The personal life and legacy of this historian are of great interest to a wide range of people. He is remarkable both as a scientist and as the son of great poets. Here are two main reasons to get to know him better.
Gumilyov Lev - Russian historian, ethnologist, doctor of geographical and historical sciences. He is the author of the doctrine of ethnic groups and humanity as biosocial categories. Lev Nikolaevich studied ethnogenesis, its bioenergy dominant, which he called passionarity.
Origin and childhood
1912 Lev Nikolaevich Gumilyov was born in Tsarskoye Selo. His brief biography is notable for the fact that his parents were the great Russian poets A. A. Akhmatova and N. S. Gumilyov. The marriage of the Gumilyovs broke up in 1918, and after that the boy lived either with his mother or with his grandmother in Bezhetsk. It is known that his relationship with Anna Andreevna has always been difficult. In the photo below - Lev Gumilyov with his parents.
Training and arrests, participation in the war
Lev Nikolaevich in 1934 entered the Leningrad State University, the Faculty of History. However, already at the end of the first course, he was arrested for the first time. Soon Lev Gumilyov was released, but he never managed to graduate from the university. Already in the 4th year, in 1938, he was arrested again for participating in a student terrorist organization. Gumilyov was sentenced to 10 years in the camps. Later, his fate was mitigated. Lev Nikolaevich should have served a 5-year term in Norilsk. After this time, in 1943, he worked for hire in Turukhansk and near Norilsk. Then Gumilyov went to the front. He fought as an anti-aircraft gunner until victory. Gumilyov Lev Nikolaevich reached Berlin itself. The brief biography of this scientist, as you can see, is marked not only by achievements in the field of history.
Defense of the first dissertation
In 1946, Lev Nikolayevich passed the exams at the university as an external student, and then continued his education at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the USSR Academy of Sciences, where he studied as a graduate student. His Ph.D. thesis was already ready, but in 1947 the scientist was expelled from the institute due to the decision on the journals Leningrad and Zvezda, adopted by the Central Committee of the CPSU (b). This resolution condemned the work of Anna Andreevna Akhmatova. Despite all the difficulties, Lev Nikolaevich still managed to defend his dissertation thanks to the support of the scientific community of Leningrad.
New arrest
In 1949, Gumilyov L.N. was again arrested. As you can see, his brief biography is replete with arrests. He was released only in 1956 and then fully rehabilitated. It turned out that no corpus delicti were found in Gumilyov's actions. In total, Lev Nikolayevich was arrested 4 times. In total, he had to spend 15 years in Stalin's camps.
Doctoral dissertations and publications of Gumilyov
Returning to Leningrad, Gumilyov got a temporary job in the Hermitage. In 1961, he successfully defended his doctoral dissertation on the topic "Ancient Turks of the 6th-8th centuries." Then the scientist was hired at the Institute of Geography, located at the Faculty of Geography of Leningrad State University. Here he worked until his retirement, which took place in 1986.
Gumilyov Lev defended his geographical doctoral dissertation in 1974. However, the attestation commission did not approve his degree. The manuscript of Gumilyov's work "Ethnogenesis and the Biosphere of the Earth" was forbidden to be published, but it was distributed in samizdat.
Only in 1959 did Lev Gumilyov begin to publish actively. It is no coincidence that his biography and work arouse great interest in scientific circles. He owns more than 220 works, including several monographs. In the post-Stalin era, the views of Lev Gumilyov were criticized in official publications, but there was no longer any persecution against him. Only in the early 1980s. the flow of his publications was briefly stopped. Lev Gumilyov had to address this issue to He wrote a letter about the ban on his publications. D.S. Likhachev and other historians of that time supported him.
Personal life
Lev Gumilyov experienced several novels in his life. Biography, family and children - all this interests his fans. We will not dwell on the personal life of Lev Nikolaevich. However, we note the most important facts. In 1967, Gumilyov married N. V. Simonovskaya, an artist (years of life - 1920-2004). He met her in June 1966. The couple lived together for 24 years, until the death of Lev Nikolayevich. According to others, this marriage was ideal. The wife devoted her whole life to Gumilyov. She left her old circle of acquaintances and her job. The choice of Lev Nikolaevich was also influenced by his desire not to have children: at that time his chosen one was 46 years old, and he himself was 55.
Relations with Slavophiles and Nationalists
Gumilyov's extraordinary rise in popularity took place in the post-Soviet era. His books were published in huge editions. The political views of this scientist, which he expressed in radio and television programs, in journalistic articles, were both anti-Western and anti-communist. This made his figure a symbol of anti-liberalism. Lev Nikolaevich's thesis about the "Slavic-Turkic symbiosis" was picked up by the Slavophiles at the turn of the 90s. These people had a negative attitude towards the views of the scientist on the Horde yoke, which, by the way, were very skeptical. The aforementioned thesis was taken up by the Slavophiles as a justification for the new ideology of the Russian state. The nationalists of the Turkic-speaking peoples who inhabited the USSR also referred to Lev Nikolaevich. For them, Gumilyov Lev was an indisputable authority.
"Theory of ethnogenesis" and natural sciences
Gumilyov considered himself "the last Eurasian". Nevertheless, the "theory of ethnogenesis" he created resembled Eurasianism only in general terms. From the point of view of such a science as history, the thoughts of a scientist cannot be considered a theory. However, Gumilev Lev turned primarily to the Soviet technical intelligentsia, and not to fellow historians. By that time, the technical intelligentsia had matured the conviction that in the Soviet Union history was a propaganda tool, not science, that it was falsified. The historical hypotheses of Lev Nikolaevich caused skepticism of scientists, since they were not confirmed. However, the "theory of ethnogenesis" in the eyes of Gumilyov's admirers did not lose at all from this. Lev Nikolaevich judged history from the standpoint of the natural sciences, and their scientific intelligentsia considered them less compromised than the humanities.
The main provisions of Gumilev's theory
Gumilyov created his theory, trying to understand why in the era of the Middle Ages and antiquity, undulating and rapid ethnic processes were observed in the Great Steppe. Indeed, they were often, one way or another, associated with changes in climatic conditions. Therefore, to some extent, linking landscape and ethnos by scientists is justified. Nevertheless, the "ethnogenesis theory" lost its credibility as a result of Gumilyov's absolutization of the role of natural factors. The term "passionarity", which belongs to Lev Nikolaevich, began to take on a life of its own. The scholar used it to refer to the original ethnic activism. However, now this term has nothing in common with Gumilyov's "theory of ethnogenesis".
On June 15, 1992, Lev Gumilyov died in St. Petersburg. The biography, family and heritage of the scientist were briefly reviewed by us. Now you know what made the son of two great Russian poets so popular.
25 years ago, on June 15, 1992, a prominent orientalist, historian, ethnographer, poet and translator, whose merits have long been underestimated, passed away - Lev Gumilyov. His entire life path was a refutation of the fact that "the son is not responsible for the father." He inherited from his parents not fame and recognition, but years of repression and persecution: his father Nikolai Gumilyov was shot in 1921, and his mother - Anna Akhmatova- became a disgraced poetess. Despair after 13 years in the camps and constant obstacles in the pursuit of science was aggravated by mutual misunderstanding in relations with his mother.
On October 1, 1912, Anna Akhmatova and Nikolai Gumilyov had a son, Leo. In the same year, Akhmatova published her first poetry collection "Evening", then - the collection "Rosary", which brought her recognition and brought her to the literary avant-garde. The mother-in-law suggested that the poetess take her son to raise her - both spouses were too young and busy with their own affairs. Akhmatova agreed, and this was her fatal mistake. Until the age of 16, Leo grew up with his grandmother, whom he called the "angel of kindness", and rarely saw his mother.
His parents soon separated, and in 1921 Lev learned that Nikolai Gumilyov had been shot on charges of counter-revolutionary conspiracy. In the same year, his mother visited him, and then disappeared for 4 years. “I realized that no one needs me,” Lev wrote, despairing. He could not forgive his mother for being left alone. In addition, his aunt formed his idea of an ideal father and a “bad mother” who abandoned an orphan.
Many acquaintances of Akhmatova assured that in everyday life the poetess was completely helpless and could not even take care of herself. She was not published, she lived in cramped conditions and believed that her son would be better off with her grandmother. But when the question arose about Lev's admission to the university, she took him to Leningrad. At that time, she married Nikolai Punin, but she was not the mistress of his apartment - they lived in a communal apartment, along with his ex-wife and daughter. And Leo was there on a bird's license at all, he slept on a chest in an unheated corridor. In this family, Leo felt like a stranger.
Gumilyov was not accepted to the university because of his social origin, and he had to master many professions: he worked as a laborer in the tram department, a worker on geological expeditions, a librarian, an archaeologist, a museum worker, etc. In 1934, he finally managed to become a student Faculty of History of Leningrad State University, but a year later he was arrested. Soon he was released "due to lack of corpus delicti", in 1937 he was reinstated at the university, and in 1938 he was again arrested on charges of terrorism and anti-Soviet activities. This time he was given 5 years in Norillag.
At the end of his term in 1944, Lev Gumilyov went to the front and spent the rest of the war as a private. In 1945, he returned to Leningrad, again restored at the Leningrad State University, entered graduate school, and already 3 years later he defended his Ph.D. thesis in history. In 1949 he was arrested again and sentenced without charge to 10 years in the camps. Only in 1956 was he finally released and rehabilitated.
At this time, the poetess lived in Moscow with the Ardovs. Lev heard rumors that she spent the money received for translations on gifts for Ardov's wife and her son. It seemed to Leo that his mother saved on parcels, rarely wrote and treated him too lightly.
Lev Gumilyov was so offended by his mother that he even wrote in one of his letters that if he were the son of a simple woman, he would have become a professor long ago, and that his mother "does not understand, does not feel, but only languishes." He reproached her for not petitioning for his release, while Akhmatova feared that petitions on her behalf could only aggravate his situation. In addition, the Punins and Ardovs convinced her that her efforts could harm both her and her son. Gumilyov did not take into account the circumstances in which his mother had to stay, and the fact that she could not write to him frankly about everything, since her letters were censored.
After his return, the misunderstanding between them only intensified. It seemed to the poetess that her son had become excessively irritable, harsh and touchy, but he still accused his mother of being indifferent to him and his interests, of neglecting his scientific works.
In the last 5 years they did not see each other, and when the poetess fell ill, strangers looked after her. Lev Gumilyov defended his doctorate in history, followed by another in geography, although he never received the title of professor. In February 1966, Akhmatova fell ill with a heart attack, her son came from Leningrad to visit her, but the Punins did not let him into the ward - supposedly protecting the poetess's weak heart. She passed away on March 5th. Lev Gumilyov outlived his mother by 26 years. At 55, he married and spent the rest of his days in peace and quiet.
press:
The famous historian Gumilev Lev is the son of the legendary poets Nikolai Gumilev and Anna Akhmatova. In his youth, he was subjected to repression and visited the camps. As a scientist, Gumilyov is best known for his passionate theory of ethnogenesis and studies of the East.
Childhood
Lev Gumilyov was born on October 1, 1912 in St. Petersburg. He was the only child of his parents. In 1918, Akhmatova and Gumilyov divorced. Then the Civil War began. Lev saw his father for the last time in 1921 in Bezhetsk. Soon the poet Nikolai Gumilyov was shot by the Bolsheviks (he was accused of participating in an anti-Soviet conspiracy).
In the future, the child grew up with his paternal grandmother. In 1929, Lev Gumilyov, who graduated from school, moved from Bezhetsk to Leningrad to live with his mother. He began to live in a communal apartment in the Fountain House, where his stepfather and his numerous relatives were his neighbors. Due to his aristocratic origin, Gumilyov had difficulty entering a higher educational institution.
Youth
In 1931, Lev Gumilyov entered the courses in a geological expedition. This was followed by a long journey to the east of the country. It was then that interests were formed that defined Gumilyov as a historian and scientist in general. The young man visited Tajikistan, in the Baikal region. In 1933, after returning from the expedition, Gumilyov Lev ended up in Moscow.
In the Mother See, the young man became close to the poet Osip Mandelstam, who considered him "a continuation of his father." Then Gumilyov began to work in the literary field - he translated the poems of poets of different Soviet nationalities. In the same 1933, Leo was arrested for the first time (the arrest lasted 9 days). The problem was the "unreliability" of the writer. The origin and circle of contacts affected. His patron Osip Mandelstam will soon be repressed.
In 1934, Gumilyov Lev, despite the status of a dispossessed, entered Leningrad University, where he chose the Faculty of History. As a student, the young man lived in need and poverty, often turning into natural hunger. His teachers were bright and distinguished scientists: Vasily Struve, Solomon Lurie, Evgeny Tarle, Alexander Yakubovsky and others. Lev Nikolaevich considered sinologist Nikolai Kuner to be his main teacher and mentor.
After returning from a new expedition, Gumilyov was arrested for the second time. It was 1935. The day before, Kirov was killed in Leningrad, and mass repressions began in the city. During interrogation, Gumilyov admitted that his public conversations were anti-Soviet in nature. Together with him, Punin's stepfather was arrested. Anna Akhmatova stood up for the men. She convinced Boris Pasternak to write a pleading letter to Joseph Stalin. Soon both Punin and Gumilyov were released.
In the camp
Due to the arrest, Lev was expelled from the university. Under patronage, however, he became a member of an archaeological expedition that explored the ruins of the Khazar city of Sarkel. Then Gumilyov was reinstated at Leningrad State University. However, already in 1938, at the height of the repressions, he was again arrested and this time sentenced to a 10-year term in the Gulag.
The Norilsk camp became the place where Lev Gumilyov served his sentence. The biography of the young intellectual was similar to the biographies of many of his other contemporaries from the same environment. Gumilyov found himself in the camp along with many scientists and thinkers. Zeke was assisted by his teachers and comrades. So, Nikolai Kuehner sent books to Gumilyov.
Meanwhile, the Great Patriotic War began. Many campers aspired to get to the front. Gumilev ended up in the Red Army only in 1944. He became an anti-aircraft gunner, participated in several offensive operations. His army entered the German city of Altdamm. Gumilyov received medals "For the victory over Germany" and "For the capture of Berlin." In November 1945, the already free soldier returned to Leningrad.
New term
After the war, Gumilyov got a job as a firefighter at the Institute of Oriental Studies. This position allowed him to study in the rich library of the Academy of Sciences. Then Gumilyov at the age of 33 defended his diploma on the topic of Central Asian terracotta figurines. In 1948, it was the turn of a dissertation on the Turkic Khaganate. The life of a scientist settled for a short time.
In 1949, Gumilyov was again in the camp. This time, the reason for his persecution was, on the one hand, in the "Leningrad case", and on the other hand, in pressure on the historian's mother, Anna Akhmatova. Lev Nikolaevich was in the camp until the 20th Congress of the CPSU and the rehabilitation that followed. Anna Akhmatova dedicated the poem "Requiem" about Soviet repressions to her son. Gumilyov's relationship with his mother was extremely complex and contradictory. After the final return from the camp, Lev Nikolayevich quarreled with Akhmatova several times. Anna Andreevna died in 1966.
For the first three years of his freedom, Gumilyov was a senior researcher at the Hermitage Library. At this time, the scientist was processing his own working drafts, written in the camps. In the second half of the 1950s. Lev Nikolaevich talked a lot with the orientalist Yuri Roerich, the founder of the Eurasian theory Peter Savitsky and Georgy Vernadsky.
Gumilev's first articles were published in 1959. The scientist had to struggle for a long time with the prejudice and suspicion of the scientific community towards his personality. When his materials finally began to get into print, they immediately earned universal recognition. Historian's articles appeared in the publications "Bulletin of Ancient History", "Soviet Ethnography", "Soviet Archeology".
"Hun"
Lev Gumilyov's first monograph was the book "Hunnu", the manuscript of which he brought to the Institute of Oriental Studies in 1957 (it was published three years later). This work is considered the cornerstone of the researcher's work. It was in it that the ideas that Gumilyov later developed throughout his scientific career were first laid down. This is the opposition of Russia to Europe, the explanation of social and historical phenomena by natural factors (including the landscape) and the earliest references to the concept of passionarity.
The work "Xiongnu" received the greatest recognition from Turkologists and Sinologists. The book was immediately noticed by the main Soviet sinologists. At the same time, Gumilyov's first monograph found principled critics. The further work of Lev Nikolayevich also caused directly opposite assessments.
Russia and the Horde
In the 1960s the theme of Russian medieval history became the main one in the works published by Lev Gumilyov. Ancient Russia interested him from many sides. The scientist began by conducting a study of the Tale of Igor's Campaign, giving it a new dating (the middle, not the end of the 12th century).
Then Gumilev took up the topic of the empire of Genghis Khan. He was interested in how a state arose in the harsh steppe Mongolia that conquered half the world. Lev Nikolayevich devoted the books “Hun”, “Hun in China”, “Ancient Turks”, “Search for a fictitious kingdom” to the eastern hordes.
Passionarity and ethnogenesis
The most famous part of the scientific heritage left by Lev Gumilyov is the theory of ethnogenesis and passionarity. The first article on this topic was published by him in 1970. Gumilyov called passionarity the super-intense activity of a person in his desire to achieve a certain goal. The historian imposed this phenomenon on the doctrine of the formation of ethnic groups.
The theory of Lev Gumilyov said that the survival and success of the people depends on the number of passionaries in it. The scientist did not consider this factor the only one, but he defended its importance in the process of formation and displacement of ethnic groups by competitors.
The drive theory of Lev Gumilyov, which caused serious scientific controversy, said that the reason for the emergence of a large number of leaders and extraordinary personalities are cyclic drive pushes. This phenomenon is rooted in biology, genetics and anthropology. As a result of it, superethnoi arose, Lev Gumilyov believed. The scientist's books included hypotheses about the causes of the origin of passionary shocks. The author also called them energy impulses of a cosmic nature.
Contribution to Eurasianism
As a thinker, Gumilyov is considered a supporter of Eurasianism - a philosophical doctrine about the roots of Russian culture, rooted in the synthesis of European and nomadic Asian traditions. At the same time, the scientist in his works did not touch on the political side of the dispute at all, which markedly differed from many adherents of this theory. Gumilyov (especially at the end of his life) criticized Western borrowings in Russia a lot. At the same time, he was not opposed to democracy and the market economy. The historian only believed that the Russian ethnos, due to its youth, lags behind the Europeans and therefore is not ready to adopt Western institutions.
The original author's interpretation of Eurasianism was reflected in several works written by Lev Gumilyov. "Ancient Russia and the Great Steppe", "Black Legend", "Echo of the Battle of Kulikovo" - this is just an incomplete list of these works. What is their main message? Gumilyov believed that the Tatar-Mongol yoke was in fact an alliance between the Horde and Russia. For example, Alexander Nevsky helped Batu, and in return received support in the fight against the Western crusaders.
Khazaria
One of the most controversial works of Gumilyov is the Zigzag of History. This essay touched on the little-studied topic of the Khazar Khaganate in the south of modern Russia. In his work, Gumilev described the history of this state. The author dwelled in detail on the role of Jews in the life of Khazaria. The rulers of this state, as you know, converted to Judaism. Gumilyov believed that the kaganate lived under the Jewish yoke, the end of which was put after the campaign of the Kyiv prince Svyatoslav Igorevich.
Last years
With the beginning of perestroika, the poems of Nikolai Gumilyov reappeared in the Soviet press. His son was in contact with Literaturnaya Gazeta and Ogonyok, helped collect materials, and even read his father's works at public events. Glasnost increased the circulation of books and Lev Nikolayevich himself. In the last Soviet years, many of his works were published: "Ethnogenesis", "Ethnogenesis and the Biosphere of the Earth", etc.
In 1990, Leningrad television recorded a dozen and a half lectures by the historian. It was the pinnacle of his lifetime popularity and fame. The following year, Gumilyov became an academician of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences. In 1992, Lev Nikolaevich underwent an operation to remove the gallbladder. It resulted in profuse internal bleeding. The scientist spent the last days of his life in a coma. He passed away on June 15, 1992 at the age of 79.
For the first three days of September, I watched the exciting TV movie “You are my son and my horror”, filmed in 2005, but for some reason I missed it. And you need to watch it. He once again brings us back to the insoluble and difficult problem of the relationship between two very close people who left a tangible mark on Russian culture, Anna Akhmatova and Lev Gumilyov.
It is unlikely that anyone will dare to dispute the contribution of Anna Akhmatova to it, but Lev Gumilyov, for all the drama and narrowness of his life in the wild (he spent 14 years in camps, he was arrested four times), remained in history as a prominent orientalist who put forward a well-known theory "passionarity".
Both were bright, outstanding figures, both lived the hardest lives, each of them loved and pitied the other in his own way, but could not understand. Even while professing Christian views, these two did not forgive each other, and we do not know whether they recognized each other "in the new world."
But let me tell you about the movie. It involves two people. Scriptwriter and presenter Nina Popova, she is also the director of the Anna Akhmatova Museum. I was not in the St. Petersburg museum of Akhmatova, but I was glad that such a nice, knowledgeable and artistic person was in charge of it.
She managed to present us the story of mother and son subtly, without excessive pathos, with a great deal of tact in relation to all its participants.
The share of the People's Artist of Russia Nikolai Burov fell "the role of Gumilyov", he reads letters from Lyova - to her mother from Slepnev, Bezhetsk, to her and other women - from the camps. Good artists do it this way - and I realized that Burov is a very good artist, however, now he is in an administrative position - the director of St. Isaac's Cathedral - that through the sound and vibration of the voice, through the tone and intonation, you vividly see the author of the letter, with his character and with all manners...
Letters are read unique, not previously published, which is specifically stated in the credits. In fact, she never heard or read Anna Ivanovna Gumilyova's letters to her daughter-in-law, Akhmatova. In them, she calls Anna Andreevna “my dear Anichka,” and signs the letters like this: “Your mother, who loves you dearly.” Akhmatova responds to this with a reciprocal caress, “My dear mother.”
Agree, the relationship between the mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law is rare, downright amazing, especially when you consider that Lev Nikolaevich Gumilyov (1912 - 1992), the only son of Akhmatova and Gumilyov, spent all his childhood with his grandmother. Anna Ivanovna and her grandson lived on the estate of Slepnevo, then in Bezhetsk, and Anna Andreevna (Nikolai Gumilyov was lucky to visit Annushek, his second wife was also Anna, Anna Engelhardt) occasionally came from St. Petersburg to visit her son.
But let's not throw stones at Akhmatova, who repented: "I'm a bad mother." That, it seems, was not the issue. The child was a copy of Nikolai, from childhood and all his life he idolized Gumilyov, he was always unreasonably harsh with his mother, he did not believe her.
If you look back at the past and wonder if Akhmatova loved Gumilyov, then you will remember her numerous refusals to his marriage proposals, his suicide attempt, and how, starved out, she finally agreed to become his wife. And what followed? Quarrels, jealousy, long absences of Gumilyov, who left to assert himself in Africa, his betrayals, their honeymoon trip to Paris, in which her future romance with Modigliani has already been outlined ...
Of course she didn't. And there was someone in her life who preceded Gumilyov.
In general, the life of Akhmatova in the 1910s and 20s is full of mysteries for me. And poetry sometimes not only does not help, but interferes with a reliable picture.
But I didn’t say about one more - the most important - reason why Akhmatova was in no hurry to take Lyova to her. In addition to the lack of housing, except for an unsettled life, she was a Poet, a poet by the grace of God, which her husband Gumilyov, who was considered a poetic master and who brought her, a neophyte, into the poetic circle, also recognized. It was in the year of Levushka's birth (1912) that Akhmatova published her first poetry collection "Evening". It was not that she could not combine maternal duties with the work of the Poet - she did not want to.
Just like I didn't want to do housework.
I remember one amazing story in the very interesting memoirs of Marianna Kozyreva. The day after the last - fourth - arrest of Leva (and he was taken in 1933, 1935, 1938 and 1949), Akhmatova came to the apartment where Marianna shared a room with Ptitsa, the woman whom Lev loved. She said that it was urgent to destroy all her manuscripts, that she herself had already been searched for the second time, and in her excitement asked me to give her some kind of sock to mend.
And when she left, Marianna was amazed at the filigree darning of this sock, remembering at the same time that Anna Andreevna never patched up the hole in her black dressing gown with chrysanthemums. What's this? It seems that it is by no means inability, but unwillingness. A poet, she did not want to be distracted from her work, that main work that brought her a high place in history.
The TV series got its name from the lines from REQUIEM:
I've been screaming for seventeen months
I'm calling you home.
I threw myself at the feet of the executioner -
You are my son and my horror.
Son and horror. The combination of these two words is characteristic. The son of a poet shot by the Bolsheviks and far from the revolution, a "chamber" poetess, Lev was under attack from birth. He sat "for his father and for his mother," but his father was in the grave, and his name was holy, while his mother could always be thrown in the face of an accusation.
She had nothing to answer. Didn't save? But this: “thrown at the feet of the executioner” doesn’t speak for itself? The film lists those numerous addressees to whom Akhmatova addressed on her own behalf and (for fear of harm) not on her own behalf. Did she do everything? Why was Lev not released for so long? But it is easiest to accuse a weak, lonely woman who was not published, subjected to ideological persecution, that she lives only for herself, loves others more than her son, does nothing for him ...
Lev scolded Akhmatova even at the Requiem. He was dissatisfied with the fact that for him, a living person who had passed unharmed through the war and the camps, his mother had laid down a REQUIEM.
But I wonder if Mozart wrote his REQUIEM for the deceased, whose family ordered him music? Of course not. It was a requiem for his own life, which Pushkin perfectly felt, and for the life of each of us who have lived, are living and are going to live in this world. It is strange how an adult and deep person did not understand that Akhmatova dedicated REQUIEM far not only to him. This is a cry for all those killed in the terrible haze of terror that enveloped the country in those years. For the wives and mothers who stood in line with the transfer near the Big House. For all the unfortunate inhabitants of cities and towns, intimidated, tormented by fear, distraught from the then darkness and absurdity.
Distraught.
Nina Popova says that during the Stalin years, Akhmatova had an obsession that someone was reading her manuscripts. To check, she put a hair (?) on the page, returned - and it seemed to her that the hair was moved. Is this not madness? And won't Akhmatova herself say in the Requiem: "Already madness has covered half of the soul with the wing"?
There was one more thing: suspiciousness reaching to mania. Akhmatova believed that the main woman in Gumilyov's life, Natalya Vasilievna Varbanets (1916 - 1987), or Bird, as Lev called her, was a State Security agent sent to him. Thought unproven, but was able to convince him. However, this did not prevent the Lion and the Bird from connecting, creating a family nest. Natalya Vasilievna, according to the memoirs of Marianna Kozyreva, “was unusually beautiful. The real Nastasya Filippovna. Leo fell in love immediately, the next day after the meeting he came to propose. But Natalya's heart was busy, all her life she loved a colleague at work in the rare book department, Vladimir Lyublinsky. She replied to the lion that she would “think about it.” Nothing good came out of this novel.
After the death of Akhmatova, the bird learned about the suspicions that the mother conveyed to her son, was horrified "from slander."
Isn't it surprising that Akhmatova, who suffered from slander all her life (“And everywhere slander accompanied me”), became its source for another person? And isn't it the terrible time, disturbing and deforming the human consciousness, that is to blame?
And Lev Nikolaevich treated his former lover not at all like a gentleman. Having met her in a St. Petersburg tram ten years later, he stopped and shouted at the whole tram, quoting Pushkin: “Is it possible, oh, Naina, are you? Naina, where is your beauty? The poor woman ran away from the tram. And again I think ... Could Lev Gumilyov have a different character? Calm, balanced? With such a life of his, which did not give his soul any sleep or rest?
In my youth I heard a lecture by Lev Nikolaevich at Moscow University. Then there was a rumor about his extraordinary theory, which explains the powerful movements of entire peoples by processes occurring in the atmosphere (at least that's how I remember it).
The lecture was great. I was surprised that so many were named among the passionate peoples, all except the Jews. In general, in the process of further reading of his works, I found out that, unlike his mother, a real Judophile, the son was more of a Judeophobe. Maybe the principle worked here too: to be different from your mother in everything?
In these notes of mine, I sometimes go away from the film, but this is good - it caused me a lot of thoughts "into the pandanus." I'm sure it will inspire you too.
For the last five years of Akhmatova's life, she and Lev Gumilyov did not communicate, did not see each other.
The archive of his mother, bequeathed to him, Lev Nikolaevich did not get. Nina Popova explains it this way: “In 1969, the Soviet court could not transfer the inheritance to a camper.” The archive of Akhmatova, inherited by the Punin family, was sold out.
Lev Gumilyov in 1967, at the age of 55, married - again to Natalya, only this time Viktorovna. His last years passed in peace and quiet. He survived his mother by 26 years. And when I think about both of them now, for some reason it seems to me that “in the new world” they will call out to each other and forgive. BUT? What do you think? Does it happen?
You are my son and my horror. By the roads of parting
September 20, Sunday, Alexei Navalny gathers Muscovites for a rally in support of the change of power.
Come all who have not forgotten the "castling" and do not want to repeat it!
This year marks the 120th anniversary of the birth of Anna Akhmatova. It would seem that during this time, the researchers of her life and work have already unearthed everything - they counted everything printed, climbed around the places of residence and compiled a list of numerous lovers. However, St. Petersburg researchers Vladimir and Natalya Evsevyov (VIN) argue that the researchers lost sight of Akhmatova's most beloved man. This is ... Emperor Nicholas II. No matter how crazy this version may seem, it surprisingly explains the inconsistencies in the official biography of Anna Akhmatova.
Three riddles of the poetess
The first mystery that the biographers of the poetess still cannot solve is why did she choose the pseudonym "Akhmatova"? After all, Anna Gorenko (the real name of the poetess) had more advantageous and logical options. For example, she was distantly related to the first Russian poetess, Anna Bunina. For a novice writer, such a well-known pseudonym is a real success! But Anna ignored Bunina. Unexpectedly for everyone, she took the obscure surname of her maternal great-grandmother - Akhmatova - as a sign of belonging to the descendants of the Mongol Khan Akhmad. In other words, Akhmatova wanted to feel like the heiress of a ruler more than the first Russian poetess!
The second mystery is the strange behavior of Akhmatova. The poetess said that she grew up in a “philistine” family, but behaved as if she had been brought up at the royal court. This trait of hers was necessarily pointed out by everyone who left memories of Akhmatova. For example, Korney Chukovsky wrote: “In her eyes, in her posture and in her treatment of people, one main feature of her personality was outlined: majesty, regal, monumentally important tread ...” Sometimes the poetess was so involved in the role of the queen that her son Leo publicly scolded her: "Mom, do not reign!"
Finally, the third mystery is the too rapid success of Akhmatova's pre-revolutionary collections. Even her first - according to the poetess herself, "helpless" - poems for some reason were met with the unanimous approval of official critics. The only one who did not share their enthusiasm was Akhmatova's husband, Nikolai Gumilyov. Despite the marriage ties, for a year and a half he categorically refused to publish her poems in his association "Poets' Workshop"! They seemed to Gumilyov immature and unworthy of publication.
Grey-eyed king
St. Petersburg artists and researchers Natalia and Vladimir Evseviev lived in exile for more than 10 years in Soviet times. It was from there that they brought the sensational version that behind the royal manners and the poetic success of the young Anna Akhmatova was none other than the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II.
For some time we had to live in Provence in an emigrant environment, - the Evsevievy told MK in St. Petersburg. - There we were introduced to the old Russian "whites" who fled the revolution abroad. These people told a lot about the situation in St. Petersburg secular society at the beginning of the 20th century. In particular, they told us that Akhmatova in the 1910s was the secret favorite of Nicholas II. At first we, to be honest, did not attach any importance to this. But then they found another piece of evidence - in the memoirs of Akhmatova's peer, the artist Yuri Annenkov, which came out in Paris under the title "The Tale of Trifles": "The entire literary public in those years was gossip about the novel by Nicholas II and Akhmatova," wrote Annenkov!
Where could Akhmatova get along with Nikolai Romanov? Turns out it was easy!
Akhmatova lived in Bezymyanny Lane of Tsarskoe Selo. The windows of her house overlooked the residence of the royal family - the Alexander Palace. By the way, the royal residence was then open to everyone, so Akhmatova could easily get acquainted with the emperor during a walk! Now it sounds incredible, but at that time the leaders of the country were much closer to the people: for example, it is known that during the First World War Sergei Yesenin worked in a military hospital side by side with Empress Alexandra and the royal daughters.
It is interesting that Akhmatova, categorically protesting against the myth of her closeness with Alexander Blok, never refuted rumors of an affair with the emperor. Moreover, in Akhmatov's poems one can find a lot of confirmation of this connection! For example, in her first collection “Evening”, which was published in 1912 (Akhmatova was already married to Gumilyov at that time!), The image of a “gray-eyed” crowned lover is very often found, happiness with which for some fatal reason is impossible. One of the poems is called “The Gray-Eyed King” (1910). It is interesting that the most memorable feature of the appearance of Nicholas II, according to the memoirs of foreign diplomats, was precisely “gray radiant eyes”!
We found a poem that is absolutely dedicated to Nicholas II, the Evsevyovs say. - It is dated 1913 and is called "Confusion": "It was stuffy from the burning light, And his views were like rays. I just shuddered: this one can tame me. There are also lines: “And the eyes looked at me with mysterious ancient faces ...” Who else, besides the emperor, at that time could boast of a “mysterious ancient face”?
Conspiracy of Silence
If you believe Evsevyov, then the biography of Akhmatova will open in a new light. The question of the khan's pseudonym of the poetess and her strange regal behavior is removed immediately: being the emperor's mistress, it is difficult not to adopt majestic manners from him. For example, the previous mistress of Nicholas II - the ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya - also behaved like a queen.
The success of Akhmatova's pre-revolutionary books - "Evening" and "Rosary" - also becomes clear: the collections were published in 1912 and 1914, when, according to Evsevyov, her relationship with Nicholas II was in full swing. Who would dare to criticize the work of the imperial mistress! It is significant that after the fall of the tsarist power, talk about her romance with the tsar in aristocratic circles immediately subsided. At the same time, the poetess lost the favor of critics: her third collection, The White Flock, published in September 1917, was left without attention. Later, Akhmatova released two more books, but they were waiting in the wings for almost half a century.
This silence was salutary for Akhmatova, - the Evsevyovs are sure. - After all, she, unlike many people of her circle, remained in Soviet Russia. Imagine what the Soviet authorities would have done with her if rumors were circulating that the poetess was the mistress of the deposed tsar!
The romance with Nicholas II explains a lot in Akhmatova's personal life. For example, the fact that in her youth she fell in love exclusively with men older than herself. Or the fact that she had the warmest relationship with her lovers Nikolai - Nikolai Nedobrovo and Nikolai Punin, who became her third husband.
Child "not from husband"
The exception is Nikolai Gumilyov, with whom life did not work out right away. They got married in 1910, and before the wedding, the poetess wrote to her Tsarskoye Selo friend Sergei von Stein: “I am getting married to a friend of my youth, Nikolai Stepanovich Gumilyov. He loves me for 3 years now and I believe that my destiny is to be his wife. Do I love him, I don’t know…”
Akhmatova recalled their family life with sarcasm: “Nikolai Stepanovich was always single. I can't imagine him married, she said. “Soon after the birth of Lyova (1912), we silently gave each other complete freedom and ceased to be interested in the intimate side of each other’s life.”
In 1918, Gumilyov and Akhmatova officially divorced.
By the way, with the birth of Lev Gumilyov, too, not everything is clear. Apparently, Nikolai Gumilyov's son was deeply indifferent: according to the memoirs of Akhmatova, immediately after her birth, her husband began defiantly to spin novels on the side. And Emma Gershtein, one of the most authoritative Soviet literary critics and a contemporary of the poetess, wrote in the book “From Notes on Anna Akhmatova”: “She hated her poem “The Gray-Eyed King” - because her child was from the King, and not from her husband.” On what basis Gerstein made such a statement is unknown, but literary scholars of this level do not allow themselves groundless statements. And, according to Evseviev and Annenkov, it turns out that Lev Gumilyov was ... the illegitimate son of Nicholas II!
Alisa Berkovskaya
And the stars warned
Astrology threw another "proof" of the possible connection between Akhmatova and Nicholas II. According to the stars, it turns out that Anna was born between a solar and lunar eclipse - this is a very bad sign. Astrologers claim that women with such a star chart attract "fatal" men - those who are destined to experience suffering and tragic death.
