Vaginov, Konstantin Konstantinovich

Born in St. Petersburg on September 21 ( October 3 ), 1899 ^[2] in the family of the captain of the gendarme service Konstantin Adolfovich Wagenheim (1868 - September 1, 1937, executed ^[3] ) and Lyubov Alekseevna Balandina (July 30, 1877 - after 1935), the daughter of a gold miner and Yeniseisk Mayor Alexei Sofronovich Balandin . Upon marriage in 1897, Konstantin Adolfovich converted from Lutheranism to Orthodoxy . On the father’s side, the family was of Jewish origin, but Lutheranism was already accepted by the writer’s grandfather - a dentist and graduate of the Medical and Surgical Academy Adolf Samoilovich Wagenheim (1834-1907), who since 1858 served as a dentist in the St. Petersburg Directorate of the Imperial Theaters ^{[4] [5]} . Prominent dentists were also the grandfather's brother Ludwig Samoilovich Wagenheim (1821–1889) ^{[6] [7]} and his father, the court dentist Samuel Berngardovich Wagenheim ^{[8] [9] [10]} . Until 1918, the family lived on Liteiny Prospekt, in building 25, owned by Lyubov Alekseevna. In Soviet times, parents were repressed.

Konstantin was educated at the school of Y. Gurevich , where he studied from 1908 to 1917. In 1915, members of the Wagenheim family (father, mother and three sons) were allowed to be called the Vaginovs (an artificial alteration of the family name associated with anti-German sentiments in Russia). In the summer of 1917 he entered the Law Faculty of Petrograd University , in 1919 he was mobilized into the Red Army . He fought on the Polish front and beyond the Urals .

In 1920 or early 1921, Vaginov returned to Petrograd, settling in house 105 along the embankment of the Catherine’s Canal ^[11] . Even at the gymnasium, Vaginov began to write poetry, imitating Baudelaire's “ Flowers of Evil ”. In the poetry of Vaginov one of the central places is the image of St. Petersburg. Vaginov collects and studies literature on ancient history and archeology, has an excellent collection of coins.

Vaginov is a member of a variety of poetic groups that existed in large numbers in Petrograd in the early 1920s, and in the summer of 1921 he was admitted to the " Workshop of Poets " by Nikolai Gumilyov . At the same time, together with N. Tikhonov , P. Volkov and S. Kolbasiev, he founded the group “ Islanders ”. In September 1921, the Islanders released the first (typewritten) collection of poems in which Vaginov’s poems were first published. The books of Vaginov’s poems “Petersburg Nights” and prose “The Monastery of Our Lord Apollon”, which was being prepared for publication, were announced, but these publications were not succeeded due to lack of funds. However, “The Monastery of Our Lord Apollo” was published in 1922 in the first issue of the Abraxas almanac, edited by M. Kuzmina and A. Radlova . At the end of 1921, the efforts of another literary group, “The Ring of Poets named after K. Fofanova ”, the first book of verses by Vaginov“ Journey to Chaos ”was published.

Although Vaginov, in his own words, in 1921-1922 "was a member of almost all the poetry associations of Petrograd, " he cannot be considered a school. Vaginov's poetry was brightly individual.

In 1923-1927, Vaginov studied at the verbal department of the Higher State Courses of Art Studies at the Institute of Art History , while listening to lectures at the graphic department. Among his teachers were Yu. Tynyanov , B. Eichenbaum , B. Engelhardt .

In 1924, Vaginov met with Mikhail Bakhtin , who praised his work and, above all, his "carnival" novels. In the circle of Bakhtin, Vaginov met with I. I. Sollertinsky , M. V. Yudina , P. N. Medvedev , L. V. Pumpyansky .

In 1926, a book of poems by Vaginov (without a name) was published, in 1931 - "Experiments in combining words through rhythm."

Vaginov is known primarily as a prose writer, author of the modernist novels “Goat Song”, “Works and Days of Svistonov”, “Bambochad”, “Harpagoniada”.

In 1927, his father was arrested (by that time he worked as an accountant) and was convicted under the Art. 58-11 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR for 3 years of exile to Siberia, where he got a job as an accountant. Re-arrested on August 16, 1937 in the Orenburg region and sentenced to death by a troika. The writer's mother was also deported to Orenburg, summoned to the NKVD and did not return; his brother Alexei and his wife died in a blockade.

In 1928, Vaginov, along with D. Kharms , A. Vvedensky and N. Zabolotsky, took part in the famous evening of the Oberiut “ Three Left Hours, ” which subsequently displays in a parody in his novel “The Works and Days of Svistonov”.

On April 26, 1934, after a long illness with tuberculosis, Vaginov dies. He was buried in the Smolensk Orthodox cemetery, the grave has not been preserved ^[11] .

On the pages of "Literary Leningrad" appears an obituary for the authorship of Sun. Rozhdestvensky and N. Chukovsky : “The appearance of Kostya Vaginov was marked by features of exceptional personal charm. Strict and demanding of himself, closed in the sphere of his creative ideas, humble in assessing his own achievements to the utmost, he was sincerely sympathetic to the work of his fellow literature students and left a long and strong memory in the poetic community of recent years as delicate and refined master, wonderful comrade, thoughtful and exacting friend . ”

Thanks to the re-opening of the Oberiuts, which began in the 1960s, they also paid attention to Vaginov. Leonid Chertkov prepared in Cologne the first “Collection of Poems” by Vaginov, published in 1982. In 1983 , the novel “Garpagoniada” was released in the United States . Reprints and new publications of the writer in the USSR appeared only in 1989, during perestroika .

Vaginov's prose is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon. In it you can find the influence of the St. Petersburg stories of Gogol and Dostoevsky , Andrei Bely , the ancient novel and short stories of the Renaissance, the roguish novel of the 18th century.

• Travel to chaos. St. Petersburg, 1921
• Vaginov Konstantin. L., 1926 (reprint - Ann Arbor, 1978)
• The experience of combining words through rhythm. L., ed. writers, 1931. (Reprint - M., Book, 1991)
• Goat Song, a novel. L., "Surf", 1928
• “Works and days of Svistonov”, novel. L., ed. writers, 1929
• "Bambochada", a novel. L., ed. writers, 1931
• Garpagoniada, novel (1933, first published in 1983)

• Vaginov K.K. Collection of poems. - Munchen, 1982
• Vaginov K.K. Garpagoniada. - Ann Arbor, 1983
• Vaginov K. K. Proceedings and days of Svistonov. - New York, 1984
• Vaginov K.K. Goat song. The works and days of Svistonov. Bambochada. - M.: Fiction, 1989. - 480 p., 100,000 copies. - (Forgotten book).
• Vaginov K.K. Romanov. - M.: Fiction, 1991. - 480 p., 100,000 copies.
• Vaginov K.K. Goat Song: Novels / Entry. article by T. L. Nikolskaya , note. T. L. Nikolskaya and V.I. Erl . - M .: Sovremennik, 1991 .-- 592 p., 100,000 copies. - (From Heritage). ISBN 5-270-01015-1 .
• Vaginov K.K. Poems and poems / Prep. texts, comp., intro. Art., note. A.G. Gerasimova . - Tomsk: Aquarius, 1998. ISBN 5-7137-0104-2
• Vaginov K.K. Complete Works in Prose / Notes by T. L. Nikolskaya and V. I. Erl . - SPb. : Academic project , 1999. - ISBN 5-7331-0163-6 .
• Vaginov K.K. Petersburg nights / Prep. text, article and comment. A. L. Dmitrenko . - SPb .: Hyperion, 2002. - (Petersburg poetic culture, 1). ISBN 5-89332-050-6
• Vaginov K.K. Goat Song: Novels, Poems. - M .: Eksmo, 2008 .-- 608 p. - (Russian classics of the XX century).
• Vaginov K.K. Song of words / Comp., Prep. text, entry Art. and note. A.G. Gerasimova. - M .: OGI, 2012 .-- 368 p.

• Bambochad

• Cossack V. Lexicon of Russian literature of the XX century = Lexikon der russischen Literatur ab 1917 / [trans. with him.]. - M .: RIC "Culture", 1996. - XVIII, 491, [1] p. - 5,000 copies. - ISBN 5-8334-0019-8 .
• Blum A., Martynov I. Petrograd bibliophiles. On the pages of the satirical novels of Konstantin Vaginov // Bibliophile Almanac . Vol. 4. M., 1977.S. 217–235.
• Evgeny Pavlov. Writing as Mortification: Allegories of History in Konstantin Vaginovʼs Trudy i Dni Svistonova // Russian Literature, 69, No. 2-4, 15 February-15 May 2011. P. 359-381.
• Bresler D.M., A.L. Dmitrenko Konstantin Vaginov in dialogue with the proletariat (literary circle of the Svetlana plant and work on the history of the Narva outpost) // Russian Literature. 2013. No. 4. P. 212-234.

• Vaginov's works in the "Maxim Moshkov Library"
• Anna Gerasimova . Works and days of Konstantin Vaginov
• Vaginov's works on the site Lib.ru: Classics
• Nikolai Chukovsky Konstantin Vaginov .