Eduard Bagritsky (his last name is Dzyuban (Dzyubin)) is a Russian poet, playwright and translator. He was born in Odessa. His family was Jewish, bourgeois. Religious traditions were strong in it. Eduard Bagritsky, whose photo you will find in this article, studied in 1905-10 at the Odessa St. Paul's School. After that, he continued his education in 1910-12 in the real school named after Kherson Street (Odessa). Zhukovsky. As a designer, Eduard participated in the publication of a journal called Days of Our Lives. Then, in 1913-15, the future poet studied at a land surveyor school, but by profession he never worked.
Entry into literature
Eduard Bagritsky began to publish poetry in 1915. And not under his last name. He immediately took the pseudonym Bagritsky. In addition, he was known under the female mask, signing his compositions "Nina Voskresenskaya". His works were first published in Odessa literary almanacs. Eduard soon became one of the most prominent figures among young writers of Odessa, who later became major writers (Yuri Olesha, Valentin Kataev, Ilya Ilf, Semen Kirsanov, Lev Slavin, Vera Inber).
Joining the Red Army, work in Odessa
During the Civil War (in 1918), he volunteered for the Red Army. Edward worked in a special partisan detachment to them. All-Russian Central Executive Committee, in the political department. He created propaganda verses. At the end of the war, Edward worked in Odessa. Here he began to collaborate as an artist and poet in YugROSTA together with V. Narbut, Yu. Olesha, V. Kataev, S. Bondarin. Eduard Bagritsky was published in various Odessa newspapers, as well as in humorous magazines. He was known under the pseudonyms "Rabkor Highlanders", "Nina Voskresenskaya" and "Someone Vasya".
Moving to Moscow, the appearance of the first collections of poems
Bagritsky in 1925 came to Moscow. He became a member of The Pass, a well-known literary group. A year later, Edward decided to join the constructivists.
The first collection of his poems was born in 1928 ("Southwest"). "Southwest" was published in 1928. Most of the poems from this collection were written and published for the first time in Odessa: "Autumn", "Watermelon", "Til Uhlenshpigel". This book includes Bagritsky’s famous poem, The Duma of Opanas, as well as his most famous poem, The Smugglers. The next collection, Winners, was published in 1932. Then the book "Last Night" was published. The poet joined the RAAP in 1930. He lived in Moscow, in the House of Writing Cooperative at 2 Kamergersky Lane.
"Duma of Dangers"
His poem, The Duma of Opanas, shows the tragic confrontation of Opanas, a country boy from Ukraine who dreams of a quiet peasant life in his homeland; and Joseph Kogan, the Jewish commissar who defended the "highest" truth and value of the world revolution. It should be noted, however, that already after the death of Edward, during the period of “the struggle against cosmopolitanism”, this poem was declared a “Zionist work” in an article of July 30, 1949, published in the Literary Newspaper. The Duma of Opanas was also described as slander of the Ukrainian people.
Personal qualities of the poet
Eduard Bagritsky was very erudite. There were even legends about it. The phenomenal memory of the poet kept many poetic lines. His wit knew no bounds, and kindness warmed more than one poet in the 20-30s. Bagritsky was one of the first to note the talent of young L. Oshanin, Y. Smelyakov, Dm. Kedrin, A. Twardowski. Beginning poets literally rushed to him with a request to listen and appreciate their works.
Bagritsky-translator
Eduard Bagritsky was not only an excellent poet. He can be called the brilliant translator of Walter Scott and Thomas Hood, Nazim Hikmet and Joe Hill, Vladimir Sosyura and Mikola Bazhan, Robert Burns.
Reflection in creativity of attitude to communism
Bagritsky is a master who was gifted with rare impressionability. He accepted the revolution. Bagritsky’s romantic poetry praised the building of communism. At the same time, Edward painfully tried to justify in his own eyes the cruelty of the ideology of the revolutionaries, as well as the advent of totalitarianism. In 1929, he wrote the poem TVS. In it, the late Felix Dzerzhinsky appeared to the desperate and sick author, who noticed about the coming century that if he said “lies”, this should be done. And if it is said to kill, then this must be done.
The last years of his life, the funeral of Bagritsky
Bagritsky's asthma has worsened since the beginning of 1930. He suffered from this disease from childhood. In 1934, on February 16, he died in Moscow, for the fourth time he contracted pneumonia. The poet was buried in the Novodevichy cemetery. A squadron of young cavalrymen was following his coffin with sabers naked.
The poem "February"
The poem "February", published after the death of Eduard Bagritsky, still causes a lot of controversy. This, one might say, is the confession of a Jewish youth who was a participant in the revolution. Anti-Semitic publicists have repeatedly written that the hero of the poem, raping a prostitute, who was his gymnasium love, commits violence against her throughout Russia, thereby avenging the shame of her "homeless ancestors." However, the usually cited version of the poem is about a third of it. This work is about a Jewish gymnasium student who became a man after going through the first world war and revolution. The gang arrested by the protagonist also comprises at least two-thirds of the Jews. This is evidenced by the names of its participants - Petka Flounder, Semka Rabinovich and Monya the Brilliant.
The fate of the wife and son of Eduard Bagritsky
In 1920, Eduard Bagritsky married. His personal life is limited to one marriage. With Lydia Gustavovna, Suok Edward lived until his death. The widow of the poet in 1937 was repressed. She returned from prison only in 1956. Vsevolod, son of Edward, died in 1942 at the front.
This is just the basic information about such an interesting poet as Eduard Bagritsky. The biography summarized in this article gives only a general idea of it. The rest will be told by his poems, which we recommend referring to.