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Doubtful love affairs of Sergei Yesenin: Who were the patrons and admirers of the "singer from the people"
Doubtful love affairs of Sergei Yesenin: Who were the patrons and admirers of the "singer from the people"

Video: Doubtful love affairs of Sergei Yesenin: Who were the patrons and admirers of the "singer from the people"

Video: Doubtful love affairs of Sergei Yesenin: Who were the patrons and admirers of the
Video: «История российского кино. Рождение мифа». Эпизод 2 (rus, eng) - YouTube 2024, November
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Critics and admirers called Sergei Yesenin a "peasant son" and a "singer from the people." He himself gravitated towards high society, pretended to be an aristocrat, wore English costumes, adored fashionable gizmos, expensive perfume, but at the same time despised people from high society in the best village traditions. He walked a thorny road to success, and many of his contemporaries (and, perhaps, ill-wishers) claimed that they helped the blue-eyed handsome man with bright whirlwinds very ambiguous connections.

How it all began

Yesenin is 20 years old. In Moscow, no one publishes him, for this reason he left his young wife with a child and went to seek happiness in Petrograd. In the northern capital, his poems were read by Blok himself. He liked the poetry, and he gave the young talent a letter of recommendation to Sergei Gorodetsky, a man who gladly favored young poets. It was not a secret for anyone that Gorodetsky was bisexual, and his circle of friends was gay. Of course, the handsome Yesenin made an indelible impression on him.

Yesenin and Gorodetsky
Yesenin and Gorodetsky

Gorodetsky not only helped young Yesenin to promote his literary work in St. Petersburg magazines, but also invited him to live. It was thanks to this acquaintance that the poet became a frequent visitor to the St. Petersburg poetry salons, including such a well-known one as the Merezhkovsky salon.

Klyuevskaya passion

Sergei Yesenin and Nikolai Klyuev
Sergei Yesenin and Nikolai Klyuev

Nikolai Klyuev is a famous gay poet of that era and another patron of Sergei Yesenin. For the latter, he felt an unrestrained passion. What was the documentary evidence. In letters to Yesenin, Klyuev writes him various affections, calls him diminutively: "light brother", "my white dove", "I kiss you … in your lovely mustache."

Literally from the moment he met Yesenin, Klyuev did not want to part with him for a minute. He settled the young poet in his own house, introduced him to the most famous literary salons, managed to ensure that Yesenin was not taken into the army - the patronage was unlimited.

Nikolai Klyuev, Sergei Yesenin, Vsevolod Ivanov, 1923
Nikolai Klyuev, Sergei Yesenin, Vsevolod Ivanov, 1923

Sergei Yesenin wrote to his friend Vladimir Chernavsky: “As soon as I grab the hat, he is on the floor, in the middle of the room, he sits and howls at the top of his voice like a woman’s: don’t go, don’t dare go to her!” And in the memoirs of Chernavsky himself, one can find that Klyuev "completely subordinated our Sergunka", "he ties a belt to him, strokes his hair, follows with his eyes."

Sergei Yesenin himself did not share Klyuev's enthusiastic feelings. As soon as he managed to achieve recognition, he left his patron. Klyuev grieved and dedicated poetry to the unfaithful and ungrateful beloved.

Yesenin and Mariengof: what connected the two poets

Esenin's admirers still call Anatoly Mariengof "the evil Esenin demon". Needless to say, the relationship between the two was therefore complex, deep and very conflicting. And yet there was an immense friendship behind them.

Sergey Yesenin and Anatoly Mariengof
Sergey Yesenin and Anatoly Mariengof

After the meeting, they began to live in one house in a 3-room apartment next to the Korsh theater in Bogoslovsky lane - they had everything in common. They woke up together, ate together, walked and even dressed alike. All this added fuel to the fire when it came to latent bisexuality and a craving for Yesenin's tender male friendship.

When Mariengof decided to marry the actress of the Chamber Theater Anna Nikritina, Yesenin was very worried and jealous. And it was then that he started romance with Isadora Duncan.

In the poem "Farewell to Mariengof" Yesenin almost breaks down into hysterics:

They had quarrels, there was a misunderstanding and a gap for years. But in fact, their friendship knew neither time, nor distance, nor death - the poets carried it through their whole lives. This friendship became for them both a huge gift and a heavy cross.

Sergei Yesenin with poets Anatoly Mariengof and Alexander Kusikov
Sergei Yesenin with poets Anatoly Mariengof and Alexander Kusikov

On December 30, 1925, when the coffin with the body of Sergei Yesenin arrived in Moscow, everyone who knew and loved him came to say goodbye to him. These days Anatoly Mariengof wrote a poem full of pain and bitterness

Sergey Yesenin and Anatoly Mariengof
Sergey Yesenin and Anatoly Mariengof

These lines became Mariengof's farewell to Yesenin.

In the life of Sergei Yesenin there were many novels. They just said that for some reason this "curly blue-eyed boy" makes a repulsive impression on ordinary women. He liked the hysterical and creative ladies, such as Reichi Duncan, and those who shot themselves at his grave.

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