The Bard.
Berlioz Is
Dead.
Kuzmin Is In
Leeches.
Long Live
Bosoy!
Posting #2.
“And Koroviev – he is
the devil!
M. A. Bulgakov. Master and Margarita.
Neuzheli?!
Can
it really be true that God exists?!
The
last thought of Mikhail Alexandrovich Berlioz.
We
find a confirmation in the words of Nikolai Stepanovich Gumilev from his
article Poetry published in the
literary journal Vesy [Libra, Scales]:
“...Bryusov, who in Urbi et
Orbi and in The Wreath had given us model specimens of
classical purity and strength, in Vesy like
Jacob engaged himself in a combat with his God [sic!]. And finally, in the poem
To Someone, opening with the line: Farman or Wright or whoever you are... –
he [Bryusov] comes closely to modernity, which poets are usually so afraid of,
and comes out the winner.”
In
other words, Gumilev never doubts Valery Bryusov’s belief in God, in spite of
Bryusov’s atheistic upbringing. Bulgakov draws the reader’s attention to this
fact, as Bryusov becomes the prototype of three of his characters whose faith
is at best suspect. Berlioz is an avowed atheist until the last moment of his
life. Bosoy explodes in a barrage of quasi-religious terminology when he is in
fear of his life, which sort of puts him on equal religious footing with the
almost-repentant mocker of religion Berlioz. Pontius Pilate often “appeals” to
“gods, gods” but it is well-known that Romans hardly ever took their pagan
religion all too seriously. Still, his dramatic encounter with Yeshua may be
considered a profound religious experience, and at the end of Bulgakov’s novel
he definitely gets a better deal for the afterlife than either of the other two
“incarnations” of V. Ya. Bryusov, of whom Marina Tsvetaeva wrote this:
“I never considered him
either a Christian or a Slav…”
In
fairness to the clashing views of Gumilev and Tsvetaeva, they are not
completely incompatible, and the character of Pontius Pilate created by
Bulgakov in the novel Master and Margarita
offers a good effort at their harmonization.
Curiously,
Marina Tsvetaeva insists in her memoirs that Bryusov never had dreams in his
sleep. Nothing is farther from the truth in the case of Bulgakov’s Pontius
Pilate who has an intense dream about taking a walk with the “wandering
philosopher,” just as Yeshua had offered him to do before his execution.
In
his magically-wonderful, as Marina Tsvetaeva would say, dream, Pilate repents
of his cowardice and is ready now to ruin his career for Yeshua’s sake:
“Yes, yes, – Pilate was
groaning and sobbing in his sleep. – He will certainly ruin it. In the morning
he wouldn’t have ruined it yet, but now at nighttime, having weighed it all on
the scales, he is ready to ruin it. He will go to the extremes to save the
totally guiltless mad dreamer and healer from the execution…”
Here
Bulgakov is playing upon Marina Tsvetaeva’s words about Bryusov:
“I want to write in a new
way–I can’t! I heard this confession with my own ears in Moscow in 1920
from the stage of the Great Hall of the Conservatoire... I can’t! Bryusov, who finally could not. Hounded [sic!] from 1918
through 1922. By whom? Yes, by the same vermin of poetry who were screaming to
the dying Blok: Don’t you see that you
are dead? You are a corpse! You stink! Off with you into the grave!
The vermin of poetry, cocaine addicts, profiteers of scandal and
saccharine – with whom he [ Bryusov] – the maître, the Parnassian, the power,
the charms – was fraternizing! To whom obsequiously and pitifully he was serving
their overcoats in the lobby of his flat. He could push away – friends,
comrades-in-arms, contemporaries – Bryusov could do all that. It wasn’t their hour yet. What concerned his genuine attachments – he stepped
over them. But without these calling themselves new poetry [nobody knew about them in the USSR, or knows about them
in Russia of today, and does not even want to know!] he could not do: it was their
hour!”
Now
Pontius Pilate has nothing against becoming a Christian:
“We shall now be always together, – the vagabond
philosopher was telling him in his dream. – Once
there is one, there’s the other one right there. They will remember me and immediately they will remember you! Me, a
foundling, son of unknown parents, and you, son of an astrologer king and of
the daughter of a miller, the beautiful Pila…
Then, please do not forget,
and mention me by name, me, an astrologer’s son! – Pilate was pleading in his dream, crying
and laughing with joy.”
This
is how Bulgakov reflects on what might have been had Bryusov, with all his
considerable authority, interceded in behalf of Blok and Gumilev. But that was
not destined to be.
Already
since 1919, Bryusov was himself being hounded, according to Marina Tsvetaeva.
Things could have been different had the poets of the Silver Age all hung together against the incoming surge of “poetry
vermin,” to use Marina Tsvetaeva’s words. This “vermin” managed to do a lot of
harm to the authentic talent, without leaving any constructive trace in Russian
literature.
But
the thought itself that by the end of his life Bryusov may have contemplated
embracing Christianity – is a revolutionary thought.
Hence
“Neuzheli?!”
It
is no longer important who was that “someone” desperately shouting inside
Berlioz’s brain. Both M. A. Bulgakov and V. Ya. Bryusov take it from M. Yu.
Lermontov:
“I’m
either God or nobody.”
In
other words, at the last moment Berlioz himself realizes that God exists, and
He is the Christian God. He receives this message in a manner only God could
send it.
This
is how I understand Bulgakov who, with his unique sense of humor, not only
writes this scene, but also proceeds to “resurrect” Berlioz in the 9th
chapter in the persona of Nikanor Ivanovich Bosoy.
Whereas
Bulgakov’s complaint against Berlioz/Bryusov is Bryusov’s propensity for
“completing” unfinished works of the classics (for which reason Koroviev/Pushkin
sends Berlioz to the fateful tourniquet), the point of the calamity inflicted
on Bosoy/Bryusov revolves around the question of money.
If
Berlioz loses his head, then Bosoy is losing his mind. How does Pushkin say it?
–
“God
do not let me lose my mind.
No! – better a beggar’s staff
and bag…”
Having
found American dollars in the toilet’s vent, the investigators interrogated
Bosoy, but learned nothing from him. But having admitted that his name was
indeed Bosoy, the arrested man vehemently denied that he was “Chairman of the
Housing Committee of Apartment Building #302-bis on Sadovaya Street in Moscow.”
–
“Had I been Chairman, I would
have instantly established that he [Koroviev] was a demonic creature! If he
wasn’t, what would that be? A cracked pince-nez, dressed in rags… What kind of
interpreter to a foreigner could he possibly be?”
Having
called Koroviev a “demonic creature” for a second time, Bosoy appeals to God
again:
“God True, God Almighty... He
sees all! And as for me – it serves me right: The Lord punisheth me for my
filth... But foreign currency – I never took it! If you wish, I’ll eat earth
that I didn’t... And Koroviev – he is the devil!
Here the room was filled with a wild roar of Nikanor Ivanovich
jumping up from his knees:
There he is! There, behind
the cabinet! Smirking! And it’s his pince-nez! Get him! Sprinkle this place
with holy water!
Blood was drained from the face of Nikanor Ivanovich. Trembling, he
was making signs of the cross all around the room, dashing toward the door and
back. He started singing some kind of prayer and eventually resorted to
gibberish. It became quite clear that Nikanor Ivanovich was in no condition to
talk. He was taken out, placed into a separate room, where he somewhat quieted
down, and just prayed and sobbed.”
Thus,
contrary to Osip Mandelstam, Bulgakov brings Bryusov back to God.
“In the evening Nikanor Ivanovich Bosoy was taken to the Stravinsky
psychiatric clinic.”
To
be continued…
***
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