Alexander Blok through the eyes of contemporaries in the Presidential Library stock

November 28, 2016, marks 136 years since the birth of Alexander Blok - a classical poet, an essayist, a playwright, a translator, and one of the brightest representatives of Russian symbolism. There are the electronic copies of rare lifetime poet’s editions, the memories of writer's contemporaries, dedicated to his legacy research works, as well as public video lectures.

The digital copies of the rare 1924 edition of “A. A. Block in the memoirs of contemporaries and in his letters” the author Nikolai Ashukin gives the first word to the poet in the flesh. About the beginning of his poetic field of work he reports the following: “I began to compose just since I was five. Much later, we are with cousins and second cousins founded the Vestnik (Herald) single copy magazine, where I was an editor and an active member for three years.” A situation in the family has contributed a lot to such early development of the writer's talent: the mother of the poet translated from foreign languages, two of her sisters were also engaged in literary translation and also published their own works.

“Serious writing” has begun when Block was about 18 years old, - there was a lyrical poetry, and by the time of issuing the first collection of the poet's “Verses about the Beautiful Lady” about 800 of these, “not counting the adolescent,” were piled up. Some of these works were written in the period of first love and the first months of a happy family life with Lubov Mendeleeva, a daughter of the famous chemist. The poet Andrei Bely recalled: “The image of these was relief impressed on me: a sunny day, surrounded by flowers, L. D. in a wide slender pink overcoat dress, especially becoming her, and with a large umbrella in her hands, young, pink, tough, with a gold shimmering hair, reminded me of Flora, or Pink Atmosphere, - there was something in her appearance from the lines of A. A. about “blooming sleep” and “golden strands on a forehead,” … and from the poem “darken twilight, believe.” A. A., who was walking beside her, a tall, a handsome, broad-shouldered, sun tanned, grown healthy in a country, wearing boots and well-tailored loose white Russian shirt, embroidered with mother's hands (a pattern, it seems, is a white swans over a red border), reminded that fairy prince, about which told in the fairytales. “The prince with the princess” - that's what involuntarily came of at heart. I remembered this sunny couple among the wild flowers like that.”

The first verses of Blok were published in 1903 in the Novy Put (New Way) one of the objectives of which was to provide “at least some space to new literary forces that have already appeared and internally gotten stronger, but still looking for their own “place” in publishing.” One of those, who were selecting the works for publication, was a publisher and a writer Peter Pertsov: “Reading in abundance coming to the editor poetry, was the other editorial necessity. But only once I had a very special experience… There were verses from the “Beautiful Lady” cycle. Among them I distinctly remember: “When a holy oblivion…” and “I am, a youngster, lighting the candles.” And this moment on the autumn terrace, at the dacha in Luga, I remembered forever. “Look, this is much more than just not bad: it seems to be a real poet here,” - I said something like that.”

Meanwhile, still according to Pertsov, the audience appreciated a talent of the young poet far from straightaway: “What was the impression of the appearance of the first verses of the Bloc? Of course, as you might expect, the impression nearly of “a most curious” out of curious things of a curious magazine… Blok poems for a few next years were frightening the newspaper judges, as well as steel after 1907 began to melt them with joy.” In the same year Blok was published in “The literary and art almanac” included the poems of students of St. Petersburg University. An electronic copy of this rare edition today is in the Presidential Library fund.

Contemporaries noted the extraordinary musicianship of the young poet. So, his class seatmate and a beginning writer Sergei Gorodetsky recalled: “I heard Bloc in the literary circle… I do not understand anything, but at once and for all was fascinated by the inner music of Blok’s reading, which back then already had all its distinctive features. This voice, this reading, may be the only in the entire literature, then was filled with a passion - in the epoch of “The Snow Mask,” then - with poignancy - in the days of “The Nighttime Hours,” and then with the deathlike tiredness - when “The Retribution” came. But the rhythm remained the same all life long, with all the same burning intensity. The one who heard Bloc can not hear his poems in a someone else’s reading.”

“He was all filled of music that flowed out of him over the top,” - the famous children's writer Korney Chukovsky wrote later. He believed that the Block “was one of those favorites of music, for which to create means just to listen, who do not know any strain or tension in their creative work,” and exemplifies this with the history of creation “The Twelve” famous poem: the poet wrote it only for two days.

Alexander Blok himself did not agree with these judgments, in one of his letters to Andrey Bely these lines could be found: “I am desperately know nothing about music, by nature lacking of any sign of an ear for music, so I can not talk about music from any side. Thus, I have condemned to the fact that the ever singing inside will never come to light and have not caught anything exaggerated from the art of music.”

Thus, the edition of “A. A. Block in the memoirs of contemporaries and his letters” makes it possible to look at the poet through the eyes of the people around him.

There are also the electronic copies of such Blok’s works as “About a love, a poetry and a state service” (1920) and “The last days of Imperial power” (1921) in the Presidential Library stock. Among dedicated to the works of the poet publications the “In a memory of Alexander Blok. The theatre” album with engravings of N. Dmitrievsky, published in 1922 and acclaimed by the contemporaries, is worth remarking on.