The Bard.
Barbarian at
the Gate.
Professor
Kuzmin.
Posting #18.
“…Setting up thrones
for other ages –
Who will sit on those dark
thrones?..”
Alexander Blok. The Violet West Oppresses.
It is clear now who presented that inkwell to
Professor Kuzmin. It was his prototype, the Russian poet V. Ya. Bryusov who had
used the inkwell to finish Pushkin’s Egyptian
Nights. This is precisely the reason why the mischievous sparrow poops into
Professor Kuzmin’s inkwell, where I see a double meaning.
To begin with, by using the Russian word Vorobei [Sparrow], Bulgakov points out
that Bryusov is a Vor [Thief].
Incidentally, the word vorobei contains
two Russian words: vor and bei [beat up], together meaning: “beat up the thief.” [See my chapter Birds. Subchapter Sparrow.]
Secondly, pointing to the same thing is he line after
“the sparrow”:
“Meantime, the sparrow seated itself on the
gifted inkwell and took a dump in it. (I am not joking!) Then it flew up and
hung in the air, and then, with a powerful swing, pecked with his
as-though-made-of-steel beak, the glass of the photograph capturing the full
University Class of 1894, broke the glass into small fragments, and then flew
out the window.”
V. Ya. Bryusov was born in 1873. He was twenty-one in
1894. Marina Tsvetaeva writes about Bryusov’s troubles in her memoir of Bryusov
The First Meeting, indirectly held at
a music school, when an “unfamiliar elderly woman” [Bryusov’s mother] was
telling Marina Tsvetaeva’s mother about her son, “so talented, interested in so many things,
writing poetry, and having misunderstandings with the police.”
Yes, the young Bryusov did have some “misunderstandings
with the police,” as a result of which he was expelled from school.
He was revolutionary-minded and was considered an atheist. As a result of this,
he was able to enter the Historico-Philological Faculty of Moscow University
only in 1893, at the age of 20. He graduated in 1899 at the age of 26. Marina
Tsvetaeva writes:
“Apparently, the student story of 1898-99.
Was Bryusov a student at the time? And what were the misunderstandings? – I don’t know, I am telling it as I remember
it.”
Mind you, Marina Tsvetaeva was 6 years old at the
time. Bulgakov obviously could not put the year 1898 under the photograph of
Professor Kuzmin’s Graduation Class of
1894, as this would have narrowed the search of the detective. Thus, his
choice of the year 1894 sends out a false clue, deliberately confusing the
researcher.
***
As if gold, chervontsy, diamonds, hard currency,
labels from Narzan mineral water bottles, Abrau-Dyurso champagne bottles, and
even a diamond necklace were not enough to evaluate the works of the prototypes
of his personages, Bulgakov adds armchairs
to the assortment.
Bulgakov takes this idea from Alexander Blok’s poetry.
In his 1904 poem The Violet West
Oppresses [see my chapter Strangers
in the Night], Blok writes:
“We
are flying unswervingly onward,
Enforcers of a stern will.
There are few of us, all in
long cloaks;
Sparks are spurting and iron
mails are shining…”
And here it comes:
“…Setting
up thrones for other ages –
Who will sit on those dark
thrones?..”
Naturally, Bulgakov couldn’t use Blok’s word “throne,” substituting it with “armchair.” This all became clear to me
as soon as I brought my attention to Professor Kuzmin’s armchair, which ends
Chapter 18 The Hapless Visitors. I
was very much interested in Bulgakov’s line:
“Professor Kuzmin, just as he was sitting, fell
back against the high leather gothic back of his armchair.”
Blok’s poem makes it clear that only the best among
the best of poets have the right to sit “on
those dark thrones.” The keyword in this case is “dark,” as this particular word is pointing us toward A. S. Pushkin,
of African descent, “dark-violet knight”
in Bulgakov.
The next sentence of Blok’s poem is also very
interesting:
“…We
are raising dust in the north,
And leaving azure in
the south…”
Blok’s word “dust” above directs us to Blok’s idol
Pushkin. As for “azure,” hidden here is an allusion to the glorious death of
another Russian poet linked to Pushkin, namely M. Yu. Lermontov whose death was
a symbol of challenge to the society that allowed the murder of Pushkin. The
words “north” and “south” are somehow tied to both these illustrious names. Pushkin
lived in the north while the south is momentous for Lermontov who volunteered
for Russia’s war in the Caucasus.
And so two “dark thrones” have sitters in them both in
this Blokian poem and in Bulgakov’s Master
an Margarita.
Supplying Professor Kuzmin with a gothic armchair,
Bulgakov obviously puts his prototype Bryusov on a throne. The question is: on
account of which work of Bryusov?
In my mind it is on account of Bryusov’s Fiery Angel. [See my chapter The Bard: The Genesis.] Bryusov first
released this work under the guise of a medieval manuscript which he had
allegedly found, translated and edited. In this literary deception Bryusov must
have followed the example of the precocious English poet Chatterton [1752-1770
sic!] who at the age of 15 invented
a certain medieval poet “Thomas Rowley” and started publishing his own verses under
that assumed name. (See my chapter Guests
at Satan’s Great Ball.)
In his Fiery
Angel Bryusov shows another real-life love triangle which included the
notorious mathematician-poet-writer Andrei Bely sharing a certain publisher’s
wife Nina Petrovskaya with his mentor V. Ya. Bryusov. Curiously, Andrei Bely
responded to Bryusov’s triangle with a triangle of his own – depicted in his
world famous novel Peterburg – which
included the wife of his friend Alexander Blok… “How about the mathematician!” – as A. S. Pushkin would have said. “And who might he be taking after?”
Andrei Bely writes about Bryusov’s novel with
undisguised mockery. Bryusov transports the action of his novel from Moscow to
medieval Germany from Cologne to Basel. It was because of Cologne,
famous for its Gothic Cathedral, that Bulgakov borrowed his Gothic
armchair for Professor Kuzmin.
Which proves yet again that Professor Kuzmin’s
prototype happens to be none other than V. Ya. Bryusov.
The following words of Bulgakov likewise point to
Bryusov’s Fiery Angel:
“And
what is this? – asked Kuzmin, twirling his moustache [sic!].
Do
not disdain this, Citizen Professor! – whispered the buffet vendor. – I’m begging you, stop the cancer!
Put
away your gold at once! –
said the professor, being proud of himself.
Ehh! – cried the buffet vendor dejectedly,
tenderly eyeing the professor, taking back the gold coins, and backing away toward the door.”
Professor Kuzmin’s twirling of his mustache and being
proud of himself pertain to Bryusov’s gold, that is, to his work The Fiery Angel. Marina Tsvetaeva had a
high opinion of this work, and it is quite likely that she may have been in
love with Bryusov in her youth, as in her memoirs she writes that she had had a
magic dream about Bryusov and Renata (the heroine of The Fiery Angel, whose prototype was Nina Petrovskaya – see above).
Bryusov never learned about Tsvetaeva’s dream because she never told him about
it.
Ehh! V. Bryusov should never have tried to “complete”
Pushkin’s Egyptian Nights. It was for
this reason that Marina Tsvetaeva called him a “barbarian.” Hence the title of
my present chapter: A Barbarian at the
Gate.
To be continued…
***
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