Andrei white biography and creativity interesting facts. Interesting facts from the life of Andrei Bely

Andrei Bely (real name - Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev) - poet, prose writer (10/26/1880 Moscow - 1/8/1934 ibid.). He was born into a highly educated noble family. Father is a professor of mathematics at Moscow University. The first hobbies of Andrei Bely are connected with German culture (Goethe, Heine, Beethoven), since 1897 he has been intensively studying Dostoevsky and Ibsen, as well as modern French and Belgian poetry. After graduating from the gymnasium in 1899, he became an adherent of Vl. Solovyov and Nietzsche. In music, his love now belongs to Grieg and Wagner. Along with philosophy and music, Andrei Bely was interested in the natural sciences, which led him to the mathematical faculty of Moscow University, which he graduated in 1903, but until 1906 he continued to attend the philological faculty.

Around 1903, he met A. Blok and K. Balmont, became close to the circle of St. Petersburg symbolists headed by D. Merezhkovsky and Z. Gippius, until 1909 he collaborated with the journal Libra. Bely's numerous publications begin with rhythmic prose " Symphony"(1902), which drew attention to itself by the unusual language and structure of the author's thoughts. Andrei Bely collected the first poems in a collection" Gold in azure"(1904), followed by collections" Ash"(1908) and" Urn"(1909), which already reflected in the titles the phase of disappointment experienced by the author. In the Vedy magazine, Andrei Bely published his first novel entitled" silver dove" (1909).

From 1910, a new period of Bely's work began, lasting until about 1920, due to his philosophical passions. In 1910-11. he undertakes a journey to Italy, Egypt, Tunisia and Palestine. From 1912 to 1916 he lived mainly in Western Europe, for some time in Dornach with Rudolf Steiner, whose anthroposophical teaching greatly influenced him. In Germany, Andrei Bely became friends with Christian Morgenstern.

His second novel Petersburg"(1912) continues the first in spirit. Upon his return to Russia in 1916, he published a third novel," Kotik Letaev"(1917-18), more autobiographical. He joined the literary group "Scythians" (with R. Ivanov-Razumnik and A. Blok).

Andrei Bely perceived the October Revolution in a mystical way, as an opportunity for the religious and spiritual renewal of Russia. Bely taught at the Proletkult Studio. In November 1921 he left for Berlin, where he published many collections of poetry, prose and theory. In October 1923 Andrei Bely returned to Russia. The experience is reflected in his essay " One of the abodes of the realm of shadows"(1924). What he later wrote is mostly autobiographical, his works preserve the traditions of symbolism and stand apart in Soviet literature, but still differ qualitatively from early texts. Only perestroika created the prerequisites for the work of Andrei Bely from the late 80s began to be widely published at home.

Bely is one of the most significant Russian symbolists, this applies to philosophy, the theory of creativity, as well as poetry and prose. He is one of the pioneers of Russian modernism. His art is largely determined by mystical experiences, he insists on a comprehensive renewal. Four " Symphonies"Bely (1902-08) are united by the desire to achieve a renewal of the syntax and rhythmic structures of the language in the synthesis of poetry and music, to achieve its" liberation ". The first collection of his poems is " Gold in azure"- belongs to the "apocalyptic" phase of Russian symbolism with its menacing image of a big city. The following collections of this author are closer to Russian reality, although they remain faithful to magical ideas about the word. Bely's occupations with occultism were reflected in the novel " silver dove", where he develops the old cultural-philosophical problem of Russia's position between East and West on the example of a person brought up by Western civilization and captured by the occult forces of the East. The author is primarily interested in the depiction technique, imagery of language, musical principles of repetition and rhythmic construction. Andrey Bely continues the tradition Gogol's grotesque novel " Petersburg", arising all in the same range of problems (the opposite of Eastern and Western worldviews), but associated with anthroposophy and showing the conflict between the father-senator and the son who fell under the influence of terrorists, "is focused on reflecting consciousness, but consciousness distorted in grotesques and split into independent segments "(Holthusen). Bely violates the laws of poetic art, traditionally striving for the unity of form in macro- and microstructure. In the poem " Christ is Risen"(1918) the chaos of the Bolshevik coup is regarded as a spiritual and mystical event of world-historical significance, and hopes for Russia are associated only with the recognition of the Resurrection of Christ. Bely's stylized prose in the novel achieves the greatest expressiveness" Kotik Letaev". The author shows the consciousness of the child, in which time borders on space, reality on myth. This is a work that "anticipated the most daring formal experiments of Joyce ..." (Struve). identification of characters with mythological images Memoirs written in 1929-33, although brilliant in stylistic terms, are historically unreliable.

Andrei Bely, 1924
Hood. A. Ostroumova-Lebedeva

Andrey Bely(1880-1934) - symbolist poet, writer. The real name is Boris Bugaev.

Andrei Bely was born in Moscow, on the Arbat, in a house converted into an apartment building from an 18th-century mansion. Some of the apartments belonged to Moscow University, where its teachers lived. One of the tenants was the father of the future poet, mathematics professor Nikolai Bugaev. Now the Andrey Bely Museum is open in the corner apartment on the second floor.

Boris Bugaev's childhood passed under the sign of family scandals. In many ways, this determined his imbalance and fear of life, reflected in relations with fellow writers and life partners. In the second half of the 1900s. he formed two love triangles at once: Bely - Blok - Lyubov Mendeleev and Bely - Bryusov - Nina Petrovskaya. Both broke up not in his favor. The ensuing marriage with Anna Turgeneva actually ended in 1916, when Andrei Bely returned from Switzerland to Russia.

The tragic perception of reality led to the fact that Andrei Bely treated the revolution as a renewal of Russia. But when it happened, and he "huddled in the apartment of acquaintances, stoking the stove with his manuscripts, starving and standing in lines," he considered it good in 1921 to leave for Germany. Emigration did not accept him, Anna Turgeneva, who formally remained his wife, did not accept him either, and two years later he returned. Andrei Bely did not become a Soviet writer. According to Bulgakov, he "all his life ... wrote wild broken nonsense. Lately he decided to turn his face to communism. But he turned extremely unsuccessfully."

Andrey Bely: "I was left alone at the age of 4. And since then I have not stopped breaking down even when I am alone with myself. I still make faces in the mirror when I shave. After all, a grimace is the same mask. I am always wearing a mask! Always!"

Biography of Andrei Bely

• 1880. October 14 (26) - in Moscow, in the family of a mathematician, professor of Moscow State University Nikolai Vasilievich Bugaev and his wife Alexandra Dmitrievna Bugaeva (nee Egorova), son Boris was born.
• 1891. September - Boris Bugaev entered the Moscow private gymnasium L.I. Polivanova.
• 1895. End of the year - acquaintance with Sergei Solovyov, and soon with his uncle, the philosopher Vladimir Solovyov.
• 1899. September - Boris Bugaev entered the natural department of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Moscow University.
• 1900. January-December - work on the "Northern Symphony" and a cycle of symbolist poems. Spring is a passion for philosophical works and poetry of V.S. Soloviev.
• 1901. February - meeting with M.K. Morozova at a symphony concert, the beginning of "mystery love" and anonymous correspondence. March-August - work on the "2nd dramatic symphony". December - acquaintance with V.Ya. Bryusov, D.S. Merezhkovsky and Z.N. Gippius.
• 1902. April - the release of the "2nd dramatic symphony". The first publication of Boris Bugaev, also for the first time signed with the pseudonym Andrei Bely. Autumn - Andrei Bely met S.P. Diaghilev and A.N. Benoit. Articles in the journal "world of art".
• 1903. January - the beginning of the correspondence with A. Blok. February-April - Andrey Bely's debut in the almanac "Northern Flowers". March - acquaintance with K.D. Balmont, M.A. Voloshin, S.A. Sokolov (owner of the Grif publishing house). May - University diploma. May 29 - the death of father Andrei Bely. Autumn - a circle of "Argonauts". The beginning of "mystery love" for Nina Petrovskaya.
• 1904. January - Bely's acquaintance with Alexander Blok and his wife Lyubov Dmitrievna. March - the release of the first collection of poems by Bely "Gold in Azure". Summer - admission to the Faculty of History and Philology of Moscow University.
• 1905. January 9 - Andrei Bely - witness of Bloody Sunday. February - upon returning to Moscow, a challenge to a duel from Bryusov. There was a reconciliation. April - personal acquaintance with M.K. Morozova, participation in the meetings of the Religious and Philosophical Society named after Vladimir Solovyov held in her mansion. June - arrival in Shakhmatovo to Blok, a written declaration of love to Lyubov Dmitrievna Blok. October 3 - participation in the funeral of N.E. Bauman. November - acquaintance with Asya Turgeneva.
• 1906. February 26 - declaration of love to L.D. Block. Autumn - a petition for expulsion from the university and departure for Europe.
• 1907. End of February - return to Moscow. August - Blok challenged Andrei Bely to a duel. At a personal meeting, the conflict was settled.
• 1908. February - meeting with Asya Turgeneva. April - release of the collection "Blizzard Cup. Fourth Symphony". December - a mystical rapprochement with the theosophist A.R. Mintslova.
• 1909. End of March - the publication of the collection of poems by Andrei Bely "Urn: Poems". April - the beginning of an affair with Asya Turgeneva. August-September - participation in the organization of the publishing house "Musaget".
• 1910. November 26 - departure with Asya Turgeneva on a trip abroad.
• 1911. April 22 - Andrei Bely returned to Russia.
• 1912. Departure of Andrei Bely with Asya Turgeneva to Europe. May - meeting with the head of the anthroposophical school Rudolf Steiner. The decision to embark on the path of anthroposophical "apprenticeship".
• 1913. March 11 - the return of Andrei Bely and Asya Turgeneva to Russia. August-December - Steiner's lectures in Europe. Participation in the construction of the anthroposophical temple Goetheanum in Dornach (Switzerland).
• 1914. March 23 - registration in Bern of the civil marriage of Andrei Bely and Asya Turgeneva.
• 1915. January-June - Andrei Bely wrote the book "Rudolf Steiner and Goethe in the worldview of modernity." February-August - work on the construction of the Goetheanum. October - the beginning of work on the novel "Kotik Letaev".
• 1916. January-August - work on the construction of the Goetheanum. August 18 - September 3 - the return of Andrei Bely to Russia due to conscription. Asya Turgeneva remained in Dornach. September is a three-month deferment from military service.
• 1917. January - a two-month delay from military service. February 28 - revolution in Petrograd. March 9 - the return of Andrei Bely to Moscow. December - rapprochement with K.N. Vasilyeva.
• 1918. October-December - service in the Moscow Proletkult and in the Theater Department of the People's Commissariat for Education.
• 1919 August - Andrey Bely leaves Proletkult.
• 1920. December - as a result of an accident, Andrei Bely was injured, requiring three months of treatment in hospitals.
• 1921. May 25 - the last meeting with A. Blok at the Spartak Hotel in Petrograd. August 7 - the death of Alexander Blok. August 11 - Andrei Bely began writing his memoirs about Blok. October 17 - a meeting in the All-Russian Union of Writers, dedicated to seeing off A. Bely abroad. October 20 - Bely left for Berlin. End of November - meeting with Asya Turgeneva and R. Steiner.
• 1922. April - a break with Asya Turgeneva. The release of the collection "Star". September - Andrei Bely's article "Maxim Gorky". On the occasion of the 30th anniversary. "On September 20, Andrei Bely's mother, Alexandra Dmitrievna Bugaeva, died in Moscow.
• 1923. January - arrival in Berlin K.N. Vasilyeva. February-March - collaboration in the magazine "Conversation", published in Berlin, edited by Maxim Gorky. October 26 - Andrei Bely returns to Moscow.
• 1924. June-September - rest with K.N. Vasilyeva in Koktebel with Maximilian Voloshin. Last meeting with Bryusov.
• 1925. End of March - Andrei Bely and K.N. Vasiliev settled in the village of Kuchino near Moscow. The end of August - on one of his visits to Moscow, Andrei Bely was hit by a tram.
• 1927. April - early July - rest with K.N. Vasilyeva in Georgia.
• 1928. March 17-26 - essay "Why I became a symbolist and why I did not stop being one at all phases of my ideological and artistic development." May-August - rest with K.N. Vasilyeva in Armenia and Georgia.
• 1929. February-April - work on the memoirs "At the turn of two centuries". April-August - rest with K.N. Vasilyeva in the Caucasus.
• 1930. January - the release of memoirs "At the turn of two centuries". June-September - rest in the Crimea, in Sudak. Last meeting in Koktebel with M. Voloshin.
• 1931. April 9 - moving with K.N. Vasilyeva for permanent residence in Detskoye Selo. May 30 - arrest of K.N. Vasilyeva. July 3 - release of K.N. Vasilyeva. July 18 - registration of the marriage of Andrei Bely with K.N. Vasilyeva (from now on - Bugaeva). August 31 - letter from I.V. Stalin. December 30 - departure to Moscow.
• 1933. January - the publication of the novel "Masks". February 11 and 27 - evenings of Andrei Bely at the Polytechnic Museum. July 15 - Andrei Bely received a sunstroke in Koktebel. August - return to Moscow and treatment. November - the release of the memoirs "The Beginning of the Century" with a devastating foreword by L.B. Kamenev. December 8 - Andrei Bely in the hospital. December 29 - diagnosis: cerebral hemorrhage.
• 1934. January 8 - Andrei Bely died in the presence of his wife and doctors. He was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery.

Poems by Andrei Bely

Poem "In the fields" Andrei Bely wrote in 1904

Poem "Remembrance" Andrei Bely wrote in St. Petersburg in September 1908

Poem "I forgot everything" Andrei Bely wrote in March 1906

Poem "July Day" Andrei Bely wrote in 1920

Poem "Mag" Andrei Bely wrote in 1903 Addressed to Valery Bryusov.

Poem "One" Andrei Bely wrote in December 1900 Dedicated to Sergei Lvovich Kobylinsky.

Poem "Ashes. Russia. Despair" Andrei Bely wrote in July 1908 Dedicated to 3.N. Gippius.

Poem "Russia" Andrei Bely wrote in December 1916

) B. Bugaev grew up. In 1899 he graduated from the L. I. Polivanov gymnasium, entered the natural department of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Moscow University, graduated from it in 1903. As a gymnasium student, he became close to the family of his brother Vl. Solovyov, the publisher of his works, Mikhail Sergeevich, became friends with his son Seryozha. Religious philosophy and poetry Vl. Solovyov literally fascinated young people, determined their first creative experiences. In his student years, Bugaev personally met many "senior symbolists".

In the autumn of 1903, he organizes a circle of "Argonauts" (S. Solovyov, Ellis, A. Petrovsky and others), like the ancient Greeks, "traveling" for their "golden fleece" - a new word that can actively contribute to the transformation of the World. Art was endowed with a life-building function. The lyrics of A. Blok (a distant relative of S. Solovyov) become the subject of constant discussion of the "Argonauts". Since the winter of 1903, Bugaev's correspondence with Blok began, and in January 1904 they met. Gradually, an association of "young symbolists" is formed.

A. Bely (this pseudonym arises under the influence of the Solovyov family) is a person of rare, multifaceted talent: a wonderful lyric poet, prose writer who created a new type of novels. Researcher of Russian and world culture, literary theorist, critic, brilliant polemicist and publicist, who to this day has left interesting, final books "Symbolism" (1910), "Arabesques" (1911), finally, a talented memoirist, author of three volumes of memoirs. M. Tsvetaeva called A. Bely "a captive spirit." Truly, he was cramped both in the "earthly shell" and within the limits of any one type of activity.

Early work

In 1900-1902. A. Bely wrote his first major works - "symphonies" in prose (published: first 2nd - 1902; then 1st - 1904; 3rd - 1905). In their symbolic figurative structure, the vicious, ordinary, meaningless are opposed to the heroic, spiritual, eternally beautiful. During this period, Bely established important creative principles for himself, based on the philosophy of Vl. Solovyov and F. Nietzsche. The young poet recorded the inner state of the personality in the symbolism of colors as “a change of spiritual visions”. He attached particular importance to the musical beginning of life and creativity, "contributing to the development of mankind" and ascending to "the musical unity of the world."

The rise of "glow" moods (belief in the imminent transformation of life) filled the lyrics of the first collection - "Gold in Azure" (1904). The jubilant worldview very soon, however, shook under the influx of "mystical horrors" (threats of evil), which A. Bely felt in the existence of every person and the situation of all of Russia.

creative maturity

Empathy for the country, growing to a painful shock, was expressed in the innermost verses of the collection Ashes (1909) with an epigraph from Nekrasov. The title image has a double meaning - the "burned" bright dawns of the "Young Symbolists" and the suffering Russian land covered with ashes.

The expressiveness of the experiences of the lyrical hero is achieved by combining his hopeless loneliness with the tragic silence of the motherland:

Mother Russia! You my songs -
Oh, mute, stern mother! -
Here, and give me the wilderness, and obscure
Unlucky life to tear.

Mental anguish is extremely intensified by their identification with mortal physical pain: from falling “on dry stems, knotted like spears”, from the pressure of gravestones.

The looming death still has no power to extinguish the desire for spiritual uplift: “Perhaps I have not died, / Perhaps I will wake up ...” Gradually the impulse to the light ripens:

I raise my sleepless eyes
Eyes full of tears and fire...

The "self-burning" of the lyrical "I" to ashes is experienced in a different way in the lyrics of the collection "Urn" (1909). A. Bely said about him: “the dead “I” is enclosed here in the Urn, and “the living “I” is awakening to the true”. In a new way, with the intensification of philosophical reflection on the meaning of life, love, irreparable losses were felt - the appearance of "Meager fireless Dawns", "dreamless being". Intense reflection on the past, appeal to contemporary artists, self-deepening of the poet return hope: "over the soul again - the predawn sky", "prophetic confuse dreams."

From the mysteries of nature, A. Bely drew a poetic expression of his "life-building" idea: bright, calling dawns; skylight, dawn. As well as disappointment in a dream. The vengeful feeling is conveyed by a metaphor - “Stick into the sky, lanterns, rays, sharpened spears”; a feeling of the darkness of life gives rise to an image - "failures of the gaping night." Another feature of A. Bely's lyrics is also important. Any experience here, as it were, is “spoken out”, subjugating the sound and intonation of the lines. Hence - a rare freedom of their rhythmic structure, an abundance of poetic tautologies, alliterations (“they mow over the slopes with braids”).

The desire to unravel the "prophetic dream" about the future underlies A. Bely's novels "Silver Dove" (1909) and "Petersburg" (1913-1914). In 1909, their author outlined a new path to truth: "... from Nietzsche, Ibsen to Pushkin, Nekrasov, Gogol, from the West to the East, from the individual to the people." The mystical connection between the people's soul and the searching soul of the intelligentsia and the tragic break of this connection in an atmosphere of general bitterness and unconsciousness are expressively embodied in Silver Dove. “Petersburg” is a masterfully painted, frightening picture of a “ghostly” city, the destruction of the world and a person cut off from his native roots under the yoke of the Western way of life mechanistically transferred by Peter I. The writer prophesies Russia's leap over history, a new Kalka - the spiritual cleansing of the country.

Acquaintance (1912) with R. Steiner, passion for his anthroposophical teachings give a new direction to A. Bely's search. According to him, he saw "a real way of continuing and revealing me - in my"(author's italics). From Steiner, the ideas of developing the "secret abilities" (innate) of the personality were adopted, in other words, its self-improvement. From these positions, A. Bely turned to autobiographical prose, creating the novel Kotin Letaev (1916, publ. 1917). And in December 1916 he wrote: "National self-consciousness, a true expression of Russian culture" - this is the slogan of the future.

With hope for this future, A. Bely welcomed the October Revolution as a spontaneous explosion of petty-bourgeois stagnation. Awakening of creative forces. In Soviet times, he actively participated in the cultural life of the country, published many books of an artistic and research nature.

Russian literature of the XX century. 11 cells Proc. for general education institutions. L.A. Smirnova, O.N. Mikhailov, A.M. Turkov and others; Comp. E.P. Pronin; Ed. V.P. Zhuravlev - 8th ed. - M .: Education - JSC "Moscow textbooks", 2003.

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Bely Andrei (real name and surname Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev) (1880-1934), writer, theorist of symbolism.

Born October 26, 1880 in Moscow in the family of a famous mathematician, professor of Moscow University Nikolai Vasilyevich Bugaev. In 1899, at the initiative of his father, he entered the natural department of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Moscow University.

During his student years, he began to write "symphonies" (a literary genre created by himself). Lyrical rhythmic prose (the writer constantly turned to it) sought to convey the musical harmony of the surrounding world and the unsteady structure of the human soul. "Symphony (2nd, dramatic)" became Bely's first publication (1902); "Northern Symphony (1st, heroic)", written earlier, appeared in print only in 1904.

The literary debut drew derisive reviews from most critics and readers, but was highly regarded in Symbolist circles. In 1903, a group of like-minded people formed around Bely, consisting mainly of students from Moscow University. They called themselves "Argonauts" and began searching for the "Golden Fleece" - the highest meaning of symbolism, which ultimately meant the creation of a new man. The same motives are filled with Bely's poetry collection Gold in Azure (1904). The year of publication of the book was significant for the author: he met A. A. Blok, began to publish in the new magazine of the symbolists "Scales".

The writer enthusiastically welcomed the revolution of 1905, perceiving it in the spirit of his searches - as a cleansing storm, a fatal element.

In 1906-1908. Bely experienced a personal drama: he hopelessly fell in love with Blok's wife Lyubov Dmitrievna. This led to a tragic breakdown in relations with a poet friend and eventually resulted in poignant lyrics (collection "Urn", 1909).

The novel Silver Dove (1909) is an attempt to comprehend the catastrophic state of Russia as a prologue to its coming spiritual rebirth.

In the first half of the 10s. created the most famous novel by Bely, which is one of the highest achievements of Russian symbolism - "Petersburg", combining the grotesque and lyrics, tragedy and comedy.

In the October Revolution of 1917, Bely saw another manifestation of the cleansing element. He sincerely tried to adapt to life in the new Russia, participating in the "cultural construction", even wrote a poem imbued with revolutionary pathos - "Christ is Risen" (1918). However, in the early 20's. went abroad again.

Those who met him in Berlin noted his spiritual breakdown. The reasons were the betrayal of his wife, disappointment in the teachings of the German mystic R. Steiner, and others. “Burned talent” - this is what Bely said about himself after returning to Russia (1923).

In the last years of his life, he published three books of memoirs: "At the Turn of Two Centuries" (1930), "The Beginning of the Century" (1933), "Between Two Revolutions" (1934). These memoirs are an invaluable source of information about the era and literary searches.

In the summer of 1933, in Koktebel, Bely had a sunstroke. On January 8, 1934, after several cerebral hemorrhages, the "brilliant and strange" (according to Blok) writer died.

Andrei Bely (1880-1934) - Russian poet and writer, was one of the leading figures in Russian modernism and symbolism, also known for his work as a poet, memoirist and critic.

Childhood

The real name of Andrei Bely is Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev. He was born on October 26, 1880 in Moscow.

His father, Nikolai Vasilyevich Bugaev, was a famous Russian philosopher and mathematician, a corresponding member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg, an honored professor and dean at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics at Moscow University.

Mom, Alexandra Dmitrievna (maiden name Egorova), was considered one of the first beauties in Moscow.

Long years of life (almost 26 years) of the future poet passed in the house of his parents, which was located at the intersection of Denezhny Lane with the Arbat. Now at this place in the very center of Moscow there is the only memorial museum in the world dedicated to Andrei Bely.

Among the representatives of the old Moscow professorship, his father, Nikolai Bugaev, had very wide acquaintances, so Andrei's childhood passed in the high atmosphere of cultural and professorial Moscow. The great writer Leo Tolstoy was a frequent guest in the house.

A difficult relationship developed between the parents, which had a serious impact on the emerging character and psyche of the future poet. In the future, this was expressed in the oddities and conflicts of Andrei Bely with those around him.

Education

At the age of 11, Andrei entered the best Moscow private gymnasium Polivanov L.I., where his favorite hobbies were Eastern religion (occultism, Buddhism) and literature (especially the boy was interested in the works of Ibsen, Nietzsche and Dostoevsky). In the last courses, the young man was very interested in poetry. Among poetic works, he gave special preference to the poets of France and the symbolists of Russia (Merezhkovsky, Bryusov and Balmont).

When the guy was 15 years old, he became close to the future Russian poet Sergei Solovyov, the son of a famous translator. Andrey became quite close to their family, here he got acquainted with the latest art in music, painting, philosophy. It was in the house of the Solovyovs that his first poetic experiments were met with sympathy and a creative pseudonym was invented - Andrei Bely.

In 1899, he graduated from the gymnasium and, at the insistence of his parents, passed the exams for admission to Moscow University. At the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics, he chose the natural department, because from his early youth, despite his mystical and artistic moods, Andrei strove for the exact sciences.

At the university, he intensively engaged in the study of Darwin's theory and invertebrate zoology, paid much attention to chemistry. At the same time, he did not miss a single issue of the monthly art illustrated magazine "World of Art", in which he studied the novelties of the work of Russian symbolists.

In 1903, Bely graduated from the university with honors.

In 1904, at the same Moscow University, Andrei became a student of the Faculty of History and Philology. He chose the famous Russian logician, translator and philosopher Boris Alexandrovich Fokht as his leader. However, a year later, Bely stopped going to classes, and in 1906 he wrote to the dean's office a petition to expel him from the university. He decided to devote himself entirely to literary activity.

Literary activity

In the winter of 1901, Bely met the experienced symbolists Bryusov, Gippius, and Merezhkovsky. And already in 1903, a circle of young symbolists began to form around him, which consisted mainly of university students. The mug was given the name "Argonauts", and Andrei became its ideological inspirer and undoubted leader.

In 1903, Andrei began to correspond with the poet Alexander Blok, and a year later they met in person. This acquaintance in the future resulted in many years of painful enmity and friendship.

In January 1904, the monthly scientific and literary magazine "Vesy" began to be published in Moscow. Andrei Bely maintained close cooperation with the publishing house.

The Argonauts circle held its meetings at the apartment of the well-known Russian public figure and lawyer Pavel Ivanovich Astrov. At one of the meetings, it was decided to publish a literary and philosophical collection. In 1906, the first two books of this collection were published, which were given the name "Free Conscience".

In 1909, Bely worked at the Moscow publishing house "Musaget", he was one of its founders, here the poet was engaged in translations, and also published his poems.

In 1911 Andrei set out to travel to the Middle East and North Africa. Impressions from this trip are reflected in the "Travel Notes".

Returning to Russia, in 1912, Bely worked a little as an editor in the journal Works and Days. Then he went abroad again, where in Berlin he met Rudolf Steiner, the Austrian founder of the religious and mystical teaching of anthroposophy. Andrei plunged headlong into this teaching and became a student of Steiner.

Three volumes of his theoretical and critical articles appeared during this period:

• "Symbolism";
• "Green Meadow";
• "Arabesques".

A little Bely began to move away from the poetry of symbolism, more and more prose works appeared in his work, for example, the novels "Silver Dove" and "Petersburg", as well as the autobiographical story "Kotik Letaev".

From 1914 to 1916 Andrei lived in Switzerland, where he took part in the construction of the Goetheanum temple. At the end of 1916, Bely was summoned to Russia to check his attitude towards military service. Asya's wife did not go with Andrei, she stayed in Switzerland, deciding to devote herself completely to Steiner's cause and the construction of the temple.

Bely considered the First World War to be a universal disaster, and he perceived the revolution in Russia in 1917 as a possible way out of the global impasse catastrophe. These ideas are embodied in his works:

• essay cycle "On the Pass", consisting of three parts "Crisis of Life", "Crisis of Thought" and "Crisis of Culture";
• essay "Revolution and Culture";
• the poem "Christ is Risen";
• poetry collections "The Princess and the Knights" and "Star".

Along with creativity, Andrei was engaged in teaching activities. For young proletarian writers and poets in the proletarian culture in Moscow, he lectured on the theory of prose and poetry.

From 1921 to 1923, Bely again spent abroad, but after a complete break in marital relations with his wife, he returned to Russia, where a particularly fruitful period of his work began, now he mainly wrote prose:

• the dilogy of the novels "Moscow" ("Moscow eccentric" and "Moscow under attack");
• novel "Masks";
• memoirs "Memories of Blok";
• trilogy "At the turn of two centuries", "The beginning of the century", "Between two revolutions".

Bely's research works Gogol's Mastery, Rhythm as Dialectics and The Bronze Horseman turned out to be a significant contribution to literary science.

Personal life

Having met and became close to the poet Alexander Blok, Andrei Bely began courting his wife, Lyubov Mendeleeva, and later they became lovers. In this dramatic love triangle, all three suffered for almost four years, until the final break occurred, which was reflected in Blok's play "The Puppet Show". The poet Andrei Bely went abroad and poured out his suffering in the poetry collections "Ashes" and "Urn".

Almost at the same time, Bely was also in another love triangle - with his fellow symbolist poet Valery Bryusov and his wife, poetess Nina Petrovskaya. This romance between Andrei and Nina began quite innocently, but soon Petrovskaya fell in love with Bely so much that in her feelings she reached mystical worship of him. Andrei decided to break off these relations, he had enough of a love affair with Lyuba Mendeleeva, Blok's wife, but Petrovskaya began to literally pursue him. It got to the point that Nina attempted to kill her lover. During a break in a lecture that Andrey was reading at the Polytechnic Institute, she approached and shot him at point-blank range. Fortunately, the Browning misfired. All this collision was later reflected in Bryusov's novel "The Fiery Angel".

In 1909, Bely met an artist, the niece of the great Russian writer Ivan Turgenev. The girl's name was Anna (close people called her Asya), they became close and began to live in a civil marriage. She shared with him years of wandering, when from 1910 to 1912 he traveled through Egypt, Palestine, Tunisia and Sicily. In the spring of 1914, Andrei officially married Asa, their marriage took place in Bern.

In 1916, he left for Russia alone, Asya did not follow him, remaining in Dorn. Five years later, he returned to his wife, but after explanations it became clear that further cohabitation was no longer possible.

After wandering abroad for a couple of years, Bely returned to Moscow. Married life with Anna Turgeneva remained in the past, but another woman appeared in his fate. Vasilyeva Claudia Nikolaevna became the last beloved of the poet. In 1925, at the invitation of their friends, they left for Kuchino, where they settled in the dacha of acquaintances. As Andrei Bely later said, this estate became for him like Yasnaya Polyana for Leo Tolstoy or like Yalta for Anton Chekhov. Here he was finally able to immerse himself in creativity. In 1931, Claudia and Andrei legalized their relationship.

Klavdia Nikolaevna made the last years of Bely's life happy, she was quiet and very caring, she surrounded him with her attention, and in response he affectionately called her Claudia.

On January 8, 1934, Andrei had a stroke, he died in the arms of his wife, he was buried in Moscow at the Novodevichy cemetery.