Konevskoy, Ivan Ivanovich

Education, translation

The real name of the poet and translator is Oreus, he came from a noble Swedish family. He was the son of Lieutenant General Ivan Ivanovich Oreus , who was engaged in writing. Senior Oreus was a member of the Military Scientific Cabinet of the General Staff, and was also an employee of the Military History Commission at headquarters. He graduated from the historical and philological faculty of St. Petersburg University in 1901. Already in childhood, the first poetic experiments of Konevsky were recorded, and the first published poems of the novice modernist belong to the period of student life. While other authors, his contemporaries, quickly gained great poetic fame, the name of Konevsky remained unknown to a wide readership, but he was very revered in a narrow circle of fellow workers, by whom his poetic merits were recognized. As a student, he began to professionally engage in translation activities, in particular, he translated many works of the famous English poet Elgernon Charles Swinburne into Russian. In addition, Konevskaya translated such venerable foreign writers as Goethe , Ibsen , was read by the works of Hegel and Spinoza . He translated the works of his Belgian contemporaries - the poet Emil Verharn , who sang rural Flanders and the playwright Maurice Meterlink , the author of the drama " Blue Bird ", which became the program for the development of Western European symbolism. As a translator, being in constant contact with the works of the above authors, Konevskaya fell under the influence of their philosophical ideas and literary concepts. His professional passion for translation activities could not but affect the formation of his independent literary ideas. At the same time, Konevsky was fascinated by new worldview ideas expressed in the philosophical works of Friedrich Nietzsche , the translations of which he was also actively engaged in.

Lyrics Topics

Konevsky’s lyrics are distinguished by a special emotional musicality, which was characteristic of F. I. Tyutchev and A. A. Fet . Thus, this indicates the lack of modernity of the lyrical mood inherent in the style of Konevsky. Also, his lyrics are characterized by sad, calm moods that expressed the author’s inner desire for spiritual integrity and unity. At the same time, the poet does not abandon the idea of ​​an optimistic acceptance of the world, which, perhaps, turns out to be dominant in his work. His lyrical subject is initially striving for high identity. One of the first Konevskaya addressed the topic of the symbolist search for an ideal world (the concept of symbolist dual peace), finding which one could find inner chastity. In order for the poetic personality to establish itself, it was necessary for it to possess (a Nietzschean philosophical design) a powerful and indestructible will. This inner personal will knows no barriers, has unlimited potency, is able to dominate itself and overcomes the boundaries of the space-time continuum. The concept of consciousness as a component of a powerful internal will in Konevsky’s lyrics is endowed with “sensitive fervor”. Konevsky’s special attitude towards nature, as with most of the early Symbolists. The author professes the concept of "comprehensive" pantheism - in this he adheres to the tradition of natural philosophical lyrics. He understands nature as a combination of absolute building blocks - “the hot imperishability of the creative forces”. At the same time, his poetry is distinguished by the Tyutchev-Fetovskoy tonality: chamber intimacy, lack of a sense of anguish, tension. As for the formal component of the verse, here, too, he could not be denied the art of handling phonetic harmonies. His poems are literally riddled with alliterative and assonance repetitions, which gives the poems impeccable sound harmony, emphasizes its striving for perfection in terms of meaning. The language of Konevsky is often defined as archaized and complicated, which was characteristic of most of the early poets who stood at the origins of symbolism. Despite his young age, Konevskaya was distinguished by honed poetic mastery, and he was the one who managed to anticipate those ideas that would fulfill the core-forming function in the formation of the symbolist trend in Russia . Actually, Konevskaya determined the fundamental direction of Russian symbolism, which was later followed by its main figures. We can say that Konevsky’s poetry was an indispensable logical link between the generation of poets of the second half of the 19th century (of which, in addition to the aforementioned Tyutchev and Fet, A.K. Tolstoy , as well as the poet of the first half of the XIX century E.A. belonging to the direction of symbolism. Researchers speak of his work as follows: it “with almost textbook clarity predicted the further development of Russian symbolism”, they note that he actually first began to take seriously the problem of in-depth philosophical and religious searches in the context of the era, the first to look at the history and folklore of his people in a new light. These new aspirations were inherent in the entire symbolist workshop. Echoes of Konevsky’s poetic experiments, his archaic poetics and rich, rich sound recordings can be found among acmeist poets N. S. Gumilyov , early Pasternak , Zabolotsky , futurist Khlebnikov . His companions in the literary workshop, such as A. A. Blok , V. Ya. Bryusov , O. E. Mandelstam, always praised his work, expressing appreciation for his poetic maturity and the formality of his talent. Konevsky’s ideas developed due to the crisis and the decline of bourgeois consumer culture, and his life-affirming aspirations in global pantheistic harmony were aimed at overcoming cultural stagnation.

Death

In the middle of the summer of 1901, a graduate of St. Petersburg University Ivan Konevskaya went to the Riga seaside , however, not reaching Riga , he preferred to stay in Zegevold (now Sigulda ), a resort town near the capital of the Livonia province. There he was carried away by a walk, moving farther and farther “from civilization” into the forest thickets and stopped on the bank of the Aa river (now Gauja ), in which he decided to swim. However, the river, known for its treacherous whirlpools and rapids, has done its fateful work. Konevsky drowned in its waters. The body of the young poet was later discovered by the Zegevold peasants. He was buried in Sigulda. His grave has become a place of pilgrimage for symbolist poets, a kind of poetic tract for those seeking an ideal world.

Poetic works

All the lyrical collections of Konevsky were published at his own expense. His first full-fledged poetic work was “Dreams and Thoughts of Ivan Konevsky 1896-1899” - St. Petersburg, 1900. Prose and poetic works are organically interwoven in it, which corresponds to the author’s concept. By the way, this book is the only one that saw the light during the life of the poet. After his death, another poetry collection was published, which was edited by V. Ya. Bryusov, a close ideological associate of Konevsky: “Poems and prose” (M., 1904). In addition to poetic activity, Konevskoy declared himself as a shrewd criticist-publicist. Of his most important critical works, which had a significant impact on the development of Russian poetic thought at the turn of the century (at the turn of the epoch), it is worth mentioning articles on literature and painting “Poems of Laforgue ” (1897–1898), “Painting of Böcklin ” (1897–1898), “Mystical Feeling in Russian Lyrics” (1900). He is the author of articles “On the funeral service of new Russian poetry” (1901) and “The World View of N. F. Shcherbina ” (1902). They were published in the almanac "Northern Flowers", the mouthpiece of the ideas of Russian symbolism.

• Biography on the site hrono.ru
• Biography, criticism and poems by Ivan Konevsky on Lib.ru
• Poems by Ivan Konevsky in the Anthology of Russian Poetry

• Konevskaya I. Poems and prose // Posthumous collected works (1894-1901) / foreword. and note. V. Bryusova. - M., "Scorpio", 1904.
• Bryusov V. I. Ivan Konevskoy // Russian literature of the XX century. 1890-1910. - M., 1918. - T. 3. - Book. Viii.
• Poyarkov N. Ivan Konevskoy // Poyarkov N. Poets of our day. Critical studies. - M., 1907.
• Lerner N. Ivan Konevskaya // Book of Russian poets of the last decade. - SPb., 1909.
• Pertsov P. Literary Memoirs. 1890-1902 - M .; L., 1933. - S. 243-248.
• Stepanov N.L. Ivan Konevskaya. Poet of thought // Alexander Blok: New materials and research / USSR Academy of Sciences. Institute of World Lite. them. A. M. Gorky. - M .: Nauka, 1987 .-- T. 92, Prince. 4. - S. 180-202. - 781 s. - ( Literary inheritance / ed.: V.R.Sherbin (chap. Ed.), G.P. Berdnikov ... [and others ]; t. 92, book four). - 30,000 copies.
• Morderer V. Ya. Blok and Ivan Konevskoy // Alexander Blok: New materials and research / USSR Academy of Sciences. Institute of World Lite. them. A. M. Gorky. - M .: Nauka, 1987 .-- T. 92, Prince. 4. - S. 180-202. - 781 s. - ( Literary inheritance / ed.: V.R.Sherbin (chap. Ed.), G.P. Berdnikov ... [ and others ]; t. 92, book four). - 30,000 copies.
• Lavrov A.V. Konevskaya Ivan // Russian Writers, 1800—1917. T. 3. - M., 1994. - S. 51-52.