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24.08.2004 13:29
Moscow News / Historical Chat / 3.12.2003
Vladimir Gilyarovsky, journalist, poet, and writer, was one of the most colorful figures in Russian history. He was born on December 8, one hundred and fifty years ago, and lived a long and intense life, leaving behind numerous books, as well as stories and articles scattered through the Russian press of his time.
Vladimir was born in 1853 on an estate in Vologda Province, to the family of an official. His mother died when he was not yet eight, and his education was mostly the handiwork of his grandfather's cousin, a sailor with a strong sense of adventure. He taught the young boy horseback riding, boxing, wrestling and everything else he needed for a life of adventure.
In 1871, under the influence of the radical literature of the day and particularly the political exiles living in Vologda Province, Vladimir left his home and school and set out for the Volga, which symbolizes the spirit of freedom in Russia. He wandered through the country for many years. In particular, his physical strength enabled him to work as a barge hauler and longshoreman on the Volga.
However, his father found him and made him enter a military school. But Vladimir had already partaken of the spirit of freedom, and once again he dropped out of the school and took up the life of adventure. A far from complete list of his occupations included firefighter, factory worker, horse breaker and, finally, provincial actor. In the mid-1870s Gilyarovsky came to Saratov where he mingled with the local actors and had his first direct contact with Russian culture, which he would serve his whole life.
Before Gilyarovsky started out on his main career, though, he got a taste of war. The young man volunteered to fight in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878. The entire theater troupe saw him off. Gilyarovsky displayed courage and daring in the war. He was a scout and was always on the most dangerous sections of the front. He was awarded the St. George cross for valor.
After the war Gilyarovsky returned to the theater, this time in Penza. But in 1881 he moved to Moscow, and from then on his entire life and literary work would be linked to this largest city in Russia. In the same year he published his first poem devoted to the Volga, and it opened the way for the young man into Russian literature. Gilyarovsky's first stories were published in different Moscow periodicals in 1883-1885. Very soon he became the king of the reportage.
The budding journalist wrote mostly about the life of the poor, the homeless, and the persecuted. Very soon Uncle Gilyai, as he was known, gained the acquaintance of all the vagabonds and criminals of Moscow. Gilyarovsky's tremendous strength (he could bend an iron bar) saved him on many occasions from certain death.
The leading writers of the day Gleb Uspensky, Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, and Anton Chekhov hailed the rising star of Russian journalism and in 1887 persuaded him to publish his first book The Slum People. However, Russia's censorship banned the book for grim portrayal of reality, and all the copies of the book were burned. However, this did not stop Gilyarovsky from continuing to work, writing and publishing essays, stories and verses.
In 1896 Glyarovsky wrote what would probably become his most famous report, from the site of the notorious Khodynka disaster, in which thousands of people were crushed to death during celebrations of the accession to the throne of the new Czar Nicholas II.
In the early 20th century Gilyarovsky wrote several articles and a book devoted to the classic Nikolai Gogol. This would be a line which he would also pursue in the future. His most famous books were still to be written.
When the Soviet regime was established in 1917-1920, Gilyarovsky continued to write, but he turned his eyes to the past, and from then on most of his works were in the nature of memoirs. In the 15 years that he lived under the Soviet regime, he wrote and published Moscow and the Muscovites, My Wanderings, Friends and Encounters, People of the Theater. While Gilyarovsky was not a great writer of the caliber, say, of Leo Tolstoy, his prose was simple, and his works described everyday existence scrupulously creating a panorama of the life of the common folk and other social classes in Russia that one fails to find even in the classics of Russian literature.
There is always a sense of authenticity about Gilyarovsky's works; one can feel that he was there when the thing he described was happening. And despite the fact that Gilyarovsky' chief interest lay in the life of crooks, drunkards and the needy, his stories are always filled with the spirit of kindness. His name is always associated with Khitrov Market, the most criminalized neighborhood in Moscow before the revolution. He was also an excellent storyteller, as numerous recollections by writers attest, and much renowned for his wit. On the occasion of the first performance of Leo Tolstoy's play The Power of Darkness, he let drop a bon mot: There are two misfortunes in Russia, the power of darkness below and the darkness of power above.
Gilyarovsky himself left behind some interesting reminiscences of contemporary writers such as Gleb Uspensky, Anton Chekhov, Leo Tolstoy, Alexander Blok, and Valery Bryusov. He was in a unique position of being able to bridge the gap between Russian 19th century classics and the writers of the 20th century.
Although Gilyarovsky was influenced by radicalism in his younger years, he was never affiliated with any political parties, and this is perhaps what saved him from prosecution by various regimes under which he found himself. Another contributing factor was that he concentrated on the past in the dangerous 1920s and particularly 1930s.
The writer who had led a life of adventure for many decades died quietly in Moscow, the city that became his own, on October 1, 1935. A good time to die, if one may say so.
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