The biography of Khodasevich is well known to all connoisseurs and lovers of literature. This is a popular domestic poet, memoirist, Pushkinist, historian of literature, critic. He had a great influence on Russian literature in the 20th century.
Poet's family
In the biography of Khodasevich, his family played an important role. His father's name was Felitsian Ivanovich, he came from a very impoverished noble family of Polish descent. Their surname was Masla-Khodasevichi, it is interesting that the hero of our article often called his father Lithuanian.
Felician was a graduate of the Academy of Arts, but all his attempts to become a successful and fashionable painter turned out to be a failure. As a result, he chose the path of the photographer. He worked in Moscow and Tula, among his famous works there are photographs of Leo Tolstoy. Having earned money for the initial capital, he opened a store in Moscow, in which he was engaged in the sale of photographic accessories. Let the poet himself set out the life of his father in detail in the poem "Dactiles," noting that he had to become a merchant solely out of necessity, but he never grumbled about this.
Khodasevich’s mother, Sofya Yakovlevna, was the daughter of the popular European writer Yakov Aleksandrovich Brafman. She was 12 years younger than her husband, while they died in one year - in 1911. Sophia's father eventually converted to Orthodoxy, devoting the rest of his life to the reform of Jewish life, approaching this issue exclusively from a Christian perspective. At the same time, Sophia herself was given to a Polish family in her childhood, in which she was brought up as a zealous Catholic.
Vladislav Khodasevich had an older brother named Mikhail, who became a well-known and successful lawyer. It is known that the daughter of Mikhail Valentine became an artist. It was she who painted the famous portrait of the poet, which was her uncle. Describing the biography of Vladislav Khodasevich, it is worth noting that the poet, while studying at the university, lived in his brother’s house, maintaining friendly and warm relations with him until his final departure from Russia.
The youth of the poet
Khodasevich was born in 1886, he was born in Moscow. In the biography of Vladislav Khodasevich, a special place was taken by educational institutions in which he received the basics of knowledge. In 1904, the future poet graduated from the Third Moscow Grammar School, leaving for higher education at the Law Faculty of Moscow University.
But, having studied for only a year, he decided to abandon the legal profession and transferred to the historical and philological faculty. With several interruptions, he studied at it until the spring of 1910, but could not finish the course. A lot of this was hindered by a stormy literary life, in the center of which he found himself at that time. Khodasevich’s biography by dates shows all the main events. The hero of our article at that time visits the so-called Telehov media, happens to be with Valery Bryusov, in the evenings with Zaitsev, constantly attends a literary and art circle. It was then that Khodasevich began to be published in domestic newspapers and magazines, in particular in the Golden Fleece and Libra.
Wedding
An important event in the biography of Khodasevich is the marriage to a spectacular and pretty blonde, as he himself called her, Marina Erastovna Ryndina. They marry in 1905. Families and acquaintances noted that the poet’s wife always had eccentric behavior, for example, she could appear as a guest in the original Leda costume with a lively dinner on her neck.
In the biography of the poet Khodasevich, this marriage became a vivid, memorable, but short-lived episode. Already in 1907, he broke up with his wife. Poems dedicated to Marina Ryndina have been preserved, most of them are included in a book called Youth, which was published in 1908.
Talking about the nature and biography of Vladislav Felitsianovich Khodasevich, at that time many of his friends noted that he was a big dandy, for example, Don Aminado was remembered for his student uniform on the floor, a pile of thick hair cut at the back of his head, with deliberately indifferent and cold eyes of dark eyes. .
Health problems
In 1910, a difficult time began in the biography of Khodasevich. The poet begins to suffer from lung disease, this becomes a significant reason for his trip with friends in Venice. Together with the hero of our article, Boris Zaitsev, Mikhail Osorgin, Pavel Muratov and his wife Eugenia go to Italy. In Italy, Khodasevich’s physical condition is aggravated by mental suffering. First, he experiences a love drama with Ekaterina Muratova, and in 1911 the death of both parents with an interval of only a few months.
The hero of our article finds salvation in a relationship with the younger sister of the then popular poet George Chulkov. With Anna Chulkova-Grentsion, who was practically his age, they were married in 1917. Such facts about the biography and family of Khodasevich are known to modern researchers. The poet, to whom this article is devoted, raised his son Chulkova from his first marriage, the famous film actor Edgar Garrick in the future. He is known for the role of Charles XII in the epic of Vladimir Petrov "Peter the Great" and the image of General Levitsky in the historical film by Sergei Vasilyev "Heroes of Shipka".
The second book of the poet
Even telling briefly the biography of Khodasevich, it is necessary to mention about his second book of poems "Happy House", which was published in 1914. In the six years that have passed since the release of the first collection of "Youth", Khodasevich managed to become a professional writer who earned his living by translating, writing feuilleton notes and all kinds of reviews.
When the First World War began, Khodasevich received a “white ticket”, for health reasons he could not serve in the army, so he went to work for the periodicals “Morning of Russia”, “Russian Vedomosti”, in 1917 he collaborated with the newspaper “New Life”. At the same time, his health continued to pester him, the hero of our article suffered from spinal tuberculosis, so he was forced to spend the summer in 1916 and 1917 in Koktebel, in the house of his friend and also famous poet Maximilian Voloshin.
Years of revolution
A lot of interesting facts in the biography of Khodasevich. For example, it is known that he enthusiastically accepted the February Revolution, which took place in 1917. And after the October Revolution, at first, even agreed to cooperate with the Bolshevik government. However, he quickly came to the conclusion that with this power it is impossible to conduct free and independent literary activity. After that, he decided to withdraw from political issues and write exclusively for himself.
In 1918, his new book, Jewish Anthology, was published, which he co-authored with Leib Jaffeon. This collection includes works by young Jewish poets. In parallel, he works as a secretary in the arbitration court, conducts theoretical and practical classes in the literary studio of Proletkult.
Describing briefly the biography of Khodasevich, it is necessary to mention that since 1918 he began to collaborate in the theater department of the People's Commissariat for Education, works directly in the repertoire section, then gets the position of head of the Moscow department in the publishing house World Literature, which was founded by Maxim Gorky. Khodasevich also actively participates in the foundation of the bookstore on shares, Muratov, Osorgin, Zaitsev and Griftsov are on duty in turn responsible for the counter in this shop.
Moving to Petrograd
In a brief biography of Vladislav Khodasevich, which is given in this article, it is necessary to note his move to Petrograd, which took place in November 1920. The poet was forced to do this because of the acute form of furunculosis that appeared in him. The disease came from hunger and cold, which raged in the country due to the Civil War.
In Petrograd, he was assisted by Gorky, who helped to get a ration and two rooms in the dormitory hostel of the House of Arts. Khodasevich will later write about this experience in an essay entitled "Disk."
In 1920, his third poetry collection was published, which, perhaps, becomes the most famous in his career. It is called The Way of the Grain. It has a poem of the same name in which the poet describes the events of 1917. The popularity of Khodasevich after the release of this collection is only growing. The work of Khodasevich, whose biography we are currently studying, is for many connected with the verses in this collection.
New romantic relationship
At the very end of 1921, Khodasevich met the poetess Nina Berberova, who was 15 years younger than him. He falls in love with her and, in the summer of 1922, leaves with the new muse for Berlin through Riga. Around the same time, the fourth collection of Khodasevich’s poems, entitled The Heavy Lyre, was published simultaneously in Berlin and Petersburg. Until 1923, the hero of our article lives in Berlin, communicates a lot with Andrei Bely.
Then, for some time, he was neighbors with the family of Maxim Gorky, whose personality he very much appreciated. Interestingly, at the same time he speaks unflattering of him as a writer. Khodasevich claimed that he sees authority in Gorky, but did not consider him the guarantor of his even hypothetical return to his homeland. He considers the most vulnerable properties of his character an intricate attitude to truth and lies, which had a decisive influence on his life and on his work.
At the same time, Khodasevich and Gorky together fruitfully cooperate, despite obvious differences of opinion. Together they edit the magazine "Conversation" (Shklovsky also helps them in this work), in total there are six issues of this publication. It mainly prints beginner Soviet authors.
Assessing the work of Khodasevich, the researchers note that it was extremely specific and concise. That was the poet himself in life. The hero of our article loved hoaxes, constantly admiring a certain "non-writing writer." Himself often used hoax as a literary device, independently exposing it after some time. For example, he once wrote several poems under a false name, even inventing for this an 18th-century Russian poet Vasily Travnikov. Khodasevich himself wrote all the verses of Travnikov, and then read them at literary evenings and even published a study on Travnikov in 1936. Many admired Khodasevich, who discovered one of the greatest poets of the century before last, no one even suggested that Travnikova really does not exist.
Life in exile
Speaking briefly about the biography and work of Khodasevich, it must be mentioned that he finally understands that it is impossible to return to the USSR in 1925. At the same time, the hero of our article continues to be published in the Soviet periodical for some time, he writes feuilleton and articles about the activities of the GPU abroad. After the release of several high-profile notes on this subject, the Soviet authorities accuse him of "White Guard".
It comes to the point that in the spring of 1925 the Soviet embassy in Rome refused to renew Khodasevich’s passport, suggesting that he return to Moscow for this. The poet refuses, finally breaking off all ties with the country.
In the same year, another important event takes place in the biography of the Russian poet Khodasevich - together with Berberova, he moves to Paris. The hero of our article is actively published in the emigrant newspapers "Latest News" and "Days". True, he leaves the latest edition, following the advice of Pavel Milyukov. At the beginning of 1927, Khodasevich headed the literary department of the newspaper Vozrozhdenie. In the same year, he released The Poetry Collection, which included a new cycle called European Night.
After that, Khodasevich almost completely stopped writing poetry, devoting most of his time to critical research. As a result, he becomes one of the leading critics of literature in Russian foreign countries. In particular, he leads a polemic with Georgy Ivanov and Georgy Adamovich, discussing with them about the tasks of Russian literature in emigration, as well as about the purpose of poetry and the crisis in which it found itself.
Published jointly with his wife Berberova. They publish reviews of Soviet literature, signed by the pseudonym Gulliver. Khodasevich and Berberova openly support the poetic collective "Crossroads", one of the first to speak highly of the work of Vladimir Nabokov, who later becomes their close friend.
Memoirs of Khodasevich
In 1928, Khodasevich began to write his own memoirs, which are included in the book "Necropolis. Memories," she saw the light of day in 1939. In them, he talks in detail about acquaintance and relations with Bely, Bryusov, Gumilyov, Yesenin, Gorky, Sologub, the young poet Muni, with whom they were friends in his youth.
Khodasevich also writes the biographical book Derzhavin. He is well known as a major and scrupulous researcher of Pushkin's work. The hero of our article, having finished work on Derzhavin’s biography, planned to compose a biography of the “sun of Russian poetry,” but his sharply worsened health did not allow him to do this. In 1932, he writes in a letter to Berberova that he puts an end to this work, as well as to verses, realizing that there is nothing left in his life. In April 1932, they parted.
Khodasevich will marry again next year. His new chosen one is Olga Borisovna Margolina. She is four years younger than her husband, originally from St. Petersburg. With his new wife, the poet lives in exile. His situation is difficult and difficult, he has little contact with his compatriots, and is kept apart. In June 1939, Khodasevich died in Paris after another operation that was supposed to support his health. He was buried near the French capital, at the Boulogne-Biancourt cemetery, he was 53 years old.
His last wife, Olga Margolina, did not much survive her husband. During World War II, she was captured by Germany. In 1942, she died in a concentration camp in Auschwitz.
Nina Berberova, with whom they lived a long life together, in 1936 entered into an official marriage with the painter Nikolai Makeev, she remained friendly with Khodasevich until his death. The war suffered in Paris occupied by the Germans, in 1947 it divorced. In 1954, already in the United States, she married the famous music teacher and pianist Georgy Kochevitsky, five years later she managed to obtain American citizenship.
In the 80s, she divorced Kochevitsky, and in 1989 she even came to the Soviet Union at the age of 88. In 1993, she died in Philadelphia.