The poet Korzhavin is a unique and talented person, which all lovers of literature and an upscale syllable should know about. Unfortunately, the poet is not too famous even in his homeland, although his contribution to the development of culture and literature is simply huge. The reason is pretty banal and driven out - tensions with the authorities. Who is Korzhavin Naum Moiseevich? Today we will talk about a brilliant Russian poet, playwright, prose writer and translator. I would like to note that through all his work the main idea runs through the red thread - on the freedom of the human person, on its morality.
Acquaintance
Korzhavin Naum Moiseevich, whose biography will be laid out on the shelves a little lower, was born in 1925 in Kiev. The real name of the poet is Mandel. He was born into a Jewish family. Almost nothing is known about the parents of a talented person. All important information has been erased from the pages of history ... It is known that his mother was a dentist, and his grandfather was a tzadik (a pious person, almost a saint).
The boy, like all children, went to school. However, he did not like the capital's school, and before the war he was expelled from there. The poet himself in his memoirs says that the reason was a conflict with the director of the institution.
Youth
Naum Korzhavin, whose poems are very popular in narrow circles at home and abroad, has been a bright personality since his youth. Even in his youth, he was noticed by Nikolai Aseev - a famous poet, screenwriter and laureate of the Stalin Prize. It was this man who in the future introduced the Moscow literary milieu to a talented but unknown author. Nikolai Aseev was the first to see the future poet in a young and timid young man, whose syllable will impress everyone. In many ways, he served to ensure that Korzhavin fit as harmoniously and smoothly as possible into the literary milieu of Moscow, which was full not only of gifted people, but also envious people. It is worth noting that Korzhavin Naum Moiseevich was never shy - he always boldly and openly answered his enemies. Of course, this was one of the reasons why he was not loved, but respected.
University admission
When the Great Patriotic War began, Mandel was evacuated from the capital. Military service was impossible for him, as he suffered from myopia. The young poet moved to Moscow in 1944. The first thing he did was to enter the Gorky Literary Institute. But the young man overestimated his strength and did not pass exams. Despite the fact that the attempt to enter was unsuccessful, this did not affect the fighting mood of the young man. This did not upset him at all, as it simply meant that he would prepare harder and act next year.
Fate obeys persistent. The next year, 1945, Korzhavin Naum Moiseevich really entered the educational institution. It is an interesting fact that people like Vladimir Tendryakov and Rasul Gamzatov were his neighbors in the hostel.
Arrest
Soon, the Stalinist campaign against cosmopolitanism began, which hit our hero as well. In 1947, the poet was arrested. He himself recalls this very distinctly. It is probably hard to forget the day when your life is turned upside down. It is known from the poet’s memoirs that it was earlier morning, Rasul Gamzatov was soundly asleep after another booze and only exclaimed in a fright, “Where are you ?!”
Korzhavin Naum Moiseevich spent more than 8 long and stressful months at the Institute. Serbian and the Ministry of State Security of the USSR. As a result, the poet was convicted. A special meeting at the MGB sentenced him to exile as a socially dangerous element. Already in the fall of 1948, Mandel was sent to Siberia. There he lived in the village of Chumakovo. He spent three years in Karaganda, from 1951 to 1954. Despite the fact that life did not go exactly as the young man would have liked, he did not lose faith in himself, in life, and in a better future. Naum Moiseevich did not waste time in heavy and painful thoughts about why it happened to him, how to live after it, if there is a future ... He just lived and knew that his time would come. Interestingly, during his stay in Karaganda, he even managed to get a steyger education in a mining technical school.
After the amnesty that occurred in 1954, the poet was able to return to Moscow. Two years later he was rehabilitated. Soon, the poet recovered at the Literary Institute, which he graduated in 1959.
After returning to Moscow, Mandela had to live on something. This question was very acute, since it was not necessary to wait for help from somewhere. At this time, he begins to earn his living by translations. Already during the "thaw" he publishes his poems in literary magazines. This does not bring him lightning-fast and dizzying success, but he is still read. Since magazine publications were jerky and selective, it was difficult to achieve particular popularity. The author became widely known after the publication of the poetic collection “Tarusa Pages” in 1961. Two years later, a new collection is released entitled "Years". He contained the verses of the author from 1941 to 1961. This time was very difficult, but also fruitful for Mandel. It is interesting that in 1967, according to his work “Once in the Twentieth,” a play was staged in the walls of the Konstantin Stanislavsky Theater.
The poet Korzhavin was not only an official poet. Many of his creations were published in various samizdat lists. Soon, Korzhavin’s publications became banned, and he himself served that: in the second half of the 1960s, he actively defended such “prisoners of conscience” as Galanskov, Ginzburg, Daniel and Sinyavsky.
Emigration
Nahum Korzhavin, whose books were now banned, could not remain silent, and his conflict with the authorities only escalated. In 1973, at the next interrogation at the prosecutor’s office, the poet wrote a statement about leaving the country, citing it as “lack of air for life”. Where did the poet go? He settled in Boston, USA. V. Maksimov included him in the list of members of the Continent editorial board - Korzhavin did not think of leaving creative path. In 1976, in the Federal Republic of Germany, or rather, in Frankfurt am Main, the author's collection was published under the title "Times", and in 1981 - Plexuses.
After adjustment
After a period of perestroika, the author was given the opportunity to visit Russia. And he came to spend poetry evenings and communicate with the literary creators of that time. The first visit to Moscow took place in the second half of 1980 at the personal invitation of Bulat Okudzhava. The poet performed at the Cinema House, where a huge number of people gathered: the hall was crowded, additional chairs were exposed on the side balconies. At that moment, when Okudzhava and Korzhavin went on stage together, the whole hall, as if ordered by an invisible ruler, stood up and applauded. However, the poet’s vision suffered very much since his youth, so he could not see such a technique. Bulat whispered the reaction of the audience in his ear, after which Mandel was noticeably embarrassed. That evening, he read his poems and answered questions that rained from different parts of the hall, and which had no end. It is worth noting that he could not read his works from the book, so he did it from memory: the reason is the same - vision. When it became necessary to read something from the collection, famous actors rose to the stage and read the first poems that were striking. The first to express a desire to read the verses of the great master was Igor Kvasha, an artist of the Sovremennik Theater. Then others followed his example.
A couple of days after such a successful performance and a warm welcome, Korzhavin visited the sports journalist Arkady Galinsky. They had a long conversation and were glad that the country was changing. Despite this, Mandel then said: "I do not believe them." Personal memories and interviews of the author can be seen in the 2005 documentary “They Chose Freedom,” directed by Vladimir Kara-Murza.
Political Views
Korzhavin’s memoirs and journalistic articles are full of evolution of his political views. When he was young, he completely rejected the Stalinist system, while partially sharing the communist ideology. The latter conviction was based on a contrast between real life and genuine communism. What the poet recalls with obvious annoyance and regret is that after the end of World War II he tried to justify Stalin and found his actions to be correct. Interestingly, such views persisted even after the famous arrest. But while in exile, Korzhavin again returned to communism and the rejection of Stalinism.
The author himself says that the communist illusions left him in 1957. This was served by his emigration to the United States, when he was on the right side of the political spectrum (like most emigrants from the USSR). In his publications, the author openly and boldly criticized communism, any forms of socialism and revolutionary movements, and also opposed the Western "comrades of the USSR." He himself gave this definition of “liberal conservative or ferocious liberal.” It’s worthwhile to understand that in the disputes of “Russophobes” and “Russophiles” he took the position of the latter, defending the traditions of his homeland.
Already in 1990-2000, his articles were full of neglect and criticism of communism and radical liberalism. His literary works were full of Christian morality and the features of native Russian culture. He insisted that culture should not be taken in quantity, but in quality. A work that does not have a deep human meaning does not have much weight, except for entertaining reading in the bathroom.
Naum Korzhavin, whose poems are amazing, was still against romantic and avant-garde contempt for the little man. He insisted that literature was created for ordinary people and should appeal to them. Only a culture that has harmony in itself can be considered as satisfying the artistic need of the reader. He insisted that if there is no desire for harmony, then this is a banal self-affirmation through a pen. Based on these positions, he revised the heritage of the Silver Age. Even A. Blok and A. Akhamatov were subject to criticism, but Brodsky was most indignant at him. In his work “The Genesis of the Style of Advanced Genius,” or the Myth of the Great Brodsky, Korzhavin sharply criticized the cult of the poet. The prose of Naum Korzhavin requires special attention from admirers and researchers of his work. It is in prose that it is clearly visible what a non-trivial mind the poet had.
A family
The first wife of the writer was Valentina Mandel, from whom the daughter Elena appeared. The poet’s second wife was philologist Lyubov Vernaya, whose marriage lasted from 1965 to 2014, when old age cut short the woman’s life. It is known that today Korzhavin lives with his daughter in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Awards
The works of Korzhavin (Mandel) by Naum Moiseevich were awarded in 2006 with a special prize "For Contribution to Literature" of the Big Book Prize. Also in 2016, Mandel was awarded the national Poet Prize.
Creativity analysis
In this paragraph we will look at some poems that Naum Korzhavin gave us. The “Ballad of historical lack of sleep” tells in a very ironic form what caused the reforms of Lenin. The poems are rather sharp and bold, therefore it is not surprising that the poet was forbidden to publish. It should be noted that the public reaction to this creation was magnificent: everyone was in shock, because no one had yet allowed himself to laugh so openly at the authorities. Of course, for Naum Moiseevich this sharpness of the syllable turned into big problems, but his lines still live, and they will be read by the next generations that will remember the most daring lines of Korzhavin. Despite the fact that at first the verse seems amusing and satirical, after reading it remains some “aftertaste” of all seriousness and tragedy. It's amazing that a poem is relevant for any time ...
Naum Korzhavin (“I have loved the oval since childhood”) wrote not only serious lines, but also more understandable and simple ones. In the above poem, he seems to say banal things, and yet the obvious subtext is very felt. This characterizes the entire work of the poet - simple words, a simple syllable, but what a deep and verified meaning is embedded in each line. Why corners, why complicated life figures? Why is it all, if there is an oval, if you can solve issues calmly and without sacrifices? How to be a gentle and warm-hearted person in the cramped world of the Soviet Union and whether it is possible to remain a person at the same time - that is the question that Naum Korzhavin asks.
“Variations from Nekrasov” was included in the collection of the author of “Plexus”, which was published in 1981 in Germany. Why do we pay so much attention to a small verse? As mentioned earlier, Korzhavin is a poet whose number of lines and letters plays absolutely no role. He can make a big sense in a quatrain or “pack” his thought in a ballad. The poem tells about a Russian woman: simple, courageous and strong. At the same time, her national character (“she will stop the galloping horse ...”) is subtly ridiculed, showing that years go by, but nothing changes. The woman, who should be the guardian of the hearth and home comfort, continues to "stop the horses and enter the burning hut." This verse was surprisingly warmly received even by a female audience, which received an extra reason to think about their role in society. The irony and simplicity of Korzhavin’s syllable makes his poems easy to read, but touches certain strings of the soul.
Naum Korzhavin wrote poetry about a woman very carefully, realizing how fragile and sensitive female nature is. However, he cannot be blamed for distorting some of the prevailing visions of women in his works. He does not use a literary gift to offend, offend or humiliate the female gender in any way. He only focuses on the important points that should make women wake up and look at themselves with different eyes. Korzhavin Naum Moiseevich (poems in memory of Herzen confirm this as well as possible) through all his literary work he carries out a subtle thought of “sleep” as an inert and passive state of society. This parallel can be found in almost all the works of the author.
Some of the author’s poems relate a bit to autobiographical points. For example, the poem “You yourself showed a commendable zeal ...” tells about the author’s relationship with his first wife. It is very interesting that despite the fact that their marriage broke up, the man recalls with tenderness and trepidation his ex-wife, his “stupid girl”. Korzhavin Naum Moiseevich did not want to write poetry about love. Actually, there is nothing strange about this. But even when he writes about a woman, his lines are full of such tenderness and calm quiet love, which only the best men are capable of. The author devoted not so many lines to the image of a woman, but those poems that were born are worthy of the highest praise.
The great advantage of this author is that, unlike many of his contemporaries and predecessors, he strove for absolute harmony. He wrote in order to enrich the reader, to give him pearls of thought. I do not want to mention specific names, but many famous poets who are revered in Russian culture sought only expression. This is evidenced by the fact that their work was often self-destructive, demeaning women and destructive. Despite the fact that they possessed the poet’s beautiful syllable and talent, they used it only to reflect their point of view on the world, while Naum Korzhavin created in order to fill the reader with light and energy. You can talk about this for a very long time and hard, but just take a collection of Korzhavin and another poet (especially from the Silver Age) and compare your own feelings after reading a couple of poems. Here is such a simple test in order to understand the significance of the work of Naum Korzhavin, as well as deeply feel his worldview.
Summing up some of the results of this article, I want to say that Korzhavin (Mandel) Naum Moiseevich made a huge contribution to the development of literature and culture of his homeland. This is a man with a capital letter, who all his life went forward in spite of everything. As we learned from the article, he lived a rich and long life that beat him from year to year. Even omitting literary moments (although doing this is a crime), one can admire Korzhavin simply as a person who has walked with dignity such a difficult and thorny path. Taking into account his literary talent and rich cultural heritage for posterity, we can say that Naum Moiseevich is the person who would be a great example for the entire younger generation of the country who wants to grow up brave, independent and free people.