Valery Yakovlevich Bryusov ( rus, Вале́рий Я́ковлевич Брю́сов, p=vɐˈlʲerʲɪj ˈjakəvlʲɪvʲɪdʑ ˈbrʲusəf, a=Valyeriy Yakovlyevich Bryusov.ru.vorb.oga; – 9 October 1924) was a Russian poet, prose writer, dramatist, translator, critic and
historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...
. He was one of the principal members of the
Russian Symbolist movement
Russian symbolism was an intellectual and artistic movement predominant at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. It arose separately from European symbolism, emphasizing mysticism and ostranenie.
Literature
Influences
Primary ...
.
Darko Suvin
Darko Ronald Suvin (born Darko Šlesinger) is a Yugoslav-born academic, writer and critic who became a professor (now emeritusDavid JohnstonConvocation: Honorary degrees and emeritus professorships McGill Reporter, Volume 33, No. 05, November ...
, "Bryusov,Valery" in Curtis C. Smith, ''Twentieth-Century Science-Fiction Writers
''Twentieth-Century Science-Fiction Writers'' is a book by Curtis C. Smith published in October 1981 on science fiction authors in the 20th century. It is the third in the St. Martin's Press's ''Twentieth-Century Writers of the English Language'' ...
''. Chicago, St. James, 1986. (pp. 840–41).
Background
Valery Bryusov was born on 13 December 1873 (1 December 1873 according to the old
Julian calendar
The Julian calendar, proposed by Roman consul Julius Caesar in 46 BC, was a reform of the Roman calendar. It took effect on , by edict. It was designed with the aid of Greek mathematicians and astronomers such as Sosigenes of Alexandr ...
) into a merchant's family in
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...
. His parents were educated for their class and had some literary associations, but had little do with his upbringing, leaving the boy largely to himself. He spent a great deal of time reading "everything that fell into
ishands", including the works of
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended ...
and
Jules Verne, as well as various
materialistic and scientific essays. The future poet received an excellent education, studying in two private Moscow
gymnasia between 1885 and 1893.
Career
Bryusov began his literary career in the early 1890s while still a student at
Moscow State University
M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU; russian: Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова) is a public research university in Moscow, Russia and the most prestigious ...
with his translations of the poetry of the
French Symbolists (
Paul Verlaine
Paul-Marie Verlaine (; ; 30 March 1844 – 8 January 1896) was a French poet associated with the Symbolist movement and the Decadent movement. He is considered one of the greatest representatives of the '' fin de siècle'' in international and ...
,
Maurice Maeterlinck
Maurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck (29 August 1862 – 6 May 1949), also known as Count (or Comte) Maeterlinck from 1932, was a Belgian playwright, poet, and essayist who was Flemish but wrote in French. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in ...
, and
Stéphane Mallarmé) as well at that of
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is wid ...
. Bryusov also began to publish his own poems, which were very much influenced by the
Decadent
The word decadence, which at first meant simply "decline" in an abstract sense, is now most often used to refer to a perceived decay in standards, morals, dignity, religious faith, honor, discipline, or skill at governing among the members of ...
and
Symbolist movements of his contemporary Europe. During this time Bryusov came under the influence of the philosopher
Nikolai Fyodorovich Fyodorov
Nikolai Fyodorovich Fyodorov (russian: Никола́й Фёдорович Фёдоров; surname also Anglicized as "Fedorov", June 9, 1829 – December 28, 1903) was a Russian Orthodox Christian philosopher, who was part of the Russian cosm ...
and the scientist
Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky (russian: Константи́н Эдуа́рдович Циолко́вский , , p=kənstɐnʲˈtʲin ɪdʊˈardəvʲɪtɕ tsɨɐlˈkofskʲɪj , a=Ru-Konstantin Tsiolkovsky.oga; – 19 September 1935) ...
.
At the time, Russian Symbolism was still mainly a set of theories and had few notable practitioners. Therefore, in order to represent Symbolism as a movement of formidable following, Bryusov adopted numerous
pen names and published three volumes of his own verse, entitled ''Russian Symbolists. An Anthology'' (1894–95). Bryusov's mystification proved successful – several young poets were attracted to Symbolism as the latest fashion in Russian letters.
With the appearance of ''Tertia Vigilia'' in 1900, he came to be revered by other Symbolists as an authority in matters of art. In 1904 he became the editor of the influential
literary magazine ''
Vesy
''Vesy'' (russian: Весы́; en, The Balance or The Scales) was a Russian symbolist magazine published in Moscow from 1904 to 1909, with the financial backing of philanthropist S. A. Polyakov. It was edited by the major symbolist writer Valery ...
'' (''The Balance''), which consolidated his position in the Russian literary world. Bryusov's mature works were notable for their celebration of sensual pleasures as well as their mastery of a wide range of poetic forms, from the
acrostic to the
carmina figurata
''Carmen figuratum'' (plural: ''carmina figurata'') is a poem that has a certain shape or pattern formed either by all the words it contains or just by certain ones therein. An example is France Prešeren's "Zdravljica", where the shape of each s ...
.
By the 1910s, Bryusov's poetry had begun to seem cold and strained to many of his contemporaries. As a result, his reputation gradually declined and, with it, his power in the Russian literary world. He was adamantly opposed to the efforts of
Georgy Chulkov and
Vyacheslav Ivanov to move Symbolism in the direction of
Mystical Anarchism.
Though many of his fellow Symbolists fled Russia after the
Russian Revolution of 1917
The Russian Revolution was a period of political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and adopt a socialist form of government ...
, Bryusov remained until his death in 1924. He supported the
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...
government and received a position in the cultural ministry of the new
Soviet state. Shortly before his death he was involved with
Otto Schmidt
Otto Yulyevich Shmidt, be, Ота Юльевіч Шміт, Ota Juljevič Šmit (born Otto Friedrich Julius Schmidt; – 7 September 1956), better known as Otto Schmidt, was a Soviet scientist, mathematician, astronomer, geophysicist, statesm ...
in drawing up the proposal for the
Great Soviet Encyclopedia
The ''Great Soviet Encyclopedia'' (GSE; ) is one of the largest Russian-language encyclopedias, published in the Soviet Union from 1926 to 1990. After 2002, the encyclopedia's data was partially included into the later ''Bolshaya rossiyskaya e ...
.
In 1924, shortly before his death, Bryusov posed for the young sculptor (1893–1990). Now the portrait is in the
Russian Museum
The State Russian Museum (russian: Государственный Русский музей), formerly the Russian Museum of His Imperial Majesty Alexander III (russian: Русский Музей Императора Александра III), on ...
of St. Petersburg in a collection of the work of
Russian avant-garde artists.
Literature
Alongside
Adelina Adalis
Adelina Adalis (26 July 1900 – 13 August 1969) was a Soviet poet, prose writer and translator.
Alongside Valery Bryusov (1873–1924) and Nikolay Gumilev
Nikolay Stepanovich Gumilyov ( rus, Никола́й Степа́нович Гум ...
(1900-1969) and
Nikolay Gumilev
Nikolay Stepanovich Gumilyov ( rus, Никола́й Степа́нович Гумилёв, p=nʲɪkɐˈlaj sʲtʲɪˈpanəvʲɪtɕ ɡʊmʲɪˈlʲɵf, a=Nikolay Styepanovich Gumilyov.ru.vorb.oga; April 15 NS 1886 – August 26, 1921) was a poe ...
(1886-1921), he was influenced by the
Malaysian literature
Malaysian literature is the collection of literary works produced in the Malay peninsula until 1963 and in Malaysia thereafter. Malaysian literature is typically written in any of the country's four main languages: Malay, English, Chinese a ...
from the XIX and XX century.
Prose
Bryusov's most famous
prose
Prose is a form of written or spoken language that follows the natural flow of speech, uses a language's ordinary grammatical structures, or follows the conventions of formal academic writing. It differs from most traditional poetry, where the ...
works are the historical novels ''The Altar of Victory'' (depicting life in Ancient Rome) and ''
The Fiery Angel'' (depicting the psychological climate of 16th century Germany). The latter tells the story of a knight's attempts to win the love of a young woman whose spiritual integrity is seriously undermined by her participation in occult practices and her dealings with unclean forces. It served as the basis for
Sergei Prokofiev
Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''., group=n (27 April .S. 15 April1891 – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, ...
's
opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...
''
The Fiery Angel''.
Bryusov also wrote some
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...
stories, under the influence of Poe,
H.G. Wells and
Camille Flammarion
Nicolas Camille Flammarion FRAS (; 26 February 1842 – 3 June 1925) was a French astronomer and author. He was a prolific author of more than fifty titles, including popular science works about astronomy, several notable early science fic ...
. Several of these, including the title story, were assembled in his collection ''The Republic of the Southern Cross''.
Translation
As a translator, Bryusov was the first to render the works of the Belgian poet
Emile Verhaeren
Emil or Emile may refer to:
Literature
*'' Emile, or On Education'' (1762), a treatise on education by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
* ''Émile'' (novel) (1827), an autobiographical novel based on Émile de Girardin's early life
*'' Emil and the Detecti ...
and the lyrics of Armenian ashugh
Sayat-Nova
Sayat-Nova ( Armenian: Սայեաթ-Նովայ ( сlassical), Սայաթ-Նովա ( reformed); ka, საიათნოვა; ; ; born Harutyun Sayatyan; 14 June 1712 – 22 September 1795) was an Armenian poet, musician and ''ashugh'', w ...
accessible to Russian readers. He was one of the major translators of
Paul Verlaine
Paul-Marie Verlaine (; ; 30 March 1844 – 8 January 1896) was a French poet associated with the Symbolist movement and the Decadent movement. He is considered one of the greatest representatives of the '' fin de siècle'' in international and ...
's poetry.
His most famous translations are of Edgar Allan Poe,
Romain Rolland
Romain Rolland (; 29 January 1866 – 30 December 1944) was a French dramatist, novelist, essayist, art historian and mystic who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1915 "as a tribute to the lofty idealism of his literary production a ...
,
Maurice Maeterlinck
Maurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck (29 August 1862 – 6 May 1949), also known as Count (or Comte) Maeterlinck from 1932, was a Belgian playwright, poet, and essayist who was Flemish but wrote in French. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in ...
,
Victor Hugo
Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...
,
Jean Racine
Jean-Baptiste Racine ( , ) (; 22 December 163921 April 1699) was a French dramatist, one of the three great playwrights of 17th-century France, along with Molière and Corneille as well as an important literary figure in the Western traditi ...
,
Ausonius
Decimius Magnus Ausonius (; – c. 395) was a Roman poet and teacher of rhetoric from Burdigala in Aquitaine, modern Bordeaux, France. For a time he was tutor to the future emperor Gratian, who afterwards bestowed the consulship on him ...
,
Molière
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (, ; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, , ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the greatest writers in the French language and worl ...
,
Byron
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and has been regarded as among the ...
, and
Oscar Wilde. Bryusov also translated
Johann Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism
There are many ...
's ''
Faust
Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust ( 1480–1540).
The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a pact with the Devil at a crossroa ...
'' and
Virgil
Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: th ...
's ''
Aeneid
The ''Aeneid'' ( ; la, Aenē̆is or ) is a Latin epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who fled the fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of th ...
''.
List of major works
* ''Juvenilia'', 1894
* ''Chefs d’oeuvre'', 1895
* ''Me eum esse'', 1897
* ''Tertia Vigilia'', 1900
* ''Urbi et Orbi'', 1903
* ''Stephanos'', 1905
* ''
The Fiery Angel'', 1908
* ''All Melodies'', 1909
* ''The Altar of Victory'', 1913
* ''Rea Silvia'', 1916
Works in English translation
*''The Republic of the Southern Cross and Other Stories'', Constable, London, 1918
from Archive.orgContains several science fiction stories.
*''The Fiery Angel: A Sixteenth Century Romance'', Hyperion Press, 1978.
*''Diary of Valery Bryusov'', University of California Press, 1980.
*''The Fiery Angel: Dedalus European Classics'', Dedalus Limited, 2005.
Recognition in Armenia
For his Russian translation of the Armenian folk epic “
David of Sasun
David of Sassoun ( hy, Սասունցի Դավիթ ''Sasuntsi Davit also spelled David of Sasun'') is the main hero of Armenia's national epic ''Daredevils of Sassoun'', who drove Arab invaders out of Armenia.
Background
The ''Daredevils of ...
,” Bryusov was designated People's Poet of Armenia in 1923.
Yerevan Brusov State University of Languages and Social Sciences, a public university in the capital of
Armenia
Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ' ...
, has been named after Valery Bryusov since 1962.
See also
*
Monostich
A monostich is a poem which consists of a single line.
Form
A monostich has been described as "a startling fragment that has its own integrity"
and "if a monostich has an argument, it is necessarily more subtle."
A monostich could be also titled ...
(started in Russia in its modern form in 1894 by Valery Bryusov
[Kaun, Alexander 'Futurism and Pseudo-Futurism.' ]The Little Review
''The Little Review'', an American literary magazine founded by Margaret Anderson in Chicago's historic Fine Arts Building, published literary and art work from 1914 to May 1929. With the help of Jane Heap and Ezra Pound, Anderson created a m ...
, Vol. 1, No. 4, 1914, P. 15.)
References
External links
*
*
*
Collection of Poems by Valery Bryusov(English Translations)
A 10 page selection of English translations by Babette Deutsch and Avrahm Yarmolinsky, 1921 English translations of longer poem, "Danse Macabre" (scroll down)"To a Woman" English translation* Mark Willhardt, Alan Parker. "Briusov, Valerii Iakovlevich" in ''Who's Who in Twentieth Century World Poetry'', Routledge, 2000, , p. 47
"Brusov and The Poetry of Armenia"on
Google Arts and Culture
Google Arts & Culture (formerly Google Art Project) is an online platform of high-resolution images and videos of artworks and cultural artifacts from partner cultural organizations throughout the world.
It utilizes high-resolution image technol ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bryusov, Valery
1873 births
1924 deaths
Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery
Russian male poets
Russian male short story writers
Russian historical novelists
Russian science fiction writers
Soviet poets
Symbolist poets
Russian male novelists
Soviet literary historians
Soviet male writers
20th-century Russian poets
20th-century Russian male writers
20th-century Russian short story writers
Writers of Gothic fiction
Imperial Moscow University alumni
Translators of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Translators of Virgil