Images of Late Soviet and post - Soviet writers in the works of Yu. Polyakova

Khe Jinhua ORCID: 0000-0001-7565-906X Postgraduate student, Department of History of Modern Russian Literature and Modern Literary Process, Lomonosov Moscow State University 119992, Russia, Moskovskaya oblast', g. Moscow, ul. Leninskie Gory, 1 he.jinhua@yandex.ru

Against the background of the "chaotic accumulation of artistic phenomena" ^[3] realism Yu. Polyakova is a striking phenomenon of modern Russian literature. Through the prism of artistic narration, readers have the opportunity to see a grandiose picture of the history of Russia. Given the comprehensive depiction of epochs in the works of Yu. Polyakov, his work can be called an "encyclopedia" of late Soviet and post-Soviet life.

A similar impression remains with other researchers. A. Tokarev notes that Yu. Polyakov "writes a kind of chronicle of the Soviet post-war era from novel to novel" ^[12]. This opinion is supported by M. Bochkin and L. Zahidov. The first calls the writer a "chronicler" of the epoch ^{[1, p. 206]}, and the second compares him with I. Turgenev, the barometer of the epoch, believing that "according to Polyakov's books one can study the history of the country" ^{[5, p. 819]}. D. Karalis, a friend of Yu. Polyakova, in the article "Yuri Polyakov - From letters to a Moscow friend-2", indicates that according to the stories of the heroes from the three-volume novel "The Plaster Trumpeter" "it is possible to compile an encyclopedia of Russian life of the twentieth century" ^{[6, p. 244]}. Indeed, in his work Yu. Polyakov reproduces the life of the late Soviet era and the post-perestroika years.

By profession , Yu . Polyakov is a writer, playwright, screenwriter, editor-in-chief of Literaturnaya Gazeta (2001-2017). When creating works of fiction, the writer mainly focuses on his own work experience. As M. Golubkov notes, one of the main subjects of reflection is Yu. Polyakov turns out to be a literary medium ^{[4, p. 126]}. In his work Yu . Polyakov pays great attention to the literary work itself as a process. His three-volume novel "The Plaster Trumpeter" shows in detail the process of writing a screenplay. And in the novels "A Kid in milk", "A Merry Life, or Sex in the USSR", Yu. Polyakov shows a detailed picture of the everyday life of the creative environment and the fate of the writers encountered in the novels, tells his personal observations of the literary circle. In the story "Goat in Milk", the writer gives a name to every functionary who gets into the orbit of the hero's activity. There are 58 characters of the near-literary environment, and in the novel "Gay Life or Sex in the USSR" - 88 characters. We can say that the writer manages to fill in an important piece of the mosaic of the era of perestroika and the post-perestroika years.

Due to the lack of distance between the author and the depicted objects, Yu. Polyakov is able to show the authentic, previously unknown to readers, life of Soviet writers. In his artistic world , Yu . Polyakov debunks the myth of the authority, even the talent of Soviet writers, as if showing a shabby brick wall behind luxurious theater curtains. In addition, the writer's images created in the works of Y. Polyakov impress readers with the fact that the destinies of these characters are always intertwined with the fate of the country. Political changes in the era of change and the coup d'etat have a significant impact on the fate of creative figures.

With the help of images from the literary circle and their relationship to the country and state changes , Yu . Polyakov gives his answer to extremely difficult questions: why did the USSR collapse? What is the role of the intelligentsia in the collapse of the USSR?

In general, in the novels "Parisian Love by Kostya Gumankov", "Goat in Milk", "Plaster Trumpeter", "Love in an Era of Change", "A Merry Life, or Sex in the USSR", the images of writers are divided into the following types:

The first type is opportunists. This type can be characterized using the words of the writer himself: "... no one, except them, knows how to change political views so sensitively according to drafts in the corridors of the Kremlin" ^{[8, p. 525]}. Of course, in many cases, the "drafts in the corridors of the Kremlin" can be replaced by the political position or inclination of the boss. Such people achieve career growth by quickly changing camps.

Flagelyansky from the novel "A Merry Life, or Sex in the USSR", one of the eleven members of the committee on the case of Kovrigin, the author of anti-Soviet stories, is a typical opportunist. First, he proposes to expel Kovrigin from the party for dislike of the USSR, acting as the most loyal adept of communism. During perestroika, he organized an association of writers in support of Gorbachev. Then he quickly runs from Gorbachev to Yeltsin and burns his party card in front of a TV camera as a sign of a decisive break with the USSR. For these actions, he is appointed Deputy Minister of Culture and Physical Education.

Lithuanian poet Sidoras Podkablukevicius from the novel "Goat in Milk" can be attributed to the number of opportunists. During the USSR, he wrote the poem "The Battle of the Dunes", which is based on the glorification of the exploits of the Red Army that saved Lithuania from the Nazis. For this poem he was awarded the state prize. After the collapse of the USSR, the same poem "The Battle in the Dunes" was presented by Podkablukevicius as a work dedicated to the courage of the "Forest Brothers" who fought for independence against the Soviet army. This time he was awarded the Gediminas Prize. Thus, the same poem is sometimes considered Soviet, sometimes reputed to be anti-Soviet. It is necessary to say about speaking surnames as a means of creating images in the artistic world of Yu. Polyakov. Here – the word henpecked (most often – a man who is under the heel of his wife, entirely at her will), together with the ending of the Lithuanian surname, becomes a derivative for the hero's surname, which immediately immerses him in the element of the comic genre.

Zhora Dochkin from the novel "Love in the era of change", assistant editor-in-chief, after the arrival of a new boss, quickly runs from the "labazniki" to the opposite camp of "refuseniks". When he drinks with the former head of Didenko, he remembers the ancestral hut in the Belarusian village. During the leadership of the new editor-in-chief Shabelsky, the village is moved to a place near Pinsk. It turns out that for opportunists, the location of their native village changes according to the origin of the chief.

It is worth noting that in the novel "The Plaster Trumpeter", when director Zharynin mentions the story "Regional emergency" by Yuri Polyakov in the process of creating the script, another main character Kokotov expresses dislike for the author himself. It turns out that Kokotov once got drunk with "Yurka Polyakov" in the buffet, and "cordially considered him a mediocre opportunist and a successful opportunist, enjoying undeserved success with literary fools" ^{[8, p. 531]}. Such self-irony is not uncommon in Polyakov, being a striking feature of the writer's work.

The second type is sycophants. Due to the lack of talent to achieve their goal, this type of people is ready to "crawl" and "lick".

Zhora Dochkin from the novel "Love in an era of Change" is quite worthy of the title of sycophant. As a deputy editor-in-chief, he perfectly knows the art of flattering the boss. "O greatest one, I listen and obey" ^{[10, p. 13]} — this is his usual response to the call of the editor-in-chief. At the very beginning, Dochkin works as a courier for the weekly "Mir and We" and is shocked by the editorial life. Realizing his mediocrity in writing, Dochkin turns to an experienced editorial journalist Sharonov for help. Knowing that Sharonov is an alcoholic, every morning Dochkin brings him a canister of beer, while violating the strict prohibition of the USSR. In return, Sharonov helps him enroll in the evening department of the journalism faculty of Moscow State University and asks a colleague to write essays and notes for him until Dochkin received a diploma and became a full-time employee of the editorial office. Another way for Dochkin to ingratiate himself with the head is the preparation of individual gifts for bosses. For example, he gives the veteran editor-in–chief a framed picture of the participants of the meeting of military officers of the first Ukrainian front, among whom there is a brave chief, and to the new editor-in-chief a pasted note from a provincial newspaper written by the boss in the 7th grade. The writer makes a fairly correct generalization about the flattery of this character: "If an ideological cannibal had become the editor-in-chief, Dochkin would have taken out the bone of the very first baby eaten by the head, varnished it, tied it with a pink ribbon and presented it to the Children's Day" ^{[10, pp. 94, 95]}. The danger of sycophants is that their flattering words hide deadly intrigues. Although Skoryatin considers him his man and an indispensable assistant, Dochkin only pretends to be faithful, at the same time colluding with the boss's opponent. Betrayal of a loved one is one of the important causes of Skoryatin's death.

The third type is Soviet "dissidents", Western favorites. Polyakov's work is characterized by a realistic reflection of the late Soviet and post-Soviet life of society. The burning of the party card and further career growth as one of the brightest historical phenomena of the early 90s of the last century is repeatedly depicted in the works of Polyakov. For example, the writer Boris Leonidovich Albatrosov from the novel "The Plaster Trumpeter", having learned about the collapse of the State Emergency Committee, held a press conference and burned his party card in front of Western journalists, a month after that he was offered to head the Russian branch of the Soros Foundation; the critic Leonard Semenovich Flagelyansky from the novel "Merry Life, or Sex in the USSR" burned his the party card in front of TV cameras and later rose to the post of Deputy Minister of Culture and Physical Education of the Russian Federation; the unknown writer Sviridonov from the novel "Goat in Milk" did not become famous until he burned the party card in front of foreign journalists.

Thus, the demonstration of a break with the Soviet government easily attracts the attention of the West. Therefore, it is not surprising that although some of the dissident writers do not have writing talent and cannot write a genuine literary work, but the anti-Soviet content of their work or some dissident acts give them the opportunity to be published in the West. For the West, the political position is much more important than the talent of writers themselves.

In the novel "Plaster Trumpeter" Yu. Polyakov creates an ironic image of the writer - Tatiana Zakharovna Vedmedyuk. Her only novel, "Zassykha", tells about a girl who hated the Soviet government and describes "a fresh social protest against the Evil Empire" ^{[8, p. 523]}. This anti-Soviet work was translated into English and published in an edition of 500 copies in Birmingham. For him, Vedmedyuk receives the title of a world-renowned novelist, gives interviews everywhere, travels the world with lectures and receives grants from international organizations.

A similar fate is shared by Churmenyaev, the hero of the novel "Goat in Milk". Churmenyaev's only work "A Woman in an Armchair", written ten years ago, tells "how a certain lady, sprawled in a gynecological chair, tries to find God in herself" ^{[9, p. 26]}. Through a secret way, he sends the manuscript to Western countries, but no publishing house agrees to publish his book. This situation continues for several years, until one dissident advises Churmenyaev to invest undeclared dollars in a parcel with a manuscript. This dissident act attracts the attention of the USSR Writers' Union. For trying to send a manuscript to the west, Churmenyaev's writer's ticket is taken away and his father is removed from the post of middle manager. And in Western newspapers, on the contrary, Churmenyaev is accepted as a fighter against the totalitarianism of the USSR. His book "The Woman in the Chair" is simultaneously published in twenty-seven countries. Thus, a weak writer achieves wide fame in the West.

A similar method is used not only by untalented people, but sometimes by famous writers, for example, Kovrigin from the novel "A Merry Life, or sex in the USSR". At a young age, Kovrigin managed to publish a collection of poems with Stalin's special permission. Over time, he became the leader of the village prose and the leader of the soil workers. Kovrigin "writes about the desecrated Russian shrines, the ruined village, icons thrown out of temples, wears a ring with the profile of the last sovereign-emperor, made of a gold royal coin" ^{[7, p. 54]}. In his image, the features of V. Soloukhin are clearly discernible. One day, Kovrigin's new work "Seditious Stories" was found in a train and brought to the KGB, because of this, a commission on his case was formed in the party committee of the Moscow Writers' Organization of the Joint Venture of the RSFSR, at which the question was raised: just reprimand him or expel him from the party. Thanks to his reputation, Kovrigin is respected by both the people and some apparatchiks. The hero-narrator of the novel, one of the members of the commission on the Kovrigin case, agrees several times with Kovrigin's thoughts expressed in the anti-Soviet work "Seditious Stories", and confirms the correctness of the facts expressed about the Soviet Union. In addition, the wife of the protagonist and the people around him all believe that Kovrigin is a good person, even call him the "conscience" of Russian literature, and firmly believe that it is impossible to exclude him from the party. At the end of the novel, the central character, having overcome the pressure of the authorities, votes for a reprimand, saving him from exclusion, but Kovrigin is not at all grateful to him, but on the contrary, treats him with hostility. It turns out that Kovrigin wanted to be excluded from the party. He plotted this intrigue in order to get the Nobel Prize. Many years later, when the conversation turns to the central character, Kovrigin complains, "because of this brat, ... he got the right Nobel Prize" ^{[7, p. 555]}. Alas, for the sake of the Western prize, even the famous Soviet writer is ready to use guile and cunning. Thus, Y. Polyakov successfully portrayed the ironic image of a "dissident" trying to achieve fame in the West.  

It is worth noting that the hero-narrator of the novel "The Kid in Milk" ironically jokes: if Brodsky had not been put on trial for parasitism, he would not have been awarded the Nobel Prize ^{[9, p. 153]}.

The fourth type is fake opponents of the Soviet system. They are rebelling against the Soviet Union, but either they cannot give up the privileges presented by the Soviet regime, or their protest is an accidental mistake.

Adam Korolev from the novel "Love in the Era of Change", as a famous dissident, often sends revealing material to the West, goes to a rally in the era of perestroika. But when he gets tired, he rests in an elite state sanatorium. In the post-Soviet era, Korolev, using his reputation as a fighter against the Soviet regime, helps his son in business.

In the novel "Goat in Milk", a similar character is created – the minstrel Perelygin, the nephew of the People's Commissar of Pervomaisky. At one meeting of Khrushchev with the creative intelligentsia, the leader shouts at the participants, and it seems to Perelygin that Khrushchev is yelling at him. The minstrel gets very scared and jumps out of the hall. His act is perceived by colleagues as a protest against the interference of the authorities in the literary process. Thus he gained the respect of the thinking society. Even more frightened, Perelygin sends a penitential letter to the Central Committee and explains that the real reason for his escape is an upset stomach.

Adam Korolev's break with the USSR is not final, and Perelygin's attitude to power is quite timid. With the stories of these two characters, the author reveals the half-hearted position of the Soviet intelligentsia.

The fifth type is ladies' men. For these people, the value of literature is that it gives an opportunity to meet different women on business trips. The loss of value orientations leads to mediocrity of literary life and chaos in family life.

Volodya Shlionsky from the novel "A Merry Life, or sex in the USSR", a poet-dzhigit, often travels to different parts of the country and reads poems to collective farmers. Taking advantage of this opportunity, he always starts an affair with local women. Then some of them come to him in Moscow, and fight with his wife Lucia. One day, a girl from Ufa appeared at the door of Shlionsky, claiming that she was his daughter. And he remembered his accidental connection with the librarian during a business trip to Ufa, which he immediately forgot about on the train to Moscow. The lustfulness of Shlionsky is also illustrated by the fact that in the CDL he often "hangs some lady in a red dress", in one episode he also scares the young poetess Katya Gorbovskaya, who strayed from a neighboring feast. Shlionsky has a saying: "... wives should be periodically abandoned, left alone with the icy breath of loneliness, then they, even for a while, become softer, more caring, more indulgent" ^{[7, p. 278]}. The author's unflattering opinion about Shlionsky is evidenced by the fact that the hero treats the poems written by him with mockery. Shlionsky's life ends tragically and dramatically: he dies from a binge right on the current, reading poems to collective farmers in Ulyanovsk.

A similar image is found in the novel "Goat in milk". The poet Oduev completely throws the responsibility of the writer out of his head, and sees the meaning of life only in romantic relationships with women. The women around him often change. The hero-narrator of the novel once rented him his one-room apartment to spend two nights with an American woman. He leads a dissolute lifestyle, and composes poetry just to look noble in the eyes of his parents. The writer's disregard for him is proved by the following episode: in the cafe of the CDL, his girlfriend looks at Oduev, reading poetry, as "a music lover at a pig singing with Pavarotti's voice" ^{[9, p. 26]}.

In the novel "A Merry Life, or sex in the USSR", the writer creates an ironic image of a ladies' man. Poet Omirov, who lost his sight at the front, lives in Peredelkino. Different female fans often come to him, sometimes for a few days. But according to the strict schedule drawn up by Omirov, not a single guest has ever caught another. For conversations with different women, Omirov often occupies a phone booth. And out of respect for the veterans, the rest of the residents tolerate his actions. Ten years later, Omirov dies during a date with a fan.

Interestingly, in the novel "The Goat in Milk", Yu. Polyakov portrays a mocking female image of a "ladies' man": the grandmother of Russian poetry, Olga Emmanuelevna Kipyatkova. Although her exact age is unknown, according to various signs she could be the same age as Blok and Yesenin. However, at this age, Kipyatkova's interest in young men does not fade. When she finds out that there is a lot of eroticism in Vitka's new novel, the "grandmother" immediately becomes curious. She invites Vitka to visit and forces him to stay the night. On the second day, Kipyatkova promotes the genius of the hero in literary circles. This serves as a key step for the hero to gain fame.

The sixth type is drunkards. In the history of Russian literature, there are several famous writers who abuse alcohol, for example, S. Yesenin, S. Dovlatov, V. Erofeev. In the works of Yu . Polyakov also has several images of bitter drunkards. Their creative talents are accompanied by unrestrained drunkenness.

Zolotuev from the novel "Merry Life, or sex in the USSR", the former secretary of the party bureau of poets, is constantly in a drunken state. He was removed from his post precisely because of a drunken joke at a meeting. Sometimes he drinks so much, as if he was "instructed to drain an underground lake of alcohol" ^{[7, p. 378]}. A funny case occurs with a drunken Zolotuyev, to which the author devotes two whole chapters of the novel. The central character of the novel is cunningly transferred to a heavily drunk Zolotuyev, who keeps falling on his side all the time. Losing consciousness, the drunk party bureau secretary points to someone else's clothes in the wardrobe. The next day, the awakened Zolotuev, with the help of the hero of the novel, exchanges a coat with the head of the Department of culture of the city party committee Klinsky at the metro station. When describing the drunkenness of the secretary of the party bureau of poets, Polyakov, referring to his characteristic technique of light irony, successfully creates a cute and harmless image of a poet addicted to alcohol. 

In the novel "Love in the era of Change" by Yu. Polyakov, an image similar to Zolotuev appears – Venya Sharonov, a good poet, "fairy tale and legend" of the editorial office "We and the World". Sharonov often looks for drinking buddies in the editorial office. One day he was caught drinking in the workplace and was reprimanded. Once he even fell out of the bus and dropped his jaw into a snowdrift due to drunkenness. Sharonov often comes home drunk, every time his harsh wife beats him. It is to him that the conjuncturist Zhora Dochkin brings alcohol as a gift in order to stay working in the reaction. Sharonov's life ended tragically – with a hangover. Accustomed to the daily beer delivered by his daughter, Sharonov died from lack of alcohol.

Kirill Welders from the story "The Parisian love of Kostya Gumankov", nicknamed the poet-meteorist, also belongs to the category of drunken writers. At the first meeting, he leaves the hero of the novel with the impression of a hungover man. Before the trip to Paris, the meteor poet is drinking heavily in the airport bar. Arriving in Paris, he drinks all the francs for the first day. Despite this, the meteor poet is awarded the "incentive prize of the Apollinaire International Competition for the best animalistic quatrain" ^{[11, p. 170]}.

This type of people can be talented and capable, but their life is ruined by alcohol.

The seventh type is the conscience of Russian literature. In addition to depicting the everyday life of the literary environment of late Soviet times, Yu. Polyakov also pays attention to the responsibility and moral state of Soviet intellectuals. As M. Golubkov writes in a research paper: "The last decades of the XX century are precisely characterized by the search and acquisition of soil <...> In fact, these searches created the contexts of Yuri Polyakov's creativity" ^{[4, p. 69]}.

Kostozhogov is the only writer in the novel "Goat in Milk" who thought about the writer's mission. At one meeting, he asked the hero-narrator a question: "to become either an apprentice of the devil, or an apprentice of God" ^{[9, p. 83]}. One day, the hero decided to ask his friends from the writer's circle whose apprentices they were going to become. But this serious question about the writer's responsibility to humanity caused only their ridicule, friends found it not at all important, superfluous and even stupid. "Zakusonsky was laughing, butting me in the chest with his head. Oduev laughed, wiping his tears with his sleeve and putting <horns> to his head. And Neonilin, smiling thinly, noticed that these old-timers who have written themselves out like to defame young competitors by talking about the writer's responsibility to humanity" ^{[9, p. 86]}. The main character was offended by the words of his friends, but then he began to laugh with them.

 Kostozhogov was a famous, rich and prolific writer and poet, however, feeling powerless in the literary and socio-political situation, he left for the Moscow region to work as a teacher in a rural school. Being far from the political struggle, he was doomed to death anyway. Because of the publication of one story about village life in an inconspicuous magazine, Kostozhogov wanted to be expelled from the Writers' Union for slandering the Soviet village. During perestroika, Gorbachev wanted to reward him as a representative of new thinking, but Kostozhogov refused. At the end of the novel, the village school was closed due to a lack of students, and the teacher Kostozhogov committed suicide.

There are very few writers like Kostozhogov. In the novel "A Merry Life, or sex in the USSR" there is only one such image – Georgy Markov. He is soft and responsive, is a classic of socialist realism. When Markov speaks to the leaders headed by Gorbachev, he will fall into a pre-fainting stupor from a sense of responsibility on the podium. Unsatisfied bosses send him to retirement on the same day. 

It can be said that in the Soviet Union, the writer's feeling is not only not appreciated, but also serves as a source of tragedy for individuals. 

In the above-mentioned works, the late Soviet and post-Soviet life is reflected by the most diverse images of the novel's heroes - representatives of the literary circle, among whom there are opportunists, sycophants, "dissidents", opponents within the Soviet system, ladies' men, drunkards, and, of course, writers embodying the conscience of literature. The variety of images of representatives from the literary circle perfectly conveys the atmosphere of the life of the intelligentsia in the late Soviet and post-Soviet era. At the same time, the reason for the collapse of the Soviet regime is hidden in the small number of positive images and the arrogance of most intellectuals.

M. Golubkov says: "Modern realism, behind historical reality (historical time, the past in its relation to the present), is looking for ontological roots, its timeless essence" ^{[2, p. 16]}. This statement subtly summarizes the features of modern realists, among whom Y. Polyakov certainly belongs. Referring to the past tense, Yu. Polyakov not only depicts the everyday life of the literary life of his time, but also tries to reveal the ontological roots of national life.

Unfortunately, in the works of Y. Polyakov, out of hundreds of images of writers, only two demonstrate writer's responsibility. When writers do not feel their social responsibility to the people, they think only about their material goods, this leads to the tragic fate of a person, ontological emptiness and the collapse of the state. Creativity of Yu . Polyakov can be seen as a reflection of the history of bygone eras.