Images of nature in D. Ulzytuev's diaries

Khalkharova Larisa PhD in Philology Associate Professor of the Department of Buryat and Evenk Philology at Buryat State University by name D. Banzarov 670000, Russia, respublika Buryatiya, g. Ulan-Ude, ul. Ranzhurova, 4 gloria_66@mail.ru Other publications by this author

Dondok Ulzytuev is an outstanding Buryat poet of the second half of the twentieth century, who can rightly be called a classic of Buryat literature. As the literary critic L.S. Dampilova notes, "Dondok Ulzytuev in Buryat poetry – one of the brightest innovator artists – was multilaterally connected with the traditions of national and world literature, looking for a fruitful solution to the relationship of traditions and innovation" [Dampilova 2016: 54]. The work of D. Ulzytuev remains largely unexplored and not fully read, despite the fact that a lot has been written about him, and his poems and poems have become the object of analysis by many literary critics. His diaries, which are part of his creative heritage, require separate study. D. Ulzytuev's diaries reveal new facets of the poet's creative personality, his reflections, his creative searches are imprinted in them. So far they have not been published, and only since 2019 they have been published in excerpts in the Baigal magazine, and they were published as a separate book only in 2021.

Two diaries of D. Ulzytuev have been preserved, representing three small notebooks, the first of which are associated with the poet's years of study in Moscow (1957-1958), within the walls of the Literary Institute, and the third notebook records the events of 1969-1970, when the poet lived in the village of Boyarsk on the shore of Lake Baikal.

In D. Ulzytuev's early diary of 1957-1958 (Moscow period), we find a young man peering around him inquisitively, attentive to the details of the surrounding world. He studies life on the go, nothing escapes his sight – daily everyday affairs, pictures of the urban landscape, memories of his native land, reflections on a variety of topics - all this is recorded in his notes. The writer portrays what is happening around him not only as sequential events, but reveals them through personal perception. The diary is a kind of laboratory of his literary experiments, it includes his poems, sketches, sketches of future works. It should be noted that these recordings were associated with the beginning of the poet's studies in Moscow.

As for the diary of 1969-1970 (the Baikal period), they reflected the writer's daily worries concerning everyday life and pressing problems, meetings and communication with different people, the poet's assessment and perception of reality. If in the early recordings we see a young man who is just beginning his journey in life and creativity, then in the Baikal diaries we have a mature and mature artist in front of us.

What is a diary, in particular a writer's diary? There are different interpretations of the genre, for example, according to Kolobov, "the diary as a form of literary and journalistic narration, a special communication system, a kind of matrix of the epoch is one of the most significant phenomena of human intelligence, a creative product of the development of civilization, a concept of national and world culture" [Kolobov 2017: 3]. In general, the writer's diary is a documentary work of fiction, consisting of daily notes about life, necessarily with an indication of the date. 

The diary, "... being the result of the conscious desire of the authors to consistently consolidate the daily course of their lives, their thoughts and experiences, along with impressions of the surroundings, and conducted for some long period" [Tartakovsky 1991: 38], as a genre of documentary fiction, represents a kind of spiritual evolution of the writer associated with the formation and development of his creativity.

Thus, the writer's diary becomes "evidence of a person's spiritual path, a means of daily self-knowledge and self-restoration: the life that goes on is not just fixed, but realized as the interaction of man and nature, personality and epoch, and caught at the very moment of this interaction, and not retrospectively" [Chulyukina 2008: 173]

The purpose of this article is to consider the images of nature in the diaries of D. Ulzytuev, who occupy a significant place in them, to reveal their functions in revealing the creative individuality of the poet.

According to the literary critic V.E. Khalizev, "images of nature are an irreplaceable, eternally vital facet of literature and art, filled with the deepest meaning" [Khalizev 1999: 209]. Speaking about the poetry of D. Ulzytuev, researchers note that "<... > landscape sketches of the poet are not given by themselves, they seem to be the basis for philosophical reflections on a person and his fate" [Dugarzhapova 1997: 107].  "<...> nature and the earth are the world that gives flesh to the images of D. Ulzytuev's lyrics...<...> In the chanting, in the composition of the hymn to the native land, its discreet beauty, sweat finds high poetry. Everything written by the poet is imbued with sincere love for his native land, for its people" [History of Buryat Literature 1997: 168]. 

The image of nature in D. Ulzytuev's diaries, as in his poetry, is multifunctional and has aesthetic value, is endowed with psychologism. "In a landscape, an artist can not only capture the appearance of nature, but also reveal its life, express thoughts and feelings that excite a person, help to feel the breath of a historical epoch" [Pigarev 1966: 8].

The first diary of D. Ulzytuev (1957-1958) captured the time of the beginning of the student period. In those years, students of the Literary Institute lived in a hostel in Peredelkino, and classes were held in Moscow. D. Ulzytuev made his notes in his room, in Peredelkino. The diary is characterized by descriptive, it is built like a mosaic picture consisting of precisely noticed details, strokes of the surrounding life.   In September 1957, he wrote in his diary: "Peredelkino – yehenkhin orodin baydag gazar. Oligguy hain agaartai… <… > Ende uran zoheolshuudai zuhalanguud bii. Bi munoo uede hoer mongol nuhedooroo nege tahalga soo baynab. Tsokto - zhenkheng Mongol. Nyamdorj-Mongol buryad, Tseren Galanai tural. Hajnaar beshane. Mongoloor zoheono. Enen yekhel khain" [Ulzytuev 2019: 51]. (here and further, our subscript translation is L.H.). (Peredelkino is a place where mostly Russians live. Great air... lots of writers' cottages. I live in a room with two Mongols. Tsokto is a real Mongol. Nyamdorj is a Mongolian Buryat. A relative of Tsyren Galanov. He writes well in Mongolian. That's great).  D. Ulzytuev even called  Peredelkino in Buryat "Selgenge" (entry from October 11, 1957): "Ene udeshelen "gert" Peredelkino (Selgenge) busazha yabahadaa ooryngoo munoo uede beshezhe bayhan shuleguud tuhai yehe muugaar bodozhee ... Zhe theme... zhe!" [Ulzytuev 2019: 56]. (Tonight, while driving "home" to Peredelkino, I kept thinking about my poems… They are still far from perfect. The topics are too small, too small...). Young D. Ulzytuev reflects on the nature of creativity, these lines reveal his extreme demands on himself, to his poems. 

Moscow rarely becomes a place of action in the writer's notes. Occasionally there are mentions of certain districts, streets, squares, buildings: Arbat, Red Square, Pushkin Square, Tverskaya Avenue, Nikitsky Gate, Krasnopresnenskaya metro station, etc.  The image of the city, Moscow, is drawn with strokes (entry from September 14, 1957): "<... > bughsham khaluun khotdo elyur yabakhan khushar" [Ulzytuev 2019: 56]. ( ...it's hard to be healthy in a stuffy city). The surrounding life of the author is presented according to the calendar type - autumn (entry from October 7, 1957): "Moskvada namar ... Ulaa topoliin namaa nabshahan egeen turuun charlage, huuleern shenehenei hahalshye charlaba. Burgaahanail nabshahad nogoon zandaa ulood, ugloo munoo uderoo khuleen, eshe doroo sheshergenen shabenene" [Ulzytuev 2019: 67]. (In Moscow, autumn... The leaves of aspens and poplars turned yellow first, then it was the turn of the larches. Only the leaves of the shrubs still retain their greenery, however, they are waiting for their time, rustling under the branches with a shudder). The author reproduces the change of the seasons of the day, the seasons of the year - the winter night in the city is depicted using the antithesis (entry from December 31, 1957): "Hara huni, sagaan sahan, tengeri, zambi daidy ham tabarin abaad edelzhe bayhandal..."[Ulzytuev 2019: 68.]. (Dark night, white snow, sky, as if hugging the earth tightly, does not want to let it out ...). A picture of early spring in Moscow (entry dated March 11, 1958): "Manan. Noyton. Sagai tursha soo saha boroon helgene. Moskvagai uilseer uha sahan shabartai. Yamarshye hoto gesheeb daa, ene delheide iimerhuu city of olohoguish. Darkhigar yehe aad, modo shuluu, tumer tudege holbojo baija barizharhihan sarai mate. Dalhein egeel yehe villages gezhe demy beshe nerlegdehen ha" [Ulzytuev 2019: 78]. (Fog. Damp. The snow, the rain replace each other. There is slush and mud on the streets of Moscow. What a city, you won't find such a city anywhere. A huge city, but built so incongruously, like a big shed made of improvised material. No wonder it is called a big village). Urban landscapes are given in dynamics, in the transmitted change of colors, permeated with the author's mood, and through them the reader perceives the epoch itself.

Every day of the narrator's life has its own special coloring, is transmitted on the basis of his impressions: the attitude varies from rejection of the big city with its stuffy air, dampness and slush to his acceptance and even sometimes admiration (entry from July 12, 1958): "Udeshyn Moskvagai galnudai goe geeshen. Orshon toiron huu haali shalnuyday barimalnuud. Inaglahan zaluushuul universitetei bulvarnoud sooguur hubarildana, granite tushen zogsonod"[Ulzytuev 2019: 76]. (How beautiful evening Moscow is. There are only glass buildings around. Couples in love are walking along University Boulevard, some are leaning on granite ledges).

A special place in the diary is occupied by memories of the poet's homeland, about Shibertu, Buryatia, Baikal, they gradually begin to displace the urban landscape in the poet's mind (entry from July 12, 1958): "...Shabertyn shugy ... Khabarhaa ehilzhe tere shugynuud soo huhyn dongodoon, zhembuurei abyan tahalgaryaaguy shahuu. Zarim udernyudte shugymnai duurazh bayha. Deegyurn hiree elihe..." [Ulzytuev 2019: 77]. (...Shibertuisky groves… Since spring, cuckoos have been singing there, and bird chatter can be heard. Sometimes it's so quiet there, as if everyone is napping. Only kites soar in the sky ...). The writer poetizes native nature, it is beautiful with its natural rhythm, simplicity.

This poem reproduces a picture of the night landscape: the shore of Lake Baikal, the starry sky are mentioned here, they give rise to a complex range of feelings in the soul of the author – loneliness, longing, despair, disappointment in a loved one. The poet subtly captures the connection of man with nature, with the surrounding world. His heartache is not expressed loudly, although openly. As we can see, in the diary of the Baikal period, the main character is a man with his unsettled fate and longing for the past.

Thus, in the diaries of D. Ulzytuev, we find descriptions of his daily life, events that occurred, facts, pictures of nature, memories, communication with relatives and friends, in which his thoughts concerning various aspects of life are revealed. The study of natural images, landscape sketches in D. Ulzytuev's diaries turns out to be important, they allow us to analyze both substantive and formal categories of the text, to consider the basics of the writer's poetics.