Alexander Kuprin is a domestic Jack London: a bottom explorer, a realist with a stormy biography. Before becoming a writer, he tried dozens of professions and occupations. He was a military man, a circus wrestler, a fisherman, an aeronaut, he put out a fire, worked as a salesman for "engineer Timakhovich's pudder closet", a land surveyor, a dentist, an actor, an organ grinder. More adventure Kuprin loved only vodka.
Kuprin's father, a petty official, died when his son was only two years old. Mother came from a family of Tatar princes. Kuprin attributed his violent temper to Horde blood. Love for literature and alcohol found at the same time, thanks to the first (drinking) teacher of literature. By the time Kuprin became famous for his stories, newspapers wrote about his drunkenness: the writer poured hot coffee over someone, threw him out of the window, threw him into a pool with sterlet, stuck a fork in someone’s stomach, painted his head with oil paint, set fire to a dress ...
Tavern glory thundered louder than literary. Kuprin called alcohol a "short drink": it ends quickly. Once he even sent a telegram to the emperor with a request to grant the status of a free city to Balaklava, to which Nicholas II replied with a wish to have a snack.
Once his wife wrote him a letter in which she reproached him for drunkenness. In response, Kuprin sent her a laconic telegram: “Pi pyu boo pee” (I drank, I drink, I will drink). Publishers chased him to restaurants where he spent days and nights with random drinking buddies.
There were rhymes about him among the people: “If the truth is in wine, how many truths are there in Kuprin!” and “Vodka is uncorked, splashing in the decanter. Should I call Kuprin for this reason?
Having emigrated to France, Kuprin changed his violent temper into a meek one, glory into poverty. He became a complete alcoholic, got drunk from one glass. He could hardly write: his hands were trembling. The aging writer was taken to Russia by his wife. Kuprin wanted to die in his homeland, “like a forest animal that goes to die in its lair.” Creativity has dried up with or because of vodka. Like life, which also turned out to be a “short drink”.
1870-1893 He tries drinking as a child, and publishes his first story already as an officer (for which he ends up in a punishment cell). In the service, the hussar is in full swing: he drinks, plays cards. He rides a horse into a restaurant and drinks, without dismounting, a glass of cognac. Receives the rank of lieutenant. Goes to St. Petersburg to take exams at the Academy of the General Staff. On the way, he throws a police officer into the water from a floating restaurant. Retires.
1893-1905 "Moloch", "Duel", "Olesya". Rapidly changing professions. Becomes a reporter for a Kyiv newspaper. Wanders around the South of Russia, arranging scandalous sprees. He marries Maria Davydova and is a member of the editorial board of the God's World magazine. He drinks drunkenly, almost moving from home to the Capernaum tavern. His wife does not let him go home until he slips a new manuscript under the door. Having received an advance, he gathers a company of drinking companions and girls and drags everyone to the dacha, for which his wife hits him on the head with a decanter. After the release of the volume in "Knowledge" wakes up famous.
1907-1919 Gambrinus, Garnet Bracelet, Pit. Falls in love with sister of mercy Elizaveta Heinrich. He goes on a drinking binge until she agrees to marry him - provided that Kuprin does not drink. He doesn't keep his word. With a new wife, he moves to Odessa, where he drinks with port workers in Gambrinus, and writes about this. With the outbreak of World War I, he briefly joined the army. In 1919, together with the Whites, he left Russia.
1920-1936 "Junker". He lives in poverty in Paris, sees badly, cannot drink, gets drunk from two glasses of red. "The doctor who examined him told us, 'If he doesn't stop drinking, he has no more than six months to live.' But he ... held on for another fifteen years after that ”(I. Bunin).
1937-1938 Returns to Soviet Russia. Cancer is accompanied by inflammation of the lungs. Kuprin died on August 25, 1938.
Kuprin left Russia with the White Army. Homesickness did not leave him. In a letter to I.E. Repin, the writer admitted: “... I miss Russia so much ... that I can’t say. I would like with all my heart to live again in my garden ... Never before, when I was abroad, did I feel such a hunger for my homeland.
It seemed to Kuprin that it would be somewhat easier for him where most of the Russian emigrants lived. In the middle of 1920, the Kuprins settled in Paris. The writer successfully engaged in journalism. Edited the magazine "Fatherland"; was the chief editor of the magazine "Illustrated Russia"; wrote journalistic articles and feuilletons in newspapers and magazines about writers and politicians, about the Russian creative intelligentsia, who ended up in exile; created memoir essays (about L.N. Tolstoy, V.I. Lenin); argued with the Soviet press.
In 1927-1930, Kuprin's collections New Tales and Stories, Dome of St. Isaac of Dalmatia", "Elan", "Wheel of Time". In the same years, he created the autobiographical novel "Junkers" (1928-1932), dedicated to the years of his studies at the Alexander Junker School, which is a continuation of the autobiographical story "At the Break" ("The Cadets"), Roman Kuprina is a detailed story about the spiritual development of a person , about the “ringing” and, as it were, weightless feeling of life of youth. Despite the sounds of a military band, music, light, festivities, a magnificent ball, the bright life of the junkers, this is a sad novel about a wonderful, but irrevocable time.
In the works of this period, the writer also refers to the history of Russia, to his own experiences (“The One-Armed Commandant”, “The Tsar's Guest from Narovchat”); again writes on his favorite topics: about the circus (“The Daughter of the Great Barnum”, “Olga Sur”, “Blondel”), about animals (“Zavirayka”, “Yu-yu”, “Ralph”), creates legends (“Blue Star", "Four Beggars"). In his work, the themes of rock, unknown forces appear, before which a person is helpless. With great inner anguish, Kuprin writes about the spiritual loneliness of a person who found himself far from his homeland.
In 1932-1933 A.I. Kuprin creates one of his best novels of the emigrant period - "Janeta". The hero of the novel - a Russian emigrant, an old, lonely professor Simonov - wants to help a little girl, the daughter of a street newspaper lady, understand the beauty of the world. Kuprin describes the professor's touching friendship with Zhaneta. In love for a child who has become attached to an old professor, his unspent spiritual strength is manifested, he realizes: “Oh, what are all the joys, joys and pleasures of the world worth in comparison with this simplest, purest, divine feeling of childish trust.” However, the story of friendship between the Russian professor and the "princess of four streets" ends tragically for him. Janet is taken away from Paris, Professor Simonov is left alone again. His life is now brightened up only by the visits of the black stray cat Friday.
In the novel, the writer managed to reveal the bitterness of the loneliness of an old man living far from his homeland, and to express the idea that a person’s soul should remain pure, strive for good in any life’s hardships and troubles.
The content and style of Kuprin's works, created in exile, differ from the works created in Russia: they sound melancholy and a sense of doom. “There are, of course, such writers that you can send them even to Madagascar for an eternal settlement - they will write novel after novel there too. And I need everything native, everything - good, bad - only native ... I am ready to go to Moscow on foot, ”he once said. His letters to his homeland are sad and sometimes tragic: “You can work for Russia only there. It is the duty of every sincere patriot to return there.” “I would now give all the hours, days, years left to me to live, and all my posthumous memory, damn it, for the pleasure of listening to the former laid-back conversation of the great pagan Marya, the wife of the forester Yegor at the Trinity cordon, for at least a few minutes,” he reported in another letter.
In 1937 Kuprin returned to Russia. Moscow welcomed the writer solemnly. It seemed to Kuprin that returning to his homeland would give him strength for a new life. However, the miracle did not happen. Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin died in Leningrad on August 25
1938 and was buried at the Volkova cemetery.
Kuprin Alexander Ivanovich is one of the most prominent figures in Russian literature of the 1st half of the 20th century. He is the author of such well-known works as "Olesya", "Garnet Bracelet", "Moloch", "Duel", "Junkers", "Cadets" and others. Alexander Ivanovich had an unusual, worthy life. Fate was sometimes harsh on him. Both the childhood of Alexander Kuprin and his mature years were marked by instability in various spheres of life. He had to fight alone for material independence, fame, recognition and the right to be called a writer. Kuprin went through many hardships. His childhood and youth were especially difficult. We will talk about all this in detail.
Kuprin Alexander Ivanovich was born in 1870. His hometown is Narovchat. Today it is located in the House where Kuprin was born, is currently a museum (his photo is presented below). Kuprin's parents were not wealthy. Ivan Ivanovich, the father of the future writer, belonged to the family of impoverished nobles. He served as a minor official and often drank. When Alexander was only in his second year, Ivan Ivanovich Kuprin died of cholera. The childhood of the future writer, thus, passed without a father. His only support was his mother, which is worth talking about separately.
Lyubov Alekseevna Kuprina (nee - Kulunchakova), the boy's mother, was forced to settle in the Widow's House of the city of Moscow. It is from here that the first memories that Ivan Kuprin shared with us flow. His childhood is largely connected with the image of his mother. She played the role of a higher being in the boy's life, was the whole world for the future writer. Alexander Ivanovich recalled that this woman was strong-willed, strong, strict, similar to an eastern princess (the Kulunchakovs belonged to an old family of Tatar princes). Even in the squalid conditions of the Widow's House, she remained so. During the day, Lyubov Alekseevna was strict, but in the evening she turned into a mysterious fortune teller and told her son fairy tales, which she altered in her own way. Kuprin listened to these interesting stories with pleasure. His childhood, very harsh, was brightened up by tales of distant lands and unknown creatures. While still Ivanovich faced a sad reality. However, the difficulties did not prevent such a talented person as Kuprin from being realized as a writer.
Alexander Kuprin's childhood passed away from the comfort of noble estates, dinner parties, his father's libraries, where one could sneak secretly at night, Christmas gifts that are so intoxicating to look for under the tree at dawn. On the other hand, he was well aware of the dullness of the orphan's rooms, the meager gifts given out on holidays, the smell of official clothes, and the slaps from the educators, which they did not skimp on. Undoubtedly, the early childhood of his later years, marked by new difficulties, left an imprint on his personality. We should briefly talk about them.
For the children of his position, there were not many options for their future fate. One of them is a military career. Lyubov Alekseevna, taking care of her child, decided to make a military man out of her son. Alexander Ivanovich soon had to part with his mother. A dull military drill period began in his life, which continued Kuprin's childhood. His biography of this time is marked by the fact that he spent several years in state institutions in the city of Moscow. First there was the Razumovsky orphanage, after a while - the Moscow Cadet Corps, and then the Alexander Military School. Kuprin, in his own way, hated each of these temporary shelters. Equally strongly, the future writer was annoyed by the stupidity of the authorities, the official situation, spoiled peers, the narrow-mindedness of educators and teachers, the "cult of the fist", the same uniform for everyone and public flogging.
Kuprin's childhood was so difficult. It is important for children to have a loved one, and in this sense, Alexander Ivanovich was lucky - he was supported by a loving mother. She died in 1910.
Kuprin Alexander, after graduating from college, spent another 4 years in military service. He retired at the first opportunity (in 1894). Lieutenant Kuprin took off his military uniform forever. He decided to move to Kyiv.
The real test for the future writer was the big city. Kuprin Alexander Ivanovich spent his entire life in government institutions, so he was not adapted to independent living. On this occasion, he later ironically said that in Kyiv there was like a "smolyanka institute" who was taken into the jungle of forests at night and left without a compass, food and clothing. It was not easy at that time for such a great writer as Alexander Kuprin. Interesting facts about him during his stay in Kyiv are also connected with what Alexander had to do in order to earn his living.
In order to survive, Alexander undertook almost any business. In a short time he tried himself as a seller of shag, a foreman at a construction site, a carpenter, an employee in an office, a factory worker, an assistant to a blacksmith, a psalmist. At one time, Alexander Ivanovich even seriously thought about going to a monastery. The difficult childhood of Kuprin, briefly described above, probably forever left a mark on the soul of the future writer, who had to face harsh reality from a young age. Therefore, his desire to retire to the monastery is quite understandable. However, Alexander Ivanovich was destined for a different fate. Soon he found himself in the literary field.
An important literary and life experience was the service as a reporter in the newspapers of Kyiv. Alexander Ivanovich wrote about everything - about politics, murders, social problems. He also had to fill in entertaining columns, write cheap melodramatic stories, which, by the way, enjoyed considerable success with the unsophisticated reader.
Little by little, serious works began to come out from under the pen of Kuprin. The story "Inquiry" (its other name is "From the distant past") was published in 1894. Then the collection "Kyiv types" appeared, in which Alexander Kuprin placed his essays. His work of this period is marked by many other works. After some time, a collection of short stories called "Miniatures" was published. The story "Moloch", published in 1996, made a name for the beginning writer. His fame was strengthened by the works "Olesya" and "The Cadets" that followed.
In this city, a new, vibrant life began for Alexander Ivanovich with many meetings, acquaintances, revels and creative achievements. Contemporaries recalled that Kuprin liked to take a good walk. In particular, Andrey Sedykh, a Russian writer, noted that in his youth he lived violently, was often drunk and at that time became terrible. Alexander Ivanovich could do reckless things and sometimes even cruel ones. And Nadezhda Teffi, a writer, recalls that he was a very complex person, by no means a kind-hearted and simpleton, as it might seem at first glance.
Kuprin explained that creative activity took a lot of energy and strength from him. For every success, as well as for failure, one had to pay with health, nerves, and one's own soul. But evil tongues saw only unsightly tinsel, and then there were invariably rumors that Alexander Ivanovich was a reveler, rowdy and drunkard.
No matter how Kuprin splashed out his ardor, he always returned to his desk after another drunkenness. Alexander Ivanovich during the turbulent period of his life in St. Petersburg wrote his cult story "Duel". His stories "Swamp", "Shulamith", "Staff Captain Rybnikov", "River of Life", "Gambrinus" belong to the same period. After some time, already in Odessa, he completed the "Garnet Bracelet", and also set about creating the "Listrigons" cycle.
In the capital, he met his first wife, Davydova Maria Karlovna. From her, Kuprin had a daughter, Lydia. Maria Davydova gave the world a book called "Years of Youth". After some time, their marriage broke up. Alexander Kuprin married 5 years later Heinrich Elizaveta Moritsovna. He lived with this woman until his death. Kuprin has two daughters from his second marriage. The first is Zinaida, who died early, having contracted pneumonia. The second daughter, Ksenia, became a famous Soviet actress and model.
Kuprin, tired of the busy life of the capital, left St. Petersburg in 1911. He moved to Gatchina (a small town located 8 km from the capital). Here, in his "green" house, he settled with his family. In Gatchina, everything is conducive to creativity - the silence of a summer cottage, a shady garden with poplars, a spacious terrace. This city today is closely connected with the name of Kuprin. There is a library and a street named after him, as well as a monument dedicated to him.
However, the sedate happiness came to an end in 1919. First, Kuprin was drafted into the army on the side of the whites, and a year later the whole family emigrated to Paris. Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin will return to his homeland only after 18 years, already at an advanced age.
At different times, the reasons for the writer's emigration were interpreted differently. According to Soviet biographers, he was almost forcibly taken out by the White Guards and all subsequent long years, until his return, languished in a foreign land. The ill-wishers sought to stab him, exposing him as a traitor who exchanged his homeland and talent for foreign benefits.
If you believe the numerous memoirs, letters, diaries that became available to the public a little later, then Kuprin objectively did not accept the revolution and the established power. He called her familiarly "scoop".
When he returned to his homeland already a broken old man, he was taken through the streets to demonstrate the achievements of the USSR. Alexander Ivanovich said that the Bolsheviks are wonderful people. One thing is not clear - where they have so much money.
Nevertheless, Kuprin did not regret returning to his homeland. For him, Paris was a beautiful city, but a stranger. Kuprin died on August 25, 1938. He died of cancer of the esophagus. The next day, a crowd of thousands surrounded the House of Writers in St. Petersburg. The famous colleagues of Alexander Ivanovich, as well as loyal admirers of his work, also came. All of them gathered in order to send Kuprin on his last journey.
The childhood of the writer A. I. Kuprin, unlike the young years of many other literary figures of that time, was very difficult. However, in many respects it was thanks to all these experienced difficulties that he found himself in creativity. Kuprin, whose childhood and youth were spent in poverty, acquired both material well-being and fame. Today we get acquainted with his work in school years.
Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin was born on August 26 (September 7), 1870 in the city of Narovchat (Penza province) in a poor family of a petty official.
1871 was a difficult year in Kuprin's biography - his father died, and the impoverished family moved to Moscow.
At the age of six, Kuprin was sent to the class of the Moscow Orphan School, from which he left in 1880. After that, Alexander Ivanovich studied at the military academy, the Alexander Military School. The training time is described in such works by Kuprin as: “At the Turning Point (Cadets)”, “Junkers”. "The Last Debut" - the first published story of Kuprin (1889).
Since 1890 he was a second lieutenant in an infantry regiment. During the service, many essays, stories, novels were published: "Inquiry", "Moonlight Night", "In the Dark".
Four years later, Kuprin retired. After that, the writer travels a lot around Russia, trying himself in different professions. During this time Alexander Ivanovich met Ivan Bunin, Anton Chekhov and Maxim Gorky.
Kuprin builds his stories of those times on life impressions gleaned during his travels.
Kuprin's short stories cover many topics: military, social, love. The story "Duel" (1905) brought Alexander Ivanovich real success. Love in Kuprin's work is most vividly described in the story "Olesya" (1898), which was the first major and one of his most beloved works, and the story of unrequited love - "Garnet Bracelet" (1910).
Alexander Kuprin also liked to write stories for children. For children's reading, he wrote the works "Elephant", "Starlings", "White Poodle" and many others.
For Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin, life and work are inseparable. Not accepting the policy of war communism, the writer emigrates to France. Even after emigration in the biography of Alexander Kuprin, the writer's ardor does not subside, he writes novels, short stories, many articles and essays. Despite this, Kuprin lives in material need and yearns for his homeland. Only 17 years later he returns to Russia. At the same time, the last essay of the writer is published - the work "Moscow dear".
After a serious illness, Kuprin died on August 25, 1938. The writer was buried at the Volkovskoye cemetery in Leningrad, next to the grave
A year after the boy was born, his father died. Mother Lyubov Alekseevna Kuprina moved with Sasha to Moscow and settled in the Widow's House. At the age of 6, the child was sent to an orphanage - the Moscow Razumovsky boarding school. After 4 years, the future classic of Russian literature was assigned to the Second Moscow Cadet Corps. Then there was the Alexander Military School, after which Kuprin received the rank of second lieutenant and entered the Dnieper Infantry Regiment.
Being a career military man was reflected in the famous works of the writer - "The Cadets", "Junkers" and "Duel". By the way, for the last story, the author was repeatedly threatened with a challenge to a duel - for insulting regular officers, creating an impartial image of the Russian military. They say that Alexander Ivanovich simply ignored the calls received, although in fact he was a brave man. By the way, he was even friends with famous athletes Ivan Poddubny, Ivan Zaikin, Ivan Lebedev and was a co-founder of the first bodybuilding magazine in Russia "Hercules".
However, despite the courage, the character, according to the memoirs of contemporaries, Kuprin "was quarrelsome and bilious." Even about his friend Poddubny, the prose writer wrote to a friend: “I had dinner yesterday with Poddubny. A man of great strength and the same stupidity. Fortunately, these letters were made public after the death of Poddubny and the friendship of the wrestler with Kuprin did not interfere ...
After retiring in 1894, Kuprin went to Kyiv. There his life was not easy. The former military man did not have a civilian profession, and he earned a living as he had to: he worked as a journalist, an accountant in a smithy, a carpenter, a porter, a laborer, a prompter in the Ukrainian theater. Then there were Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sevastopol, Odessa ...
The October Revolution of 1917, although it was not perceived with hostility by the classic, nevertheless caused concern. In 1918, Kuprin wrote an essay about the tsar's brother "Mikhail Alexandrovich", in which he defended the Grand Duke. For this publication, the writer was almost shot. In December 1919, the Kuprin family reached Helsinki. In July 1920, the Kuprins settled in Paris. Difficult years of debt and want began.
All the years of emigration, Kuprin dreamed of returning to the Soviet Union, as he acutely felt his loss and uselessness. In his letters, the classic of Russian literature wrote: “I am ready to eat rags from my garden, just let me go home.”
Ksenia (Kisa) Kuprina. Photo: commons.wikimedia.org
His story connected with his daughter Kisa, who became a famous actress, finally finished him off. Once the writer got into a taxi, in a conversation with the driver he introduced himself: "I am Alexander Kuprin." To which he received the answer: “You are not a relative of the famous Kisy Kuprina? Then Alexander Ivanovich finally understood: as a writer in the West, he did not take place and will never take place ...
The Soviet government denied him entry for a long time, but then permission was nevertheless obtained. Moreover, Kuprin repeatedly publicly repented in the press, saying that all these years he felt heavy guilt before the Russian people because he emigrated after the revolution.
In 1937, the classic returned to his homeland. But here he did not live even a year, having died of cancer of the esophagus. Before his death, he was given the opportunity to invite a priest to his place. Kuprin is buried at the Literary bridges of the Volkovsky cemetery in St. Petersburg.
