Corinthian, Apollon Apollonovich

Born in Simbirsk in the family of a nobleman Apollo Mikhailovich of Corinth, a former city judge and world mediator. The poet received an unusual surname from his grandfather, peasant Mordvin Mikhail Petrovich Varentsov , who “played” (as the grandson wrote) “the role of little Lomonosov” in the theater of life: Mikhail learned to read and write from a parish clerk, entered the Kazan gymnasium and was sent to study at the public expense in Petersburg Academy of Arts. Varentsov learned to be an architect and presented a project “in the Corinthian style” when graduating: the emperor Alexander I who was present at the graduation gave him hereditary nobility and ordered him to be called Corinthian.

Subsequently, many considered the literary name of Apollo of Corinth as a significant pseudonym in the style of “pure art”, not suspecting where the poet actually came from in a straight line from Mordovian peasants.

The mother of Apollon of Corinth, Serafima Semyonovna Volkova, died at his birth, and at the age of five he lost his father. The boy spent his childhood in his father’s estate Rtishchevo-Kamensky Chipping of Simbirsk district. In 1879 he entered the Simbirsk Gymnasium and studied for seven years in the same class as Vladimir Ulyanov (Lenin) , there is evidence that young Lenin was in the Corinthian house and used his library. After the gymnasium, classmates did not meet, and only in 1917 did Corinthian learn that his classmate and revolutionary Lenin was the same person.

Literary activity

In the last class, Corinthian decided to leave the gymnasium and engage in literary activity (in other words, he was expelled from the gymnasium for reading “unlawful” books and for being connected with political exiles ^[1] ). Since 1886, he collaborates in the Kazan periodical; then his first poems and short stories appeared in print (under the pseudonym Boris Kolyupanov). In 1889-1891 he lived in Moscow, where he collaborated in the magazines "Russia", "Russian wealth" and other publications. Since 1891 he lives in St. Petersburg, where he worked and published in many magazines, including Our Time, World Illustration ; He participated in the editing of the journal " North ". In 1895-1904 he was an assistant editor of the “Government Gazette”, working under the direction of K. K. Sluchevsky , with whom he was friends. In The Government Gazette, Corinth published historical and ethnographic essays, which were then included in the book People’s Russia. Year-round legends, beliefs, customs and proverbs of the Russian people ” (1901). The essays received approval from A. S. Ermolov , the Minister of Agriculture and State Property, to whom he dedicated the published book. Corinthian owns a number of publications of the Volga folklore (“Byvalyshchina and Pictures of the Volga Region”, 1899 and others). He promoted the work of writers from the people, for many years was friends with S. D. Drozhzhin . Corinthian also acted as a translator: he translated Heine, Coleridge, Miscavige, Shevchenko, Janka Kupala (with whom he was familiar).

Poetry

From 1894, Apollo Corinthian poetry books began to be published - “Songs of the Heart” (1894), “Black Roses” (1896), “On an Early Dawn” (for children, 1896), “Shadows of Life” (1897), “Anthem to Beauty” (1899), “In the rays of a dream” (1905), “Songs of the naked and the poor” (1909) and others. Corinthian books were a success among readers and were repeatedly reprinted. The poetry of A. A. Corinth was usually compared with the work of A. K. Tolstoy, L. A. Mei, A. N. Maykov; he himself considered himself the heir to A.K. Tolstoy. Many of his poems are devoted to village life, the history of Russia, epic heroes; some sound the motives of Narodism , sympathy for the hard life of peasants and barge haulers.

The Corinthian poem Svyatogor (1893) makes a great impression. In 1905, Corinth wrote a satirical poem based on the play of rhymes, but triggered by the events around the poem, “Capital Rhymes”.

Critical reviews of the poetry of A. A. Corinth were often quite severe. So, V. Ya. Bryusov wrote: “In the pile of poems of the city of Corinth flickers a little poetic inspiration, but it is barely warm, rare artistic lines are separated by dozens of screen-printed verses; individual vivid images are set into dull, artificially conceived plays. ” A. L. Volynsky, in a review of the Black Roses collection, called Corinthian “a mediocre versifier,” which writes “not without reference to the decadent requests of modern readers.” I. A. Bunin , who was friends with Corinth at one time, subsequently spoke of him with irony (“life in some kind of false-Russian ancient style ... in the apartment is poor and always warm-raw, the lamp always burns, and this again is like- it’s good, it’s connected with its icon-painting ... ”) ^[2] .

Recent years

Corinthian joyfully met the February Revolution , but was sharply opposed to the Bolsheviks, in Soviet life he was a stranger. In 1921, he wrote to Drozhzhin : "... I ’m not writing almost anything, completely crushed and torn to pieces by life cursed by everyone under the modern archinasilic regime." He worked in publishing houses, as a school librarian.

On November 14, 1928, he was arrested along with other members of the literary circle, where he had been since 1922. On May 13, 1929, he was found guilty of “anti-Soviet agitation” and deprived of the right to live in Leningrad for three years. Corinth found a job in Tver, where he remained until his death, working as a proofreader in a printing house. One of his last publications turned out to be a memoir about V. I. Lenin, published in 1930 in the Tverskaya Pravda newspaper. Rehabilitated in 1994.

• Ivanova L.N. Corinthian Apollon Apollonovich // Russian writers 1800-1917. Biographical Dictionary. T. 3: KM / Chap. ed. P.A. Nikolaev. M., 1994.S. 70-71. ISBN 5-85270-112-2 (vol. 3)
• Nikolaeva L.A. A.A. of Corinth // Poets of 1880-1890 / Entry. article and general edition of G. A. Byaly. L., 1972. S. 414-420 online
• Corinthian A. A. People’s Russia: All year round of legends, beliefs, customs and proverbs of the Russian people. M .: Moscow Worker, 1994.560 s.
• Boynikov A.M. Apollo of Corinth: Unknown pages of biography, letters, poems. Tver: Publishing House "Marina", 2005. 32 p.

• Curriculum Vitae (A. M. Boynikov, Tver) , bibliography of publications about the writer
• Materials for the biography (history of the link, letter) (inaccessible link)
• Materials about A. A. Korinfsky (inaccessible link) and his wife Marianna Iosifovna (inaccessible link) in RGALI
• A.A. of Corinth in Tver (memories)
• Translations by A. A. Corinth
• Poems by A. A. Corinth, dedicated to Mirra Lokhvitskaya