Tarkovsky Arseny Alexandrovich short biography. Biography of Arseny Tarkovsky. On the genealogy of Arseny and Andrei Tarkovsky

“I believe that the most important thing in the world is the idea of ​​goodness.”

... Everything in him grew over the years - thought, soul, but not age! Not age! That is why, mostly not peers, but Tarkovsky’s young friends, poets, his students, both in oral and written memoirs, draw our attention to the poet’s childish character...

Child poet. This definition is not applicable to all poets...

Childish features can be found in Mandelstam, but not in Khodasevich, noticeable in Tsvetaeva, but not in Akhmatova. Of course, observations are drawn from everything that is open or even hidden in their poems, from everything that is written about them by memoirists, and even more so from what the poets themselves said about themselves, including the motives for myth-making. But you will not find a more pronounced childish character than the one that Arseny Alexandrovich possessed either in life or in memoirs...

Flickering yellow tongue,
The candle is becoming more and more blurry.
This is how you and I live
The soul burns and the body melts.

The poet Arseny Aleksandrovich Tarkovsky was born on June 25, 1907 in Elisavetgrad (present-day Kirovograd), then a district city in the Kherson province, in Ukraine.

Parents of Arseny Tarkovsky

In 1923Tarkovskycame to Moscow, his half-sister lived there. In 1925, he entered the Higher Literary Courses, created to replace the Literary Institute, which was closed after the death of the poet Valery Bryusov. At the Literary Courses, Arseny met Maria Vishnyakova, who entered the preparatory course in the same 1925. In February 1928 they got married.

From a letter from Arseny Tarkovsky to Maria Ivanovna about Andrei:I don't know what to do with this. Since this has already begun, then it is necessary to direct his passions along a good path, and delaying the waterfall is an empty matter. Maybe it would be good to explain to him that love is not only what they guys have in mind, but a feeling that is both noble and leads to selfless actions. Try to instill in him that you shouldn’t make people suffer for the sake of your loves - unfortunately, I realized this too late. Explain that the worst thing is the later regret of hurting someone.

In one of the Western interviews, after “Mirror”,Andrei Tarkovskyto the question “What did your parents, your loved ones in general?” give you the following answer:

« It turned out that, essentially, I was raised by my mother. My father broke up with her when I was three years old. It rather affected me in some biological, subconscious sense. Although I am far from a fan of Freud or even Jung... My father had some kind of internal influence on me, but, of course, I owe everything to my mother. She helped me realize myself. From the film (“Mirror”) it is clear that we lived, in general, very hard. Life was very difficult. And it was a difficult time. When my mother was left alone, I was three years old and my sister was one and a half years old. And she raised us herself. She was always with us. She never married the second time; she loved our father all her life. She was an amazing, holy woman and completely unsuited to life. And everything fell on this defenseless woman. Together with her father, she studied at the Bryusov courses, but due to the fact that she already had me and she was pregnant with my sister, she did not receive a diploma. Mother was unable to find herself as a person with an education, although I know that she was engaged in literature (drafts of her prose fell into my hands). She could have realized herself completely differently if not for the misfortune that befell her. Having no means of subsistence, she began working as a proofreader in a printing house. And she worked like that until the very end. I have not yet had the opportunity to retire. And I just don’t understand how she managed to educate my sister and me. Moreover, I graduated from the school of painting and sculpture in Moscow. You had to pay money for this. Where? Where did she get them? I graduated from music school. She paid the teacher from whom I studied before, during, and after the war. I should have become a musician. But he didn’t want to become one. From the outside we can say: well, of course, there were some means, since a person is from an intelligent family, this is natural. But there is nothing natural about this, because we literally walked barefoot. In the summer we didn’t wear shoes at all; we didn’t have any. In winter I wore my mother's felt boots. In general, poverty is not the right word. Poverty! And if it weren’t for my mother... I simply owe everything to my mother. She had a very strong influence on me. “Influence” isn’t even the right word. The whole world for me is connected with my mother. I didn't even understand it very well while she was alive. It was only when my mother died that I suddenly realized this clearly. I made “Mirror” while she was still alive, but only later did I understand what the film was about. Although it seemed to be conceived about my mother, it seemed to me that I was making it about myself... Only later did I realize that “Mirror” was not about me, but about my mother...”

And I dreamed about it, and I dreamed about it,
And I will dream about this again someday,
And everything will repeat itself, and everything will come true,
And you will dream everything that I saw in my dream.
There, away from us, away from the world
The wave follows the wave to beat on the shore,
And on the wave there is a star, and a man, and a bird,
And reality, and dreams, and death - wave after wave.
I don’t need numbers: I was, and I am, and I will be,
Life is a miracle of miracles, and kneel the miracle
Alone, like an orphan, I lay myself down,
Alone, among the mirrors - in the fence of reflections
Seas and cities, radiant in the smoke.
And the mother, in tears, takes the child on her lap.
1974

Prisoners of Happiness

Sometimes you wander down the street -
Suddenly it will come from nowhere
And it will run down your back like a shiver,
A senseless thirst for a miracle.
...
There is no miracle in this world,
There is only the expectation of a miracle.
That's what the poet rests on,
That this thirst comes from nowhere.

Arseny Alexandrovich was then married twice more. First, on the beautiful Antonina Trenina (she also left her family for a new marriage). They didn't live long - about five years. Antonina became very ill due to mental suffering. And then Maria Ivanovna became her close friend and looked after her all her life. And she buried her too.

During the war, Arseny Tarkovsky lost his leg. Then his second wife, Antonina Bokhonova, left him in the hospital. But the war ended, his poems were still not published, and a personal crisis superimposed on the creative crisis - his second marriage was coming to an end. There is a version that emotionally Tarkovsky did not endure physical dependence on his wife after the amputation of his leg.

Unrequited, unhappy love is not as selfish as happy love; this is sacrificial love. Memories of lost love, of what was once dear to us, are so dear to us, because all love has an impact on a person, because in the end it turns out that there was some portion of goodness contained in this too. Should we try to forget unhappy love? No, no... It’s torture to remember, but it makes a person kinder..." “I loved her, but it was difficult with her. She was too harsh, too nervous...

She was terribly unhappy, many were afraid of her. Me too - a little. After all, she was a little bit of a warlock..."

In 1945, Arseny Tarkovsky, in the direction of the Writers' Union, went on a business trip to Georgia to work on translations of Georgian poets.Tbilisi is also associated with memories of a certain beautiful Ketevan, who lived in a house at the foot of Mtatsminda. One day in a restaurantwriterspast the table where Tarkovsky was sittingpassedNataVachnadze(in silent films, Nato played in film adaptations of Georgian literature). Arseny Alexandrovich managed to say: “I have an idiot’s dream that you will sit with me for a while!” After some time they decided to get married. This would probably be the most beautiful couple of the 20th century. Nata came to Moscow especially to marry Tarkovsky. But the story turned out to be no less funny than sad. The poet had the only decent trousers, and his wife, whose divorce was decided, she knew about the intentions of Tarkovsky, who was in a hurry to go on a date, volunteered to iron them, put themontrousersa hot iron, and he fell through his trousers. There were also funny short trousers, in which it was impossible to go to Natya... Arseny Alexandrovich put them on and, dejected, trudged to the neighbors, where he met Tatyana Alekseevna, who became his last wife... Many years later, Arseny Alexandrovich was visiting young people Georgian film directors, Andrey's friends,Heby the eyes I guessed in one of them the son of Nata Vachnadze.

I love life and am afraid to die.
If only you could see how I'm electrified
And I bend like an ide in the hands of a fisherman,
When I transform into a word.

But I'm not a fish or a fisherman.
And I am one of the inhabitants of the corners,
Similar in appearance to Raskolnikov.
Like a violin, I hold my grudge.

Torment me - I won’t change my face.
Life is good, especially at the end
Even in the rain and penniless,
Even on Judgment Day - with a needle in the larynx.

A! this dream! Little life, breathe,
Take my last pennies
Don't let me go upside down
Into the world, spherical space!

In Tbilisi, Arseny Alexandrovich met with a young woman - only her name is known - Ketevana, he dedicated poetry. Ketevana's parents objected to the possible union of their daughter with the visiting poet.

I don’t believe in premonitions, and will accept
I'm not afraid. No slander, no poison
I'm not running. There is no death in the world.
Everyone is immortal. Everything is immortal. No need
To be afraid of death at seventeen years old,
Not at seventy.

In Turkmenistan T Arkovsky was at least twice. The first time was with Tatyana Ozerskaya in 1948, and in 1957 - at the celebration of the anniversary of the Turkmen writer Berdy Kerbabaev.

It was washed to the brim with milky white

Glass of fog.

Along gray branches

Tears flowed down as pure as

Some trees cry the day before

All-bleaching winter.

And then a miracle happened: at sunset

Blue dawned from the clouds,

And a bright ray broke through, like in June,

Like a bird's song a light spear,

From the days to come to my past.

And the trees cried the day before

Good works and festive generosity

Arseny Aleksandrovich Tarkovsky was born on June 25 (12 according to the old style) June 1907 in the city of Elizavetgrad, Kherson province (now Kirovograd, Ukraine). His father Alexander Karlovich (a former member of the Narodnaya Volya party who served time in prison for revolutionary activities) served in a bank. Mother worked as a teacher. Arseny was the second child in the family. His older brother Valery died in battle against the gangs of Ataman Grigoriev in 1919.

From an early age, Arseny read Russian and foreign classics, attended evenings of famous poets who came to the city - I. Severyanin, K. Balmont, F. Sologub. He himself began writing poetry early.

Tarkovsky studies in a classical gymnasium, and after the arrival of the Bolsheviks - in a unified labor school. In the early 20s. (exact date unknown) Arseny and his friends were arrested for publishing a poem in a newspaper with an unflattering characterization of Lenin. The young man managed to escape. He wanders around Ukraine and Crimea, starving, at times earning money as a shoemaker, working in a fishing cooperative.

In 1923 he comes to Moscow. Here he attends the Higher State Literary Courses, where he meets Maria Vishnyakova, who became his wife in February 1928. The marriage with Vishnyakova broke up when their children, Andrei (the future world-famous film director), and Marina were very young. Tarkovsky's second wife in the mid-30s. (officially in 1940) becomes Antonina Bokhonova.

While still studying literature courses, Tarkovsky began to write literary feuilletons for the newspaper “Gudok” (where such famous writers as M. Bulgakov, Y. Olesha, I. Ilf, E. Petrov, V. Kataev collaborated at that time). He also works for radio and theater. He writes poetry “on the table”, while actively working as a translator from Azerbaijani, Chechen, Turkmen, Serbian, Polish and other languages. In 1934, the first separate collection of Tarkovsky's translations was published, and in 1940 the poet became a member of the Writers' Union.

In 1939 or 1940, he met and became close to Marina Tsvetaeva, who had returned from emigration. (As it turned out many years later, Tsvetaeva dedicated her last poem to him).

In 1941, Tarkovsky took his wife and adopted daughter to evacuation; he persistently asked to go to the front and at the beginning of 1942 he became a correspondent for the army newspaper “Battle Alert”. Then the poet took part in battles near Moscow, on the Western, Bryansk, 2nd Belorussian and 1st Baltic fronts. After being wounded and having his leg amputated, he was demobilized with the rank of captain.

In the post-war period, actively engaged in translation activities, he continued to write poetry “on the table” (a number of handwritten collections have been preserved). The collection (54 poems) prepared in 1945 was accepted for publication, but after the 1946 decree on the magazines “Zvezda” and “Leningrad” the book set was destroyed. In the same year, Tarkovsky met Akhmatova, who highly appreciated his work. The friendship of the poets will last until her death.

In 1949, Tarkovsky divorced A.A. Bokhonova, in 1951 officially married T.A. Ozerskaya.

For 15 years, Tarkovsky's poems appeared in print only sporadically. For a long time, as a poet, he remained unknown to the mass reader. His magnificent translations of Eastern poets continued to be published, but such an occupation was a certain burden for a person with a pronounced creative individuality.

The collection “Before the Snow,” assessed by Akhmatova as “a precious gift to the modern reader,” was published only in 1962. Almost simultaneously, Andrei Tarkovsky’s film “Ivan’s Childhood” was released, where the poems of Arseny Tarkovsky were performed by the author.

Following the first collection, others began to appear: “To the Earth - Earthly” (1966), “Messenger” (1969), “Poems” (1974), “Magic Mountains” (1978), “Winter Day” (1980), “Favorites "(1982), "Poems of different years" (1983), "From youth to old age" (1987), "Star over Aragats" (1988, last lifetime edition). The poems of Arseny Tarkovsky are also heard in the films of his son - “Stalker”, “Mirror”.

Tarkovsky was awarded the Order of the Red Banner, the Patriotic War, 1st degree, Friendship of Peoples, the Red Banner of Labor, etc. The USSR State Prize for the book “From Youth to Old Age” was awarded to him posthumously.

Arseny Aleksandrovich Tarkovsky was born on June 25 (12 according to the old style) June 1907 in the city of Elizavetgrad, Kherson province (now Kirovograd, Ukraine). His father Alexander Karlovich (a former member of the Narodnaya Volya party who served time in prison for revolutionary activities) served in a bank. Mother worked as a teacher. Arseny was the second child in the family. His older brother Valery died in battle against the gangs of Ataman Grigoriev in 1919.
From an early age, Arseny read Russian and foreign classics, attended evenings of famous poets who came to the city - I. Severyanin, K. Balmont, F. Sologub. He himself began writing poetry early.
Tarkovsky studies at a classical gymnasium, and after the arrival of the Bolsheviks, at a unified labor school. In the early 20s. (exact date unknown) Arseny and his friends were arrested for publishing a poem in a newspaper with an unflattering characterization of Lenin. The young man managed to escape. He wanders around Ukraine and Crimea, starving, at times earning money as a shoemaker, working in a fishing cooperative.
In 1923 he comes to Moscow. Here he attends the Higher State Literary Courses, where he meets Maria Vishnyakova, who became his wife in February 1928. The marriage with Vishnyakova broke up when their children Andrei (the future world-famous film director) and Marina were very young. Tarkovsky's second wife in the mid-30s. (officially in 1940) becomes Antonina Bokhonova.
While still studying literature courses, Tarkovsky began to write literary feuilletons for the newspaper “Gudok” (where such famous writers as M. Bulgakov, Y. Olesha, I. Ilf, E. Petrov, V. Kataev collaborated at that time). He also works for radio and theater. He writes poetry “on the table”, while actively working as a translator from Azerbaijani, Chechen, Turkmen, Serbian, Polish and other languages. In 1934, the first separate collection of Tarkovsky's translations was published, and in 1940 the poet became a member of the Writers' Union.
In 1939 or 1940, he met and became close to Marina Tsvetaeva, who had returned from emigration. (As it turned out many years later, Tsvetaeva dedicated her last poem to him.)
In 1941, Tarkovsky took his wife and adopted daughter to evacuation; he persistently asked to go to the front and at the beginning of 1942 he became a correspondent for the army newspaper “Battle Alert”. Then the poet took part in battles near Moscow, on the Western, Bryansk, 2nd Belorussian and 1st Baltic fronts. After being wounded and having his leg amputated, he was demobilized with the rank of captain.
In the post-war period, actively engaged in translation activities, he continued to write poetry “on the table” (a number of handwritten collections have been preserved). The collection (54 poems) prepared in 1945 was accepted for publication, but after the 1946 decree on the magazines “Zvezda” and “Leningrad” the book set was destroyed. In the same year, Tarkovsky met Akhmatova, who highly appreciated his work. The friendship of the poets will last until her death.
In 1949, Tarkovsky divorced A.A. Bokhonova, in 1951 officially married T.A. Ozerskaya.
For 15 years, Tarkovsky's poems appeared in print only sporadically. For a long time, as a poet, he remained unknown to the mass reader. His magnificent translations of Eastern poets continued to be published, but such an occupation was a certain burden for a person with a pronounced creative individuality.
The collection “Before the Snow,” assessed by Akhmatova as “a precious gift to the modern reader,” was published only in 1962. Almost simultaneously, Andrei Tarkovsky’s film “Ivan’s Childhood” was released, where the poems of Arseny Tarkovsky were performed by the author.
Following the first collection, others began to appear: “Earth Earthly” (1966), “Messenger” (1969), “Poems” (1974), “Magic Mountains” (1978), “Winter Day” (1980), “Favorites "(1982), "Poems of different years" (1983), "From youth to old age" (1987), "Star over Aragats" (1988, last lifetime edition). The poems of Arseny Tarkovsky are also heard in the films of his son “Stalker”, “Mirror”.
Tarkovsky was awarded the Order of the Red Banner, the Patriotic War, 1st degree, Friendship of Peoples, the Red Banner of Labor, etc. The USSR State Prize for the book “From Youth to Old Age” was awarded to him posthumously.
Arseny Tarkovsky died on May 27, 1989 in Moscow. He was buried in Peredelkino.

Arseny Aleksandrovich Tarkovsky(June 25, Elisavetgrad, Kherson province, Russian Empire - May 27, Moscow, USSR) - Russian poet and translator from oriental languages. Supporter of the classical style in Russian poetry. Father of film director Andrei Tarkovsky. Posthumously awarded the USSR State Prize ().

Biography

Childhood and youth (1907-1923)

Arseny Aleksandrovich Tarkovsky was born on June 25, 1907 in Elisavetgrad, a district city in the Kherson province. His father, Alexander Karlovich (1862-1924), was an employee of the Elisavetgrad Public Bank. His first known paternal ancestor was the Polish nobleman Matvey Tarkovsky (Polish. Mateusz Tarkowski). For participation in the 1880s. in the organization of the populist circle he was under the open supervision of the police. He spent three years in prisons in Voronezh, Elisavetgrad, Odessa and Moscow, and was exiled for five years to Eastern Siberia. In exile, he began to engage in journalism, collaborating with Irkutsk newspapers. Upon returning to Elisavetgrad, he wrote for Odessa and Elisavetgrad newspapers. After the death of his first wife, he married a second time, Maria Danilovna Rachkovskaya. From this marriage two sons were born, Valery, who died in battle against Ataman Grigoriev in May 1919, and the younger Arseny. There is a version that has not yet been fully researched that; "during the stay of Peter I in Dagestan in 1722, Hamza-bek was given to the Russian sovereign (“in the amanats”) by his father, Shauhal Adil-Gerem Tarkovsky, to be raised. He took him with him to Russia. His further fate is shrouded in the darkness of obscurity. It is possible that it was he who, having remained forever in the sovereign service in Russia, having married a Christian and converted to Orthodoxy, became the founder of the Russian branch of the Tarkovskys, whose offspring are well known in the history of Russian culture: father and son Arseny and Andrei Tarkovsky." .

Alexander Karlovich, the father of Arseniy Alexandrovich, was a student of the playwright and actor Ivan Karpovich Tobilevich (Karpenko-Kary), one of the founders of the Ukrainian national theater. The family admired literature and theater, wrote poems and plays for reading with the family. Alexander Karlovich himself, in addition to practicing journalism, wrote poetry, stories and translated for himself Dante, Giacomo Leopardi, Victor Hugo and other poets.

As a little boy, Arseny Tarkovsky, together with his father and brother, attended poetry evenings of capital celebrities - Igor Severyanin, Konstantin Balmont, Fyodor Sologub.

According to the poet himself, Arseny Alexandrovich began writing poetry “from the pot.” However, Tarkovsky’s first publications - the quatrain “Candle” (collection “Two Dawns”, 1927) and the poem “Bread” (magazine “Spotlight”, No. 37, 1928) took place already during his studies at the Higher Literary Courses.

In 1924-1929, Tarkovsky was an employee of the newspaper "Gudok", the author of judicial essays, poetic feuilletons and fables (one of his pseudonyms is Taras Podkova).

War (1941-1945)

Arseny Aleksandrovich went to the front line to collect information, or went every other day. His partner Leonid Goncharov died while performing an editorial assignment. Tarkovsky had the opportunity to participate in hostilities more than once. He was awarded the Order of the Red Star.

As a correspondent for a front-line newspaper, he had to work in different genres - on the pages of “Combat Alert” Tarkovsky’s poems were published, glorifying the exploits of soldiers and officers, ditties, fables ridiculing the Nazis. In those years, Tarkovsky found his experience working in the newspaper Gudok useful. The soldiers cut out his poems from newspapers and carried them in their breast pockets along with documents and photographs of loved ones, which can be called the greatest reward for the poet. By order of the front commander, General Bagramyan, Tarkovsky wrote the song “Guards Table” (“Our toast” - “Let's drink to the Motherland, let's drink to Stalin...”), which was very popular in the army. Despite the difficult conditions of military life and his daily work for the newspaper, Tarkovsky continued to write poetry for himself, for the future reader - such lyrical masterpieces as “White Day”, “On strips of uncompressed bread ...”, “Night Rain”, etc.

Arseny Tarkovsky spent the last years of his life in the House of Cinema Veterans. By November 1988, his condition had deteriorated so much that he was sent for treatment to the Central Clinical Hospital.

Museums and monuments

Awards

• State Prize of the Karakalpak Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (1967)
• State Prize of the Turkmen SSR (1971)

Collections

• "Before the Snow" ()
• “To the earth - earthly” ()
• "Bulletin" ()
• "Magic Mountains" ()
• "Winter day" ()
• “Favorites” (complete lifetime collection of poems and translations) ()
• "Poems of different years" ()
• "From youth to old age" ()
• "Be Yourself" (1987)
• "Blessed Light" ()
• Collected works in 3 volumes. (-1993)

Russian poet and translator from oriental languages

Arseny Tarkovsky

short biography

Arseny Aleksandrovich Tarkovsky(June 25, 1907, Elisavetgrad, Kherson province - May 27, 1989, Moscow) - Russian poet and translator from oriental languages. Supporter of the classical style in Russian poetry. Father of film director Andrei Tarkovsky. Posthumously awarded the USSR State Prize (1989).

Childhood and youth (1907-1923)

Arseny Aleksandrovich Tarkovsky was born on June 25, 1907 in Elisavetgrad, at that time a district city of the Kherson province (now the city of Kropyvnytskyi, Ukraine). His father, Alexander Karlovich (1862-1924), whose first reliably known paternal ancestor was a Polish nobleman named Mateusz Tarkowski, worked as an employee of the Elisavetgrad Public Bank. For participation in the 1880s. In the organization of the populist circle, Alexander Karlovich was under open police surveillance. He spent three years in prisons in Voronezh, Elisavetgrad, Odessa and Moscow, and was exiled to Eastern Siberia for five years. In exile, he began to engage in journalism, collaborating with Irkutsk newspapers. Upon returning to Elisavetgrad, he wrote for Odessa and Elisavetgrad newspapers.

After the death of his first wife, he married a second time to Maria Danilovna Rachkovskaya, a Romanian originally from Iasi (now a city in Romania). From this marriage two sons were born: Valery, who died in battle against Ataman Grigoriev in May 1919, and the youngest son Arseny.

Another version says that “during Peter I’s stay in Dagestan in 1722, Gamza-bek was given to the Russian sovereign (“in amanat”) by his father, Shamkhal Adil-Girey Tarkovsky. He took him with him to Russia. His future fate is shrouded in darkness and obscurity. It is possible that it was he who, having remained forever in the sovereign service in Russia, having married a Christian and converted to Orthodoxy, became the founder of the Russian branch of the Tarkovskys, whose offspring are well known in the history of Russian culture: father and son Arseny and Andrei Tarkovsky.” According to the poet’s daughter and compiler of the genealogy, Marina Tarkovskaya, this version of the origin is “completely groundless”, and “there is no confirmation of these tales in any document.”

Alexander Karlovich, the father of Arseniy Alexandrovich, was a student of the playwright and actor Ivan Karpovich Tobilevich (Karpenko-Kary), one of the founders of the Ukrainian national theater. The family admired literature and theater, wrote poems and plays for reading with the family. Alexander Karlovich himself, in addition to practicing journalism, wrote poetry, stories and translated for himself Dante, Giacomo Leopardi, Victor Hugo and other poets. He was personally acquainted with Lenin and Pilsudski.

As a little boy, Arseny Tarkovsky, together with his father and brother, attended poetry evenings of capital celebrities - Igor Severyanin, Konstantin Balmont, Fyodor Sologub.

In 1919, he was detained along with his older brother, who threw a bomb at Atamansha Maruska Nikiforova and released on her orders.

In 1921, after the civil war in Ukraine and the establishment of Soviet power there, Arseny and his friends, raving about poetry, published an acrostic poem in the newspaper, the first letters of which unflatteringly characterized the head of the Soviet government, Lenin. The young people were arrested and brought to Nikolaev, which in those years was the administrative center of the region. Arseny Tarkovsky managed to escape from the train along the road. After that, he wandered around Ukraine and Crimea, tried several professions: he was a shoemaker's apprentice, worked in a fishing cooperative. According to other sources, in 1925 he peacefully graduated from a vocational school in Elisavetgrad, after which he went to Moscow.

Moving to Moscow. Pre-war years (1923-1941)

In 1923, Arseny Alexandrovich moved to Moscow to live with his father’s sister. In 1925, he entered the Higher Literary Courses, which arose on the site of the Literary Institute he created, which was closed after the death of Valery Bryusov. Upon admission, Tarkovsky met the poet and verse theorist Georgy Arkadyevich Shengeli, who became his teacher and senior friend. Together with Tarkovsky, Maria Petrovykh, Yulia Neiman, and Daniil Andreev studied on the course. In the same 1925, Maria Vishnyakova entered the preparatory course, who in February 1928 became the wife of Arseny Tarkovsky. For two years, starting in 1929, Tarkovsky received a monthly scholarship from the Foundation for Assistance to Aspiring Writers at the State Publishing House, which helped the young family to exist. In the same year, due to a scandalous incident - the suicide of one of the students - the Higher Literary Courses were closed. Students who did not have time to complete the Courses were allowed to take exams at Moscow State University.

According to the poet himself, Arseny Alexandrovich began writing poetry “from the pot.” However, Tarkovsky’s first publications - the quatrain “Candle” (collection “Two Dawns”, 1927) and the poem “Bread” (magazine “Spotlight”, No. 37, 1928) - took place already during his studies at the Higher Literary Courses.

In 1924-1929, Tarkovsky was an employee of the Gudok newspaper, the author of judicial essays, poetic feuilletons and fables (one of his pseudonyms was Taras Podkova).

In 1931, Tarkovsky worked at the All-Union Radio as a senior instructor-consultant on artistic radio broadcasting, and wrote plays for radio plays. On instructions from the literary and artistic department of the All-Union Radio, he wrote the play “Glass”. To get acquainted with glass production, he went to a glass factory near Nizhny Novgorod. On January 3, 1932, the play “Glass” (with the participation of actor Osip Naumovich Abdulov) was broadcast on All-Union Radio. This radio play by Tarkovsky was sharply criticized for its “mysticism” - as a literary device, Tarkovsky introduced the voice of the founder of Russian glass, Mikhail Lomonosov.

Around 1933, Tarkovsky began to engage in literary translation. Georgy Shengeli, then an employee of the Department of Literature of the Peoples of the USSR of the State Literary Publishing House, attracted such poets as Vera Zvyagintseva, Maria Petrovykh, Mark Tarlovsky, Arkady Steinberg, Arseny Tarkovsky and others to the translation work.

Work on translations of national poets was associated with creative trips (Kyrgyzstan, Crimea, Caucasus). Together with his close friend Arkady Akimovich Steinberg, Tarkovsky worked on translations of poems and poems by the Serbian emigrant poet Radule Markovic, who wrote under the pseudonym Stijensky.

In 1936, Tarkovsky met Antonina Aleksandrovna Bokhonova, the wife of the critic and literary scholar Vladimir Trenin, an associate of Mayakovsky and David Burliuk.

In the summer of 1937, Arseny finally left his family - by that time he was the father of two children, Andrei (1932-1986) and Marina (1934) - and united his life with Bokhonova.

In the summer of 1939, Tarkovsky, with Antonina Aleksandrovna Bokhonova and her daughter Elena Trenina, on instructions from the USSR Writers' Union, traveled to the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic to work on translations of local poets. They lived in Grozny and in the village of Vedeno.

In the fall of 1939, Arseny Alexandrovich came to Leningrad on publishing business, there he fell ill with diphtheria and ended up in the Botkin Barracks infectious diseases hospital, where at the same time the composer Dmitry Shostakovich was being treated. After leaving the hospital, Tarkovsky attended the funeral of L. D. Mendeleeva, the wife of A. A. Blok.

On February 27, 1940, a meeting of the Presidium of the Union of Soviet Writers was held, at which the poet and translator Mark Tarlovsky recommended Tarkovsky to the Writers' Union, drawing the attention of the meeting to him as a master of translation, listing his works - translations of Kyrgyz poetry, Georgian folk songs, Corneille's tragedy "Cinna" ", Turkmen poet Kemine. So Tarkovsky was accepted into the Union of Writers of the USSR.

In 1940, Arseny Alexandrovich divorced his first wife and married A. A. Bokhonova. Also in the fall of 1940, he probably met Marina Ivanovna Tsvetaeva.

War (1941-1945)

The beginning of the war found Tarkovsky in Moscow. In August, he evacuated his first wife and children to the city of Yuryevets, Ivanovo region. The second wife and her daughter left for the city of Chistopol, Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, where members of the Writers' Union and members of their families were evacuated. Remaining in Moscow, Tarkovsky underwent military training together with Moscow writers. According to the conclusion of the medical commission, he was not subject to mobilization into the active army.

Arseny took part in poetry meetings organized by the Writers' Union for Muscovites. In early September 1941, Tarkovsky learned about the tragic death of Marina Tsvetaeva and responded to her with sorrowful poems.

On October 16, 1941, on the day of the evacuation of Moscow, Arseny Aleksandrovich left the capital together with his elderly mother. They went to Kazan to get from there to Chistopol.

At the end of October and November 1941 in Chistopol, where Tarkovsky then lived with his family, he created the cycle “The Chistopol Notebook,” which consisted of seven poems.

During his two months in Chistopol, Tarkovsky wrote about eleven letters of application to the Presidium of the Writers' Union with a request to send him to the front. In December 1941, he finally received a call to Moscow. There he waited for assignment to the active army and received it at the very end of the year. On January 3, 1942, by Order of the People's Commissariat of Defense No. 0220, he was “enlisted as a writer for the army newspaper” and from January 1942 to December 1943 he worked as a war correspondent for the 16th Army newspaper “Combat Alert.”

Arseny Aleksandrovich went to the front line to collect information, or went every other day. His partner Leonid Goncharov died while performing an editorial assignment. Tarkovsky had the opportunity to participate in hostilities more than once. On April 7, 1943 he was awarded the Order of the Red Star.

As a correspondent for a front-line newspaper, he had to work in different genres - on the pages of “Combat Alert” Tarkovsky’s poems were published, glorifying the exploits of soldiers and officers, ditties, fables ridiculing the Nazis. In those years, Tarkovsky found his experience working at the Gudok newspaper useful. The soldiers cut out his poems from newspapers and carried them in their breast pockets along with documents and photographs of loved ones, which can be called the greatest reward for the poet. By order of the front commander, General Bagramyan, Tarkovsky wrote the song “Guards Table” (“Our Toast” - “Let's drink to the Motherland, let's drink to Stalin...”), which was very popular in the army. Despite the difficult conditions of military life and his daily work for the newspaper, Tarkovsky continued to write poetry for himself, for the future reader - such lyrical masterpieces as “White Day”, “On strips of uncompressed bread ...”, “Night Rain”, etc.

At the end of September 1943, Tarkovsky received a short leave as a reward for his military feat. On the way from the front to Moscow, Arseny Aleksandrovich wrote several poems (“I feel good in a heated vehicle...”, “It takes me four days to get to Moscow...”, etc.). After a long separation, he saw his relatives, who by that time had returned from evacuation. On October 3, his daughter’s birthday, Tarkovsky came to Peredelkino, where his first family lived.

On December 13, 1943, near the town of Gorodok, Vitebsk Region, Tarkovsky was wounded in the leg by an explosive bullet. In a field hospital, he developed the most severe form of gangrene - gas gangrene. His wife, Antonina Aleksandrovna, with the help of friends, received a pass to the front line and brought the wounded Arseny to Moscow, where Professor Vishnevsky performed his sixth amputation at the Institute of Surgery. In 1944, Tarkovsky left the hospital. While Tarkovsky was in the hospital, his mother died of cancer, never knowing about the misfortune that befell her son. A new life began for Tarkovsky, to which he had difficulty adapting. His second wife selflessly looked after him, his friends, Maria Ivanovna, his first wife, and children visited him.

"The Silence of the Muse" Eastern translations (1945-1962)

In 1945, the poet, in the direction of the Writers' Union, went on a creative business trip to Tbilisi, where he worked on translations of Georgian poets, in particular Simon Chikovani. In Tbilisi he met local poets, writers, and actors.

In the same 1945, Tarkovsky prepared for publication a book of poems, which received approval at a meeting of the section of poets in the Writers' Union; the manuscript, despite a negative review by critic Evgenia Knipovich, was signed by the publishing house for publication and reached the stage of “blank sheets” and signal copy. But due to political “inconsistencies” (in the book there was not a single poem praising the “leader” - Stalin, and only one mentioning the name of Lenin), after the Resolution of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks “On the magazines “Zvezda” and “Leningrad” » In 1946, the printing of the book was stopped.

The year 1946 was marked for Tarkovsky by the most important event of his life - in the house of G. A. Shengeli he met Anna Andreevna Akhmatova, the great Russian poetess. Until the moment they met, they were already connected by a common fate - the party resolution, directed mainly against Akhmatova and Zoshchenko, severely hit Tarkovsky, depriving him of the opportunity to publish. The friendship of the poets lasted until Akhmatova’s death.

1947 was a particularly difficult year for Tarkovsky. He had a hard time parting with his second wife, Bokhonova, who saved his life by coming to pick him up at the front-line hospital, and whom he decided to leave. In 1946-1947 he lived with T. A. Ozerskaya in Ashgabat, working on translations of Turkmen poets (Makhtumkuli and others). For Tarkovsky, many years of “silence” began. To exist, one had to engage in poetic translation, which was a heavy burden for a mature poet with a pronounced creative individuality. However, during these years, work was underway on translations of the classic of Turkmen literature Magtymguly and the Karakalpak epic poem Kyrk kyz (“Forty Girls”), which became available to the Russian-speaking reader thanks to the works of Tarkovsky.

In 1949, during preparations for the celebration of Stalin's seventieth birthday, members of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks commissioned Tarkovsky to translate Stalin's youthful poems. However, Stalin did not approve of the idea of ​​publishing his poems, and the interlinear translations of the translated poems were withdrawn. In the summer of 1950, the poet went to Azerbaijan (Baku, Mardakan, Alty-Agach); there he worked on the translation of Rasul Rza's poem "Lenin".

At the end of 1950, Tarkovsky divorced A. A. Bokhonova and on January 26, 1951 officially married T. A. Ozerskaya, who had previously accompanied the poet on business trips as a secretary for several years (she herself claims that the wedding took place in 1946 ). On March 22, 1951, A. A. Bokhonova, his second wife, died after a serious illness. The poet responded to her death with the poems “My life for the funeral...” and “Lanterns.”

Tarkovsky continued to work. He went on creative business trips, participated in decades of national literature, met with poets and writers, seriously studied astronomy... And at the same time he did not stop writing for himself, for the table. His handwritten notebooks were replenished with new poems. The year 1958 was especially productive for the poet, when he wrote about forty poems, including “Olive Trees,” “Evening, Blue-Winged...”, “May Vincent Van Gogh forgive me...” and others.

First collections. Last years (1962-1989)

The tragic failures with the publication of the first book for a long time discouraged Tarkovsky from submitting his poems for publication. Even with the onset of Khrushchev’s “thaw,” he did not want to violate his principle. The poet’s wife, T. A. Ozerskaya, and his friend Viktor Vitkovich, realizing that in the new conditions Tarkovsky’s book could be published, prepared a selection of poems, which the poet called “Before the Snow,” and took it to the poetry editorial office of the Soviet Writer publishing house. . The book received favorable reviews from M. Aliger and E. Zlatova.

In 1962, when Arseny Alexandrovich was already 55 years old, his first poetry book, “Before the Snow,” was published. At the end of August of the same year, his son, film director Andrei Tarkovsky, received the Grand Prix at the Venice International Film Festival. Thus, father and son debuted in the same year.

In the 1960s, two more books by Tarkovsky were published: in 1966 - “Earthly - Earthly”, in 1969 - “Bulletin”. Tarkovsky began to be invited to give performances at poetry evenings that were popular in those years. In 1966-1967, he led a poetry studio at the Moscow branch of the Writers' Union. He had the opportunity to visit France and England as part of a writing delegation (1966 and 1967). In London, the Tarkovskys met and became acquainted with a professor at the University of London, an expert on Russian literature, Peter Norman, and his wife Natalya Semenovna Frank, the daughter of the famous religious philosopher Semyon Frank, expelled by order of Lenin from Soviet Russia in 1922.

Anna Andreevna Akhmatova died on March 5, 1966; this death was a great personal grief for Tarkovsky. On March 9, together with V.A. Kaverin, Tarkovsky accompanied the coffin with the body of Anna Andreevna to Leningrad and spoke at the civil memorial service for her. The poet later dedicated a series of poems to the memory of Anna Akhmatova.

In 1971, Tarkovsky was awarded the State Prize of the Turkmen SSR named after. Magtymguly. In 1974, the first book of selected poems by Tarkovsky, “Poems,” was published with a foreword by Margarita Aliger, which included works written by him from 1929 to 1971. In 1977, in connection with Tarkovsky's seventieth birthday, the Soviet government awarded him the Order of Friendship of Peoples.

In 1978, in Tbilisi, the Merani publishing house published Tarkovsky’s book “The Magic Mountains,” which, along with his original poems, included his translations of Georgian poets.

On October 5, 1979, Maria Ivanovna Vishnyakova, the poet’s first wife, the mother of his children, Andrei and Marina, died, a woman with whom Tarkovsky’s formative years as a poet and as a person were connected, who raised his children in the spirit of love for their father and his poetry. Arseny Alexandrovich attended her funeral at the Vostryakovsky cemetery.

In the early 1980s. Three books by Tarkovsky were published: 1980 - “Winter Day” (ed. “Soviet Writer”), 1982 - “Favorites” (ed. “Fiction”), 1983 - “Poems of Different Years” (ed. “Contemporary”). The most significant of these publications is the book “Favorites” (Poems, poems, translations) - the most complete book of the poet published during his lifetime.

On March 6, 1982, Andrei Arsenievich Tarkovsky left for Italy to work on the film “Nostalgia.” On July 10, 1984, at a press conference in Milan, Andrei announced his non-return to the Soviet Union. Tarkovsky made this decision for his son, respecting his civic position. However, in a letter to him, Arseny expressed his conviction that a Russian artist should live and work in his homeland, together with his people, endure all the hardships that befell him. Arseny Alexandrovich had a hard time being separated from his son. Andrei's death on December 29, 1986 was an unexpected and terrible blow for his father. Arseny Alexandrovich’s disease began to progress rapidly.

Through the efforts of the Secretariat of the Union of Cinematographers of the USSR, the name of Andrei Tarkovsky began to return to his homeland. This lifted my father’s disgrace as well. In connection with his eightieth birthday, Arseny Alexandrovich was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor in 1987. In the same year, Tarkovsky’s collections, “From Youth to Old Age” (ed. “Soviet Writer”) and “Be Yourself” (ed. “Soviet Russia”), were published, in the preparation for the publication of which he himself no longer participated due to severe physical condition.

Arseny Tarkovsky spent the last years of his life in the House of Cinema Veterans. By November 1988, his condition had deteriorated so much that he was sent for treatment to the Central Clinical Hospital. At the beginning of November of the same year, Tarkovsky was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree.

The book “Stars over Aragats” (Yerevan, publishing house “Sovetakan Grokh”), published in April 1989, was the last publication of the poet during his lifetime.

Arseny Alexandrovich died in the hospital on the evening of May 27, 1989. To bid farewell to the poet, the Great Hall of the Central House of Writers was provided. The funeral took place on June 1 at the cemetery in Peredelkino after the funeral service in the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord.

In November 1989, by Decree of the USSR Government, Arseny Tarkovsky was posthumously awarded the USSR State Prize for the book “From Youth to Old Age.”

In 1993, on the initiative of the St. Petersburg publisher Vadim Nazarov, the collection “Blessed Light” was published with a foreword by Yuri Kublanovsky and a chronicle of the poet’s life and work (Marina Arsenyevna Tarkovskaya acted as compiler).

On the genealogy of Arseny and Andrei Tarkovsky

There are two versions on this issue: one is Kumyk (Shaukhal), the other is Polish (gentry). Behind each of them is information from historical sources, fragmentary genealogical data, family legends, identifying statements of the Tarkovskys themselves, their relatives, friends, well acquaintances, and historical and genealogical research undertaken by scientists in recent years, but not completed. To assert that this issue has been resolved today in favor of any one of these versions would be reckless and premature). At first glance, these two versions directly contradict and in some ways mutually deny each other.

Polish version

It was most fully presented for the first time in various newspaper publications and the book “Fragments of the Mirror” by Marina Tarkovskaya, daughter of Arseny Tarkovsky. “I remember, as a girl,” she says, “I saw the Tarkovsky family tree, which was kept in our house after the death of my grandmother and father’s mother. Circles were drawn on the parchment in ink, each with a name written in it. I remember finding my dad's and brothers' names. More distant ancestors did not interest me then. Then this parchment disappeared somewhere, leaving behind a letter of 1803 - a “patent”, written in Polish, which confirmed the noble privileges of Major Matvey Tarkovsky. From this letter and other documents it is clear that the Tarkovsky family is of Polish origin, that the pope’s great-grandfather and grandfather lived in Ukraine and were military men. They professed the Roman Catholic faith, and my father’s father was recorded in the church book as Orthodox and considered himself Russian. So the pedigree compiled by Dagestan researchers is not confirmed by anything.”

Kumyk version

This version, obviously, existed initially in the Tarkovsky family and became widespread since Arseny Tarkovsky’s first visit to Dagestan in 1938. Both father and son Tarkovsky have repeatedly pointed out their origins from the Shamkhals of Dagestan. Moreover, “they were proud of their Dagestan ancestors.” Arseny’s daughter Marina Tarkovskaya does not deny the existence of such a version of the origin of their surname in the family.

However, neither this nor the other (Polish) version, repeatedly reproduced on the pages of journalistic and memoir literature, is supported by documented sources.

Museums and monuments

In February 2008, it was announced that in Moscow, at 1st Shchipkovsky Lane, building 26 (where the poet’s family lived in 1934-1962), a museum of Arseny and Andrei Tarkovsky would be opened by 2011. As a result (2017), the project was never implemented.

On June 20, 2010, it became known that they were planning to erect a monument to Arseny Tarkovsky in Kropyvnytskyi. Financing for the installation of the monument will be provided at the state level by the Ukrainian and Russian sides. The author of the monument will be local architect Vitaly Krivenko. As part of Ukrainian decommunization, the former Volodarsky Street in Kropyvnytskyi was renamed after Arseniy Tarkovsky.

Awards

• USSR State Prize
• State Prize of the Karakalpak Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (1967)
• State Prize of the Turkmen SSR (1971)

Collections

• “Before the Snow” (M., Soviet writer, 1962)
• “To the Earth - Earthly” (M., Soviet writer, 1966)
• “Bulletin” (M., Soviet writer, 1969)
• “Poems” (M., Fiction, 1974)
• "Magic Mountains" (poems and translations from Georgian) - Tbilisi, Merani, 1978. - 284 pp., 15,000 copies.
• “Winter Day” (M., Soviet writer, 1980)
• “Favorites” (complete lifetime collection of poems and translations) (M., Fiction, 1982)
• “Poems of different years” (M., Sovremennik, 1983)
• “From youth to old age” (M., Soviet writer, 1987)
• “Be yourself” (M., Soviet Russia, 1987)
• "Stars over Aragats." Yerevan, 1988
• "Blessed Light" (1993)
• Collected works in 3 volumes. (M., Fiction, 1991-1993; T.1, 2 - 50,000 copies, T.3 - 20,000 copies)

Translations

• Poets of Checheno-Ingushetia. Grozny, 1939
• Kemine. Collection of songs and poems. M., 1940
• Stijenski R. Spuzh Fortress. M., 1944
• Stijenski R. Green sword. M.-L., 1945
• Rza R. Lenin. Baku, 1950
• Tadzhibaev K. Forty girls. M., 1951
• Tadzhibaev K. Forty girls. M., 1956
• Shiraz O. Siamanto and Hajezare. M., 1956
• Stijenski R. Magic harp. L., 1957
• al-Ma'arri. Poems. M., 1971
• Chavchavadze I. Several paintings. Tbilisi, 1975.
• al-Ma'arri. Poems. M., 1979
• Tadzhibaev K. Forty girls. Nukus, 1983

Films featuring poems by A. A. Tarkovsky

• Mirror - poems performed by the author are heard.
• Nostalgia - the poem “Vision fades - my strength” read by O. Yankovsky
• In the middle of the world - poems performed by the author are heard.
• Stalker - the poem “So the summer has passed” is read by Alexander Kaidanovsky
• Little Life - the author reads his poems from the screen.

Music

• The groups “Bravo” and “Cruise” performed the song “Star Catalog” based on poems by A. Tarkovsky.
• Sofia Rotaru - “So the summer has passed” based on verses by A. Tarkovsky.
• Elena Frolova wrote many songs based on poems by Arseny Tarkovsky.
• The song “Grasshoppers” based on the poems of A. Tarkovsky was written by Sergei Nikitin. It is performed by Elena Kamburova.
• Alexander Karpenko wrote several songs based on poems by Arseny Tarkovsky.
• Rock group “Dialogue” - “Eurydice”, “Cricket”, “At the Right Angle”, “Become Yourself”, “I Tried to Figure It Out by Myself”, “Flute”, “Night Rain”, “Fisherman”, “Camel” , “The House Opposite”, “Let Vincent Van Gogh Forgive Me”, as well as the suite “In the Middle of the World” based on poems by A. Tarkovsky.
• Reggae group “Jah Division” - “The table is set” based on poems by A. Tarkovsky.
• Vadim and Valery Mishchuki - song “Night Rain”
• The Revolutionary Army of the Infant Jesus - Nostalgia
• Pier Bucci & B.A.D. - Poem Verse “Life, Life”
• Jay Jay Pistolet - Can't Let Go
• Group “Darkwood” - “Aftermath” to the verse by A. Tarkovsky “So the summer has passed”
• Stas Namin's group "Flowers" - song "Zummer"
• Olga Bratchina - “Blessed be the world”, “I will say thank you”, “House”
• Group “Chante Ista” - Verse “Life, Life”
• Band “Despot” Brazil black metal single “Artifact” sounds the lines “So summer is gone”

Books in which poems by A. A. Tarkovsky are used

• the poem “I was born so long ago...” was used in the story Green waters of Ishma from the series Obsessions by Max Fry
• the poem "Jeanne's Tree" was used in the story Master of Winds and Sunsets from the Dream series Echo Max Fry