Vadim Delaunay leads his family tree from the inhabitants of France. His distant ancestor, Pierre Delaunay, who served as a military doctor in the corps of Napoleon’s ally Marshal Davout, remained in Russia after the end of the Patriotic War of 1912. The famous nun - Mother Mary, a former poet and artist of the Silver Age - Kuzmina-Karavaeva - is also a relative of Vadim.
short biography
The biography of Vadim Delaunay begins on December 22, 1947. He was born in Moscow, in a family that has deep roots in science. His father, Nikolai Delone, was a physicist, doctor of physical and mathematical sciences, and his grandfather, Boris Delone, was a corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, a renowned mathematician. Vadim's great-grandfather - Nikolai Delone - was also a famous Russian mathematician. Sergey Sharov-Delaunay, who is a cousin of Vadim, was a prominent artist, restaurateur and social activist.
Vadim Delaunay began his studies at a secondary school in Kadashi, then continued at a special mathematical school, where he left without completing his studies. He subsequently received a secondary education diploma after graduating from an external evening school.
In 1965 he entered the Moscow Pedagogical Institute named after Lenin. He studied there at the philological department. There he began to seriously get involved in writing poetry. Poetry turns for him into a matter of life.
Since 1966, he worked as a freelance employee of the Literary Newspaper. However, making sure that it is impossible to legally engage in free creativity, Vadim draws close to young Moscow dissidents.
The beginning of dissent
Usually the question "Who is the dissident?" it should be clarified that this is a person whose sociopolitical views differ significantly from those in power in the country where he lives. As a rule, this leads to conflicts of such a person with the authorities, harassment, repression, persecution, which is carried out by the official authorities.
From the memoirs of Vadim it follows that in 1966 he was invited to the KGB of the USSR and offered to go to Paris. There he was to collect information and write a book about the mother of Mary. In it, he was to attribute to her sympathy for the ideology of the Soviet Union. Delone refused this offer.
In 1966, together with the poet Gubanov, Vadim decided to form a union of young poets and prose writers. The abbreviation for him was invented - SMOG (according to one version - this is Strength, Thought, Image, Depth, according to another - The Youngest Society of Geniuses).
In the same year, Vadim Delone sent a letter to the ideological department of the CPSU Central Committee. It set out the requirements for the legalization of his brainchild - SMOG. This message also led to the fact that in the same year he was expelled from the Komsomol organization, as well as from the institute.
In December 1966 he was placed in a psychiatric ward of the hospital for three weeks. This was justified by the fact that only an abnormal person could publicly read poetry and create illegal organizations.
First arrest
At the end of January 1967, Vadim Delone on Pushkin Square in Moscow took part in an action in defense of the dissidents Y. Ginzburg, V. Galanovsky, A. Dobrovolsky, V. Dashkova, A. Ginzburg. Its participants also protested against article 70 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR, which prescribed punishment for violating public order and defamation.
For participation in this action Vadim Delone was arrested. He was placed in jail of Lefortovo prison. According to the results of the trial, a suspended sentence was passed, after which he was released from custody.
Moving to Novosibirsk
In the fall of 1967, Vadim Deloni went to the city of Novosibirsk. There, due to the fact that he was helped by a friend of his grandfather, Academician A. Alexandrov, he was accepted to Novosibirsk State University. He studied there at the faculty of linguistics. But he did not show any desire for knowledge, he continued to communicate with dissidents of the USSR. About that time, Vadim said that the most striking event of the students was the concert of A. Galich, after which he composed a vivid poem dedicated to the singer (“We are swamped by our worries ...”).
Vadim's activities did not go unnoticed. The newspaper "Evening Novosibirsk" published an article in which Delaunay was declared an anti-Soviet. This was the reason for his departure in 1968 from the university.
Return to Moscow, "Demonstration of the Seven"
After Vadim Delone dropped out of school, he returned to Moscow, where he continued his dissident activities.
So, on August 25, 1968, he took part in the so-called Demonstration of Seven. It was organized by a group of 8 people on Red Square in Moscow. Its purpose is to protest against the introduction of Soviet troops into Czechoslovakia to curb political unrest, later called the Prague Spring.
The action was sedentary and took place at the "Frontal Place" on Red Square. It was conducted by 8 people: K. Babitsky; T. Baeva; L. Bogoraz; N. Gorbanevskaya; B. Delone; B. Dremlyuga; P. Litvinov; V. Fainberg. They launched slogans in which they demanded to condemn the invasion of troops and provide freedom to the arrested leaders of Czech protests. However, the event did not last long, in a few minutes its participants were arrested and taken to the police unit. Subsequently, human rights defenders claimed that this action, widely known as the "Demonstration of Seven," was the most significant at that time.
In early October 1968, Vadim Delaunay was sentenced to 2 years and 10 months in prison camp for participating in a protest on Red Square. The court pleaded not guilty.
In 2008, all demonstrators were awarded leadership in the Czech Republic.
Life in Prisons
After a short stay in a transit prison on Krasnaya Presnya, the activist was sent to the ITU-2 criminal camp (“Tyumen 32”). At the place of serving the sentence, Vadim Delaunay developed quite friendly relations with criminal elements. The “king of the zone,” A. Nightingale, provided patronage to Vadim. Subsequently, in 1972, Delaunay personally arrived to meet in Tyumen Nightingale, released.
While in prison, Vadim did not stop his “social activities”. So, at a concert in 1969 dedicated to the Day of the Soviet Army, Vadim read poems by A. Galich, V. Vysotsky, and Yu. Daniel. This did not go without consequences, he was imprisoned in a punishment cell, and he was also forbidden to attend any cultural events. The activist was transferred to work at the timber depot as a loader. This led to the fact that he became seriously ill.
Relations with fellow prisoners Vadim have developed good. He helped them by writing letters, complaints, requests for review of cases. Vadim was not left without information from “freedom”. Received letters and parcels from friends. His grandfather, Academician B. Delaunay, came to see him on a date.
Release, return to Moscow
In the summer of 1971, Vadim Delaunay was released. After receiving a passport, he returns to Moscow, but remains under the supervision of the police and the KGB of the USSR. Starts working as an employee of archaeological expeditions.
Since 1972 he has been working as a lighter in the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall. In the same year he played a wedding with the famous Moscow human rights activist Irina Belogorodskaya.
Later, Vadim told his recollections that between 1971 and 1975 he was constantly confronted with proposals from law enforcement agencies of the USSR that he would like to leave the country and emigrate abroad.
To prompt such a decision, according to Vadim, in early 1973 his wife Irina was arrested for participating in the Samizdat movement “Chronicles of Current Events”. Subsequently, she was released before trial.
Emigration
In 1975, Vadim Delone and his wife left the Soviet Union. He emigrates to France, where he settles in a suburb of Paris. Abroad, he does not leave classes on human rights activities. He meets with other emigrants from the USSR, places his works in the magazines Continent, Echo, Time and We and others. He composes poems in which he recalls the forests of Moscow Region and camp life. The famous dissident Bukovsky, talking about the work of Delaunay of that period, says that "in his works you can see a soul rushing about, breaking into lines, living life and months of spiritual torment in them. Vadim's poetry is honest, experienced, not invented."
Vadim Delaunay died on June 13, 1983 in a suburb of Paris from acute heart failure in a dream. At that time he was not even 36 years old. Delaunay was buried at the Vincennes cemetery in Fontane-sous-Bois.
After his death in France, two of his books were published: "Portraits in a Barbed Frame", "Collection of Poems, 1965 - 1983." In Paris, the Russian Thought magazine in 1998 published a documentary story by Y. Konyukhin about Delon.
Vadim’s works in Russia were published only in 1989 in the magazines Aurora, Yunost, and Rodina. Thanks to them, it is revealed in detail who this dissident is in the USSR. The book "Portraits in a Barbed Frame", which was published in Omsk by his friends and associates with a print run of 5,000 copies, has become a very big bibliographic rarity.
Creative activity
Vadim Delaunay was fond of writing poetry from the age of 13. His later works were distributed in samizdat, some of which were printed abroad.
Most of the poetic works in the 60-70 years of the last century were seized during searches, some were the only copies. Then the poet made attempts to restore them from memory, but a significant part disappeared forever.
The works of the poet Vadim Delaunay, unknown to a wide circle of readers, were familiar to dissidents, close friends, and also to some prominent writers. So, Korney Chukovsky in correspondence with the mathematician B. Delaunay, the poet’s grandfather, spoke of his works as “immature verses of a very gifted boy”.
Real wisdom in the works of Vadim appears in difficult years for him. Poems composed in the late 60s and early 70s have very bold meta-forms. They are bright, filled with unexpected comparisons, epithets. The lyrics of Vadim Delaunay are musical, melodious, full of many voices.
"Portraits in a Barbed Frame"
Living in France, Vadim devoted much time to work on the book “Portraits in a Prickly Frame”, which, even in handwritten form, was awarded the Dahl Literary Prize. In it, the author talks about the terrible camp life, while not emphasizing it. He focuses on people imprisoned for ridiculous accidents, as well as those suffering from the hopelessness of being. According to critics, in his work Vadim successfully continued the traditions of Russian literature of the 19-20 centuries.
The famous Russian writer, editor, and publisher of memoirs Zinaida Shakhovskaya, telling in her publication about the personality of Vadim Delone, noted:
“He was easy to recognize, he was all, as if at a glance, open, clean, always true to himself. There was sadness in him and such a rare consciousness of his own and common guilt for evil spilled all over the world. Vadim’s smile in his childhood reflected a living soul - that’s why it was so easy to love him. ”
Vadim’s poems composed during the years of emigration leave a feeling of loneliness and emptiness. It can be seen from them that the poet did not find peace, he constantly yearned for Russia.