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Velimir Khlebnikov's “Razin: Two Trinities”: A Reconstruction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 January 2017

Ronald Vroon
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Extract

During the six months prior to his death in 1922, Velimir Khlebnikov attempted to consolidate in writing the momentous experiences of his brief life. The major works of this period represent various types of summations. Zangesi is a mosaic of Khlebnikov's poetic experiences. Otryvki iz dosok sud'by (Fragments from the Boards of Destiny) contains the poet's final mathematical formulas for the laws of time. “Razin. Dve Troitsy” (“Razin: Two Trinities“) might well be regarded as his own Apologia pro Vita Sua. But despite its importance as a biographical testament, “Razin: Two Trinities,” like many other pieces, has been misrepresented in the Collected Works. The absence of any substantive commentary can lead one to suppose that it is a complete and polished composition. However, an examination of the manuscript reveals it to be an unfinished and untitled fragment—in fact, little more than a rough draft. The basic text, written in an unusually large and legible hand, is laced with corrections in Khlebnikov's more typical minuscule script. No fair copy is known to exist.

Type
Articles
Information
Slavic Review , Volume 39 , Issue 1 , March 1980 , pp. 70 - 84
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies. 1980

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References

1. Khlebnikov, Velimir, Sobranie proizvedenii, ed. Stepanov, N., 5 vols. (Leningrad, 1928-33), 3:315–68 Google Scholar (hereafter cited as SP).

2. Khlebnikov, Velimir, Sobranie sochinenii, ed. Markov, V. [reprint of Moscow 1928— 33,ed.], 4 vols. (Munich, 1968-72), 3:467–520 Google Scholar (hereafter cited as 6 “5” ).

3. Khlebnikov, SP, 4:146-50. Introductory comments on the Razin theme in Khlebnikov are found in Stepanov, N., Velimir Khlebnikov: Zhizn’ i tvorchestvo (Moscow, 1975), pp. 111–13 Google Scholar; and Mirsky, Salomon, Der Orient im Werk Velimir Chlebnikovs (Munich, 1975), pp. 90–105 Google Scholar.

4. The same erroneous impression is conveyed in translations of the work. See Richard Sheldon's rendition in Russian Literature Triquarterly, no. 12 (Spring 1975), pp. 135-38; and Rosemarie Ziegler's translation in Chlebnikov, Velimir, Werke, ed. Urban, Peter, 2 vols. (Reinbek bei Hamburg, 1972), 2:304–8 Google Scholar.

5. Tsentral'nyi gosudarstvennyi arkhiv literatury i iskusstva, fond 527, opis1 1, edinitsa khraneniia 66, list 1—list 3 oborot (hereafter cited as TsGALI, followed by the fond number [f.], storage unit [ed. khr.], and list [fol.] with recto [r] and verso [v]). The last line of the story ends about a fifth of the way down fol. 3v, and is followed by a comma.

6. See Maiakovskii, V. V., Polnoe sobranie sochinenii, 13 vols. (Moscow, 1955-61), 12:23 Google Scholar.

7. Nikolai Stepanov, editor of Khlebnikov's Sobranie proizvedenii, cites one example of Khlebnikov's intention to employ the device of fragmentation (metod otryvkov) in a projected work that was to be called “Osiris XX veka” (Khlebnikov, SP, 5:331).

8. Solov'ev, S. M., Istoriia Rossii s drevneishikh vretnen, 15 vols. (Moscow, 1962-63), 6:289 Google Scholar. The historian tells us that “such an act of piety was not regarded as something extraordinary among the Cossacks: for their long record of military service, their blood and wounds, they were given the Chernaev Monastery in the Shatsk district; the Cossacks built it, invested a good deal in it, and old men and wounded Cossacks took monastic vows there” (ibid.).

9. The best known rendering of this legend is the song, “Iz-za ostrova na strezhen',” the lyrics of which were composed in the nineteenth century by D. N. Sadovnikov.

10. See N. V., [Veselovskii, N. I.], “Razin,” in Entsiklopedicheskii slovar1, ed. Andreevskii, I. E. and Arsen'ev, K. K., 86 vols. (St. Petersburg: Brokgauz and Efron, 1890-1907), 51:160.Google Scholar

11. See Lozanova, A. N., Pesni i skazaniia o Rasine i Pugacheve (Moscow, 1935 Google Scholar). The well-known collections of Kireevskii, Shein, Sokolov, and others all contain cycles of songs on the Razin theme.

12. Solov'ev, Istoriia Rossii, 6:289.

13. Oddly enough, Khlebnikov's actual birthplace has been established only recently (see Parnis, A, “Rodina poeta” Sovetskaia Kalmykiia, March 19, 1974, p. 3 Google Scholar; and Parnis, , “Konetsarstvo, ved’ ottuda ia …,” Teegin Gerl: Svet v stepi, 67, no. 1 [1976]: 135–51Google Scholar). For a more detailed account of Khlebnikov's life, see Vera Khlebnikova, “Vospominanie Very Khlebnikovoi” in Velemir [sic] Khlebnikov, , Stikhi, ed. Miturich, P. and Khlebnikova, V. (Moscow, 1923), pp. 57–62 Google Scholar; N. Stepanov, “V. V. Khlebnikov: Biograficheskii ocherk,” in Velemir [sic] Khlebnikov, , Izbrannye stikhotvoreniia, ed. Stepanov, N. (Moscow, 1936), pp. 7–77 Google Scholar; and Markov, Vladimir, The Longer Poems of Velimir Khlebnikov (Berkeley, 1962), pp. 14–29 Google Scholar.

14. Khlebnikov, SP, 4:146.

15. See “Ka2” in Khlebnikov, SP, 5:127.

16. In an otherwise admirable translation, Richard Sheldon distorts this passage, which revolves around an explicitly mathematical metaphor. Part of the problem is that the passage is inaccurately transcribed. It is difficult to decipher, but the correct reading is more likely “korni iz mnimoi net-edinitsy rusalok …” rather than “korni iz mnimoi net iz edinitsy rusalok… .” The correct translation would be “the [square] roots of the imaginary negative unit of the rusalki… .” The negative unit signifies one who is absent or who has died - in this case a girl who has drowned. When the square root of that number is taken ( V—n, where —n= any negative integer) the result is an imaginary number which signifies a potentially hostile stranger. As the poet explains, “if a beloved, long-awaited but absent person is a negative being, each hostile stranger to the collective (not present therein) is V — 1, an imaginary being.” The association of rusalki and imaginary numbers is also made in “Ladomir,” where we read: .Hopory nyTHHica aio6a, OH BSHJipas lacea, TOIHO naajcy, H, KOpeHB B3HB H3 HeT Ce6fl, 3aMeTHi 3opico B HeM pycajncy Toro, wo HHiero Heiia, OH HaxoffM flByjrHiHHH uopeHb, %o6 yBHsan B CTpaHe yua Pycaauy y KOKOPHH (Khlebnikov, SP, 1:198-99). It is important to realize that the rusalka is an ambivalent image: these mythological creatures are hymned for their beauty, but like sirens, they may do great harm. The same applies to imaginary numbers in Khlebnikov's imagination. They are alluring as symbols of a suprarational future (see “Kurgan Sviatogora” [Khlebnikov, SS, 4:321], where we read, “Poliubiv vyrazheniia vida V—1, kotorye otvergali proshloe, my obretaem svobodu ot veshchei” ) and also as symbols of hostility (see above). For a more detailed discussion of the composite image of rusalki and imaginary numbers, see Mirsky, Der Orient, pp. 94-102; and Lonnqvist, Barbara, Xlebnikov and Carnival: An Analysis of the Poem “Poet,” (Stockholm, 1979), pp. 40–41, 91Google Scholar.

17. Khlebnikov, SP, 4:147. The image of the wild horse (dikii neuk) figures prominently in Vstrug Razina (Khlebnikov, SP, 1:246) and its variant (Khlebnikov, Si” , 4:184).

18. Khlebnikov, SP, 4:147. Salomon Mirsky says that these words are spoken by the poet to Razin, rather than vice versa (Mirsky, Der Orient, p. 91). The issue is complicated, but can be resolved on textological and stylistic grounds (see Ronald Vroon, “Mirrors and Imaginary Numbers: Further Reflections on Razin in Khlebnikov,” forthcoming in Wiener Slawistischer Almanack). In any case, the point at issue is that of the poet's affinity to Razin in this tale. Here he is not Razin's antipode, but his mirror image. See also note 48.

19. Khlebnikov, SP, 4:148.

20. Ibid., p. 149. Khalkhal is the former name of a small village now called Herowābād. It is located on the border between the Persian province of Gilyan and Azerbaidzhan, north-L. , west of Resht, where the Red Army troops were initially stationed when they landed in Persia in April 1926. What is most astonishing is that Khlebnikov wandered so far up the jg« coast and then inland, via the mountains (more than forty miles). Khlebnikov's personal PM expedition took place in May and early June.

21. Khlebnikov, V. V. and Khlebnikov, A. V., “Ornitologicheskie nabliudeniia na Pavdinskom zavode” Priroda i okhota, 1911, no. 12, pp. 1–25.Google Scholar

22. Ibid., p. 1.

23. Khlebnikov, SP, 4:149.

24. Khlebnikov and Khlebnikov, “Ornitologicheskie nabliudeniia,” p. 2.

25. Khlebnikov, SP, 4:150.

26. Ibid.

27. See Khlebnikov's essays “Kurgan Sviatogora” (Khlebnikov, S, 4:323) and “Nasha osnova” (Khlebnikov, SP, 5:233).

28. On two different occasions, the poet states that he heard the news about the Tsushima debacle the day after the battle, and that at the time he was in Iaroslavl’ province (Khlebnikov, SP, 2:10 and .S'.S', 3:472). But in his report on the ornithological expedition of 1905, he states that the first day of observation in the Urals was May 13 (O.5.), the day before Tsushima (Khlebnikov and Khlebnikov, “Ornitologicheskie nabliudeniia,” p. 18).

29. Khlebnikov, SP, 4:150.

30. Ibid., p. 149.

31. See his commentary to the poem “Ispaganskii verbliud” in Khlebnikov, SP, 3:179. Further explication of this theme is found in Parnis, A, “V. Khlebnikov v revoliutsionnom . Giliane” Narody Azii i Afriki, 1967, no. 5, pp. 156–64.Google Scholar

32. Khlebnikov, SP, 5:319-20.

33. Khlebnikov, SP, 1:234.

34. Khlebnikov, SS, 3:471.

35. TsGALI, f. 527, ed. khr. 66, fol. 3v. Words deleted by the author are in square … brackets, and tentative reading in angle brackets. Note the frequent presence of variant js; doublets (veshch'/kamen1, svetila/svesdy, pole/step” , and so forth), an ever-present barrier «, to the establishment of “canonical” texts in the Khlebnikov corpus.

36. Khlebnikov, 5'5) 3:472. The facsimile of The Boards of Destiny reprinted here reads, “V pervyi den’ vesny 20-go goda… .” This is one of numerous errors that mar the text. In the spring of 1920 Khlebnikov was in Khar'kov, whereas the scene described here is Baku jfc and its environs, where the poet was living in the spring of 1921. The close connection between The Boards of Destiny and “Razin: Two Trinities” is revealed in the introduction to Bf the former, in which Khlebnikov likens the course of the Volga to the course of time.

37. For a description of the contents of the notebook, see Vroon, R, “ ‘Morskoi bereg' and the Razin Constellation” Russian Literature Triquarterly, no. 12 (Spring 1975), p. 304.Google Scholar

38. TsGALI, f. 527, ed. khr. 83, fol. 4v.

39. Ibid., fol. lOv.

40. Ibid., ed. khr. 66, fol. lr.

41. Khlebnikov, SP, 1:235.

42. Bolonev, F. F., Narodnyi kalendar1 semeiskikh Zabaikal'ia (Moscow, 1978), p. 152 Google Scholar. For a concise, modern treatment of the role of rusalki in Russian folklore, see Pomerantseva, E. V., Mifologicheskie personazhi v russkom fol'klore (Moscow, 1975), pp. 68–91 Google Scholar. See also Lönnqvist, Xlebnikov and Carnival, pp. 71-74, 115-32.

43. Samorodova, O, “Poet na Kavkaze” Zvezda, 1972, no. 6, p. 187.Google Scholar

44. Ibid., p. 194. See also note 20.

45. Khlebnikov, SP, 5:86-87.

46. The three known variants are: (1) the version published in Khlebnikov, SP, 3:305; (2) the version published in Khlebnikov, Stikhi, p. 42; and (3) a truncated version, unpublished, in TsGALI, f. 527, ed. khr. 67, fol. 6r.

47. Khlebnikov, Stikhi, p. 42.

48. It could be argued that the inclusion of the episode involving Zorgam's rusalka could be justified by the overall theme of Khlebnikov as Razin's antipode. In the text itself, however, the relationship is one of an archetypal image (Razin) and its reflection (Dvoinik- Razin, otritsatel'nyi Dvoinik Rosin). The poet does not set himself up in opposition to the rebel, but metaphorizes Razin's being in his own self. In other words, we are dealing here not with an antithesis but an inverted parallel. On the other hand, in “la videl iunoshu proroka …” the poet is cultivating an antithesis, and hence Zorgam's rusalka has a critical role to play in the poem. Indeed, his relationship with her lies at the very foundation of the antithesis. Khlebnikov, in effect, seems to have “shifted” his rusalka to another literary setting, leaving the second Trinity unfinished.