The unbearable grayness of being. Where to run? How to hide from her? Or maybe dispel with a colorful dream? Each has its own recipe, which, however, does not guarantee complete healing and is accompanied by a host of side effects, such as, for example, even more viscous, deep disappointment. As they say, we treat one, but another appears, no less difficult. Such grief-treatment is discussed in the story of the contemporary writer Tatyana Tolstoy “The Okkervil River” (A brief summary of the work follows).
Storybook
1999 year. Podkova Publishing House publishes a new collection of short stories by Tatyana Tolstoy under the rather unusual title The Okkervil River, a summary of which is given in this article. Needless to say, the book was a great success with a wide range of readers. Why? As the saying goes, the reason does not like to walk alone and takes with it a myriad of friends. Therefore, there are many reasons why the book so quickly found its reader and fell in love with him for many years, and one of them is the undoubted talent of the author, Tatyana Tolstoy, her poetic syllable, a little masterful, full of epithets, metaphors, and unexpected comparisons, her kind of humor, its mysterious, romantically sad, magical world, which either enters into a fierce clash with the mortal world, somewhere meaningless, oozing with longing, then coexists with it quite amicably and peacefully, suggesting philosophical thoughts.
Summary: “Okkervil River”, Tatyana Tolstaya
The collection also includes the eponymous short story “The River Okkervil”. In short, the plot of the story is simple. Someone by the name of Simeonov lives in a large, “wet, flowing, beating wind in the glass” in Petersburg city by the name of Simeonov, a nosy, aging, balding bachelor. His life is simple and lonely: a small apartment, translations of boring books from some rare language, and for dinner - processed cheese and sweet tea, fished from the window-sill. But is she really alone and joyless, as it might seem at first glance? Not at all. After all, he has Vera Vasilievna ....
In the story “The River Ockerville,” a brief summary of which cannot convey the whole beauty of the work, its radiant, eclipsing half-sky voice coming from the old gramophone, spoke to him every evening words of love, or rather not to him, she loved her so passionately, but in essence , only him, only his one, and her feelings were mutual. Loneliness of Simeonov with Vera Vasilievna was the most blessed, the most long-awaited, the most deceased. Nobody and nothing could compare with him: neither his family, nor his home comfort, nor Tamara and her matrimonial snares waiting for him here and there. He needs only the disembodied Vera Vasilievna, beautiful, young, pulling on a long glove, in a small hat with a veil, mysteriously and leisurely walking along the embankment of the Okkervil River.
The Okkervil River (a summary of the work you are reading right now) is the final stop of the tram. The name is alluring, but Simeonov was never there, did not know her surroundings, landscapes and did not want to know. Maybe it’s “a quiet, picturesque, slowed down world like in a dream”, or maybe ... That’s exactly this “maybe”, probably gray, “outskirts, vulgar”, seen once, will freeze and poison it with its hopelessness.
Once in the fall
The summary of the work “River of the Occerville” does not end there. One fall, buying yet another rare record with enchanting romances of Vera Vasilyevna from a crocodile speculator, Simeonov learns that the singer is alive and well, despite her advanced years, and lives somewhere in Leningrad, though in poverty. The brightness of her talent, as often happens, quickly faded and soon went out, and with her diamonds, a husband, a son, an apartment and two lovers flew into oblivion. After this heartbreaking story, two demons started a serious debate in Simeonov’s head. One preferred to leave the old woman alone, lock the door, sometimes opening it for Tamara, and continue to live “without extra costs”: love in moderation, languor in moderation, work in moderation. The other, on the contrary, demanded to immediately find the poor old woman and make her happy with his love, attention, care, but not for free - in return he will finally look into her eyes full of tears and see in them only immeasurable joy and long-awaited love.
Long-awaited meeting
No sooner said than done. The street address booth prompted the address you were looking for, however, it was mundane and even somehow offensive - for only five cents. The market helped with flowers - small, yellow chrysanthemums wrapped in cellophane. The bakery offered a fruity cake, decent, albeit with a thumbprint on the jelly surface: well, nothing, the old woman sees poorly and probably will not notice ... He called. The door swung open. Noise, singing, laughter, a table littered with salads, cucumbers, fish, bottles, fifteen laughing people and a white, enormous, flushed Vera Vasilievna telling a joke. Today is her birthday. Simeonov was unceremoniously squeezed into the table, flowers, cake were taken and forced to drink for the health of the birthday girl. He ate, drank, and smiled mechanically: his life was crushed, his “magic diva” was stolen, or rather, she herself gave pleasure to steal herself. For whom did she exchange him, beautiful, sad, albeit bald, but prince? Fifteen mortals.
Life goes on
It turns out that on the first day of every month, amateur fans of Vera Vasilyevna gather in her communal apartment, listen to old records and help as much as they can. They asked if Simeonov had his own bathtub, and if so, they would bring him a “magic diva” to bathe, because it’s common here, and she loves how to wash herself. And Simeonov sat and thought: Vera Vasilyevna died, we must return home, marry Tamara and eat hotter every day.
The next day, in the evening, Vera Vasilievna was brought to Simeonov’s home - to bathe. After long ablutions, she came out all red, steamed, barefoot in a dressing gown, and Simeonov, smiling and inhibited, went to rinse the bath, wash off the gray spools and pull out the gray hair clogged from the drain hole ...
Conclusion
Have you read the summary of The River Okkervil (Tolstaya T.)? Good. And now we advise you to open the first page of the story and start reading the text itself. About a dark, cold city, about a bachelor feast on a spread newspaper, about ham trimmings, about precious dates with Vera Vasilievna, which Tamara so impudently and unceremoniously sought to destroy ... The author spares no paints, makes savory strokes, sometimes even too much, drawing every detail, capturing the smallest details, fully and convexly. It’s impossible not to admire!