- Vladislav Khodasevich
Vladislav Felitsianovich Khodasevich ( _ru. Владислав Фелицианович Ходасевич) (
May 16 ,1886 -June 14 ,1939 ) was an influentialRussia n poet and literary critic who presided over theBerlin circle of Russian emigre s.Khodasevich was born in
Moscow into a family of a Polish nobleman and a convertedJew ish woman. He left theMoscow University after understanding that poetry was his true vocation. Khodasevich's first collections of poems, "Youth" (1907) and "A Happy Little House" (1914), were subsequently discarded by him as immature.It was in the fateful year 1917 that Khodasevich gained wider renown by writing a superb short piece "The Way of Corn". This poem is
eponym ous with Khodasevich's best known collection of verse, first published in 1920 and revised in 1922.Patronized by
Maxim Gorky , Khodasevich and his wifeNina Berberova (herself a distinguished litterateur, 1901-1993) left Russia for Gorky's villa inSorrento, Italy . Later they moved toBerlin , where they took up withAndrei Bely . Khodasevich's complicated relationship with this maverick genius ended with a scandalous rupture, followed by the latter's return toMoscow . In his memoirs, Bely presented an unforgettable, expressionistic, and very partial portrayal of Khodasevich.During his first years in Berlin, Khodasevich wrote his two last and most metaphysical collections of verse, "Heavy Lyre" (1923) and "European Night" (1927). The former contained the most important rendition of
Orpheus theme in the Russian poetry, the esoteric "Ballad". It should be noted that Khodasevich didn't align himself with any of the aesthetic movements of the day, claimingPushkin to be his only model. He even penned several scholarly articles exploring the master-stroke of the great Russian poet.In the mid-1920s, Khodasevich switched his literary activities from poetry to criticism. He joined
Mark Aldanov andAlexander Kerensky as the co-editor of the Berlin periodical "Days", in which he would publish his penetrating analyses of the contemporarySoviet literature . He also indulged in a prolonged controversy with the Parisian emigre pundits, such asGeorgy Adamovich andGeorgy Ivanov , on various issues of literary theory. As an influential critic, Khodasevich did his best to encourage the career ofVladimir Nabokov , who would always cherish his memory.Despite a physical infirmity that gradually took hold of him, Khodasevich worked relentlessly during the last decade of his life. Most notably, he wrote an important biography of
Gavrila Derzhavin (1931), which he attempted to style in the language of Pushkin's epoch. Several weeks before Khodasevich's death his brilliant book of memoirs, "Necropolis", was published. Although severely partisan, the book is invaluable for its ingenious characterizations ofMaxim Gorky ,Andrei Bely , andMikhail Gershenzon .External links
* [http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/fraz1.htm "A Note on "Pale Fire" and Khodasevich's "Ballada"]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.