Mayakovsky on the downpipe flute. I immediately smeared the map of everyday life
In About Mayakovsky's poem "I immediately smeared the map of everyday life"
I immediately smeared weekday card,
splashing paint from a glass;
i showed on a platter of jelly
oblique cheekbones of the ocean.
On the scales of a tin fish
I read the calls of new lips.
And you
nocturne play
we could
on the drainpipe flute?
It is not even worth saying that all these attempts at least somewhat clarify the true meaning of the poem, although O. Kushlina's interpretation (based on the message that the poem was written on the back of the restaurant menu card) has a number of witty interpretations. I'll bring it under the cut.
"Such is urbanism, futuristic still life, nothing more," concludes Kushlina. However, as mentioned above, attempts to interpret "I immediately smeared" only as an urban landscape, a cubo-futuristic manifesto, poetic cubism, which have already been made repeatedly and over many decades, do not explain the poem.
We are offered a superficial layer: the interpreters do not explain in any way the appearance flutes in line with fish and fish metaphor (do not refer to the external similarity and at the same time the opposition flute-trumpet), nor the mysterious phrase "I read the call of new lips", nor, finally, the fact that Mayakovsky's poetic rival is invited to play the "nocturne", and not any other musical composition.
Meanwhile, the poem is transparent. And it is directed against Igor Severyanin. It is in Severyanin that the shepherd's, bucolic flute appears in a "fishy" context:
And you will catch sterlets
And disgustingly narrow pikes, -
Kiss the head of the flute, -
And a gentle sound will flow.
(Idyll, 1909)
Hence Mayakovsky's "call of new lips" on the fish jelly, polemically addressed to Severyaninsky fishes. From Severyanin, Mayakovsky also borrowed the "nocturne" so beloved by the poet (See. Nocturne, 1908; Nocturne: Pale orange west, 1908 etc.). But the controversy here is not only between the aesthetics of "kubo" and "ego" - Mayakovsky does not pass by the clear erotic connotations of the Severyaninsky "flute head", ironically offering his opponent to measure their members:
And you
nocturne play
we could
flute downpipes?
If we recall that 1913 is the time of rivalry between Mayakovsky and Severyanin over Sonechka Shamardina (see Sofya Shamardina. "Futuristic Youth". The name of this theme: love! Contemporaries about Mayakovsky. M., 1993, etc.), hidden meaning Mayakovsky's poem becomes quite obvious.
“... I immediately blurred the map of everyday life,
splashing paint from a glass;
i showed on a platter of jelly
oblique cheekbones of the ocean.
On the scales of a tin fish
I read the calls of new lips.
And you
nocturne play
we could
on the flute of the drainpipes ... "
Vl. Mayakovsky, 1913
When the abyss is on the edge
Silence, disappointment
When you don't know how to be
There is no way out - only suffering,
When you are suffocated,
When others do not need at all,
And stupidity celebrates - victory!
Well, how not to disappear without a trace
In the crowd of soullessness, onlookers,
Living life just like that
Underestimated, unfinished -
How do you go further in the world
And you don't have a proud name,
Do not sour, continue to bloom
And don't bow your head
So that the mind is always with you,
So that "I LOVE YOU" - touched the lips ....
Then "the nocturne could be played
On the plumbing flute?
January 26, 2017
A little help.
Noctu; rn (from French nocturne - “night”) - spread from early XIX century the name of plays (usually instrumental, less often vocal) of a lyrical, dreamy nature.
The work of the talented and virtuoso pianist Frederic Chopin is inextricably linked with the concept of nocturne. Perhaps he was the best in this musical direction. The composer wrote twenty diverse and amazing nocturnes in their form. They are bright and emotional, sad and thoughtful, bold and exciting, calm and restrained. One of Chopin's best and most memorable compositions in this musical genre is the nocturne in D-flat major. Its peculiarity is that in the final part of the bright, sensual and exciting theme of the work there is a dialogue.
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Could you play the nocturne on a drainpipe flute? Oh, if only Vladimir Mayakovsky knew that there is such a house in Dresden that is capable of this task! This amazing house with a facade of blue color known by the name Kunsthofpassage Funnel Wall. Its authors are German artists Christoph Rosner, Annette Paul and Andre Tempel, who - attention! - inspired by the unusual structure of the drainpipes of our St. Petersburg.
Dresden has always been known as one of the most beautiful cities with numerous museums attracting the attention of tourists across Europe. But with the appearance of an amazing building with a "flute of drainpipes", the city has one more tourist attraction. Isn't this a reason to put aside all the hackneyed routes and enjoy the look and sound of a fantastic construction?
The intricacies of drains, which are made in the form of wind musical instruments, in itself is interesting and attracts attention. I bet the Kunsthofpassage Funnel Wall would have remained in favor with local residents, even if all these pipes were decorative. But since they also perform the useful function for which they are intended, the work of German artists is doubly deserving of all praise.
Being located not in the historical part of Dresden, but in the New Town district, this amazing house Kunsthofpassage Funnel Wall has not become a place of pilgrimage for curious tourists - they prefer to look at gloomy ancient temples, castles and monuments. But gradually, young people, especially traveling students, find this place and increasingly come to the city just when the forecasts promise a gloomy, cloudy weather. After all, otherwise you can’t hear exactly how and what exactly the rain-musician plays on the flute of drainpipes ...
or some textual observations about the article by V. Mayakovsky
Could you?
I immediately smeared the map of everyday life,
splashing paint from a glass;
i showed on a platter of jelly
oblique cheekbones of the ocean.
On the scales of a tin fish
I read the calls of new lips.
And you
nocturne play
we could
on the drainpipe flute?
Quite a traditional interpretation of V. Mayakovsky’s article “Could you?” we find in the testimony (or late interpretation) of N. Aseev: "I was one of the first readers of his poems." Further, Mayakovsky’s friend and attorney in many cases, Aseev gives the following interpretation of the article of 1913 (as it turned out, http://shkrobius.livejournal.com/291572.html made this observation in parallel:
“And the map, and paint, and everyday life, and tin fish signboards, and drainpipes - all these were objects that surrounded us every day, which, due to familiarity, they were not even noticed, but it turns out that from these familiar, familiar words and concepts one could compose a poem of great emotion. Indeed, it seemed convincing that a portion of jelly served in a cheap student canteen resembles the swaying glossy greens of an ocean oblique wave. What power of observation and brightness of the imagination must be in order to remind one of the big and impressive through small and inconspicuous objects! What kind of exaggeration of fantasy does it take to bring a small flute to the size of a drainpipe ?! To bring the very intimate, chamber concept of the nocturne into the street!
Here all objects were concrete, tangible, all concepts were formed into real, although sharply enlarged images. The world was visible close and convex, as if under a magnifying glass.
Until that time, we liked it, we were conquered by such lines:
On the polar seas and in the south,
Along the bends of the green swells,
Between basalt rocks and pearl
The sails of the ships rustle.
Here, too, the ocean was described - and what heart does it not speak of distant lands, of unseen shores! But this ocean was still conditional, its “green swells” were perceived as a repetition of childhood impressions from Mine-Read and Cooper - the sails of ships “rustled” there, which had long ago replaced sails with pipes. And here, at Mayakovsky, the “oblique cheekbones” of the ocean rose right before his eyes, climbed into his mouth from a plate of served jelly, reminded of themselves with their cold depth.
And how much I liked the fact that the poet declares an “immediately blurred map of everyday life”, everyday life of small deeds, small words, stifled passions and thoughts. The everyday map was known to everyone, it was not necessary to master it between the hard-to-imagined "basalt and pearl rocks." And the calls of the "new" lips spoke of something that should happen and radically change all this regularity and division of everyday meridians and parallels, a lattice separating fantasy from reality. And besides everything else, in the whole poem - not a cold story, not an illustration of the past, but a lively, hot, perky and mocking call. So I see the world as voluminous, real, changing with echoing similarities and suggestive comparisons: “Could you play the nocturne?”
I recall the impression of this one poem alone, which I then read for the first time; but all of them, one after another, were a new discovery of the world, in which things, concepts, feelings were freed from the mechanical idea of them, where they again become primordially tangible, close, real to human perception.
(Aseev N. "The Power of Mayakovsky" // Mayakovsky V.V. complete collection works: In 12 volumes - M .: State. publishing house "Khudozh. lit.», 1939-1949. T. 1. Poems, poems, articles, 1912-1917 / Ed. and comments by N. Khardzhiev. - 1939. - S. 13-14).
Probably, Mayakovsky's meeting with Aseev took place later than the writing of the article about the "tin fish", the year of their acquaintance is indicated either 1913 or 1914. An article written in 1939 may not serve as documentary evidence of events more than twenty years ago; the transfer of the scene from the restaurant to the "cheap student canteen" may well be attributed to the aberration of memory. But otherwise, a completely complete picture is being built, which can only be supplemented and refined by textual examples from early Mayakovsky.
I immediately smeared the map of everyday life, / splashing paint from a glass;
To all the meanings of the “map” already considered (geographical, menu cards, just the daily routine), it remains only to add the value “ playing card» exactly in units. h., taken, for example, from the idiom “a card fell out”, “put on a card”. This optional meaning can be manifested, for example, in the projection on the "Flute-spine": "I would like to play cards! / In wine / gargle the throat of an isohanous heart. (flute, cards, wine). One way or another, the main thing is that "paint" blurs "graphically" ("geographically") a clear picture.
I showed on a dish of jelly / oblique cheekbones of the ocean.
The “trembling” jelly consistency of jelly in the disturbed state can resemble wave vibrations (“oblique cheekbones”). And the opposition everyday, familiar / unusual, non-trivial, as well as small (insignificant) / large-scale - is an expression strong desire push the boundaries, again “blur” the boundaries (the ocean is crowded in the dish). "Ocean" as a component of this opposition is also found in other sections of M. and perfectly illustrates this "languishing in cramped limit"(Jacobson):
If I were / small, / like the Great Ocean, - / I would stand on tiptoe of the waves, / I would caress the moon with the tide. (“The author dedicates these lines to himself, beloved,” 1916)
gray-haired oceans / overflowed, / dug into the arena cloudy eyes. ("War and Peace" 1916)
The desire to go beyond, expand the space, expand the boundaries, throw off the fetters, be free, etc. is most developed. in the poem “Man”: “Driven into the earthly pen, / I drag the yoke of the day.<...>I am in captivity. / No ransom for me! / The cursed earth bound. / I would redeem everyone in my love, / yes in the house surrounded by the ocean of her! (“Man” 1916), just as in the article “Could you?” the ocean is enclosed in a dish. By the way, “the ocean on a platter” gives rise to a more capacious comparison in another 1913 article “Something about Petersburg”: “Where the sea shines with a dish”
On the scales of a tin fish / I read the calls of new lips.
Still, the interpretation of the "tin fish" as a signboard seems to be completely convincing. In addition to the most frequently cited example of the station "Vyveskam", also published in the almanac "Trebnik of the Three" in 1913. (“Read iron books! / To the flute of a gilded letter / smoked whitefish / and golden-haired rutabagas will climb”), as well as an example from the poem “I Love” (1922) (And I learned the alphabet from signboards, / flipping through the pages of iron and tin "), one can point to Mayakovsky's extraordinary interest in this sign of a city street, in particular, in early poetry:
And there, under the sign, / where are the herring from Kerch (“Adishche city” 1913)
The city turned out suddenly. / Drunk climbed on hats. / Signboards gaped fright. / They spat out “O”, then “S” (“In the car”, 1913)
If I feel sorry for / the vase of your flour, / knocked down by the heels of the cloudy dance, - / who will caress the golden hands, / the signboard broken at the windows of Avanzo? .. (cycle “I”, 1913)
And finally, the most interesting example signs with fish - the beginning of the 1st act of the tragedy "Vladimir Mayakovsky", also written in 1913:
"Fun. The stage is a city in a web of streets. Feast of the Poor. One V. Mayakovsky. Passers-by bring food - iron herring from a signboard, golden huge kalach, folds of yellow velvet.
Correlation with signboards updates direct meaning the verb “read” (“I read the calls of new lips”), because. advertising signs can not only be looked at, but literally read. However, anything can become a text - both the street and the city ("And I - / in the reading room of the streets - / so often turned over the pages of the coffin" from the cycle "I" 1913)
"Call of new lips" - a metaphor for a new word, a new poetic speech. "Corsets" that run away from signs, like "tin fish" are things that need to be updated. Wed in the monologue of the Man without an eye and a leg in the 1st act of the tragedy "Vladimir Mayakovsky": “And suddenly / all things / rushed, / tearing apart the voice, / to throw off the tatters of worn-out names./ Wine display cases, / as if on the finger of Satan, / themselves splashed into the bottoms of the flasks. / The dead tailor's pants / ran away / and went - / alone! - / without human thighs! / Drunk - / gaping black mouth - / a chest of drawers fell out of the bedroom. / Corsets got off, afraid to fall, / From the signs "Robes et modes"
"Lips", which are traditionally included in Mayakovsky's erotic context, are also a synonym for "mouths" in the sense in which they are capable of producing speech, i.e. become talking, screaming, etc. (usually, speech sounds (except for a whisper) are not attributed to poetic “lips” (cf. except later in O.M .: “Human lips that have nothing more to say, / Keep the form of the last spoken word”)
How you smeared in a cutlet lip / lustfully sing Severyanin! ("To you" 1914)
“He preaches, / rushing about and groaning, / today screaming-lipped Zarathustra” (“A Cloud in Trousers”, 1915)
Not a single cry for them / I will not let out from bitten lips. ("Flute-Spine" 1915)
The last one will be / your name, / caked on the lip torn out by the core. ("Flute-Spine" 1915)
That. “lips” are necessary to pronounce “words”, while “calls of new lips” are “calls” of new words, and the line as a whole pushes the language limits: things, the word must be given a new “name”.
Could you / play the nocturne / on the drainpipe flute?
Quite convincing (and without personal motives) is the implied poetic rivalry between M. and Severyanin. According to another testimony, a personal meeting between M. and S. took place at the end of 1913, while the almanac "Trebnik of the Three" with an article on the "flute" and "drainpipes" was published in March 1913. with Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky, - I. Severyanin informs at the end of 1913 to the Crimean ego-futurist poet and philanthropist Vadim Bayan, - and he is a genius. If he performs at our evenings, it will be something grandiose ”(V. Katanyan. Mayakovsky: Chronicle of Life and Activities. M., 1985. P. 81).
"Nocturne", which directly refers to at least 3 Severyaninsky texts, is quite perceived as an emblem of Severyaninsky poetry. The “narrow”, refined French word also perfectly visualizes playing the flute (yoo) when pronouncing it. It should be borne in mind that the etymology of this word (nocturne - night) turns out to be relevant. The flute sounds at night and in the sonnet of the IS "In Memory of Ambroise Thomas", where it is saturated, incl. with labial sounds, the sound sequence reproduces the sound of a flute: “And their shadows cradle my dream / On a summer night, conjuring a melodious brain. / Their heart beats with a flute in unison, / Leah beams of sparkling consonances. / Rumor drinks the pattern of overture nuances. / Wings of openwork grace Cupid / The chest of the coquettish Owl sways.” "Nocturne" can be recognized in this sense as a successful word usage.
Wed later at M. himself: “The night is full of white weddings. / Pour fun from body to body. / Let no one forget the night / Today I will play the flute. / On your own spine. ("Flute-spine" 1915) (also, it seems, an interesting roll call: flute-heart - flute-spine; lia rays - pour fun, and other coincidences)
"Night flute" - the name of the first collection of poems by N. Aseev, published in 1913.
A flute that sounds in the night (at dusk, in the evening, under starry sky etc.) is not such a rare poetic phenomenon. Compare, for example, in V. Ivanov: “Desolate and sweet and eerie in the night / A flute note, relentlessly alone, / Crying in the distant distances ... Sound mournfully, / An outrageous flute, the voice of a dark bottom! / Whether the Night languishes, or blood whispers / (Ah, the heart is a dungeon of sleepless keys!), - / Your intermittent call returned to me again / The Sibylline charms of the nights that have not sounded ”(1911), etc.
It should be noted that the erotic interpretation of the Northern "Idyll" is also based on a frivolous play of meanings: the "head" is usually called the upper (parabolic) part of the flute. It has not yet been possible to establish from what time the thickenings on the side hole of the “head” began to be called “sponges”
Replacing pl. hours in the original version ("on flutes of drainpipes") per unit. (“on a flute of drainpipes”) by the transition from comparison (pipes, like flutes) to a metaphor gives rise to another new “name”, the name of a new instrument - a sounding drainpipe (cf .: “The drainpipe begins to slowly pull one note. The iron of the roofs hummed ". ("Vladimir Mayakovsky" 1913)
In other words, "Could you?" means: “Could you give new names to all things? Could you master this new language?”