Do you know a poet who introduced the term “samizdat” popular for the “thaw”? Who in an ironic, but in their own touching manner could write about love and about animals, about everyday reality and world problems, about the political life and life of an ordinary Soviet citizen? Let's talk about Nikolai Glazkov. Consider his biography, get acquainted with creative activity, present a brief bibliography, as well as sources that will help you closer see the world of the master.
The childhood of the poet
Let's start with the biography of Nikolai Glazkov (1919-1979). Reference books and encyclopedias characterize him as a Soviet poet and translator.
Nikolai Ivanovich Glazkov was born on January 30, 1919 in the village of Lyskovo (Nizhny Novgorod region). The future poet was born in an intelligent family: his father, Ivan Nikolaevich Glazkov, was a lawyer, and his mother, Larisa Alexandrovna, was a teacher of German.
In 1923, the family moved to Moscow. Nikolai's father began working at the Moscow College of Defenders. Unfortunately, labor activity determined the fate of this man: in 1938, Ivan Nikolaevich was shot.
The beginning of literary activity
Nikolai Glazkov wrote the first poems in 1932. This contributed to his self-determination in life, in 1938 the young man entered the literary department of the Moscow State Pedagogical Institute. For health reasons, he was not drafted into the ranks of the Soviet army. Even then, Nikolai Glazkov gained a reputation, which became his hallmark. Someone considered him a jester, someone - a genius.
But Nikolai Glazkov did not spend long time in Alma Mater. Together with his friends on the course, he created a neo-futuristic group. Friends called themselves "unprecedented." It is known that Nikolai even managed to release two typewritten almanacs. In 1940 he was expelled from the institute. The reason was the same illegally released works, participation in underground literary evenings. However, if we recall the spirit of those years, we immediately determine that this is all just a reason. The poet Nikolai Glazkov was the son of a shot "enemy of the people." And that means that a person who is obviously objectionable to power.
But the educational life of Nikolai Ivanovich did not end there. In 1941, on the recommendation of the Soviet poet and translator N. Aseev, he was admitted to the Gorky Literary Institute. There, with interruptions, N.I. Glazkov studied until 1946.
In the period 1941-1946. he managed to change several activities. The biography of the poet Nikolai Glazkov reveals that he worked as a rural teacher in the village of Chernukha, Arzamas region. In 1944 he returned to Moscow. Here Nikolai works as a loader, a sawyer of firewood, a porter.
Participation in cinema
What is interesting in this part of his life is that Nikolai Ivanovich also manages to earn extra money on extras at Mosfilm. He can be seen in episodic roles in the following films:
- "Romance of lovers" by Andrei Konchalovsky. The poet plays the role of the “old mattress”. In addition, a song about birds was written on Nikolai Glazkov’s poems. She sounds in this film, which was released in 1974.
- Occasional roles in Ilya Muromets, Volnitsa by Grigory Roshal (1955).
- The role of Yefim - "flying man" in the famous film "Andrei Rublev" by Andrei Tarkovsky (1966). Interestingly, this small role was specially written by the creator of the film for Nikolai Glazkov. But the poet did not play it completely. Jumping from the tower according to the script, Nikolai Glazkov broke his leg. Due to this unpleasant incident, of course, further shooting had to be canceled.
Literary work
Poems by Nikolai Glazkov first saw the light in the early forties. According to art historians, the works of this time are the most powerful, touching and ironic.
Since the mid-50s, he begins to live, doing only literary work. Nikolai Ivanovich is actively working as a translator (including from the Yakut language). In 1957, in Kalinin (today it is Tver), his first collection of poems was published, called by the author "My Stage". In total, during the life of the poet, about a dozen of his almanacs were published.
In 1960, Nikolai Ivanovich was admitted to the Soviet Union of Writers. Art historians note that this stage of his work is much weaker than the early one. Some directly argue that it seems that Nikolai Ivanovich specifically writes "bad poems" for the official press, which are not on a par with his self-published works. Someone says that it can be directly stated that the poems of the poet Nikolai Glazkov of the “recognized” period are a parody of Soviet poetic canons.
Personal life
N. I. Glazkov was married twice. His first wife was Lidia Utenkova, the second - Rosina Glazkova, a ceramic artist. The poet has a son - Nikolai Nikolaevich Glazkov. On October 1, 1979, Nikolai Ivanovich Glazkov died in Moscow. He was buried at the Vostryakovsky cemetery of the city.
Underground creative activity
Now from the official history of life we go directly to the creative activity of the poet. Although his talent and skill were recognized in the professional world by colleagues, poets, writers, the works of Nikolai Glazkov were for a long time inaccessible to a wide circle of readers. The reason is banal - they did not meet the requirements of Soviet ideology, did not go through censorship circles.
Nikolai Ivanovich in the early 40s found a way out of this seemingly hopeless situation. He began to publish himself! It was Nikolai Glazkov that in this way introduced the popular and well-known term “samizdat” into circulation. On the typewritten typed by him with his own hands, he indicated "samsbyaizdat." The poet parodied the official names of those years - Profizdat, Gospolitizdat and so on. About this later Losev will write, calling in his material Nikolai Ivanovich "the godfather of samizdat."
The last output of his poems in unofficial literature came in 1959. This was the Samizdat magazine Syntax, curated by Alexander Ginzburg.
Publication of works in the official press
Nikolai Glazkov’s poems about animals, everyday life, love, everyday reality first appeared in the official press in 1960. The wife of the poet, Rosina Glazkova, recalls this.
In 1956, her husband decided to contact the publishing house of the city of Kalinin, which was headed by his classmate Alexander Parfyonov, with a proposal to release his own collection of poems. Incidentally, at that time, the poet V.D. Fedorov, who arrived in Kalinin for publishing, was also in the organization. He volunteered to edit the book to Nikolai Ivanovich, for which he received "approval" from the publisher. And I must say, he did his job perfectly and with taste.
But Alexander Parfyonov at the last moment doubted whether it was worth releasing a work of the once underground poet. Fortunately, Nikolai Ivanovich managed to insist on his own. As recalls Rosina Glazkova, the poet severely reminded the former classmate that his word should always be kept, regardless of times and circumstances. So in 1957, "My Stage" was published, becoming the first official work of the poet, having sold 5 thousand copies. After this incident, Nikolai Ivanovich himself began to call his chief assistant "Fedorov the first printer."
Change of art style
Since 1957, about 10 collections of the poet were published in the official press - verses by Nicolas Glazkov about winter, love, animals, ordinary Soviet people. However, his best works dating back to 1930-50 were not included in these almanacs. And what was fortunate enough to present, was subjected to significant distortions at the request of Soviet censorship.
This attitude to his own work influenced the development of a new style of Nikolai Ivanovich. The poet began to write his works deliberately carelessly, as if parodying the requirements of Soviet censors for versification. This trend is noted by Evgeny Yevtushenko and Wolfgang Cossack.
Unfortunately, books adequately reflecting the work of Nikolai Ivanovich came out after his death, in the eighties and nineties of the last century.
Personality of the poet
According to the memoirs of contemporaries, Nikolai Glazkov was one of the sights of the capital - his personality and his work were so unique and original. Friends with a smile recall the stooped figure of the poet, his "signature" handshake, a crafty smile, his manner of holding and carelessness in his clothes. Nikolai Ivanovich’s apartment on Arbat was a kind of “Mecca” for all Moscow poets, both recognized and beginners.
It is said that there were three Glazkovs. The first began to create in the era of the "thaw", was considered a venerable Soviet poet who developed his own style, his own intonation. It was regularly published in official poetry collections.
The second is the “oral” Glazkov. The one who composed bold funny poems about love affairs and friendly drinking. It was these lines that were repeated and memorized, quoted in a narrow circle. This is a game, a paradoxical author, a master of spontaneous creation. He literally stunned with a variety of rhymes: verbal, suffixal, root, compound. These verses directly involved the listener in an elusive word game.
And the third Glazkov is a serious and secret author. That, in simple words, in a concise quatrain, could amazingly easily talk about the complex. The fact that another person would write volumes of essays, but that would not get to the bottom. He invited to talk about fate and life, about the paradox of the world order. This Glazkov simply amazes with his erudition, philosophical conclusions, brilliant and accurate formulations. That was what Nikolai Ivanovich knew his closest friends, people whom he fully trusted.
Bibliography
Nikolai Glazkov’s poems about love, nature and animals, the fate of people and the political situation in the USSR are reflected in the published collections. Imagine their list:
- "Railway station".
- "My stage."
- "From January to January."
- "Poetrad".
- "Fifth road."
- "Green space."
- "Creative business trips."
- "Big Moscow".
- "Self portrait".
- "Selected Poems."
- "Voices of friends."
- "I saw Tutankhamun in the grave."
- "Railway station".
- "Originality".
- "Chihimora".
- "Arbat 44".
- "Unknown rivers".
- "Roads and stars."
- "Brevity."
- "Favorites".
- "My very poems."
Your library
Where can I find, for example, the poems "For the Mushrooms" by Nikolai Glazkov? Poet poetry collections are available at many bookstores. I must say that today it is possible to enjoy the works of this remarkable author in a “pure form”, without censorship, which distorted the main idea in the past Soviet times.
We also recommend contacting libraries - state, private and virtual. As for the latter, you can find both individual works by names, and download entire collections to your e-book. Late editions of poem cycles, not distorted by censor requirements, are also available in modern state libraries.
Contemporaries and descendants of the poet
A subjective look at the personality, creativity, biography of Nikolai Ivanovich Glazkov provided a considerable number of researchers, creative people who were closely acquainted with him. Or who was not indifferent to the poet's work. In particular, these are the following remarkable personalities:
- Benedict Sarnov.
- Israel Castro.
- Irina Vinokurova.
- Stanislav Rassadin.
- Dmitry Bobyshev.
- Peter Gorelik.
- Sergey Biryukov.
- Boris Ladygin.
- Nikolay Fedotov.
- Vladimir Kulagin.
- Boris Slutsky.
- Marina Yunitskaya.
- Tatyana Bek.
- Vsevolod Nekrasov.
- Andrey Nemzer.
- Alla Marchenko.
- Danila Davydov.
- Nikolay Kryshchuk.
- Evgeny Lesin.
- Vladimir Shilin.
Someone will say that Nikolai Ivanovich Glazkov was one of the misunderstood poets of his time, whose recognition came only after his death. But is it? Did Glazkov look like someone? Were there really similar poets who so vehemently advocated freedom at a time when it was not even customary to talk about it? We will find answers only in the work of this wonderful poet.