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Андрей Белый - Собрание сочинений #10
Собрание сочинений. Симфонии
Книгу Андрея Белого (1880-1934) составила его ранняя проза. В том вошли "Симфонии", образец особого словесно-музыкального жанра, созданного А.Белым, а также примыкающие к ним лирические отрывки в прозе и рассказы. Книга позволяет проследить истоки творчества одного из крупнейших художников слова XX столетия.
448 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2014
1 person want to read
About the author
Andrei Bely
161 books155 followersBoris 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.
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.
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November 2, 2018
Andrei Bely has written four symphonies, which were published from 1902 to 1908, in an attempt to achieve synthesis of the two forms of art: music and literature. Symphonies are considered a transitional period in his writing career. One can notice in them a development of the literary traits his later prose will become famous for.
The first ‘Northern Symphony, Heroic’ is an early effort of Bely inspired by an actual symphony of one of his favourite composers at the time. The symphony adopts enumeration to signify distinct prosaic phrases mimicking musical composition. It doesn’t yet display the poetic qualities his later prose will acquire, however showing unmistakeable compositional ingenuity. The content of the symphony is folkloric, resembling Scandinavian medieval tales. Despite liking this symphony the least, I enjoyed the bold experiment with structure.
The second ‘Dramatic Symphony’ is perhaps the most well know of the four. Like the first, it adopts the enumeration method, however the language becomes noticeably more ornamental, metaphors more acute and original, prose more poetic. The system of leitmotifs becomes more apparent through consistent repetition of images and phrases. The symphony recounts a contemporary plot concerning sectarianism in the Russian mystic and occultist scenes of the 1900s Moscow. It is one of the first instances when Bely’s preoccupation with the East-versus-West theme makes its appearance.
The third symphony, named ‘The Return’, is similar to the second one stylistically, even though it loses the formal division by enumeration, but still leaving the paragraphs seldom longer than a sentence. A symbolist masterpiece, it emphasises, even more than the previous one, the harmony of symbols and images as well as experimentation with prose, utilising repetition, alliteration and even rhyme more and more often. Introducing the cascade of figures and symbols in an abstract dream in the first part, these then reappear in the plot beautifully narrated throughout the other two parts. The plot touches upon mental state deterioration of an academic embroiled in disputes with several of his colleagues, but like with a lot of Bely’s writings, style and form play as equal, if not more important part as the plot and narrative. The second and third symphonies are my personal favourites.
The fourth and last symphony, also called ‘Goblet of Blizzards’, is the longest of the four and by far the most experimental. Plot is barely visible in this one and most of it comprises of loosely connected passages of free-form poetic experimentation. It’s the repetitions in phrases, refrains and metaphors that remind the reader of the unity of the text. Rarely out of avalanches of words, whirlpools of images, there emerge names of the alleged characters feigning interaction with and relevance to each other. Bely himself admitted that the whole thing ended up in a mess after several reworkings and because of the time it took to assemble the final draft. By the end of this laborious artistic endeavour, the artist himself has moved past both the events that initially inspired the symphony and the overall format of symphony, suggesting that his new art required a change in literary form in which he will later incorporate all of his grand stylistic experiments.
To this day, it can be argued, in Russian literature, Bely’s work stands unparalleled in the amount of talent and artistic depths, his symphonies being only a few of the many testimonies to this statement. They possess undeniable artistic merit and relevance, but also serve as a demonstration of Bely’s progression as a great literary artist.
The first ‘Northern Symphony, Heroic’ is an early effort of Bely inspired by an actual symphony of one of his favourite composers at the time. The symphony adopts enumeration to signify distinct prosaic phrases mimicking musical composition. It doesn’t yet display the poetic qualities his later prose will acquire, however showing unmistakeable compositional ingenuity. The content of the symphony is folkloric, resembling Scandinavian medieval tales. Despite liking this symphony the least, I enjoyed the bold experiment with structure.
The second ‘Dramatic Symphony’ is perhaps the most well know of the four. Like the first, it adopts the enumeration method, however the language becomes noticeably more ornamental, metaphors more acute and original, prose more poetic. The system of leitmotifs becomes more apparent through consistent repetition of images and phrases. The symphony recounts a contemporary plot concerning sectarianism in the Russian mystic and occultist scenes of the 1900s Moscow. It is one of the first instances when Bely’s preoccupation with the East-versus-West theme makes its appearance.
The third symphony, named ‘The Return’, is similar to the second one stylistically, even though it loses the formal division by enumeration, but still leaving the paragraphs seldom longer than a sentence. A symbolist masterpiece, it emphasises, even more than the previous one, the harmony of symbols and images as well as experimentation with prose, utilising repetition, alliteration and even rhyme more and more often. Introducing the cascade of figures and symbols in an abstract dream in the first part, these then reappear in the plot beautifully narrated throughout the other two parts. The plot touches upon mental state deterioration of an academic embroiled in disputes with several of his colleagues, but like with a lot of Bely’s writings, style and form play as equal, if not more important part as the plot and narrative. The second and third symphonies are my personal favourites.
The fourth and last symphony, also called ‘Goblet of Blizzards’, is the longest of the four and by far the most experimental. Plot is barely visible in this one and most of it comprises of loosely connected passages of free-form poetic experimentation. It’s the repetitions in phrases, refrains and metaphors that remind the reader of the unity of the text. Rarely out of avalanches of words, whirlpools of images, there emerge names of the alleged characters feigning interaction with and relevance to each other. Bely himself admitted that the whole thing ended up in a mess after several reworkings and because of the time it took to assemble the final draft. By the end of this laborious artistic endeavour, the artist himself has moved past both the events that initially inspired the symphony and the overall format of symphony, suggesting that his new art required a change in literary form in which he will later incorporate all of his grand stylistic experiments.
To this day, it can be argued, in Russian literature, Bely’s work stands unparalleled in the amount of talent and artistic depths, his symphonies being only a few of the many testimonies to this statement. They possess undeniable artistic merit and relevance, but also serve as a demonstration of Bely’s progression as a great literary artist.
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