The Garden.
Gumilev.
Posting #2.
“Other
countries border on mountains,
Seas,
and rivers.
Russia
borders on God.”
Rainer Maria Rilke. Journey Through Russia.
Within the mainstream of the political thought
developing since the end of the 15th century in Russia, with regard
to Moscow becoming the Third Rome of World Christianity, we have an influx of
religious mysticism about the central role of Moscow in erecting the Temple of New
Jerusalem on sacred Russian soil. It is this thought which is embodied in N. S.
Gumilev’s monumental poem Memory.
There was a compelling reason, then, for the
“commissars” to blow up the magnificent Temple
of Christ the Savior in 1931. After a while, a big swimming pool was
erected on its site, called the Moskva
Swimming Pool. In the 1990’s, the pool itself was obliterated and a replica
of the original Cathedral was erected on the original site, becoming the
principal church of Russian Orthodox Christianity, and in a sense, the Temple
of New Jerusalem, envisaged by Gumilev.
It is quite possible that Bulgakov in this fashion
points to who and why killed N. S. Gumilev…
As I already wrote elsewhere, both poets Gumilev and
Blok were connected through their intense religiosity. This is the reason why
Bulgakov combines their features, adding to them Andrei Bely, in the character
of master, and also introduces the Russian poetess Marina Tsvetaeva, who,
likewise, never renounced religion in the aftermath of the Revolution,
embodying her in the unforgettable character of Margarita.
That’s why master and Margarita do not join the
magnificent four of Woland, Azazello, Koroviev and Kot Begemot, but go to
Eternal Rest, under the order of Yeshua (Jesus Christ).
Indeed, although all four Russian poets: Pushkin,
Lermontov, Mayakovsky and Yesenin, were Russian Orthodox, they cannot be called
particularly religious either in their way of life or in their philosophical
outlook.
***
Neither Pontius Pilate nor Mark the Ratkiller qualify
for the nickname “Fierce Monster.” It remains to be suggested that this
nickname was given in Yershalaim to Pilate’s dog Banga. The only description of
this dog comes from Margarita in the 32nd chapter of the novel,
titled Forgiveness and Eternal Refuge.
–
“Now Margarita could see that by the side
of the heavy stone armchair sparkling in
the light of the moon, there lay a dark gigantic dog with pointed ears, and
like his master was restlessly looking at the moon.”
And here is how Bulgakov in chapter 17 A Troublesome Day describes the dog whom
the investigators brought with them to the Variety Theater:
“The team retreated, leaving up front a
pale and upset Vasili Stepanovich. The man had no choice but to call a spade a
spade and confess that the whole administrative top of the Variety Theater,
namely, the director, the financial director, and the administrator, had
vanished and their location was presently unaccounted for… After some time, investigators
appeared in the Variety Theater building, accompanied by a muscular dog with pointed
ears, of cigarette-ash color and with extremely intelligent eyes.
Immediately the rumor spread among the staff of the Theater that the dog was
none other than the famous Ace of Diamonds.
And indeed that was him.
His behavior amazed everybody. As
soon as Ace of Diamonds ran into the office of the financial director, he
growled, bared his monstrous yellowish fangs, then lay down on his belly
and with an expression of angst and at the same time fury in his eyes
crawled toward the broken window. Overcoming his fear, he suddenly jumped upon
the windowsill, and, raising his pointed muzzle upwards, howled wildly
and maliciously.
He did not want to leave the windowsill,
growled and shuddered and even attempted to jump out of the window. The dog was
led out of the office and allowed into the vestibule, whence he exited the
building into the street through the front door and led those who followed him
to a taxicab stop, where he lost the trail he was following. After that, Ace of
Diamonds was driven away.”
One cannot escape the similarity of description
between Ace of Diamonds in Master and
Margarita and Banga in Pontius Pilate.
If, according to Margarita, Banga was a dark
dog, let us remember that she saw him at night under the moon. Ace of Diamonds,
on the other hand, came with the investigators in daytime, and was described as
being of cigarette-ash color.
Both dogs had pointed ears.
Banga, according to Margarita, was a gigantic
dog. As for Ace of Diamonds, Bulgakov alludes to his gigantic size by referring
to him “baring his monstrous yellowish
fangs.”
…It turns out that I was right on both counts. The
“fierce monster” in Yershalaim was the nickname of Pilate’s dog Banga.
And Bulgakov portrays both dogs identically.
Interestingly, even the idea of the dog itself comes
to Bulgakov from Gumilev.
In his poem Memory,
published in 1921 in the cycle A Pillar
of Fire, that is, written right before his death, Gumilev writes about
himself:
“The
very first one, plain-looking and thin,
A
fallen leaf, a child of wizardry…
A
tree and a red dog –
That’s
whom he took up as his friends…”
This is why Bulgakov ascribes to Yeshua the following
words:
“You
produce an impression of a very intelligent man. The problem is that you are
too introvert, and that you have terminally lost your faith in people. But you
must agree that it is not right to place all your attachment in a dog. Your
life is meager, Igemon! – And here the one who was talking allowed himself
to smile.”
Aside from the idea of the dog, Bulgakov used the idea
of the tree, from Gumilev’s poem above, as the manner of execution was
crucifixion, not hanging, whereas Pontius Pilate tells Yeshua:
“…Little
has been written after you, but what has been written is quite enough to hang
you.”
Apart from Gumilev’s poem, there is another reason,
linked to Gumilev, to introduce a dog into both novels, meanwhile pointing to
Gumilev. Aside from his participation in the Shop of Poets, the publishing of
his collections of poems, and also the publication of the literary journal Apollon, Gumilev also participated, so
to speak, before the first world war, in St. Petersburg’s night life, including
his deep involvement in the literary night club having a very peculiar name: Stray Dog.
Aside from all these peculiarities, we find another
indication in the reminiscences of Gumilev’s female student at the Living Word studio in the Revolutionary
Petrograd, already after his return to Soviet Russia from Europe. The student’s
name is Irina Odoevtseva. Among other things, she makes a note of Gumilev’s “ashy-gray
complexion... His smile was also quite peculiar. There was something pitiable
in his smile, but at the same time mischievous.”
Isn’t this how the beaten-up Yeshua smiled, in
Bulgakov’s novel, chastising Pontius Pilate for his excessive “attachment to a
dog.”
Introducing Gumilev’s features practically throughout
his entire novel, Bulgakov also writes him into Yeshua’s personage. Even
Yeshua’s age in the novel is deliberately misstated (27 years), in order to
draw the reader’s attention to such a discrepancy. –
“...Two legionnaires brought in and placed
in front of the procurator’s armchair a man of some 27 years of age…”
According to the G. P. Struve edition of Gumilev’s
collected works, “different sources name as the date
of the execution one of these: 23rd, 24th, 25th,
26th, and 27th of August 1921. The official report on the
Tagantsev case, including the list of the condemned and executed, was published
in the Petrograd Pravda only on the 1st
of September.
N. S. Gumilev was listed in that report
under #30, and the following was written about him:
“Gumilev, Nikolai Stepanovich, age 33,
former nobleman, philologist, poet, board member of the World Literature Publishing House, not a Party member, former
officer.”
In other words, just as I surmised, the investigator
interrogating N. S. Gumilev had a pretty good idea of who he was. It’s somewhat
baffling to find Gumilev’s age at the time of death stated as 33 (the age of
Christ). As we know, Gumilev was born in 1886 and died in 1921, which makes him
35 years of age at the time of his death.
It is quite likely that the investigator made a
deliberate mistake in stating Gumilev’s age, either being impressed by
Gumilev’s demeanor, or being well-versed in his poetry, or both...
To be continued…
***
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