The Bard.
Bezdomny’s Progress.
Posting #1.
“Balmont. Bryusov.
Their only connection was
their foreignness. In a
Russian fairytale, Balmont
is not Ivan-Tsarevich but a
guest from overseas.”
Marina Tsvetaeva. Memoirs.
Remember
that the word “taburet” first pops up already in the 8th chapter of
M. Bulgakov’s Master and Margarita: A Duel
Between the Professor and the Poet, that is, ten whole chapters before Azazello’s Cream! Having been committed
to a psychiatric clinic, the poet Ivan Bezdomny, after a thorough medical
examination and breakfast, gets an unexpected visit.
Bulgakov
writes:
“The door to Ivan’s room opened suddenly and a multitude of people
in white [sic!] coats entered through it. Ahead of them all came a carefully,
actor-style shaven man of about 45, with pleasant, but piercing eyes and polite
manners. His retinue was showing him signs of respect and attention, and
because of it, his entrance turned out quite solemn. Like Pontius Pilate, thought Ivan. Yes, he was undoubtedly the
boss...”
And
here it comes:
“He sat down on the taburet, and the rest remained standing.
Doctor Stravinsky – the seated man
introduced himself to Ivan and looked at him in a friendly manner.”
Here
Bulgakov also confuses the researcher into believing that just because of the
presence of the Russian composer Rimsky-Korsakov (whom he plainly calls:
“Rimsky”) in the novel Master and
Margarita, there has to be another Russian composer here, equally plainly
called “Stravinsky.”
But
this would be wrong.
In
the 18th chapter The Hapless
Visitors, at the very end, two distinguished MD’s are making their entrance:
Professor. Kuzmin, whose prototype is the Russian poet V. Ya. Bryusov, and
since the appearance of A. F. Sokov causes a range of weird developments in Professor
Kuzmin’s office, the good doctor calls upon the services of his friend and
classmate Professor. Bure, to help him steady up his nerves.
How
can we forget in this connection Marina Tsvetaeva’s memoirs? –
“Balmont,
Bryusov.” In those years in Russia the name of the one was never said (or
at least thought of) without the other. There were other poets, of course, and
they were no lesser ones, they were named in a singular mode. But those two
went together like a slip of the tongue. They came up as a pair.”
I
know that I’ve already quoted this passage in the preceding chapter Professor Kuzmin: Barbarian at the Gate.
But this is very important information for the researcher, and it must be
repeated. When I was writing the previous chapter, I had just discovered for
myself the theme of armchair. And
while rereading the 18th chapter of Master and Margarita: The Hapless Visitors, I found an apparent
discrepancy between a taburet and a small bench. It took me some time to
discover the name of Professor Bure in the word “taburet.”
And
then it struck me. This is why Bulgakov, in the case of Andrei Fokich Sokov,
substitutes the word “taburet” by “small
bench.” Osip Mandelstam simply does not measure up to a “taburet,” which in all truth belongs to
the Russian poet K. D. Balmont. Marina Tsvetaeva writes:
“Balmont. Bryusov. Their only connection was their foreignness. In
a Russian fairytale, Balmont is not Ivan-Tsarevich but a guest from overseas.”
Considering
that the name Balmont proper [with
the second syllable stressed, which, according to Marina Tsvetaeva, was the
preference of Balmont himself] is of French origin, the word taburet is also of
French origin (tabouret), from which Bulgakov draws out the French-sounding
name Bure.
Why
do I think that Professor Stravinsky has the same prototype as Professor Bure?
To
begin with, having come to the room
of the patient Ivan Bezdomny, Professor Stravinsky sits down on the taburet,
while the rest of his entourage remain standing.
Secondly, because it entered Ivan’s mind that the Professor
was “like Pontius Pilate,” whose prototype
is V. Ya. Bryusov, and Marina Tsvetaeva has “two tsars” of the time: two
Russian poets V. Ya. Bryusov and K. D. Balmont.
“[Professor
Stravinsky’s] retinue was showing him signs of respect and attention, and
because of it, his entrance turned out to be quite solemn.”
And
thirdly, the medical specializations of Professor Bure – in
neuropathology, and of Professor Stravinsky – in psychology, are related, both
dealing with the functioning of the nervous system.
I
do not know whether Bulgakov ever met Balmont, who left Russia for France even
before the death of Alexander Blok and the execution of Nikolai Gumilev. But I
understand why Bulgakov has given this personage the last name Stravinsky.
Balmont had a hard life in the West, his poetry was apparently out of fashion
by then. At the end (and he died in 1942), he was supported by several Russian
composers, including Igor Stravinsky and Sergei Rachmaninov. It is amazing how
the Russians think alike wherever they live. Long after Bulgakov’s death, in
1951 Igor Stravinsky wrote the opera Rake’s
Progress, influenced by a series of engravings by William Hogarth. The
opera displays a similarity to Bulgakov’s Master
and Margarita, although Stravinsky could not have any knowledge of the
novel, which was first published in heavily censored form only in the 1960’s.
This
is why my subchapter has the title Bezdomny’s
Progress. I believe that both the name Stravinsky and Bulgakov’s tendency
to transfer his prototypes from one personage to another support my assertion.
And
so, Balmont appears in Bulgakov’s Master
and Margarita always briefly and as a foreigner. The researcher needs to
remember that this Russian poet appears there already in the 2nd
chapter: Pontius Pilate, and in a
very mysterious way at that:
“As the secretary was calling a meeting,
the procurator was having a tête-à-tête in a room shaded from the sun by
dark curtains with a man whose face was half-covered by a hood, even though
the rays of the sun could not bother him inside the room. The procurator
said a few words to the man, after which the man departed...”
The
first meeting of Pontius Pilate (whose prototype is the Russian poet Valery
Bryusov) happens to be with the chief of secret service Afranius (whose
prototype is the Russian poet K. Balmont). Here, like in other places, Bulgakov
is using an interesting literary device, which I call “coming from the contrary.”
The
two places that I underlined in Bulgakov’s passage above point to Balmont, who
has a poetry collection titled Let Us Be
Like the Sun. Bulgakov proves this by drawing attention to this not just
once but twice in the course of one sentence: “shaded
from the sun” and “even though the rays of the sun could not bother
him inside the room.” Terrific!
What
is also stunning is that Balmont’s appearance in this scene is so brief. And as
always, in the 8th chapter Balmont appears as another character: Dr.
Stravinsky. Bulgakov masterfully controls these two parallel realities two
thousand years apart, shuttling the same prototype between Pontius Pilate, the subnovel, and Master and Margarita proper.
Also
briefly Balmont appears in Chapter16 The
Execution where Bulgakov keeps calling him [as Afranius] “the man in the
hood.” (See my chapter The Garden about
this.) Balmont’s role significantly expands in Chapter 25 How the Procurator Tried to Save Judas from Kyriath, burned by
master, and especially in Chapter 26 The
Burial. (See also my chapter The
Garden.)
To
be continued…
***
No comments:
Post a Comment