The Bard.
Adventures Of A Dead Poet.
Posting #2.
Scram,
cat! Now do sit down, my late brother.”
A. S. Pushkin. Fonvizin’s Shadow.
The poem Fonvizin’s
Shadow was written by Pushkin as an affirmation of himself being
Derzhavin’s successor. This point is convincingly corroborated by the famous
Repin painting of Alexander Pushkin at
Tsarskoye Selo, reciting his poetry to the visiting Derzhavin.
What yet again confirms my line of thought is the fact
that Pushkin names several Russian poets in his poem Fonvizin’s Shadow, yet not one of them fits the role of the “singer
in the hut.”
The poem’s last words: “And Batyushkov sleeps peacefully…” point to the mental illness of
this famous Russian poet, whom Pushkin calls in Fonvizin’s Shadow: “Prince
Crazy.” Having visited Konstantin Nikolayevich Batyushkov (1787-1855)
fifteen years later, when Pushkin was already 31 years old, he wrote the famous
poem God Do Not Let Me Lose My Mind, It’s
Better to Wander, Staff and Bag.
Batyushkov is not asleep when visited by Fonvizin’s
Shadow. Frightened out of his wits, he faints.
***
Aside from the idea of the dead poets in Master and Margarita, Bulgakov shows
Koroviev (Pushkin) as a ghost already
on the second page of his novel, which is the word used by Pushkin in Fonvizin’s Shadow.
“And then the balmy air thickened before him, and woven out of this
air appeared a most strange, transparent citizen. A jockey cap upon his small head,
a checkered stumpy jacket also made out of air... A very tall citizen, but
narrow in the shoulders, incredibly thin, and mind you, a most gloating
physiognomy.
This long, see-through citizen was dangling in front of him right
and left without touching the ground. Then horror overtook Berlioz, and the
checkered one disappeared, together with the blunt needle previously piercing
his heart.”
Visiting Derzhavin, –
“…Fonvizin
told him right away
Of
his adventures in the world beyond.
So
you are here as a ghost? –
Derzhavin
said. – I’m very glad!
Accept
my blessings…
Scram,
cat! Now do sit down, my late brother.”
Bulgakov uses Pushkin’s line “Scram, cat! Now do sit down, my late
brother!” twice in Master and
Margarita. The first time in the 4th chapter The Chase, where the tram ticket seller,
having spotted the cat trying to board the tram, –
“…screamed with a hatred which made her
shudder: Cats forbidden! With cats not
allowed! Scram! Get off, or else I will call the police!”
And another time in the 7th chapter The No-Good Apartment, when Stepa
Likhodeev is about to be thrown “to all the devils in hell” out of his
apartment, so that Woland and his retinue could occupy the apartment. At that
moment Kot Begemot, apparently, a quick learner from his experience with the
tram ticket seller, uses the same word “Scram!”
screaming at Likhodeev and bristling his fur.
“And then the bedroom started whirling
around Stepa, and he banged his head against the door frame, and losing
consciousness, he thought: I’m dying…”
As I already wrote in my chapter A Swallow’s Nest of Luminaries: The Duets, this is how Bulgakov alludes
to the death of the great Russian composer M. P. Mussorgsky, who wrote two
out-of-this-world operas, Boris Godunov
and Khovanshchina,, and who died of delirium tremens. This whole bizarre
scene shows Bulgakov’s extremely negative view of people who do not value their
own life to such an extent that they drink themselves to a premature death.
(The last name “Likhodeev” [“doer of evil”] may well
have been influenced by the Pushkin-coined word “stikhodei” [“doers of
verses”], as in the following passage from Fonvizin’s
Shadow:
“…Scaring
Russia’s stikhodei
In
cities and in smaller towns…”)
Incidentally, Mussorgsky was also a doer of verses. He
wrote his own librettos and lyrics for his songs.
But there is an even more interesting explanation why
Azazello (Yesenin) and Kot Begemot (Lermontov) want to get rid of Stepa
Likhodeev (Mussorgsky). This explanation is comical and on a much lighter note.
Mussorgsky’s creative legacy is by no means limited to
the two operas. Among his other output we find the amazing and frightening Songs and Dances of Death, but also the
absolutely adorable song cycle In the
Children’s Room. In one of the songs the nanny chastises the boy for making
a mess, while he blames it all on the kitten.
“Ah,
what a mischief maker!
Unraveled
the yarn, lost the needles.
Ah,
you! Released all the loops!
The
stocking all splattered with ink!
The
corner! The corner! Go in the corner!
Mischief
maker!
I
didn’t do anything, nanny,
I
didn’t touch the stocking, nanny!
The
kitten unraveled the yarn,
And
the kitten scattered the needles,
And
Mishenka was a good boy.
Mishenka
was a smart boy.
And
nanny she is wicked and old,
Nanny
has dirt on her nose.
Misha
is clean and combed up.
And
nanny has her bonnet sideways.
Nanny
offended Mishenka,
Put
him in the corner for nothing.
Misha
won’t love nanny anymore, that’s what!”
To be continued…
***
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