Sergey Durylin on Valery Bryusov

Abstract

The report considers the perception of V.Ya. Bryusov by S.N. Durylin. The report is based on the book “In One’s Own Corner”, a newspaper article “Silhouettes. Valery Bryusov” and Durilin`s letters to Ellis and I.N. Rozanov. In private recordings “In One’s Own Corner” Durylin, concerning the writers, usually distinguished their “author” and “human” hypostases due to the specifics of his aesthetic program. The author shows that Bryusov’s poems first enchanted Durylin with the sharpness of their revolutionary spirit, and then attracted him with their passion and openness to the “abyss” characteristic of Symbolism as a whole. Durylin highly valued Bryusov’s Symbolist activity. However, his personality evoked conflicting feelings and did not yield to unambiguous characteristics. The most accurate expression of Bryusov’s complex personality for Durilin was his portrait by Vrubel. Mystical stories about the artists who worked on the portraits of Bryusov were recorded by Durylin and substantiate his unspoken direct attitude towards him: the connection of the demonic principle with a literary biography. The report also shows the stability of Bryusov's literary reputation, which significantly influenced Durylin in his early youth.

Keywords

• s.n. durylin
• v.ya. bryusov
• literary reputation
• russian symbolism
• literature and painting