Every year on June 6, the most reading country in the world starts going crazy about Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin. It has long been decided that great poet- this is our everything, and every year the date of his birth is celebrated on a grand scale. It would seem that his creations - the case for a long time past days, but even in our time, Pushkin's works delight lovers of literature with their magnificent style.
With Pushkin in life
Perhaps no other Russian writer and poet is loved as much as Alexander Sergeevich. They meet him in kindergarten enjoying good fairy tales author, but they continue to quote and remember all their lives, declaring Eugene Onegin by heart, invariably recalling the eternal ones: “I remember a wonderful moment”, or “My uncle is the most fair rules". Pushkin's birthday is not just the date of the birth of a genius from literature, it is the birthday of classical, Russian literature and language.
Pushkin language
It is believed that it was Pushkin who became the founder of the modern Russian language, which we speak in the 21st century. Everyone who was born in Russia and for whom Russian is their native language is incredibly lucky. We have the opportunity to enjoy the poet's work in the original. But even despite the difficulties of translating poems into a foreign language, thanks to the skill and talent of translators, the works of Alexander Sergeevich received recognition far beyond the borders of our country. Pushkin's Day is celebrated with the same success as in Russia on all continents of the world. And even in Africa, where the roots of Alexander Sergeevich are.
Soviet Pushkin
Pushkin's Day has been celebrated annually in Russia since 1991. In the era Soviet Union the birthday of the great poet also did not go unnoticed. Only its name was slightly different, namely, the Pushkin Poetry Festival. The poet was revered in the time of Lenin, and even under Stalin, high-profile events were held on this day, paying tribute to the genius of literature.
Monument to Pushkin
The most famous monument to Alexander Sergeevich is installed in Moscow on Tverskaya Street. It was opened on Pushkin's Day on June 6, 1880. Festive events dedicated to the birth of the poet are held not only at the famous monument, but also in numerous so-called Pushkin places. Tens of thousands of fans of Pushkin's work come to the village of Mikhailovskoye, where they read the poet's immortal poems. The most courageous give out even their own poems to the public court, trying to imitate Pushkin's poetry. In 2011, President Putin signed a decree establishing a new public holiday - Russian Language Day. A best date than Pushkin's birthday for this and it's hard to come up with. The document speaks of the Russian language as a national treasure of Russia. Since 2011, the Russian Language Day has been officially celebrated at the UN.
June 6 - the birthday of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin - has recently been celebrated as the International Day of the Russian Language. Concerts, exhibitions, literary readings will be held throughout the country today. And it is not the first year in a row that this day ends - the largest in Moscow.
The results will be summed up on all counts. The festival will host the superfinal of the Living Classics competition, which will determine the best young reciters of the country. Winners will be announced literary prize"Lyceum" in the nominations "Poetry" and "Prose".
And on the eve of VTsIOM published the data of another study, this time dedicated to the most popular Russian classics. Both our compatriots and Russian-speaking citizens of foreign countries took part in the survey. The first three positions of the reader's rating were occupied by Pushkin, Tolstoy and Lermontov. At the same time, Alexander Sergeevich, as sociologists would say, "is confidently leading." For millions of people, Pushkin's poetry and prose are a kind of ticket to the world of literature. His works have accompanied us since childhood, as well as the living and modern Russian language given to us by Pushkin. Report by Stanislav Dore - from the Moscow museum of the poet.
"Alexander NKSHP" - that is, "Pushkin" on the contrary and without vowels - such a signature stands under the first published poem of the great poet, which appeared in the journal "Bulletin of Europe" in 1814. The first lifetime edition appeared six years later - this is Ruslan and Lyudmila. It is also presented in the exhibition, which contains more than a hundred editions of Pushkin's works, which the poet could see with his own eyes. True, there are exceptions, such as the publication of "Eugene Onegin".
“Since after the news of Pushkin's death this book was sold out within a few days, the owners bound especially interesting copies into mourning bindings,” says Olga Asnina, head of the Pushkin Museum's book collections department.
A special attitude to the works of Alexander Sergeevich and to the very figure of the poet developed in the critical years for Russia. The exposition entitled “Pushkin. "Pushkin. 17.37" tells about the attitude to the "sun of Russian poetry" during the formation of Soviet power. Then the myth of Pushkin, an atheist, a friend of the Decembrists, a herald of the revolution, was massively cultivated - the famous “comrade, believe: she will rise, the star of captivating happiness”, according to Soviet ideology, of course, was the poet’s prophecy about the October Revolution.
“By a blasphemous irony of fate, when the prisoners were on Solovki, they were greeted by Pushkin's slogan: "Hello, young, unfamiliar tribe!" And it is surprising, because many Pushkinists suffered from repressions and, at the same time, when the struggle for the Marxist-Leninist methodology was carried out, at the same time, Pushkin studies were flourishing, and at that time the works of outstanding Pushkinists were created, ”notes the Museum’s chief researcher Pushkin Natalia Mikhailova.
When is this holiday held? Pushkin's Day in Russia, which is also called the Day of the Russian Language, is celebrated annually on June 6th.
How is Pushkin's Day celebrated?
How is the celebration going? Theatrical performances, the performance of poetic works, musical and literary concerts, which take place in museums, libraries, exhibition halls, theaters, houses of culture and other institutions throughout the country.
In kindergartens, schools and universities, matinees, essay and drawing competitions, quizzes, and festive evenings are held.
A large festive program is organized at Pushkinskiye Gory and Mikhailovsky, where thousands of people gather. A. S. Pushkin's poems are read by both young, beginners and well-known poets.
There are conferences and seminars devoted to various poetic trends and authors; published poetry collections and almanacs.
History and traditions of the Russian Language Day
The holiday, which is dedicated to the birthday of the great Russian poet Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin, has a long history. IN Soviet years it was called the Pushkin Poetry Festival.
Today it is celebrated memorable date, established in 1997 in accordance with the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation “On the 200th anniversary of the birth of A.S. Pushkin and the establishment of the Pushkin Day in Russia.
And in 2011, the President of Russia signed a Decree on the annual celebration of June 6, the Day of the Russian Language. This holiday was established "in order to preserve, support and develop the Russian language as a national heritage of the peoples Russian Federation, a means of international communication and an integral part of the cultural and spiritual heritage of world civilization”.
Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin was born on June 6, 1799 in Moscow. He is deservedly called the founder of Russian literature.
Even during his lifetime, in 1832, N. V. Gogol said about him: “Pushkin is an extraordinary phenomenon and, perhaps, the only phenomenon of the Russian spirit: this is a Russian person in his development, in which he, perhaps, will appear in 200 years".
Pushkin's work accompanies us from early childhood - throughout our lives. The books of the great poet, which are in almost every Russian family, unite people of all ages, religions and nationalities.
And the language of his works, which combine the norms of bookish and living spoken language, still remains the basis of Russian literary speech.
In addition to Pushkin's Day in Russia, June 6 is also celebrated: International Day of the Russian Language. The holiday was established by the United Nations Department of public relations. According to some data, about 250 million people around the world speak Russian.
Alexander Pushkin is often called the founder of modern Russian literary language. No matter how difficult his works are for translation, the poet has his admirers in almost all corners of our planet. We begin to get acquainted with his fairy tales, not yet having learned to read. We know almost by heart many of his works, and even in Everyday life we often quote him. We meet the seasons with Pushkin's lines: “Frost and sun! Wonderful day! or "A dull time, eyes of charm ...". We approach the mirror with the phrase: “Am I the cutest in the world? ..”, and even when a strict boss scolds us for not submitting a report on time, we tell our colleagues: “Let's drink with grief, where is the mug?”.
It was on this day - June 6 (according to the new style), 1799 - that Sasha Pushkin was born in Moscow. IN Soviet times This holiday was celebrated as the Pushkin Poetry Festival. The event has always attracted the attention of the public and even during the Stalinist terror was accompanied by magnificent and solemn events. It is noteworthy that it was on June 6, 1880 that the monument to A.S. Pushkin. The Pushkin Poetry Festival is still taking place and has the status of an All-Russian one. The poet's birthday received state status in 1997 by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation “On the 200th anniversary of the birth of A.S. Pushkin and the establishment of the Pushkin Day in Russia.
On the holiday itself, as in former times, thousands of people gather in Pushkinskiye Gory and Mikhailovsky to listen to poetic works performed by young or already established poets. Famous musicians and actors usually take part in the celebration. Pushkin's Day in Russia is celebrated annually in all cities of the country. On this day, many cultural events are held dedicated to the work of this great poet, literature and the Russian language.
It should also be said that in 2011 the President of Russia signed a Decree on the annual celebration of June 6, the Day of the Russian Language. The document says that this memorable date was established "in order to preserve, support and develop the Russian language as a national heritage of the peoples of the Russian Federation, a means of international communication and an integral part of the cultural and spiritual heritage of world civilization."
As part of the program for the support and development of multilingualism and cultural diversity, the Day of the Russian Language is also celebrated at the UN. The decision to hold the Day of the Russian Language on June 6 was made by the UN Department of Public Information on the eve of International Mother Language Day, celebrated annually on February 21 at the initiative of UNESCO.
Today, Russia celebrates Pushkin's Day in Russia (Day of the Russian Language): June 6 (May 25, according to the old style, on the day of the Ascension of the Lord), 1799, the genius of Russian literature Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin was born in Moscow. The annual celebration of this event was established in 2011 by decree of the President of Russia.
In Moscow today, flowers will be carried to the foot of the monument on Tverskaya Street, and in St. Petersburg - to the monument in the courtyard of the house on the Moika River embankment. Houses, in whose apartment on the second floor Pushkin died before he was 38 years old. How much more could he do! And on this festive day, a heart-wrenching feeling of loss is mixed with joy and the same bitter question haunts: how could this happen?
On the eve of the holiday, IA REGNUM correspondent Lyudmila Lis interviewed a member of the Pushkin Commission of the IMLI. A.M. Gorky of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Pushkinist, candidate of philological sciences Vladimir Evgenievich Orlov.
Vladimir Evgenievich, first of all, I would like to know how you came to become a Pushkinist. What determined your creative path?
Fate seemed to be preparing me for this. My childhood was spent in Moscow, on the Arbat, in a house that was a dating house before the revolution. It is described in one of Bunin's stories. The house was given over to communal apartments: all the "numbers" were converted into rooms. In one of the "cells" of a large apartment, where nine families lived, my grandmother lived, nee Filosofova. And my family returned there from evacuation in 1944. Two sisters also lived in the same apartment, who worked in the visiting house before the revolution. They were not affected by repression, since in 1917 they were declared a "working element." One of them was married, but her husband had disappeared somewhere, and the second was unmarried. Both were fluent in French. In the 50s, teachers came to consult them French from MSU. They didn't have their own children. They liked my sister and me so much that they began to teach us French. My sister was more assiduous, so she graduated from a pedagogical institute, trained at the Sorbonne, then worked as a teacher at a French college, now retired. I went to study at a regular "boys" school, and when co-education was introduced, I was transferred to a "girls", French special school, because it was closer to home than others. Even then I began to write stories, to show some literary abilities. He was simply immersed in Pushkin's poetry and prose. But my father advised me not to make literature my profession, and after graduating from school I entered the Bauman School, which I successfully graduated from.
In 1958, because of my father's work, we came to Leningrad for a while. I went to the Moika, to the museum-apartment of Pushkin, where Pushkin's letter to the Dutch envoy to Russia, Gekkern, written in January 1837, was put on public display. The letter was in French, and next to it was a translation into Russian. I compared them and realized that the translation does not match the text of the letter. True, at that moment I doubted my knowledge of French, but "the sediment remained." Later I learned that this is not a genuine letter, but its reconstruction. It sunk into my soul.
After graduating from Baumansky, I worked as a civil engineer, then I was invited to the army, where at that time there was a shortage of specialists, and I worked as a military engineer. While serving in the army, I entered the military institute foreign languages. Upon graduation, he became a translator and defended his PhD thesis. He served his 25 years, retired, but this letter did not give me peace of mind. And so, while reading the 1936 collection “Chronicles of the Literary Museum”, I came across an article by the Pushkin scholar Izmailov “History of the text of Pushkin’s letters to Gekkern”, in which there was a link to an article by another well-known researcher Kazansky. Both Pushkinists reconstructed Pushkin's letter, each in his own way. It was a very serious work on textual criticism, French phraseology and philology. I was lucky: the drafts of this letter were also here as an attachment. I started working on it. I deciphered them step by step, eliminating the shortcomings of the translation. For five years in a row, I published articles in the journal Philological Sciences based on the results of my work. I was convinced that it was not in vain that I started. And I still continue to work. And now, not so much with this letter, but with what lay behind it.
The main thing that I understood is that the story of Pushkin's last duel is a combination of source manipulation and, unfortunately, a consequence of his own mistakes. Plus, the youth of Natalya Nikolaevna played a fatal role in this whole story. I am not a supporter of the assertion that the wife cheated on Pushkin, I believe him on this issue, I believe his words addressed to his wife: "You are innocent in all this." Yes, there was such a period in their relationship, starting from the second half of 1834, when Pushkin was very busy writing and journaling, and his beloved Natalie, once in high society, was forced to meet and flirt with men at balls. Such flirting was an indispensable attribute of court life, but, of course, female coquetry was within certain limits. Everything heaped up in connection with this around Pushkin's duel is not true. Starting with the alleged reason for the duel, the notorious cuckold diploma he received, and ending with the letter he sent to Gekkern. Why? You can build conspiracy theories, and there are, I know, certain components that allow you to do this. But mainly because members of the royal family, relatives of Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna, were involved in this story. And when Pushkin, dying, demanded that the tsar return the documents that he had given him earlier, Nicholas I refused him. The tsar wrote to Pushkin to "die a Christian" and not take revenge on anyone. In return, the tsar promised that Pushkin's family would be provided financially. Pushkin was forced to accept. Zhukovsky and Dubelt, who were sorting through the papers, were ordered to seize all documents that could harm high-ranking officials and Pushkin's family and burn them. Moreover, when the investigators of the military court "pressed" Dantes and Gekkern, they also began to twist around the bush and issued documents that were falsified. When they were finally forced, they nevertheless handed over the original papers. But, after reviewing them, the tsar decided not to attach them to the case, ordered the investigation to be completed immediately, and later refused to return the documents to the two intriguers.
Pushkin’s phrases “It will be easy for me to write a history of cuckolds” and “Natasha, you are not to blame for anything, this matter only concerned me,” coupled with a categorical royal order to consign the dueling story to oblivion, did not allow Pushkin’s friends to dig deeper. None of them really knew anything - Pushkin believed that he would cope with the situation, and Pushkin's closest friends did not show him due attention and sympathy. Those close to Dantes and Gekkern were silent for obvious reasons, although some let it slip.
What documents are we talking about?
First of all, letters. Pushkin wrote two letters to Gekkern - in November 1836 and in January 1837. He did not send the November letter to Gekkern. He tore up two drafts, and the scraps were later found in a wastebasket. They lacked pieces, and the most important, most meaningful pieces, and therefore their reconstruction became necessary. Pushkin also wrote a letter to Benckendorff in November. But Pushkin did not send this letter either; it was found only after his death. The most infamous thing is that it is believed that Pushkin in January in a letter insulted Dantes and Gekkern so that they had no choice but to duel. It is not true. All this time, starting in November, he demanded of them, firstly, that they leave his wife alone, and secondly, that they leave Russia. And there were no insults in the January letter. Even Pushkin's well-known word "scoundrel" referred to the November letter. And these fragments of the November letter were taken out of the wastebasket by someone and saved. It looks like it was Zhukovsky. Based on them, Izmailov and Kazansky, considering them drafts of the January letter, reconstructed this letter. But there are still pieces of letters from the so-called Maikovsky collection - in 1925 fragments written by Pushkin were found. I am sure that they are fragments of a draft of this January letter to Gekkern, which was hidden from everyone. Ekaterina, Natalya Nikolaevna's sister and Dantes' wife, managed to steal the November letter in order to justify the duel, and it was presented to the investigation as January, and it really contained a lot of insults. And the real January letter was withheld.
Did you start by correcting mistakes in translations from French by other Pushkinists? Who else helped you with your research?
This work was hard. Let's start with the fact that the real French language in Russia is now completely lost. But even at the beginning of the last century it was impossible to find educated person who did not know French. By the way, the "French" pages of the text of the first editions of Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace" were not provided with a translation. Even teachers who are currently being trained by the Institute of Foreign Languages and pedagogical institutes they do not know the language well. And, unfortunately, no internships and no Sorbonnes will help them, because in France they also stopped studying Russian. I got lucky again. When I seriously took up this matter, God began to send me people who could help me in my work. It's a real miracle that I was introduced to Pushkin's great-granddaughter, Natalya Sergeevna Shepeleva. When I met her, she was in her 90s. Last years her life I spent next to her. She was an amazing person, it was very interesting to work with her. She really knew French perfectly, so her help in my search was very important. Communicating with her, I realized that there is some secret in the Pushkin family, something carefully hidden from strangers. There was a certain love for Natalya Nikolaevna in Dantes, and he later took advantage of this feeling for his own purposes. Natalya Sergeevna, Natalya Nikolaevna's great-granddaughter, didn't really like talking about this. Nevertheless, she nourished me with the realities of life of the Pushkin family and some subtleties of the French language. She caught the revolution as a 15-year-old girl, her father S.P. Mezentsev was a general in the retinue of Emperor Nicholas II. In 1925, he first came to the Lubyanka, and in 1937 he was shot. Natalya Sergeevna worked in the Conservatory Library, she was not touched, and this was decided at the level of Stalin. There was such a director of the Pushkin Museum A. Krein. Natalya Sergeevna, according to her, quarreled with him, because, as I understood, she wanted more respect for her because she gave the museum personal belongings of the family: Natalya Nikolaevna's beaded purse, her coral bracelet. The bracelet belonged to M.A. Pushkina-Gartung, Pushkin's eldest daughter. She passed it on to her niece Anna Aleksandrovna Pushkina, and she passed it on to Natalya Sergeevna. Natalya Sergeevna was ready to give a lot more, but because of a quarrel she did not give it. As a result, after her death, much was lost. Where did it go - the ends are visible. But, alas... She showed me the famous amulet, in which there was a particle of the Lord's robe. She kept it behind a curtain near the icon case, this amulet was inherited from the eldest man in the family to the next eldest son. First, Alexander Alexandrovich, the son of Pushkin, had it, then Alexander had to give it to Grigory, but he gave this amulet to his beloved granddaughter Natalya, whom he nursed in his arms and who was his last consolation in life. Natalya Sergeevna buried Pushkin's daughter Maria Alexandrovna, who died in March 1919 in poverty. For Maria, they asked for a pension from the People's Commissar of Education Lunacharsky. He agreed that Pushkin's daughter should be helped. But help came too late. The pension came to the funeral. Natalya Sergeevna and her old aunt Anna Alexandrovna buried Maria at the Donskoy cemetery, and the money allocated Soviet power, gone to the coffin. They hired a man to dig the grave. After a while, they began to look for this grave, but apart from Natalya Sergeevna, no one knew where the grave was. The grave of Alexander Alexandrovich, who died in July 1914 in Ostankino, Kashirsky district, Tula province, on the estate of his second wife, they wanted to raze to the ground due to the fact that everything there had fallen into complete desolation. Natalya Sergeevna ensured that Pushkin's son was reburied in the family crypt. In 1963, his ashes, according to his will, were finally transferred to Lopasnia. There are no Pushkin heirs in a straight line, but many relatives live in different countries. Under Natalya Sergeevna, they often gathered and talked, but after her death, such lively communication became less.
Photo: Vladimir Orlov
And where did the incense go then? Probably, Natalya Sergeevna had other relics. Where did they go?
As for the amulet ... Before the death of Natalya Sergeevna, the wife of director Lyubimov, Katalina Kunz, brought her home from the hospital to say goodbye to the house. Natalya Sergeevna asked me to be called, I arrived, and she told me that she had given the amulet to reliable hands. I recently learned that she gave it to her doctor.
Natalya Sergeevna lived in a one-room, wind-blown apartment. There she had a corner where the icons stood, and below a mattress with legs on which she slept. Nearby, on the bedside table, stood the icon of the Savior. Natalya Sergeevna said that in this way Natalya Nikolaevna's mother blessed her to marry Alexander Sergeyevich, and on the back of the icon, under velvet, there is an inscription about this, made by Natalya Nikolaevna's hand. After the death of Natalya Sergeevna, this icon disappeared. I read in the old newspaper "Evening Moscow" that this icon was sold for a million dollars to the All-Russian Pushkin Museum, which is located in St. Petersburg. There is the Pushkin Museum-Apartment on the Moika, there is the Pushkin House (IRLI - Institute of Russian Literature) and there is the so-called All-Russian Pushkin Museum, which until recently did not have its own premises. For some time now, part of its exposition can be seen in the backyard of the museum on the Moika. I looked for this icon in the exposition, but did not find it. Then I asked the director of the museum S. M. Nekrasov about it, to which he answered me: where they read it, there it is. This newspaper, by the way, also disappeared from the archive.
Pushkin also had a famous talisman. With the light hand of I. S. Turgenev, we have been stubbornly and persistently convinced for more than a century and a half that this is a ring with a carnelian stone, which Elizaveta Vorontsova gave Pushkin in Odessa when parting. There are two poems by Pushkin about the talisman. And in one of them there is a mention that the talisman was handed over to him by a "sorceress" - where the sea "eternally splashes on desert rocks", "where, enjoying in harems, Muslims spend their days." And she warned: “... When insidious eyes suddenly enchant you, or lips in the darkness of the night kiss without loving - dear friend! from crime, from new wounds of the heart, from betrayal, from oblivion, my talisman will save! We must pay tribute to Pushkin. He never "invented" anything. All the events that he described were real, starting with poems and ending with The Captain's Daughter. And I once told Natalya Sergeevna that I doubt that the ring stolen in 1917 from the exhibition, on which was the inscription of its former owner, a merchant, in Hebrew "Simcha, the son of the honest Mr. Joseph the Elder, may his memory be blessed" - this is the same talisman that Pushkin wrote about in the poem. Natalya Sergeevna suddenly said to me: "Now I'll show you something." She took out an antique box, opened it and showed a carnelian stone in a blackened silver frame. Its size was one centimeter. She said that, according to family tradition, Alexander Sergeevich kept this box on his desk and loved to go through the little things that were in it. I examined this stone under a magnifying glass. The stone was in the shape of a drop reverse side it was engraved with an inscription, also in Hebrew, divided in half by a vertical line. To the right of the line is the first part of the inscription, to the left is the other. And the whole inscription was surrounded by crosses. These crosses shocked me. There were 12 or 14 of them. At one time Pushkin himself was engaged in research on the Hebrew alphabet. Apparently, he wanted to decipher this inscription. The myth of the talisman from Vorontsova and other common myths about Pushkin are supported by those who "scientifically" work on Pushkin's legacy and who provided themselves with such work for many years to come. For example, a 30-volume academic complete collection Pushkin's writings should have been out of print by now. Back in 1999 (!) the Institute of Russian Literature was given a grant for the release of this grandiose publication. But so far only one (trial!) volume has been released in a limited edition. Last year, I asked Pushkin scholars from IRLI how things were going, fearing that I would not have time to give the texts for the last volume, where the poet's pre-duel letters should be published. They looked at me, excuse me, as if I were “crazy” and said that they were only doing the third volume, and they didn’t even let me see it, because it wasn’t ready yet. And the second volume was not given to see.
Or, for example, Natalya Sergeevna, giving her archive to the Pushkin House, wrote in a cover letter that it could be given to me - Vladimir Evgenievich Orlov. I asked the gentlemen from this House for access to the archive. They replied that they knew about Natalya Sergeevna's permission, but they refused to let me near the papers. According to their rules, no one should be allowed near the documents until they figure it out themselves. But when they figure it out, no one knows. She died almost 20 years ago, and they still haven't figured it out.
So, let's continue about the pebble. Natalya Sergeevna gave it to me before her death. I deciphered the inscription. It was written there: "Lord, save him from unhappy love." And I told about the pebble in the museum on Prechistenka Natalya Ivanovna Mikhailova - the supervisor. She told me that we would work with this stone sometime later. But "later" didn't happen. I went to France and already thought that I would stay there to live. I made a pebble in the ring, having previously sketched it and the inscription that was on it. In France, we once went shopping with my daughter. And there, in the store, I lost it. He jumped off his finger, and I noticed it only at home. We looked for him, advertised in the newspapers. But he disappeared. This is probably a punishment for my then desire to stay abroad, instead of continuing to collect bit by bit the truth about Pushkin here in Russia.
So, Pushkin's talisman is irretrievably lost? Even the one who found it is unlikely to realize its value. Then back to letters. After all, manuscripts, as you know, do not burn.
Pushkin's manuscripts are kept in a safe room at IRLI and are only opened in the presence of witnesses. To see them, you need to wear gloves. And you need to get special permission. I was allowed to touch them! I needed to see those letters. Some of the fragments of the above letters were glued together by the researchers Kazansky and Izmailov, and some of the scraps were still lying, folded on top of each other, in an envelope. It was important for me to see for myself whether they were glued correctly. And I was allowed, as an exception, to “rotate” them. Working on the letters, refining the translation of the letters folded from scraps, comparing them with the letters to Benckendorff, I managed to clarify the chronology of the events of the duel. It turned out that Dantes is not the main thing here actor. There was another person, the "tempter" and the main culprit of everything that happened, who was covered by Dantes, and Gekkern, and Tsar Nicholas I, and all the rest.
I would like to hear this tragic story from your lips.
During the summer and autumn of 1836, Pushkin's wife was subjected to a fierce attack by two "persecutors" - the experienced intriguer Gekkern and his "adopted son" Dantes. The "indefatigable red tape" of the latter did not cause Pushkin any special anxiety: Dantes' behavior was in full accordance with court mores. At the beginning of October (no later than October 19), 1836, Idalia Poletika, a friend of Natalya Nikolaevna and secret lover of Dantes, lured Pushkin's wife to her apartment. Once there, Dantes (and quite possibly the “tempter” himself) begged Natalya Nikolaevna to “give herself up” to him. She immediately fled, but, unfortunately, she was afraid to tell her husband about everything, which subsequently allowed Gekkern to blackmail the young woman, whispering to her "in all corners" about the "love" of her naughty "son", who was hiding under the pretext of illness at home, and even offering her to flee Russia "under diplomatic auspices". Having been refused, Gekkern began to threaten her with revenge.
At the end of October 1836, Pushkin received an “unnamed” (anonymous) letter by city mail (possibly with a “cuckold diploma” attached to it), which announced the imaginary betrayal of his wife. Having found unsigned letters and notes at home as well and mistakenly linking them to Dantes, Pushkin went to him on November 2. Dantes assumes their authorship, but declares that they are addressed not to Natalya Nikolaevna, but to her sister Ekaterina, whom he supposedly intends to marry. Pushkin, being an honest man, is satisfied with this explanation. On the same day, Dantes informs Gekkern about Pushkin's visit, giving the baron "great pleasure" because Pushkin does not even know about the intrigue being waged against him and his wife.
After several days of reflection and search activities, Pushkin was convinced of the lies of Dantes. Upon careful examination, he discovered that at least one of the letters presented was addressed specifically to Natalya Nikolaevna, and it was not written by Dantes, but by someone else. Pushkin realized that Dantes was trying to corrupt his wife in the interests of some "tempter". It became clear to him that Gekkern was in charge of the behavior of his adopted son. Pushkin regretted that he trusted and showed, and, perhaps, even gave Dantes this compromising "tempter" letter. But it was already too late. On November 3, Pushkin, wanting to prevent the “final blow” that the baron and Dantes could inflict, having learned about the contents of the letter, sends “double letters” to a narrow circle of his friends and acquaintances - empty and sealed sheets of paper enclosed in envelopes with their addresses with an inscription on them "Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin". Pushkin's calculation was that his friends, without opening the inner envelopes, would send them to him, confirming, if necessary, the very fact of their receipt. This gave him the opportunity to maneuver: if the Gekkerns began to blackmail his wife, Pushkin would have every moral right to use this opportunity - to accuse the two "persecutors" of Natalya Nikolaevna of divulging the contents of the letter that became known to them.
Pushkin "fell a victim of an indecent position in which he placed himself by an erroneous calculation," wrote the very knowledgeable A. N. Wulf in his diary. Well, if we reduce the causes of Pushkin's death only to the story of the "nameless letter", maybe this is so. Yes, the enemies turned out to be more cruel and insidious than Pushkin himself assumed, and friends, alas, were less sensitive. On November 4, out of seven or eight sent out, Pushkin receives only 3 "internal" letters.
On the same day, Pushkin sends a challenge to a duel to Dantes as a direct offender to his honor. Dantes is hiding from Pushkin on duty in the regiment. Gekkern comes to Pushkin and begs to postpone the duel. Pushkin agrees only on condition that the baron gives the name of the person who was covered by Dantes: Pushkin needed evidence for a reasoned accusation of a high-ranking "tempter, irreverently ("recognition" of Dantes in the authorship of someone else's letter) placed in a difficult position. Gekkern pretends not to know anything about this, and speaks of Dantes' long-standing love for Ekaterina, Natalya Nikolaevna's sister. On November 7, Zhukovsky goes to Pushkin and becomes a witness to him, who knew the background of the “discovery”, “rabies” made by Gekkern. In the evening of the same day, Dantes visits Vielgorsky. The purpose of the visit was to look at one of the "double letters" received by Pushkin's friends. Information about the events that took place in the Pushkin family could have been communicated to Dantes by Ekaterina Goncharova. Vielgorsky did not show the letter.
On November 7-9, Zhukovsky travels between Pushkin, E.I. Zagryazhskaya (Natalya Nikolaevna's aunt) and the Gekkerns. Pushkin flatly refuses to meet with Dantes, which was intended to draw him into explanations in front of witnesses. On the morning of November 10, Zhukovsky gives Dantes a refusal to mediate. Nevertheless, he continues to look for a way out, which he sees in the fact that Gekkern will officially announce his consent to the marriage of his adopted son with Ekaterina Goncharova. The baron is bargaining: he demands to show him the letter received by Pushkin. On November 12, Zhukovsky apparently meets Gekkern again. The baron makes concessions, having received assurances from Zhukovsky that all persons involved in the matter, and most importantly, Pushkin, will keep the story with a challenge “secret”, the disclosure of which would disgrace Dantes and Gekkern. And, I will add, it would have caused the wrath of a high-ranking "tempter".
On November 14, Pushkin met with Gekkern at Zagryazhskaya. Everything was going, it would seem, to a peaceful outcome. But in the evening Pushkin said to V.F. Vyazemskaya’s significant words: “I know the hero (and not the “author”, as they used to mistakenly translate from French) of nameless letters, and in eight days you will hear about revenge, one of a kind.” This phrase allows us to make the assumption that on November 14 Pushkin already knew the name of the "tempter" of his wife.
On November 16, Gekkern receives a letter from Pushkin refusing to be challenged to a duel for the reason that he learned “from rumors” about Dantes' intention to ask for the hand of Ekaterina Goncharova after the duel. The case could be considered finished for Dantes, but the young Frenchman suddenly showed obstinacy, sending, without the knowledge of Gekkern, a daring letter to Pushkin. We know about Pushkin's reaction to him from Zhukovsky's Concise Notes: “Dantès' letter to Pushkin and his fury. Another duel. On the evening of November 16, Pushkin asks V.A. Sollogub to be his second and agree "only about the material side of the duel", not allowing any explanations between the opponents.
On the morning of November 17, Sollogub (against Pushkin's demand) visits Dantes and sees him already completely subordinate to the will of Gekkern. Sollogub goes to Pushkin, but he remains adamant. Sollogub goes to the second of Dantes d'Archiac. The duel is scheduled for November 21st. Meanwhile, both the seconds and Gekkern are looking for a way to stop her. Sollogub sends a letter to Pushkin informing him of the complete surrender of Dantes. On the same day, November 17, Pushkin responds to Sollogub, confirming in writing his agreement to consider his challenge "as not followed" because of the "public rumor" that reached him about Dantes' decision to announce after the duel his intention to marry Ekaterina Goncharova. Authorized by Gekkern, d'Arshiac, after reading the letter, says: "That's enough." In the evening at the ball at S.V. Saltykov's engagement was announced.
Contrary to their promise, Gekkern and Dantes, incited and supported by Pushkin's enemies, began to spread rumors discrediting him and his wife. In addition, shortly after November 17, Gekkern, irritated by the upcoming forced marriage of his "son", resumed the persecution of Natalya Nikolaevna as a future relative. Probably Pushkin these days learned more about the role of Gekkern - not only as a pimp for Dantes.
On November 21, Pushkin writes a letter to Benckendorff and on the same day shows Sollogub a letter written to Heckern. November 23 Pushkin receives an audience with the emperor. It is not known about Pushkin's active actions until the second half of January 1837, from which we can conclude that Nicholas I promised to warn the "tempter" and find the author of the letter that started it all. It may well be, but this is my assumption, he demanded this letter from Pushkin and took from him the word "do not start anything without warning him." But Pushkin could not refuse Nicholas I.
On January 10, the wedding of Dantes and Ekaterina Goncharova took place. Pushkin was not present at the wedding and said that his house was forever closed to Dantes and his family. And Dantes, with even greater zeal, began to play the "victim of sublime love", and Gekkern - the "warner" of Natalya Nikolaevna. The situation began to resemble the November one, but this time, which was unbearable for Pushkin, she was accompanied by gossip in those circles where his friends, associates and, finally, his readers were.
On January 25, 1837, Pushkin sent a letter to Gekkern, which the baron and his so-called son considered a sufficient pretext to challenge Pushkin to a duel. Before that, at a ball at the Vorontsov-Dashkovs, Dantes was clearly asking for an insult from Pushkin. This gave Dantes significant advantages in the inevitable duel in this case. In addition, Dantes was afraid of a public scandal with the exposure of his, at least, uninvited interference in personal life a high-ranking tempter who could follow at one of the court balls or receptions in the presence of members of the imperial family.
The chronology shows that from November 21, 1836 to the end of January 1837, events took place, although hidden from the uninitiated, but well known to three persons - Pushkin, Gekkern and, in part, the tsar. This is one of the arguments against considering the “Pushkin’s letter” submitted to the military commission that examined the case of the duel as genuine: in the received on February 8 or 9, 1837 through the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia K.V. Nesselrode "Pushkin's letter" these events were not reflected. Another argument is the words of Gekkern himself from his unofficial letter to the same Nesselrode dated March 1, 1837: “Out of respect for the grave, I do not want to evaluate the letter that I received from Mr. Pushkin: if I presented its contents, it would be visible ... ".
What letter was transmitted by Heckern through Nesselrode to the military court commission?
A fake, a list from Pushkin's November letter, was handed over to the commission. And later the so-called autocopy of this letter surfaced. Why "so-called"? In my research I returned to the torn second white edition of the November 1836 letter. Pushkin edited on the 2nd page of the phrase about the role of Gekkern: “You, Mr. Baron, let me note that the role that ... in this whole business is not ... You, the representative of the crowned head, you were a pimp ... to your bastard, or so called bastard son, you controlled all the behavior of this young man. It was you who inspired him with baseness ... to give out, and nonsense that he ... Like an obscene old woman, you ... my wife in all corners, so that her ... son, and when, sick with a venereal disease, he was ... "
Then Pushkin wrote in pencil over the "procurer" a word that Kazansky and Izmailov read as "paternellement" (with two "ll") and translated it as "fatherly". But there is no second “l” in the original: Pushkin wrote the adverb “paternelement” (“feignedly fatherly”), forming it from the adjective “paterne”, and not from “paternel”, and the absence of the second “l” in it in this case is absolutely correct .
The error of the Pushkinists can only be explained by "borrowing" this word from the "autocopy" that Pushkin himself allegedly wrote and which turns out to be only a list with the second edition of the November letter edited by Pushkin. In addition, neither stylistically nor, first of all, factually, Pushkin could insert into the copy, if it had been written by himself, two words “probablement” (“probably”) into one sentence following the phrase about Heckern’s pandering: “All his (Dantes) behavior was probably controlled by you; it was you, probably, who inspired him with the baseness that he dared to betray, and the nonsense that he dared to write. As for the “copy” from the military court case, it also turns out to be discredited by the mentioned “probably” and “fatherly”.
So, both so-called "copies" of the January letter go back to the same source - the second white edition of the November letter corrected by Pushkin.
What was in Pushkin's January letter?
Five scraps with text written by Pushkin in pencil with ink corrections have been preserved. The scraps are folded into an incomplete (three scraps of the middle part are lost) sheet. Five more scraps from the Maykovsky collection can be added to this draft. They are written in ink, two of them bear traces of Pushkin's editing, the other three do not. The texts on scraps are not repeated, which makes it possible to consider them in some, although, of course, conditional totality.
Translation of a draft and five scraps from the Maykovsky collection:
“I am not worried that my wife is still listening to your feigned paternal exhortations, I do not wish my wife… some insolent relative Mr.… after… and presenting her vile behavior as a sacrifice to one monarch… in gossip… mix in and I… warn from this ... I have your measure, both of you, you still do not have mine. - You ask what prevented me from dishonoring you in front of Our court and yours, and dishonoring you in ... who avenges me ... you can’t imagine ... leaving yet ... the vile deed that I ... and so on - but, I repeat this, it is necessary so that all relations between your family and mine will henceforth be interrupted.
“… I don't… you played the same role together… finally, Madame Ackern. However, your son, dissatisfied… I can afford to…”
“Of course I won’t… let her… drag and…”
"... well, Mr. Baron, ... all this I will not ... allow to ..."
“Here… I wish… there was more… which recently…”
“… writes that… Petersburg. In February… relatives… position… emperor… government… spoke about you… repeat…”
This, without any doubt, Pushkin's epistolary material, with much more reason, should be attributed to Pushkin's January 1837 letter to Gekkern than the notorious "copies". Only the original of the last letter of A.S. Pushkin to L. Gekkern could put an end to this issue. Maybe it will pop up sometime.
The fact that the tsar and his inner circle learned about the existence of at least two letters from Pushkin to Gekkern is indirectly confirmed in a confidential letter from Empress Alexandra Feodorovna to Countess S.A. Bobrinsky: "Pushkin behaved inexcusably, he wrote impudent letters (and not just one letter) to Gekkern, leaving him no opportunity to avoid a duel." Let us also recall that the “Pushkin letter” was transmitted to the military court commission through Nesselrode, to whom Gekkern sent it among five documents. But after some time, Gekkern sent Nesselrode another "document that was missing" among those that the baron handed him earlier. The Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, although he and his wife were in very close relations with the Ambassador of the Netherlands, which went beyond the official protocol, could not fail to comply with the requirements of the official commission - to show her some missing important document. It can be confidently assumed that this document was the real January letter of Pushkin, which the baron could not hide now, because already on February 4, Pushkin's second Danzas sent Benckendorff an authentic, "handwritten" copy of Pushkin's letter for the emperor's information. As I said above, the king decided to keep this copy, like the letter itself.
It can be seen from the above reconstructed draft of this letter that it was not offensive in nature. Therefore, he could not be put forward as the reason for a challenge to a duel, and the Gekkerns had to resort to forgery - to pass off as a letter received by them in January a corrected, forged list from a letter obtained by them in unknown ways, most likely through Ekaterina, the sister of Natalya Nikolaevna, November, 1836, letter Pushkin. This completely rehabilitates Pushkin and greatly increases the guilt of the two intriguers who did not want to fulfill his just demands. Faced with the threat of leaving St. Petersburg and thus interrupting such a successful career in Russia, the Gekkerns decided that only a duel could turn things in the direction they needed. Obviously, they were confident in its favorable outcome for Dantes. The reasons for this confidence and why the tsar ordered "the whole of history to be consigned to oblivion" may lie in the personality of the "tempter" himself. In addition, Dantes was an excellent shooter. By the way, a separate story is connected with the conditions of the duel and with the weapons that were used in the duel. Pushkin did not read the conditions of the duel, but on the site of the duel he fired from an unfinished new pistol; the pistol of Dantes was not new and was handed to him by a second, his relative and friend.
So who was this mysterious tempter? Did Pushkin manage to find out the name of his wife's real seducer?
Dantes and Gekkern stood their ground to the end - the “tempter”, if they had betrayed him, would not have forgiven Dantes for the “bear service” rendered by recognizing the authorship of an anonymous letter, a service that put the “tempter” in a very “embarrassing” position. The shortest path of searches assumed the participation of Natalya Nikolaevna in them. But all the actions of the poet in the winter of 1836-37, until his death, indicate that Pushkin did not take advantage of him. There is no better proof of the poet's love for his chosen one! And I, like Pushkin, believe in her complete innocence. She herself turned out to be a victim, according to P.A. Vyazemsky, "hellish intrigues" that were staged against her and Pushkin.
Apparently, the third participant in the “hunt” for Natalya Nikolaevna and her tempter was ... the brother of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, the Prussian Prince Karl. (Prince Karl of Prussia - Friedrich Karl Alexander of Prussia - was born on June 29, 1801, died on January 21, 1883. Feldzeugmeister General (March 2, 1854) of the Prussian Army, awarded in 1872 the rank of Field Marshal of the Imperial Russian army- Ed.). The prince was forced to leave his homeland due to the fact that, in a fit of anger, he killed his servant with a stick. The Prussian king - the father of Charles and the Russian Empress - was forced to put him on trial, which sentenced him to life imprisonment. The punishment was later mitigated and the prince was sent to Russia, under the care of his sister. Prince Karl behaved very badly, recalled the maid of honor Smirnova-Rosset. And Countess Dolly Ficquelmont called him “an insignificant and sometimes indecent prince: 36-year-old, he played a boy, danced like crazy at balls, talked only to young girls and junior lieutenants.” In those days, private balls were held in the Anichkov Palace for no more than a hundred people. They invited the most beautiful women. Natalya Nikolaevna was also invited there. The prince was a constant participant in such balls. Emperor Nikolai Pavlovich did not like the frivolous treatment of Charles with the ladies, he repeatedly made comments to the prince. Another scandal, with the murder of the poet, of course, was not needed by the court. Rumors, in such a case, would eventually reach Europe and would have undesirable consequences for the Prussian monarch, who vouched for his son.
Of interest are the notes of the 16-year-old daughter of the emperor Olga Nikolaevna, which she made in 1837. “This winter, in St. Petersburg, we had a brother Mama, uncle Karl ... Once he invited officers and trumpeters of one regiment to his place Winter Palace without the permission of the commander or one of the senior officers, and chose just six of the best dancers that could be found in all the drawing rooms. Of course, these were only young people from the best families, and in Berlin it would never have occurred to anyone to be indignant because of this. But in the eyes of Uncle Mikhail, this was a crime. Uncle Carl also invited Mom, who showed up at his house, to also dance a few tours. As soon as she appeared, the trumpeters played a waltz, uncle invited Mom, Mary and the young ladies-in-waiting with the officers also spun, everyone was in the most cheerful mood, when the door suddenly opened and Papa appeared, followed by Uncle Mikhail. It all ended very sadly, and this end could not be averted even by the usual jokes of Uncle Karl. The air was charged with a thunderstorm, and soon it broke out with one event, which was indirectly connected with an unsuccessful ball. Among the six dancers invited by the uncle was a certain Dantes, the adopted son of the Dutch ambassador in St. Petersburg, Baron Gekkern. Some time after this ball, Dantes fought a duel with Pushkin, and our great poet died, mortally wounded by his hand. The pope was completely killed, and all of Russia was with him: Pushkin's death was a universal Russian grief. The Pope sent words of comfort, written in his own hand, to the dying man and promised him protection and care for his wife and children. He blessed the Pope and died a true Christian in the arms of his wife. Mom was crying, and Uncle Carl was very depressed and miserable for a long time.”
When Pushkin was already mortally wounded at home, the emperor and Prince Karl were at the Stone Theater for a vaudeville performance. Nikolai Pavlovich was informed about the duel, and Dr. Arendt conveyed to him Pushkin's request to forgive him and Danzas. Pushkin could also ask to return to him that same "nameless" letter. But the tsar not only did not return the letter, but could also show it to Charles, and he would confess to him participating in the intrigue. Nikolai Pavlovich then advised Pushkin to die like a Christian, and in return promised to take care of his family. Pushkin's funeral was held secretly, the Prussian envoy was not present at it. All of Pushkin's papers were ordered to be sealed and burned, those of them that could compromise high-ranking officials. Dantes was expelled from the country. His wife Ekaterina Goncharova followed him along with Gekkern, who received his resignation without a farewell, as was customary under diplomatic protocol, an audience with the emperor. Prince Karl remained in Russia.
Was Charles acting for himself or in the interests of some other member of the Prussian royal house? Lately I am busy checking my assumption that Natalya Nikolaevna’s secret admirer was the Prussian prince Adalbert (Adalbert Heinrich Wilhelm of Prussia (1811-1873), Prussian prince, naval theorist and admiral, one of the founders navy Germany. Son of Prince Wilhelm, younger brother of the Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm III. - Ed.). As I understand it, Prince Adalbert was also the creator of Prussian military intelligence. From his youth, the prince traveled extensively in Europe: in 1826 he visited Holland, in 1832 - England and Scotland, in 1834 - St. Petersburg and Moscow. Here, Prince Adalbert was warmly received by Emperor Nikolai Pavlovich, who on June 24 granted him the highest imperial order of Russia - the Order of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called, as the august representative allied Russia Kingdom of Prussia and crowned nephew of the King of Prussia.
