Andrey Bely (Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev). Curriculum Vitae

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

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

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

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

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

In 1901, Bugaev created “Symphony (2nd, dramatic)” in a unique genre of lyrical rhythmic prose. At the same time, Mikhail Solovyov suggested that the aspiring writer take the pseudonym “Andrei Bely”.

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

In 1901-1903, Andrei Bely first joined the circle of Moscow symbolists grouped around the publishing houses "Scorpion" (Bryusov, Balmont, Baltrushaitis), "Grif" (Krechetov and his wife Petrovskaya), then he met the organizers of St. Petersburg religious and philosophical meetings and publishers religious and philosophical magazine "New Way" by Merezhkovsky and Gippius. During this period, Andrei Bely’s articles “On Theurgy”, “Forms of Art”, “Symbolism as a World Understanding”, etc. appeared.

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

Since January 1904, the leading symbolist magazine “Scales” began to be published in Moscow, in which Bely published numerous articles, notes, and reviews.

In 1904, Andrei Bely’s first poetry collection, “Gold in Azure,” was published.

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

In Bely’s work of 1904-1905, the poetic image of Russia takes the place of the previous vaguely mystical ideal.

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

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

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

Andrei Bely spent October and November 1906 in Munich; on December 1, at the invitation of the Merezhkovskys, he went to Paris and remained there until March 1907.

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

In 1908-1909, Bely published two collections, “Ashes” and “Urna,” which reflected the poet’s “crisis” worldview.

Since 1909, Bely’s worldview has been marked by a transition from pessimism to the search for a “path of life”; this was facilitated by a rapprochement with the aspiring artist Anna Turgeneva (Asey), who became his de facto wife (the civil marriage was formalized in Bern (Switzerland) on March 23, 1914).

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

From December 1910 to April 1911, Bely and his wife traveled (Sicily - Tunisia - Egypt - Palestine), literary result which became two volumes of “Travel Notes”.

In the autumn of 1911, Bely, by prior agreement with the magazine "Russian Thought", began work on the novel "Petersburg".

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

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

In 1915, Andrei Bely’s study “Rudolf Steiner and Goethe in the worldview of our time” was published.

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

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

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

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

From March to September 1917, Bely lived in Moscow and near Moscow, worked on the article “Aaron’s Rod. (On the Word in Poetry)”, a poetry study “On the Rhythmic Gesture”, wrote a “poem about sound” “Glossalolia”.

Bely greeted the October Revolution with great enthusiasm, accepting it unconditionally. The ideas of this time were embodied in the cycle "At the Pass" ("I. Crisis of Life", 1918; "II. Crisis of Thought", 1918; "III. Crisis of Culture", 1918), the essay "Revolution and Culture" (1917), the poem "Christ is Risen" (1918), the collection of poems "Star" (1922).

In subsequent years, Bely participated in the construction of a new culture and worked in Soviet institutions. He was a lecturer, teacher, one of the organizers of the Free Philosophical Organization (VOLFILY), taught classes with young writers at Proletkult (1918-1919), took part in the work of the literary group "Scythians", and published the journal "Notes of a Dreamer".

The activities of the new government contributed to Bely's increasingly worsening conflict with reality; Since 1919, he has made a number of attempts to travel abroad.

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

After 1923, he lived continuously in Russia, where he created the novel duology "Moscow" ("Moscow Eccentric", "Moscow Under Attack", both 1926), the novel "Masks" (1932), and acts as a memoirist "Memories of Blok" (1922 23); trilogy "At the turn of two centuries" (1930), "Beginning of the century" (1933), "Between two revolutions" (published posthumously in 1935), writes theoretical and literary studies "Rhythm as dialectics and " Bronze Horseman"(1929) and "Gogol's Mastery" (1934).

Upon returning to his homeland, Bely made many hopeless attempts to find living contact with Soviet culture, but Bely’s “rejection”, which lasted during his lifetime, continued in his posthumous fate, which was reflected in the long underestimation of his work, which was overcome only in recent decades.

Andrei Bely (1880-1934) - Russian poet and writer, was one of the leading figures in Russian modernism and symbolism, and is also known for his work as a poet, memoirist and critic.

Childhood

Andrei Bely's real name is Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev. He was born on October 26, 1880 in Moscow.

His father, Nikolai Vasilyevich Bugaev, was a famous Russian philosopher and mathematician, corresponding member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg, emeritus professor and dean of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics at Moscow University.

Mother, Alexandra Dmitrievna (maiden name Egorova), was considered one of the first beauties in Moscow.

The future poet spent many years of his life (almost 26 years) in his parents’ house, which was located at the intersection of Denezhny Lane and Arbat. Now at this place in the very center of Moscow there is the only one in the world memorial museum, dedicated to Andrei Bely.

Among the representatives of the old Moscow professoriate, his father, Nikolai Bugaev, had very wide acquaintances, so Andrei’s childhood was spent in high atmosphere cultural and professorial Moscow. Was a frequent guest in the house great writer Lev Tolstoy.

A difficult relationship developed between the parents, which had a serious impact on the emerging character and psyche of the future poet. This was later expressed in the strangeness and conflicts of Andrei Bely with those around him.

Education

At the age of 11, Andrei entered the best Moscow private gymnasium of Polivanov L.I., where his most favorite hobbies were Eastern religion (occultism, Buddhism) and literature (the boy was especially interested in the works of Ibsen, Nietzsche and Dostoevsky). In his final years, the young man became very interested in poetry. Among poetic works, he gave special preference to the poets of France and the symbolists of Russia (Merezhkovsky, Bryusov and Balmont).

When the guy was 15 years old, he became close to the future Russian poet Sergei Solovyov, the son of a famous translator. Andrei became quite close to their family; here he became acquainted with the latest art in music, painting, and philosophy. It was in the Solovyovs’ house that his first poetic experiments were greeted with sympathy and his creative pseudonym, Andrei Bely, was invented.

In 1899, he graduated from the gymnasium and, at the insistence of his parents, passed the exams for admission to Moscow University. At the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics, he chose the natural sciences department, because from his early youth, despite his mystical and artistic moods, Andrei strove for the exact sciences.

At the university, he intensively studied Darwin's theory and invertebrate zoology, and paid a lot of attention to chemistry. At the same time, he did not miss a single issue of the monthly illustrated art magazine “World of Art,” in which he studied the latest works of Russian symbolists.

In 1903, Bely graduated from the university with honors.

In 1904, at the same Moscow University, Andrei became a student at the Faculty of History and Philology. He chose the famous Russian logician, translator and philosopher Boris Aleksandrovich Fokht as his leader. However, a year later, Bely stopped going to classes, and in 1906 he wrote to the dean’s office asking for his expulsion from the university. He decided to devote himself entirely to literary activity.

Literary activity

In the winter of 1901, Bely met experienced symbolists Bryusov, Gippius and Merezhkovsky. And already in 1903, a circle of young symbolists began to form around him, which consisted mainly of university students. The circle was given the name “Argonauts”, and Andrei became its ideological inspirer and undoubted leader.

In 1903, Andrei began corresponding with the poet Alexander Blok, and a year later they met in person. This acquaintance in the future resulted in many years of painful enmity and friendship.

In January 1904, the monthly scientific and literary magazine “Vesy” began to be published in Moscow. Andrei Bely worked closely with the publishing house.

The Argonauts circle held its meetings in the apartment of the famous Russian public figure and lawyer Pavel Ivanovich Astrov. At one of the meetings, a decision was made to publish a literary and philosophical collection. In 1906, the first two books of this collection were published, which were given the name “Free Conscience.”

In 1909, Bely worked at the Moscow publishing house "Musaget", he was one of its founders, here the poet was engaged in translations and also published his poems.

In 1911, Andrei went to travel to the Middle East and North Africa. Impressions from this trip are reflected in “Travel Notes”.

Returning to Russia in 1912, Bely worked briefly as an editor in the journal Works and Days. Then he went abroad again, where in Berlin he met Rudolf Steiner, the Austrian founder of the religious-mystical teaching of anthroposophy. Andrei plunged headlong into this teaching and became a student of Steiner.

During this period, three volumes of his theoretical and critical articles were published:

"Symbolism";
"Green meadow";
"Arabesque".

Bely began to move away a little from the poetry of symbolism; more and more prose works appeared in his work, for example, the novels “Silver Dove” and “Petersburg”, as well as the autobiographical story “Kitten Letaev”.

From 1914 to 1916, Andrei lived in Switzerland, where he took part in the construction of the Goetheanum temple. At the end of 1916, Bely was summoned to Russia to check his attitude towards military service. His wife Asya did not go with Andrei; she remained in Switzerland, deciding to devote herself entirely to Steiner’s cause and the construction of the temple.

First World War Bely considered it a universal human disaster, and he perceived the revolution in Russia of 1917 as a possible way out of the global dead-end catastrophe. These ideas were embodied in his works:

a cycle of essays “At the Passage”, consisting of three parts “Crisis of Life”, “Crisis of Thought” and “Crisis of Culture”;
essay “Revolution and Culture”;
poem "Christ is Risen";
poetry collections “The Queen and the Knights” and “The Star”.

Along with creativity, Andrei was engaged in teaching activities. For young proletarian writers and poets in the proletkult in Moscow, he gave lectures on the theory of prose and poetry.

From 1921 to 1923, Bely again spent abroad, but after a complete break in marital relations with his wife, he returned to Russia, where a particularly fruitful period of his work began, mainly now he wrote prose:

dulogy of novels “Moscow” (“Moscow eccentric” and “Moscow under attack”);
novel "Masks";
memoirs “Memories of Blok”;
trilogy “At the turn of two centuries”, “Beginning of the century”, “Between two revolutions”.

A significant contribution to literary science was research papers Bely "The Mastery of Gogol", "Rhythm as Dialectics and "The Bronze Horseman".

Personal life

Having met and become close to the poet Alexander Blok, Andrei Bely began to court his wife Lyubov Mendeleeva, and later they became lovers. In this dramatic love triangle, all three suffered for almost four years, until the final break occurred, reflected in Blok’s play “Balaganchik.” The poet Andrei Bely went abroad and poured out his suffering in the poetry collections “Ashes” and “Urna”.

Almost at the same time, Bely was in another love triangle - with his fellow Symbolist poet Valery Bryusov and his wife, poetess Nina Petrovskaya. This romance between Andrei and Nina began quite innocently, but soon Petrovskaya fell in love with Bely so much that her feelings reached the point of mystical worship of him. Andrey decided to break off this relationship, he had enough love story with Mendeleeva Lyuba, Blok’s wife, but Petrovskaya began to literally pursue him. It got to the point that Nina attempted to kill her lover. During a break in the lecture that Andrei was giving at the Polytechnic Institute, she approached and shot him at point-blank range. Fortunately, the Browning misfired. This whole collision was later reflected in Bryusov’s novel “Fire Angel”.

In 1909, Bely met the artist, the niece of the great Russian writer Ivan Turgenev. The girl's name was Anna (close people called her Asya), they became close and began to live in a civil marriage. She shared years of travel with him as he traveled through Egypt, Palestine, Tunisia and Sicily from 1910 to 1912. In the spring of 1914, Andrei officially married Asa; their wedding took place in Bern.

In 1916, he left for Russia alone; Asya did not follow him, remaining in Dornach. Five years later, he returned to his wife, but after explanations it became clear that further cohabitation was no longer possible.

After wandering abroad for a couple of years, Bely returned to Moscow. Married life with Anna Turgeneva was a thing of the past, but another woman appeared in his destiny. Vasilyeva Klavdiya Nikolaevna became the poet’s last lover. In 1925, at the invitation of their friends, they left for Kuchino, where they settled at the dacha of their acquaintances. As Andrei Bely later said, this estate became for him like Yasnaya Polyana for Leo Tolstoy or like Yalta for Anton Chekhov. Here he was finally able to immerse himself in creativity. In 1931, Claudia and Andrei legalized their relationship.

Klavdiya Nikolaevna did last years Bely's life was happy, she was quiet and very caring, she surrounded him with her attention, and in response he affectionately called her Klodya.

On January 8, 1934, Andrei had a stroke, he died in the arms of his wife, and he was buried in Moscow at the Novodevichy Cemetery.

Real name and surname - Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev.

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

At the age of 15, he met the family of his brother Vl.S. Solovyova - M.S. Solovyov, his wife, artist O.M. Solovyova, and son, future poet S.M. Soloviev. Their house became a second family for A. Bely, here his first literary experiments were sympathetically met, they came up with a pseudonym, and introduced him to the latest art and philosophy (A. Schopenhauer, F. Nietzsche, Vl.S. Solovyov). In 1891-1899 Bely studied at the Moscow private gymnasium L.I. Polivanova. In 1903 He graduated from the natural sciences department of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Moscow University. In 1904 entered the Faculty of History and Philology, however in 1906 submitted a request for dismissal.

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

In 1901-1903. was part of the Moscow Symbolists grouping around the Scorpion publishing house (V. Bryusov, K. Balmont, Y. Baltrushaitis) and Grif; then he met the organizers of the St. Petersburg Religious and Philosophical Meetings and the publishers of the magazine “New Way” D.S. Merezhkovsky, Z.N. Gippius. Since January 1903 began correspondence with A. Blok (personal acquaintance took place 1904.), with whom he was connected by years of “friendship and enmity.” Autumn 1903 Andrei Bely became one of the organizers and ideological inspirers of the “Argonauts” circle (Ellis, S.M. Solovyov, A.S. Petrovsky, E.K. Medtner, etc.), which professed the ideas of symbolism as religious creativity (“theurgin”), the equality of “texts of life” and “texts of art”, love-mystery as the path to the eschatological transformation of the world. “Argonautic” motifs developed in Bely’s articles of this period, published in the magazines “World of Art”, “Scales”, “Golden Fleece”, as well as in the collection of poems “Gold in Azure” ( 1904 ).

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

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

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

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

Andrei Bely (1880–1934) - Russian writer, poet, prose writer, publicist, critic, memoirist. He was not immediately recognized by critics and readers and was called an “obscene clown” for his peculiar humor, but he would later be recognized as one of the most extraordinary and influential symbolists of the Silver Age. Let's take a look at the most interesting facts from the life of Andrei Bely.

The real name of the writer is Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev. The pseudonym “Andrey Bely” was suggested by his teacher and mentor M.S. Solovyov. White color symbolizes purity, height of thoughts and tranquility. B. Bugaev also used other pseudonyms: A., Alpha, Bykov, V., Gamma, Delta and others.
The future writer was born into the family of a professor at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics at Moscow University and the first Moscow beauty. The relationship between the boy’s parents was complex and largely influenced the formation of his personality, as each tried to instill in his son his own values: his father was interested in science, his mother was a love of art and music.
2
Bely had an extraordinary appearance, many considered him handsome, but Andrei’s gaze was more than once described as “crazy.” Contemporaries highlighted not only the writer’s unusual appearance, but also his habits.
3
As a teenager, Andrei met the Solovyov family, which subsequently greatly influenced the career of the future writer. At the suggestion of the Solovyovs, he begins to become interested in literature, the latest art, and philosophy. Thanks to M.S. Solovyov, Bely's work was published.
4
Bely was a diligent student and loved to study. Andrey had excellent mathematics abilities; was successful in both exact and humanitarian disciplines, which allowed him to graduate with honors from the famous gymnasium named after L.I. Polivanova.
In 1903, at the insistence of his father, the future writer completed his studies at the natural sciences department of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics at Moscow University, and in 1904 he entered the historical and philological department, where he dropped out of his studies due to going abroad.
In 1901, Bely released his first literary work in the genre of "symphonies" (second dramatic symphony). The unusual creation caused bewilderment and criticism among readers, but fellow symbolists were able to appreciate it.
7
Bely initiated an acquaintance with Alexander Blok. The writers shared their experiences for a long time and soon became very close. However, later both friends become involved in a “love triangle” and as a result they go their separate ways. Bely called his almost twenty-year relationship with Blok “friendship and enmity.”
For several years Andrei was in love with A. Blok’s wife Lyubov Mendeleeva. Their romance lasted 2 years. Blok was a lover of establishments; because of his wife, she suffered and found solace in Bely’s company. Blok knew about these relationships, but did not show much interest in them. Ultimately, Mendeleeva broke off relations with Bely, which dealt him a severe blow. Later, the writer would dedicate many of his works to Lyuba.
A break with his lover almost drove the writer to suicide. However, on the morning when he was about to take his own life, an invitation to see him from Mendeleeva instilled a glimmer of hope in his broken heart.
The writer was married twice. His first wife was Anna Alekseevna (Asya) Turgeneva. The union was not happy for long, and in 1918 the couple separated. Claudia Nikolaevna Vasilyeva became Bely’s second wife. The couple developed a friendly and trusting relationship.
11
Lived in Europe for many years, worked for the Gorky magazine “Conversation” in Berlin, and also worked on his works.
12
In 1912, Andrei met Rudolf Steiner and subsequently lived for 4 years at his residence in Switzerland with his wife Asya. There he took part in the construction of the temple under the leadership of Steiner, which was carried out by non-professional builders.
13
Andrei Bely died at the age of 54 from a stroke and was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery in Moscow.
The apartment on Arbat, where the writer lived until he was 26, now houses a memorial museum, dedicated to the life and work of Andrei Bely. Museum address: Moscow, st. Arbat 55.

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(real name - Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev)

(1880-1934) Russian prose writer, poet, critic, literary critic

The future famous symbolist was born into the family of Professor N. Bugaev, a famous mathematician, author of the original theory of evolutionary monatodology and chairman of the Moscow Mathematical Society. Bugaev's childhood years were spent in the everyday and intellectual atmosphere of professorial Moscow. She influenced not only his mental development, but also his subconscious. Later, in his novels and memoirs, he will create images of celebrities who were in the house in the form of caryatids, holders of a special system of the universe. Probably, thanks to his irrepressible energy, the father will receive in this hierarchy the honorary nickname of Hephaestus, the god of fire, mobile and changeable.

Mother cared only for herself and led a secular lifestyle. Her beauty is evidenced by the image of the young woman in the painting “Boyar Wedding” by K. Makovsky, for which she posed.

Each of the parents dreamed of making a future genius out of the boy: the father saw in him a successor of the work, the mother dreamed of all-round development, taught music and literacy. Bugaev later recalled that he was afraid to upset his mother with his misunderstanding and that made him even more stupid.

For the purpose of self-defense, he went into his inner world, which was largely influenced by the works of Main Reed and Jules Verne. Later, children's fantasies and fears (Bugaev was often sick) would also become the content of his books. After all, he began to notice many things early. Duality will become his usual state, over time he will even give up his name.

Bugaev enters the private gymnasium of L. Polivanov. Many Russian figures passed through the hands of this teacher, an expert in Russian literature, the author of an original educational methodology; V. Bryusov studied there from symbolist circles close to Bugaev.

Childhood ends, the time comes to read Baudelaire, Verlaine, White, Hauptmann, Ibsen. The first attempts at writing date back to the autumn of 1895. As a poet, Bugaev was formed under the influence of French decadents and Russian philosophy.

In 1896, he met the family of M. Solovyov, brother of the philosopher V. Solovyov. They settled in the same house on the corner of Arbat and Denezhny Lane where the Bugaevs lived. Seryozha Solovyov becomes a friend and friend of the poet, and Solovyov’s wife introduces him to the works of the Impressionists and Vrubel. Bugaev is interested in the music of Grieg, Wagner, and Rimsky-Korsakov.

Soloviev came up with a pseudonym for the aspiring writer - Andrei Bely. After all, out of respect for his father, Bugaev does not dare to publish under his own name and signs “natural science student.” At that time he was studying at the natural sciences department of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Moscow University.

True, Andrei Bely also performed under other pseudonyms; at least twelve of them are known, among them Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Kunktator, Leonid Ledyanoy. Such scatteredness testified to the poet’s unstable state; he was still in the process of self-search.

Constancy was not a feature of White. He even composed his poems on the run, in the process of moving and moving. Andrei Bely did not perceive any text as final: when releasing reissues, he sometimes changed the text so much that it presented variations on the same theme. So, the poems from the collection “Ashes” were rewritten by him three times, for publications in 1923 and 1929. The last version was prepared for the collection “Calls of Time,” but it was not published due to the death of the poet.

The novel “Petersburg” exists in four editions, and in the first of them the rhythmic structure was determined by the amphibrachium, and in the second by the anapest. Such a structure required explanation. Not a single publisher accepted the novel “Masks” (1932) in poetic form. Therefore, Bely had to give prefaces to his works, provide them with diagrams and drawings, and conduct special seminars on metrics.

Bely's first works have mostly not survived; excerpts from others were later published in Northern Flowers and Golden Fleece.

Andrei Bely always dreamed of harmonizing exact sciences and music. He did not work in his specialty, but in his articles and theoretical and philosophical studies he even used mathematical calculations to construct his theories.

The philosophy of V. Solovyov and F. Nietzsche becomes a support for Bely. He openly states that he relied on their conclusions to construct his own system of views related to the mystical transformation of existence and knowledge of the mystery of existence.

The beginning of the 20th century was marked by Bely’s work on the “Symphonies”. They represent a new form, lyrical rhythmic prose, where various storylines flow together according to the laws of musical composition in the form of separate leitmotifs.

As the author wrote, it was important for him to convey the spiritual consonance of the surrounding world in all its sides, parts and manifestations. But he is still developing his own style; bookish impressions are still strong in the first symphony. The “Third Symphony” is interesting for its prophetic pathos.

Andrei Bely constantly expanded his circle of literary acquaintances, he learned a lot from V. Bryusov, and Merezhkovsky-Gippius’s entourage had a certain influence on the poet. He published the articles “Forms of Art” (1902) and “Symbolism as a World Understanding” (1904) that were significant for creativity in their religious and philosophical journal “New Way”.

Bely believed that he was an adept of a new art, true symbolism. His views were shared by like-minded people, mainly students of Moscow University, who called themselves Argonauts.

After meeting with A. Blok in 1903, it became clear to them that both poets were developing in the same direction. True, Andrei Bely himself admitted that at that time he was inferior to Blok in literary skill. The relationship of friendship and enmity will be reflected in the correspondence, which is an invaluable monument to the history of the development of symbolism as a literary movement.

The year 1904 brought disappointments, Andrei Bely left the Argonaut circle and started a controversy with Bryusov. The subject of the attacks was that Bryusov became a friend for the lover abandoned by Andrei Bely. In his relationship with N. Piotrovskaya, Bely hoped to find astral love, but they developed into a trivial romance. Then he breaks up with her. Both poets reflect their impressions in poetry; Bryusov makes Bely the hero of his novel “Fire Angel.”

A new streak of creativity begins with collaboration in the leading symbolist magazine “Scales”, where Bely publishes his articles, notes, and reviews. Gradually he becomes a leading theorist of symbolism.

For some time (in 1906-1909), Andrei Bely believed that he was in love with Blok’s wife L. Mendeleeva. But rather, he paid tribute to the general sentiments, because many believed that Mendeleeva would become the earthly personification of the Eternal Femininity, substantiated by V. Solovyov and realized by Blok in poetry. Later, Bely reflected his experiences, inspired by unrequited love and disappointments in his youthful dreams, in the collection “Urna” (1909), the story “The Bush”, in the image of the angel Peri in the novel “Petersburg” (1916), as well as in his memoirs.

Andrei Bely was one of those people who were easily influenced by others and were carried away by many things at the same time. He easily changed his tone in his relationships with others, moving from friendship to hatred and vice versa. It is known that Bely repeatedly provoked others into duels, but they were not allowed by his loved ones.

Bely's literary life ran parallel to his university studies. Having graduated from the natural sciences department in 1903 with a first-degree diploma, in the fall of 1905 Andrei Bely entered the historical and philosophical department. But he soon leaves him without finishing. Now he completely focuses on literary creativity.

Shklovsky believed that from Bely’s “Symphonies” a new prose emerged, no longer associated with a traditional plot, but with the splitting of the narrative whole, where individual components have meaning, but not the whole. Of course, his followers also used the brilliant semantic game that Bely started in almost every one of his works. One of the critics noted that the poet’s fractional world was, as it were, captured by the faceted vision of insects.

Bely's revolutionary sentiments were probably reflected in a change in the plot orientation of his works. In 1904-1908 he created a book of poems “Ashes”, where he shows his attitude to the theme of his homeland. It is curious that again Bely and Blok think alike; they turn to the traditions of N. Nekrasov, thinking about where Russia will go.

Andrey Bely writes:

The vast army stretched out:

In the spaces of the mystery of space.

Russia, where should I run?

From hunger, pestilence and drunkenness? ("Rus").

Some critics believe that although Bely is pessimistic and does not see the future, in terms of artistic mastery - rhythmic diversity, verbal ingenuity, sound richness - he surpasses Blok, who clearly outlined the possible revival of Russia.

In the novel “Silver Dove” (1910), Andrei Bely continues the historical and philosophical line of contrasting East and West. He follows the traditions of Gogol, ethnographically accurately depicting scenes of witchcraft and erotic-mystical passions.

Formally, the plot is subordinated to the story of the hero Daryalsky, who falls into the hands of sectarian pigeons. In fact, Bely endlessly varies the themes and motifs of the work, achieving division of the novel into separate components. The language of the work is rhythmic, like Gogol’s early stories; in places it is indistinct and melodious. This is how Andrei Bely reflected the confused state of his heroes.

Later it became clear that he opened the neo-Gogol era in Russian prose, becoming the creator of a new literary form - musical-rhythmic prose.

In the 10s, Asya Turgeneva entered Bely’s life. She perceived their relationship primarily as friendly, but Bely believed in more, so the trips they made together later included in his novels as memories that were significant to him.

Beginning in 1912, the poet traveled around Europe, during his travels he met anthroposophists and their teacher Steiner. In 1915-1916 in Dornach, Bely took part in the construction of St. John's Church. He returned to Russia in 1916 due to military conscription. Asya remains in Europe.

The pre-revolutionary decade was marked by the release of Bely’s best work, the novel “Petersburg,” in which he characterized the collapse of the consciousness of his hero, the intellectual N. Ableukhov. The leading motives are the theme of the city of Peter as the personification of a powerful destructive force and the problem of the revolutionary whirlwind that burst into Russia.

The story of a Russian intellectual in troubled times, as stated by Andrei Bely, is a kind of generalization of the ideological searches that Pushkin, Gogol, Dostoevsky, and Tolstoy led in their time. In turn, with his riddles, hidden references, allusions and reminiscences, Bely influenced representatives of Russian ornamentalism, and fascinated E. Zamyatin, B. Pilnyak, V. Nabokov with his searches.

Around the mid-1990s, Bely consistently created a personal biography; he intended to call it the epic “My Life.” In the preface to the story “Kotik Letaev”, published in 1922, Andrei Bely calls himself a psychologist-paleontologist. He even remembers the shape of the clouds that floated by. different years above his father's estate "Silver Well". Therefore, he openly declares that his memory captures the smallest life impressions. They become the content of the book, starting with intrauterine memories. In the story “The Baptized Chinese,” the second part of the epic, the poet will talk about a more mature period of life.

“Notes of an Eccentric” (1922) becomes a kind of continuation of the epic; the writer formulates his task as follows: the purpose of this diary is “to tear off the mask from oneself as a writer; and tell about yourself, a man who was once forever shocked. . . My life gradually became writing material for me.”

Returning to Moscow, Andrei Bely became a messenger of a new culture. She was revolutionary in spirit, but not in social aspirations. In his lectures and articles (“Revolution and Culture”), Bely calls for a rebellion against forms. He writes a lot, although the instability of everyday life led to illness. But still, the poet finds the strength to publish what he had previously written.

Having recovered from his illness, he goes abroad for two years. In Berlin, a decisive explanation and a final break with Asya Turgeneva takes place. Steiner avoids a meeting with Bely, who calls himself Russia's ambassador for anthroposophy, and their relationship also comes to an end. At the same time, the Berlin two-year period became a record time for Bely in the publication of his works: seven reprints and nine new publications were published.

The writer latently conceived a plan for memoirs, which were partially lost during the move, but were restored in the early thirties. The idea of “Memories of Blok” was realized in 1922-1923.

Another direction of creativity is associated with the creation of the novel “Moscow”. It was released in two parts - “Moscow eccentric” and “Moscow under attack.”

The last decade turned out to be the most dramatic for Bely. His companion, K. Vasilyeva (Bugaeva), was arrested along with other figures of the anthroposophical movement. The poet writes a pathetic appeal addressed to I. Stalin. Claudia returns home.

She was not only a friend, but also Bely’s personal secretary. Perhaps that is why he managed to create a grandiose work - the memoir trilogy “At the Turn of the Century” (1931), “The Beginning of the Century” (1933), “Between Two Revolutions”, in which he recreated the time that was later called the “Silver Age”.

Bely again manages to demonstrate stylistic innovation; he conducts a lively conversation with the reader, recording interesting details of the life of that time. Of course, some characteristics seem grotesque, the characters are depicted in satirical colors. Andrei Bely is trying to find agreement with the authorities of that time, but is still assessed negatively in the press. True, L. Trotsky’s devastating article noted the poet’s amazing gift for constructing his own Universe.

In parallel, starting from the end of 1928, Bely returned to his works on the rhythm of Russian verse (“Rhythm as Dialectics” and “The Bronze Horseman”, 1929), and completed his reflections on Gogol’s prose (“Gogol’s Mastery”, 1934).

Bely's death was unexpected; he died of a brain spasm after sunstroke. Probably the brain disease was not recognized in time.