Vasily Filippov - the tragic voice of Leningrad uncensored poetry Automatic translate

ST. PETERSBURG. The publishing house "Palmira" in the series "Parts of Speech" published a book of poetry by Vasily Filippov, whose poetry was called the "collective unconscious" of the Leningrad underground.

In the middle of August 2013, the poet Vasily Filippov, one of the most tragic figures in Leningrad’s uncensored literature, died in St. Petersburg psychiatric hospital No. 1 named after Kashchenko. Pupil Pencil is the first collection of poems released after his death. Four more were published during the life of the poet.

On the cover is a photograph of a young man. A beautiful, inspired, outwardly calm face. And only the discerning, burning with a dumb question, a slightly otherworldly look gives out the internal tension flaring up inside the fire. Filippov was 19 years old. It is time for his university students, the first literary experiments, participation in the religious and philosophical seminar of Goricheva, self-awareness of the true. The author of the picture is the ingenious Boris Smelov, a chronicler of nonparably Petersburg, a dissident in photography, a significant personality for the so-called “second culture”.

A great role in the formation of a creative personality was played by David Yakovlevich Dar, the head of the literary association “Voice of Youth”, a wonderful prose writer, a born teacher and just an honest person. One of the few who dared to raise their voice in defense of Joseph Brodsky and Alexander Solzhenitsyn. Brodsky called Dara an unread prose writer whose writing talent was in the shadow of the genius of his personality. The poetess Olga Beshenkovskaya admitted: “All of us who somehow went beyond the common channel, who had trodden the Leningrad sparrows, fate generously endowed and warmed David…”. Among them was Vasily Filippov, in which Dar could make out that special warehouse of the soul that distinguishes a real poet.

1979 is a turning point in his life. A mental illness that is thinning his mind and growing conflict with his parents because of their militant atheism, intransigence to dissent, and the inability to realize the scale of his talents led to a tragic breakdown. Psychiatric hospitals became his constant haven. Since the beginning of the 90s, he no longer left these walls. Although, according to people who took a passionate part in his fate and highly appreciated his talent, the development of mental illness could be stopped, and it should not be allowed to flare up at all. Among them: writer and teacher Asya Lvovna Meisel, who published one of the poet’s collections for her money, poets Viktor Krivulin, Elena Schwartz and many others.

Most of the works (in total there are more than 400) were written by Filippov in the mid-80s. These are mainly verlibres, which were published in samizdat magazines and collections published since the late 90s. The book “Pencil of the Pupil” included for the first time included his prose and poems written during the periods of his creative take-off.

Elena Tanakova © Gallerix.ru