Glossolalia

by Andrei Bely, Thomas R. Beyer Jr. (Translator), Karen Swassjan (Foreword)

Andrei Bely was one of the most prolific poets, novelists, and theoreticians among the Russian Symbolists. Engaged throughout his life with the essence of language, his thoughts and findings emerge repeatedly in his essays and novels. None of his writings on the subject, however, are as remarkable and multi-faceted as this Poem about Sound. Glossolalia is a complex examination of philology, philosophy, esoterica, and poetry, all in search of the relationship between sound and sense. It reverberates with sound associations and transcends all boundaries of language, discipline, and tradition. It is simultaneously a treatise on the origins of language and the world’s creation through the movements of sounds. Bely reenacts, through the mouth, the cosmology of Rudolf Steiner. Bely’s work, in its bold attempt to invoke the "living word," remains one of the most far-reaching poetic experiments of the twentieth Century, and this edition offers his fascinating text for the first time in both an English and a German translation, along with the original Russian version and an in-depth commentary by Thomas R. Beyer.

Genres: Poetry, Russia

120 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Boris Bugaev was born in Moscow, into a prominent intellectual family. His father, Nikolai Bugaev, was a leading mathematician who is regarded as a founder of the Moscow school of mathematics. His mother was not only highly intelligent but a famous society beauty, and the focus of considerable gossip. Young Boris was a polymath whose interests included mathematics, music, philosophy, and literature. He would go on to take part in both the Symbolist movement and the Russian school of neo-Kantianism.

Nikolai Bugaev was well known for his influential philosophical essays, in which he decried geometry and probability and trumpeted the virtues of hard analysis. Despite—or because of—his father's mathematical tastes, Boris Bugaev was fascinated by probability and particularly by entropy, a notion to which he frequently refers in works such as Kotik Letaev.

Bely's creative works notably influenced—and were influenced by—several literary schools, especially symbolism. They feature a striking mysticism and a sort of moody musicality. The far-reaching influence of his literary voice on Russian writers (and even musicians) has frequently been compared to the impact of James Joyce in the English-speaking world. The novelty of his sonic effects has also been compared to the innovative music of Charles Ives.[citation needed]

As a young man, Bely was strongly influenced by his acquaintance with the family of philosopher Vladimir Solovyov, especially Vladimir's younger brother Mikhail, described in his long autobiographical poem The First Encounter (1921); the title is a reflection of Vladimir Solovyov's Three Encounters.

Bely's symbolist novel Petersburg (1916; 1922) is generally considered to be his masterpiece. The book employs a striking prose method in which sounds often evoke colors. The novel is set in the somewhat hysterical atmosphere of turn-of-the-century Petersburg and the Russian Revolution of 1905. To the extent that the book can be said to possess a plot, this can be summarized as the story of the hapless Nikolai Apollonovich, a ne'er-do-well who is caught up in revolutionary politics and assigned the task of assassinating a certain government official—his own father. At one point, Nikolai is pursued through the Petersburg mists by the ringing hooves of the famous bronze statue of Peter the Great.[citation needed]

In his later years Bely was influenced by Rudolf Steiner’s anthroposophy[3][4] and became a personal friend of Steiner's. He died, aged 53, in Moscow.

Bely was one of the major influences on the theater of Vsevolod Meyerhold.[citation needed]

The Andrei Bely Prize (Russian: Премия Андрея Белого), one of the most important prizes in Russian literature, was named after him. His poems were set on music and frequently performed by Russian singer-songwriters.

Reviews

[Gorkem · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okuduğum en ilham verici kitaplardan biri olarak Bely serüvenime devam ediyorum. Kitabın vokallerden ve seslerin genel yapısından hareketle, antroposofik ve rus mistizmi öğretileriyle, kişinin kendisini ses ve edebiyat ilişkisiyle adlandırma pratikleri olarak adlandırılabilir bu kitap, ki zaten

Glossolalia'nın tanımlamasına baktığımızda aşağıdaki tanımlama ile karşılaşıyoruz:

"Glossolalia, genellikle dini törenler sırasında, anlaşılır bir dilin ötesinde, anlamı olmayan seslerin, hecelerin veya konuşma dilinin akıcı bir şekilde ifade edilmesi olarak tanımlanabilir. Bu terim, daha çok "dil konuşma" veya "kutsal diller" olarak bilinen, dini extaz veya trans durumları sırasında bireyler tarafından konuşulan, anlaşılmayan dil benzeri seslerin üretilmesi olayını ifade etmek için kullanılır."

Sonuç:
Glossolalia, yirminci yüzyıl başı Rus avangard akımının önemli eserlerinden biridir. Deneysel şiir ve dilin gücüyle ilgilenen okuyuculara hitap eden, özgün ve etkileyici bir çalışma. Eser, dilin sınırlarını zorlayarak yeni bir ifade tarzı bulmaya yönelik kendini kısa bölümler halinde ifade ederken, ses, evren, varoluş ve şiirsellik gibi çok katmanlı temalar üzerinde yoğunlaşır, okuyucuya dilin sınırlarını aşan bir deneyim sunmaktadır.

Meraklısına,

İyi okumalar!
10/7

[Brodolomi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alisa je jureći belog zeca propala kroz zečju rupu, čitalac je jureći Belog Andreju propao kroz usnu duplju pravo u grkljan.

Napisana 1917. godine u vreme kada se Beli vratio u Rusiju nakon četvorogodišnjeg zaluđivanja antropozofijom iz ruke Rudolfa Štajnera lično, „Glososalija” je vrlo moguće najuvrnutiji tekst ruskog simbolizma. Sastavljena je od 75 poetizovanih fragmenata koji dišu na dva nivoa: kao ontološko-kosmološki ep i zvučno-semantička fantazija o jeziku. Oba nivoa se odigravaju u grkljanu. Ljudskom? Božjem? Pesnikovom? Čitaočevom? Koga je briga dok lepo grkolji.

I dok se probijamo kroz jezik i propadamo kroz crveno-narandžaste otvore „o”, uspinjemo se uz plavo „i”, kačimo se na zmije u vidu „H” i plivamo u krvi slova „M”, valja se prepustiti. Ne može se ovde mnogo logike upecati, ali se vraški može uživati u vrhunskoj poeziji. U krajnjem slučaju za Belog je logika zajedno sa gramatikom, zvukom, mišlju ili pokretom samo još jedna od mogućih boja duge, zato „Sve reči možemo smelo iščitavati”.

Sad mi se opet čita „Petrograd”.

[Sydney]

When he said

The lips compose like a funnel into "o"; and the orifices of the mouth are filled with air; the orifice of the mouth is - simply an "O"; inside the externality of the consonant world is being formed; in the coming of the soul "o" is - the soul quality of the child: "m" is - the flesh; before birth the relationship of the soul to body is thus: - "Om" which signifies: inside the "O's" (the souls) ripen the "m's"; the fabrics of the flesh; rays from the periphery (away from "O"), as they penetrate the "m" (the flesh), form a something sensory in the embryo: in the capital "O" now there is a circle of "m" (of flesh); inside the circle "m" a small "o" ripens; it is connected to the world soul: it is connected to the world soul: to the capital "O":

I was like ":O"

[Stefan Gašić · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bilo bi veoma teško, a najverovatnije nemoguće žanrovski odrediti ovu knjigu. I u tome je njena čar i lepota, jer je ovo svakako nešto najčudnije i najluđe što sam ikada uzeo u ruke! Možda bi najbolje bilo pratiti samog autora koji nam u podnaslovu kaže da je ovo jedna poema zvuka. A zvuk, ta ludačka asonanca i aliteracija, morphovanje slova i glasova iz jednog u druge oblike, to je ova knjiga. Beli nam najavljuje Drugi dolazak Reči na samom kraju knjige, ali upravo je njegovo delo uspelo da nas sprovede kroz njega; posle toga, ostaje praznina koju niko drugi nije smeo, niti se usudio da popuni. Ovo nije njegovo najpoznatije ili najcenjenije delo (uskoro ću morati i Peterburg da pročitam, koje je označeno kao takvo) ali je svakako najambicioznije. I inače, svaka čast koji je uspeo da ovakvo delo prevede na naš jezik i da pritom zadrži izvorni smisao, koliko god to nemoguće izgledalo, s obzirom na način na koji Beli piše.
Da bih prikazao o čemu se, zapravo, radi, dodajem jedan odlomak, koji sam po sebi ne može previše da privuče nekog, jer bi možda delovalo naporno za čitaoce da na stotinak stranica čitaju tako nešto, no knjiga odlično klizi i zanimljiva je u svakom trenu:

"Pojmovi su modeli procesa; procesi su pokretni; pojmovi su očvrsla slova; u pojmovima se dešava proces spajanja lj, u, b, a, v; u "lj" ne nalazimo ljubav; u "u" je nema; u "b" nema sadržaja; ako je smisao u elementima (molekulima, atomima, slovima) - ljubavi nema u lj, u, b, a, v, dat je spoj "lj" sa "u" plus "b" sa "a" plus "v". U analitičkoj logici tok misli je isti.

[Eric Phetteplace · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's a free version online. This is what I wanted from Steiner's anthroposophy texts, a beautiful meditation on spirituality and language. The focus on the materiality of language was wonderful. Lots of delightful phrases with much focus on the sound/function of particular letters, sets of letters, linguistic sonorities. I'm not sure how to interpret the letters after translation, if the observations really apply to English, but that seemed relatively inessential.

[Pyknoparakmachia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Una delle opere più misteriose della storia linguistica. Belyj ci offre un’opera in cui combina sapere cosmogonico con il sapere linguistico sulla falsa riga di Steiner. L’opera che ne risulta è davvero affascinante in cui si combinano elementi naturali con le parole e i suoni mostrandone dunque un’affinità etimologica.