AND A. S. YASHCHENKO’S MAGAZINES (BERLIN)
The essay “The ‘Chamber of Poets’ (Paris) and A. S. Yashchenko’s magazines (Berlin)” unveils
an unknown side of the “Chamber of Poets,” that was opened by Russian writers on the
Montparnasse in early August 1921 and functioned as a literary and artistic club-cabaret until
mid-January 1922. The history of this enterprise and details of the eighteen “evenings” it held
were reconstructed in the fundamental work The Literary Avant-Garde in the Russian Paris (M.,
2014.)
This essay examines relationships of Valentin Parnakh and Mark-Ludvig Talov, who participated
in the “Chamber of Poets,” with the cultural figures of the “Russian Berlin,” as well as their
attempts to establish a reputation for their literary club. In the fall of 1921, they turn to Alexander
Yashchenko, the chief editor of the most influential Russian magazines in Berlin: The Russian
Book and The New Russian Book. The author argues that the main reasons for establishing such
contacts were the massive outflow of Russian émigrés from Paris, and Parnakh and Talov’s
search for the Berlin audience. In addition, it corresponded with their personal interests, as these
two poets moved to Berlin in order to return to Soviet Russia.
Mikhail Tsetlin acted as the mediator in these relations with Berlin magazines. He was known
as a poet who published under a nom de plume “Amari,” as well as a literary editor of the prominent
Russian journal “Contemporary Notes” (Paris.) Tsetlin’s letter to Yashchenko, published
here for the first time, demonstrates that the latter knew about the “Chamber of Poets,” and requested
some information about that club-cabaret, via Tsetlin, from its members. The autobiographical
notes of Parnakh and another poet, Dovid Knut, were previously published in a famous
work “Russian Berlin. 1921–1923,” by Lazar Fleishman, Robert Hughes and Olga Raevsky-
Hughes.
In addition to these documents, Talov’s autobiographical statement is published here. He
wrote this note specifically for Yashchenko. Later it was printed in the first issue of the New Russian
Book.
However, this publication was the last one on the “Chamber of Poets,” serving as an epilogue
to the Berlin episode in its history, and further relations between its members and Yashchenko did
not continue.
Fleishman L., Hughes R., Raevskaia-Hughes O. Russkii Berlin 1921‒1923. Po materialam arkhiva B. I. Nikolaevskogo v Guverovskom institute [Russian Berlin, 1921‒1923. From the Nicolaevsky Collection in the Hoover Institution Archives]. Paris, YMCA-Press, 1983, 422 p.
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Stullman J. Sergei Sharshun v Berline: vstrechi s dadaistami. In: Pinakoteka, 1999, no. 3–4 (10–11), p. 141‒145. (in Russ.)
Talov M. Vospominaniia. Stikhi. Perevody [Memoirs. Poems. Trans-lations]. Introd. R. Guerr. Comp., comment. M. A. Talova, T. M. Talova, A. D. Chulkova. Moscow, Mik; Paris, Al’batros, 2005, 248 p. (in Russ.)
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AND A. S. YASHCHENKO’S MAGAZINES (BERLIN) // Сюжетология и сюжетография. 2018. № 1. Pp. 133–146. DOI: 10.25205/2410-7883-2018-1-133-146.