He is called the "missed genius." And also "a man widely known in narrow circles." Few modern readers know this name - Krzhizhanovsky Sigismund Dominicovich. Meanwhile, he did a lot in the fields of literature, drama, history, philosophy and theater theory.
Family and youth
The future cultural figure near Kiev was born on February 11, 1887. He was a Pole by nationality, and a Catholic by religious conviction. His father is Dominic Alexandrovich, a military man; Having retired, he left Poland with his family and settled in the vicinity of the mother of Russian cities. The house was bought for the money allocated to the retiree.
Dominic Alexandrovich worked as an accountant, and his wife Fabiana Stanislavovna devoted herself entirely to children. Seriously carried away by music and playing the piano beautifully, she gave them a good cultural education. Krzhizhanovsky Sigismund was the youngest of the children, had four older sisters.
The boy adored his mother, he was very kind to her and tried to inherit her qualities. In his youth, he even dreamed of a career as an opera singer and took singing lessons. But after graduating from the Kiev gymnasium No. 4 he entered the university as a lawyer. His students took place in a noisy, colorful and crowded Kiev. The young man approached the issue of education seriously - in addition to knowledge of law, he also received knowledge of history and philology by attending relevant lectures.
While still a student, Krzhizhanovsky Sigismund begins to write poetry. Also, his pen of that period belongs to travel notes, which he makes while traveling in Europe.
Carier start
Having received a university degree in 1913, a young lawyer tries to work in his specialty and enters the service of a lawyer as an assistant. But for a long time in this area is not kept. Five years later, he abandons jurisprudence and never returns to it again. Perhaps the reason for this was the revolution, which entailed chaos and pushed the law into the far corner. Or maybe Krzhizhanovsky was simply attracted by culture ...
The next stage of his career was the work of a lecturer. He speaks to students of the conservatory, theatrical institute and other educational institutions of Kiev, telling them about the psychology of creativity, music, literature, the history of theatrical art, etc. Lectures by a talented teacher are very popular among young people.
Krzhizhanovsky Sigismund is trying to realize himself as a writer. Some of his things: the poem “Brigantine”, the story “Jacobi and Allegedly” - are even printed in magazines.
Moscow
Krzhizhanovsky’s youth was overshadowed by a series of tragic events. One by one, his parents died, then his beloved sister Elena, and then his uncle, with whom Sigismund was very friendly. And all this for some two or three years.
Wanting to change the situation, Krzhizhanovsky Sigismund Dominicovich, biography which was generally full of travels, moved to Moscow in the 22nd year. Here he settles in the Chamber Theater, teaches in his studio. The same theater was the only place where Krzyzhanowski managed to see his play on the stage. It was called "The Man Who Was Thursday." The play is based on the famous work of Gilbert Chesterton. Other works of the playwright, alas, did not reach the stage.
Fame and burdens
In the capital of the USSR, the hero of this article was active. He read his short stories, essays and other works and quickly became famous in the circles of theater-goers and writers in Moscow.
But the popularity of Krzyzhanowski did not bring him material wealth. He worked very hard, realizing that water does not flow under a lying stone. It was a difficult time, ending with the NEP. Every now and then “Dr. Schrott” knocked on the door (as the writer and his friends called hunger). Krzhizhanovsky Sigismund Dominicovich was very thin and pale at that time. Photos of the late 20s eloquently testify to the poverty in which the writer lived. But he did not give up and for a very long time tried to make money by what he loved most - writing.
Attempts almost always turned out to be futile - it was extremely rare to print, and bread had to be obtained in a different way. Krzhizhanovsky worked as an editor at a publishing house, prepared scripts for commercials and even full films, wrote a libretto for operas ...
"Pushkin" and "Shakespeare" periods
One of the "side jobs" Sigismund Dominicovich was the beginning of a whole period in his work. This is a staging for the opera Eugene Onegin by Prokofiev.
Touching Pushkin, the writer could not tear himself away from him for a long time. He wrote theoretical articles about the work of the great Russian poet (for example, “The Art of the Epigraph (Pushkin)”), worked on the “Dictionary of Epigraphs”, etc.
And at the equator of the 30s, it was Shakespeare's turn. The preface prepared for the first volume of the collected works of the classic inspired Krzhizhanovsky to write many articles devoted to the author of the immortal Hamlet.
By the way, unlike literary works, the journalism of Sigismund Dominicovich was sometimes published. In particular, in such publications as “Soviet Art”, “Literary critic”, etc.
The Missed Genius
The most “prolific” period of Krzhizhanovsky’s work is the 20-30s. During this time, the lion's share of works has been written. These are five novels, six books of short stories, essays, novels, plays, works on the history and theory of theater, etc. Only a few of them were published during the author's lifetime. You can literally count them on the fingers. As for the theory, only the Poetics of Titles saw the light of all the works. She came out as a separate brochure. And the story "The Return of Munchausen" was already being prepared for publication, but suddenly the author was refused by the publisher.
Krzhizhanovsky Sigismund, whose books did not reach a wide readership, was forced to write to the table. Here is some of them:
- "Wandering" Strange "(1924).
- "The collection of seconds" (1925).
- The Club of the Killers of Letters (1926).
- “Memories of the future” (1929).
- The Unbroken Elbow (1940).
But we are not talking about any graphomaniac! Modern literary critics call the writer genius, comparing him with the classics of those years - Camus, Kafka, Borges ... He wrote at the level of European literature of the first half of the 20th century. His works are rich in allusions, meta-texts, artistic interpretations of the ideas of great philosophers, etc. By type, most of them can be attributed to intellectual prose, and Krzhizhanovsky’s favorite genre is a parable.
Asked why publishers ignored the masters, literary scholars today are inclined to believe that he was simply ahead of time and was incomprehensible to the Soviet system. And that which did not fit into her framework, she could not welcome. Sigismund Dominicovich did not write in support of the Soviets, but he was not their opponent either. He was, as it were, outside the system, above it. And this provided himself with oblivion.
In 1939, Krzhizhanovsky Sigismund became a member of the Union of Writers of the USSR, but this fact did not contribute to him in publishing matters.
Hobbies Krzhizhanovsky
In addition to his passion for literature and theater, Sigismund Dominicovich had yet another, but fiery passion. He loved travel. Even in the most hungry years he managed to escape somewhere for at least a week. The trips healed and inspired him.
Going to visit a new country, Krzhizhanovsky carefully studied its history, geography, culture, then to compare the theory with what he saw with his own eyes. On trips, he was always animated, and returned home as a new person.
During the trips, I met a lot of interesting and even great people, among whom, for example, Maximilian Voloshin and Alexander Green, who gladly received the writer in their Crimean possessions in the summer.
Krzhizhanovsky Sigismund Dominicovich: the personal life of the writer
While still living in Kiev and lecturing to students, the young Sigismund met a woman who became a companion of his life. Her name was Anna Gavrilovna Bovshek. She was an actress, studied with Stanislavsky. Soon after the fateful acquaintance, she left for Moscow, and Krzhizhanovsky, as you know, also moved to the capital of the USSR over time. There, their friendship continued, gradually turning into a very close relationship.
True, Sigismund and Anna lived separately until the very last days of the writer. Thus they tried to preserve romance and cherished their love from destructive life.
They supported each other in everything, had a gentle correspondence, traveled together ... Their relationship was full of warmth, respect and friendship.
last years of life
Beginning in 1940, Krzyzhanowski almost never wrote fiction. Although he worked as before a lot. During the war he did not leave Moscow, believing that the writer should stay where his subject is. This period dates from many essays on the capital and the war.
They, as before, were not published. Sigismund Dominicovich earned his living by translations.
The last years of his life were overshadowed by serious illnesses. In her memoirs, Anna Bovshek writes about hypertension and anemia. The result of the disease was damage to the part of the brain that is responsible for memory. And Krzhizhanovsky forgot the alphabet. He could write, but he could not read. And it was a real tragedy for a man who could not imagine himself without books.
The rest of his life was spent in poverty and pain. Having become completely helpless, Sigismund Dominicovich moved to his wife in her small apartment. He died on December 28, 1950.
Heritage
Krzhizhanovsky had no children. He did not leave a grave after himself, or rather, her whereabouts are unknown. But the creative heritage of the genius has survived ... And all thanks to the efforts of a loving woman who carefully collected leaves, scribbled in her native handwriting.
She took great risks during the time of repression, storing manuscripts at home. But not one of them was hurt.
Like the author himself, his wife did not wait for the publication of the works. Only in the late eighties did readers meet a writer named Krzhizhanovsky Sigismund Dominicovich. Collected works it was published in six volumes in Russian from 2001 to 2012. This included almost everything that was written by the author: prose, and dramatic works, and theory, and even some letters.
Krzhizhanovsky Sigismund Dominicovich, interesting facts about which are given in this article, was an unusual person. Contemporaries did not appreciate it, and today the work of the “missed genius” cannot be called massive. But for those who truly love literature and theater, they will surely like it.