The biography of Velimir Khlebnikov is amazing and surprising, because how one person was able to literally change history in his short life. Now they are talking about this poet and writer, writing books, making films. And only a small fraction of people is familiar with the true biography of Velimir Khlebnikov. Let's find out how the Russian leader has earned such close attention and recognition from his admirers.
The beginning of the path (childhood)
The biography of Velimir Khlebnikov contains many surprising facts, and one of them is his name. In fact, the poet's name was Viktor Vladimirovich Khlebnikov, but the activist often used the well-known pseudonym Velimir. A prose writer also wrote under the name "E. Lunev."
The biography of Velimir Khlebnikov began in 1885 (November 9), when the future great poet was born in a family of scientists. His father was an ornithologist, and his mother studied and taught history. Maloderbetovsky ulus (Astrakhan province) is considered to be its homeland , now these lands are included in the territory of Kalmykia.
This is surprising, but the future prose writer and poet initially graduated from the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics, but at the same time Velimir created small plays. So, as a 19-year-old student, he sent for publication one of his works to a publishing house, which was curated under the auspices of Maxim Gorky. However, the first attempt was unsuccessful. The creative biography of Velimir Khlebnikov did not end there, but rather began to gain an unusual turn.
Student years
It is almost impossible to compile a short biography of Velimir Khlebnikov, because he is really an outstanding person. It seemed that he always sought to succeed, but constantly chose the wrong path. So, in 1904, the leader continued his studies at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics, and four years later decided to become a philologist and historian in one person. However, he could not continue his studies and after three courses he applied for dismissal.
During the training, Viktor Vladimirovich was fond of ornithology, like his father, Vladimir Alekseevich. In 1903, the activist was able to visit Dagestan, and two years later he went to the Northern Urals. Perhaps the regular expeditions and the upbringing of his father developed the poet’s craving for writing, because even before the first plays he made many notes that affected not only birds, but also psychology, biology, philosophy, ethics. We can say that the first publications in the biography of Velimir Khlebnikov were articles on ornithology.
Symbolism as the Beginning of a Creative Path
If you tell a brief biography of Velimir Khlebnikov, you can see that the poet had a difficult and difficult fate. As a 22-year-old guy, the future prose writer entered the circle of Symbolists. Symbolism is a direction in art, where certain symbolism is often used, which gives a certain mystery in literature or painting.
Viktor Vladimirovich was fond of paganism and Russian culture, which is why he often used descriptions or details in his writings. The young leader managed to get acquainted with both Sergey Gorodetsky and Alexander Blok. We can say that the prose writer was inspired from symbolism as a special direction in art, which is why he created works where fictitious pagan deities, which in the original never existed, were often mentioned.
Creativity in the biography of Velimir Khlebnikov plays a significant role, because the prose writer clearly mentions Slavic mythology in his works. This is evidenced by his works, such as "Appeal of the students of the Slavs." But if symbolism was not eradicated in the Russian Empire, then pan-Slavism, which called for people to take military action in troubled times, could be punished in relation to the poet. This ideology, which affected the biography and work of Velimir Khlebnikov, called for the forced unification of all Slavs in Eastern Europe.
Love and craving for symbolism never left the Russian leader, only sometimes his interest was switched to the Eastern religion. Subsequently, this played a large role and after a number of popular works, such as The Menagerie, Viktor Vladimirovich began to study Sanskrit (the ancient language of India) and entered the Faculty of Oriental Languages.
Creative path
A striking event in the biography of Velimir Khlebnikov was a trip to the apartment of Vyacheslav Ivanov, where the event took place, which literally made the pseudonym of the activist. Then Viktor Vladimirovich visited the famous "Tower" in St. Petersburg, where the poet V. Ivanov lived. In this historical place, unique personalities gathered, such as Korney Chukovsky, Alexander Blok, Nikolai Gumilev, Sergey Gorodetsky, Anna Akhmatova, Asya Turgeneva. It is in this apartment that all future poets and writers, circus artists and artists, musicians and scientists have christened Victor the famous pseudonym throughout Russia - Velimir.
It was communication with outstanding personalities that began to create an unusual creative biography of the poet Velimir Khlebnikov. In the "Tower", the activist met Mayakovsky and Burliuk, and later with them published a collection of poems "The Judges' Saddle". Unlike poets, Viktor Vladimirovich could not get used to the idea that he was dubbed a futurist, so he created a new word - “bylyany”, which in the personal language of the poet meant “future”.
Another unusual fact in a short biography of Velimir Khlebnikov: the leader was seriously interested in creating new words, and some of them reached the new generation in the 21st century. For example, the word "airplane" belongs to Viktor Vladimirovich.
Hard times
An interesting fact from the biography of Velimir Khlebnikov: the Russian poet and prose writer was a real rebel, which affected his lifestyle. Even in the heyday of his creative career, a man was forced to wander in cold rooms, eating cheap cereals and stale bread. He lived only on the money that he received from his parents. Sometimes Khlebnikov gave history lessons or posted his works in magazines, but even this earnings was not even enough to somehow establish his life and live like everyone else. These difficult periods are often reflected in the verses and articles of Viktor Vladimirovich.
Despite this, judging by the brief biography of Velimir Khlebnikov, we can say that a person was always faithful to his interests and did not succumb to other people's influence. For this, he could thank his rebellion and the desire to constantly develop and experiment. His life is partly reminiscent of the fate of the hero of Jack London in the book “Martin Eden,” only Velimir’s desire was caused by a love of creating new words, philosophical thoughts, but not a woman.
Unusual facts and events
Interesting facts from the biography and life of Velimir Khlebnikov will help the reader to find out the character of the Russian figure and his lifestyle. For example, due to the fact that the poet often moved from one living space to another, many manuscripts were lost during the move. Despite the craving for creativity and love for recordings, Viktor Vladimirovich did not cherish his work, which is why it is still not known how many poems and plays were actually created.
The friends of the activist spoke of distraction and negligence, recalling one incident in life: during another expedition, Velimir had to light a fire in the steppe on a cold night, where there was not a single tree or bush. In order not to freeze, the writer calmly began to burn his work.
Other interesting facts:
- Viktor Vladimirovich was not of this world. If his craving for mysticism and myths could be understood, then how to explain the nicknames that the poet gave himself? He often called his persona Martian, and later, when he began to study Sanskrit, he called a yogi.
- This is truly a unique person, of whom there are very few in Russia. The outlook of the activist is so wide that it included such disciplines as chemistry, biology and mathematics. In parallel, Khlebnikov was fond of the Japanese language, studied in detail the works of Plato and Spinoza, tried to become a musician.
- If we talk briefly about the biography and work of Velimir Khlebnikov, then this man had an unbreakable thirst for adventure and travel. He was attracted to the Caucasus, Baku, Northern Iran. The writer has paved the way for the Caspian steppes and Persia.
Strange behavior of a figure
There are still disputes over the mental health of Khlebnikov. Some claimed that the young novelist was obsessed with his interests, which justifies his strange, miraculous behavior. Someone, on the contrary, said that this person is just peculiar, which is why he was able to create truly masterpieces.
The leader was described as follows: "He was impractical, but he was burning with creativity. He was ready to sacrifice his last pants for the sake of creating a new work." Indeed, many noted that they were stunned by the sudden appearance of the poet in burlap instead of pants, and sometimes even in one underwear. He had virtually no money for new clothes, so all things had worn holes, and the fabric looked like it was washing floors. It was so surprising to some people that out of pity they sewed things to the writer from old curtains. Such an act was made by Rita Wright, who could not watch the hard life of Khlebnikov.
Steel character
The biography of Velimir Khlebnikov (photo of the writer is presented in the article) shows that he possessed extraordinary mental abilities, as well as a rebellious spirit and absolute indifference to any moral principles. This man was always immersed in himself, was in constant thought. Sometimes he said that he had to come close to Velimir in order to hear at least something from his speech.
Despite all the oddities, Viktor Vladimirovich created such talented and eloquent lines that many experienced poets and prose writers could envy. No one knew what disturbed the Russian leader. Perhaps his failed work or the inability to know the truth. Unfortunately, the whole career of Velimir fell on the Civil War, which led to even greater chaos in the state.
All his life, even in spite of poverty, the writer, ornithologist, philologist and historian in one person tried to create a new discipline that would combine mathematics with history, linguistics with poetry. At first glance, such a task is impossible to fulfill, but Velimir Khlebnikov believed in his dream, and therefore tried to always travel as soon as possible, communicate with unique and interesting people, study the history of his state and give predictions for the future.
Farewell to the author
In the last years of his life, Viktor Vladimirovich traveled a lot. He managed to visit both Persia and Baku. In parallel, the leader created manuscripts, preparing one of the major books in his life, “Boards of Fate”. Ultimately, it was supposed to be a philosophical treatise, or a book with the thoughts of the author. In just two years, Velimir released such famous poems as “Chairman of the Check” and “The Night before the Soviets”, articles on the topic of radio and obituaries dedicated to Gumilyov and Blok.
At the end of 1921, the writer went to Moscow, and then went back to Petersburg. There he did not live long and after six months, for unknown reasons, moved to live in Santalovo (village). His friends noted that already in this period the appearance of the author had changed a lot: he became haggard, emaciated, became pale, like a shadow. When Velimir Khlebnikov reached the village, his condition was already unstable. People around him thought that the activist was suffering from consumption, because he had no appetite at all, but there was a constant strong cough. A few weeks later, the legs began to fail, and the doctor ruled that the nerves of the lower extremities were affected.
Subsequently, Viktor Vladimirovich began to have mental abnormalities, and the symptoms resembled classical dementia: memory lapses were filled with false memories, confusion and hallucinations began to arise. But what kind of dementia occurs in young people who are barely 36 years old? The writer raved that all his friends wanted to steal his manuscripts with poems, thoughts and plays. Nobody was able to provide full-fledged treatment in the village, so over time, the extremities began to swell in the figure and pressure sores began to appear. The author did not reach the end of June and died on the 22nd in 1922.
To summarize
Those who were familiar with Velimir Khlebnikov claim that this is an unusual person and there are very few in the world. He dreamed of his desire to write, which is why he created hundreds of poems, which he himself later burned. It was a man under whose pen masterpieces were born, although Velimir himself sometimes did not know about it. An interesting fact, but the writer always kept the most valuable work in the pillow, because when moving, she always needed to be taken with her. However, Viktor Vladimirovich managed to lose his manuscripts.
His non-standard behavior was studied by Moscow and St. Petersburg psychiatrists, because it was believed that the Russian leader deviated from military service in such an unusual way. Repeatedly acknowledged that Khlebnikov was mentally unwell and fell under investigation, but was never subjected to serious treatment.