The poet Tarkovsky, a well-known Russian translator from Eastern languages, was a representative of the classical style in literature. The father of the famous director Andrei Tarkovsky. In 1989, he was posthumously awarded the USSR State Prize.
Genealogy of the poet
Regarding the genealogy of the poet Tarkovsky, there are two versions, behind each of which are historical sources, family legends and statements of the hero of our article.
The first version is Polish. As much as possible, she was presented in the book of Marina Tarkovsky’s daughter, “Shards of the Mirror”. She claims that as a child she saw the family tree of her family. It was drawn in ink on parchment. Then only the letter of 1803 remained in Polish, which confirmed the noble privileges of Major Matvey Tarkovsky.
From this letter it followed that the Tarkovsky family was from Poland. And the grandfather and great-grandfather of the poet Tarkovsky were military and lived on the territory of Ukraine.
There is also a Kumyk version, it became popular after the first trip of the poet Arseny Tarkovsky to Dagestan in 1938. Later, he repeatedly indicated his origin from shamkhals, even was proud of the Dagestan ancestors. Marina Tarkovskaya confirms that the family also had such a version of the origin of their family. However, none of these versions is supported by documents, so it is not possible to establish the truth.
Childhood and youth
The future poet Tarkovsky was born in Kherson province in 1907. As a child, he went to poetry evenings with his father and brother when capital celebrities came. Young Arseny saw with his own eyes Konstantin Balmont, Igor Severyanin, Fedor Sologub.
In 1919, during the Civil War, the family remained in Ukraine. The life of Arseny and his older brother was in the balance. They were detained because Valery threw a bomb at the chieftain Maruska Nikiforova, a comrade-in-arms of Nestor Makhno, the leader of Ukrainian anarchists. Then the Tarkovsky were released, but Valery was still soon killed. He died in the battle against Ataman Grigoriev in the same year.
When the Soviet regime was established in Ukraine, relations with the poet Tarkovsky, whose biography is presented in this article, did not immediately go wrong. In a newspaper, he and his friends published an acrostic, the first letters of which lined up in the unflattering characterization of Lenin. They were arrested, but Arseniy managed to escape from the stage from the train. He wandered for a long time, having tried many professions. He worked in a fishing artel, was a shoemaker. According to some reports, by 1925 he graduated from a vocational school and went to Moscow.
Tarkovsky in Moscow
The hero of our article arrived in the capital in 1923. He settled with his paternal aunt. In 1925 he entered the Higher Literary Courses. There he met the poet Shengeli, who in the future became his best friend.
Together with him, Maria Vishnyakova acted, who three years later became his wife. But I could not finish the courses. In 1929, they were closed due to the suicide of one of the students, failed graduates were not allowed to exams at Moscow State University.
First poems
According to the poet Tarkovsky himself, he began to write poems from early childhood. He managed to publish for the first time only in 1927. The 4th verse “The Candle” was published in the collection “Two Dawn”, the following year the poem “Bread” appeared in the magazine “Searchlight”.
Until 1929, he worked in parallel at the Gudok newspaper, wrote poetic fables and feuilleton, and judicial essays. Published under the pseudonym Taras Podkova. Since 1931, began to cooperate with the All-Union Radio. By order of the literary and art department, he even wrote the production play Glass. To get acquainted with the glass enterprise, I specially went to the factory in Nizhny Novgorod. In 1932, the production premiered, but Tarkovsky was criticized for using mysticism as a literary device.
Translation work
The hero of our article begins to engage in literary translations since 1933. Basically, these are the works of national poets, in order to get to know them better, Arseny Tarkovsky goes on creative business trips to the Crimea, Kyrgyzstan, and the Caucasus.
In 1936, the poet met the wife of the literary critic Trenin, Antonina Bokhonova, and abandoned her family for her sake. By that time, he already had two children - Andrei, born in 1932, and Marina, who was two years younger.
In 1939, with Bokhonova and her daughter Elena, they live in Chechnya, where Tarkovsky translates poems by local poets. Returning to Leningrad, he gets diphtheria. Long treated in the infectious diseases department of the Botkin Hospital.
In 1940 he was admitted to the Union of Writers of the USSR. In the same year, he officially formalizes the divorce and marries Bokhonova.
During the war
When the war began, Tarkovsky escorts both of his families to the evacuation, and he undergoes military training. But according to the conclusion of the medical commission, he was denied mobilization.
Then he organizes poetry evenings for Muscovites; on October 16 he leaves the capital with his mother for Chistopol. There Tarkovsky reunited with his family, writes his famous cycle "Chistopol Notebook." At the same time, he continues to write statements asking him to be sent to the front. Finally, on January 3, 1942, he was enlisted as a war correspondent in the Battle Alarm newspaper.
Almost daily he goes to the front line to collect information, his partner dies, Tarkovsky himself takes part in battles more than once. In April 1943 he was awarded the Order of the Red Star.
In December, near Vitebsk, he was injured in the leg. In the hospital, he develops gas gangrene. His wife brings him to Moscow to Professor Vishnevsky, who undergoes the sixth amputation. He leaves the hospital in 1944, his second wife selflessly takes care of him.
"The silence of the muse"
In 1945, Tarkovsky published the book of poems "Silence of the Muses", but due to the fact that it did not contain a single poem praising Stalin, and only one mentioned Lenin, the book was stopped printing after the famous Decree "On Zvezda Magazines" and Leningrad.
The year 1946 becomes one of the most important in his biography. Tarkovsky meets Akhmatova, until the end of their life they remain friends. Soon, he decides to part with Bokhonova, who during the war saved his life by coming to the front. He translates Turkmen poets, but he cannot publish his poems, which becomes a difficult test for him.
In 1951, the hero of our article officially marries Tatyana Ozerskaya, who has been accompanying him on business trips for several years. In the same year, after a serious illness, his second wife dies.
Tarkovsky is still a lot of translators, but writes his poems on the table.
First Book Out
For the first time, Arseny Tarkovsky’s poem book was published only with the onset of the “thaw”. The collection "Before the Snow" was published in 1962, when the poet was 55 years old.
In the 60s he published two more books - "Earth - Earthly" and "Herald". Tarkovsky’s poems are becoming popular and loved by many. He even has the opportunity to go abroad - to England and France.
The death of Akhmatova in 1966 turns into a personal tragedy for him. He accompanies her coffin, speaks at a civil funeral service. Akhmatova devotes a cycle of her poems.
"Magic mountains"
In 1978, Tarkovsky published the book "The Magic Mountains" at the Merani publishing house, which includes his translations of Georgian poets and original poems. The poet Tarkovsky in the following years worked on the collections Winter Day, Favorites, and Poems of Different Years. From this list, the book “Favorites” looks the most important, which also includes his poems.
In the spring of 1982, his son went to Italy to work on the film "Nostalgia." Two years later, he is convening a press conference in Milan, at which he announces that he will not return to the Soviet Union. Arseny respected the civic position of his son, but in a letter to him he stated that he was convinced of the need for the Russian artist to live and work at home, bearing with his people all the hardships and sorrows that fall to his lot.
The hero of our article is experiencing difficulty in separation from his son, the death of Andrei in December 1986 becomes a terrible blow. After that, his illness began to develop rapidly.
The Secretariat of the Soviet Union of Cinematographers is working to ensure that the name of Andrei Tarkovsky returns to his homeland. This removes the disgrace from his father. At 80, he was even awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor. In the same year, collections of "Be yourself," "From youth to old age." He no longer participates in their preparation, as he physically feels extremely ill.
The death of Tarkovsky
Tarkovsky spends the last years of his life at the Cinema Veterans House. By November 1988, his condition was deteriorating so much that he was urgently transferred for treatment to the Central Clinical Hospital of Moscow. Already in the hospital, he learns that he was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War of the first degree.
In 1989, another poet’s book, Star on Aragats, was published. This was his last lifetime publication.
Late in the evening of May 27, 1989, Arseny Tarkovsky dies in a hospital after a long illness. For farewell, he was granted the Great Hall in the Central House of Writers. On June 1, a funeral was held in Peredelkino. Previously, the poet was buried in the Church of the Transfiguration. Arseny Tarkovsky was 81 years old.
At the end of 1989, he was posthumously awarded the USSR State Prize for a collection of poems entitled "From Youth to Old Age."
Another important publication, which, however, came out after the death of the poet, is the collection "Blessed Light." His appearance was initiated by a publisher from St. Petersburg Vadim Nazarov in 1993. It was the preface of Yuri Kublanovsky, in which he talks about the work and life of the poet. Among the compilers was his daughter Marina Tarkovskaya.
Tarkovsky’s poems are heard in many of his son’s films. In particular, in "Mirror", "Nostalgia", "Stalker". In the documentaries of Vyacheslav Amirkhanyan, “In the Middle of the World” and “Baby Life”, poetry is performed by the author.