg” at the 2nd Moscow Art Theater; May–June – Bely alternately in Leningrad and Detskoye Selo near Ivanov-Razumnik; “The Moscow Eccentric” is published - the first part of the novel “Moscow”; November-December - Bely reworks the novel “Moscow” into a drama, communicates closely with V. E. Meyerhold.
1927, January 3 – speaks at a debate in defense of the production of “The Inspector General” at the Meyerhold Theater, later, based on his speech, writes the article “Gogol and Meyerhold”; November–December – writes the work “Rhythm as Dialectics” and articles on rhythm and metrics.
1928, March 17–26 – writes an autobiographical essay “Why I became a symbolist and why I did not stop being one at all phases of my ideological and artistic development”; April – publishes the first part of the novel “Petersburg”; July – the second part of the novel “Petersburg” is published.
1929, February–April – working on the first volume of his memoirs “At the turn of two centuries”; September–December – working on the novel “Masks”, the third part of the “Moscow” trilogy.
1930, January – memoirs “At the turn of two centuries” are published; June 1 – Bely completes the novel “Masks”; June–September – rests in the Crimea in Sudak, meets M. Voloshin for the last time in Koktebel; October–December – writes the second volume of his memoirs “The Beginning of the Century.”
1931, April 9 – moves with K.N. Vasilyeva for permanent residence in Detskoe Selo; July 18 – registers marriage with K.N. Vasilyeva (from now on – Bugaeva); August 31 - writes a letter to I.V. Stalin; September–December – working on a book about Gogol; December 30 – leaves for Moscow.
1932, January–April – working on the book “Gogol’s Mastery”; July 9–10 – donates part of his archive to the Literary Museum; September–December – writes the third volume of memoirs “Between Two Revolutions”; October 30 – speaks at the plenum of the Organizing Committee of Soviet Writers.
1933, January – the novel “Masks” is published; February 11 and 27 – “evenings” of Andrei Bely at the Polytechnic Museum; mid-May–July – Bely rests in Koktebel; November – the memoirs “The Beginning of the Century” with a devastating foreword by L. B. Kamenev are published; December 8 – due to deterioration in health, Bely is admitted to the hospital.
1934January 8 - Andrei Bely died from respiratory paralysis in the presence of his wife and doctors. His ashes were buried at the Novodevichy cemetery in Moscow.
Death
In the second half of the 20s, he and his wife settled in Kuchino, in the Moscow region. The play “Petersburg” was written here, based on the writer’s novel of the same name. Then the autobiographical novel “Moscow” appeared about the pre-revolutionary years in Russia. This was the creation of a new prose - organized rhythmically, using puns, inversions, and complex metaphors. He also worked on philosophical works that were not intended for publication in Russia, and wrote travel notes. In the last years of his life, Bely tried to reconcile himself with socialist reality, and this is how “Poem about Cotton” and “Energy” appeared. Andrei Bely’s last major work was the study “Gogol’s Mastery,” which laid the foundation for a new approach to the analysis of the text of a work of art. Andrei Bely died on January 8, 1934 in the arms of his wife. The cause of death was several strokes caused by ordinary sunstroke.
Subsequently, after many years, the work of Andrei Bely ceased to be perceived by critics as categorically as during his lifetime, and was recognized in wide circles of society and appreciated.
17 interesting facts from the life of Andrei Bely
Being a writer, a poet, and a talented connoisseur of literature in all areas, Andrei Bely worked in difficult times. He saw the First World War, the Bolshevik revolution, and the turmoil of the civil war that followed, and the famine of the late 20s. All his life he dreamed of doing literary work, despite the fact that he was gifted in various fields, and in the end he achieved what he wanted.
Interesting facts from the life of Andrei Bely
- The father of the future writer was a university dean, an educated and well-read man. He knew many prominent writers of the time, including Leo Tolstoy, who even visited his home, where young Andrei grew up.
- Andrei Bely's real name is Boris Bugaev. But all his life he signed with a pseudonym.
- The biography of Andrei Bely notes that, in his own words, the books of Nietzsche and Dostoevsky had the greatest influence on his life and work.
- In his youth, the writer was interested in the occult and was interested in the teachings of Buddhism.
- He graduated with honors from the prestigious Polivanov gymnasium.
- While studying at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics, Andrei Bely also had a talent for chemistry and biology. He also thoroughly studied the works of Charles Darwin.
- Fascinated by both prose and poetry, he made acquaintance with such poets as Bryusov, Merezhkovsky and his wife Zinaida Gippius.
- At one time, Andrei Bely’s closest people were the poet Alexander Blok and his wife. After a serious quarrel that put an end to their communication, Bely became so depressed that he left the country for six months.
- When the First World War began, the writer returned to Russia because he was called there. His wife, however, did not follow him, and so they were separated for many years. As a result, when Andrei Bely received permission to leave the country in 1921, it turned out that he and his wife no longer had anything in common, and they divorced.
- The political figure Leon Trotsky was very critical of Andrei Bely and his work, who called him “dead” in one of his publications, meaning his works and literary style.
- At one time, Andrei Bely was a participant in two “love triangles” with women and famous poets, Alexander Blok and Valery Bryusov.
- In total, the writer was married twice.
- He signed with a variety of pseudonyms - A. Alpha, Delta, Gamma, Bykov, as well as some others.
- Researchers of the biography of Andrei Bely notice the fact that contemporaries often mentioned his “crazy” look.
- Bely's work as a literary critic was highly appreciated by the Russian-American writer Vladimir Nabokov, author of the famous "Lolita".
- The Andrei Bely House Museum was opened in 2000 in the center of Moscow, on Arbat, in the very house in which he lived the first half of his life.
- The Andrei Bely Literary Prize became the first uncensored prize in the USSR.
Asya
In 1909, upon returning to Russia, the poet published two collections of poetry - “Ashes” and “Urna”. In the same year, Bely became close to Anna Alekseevna (Asya) Turgeneva, the niece of the famous Russian prose writer. The girl, being an artist by training, invited the blue-eyed symbolist to paint his portrait, and he agreed. This is how new love entered the life of Andrei Bely. Memories of L. Blok faded. All the poet’s thoughts were now occupied by the fragile, easy-going Asya, who despised conventions and was not afraid of condemning glances. Her image is easily discernible in Katya, the main character of the novel “Silver Dove.”
During this period, Bely seemed to be swinging on a fantastic swing. Together with Asya, they traveled half of Europe, traveled through North Africa and the Middle East, visited Egypt, celebrated Easter in Jerusalem, at the Holy Sepulcher. When visiting Russia on short visits, the poet experienced incredible spiritual uplift, worked a lot, gave lectures on prosody; sometimes he fell into deep despondency, complained about lack of money and thought about ending his literary activity. However, in 1910, the Musaget publishing house published two books of his critical and theoretical articles - “Symbolism” and “Arabesques”.
At the beginning of 1912, Asya went to Brussels to study engraving art, and Bely followed her. In May of the same year, they made a fateful acquaintance with Rudolf Steiner, the founder of anthroposophy and the anthroposophical movement. A meeting with the legendary occult philosopher turned the lives of Asya and Andrei upside down: on March 23, 1914, in Bern, Switzerland, they officially registered their marriage (the bride refused to get married and did not take her husband’s surname), and then joined the community headed by Steiner, settled in Dornach and took an active part in the construction of the anthroposophical temple of the Goetheanum.
