Comments on "Batum" - A Play by Mikhail Bulgakov
This play, "Batum", begins in 1898 in the Georgian city of Tiflis, or Tbilisi. A nineteen year old Joseph Vesarionovich Dzhugashvili is being expelled, because of his revolutionary propagandizing, from a seminary; where, it seems, he had been a student for almost 6 years. Young Joseph was not known as Stalin in those years, and among his comrades he was usually called "Soso". Sometimes he was called "Pastir" because he had been a seminary student.
The play continues through 1902 when "Soso", or "Pastir", is arrested and imprisoned, for leading strikes and demonstrations in Batum; and, eventually, he is exiled in 1904 to Siberia for a 3 year term. However, in only about 2 months, a 25 year old "Soso", or Pastir", is unexpectedly back in Batum; and the play ends.
Completed in July of 1939, "Batum" is the last literary work of Mikhail Bulgakov. He died the next year. Bulgakov thoroughly researched "Batum", and, inspite of not being believable in a few places, it is considered to be historically accurate. The author of the notes to "Batum" in this volume, A A Neenov, has also been very thorough. A 59 year old Joseph Stalin read the play and said, "it was very good, but could never be put on stage".
The big question is, "How did young Joseph return so quickly and easily from Siberia where he was supposed to stay for 3 years?" The official soviet version has been that "Soso" had "somehow escaped and had obtained forged documents". In the following years "Soso, Pastir, or Koba" would have repeated successful escapes from prison or exile. Besides that, the underground communist party organizations with which "Koba" was connected had a history of "large scale failures and downfalls.
Eventually an official document was discovered in Soviet archives that revealed a connection between "Koba" and the Tsar's secret police, or "Okrana", that showed that in 1912 "Koba" had given information about communist party activity to an "Okrana" agent. A A Neenov maintains that young Joseph's relationship with the Tsar's secret police goes back to 1904, and that is how he was released from Siberian exile; and that his papers were not forged, but were in fact genuine. So things worked well for "Soso" or "Koba" or "Stalin".
However, these views only confirm what is already well known; that is, Stalin was a dedicated and dogmatic Marxist-Leninist in the extreme. A A Neenov writes that people in the communist party, working at the same time with the secret police, were not at all uncommon.
Perhaps Mikhail Bulgakov wrote this play, "Batum", to remind Joseph Stalin of the years of his youth, and he hoped it would have some affect or influence on Stalin's tyrannical leadership. An early, but not completely corrected, version of "Batum" was published in 1977 in America. However, the most corrected version was not published until 1988, and it was published in the Soviet Union. The play still seems to be something of an embarrassment to many people.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Experimental Blog #83
Comments on "White Guard" by Mikhail Bulgakov
This relatively short Russian novel, around 249 pages, was written during 1923 and 1924, in the relatively "mild" soviet regime of those years; which, however, soon came to an end. The novel is somewhat autobiographical, and everything takes place in the Ukrainian city of Kiev, or nearby places, in several months of 1918 and 1919.
To the American "outsider" the history of this time is rather confusing.
Imperial Russia had collapsed in 1917 and, from the notes to this volume, in Kiev a soviet government had taken control and had proclaimed a "Ukrainian Peoples' Republic", but when that government announced its independence from Russia in January of 1918 they were invaded by the soviet army in February. However, in March of 1918 the German Army drove out the soviets and occupied Kiev. The occupying German Army supported a government of the "Hetman of All Ukraine", but they were defeated in December of 1918 by a larger Ukrainian Army. However, this army and its government lasted only until February of 1919 when the Red Army returned and again occupied Kiev. At this point "White Guard" ends, but there were more very violent changes in the years ahead.
The style of writing of "White Guard" is considered to be very "Tolstoyan" in its portrayal of people in the vast movements of history, and, perhaps sometimes, in the description of the most unpleasant details. It contains no noticable satire, or other humor, and its focus is on a rather limited number of people in a large city of hundreds of thousands of people. And these people all seem to be, not aristocratic or governing people, but from the same "officer" class. Of course, the story is about one family, and a few people associated with them, over about 2 months of time. It is also noticable that, in spite of a great deal of violence against people, there is little or no destruction in the city, and even the electricity never seems to go out.
This relatively short Russian novel, around 249 pages, was written during 1923 and 1924, in the relatively "mild" soviet regime of those years; which, however, soon came to an end. The novel is somewhat autobiographical, and everything takes place in the Ukrainian city of Kiev, or nearby places, in several months of 1918 and 1919.
To the American "outsider" the history of this time is rather confusing.
Imperial Russia had collapsed in 1917 and, from the notes to this volume, in Kiev a soviet government had taken control and had proclaimed a "Ukrainian Peoples' Republic", but when that government announced its independence from Russia in January of 1918 they were invaded by the soviet army in February. However, in March of 1918 the German Army drove out the soviets and occupied Kiev. The occupying German Army supported a government of the "Hetman of All Ukraine", but they were defeated in December of 1918 by a larger Ukrainian Army. However, this army and its government lasted only until February of 1919 when the Red Army returned and again occupied Kiev. At this point "White Guard" ends, but there were more very violent changes in the years ahead.
The style of writing of "White Guard" is considered to be very "Tolstoyan" in its portrayal of people in the vast movements of history, and, perhaps sometimes, in the description of the most unpleasant details. It contains no noticable satire, or other humor, and its focus is on a rather limited number of people in a large city of hundreds of thousands of people. And these people all seem to be, not aristocratic or governing people, but from the same "officer" class. Of course, the story is about one family, and a few people associated with them, over about 2 months of time. It is also noticable that, in spite of a great deal of violence against people, there is little or no destruction in the city, and even the electricity never seems to go out.
Monday, August 15, 2011
Experimental Blog #82
Comments on "Notes of a Deceased - A Threatrical Novel" by Mikhail Bulgakov
Besides working as a doctor in World War I, Mikhail Bulgakov apparently was "conscripted", at different times, to serve as a doctor during the Russian Civil War by both sides; both the "Red Bolsheviks" and the "White anti-Bolsheviks". It might be that he never actually "fought" for either side.
Mikhail Bulgakov's greatest endeavor was to write plays and have them put on stage, and by the middle of the 1920s he was a well known and usually increasingly popular dramatist in the new USSR. However, by 1930 he had been completely excluded from any such work by the Bolshevik regime. In that same year Bulgakov received a completely unexpected phone call from Joseph Stalin; that was, in part, a response to a letter, one of several, that Bulgakov had written to the Soviet government and to Joseph Stalin, plus a few other specific people.
Mikhail Bulgakov's wife, Elena, possibly made a hand written transcript of their seemingly cordial conversation, and, among other things, Joseph Stalin said that he and Bulgakov must definitely find some time to get together and talk things over. Although Mikhail Bulgakov seemed in earnest agreement, their meeting in person apparently never took place.
During the 1930s and to the end of his life in 1940 Mikhail Bulgakov was allowed to work in the theater. He wrote plays based on the classics "Dead Souls" and "War and Peace", and he helped put them on stage, but, with only one other brief exception, it seems he was never allowed to stage or publish his own works from his imagination. Joseph Stalin had announced that because of the critical times no satirical works of any kind could be permitted.
This short novel, or novella, of about 142 pages, which was published in the Soviet Union along with other of Bulgakov's works in 1966, is all about Bulgakov's life and great interest in Russian drama and theater. Without the many additional pages of commentary in this volume, "Notes of a Deceased" seems, at least half largely tedious, pointless, and incomplete to the "outsider" today.
However, the commentary reveals that 40 of the characters in this book, but not the main character, Maksudov, or his confidant, Bombardov, come from "prototypes"; that is, living people in Russian drama and theater that Bulgakov probably knew, and a few contemporary literary people. Most of the many episodes also come from real events and issues probably experienced by Bulgakov. However, virtually all of these people and issues are completely unknown to outsiders today.
Unlike the well known "Master and Margarita", Mikhail Bulgakov's "fantastical" writing is all but completely absent in "Notes of a Deceased". It might be there, along with Bulgakov's other "literary talents", but they are quite obscured. There are a couple of episodes that involve cats, and there is a "devil image", and a few other "odd images" as well.
Besides working as a doctor in World War I, Mikhail Bulgakov apparently was "conscripted", at different times, to serve as a doctor during the Russian Civil War by both sides; both the "Red Bolsheviks" and the "White anti-Bolsheviks". It might be that he never actually "fought" for either side.
Mikhail Bulgakov's greatest endeavor was to write plays and have them put on stage, and by the middle of the 1920s he was a well known and usually increasingly popular dramatist in the new USSR. However, by 1930 he had been completely excluded from any such work by the Bolshevik regime. In that same year Bulgakov received a completely unexpected phone call from Joseph Stalin; that was, in part, a response to a letter, one of several, that Bulgakov had written to the Soviet government and to Joseph Stalin, plus a few other specific people.
Mikhail Bulgakov's wife, Elena, possibly made a hand written transcript of their seemingly cordial conversation, and, among other things, Joseph Stalin said that he and Bulgakov must definitely find some time to get together and talk things over. Although Mikhail Bulgakov seemed in earnest agreement, their meeting in person apparently never took place.
During the 1930s and to the end of his life in 1940 Mikhail Bulgakov was allowed to work in the theater. He wrote plays based on the classics "Dead Souls" and "War and Peace", and he helped put them on stage, but, with only one other brief exception, it seems he was never allowed to stage or publish his own works from his imagination. Joseph Stalin had announced that because of the critical times no satirical works of any kind could be permitted.
This short novel, or novella, of about 142 pages, which was published in the Soviet Union along with other of Bulgakov's works in 1966, is all about Bulgakov's life and great interest in Russian drama and theater. Without the many additional pages of commentary in this volume, "Notes of a Deceased" seems, at least half largely tedious, pointless, and incomplete to the "outsider" today.
However, the commentary reveals that 40 of the characters in this book, but not the main character, Maksudov, or his confidant, Bombardov, come from "prototypes"; that is, living people in Russian drama and theater that Bulgakov probably knew, and a few contemporary literary people. Most of the many episodes also come from real events and issues probably experienced by Bulgakov. However, virtually all of these people and issues are completely unknown to outsiders today.
Unlike the well known "Master and Margarita", Mikhail Bulgakov's "fantastical" writing is all but completely absent in "Notes of a Deceased". It might be there, along with Bulgakov's other "literary talents", but they are quite obscured. There are a couple of episodes that involve cats, and there is a "devil image", and a few other "odd images" as well.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Experimental Blog #81
Comments on "Neodnazhdy v Amerike" by Svetlana Bukina
The author of this book, Svetlana Bukina, has been described as the most popular blogger in the Russian language in America.
The last word of the title is obvious to anybody, but the first word is not found in the Russian-English language dictionary. Maybe the title could very loosely be translated as something like, "Events, People, and Topics of American Life", and, actually, a lot more. Anyway, the book consists of a minor portion of the author's many blogs, and perhaps a few other additions.
Svetlana Bukina, who says that she is "pureblood Jewish", came to America from Moscow in December of 1990, and is now an American citizen. However, she "blogs" in Russian and apparently has a large audience in Russia; and this book was, in fact, published and printed there.
Among many other things, Svetlana Bukina writes very originally and provocatively about society and politics. For instance, she very broadly defines democracy as "predictiveness{or dependability} of the political process combined with the relative unpredictiveness{or undependability} of the outcome." In another piece she remembers that 25 or 30 years ago Valentin Zorin {who was either the Soviet ambassador or UN represetative} explained that both the American Democratic and Republican political parties are capitalist parties, so are basically not different from each other. Svetlana says that both parties represent various combinations, or coalitions of "leftists, rightists, libertarians{she says most Russian speaking immigrants are more or less libertarian, besides being Jewish}, statists, and centrists."
A few pages farther on she says that means that America is politically stable, that is, although both Democrats and Republicans are capitalist parties, we have only one regime; so "Zorin was not so far from the truth, thank God"{actually, she writes "slava bogu"}.
The author of this book, Svetlana Bukina, has been described as the most popular blogger in the Russian language in America.
The last word of the title is obvious to anybody, but the first word is not found in the Russian-English language dictionary. Maybe the title could very loosely be translated as something like, "Events, People, and Topics of American Life", and, actually, a lot more. Anyway, the book consists of a minor portion of the author's many blogs, and perhaps a few other additions.
Svetlana Bukina, who says that she is "pureblood Jewish", came to America from Moscow in December of 1990, and is now an American citizen. However, she "blogs" in Russian and apparently has a large audience in Russia; and this book was, in fact, published and printed there.
Among many other things, Svetlana Bukina writes very originally and provocatively about society and politics. For instance, she very broadly defines democracy as "predictiveness{or dependability} of the political process combined with the relative unpredictiveness{or undependability} of the outcome." In another piece she remembers that 25 or 30 years ago Valentin Zorin {who was either the Soviet ambassador or UN represetative} explained that both the American Democratic and Republican political parties are capitalist parties, so are basically not different from each other. Svetlana says that both parties represent various combinations, or coalitions of "leftists, rightists, libertarians{she says most Russian speaking immigrants are more or less libertarian, besides being Jewish}, statists, and centrists."
A few pages farther on she says that means that America is politically stable, that is, although both Democrats and Republicans are capitalist parties, we have only one regime; so "Zorin was not so far from the truth, thank God"{actually, she writes "slava bogu"}.
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