Konstantin Balmont

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Konstantin Balmont : biography

1867 – 23 December 1942

Debut

In 1889 Balmont married Larisa Garelina, the daughter of a local factory-owner. The marriage proved to be unhappy one; it brought two tempestuous characters together. In 1890 he released a self-financed book called simply Poetry Collection (Sbornik stikhotvoreny), which included some of the pieces published in 1885. The publication has been prompted in many ways by the involvement of V.G. Korolenko, already an established writer. A couple of years earlier Korolenko received a hand-written note-book (which was sent to him by Konstantin’s classmates) and replied with a letter providing serious and favourable critical analysis, praising the schoolboy’s sharp eye for small detail but pointing at the occasional lack of concentration and general hastiness. "He wrote that… one is not to chase every fleeting moth; not to whip one’s emotions up with one’s thought, but rather trust and rely upon this unconscious part of human soul which accumulates momentary impressions and later ensures young flower blossoming," Balmont remembered.Balmont, K.D. At The Dawn (Na zare). Autobiographical prose. P. 572. "Should you learn to concentrate and work methodically, in due time we’ll hear of your having developed into something quite extraordinary", were the last words of this remarkable letter. Much impressed with the famous writer’s magnanimity, Balmont later credited Korolenko as being his ‘literary Godfather’. Meanwhile, the debut collection made no impact whatsoever. Disgusted both with the book and the lack of public attention, the poet collected and burnt all of its copies. In 1888–89 Balmont published several Romantic pieces he translated from German, in 1890 and 1891 he made translations from French symbolist poetry. In Мarch 1890 a near fatal accident occurred: Balmont attempted suicide by jumping off the 3rd floor window. He survived, but broke his leg and received multiple injuries which left him bed-ridden for a year. The immediate impulse has been provided apparently by Tolstoy’s Kreytzerova Sonata, but there was more rational reason behind it: the falling apart of his marriage, alcohol abuse and financial difficulties (his parents, who loathed Larisa, have left the pair without support). The year of recuperation, though, became an important turning point for Balmont, who, in his words, experienced "the unusual mental agitation and the ensuing rush of cheerfulness". It was then that he recognized ‘life’s sacred value’ and envisaged his ‘poetic mission’.

After the divorce Balmont for some time was destitute: none of the literary journals showed interest in his own work. "My first book, of course, was a total failure. People dear to me with their negativism made this fiasco even less bearable," he wrote in 1903,К. Balmont. Autobiographical letter, 17/V/1903 // S.A.Vengerov. Critical and biographical dictionary of Russian writers and scientists. Vol. 6. St.P., 1904 meaning apparently Larisa, but also his University friends who scorned the debut collection for being ‘reactionary’ and its author, for "abandoning the ideals of social struggle". Again, Korolenko came to help. "The poor guy is very shy; a mere attention to his work would make great difference", he wrote to Mikhail Albov, one of Severny Vestnik‘s editors, in September 1891.Korolenko, V.G. — Selected letters. Vol. 3. Мoscow, 1936. p. 68.

Professor Nikolay Storozhenko of Moscow University gave the struggling poet some more practical help. "If it was not for him I would have died of hunger. He gave me a fatherly helping hand," the latter remembered. Professor accepted Balmont’s essay on Shelley and in October 1892, during young poet’s first trip to the capital, introduced him to the influential Severny Vestnik clique. Here for the first time Balmont met Nikolay Minsky, Dmitry Merezhkovsky and Zinaida Gippius (although the latter’s cool animosity rather spoiled his overall enthusiasm). Even more importantly, Storozhenko introduced Balmont to K.T.Soldatenkov, a respected publisher who commissioned him to translate two fundamental works on the history of German and Italian literature. Those books, published in 1894–1895, "were feeding me for three years, making it possible for me to fulfill all my poetic ambitions,” Balmont wrote in 1922.Seeing Eyes (Vidyaschyie glaza). Fragments from K.D.Balmont’s memoirs. Latest News newspaper, Revel, March 17, 1922. All the while he continued to translate Shelley and Edgar Allan Poe. Balmont’s translations of Poe’s ballads and short stories are still regarded as exemplary.