Article

Name: THE “CHAMBER OF POETS” (PARIS) AND A. S. YASHCHENKO’S MAGAZINES (BERLIN)

Authors: A. Ustinov

“Aquilon” Books & Publishing, San Francisco, USA

In the section Literary Life of the Plot

Abstract: The essay “The ‘Chamber of Poets’ (Paris) and A. S. Yashchenko’s magazines (Berlin)” unveils an unknown side of the “Chamber of Poets,” that was opened by Russian writers on the Montparnasse in early August 1921 and functioned as a literary and artistic club-cabaret until mid-January 1922. The history of this enterprise and details of the eighteen “evenings” it held were reconstructed in the fundamental work The Literary Avant-Garde in the Russian Paris (M., 2014.) This essay examines relationships of Valentin Parnakh and Mark-Ludvig Talov, who participated in the “Chamber of Poets,” with the cultural figures of the “Russian Berlin,” as well as their attempts to establish a reputation for their literary club. In the fall of 1921, they turn to Alexander Yashchenko, the chief editor of the most influential Russian magazines in Berlin: The Russian Book and The New Russian Book. The author argues that the main reasons for establishing such contacts were the massive outflow of Russian émigrés from Paris, and Parnakh and Talov’s search for the Berlin audience. In addition, it corresponded with their personal interests, as these two poets moved to Berlin in order to return to Soviet Russia. Mikhail Tsetlin acted as the mediator in these relations with Berlin magazines. He was known as a poet who published under a nom de plume “Amari,” as well as a literary editor of the prominent Russian journal “Contemporary Notes” (Paris.) Tsetlin’s letter to Yashchenko, published here for the first time, demonstrates that the latter knew about the “Chamber of Poets,” and requested some information about that club-cabaret, via Tsetlin, from its members. The autobiographical notes of Parnakh and another poet, Dovid Knut, were previously published in a famous work “Russian Berlin. 1921–1923,” by Lazar Fleishman, Robert Hughes and Olga Raevsky- Hughes. In addition to these documents, Talov’s autobiographical statement is published here. He wrote this note specifically for Yashchenko. Later it was printed in the first issue of the New Russian Book. However, this publication was the last one on the “Chamber of Poets,” serving as an epilogue to the Berlin episode in its history, and further relations between its members and Yashchenko did not continue.

Keywords: literary avant-garde in the russian paris, “chamber of poets”, “russian berlin”, russian emigration, russian poets in paris, valentin parnakh, mark-ludvig talov, alexander yashchenko, mikhail tsetlin

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