Quotes from the seven best poems of Yevgeny Yevtushenko about the motherland. Do you know that in Russia there is a city "winter" .... Night gatherings with foresters
In July, the 80th anniversary of Yevgeny Yevtushenko was celebrated in Peredelkino near Moscow. The hero of the day communicated with the guests who gathered in the museum-gallery named after him, using the Russia-US teleconference. And there, of course, they also talked about Zima - that small Siberian station, which is considered the birthplace of the poet. One of the first poems by Yevtushenko is called “Station Winter”.
Yevtushenko celebrated the current anniversary last year. There is no juggling here: the usual unusualness that is full of the biography of Yevgeny Alexandrovich, a poet, prose writer, actor, director, Siberian, Muscovite, American, traveler, husband of four wives and father of five sons. Perhaps this is hereditary: his mother, Zinaida Yevtushenko, was both a geologist and an actress, also a combination not from the ordinary. In general, in fact, the poet was born not 80 years ago, but 81. And this happened not at the Zima station, as he declares everywhere, but in the city of Nizhneudinsk. And his last name was not Yevtushenko at all, but Gangnus.
Here is how Yevtushenko himself explains these inconsistencies: “During the war, like many Soviet children, I, of course, hated the Germans, but my not entirely harmonious surname Gangnus gave rise not only to jokes, but also to many unkind suspicions ... After the physical education teacher at station Zima advised other children not to be friends with me, because I am German, my grandmother Maria Iosifovna changed my father's surname to my mother's, at the same time changing my year of birth from 1932 to 1933, so that in forty-four I could return from evacuation to Moscow without a pass (a pass was required for Muscovites aged 12 and over). The discrepancy in the place of birth is completely trifling: both the Irkutsk region, and there, and there was relatives ... And the poet's childhood is really connected with the Zima station. What he, the idol of the sixties, who gathered with his comrades - Andrei Voznesensky, Bella Akhmadulina, Robert Rozhdestvensky, Bulat Okudzhava - such crowds at poetry evenings that mounted police were involved in order to ensure order, was very proud. He was not the only one who flaunted the “folk roots”. One of the episodes on this topic is described in the poem "Bow Tie":
Shukshin crushed me
with a heavy and alien look.
Voice threatening:
"I must tell you -
I didn't know you were a dude
decorate your neck! .. "
Scream:
“You are a butterfly!
You are from the station of Winter,
and with such a wick! .. "
When meeting Shukshin, friendship won. Yevtushenko agreed to remove the bow tie only if the opponent sacrificed tarpaulin boots.
In general, the success of young Yevtushenko seems too dizzying. At the age of 17, he published his first poem in the newspaper "Soviet Sport". Three years later, in 1952, he published his first collection of poems. And immediately became the youngest member of the Writers' Union of the USSR. “I was admitted to the Literary Institute without a matriculation certificate and almost simultaneously to the Writers' Union, in both cases considering my book as a sufficient basis,” he writes in Premature Autobiography.
In 1955, the poem "Station Winter" was published. But even before the Siberian station, located almost five thousand kilometers from Moscow, became known to fans of Yevtushenko, the poet Dmitry Kedrin wrote about it in 1941:
... There are strong log cabins,
Heavy oak ridges.
Siberian pink lips
It's still fresh in that region.
In the old hollows the darkness of hazelnuts
Squirrels are stored until spring ...
I would go to this station
Rest from the roar of war.
It is clear that everyone associates this place with swept roads, silence, snow ... Still - Winter! Meanwhile, the area got its name not at all in honor of the season, but from the Buryat word "zeme" - "guilt", "offence". The explanation is simple: prisoners were driven along the road that runs here in the middle of the 18th century. In 1743, the Irkutsk provincial office ordered the creation of a station (not yet a railway station). And in the revision tales, Zima and its first resident, Nikifor Matveev, were first mentioned, who was “assigned to the Ziminsky Stanets as a coachman to maintain a supply chase ...”.
Slowly, the population of Zima increased due to the exiles and the builders of the railway, the decision to create which was made in 1887. The first train arrived at Zima station on October 6, 1897, which was the greatest event. With the advent of the Trans-Siberian Railway, the quiet life of Zima changed dramatically: a locomotive depot, railway workshops were built, all this required workers ... In 1922, Zima received the status of a city, its life was centered around the railway - even the station building was immortalized on the city emblem. By the way, this building, small, wooden, with turrets and an old clock, especially fabulous surrounded by snow, was remembered by everyone who had been there at least once.
Already in the 1970s, chemical production appeared in the Irkutsk region. “For the once patriarchal station Zima, the time has come for great changes ... In a short time, so much capital investment was mastered here, how much has not been mastered in the entire century-old history of the Siberian city,” the Vostochnosibirskaya Pravda newspaper admired. – Modern houses appeared among the wooden houses. A whole micro-district Angarsky has grown, named after the pioneers building a chemical plant. Today, passengers of the Trans-Siberian express trains and numerous electric trains are greeted by a new modern station building.”
The modern reader understands that with the advent of chemical production, environmental problems hit the area and that a typical concrete station building is hardly more beautiful than a man-made, carved, wooden one, but you can’t conserve life. And Winter still inspires creativity. If once poems about the Siberian halt were recited by numerous fans of Yevtushenko, now the fans of Grigory Leps are singing about Winter:
To Zima station on foot for almost six months,
There is no other way to Zima station.
At Zima station there are snowdrifts to the waist,
One way ticket to Zima station…
The plot was inspired by the author of the text of this song, Vladimir Ilyichev, by the fact that the station was a regional transit point and here, after the amnesty of the post-war years, their beloved Decembrists of that time were waiting. She is so multifaceted, this Russian Winter.
Yevgeny Yevtushenko responded to a video message from journalists traveling around Russia by train A photo: Ivan MAKEEV
A CALL TO THE CITY OF TALSA, USA.
Hello, Evgeny Aleksandrovich, this is Sasha Gamov from Komsomolskaya Pravda. Two of our journalists traveled by train across the country - from Moscow to Vladivostok - and got to Zima station. And so they recorded a video letter addressed to you. I'm recording...
STATION ZIMA, RUSSIA
Vorsobin:
Evgeny Alexandrovich, hello!
Huseynov:
Good afternoon.
Vorsobin:
From your homeland, we send you a big Siberian greetings. It's winter now, frost is 30 degrees. The best Siberian weather. And we are in your hometown, not that everyone here knows you, everyone here loves you. And we were lucky enough to send greetings from Winter itself. Of course, how can we say hello without poetry?
“... But kneading this earth in your finger,
Singing her children with water,
Admiring her, we realized: dear!
We felt: blood, our own ... "
This is the feeling of the homeland we wanted to convey to you.
Winter station.
Huseynov:
Hello to you!
Vorsobin:
Goodbye.
Yevtushenko:
Thanks a lot guys...
- What would you, Yevgeny Alexandrovich, would like to convey to our journalists?
That you just have to be inquisitive. Understand what the problems are. There are many problems. This I know. Not everything is easy there, people live quite hard. We need to think about how to help them. They will see for themselves.
- They spend the night at railway stations, meet ordinary people. They tell you what life is like there.
Very well, as true correspondents should do. They must climb everything, see everything. Everything good and everything bad must be described.
Did they read your poem correctly?
Absolutely correct. This is from the poem "Station Winter". This is my first poem. It was written in 1954. I went there after Stalin's death.
- Did this greeting from our guys cause you any memories of Zima?
Still would! I was filming a movie there. Then it was very bad, there was nothing in the stores at all. In 1979 With me, 70 people came there, the whole expedition, this is the first film about Siberia, which was staged in Siberia. Because even "Siberiada" was filmed in Tver.
- What was the name of this movie?
- "Kindergarten"... Of course, it was difficult to work. And the city executive committee suggested to me: you know, we can arrange for you, put you on a special special diet. We will remove food from the dining cars especially for you from passing trains. I told them: I can’t do this, I have all my relatives here, I can’t - some kind of special food.
Indeed, then it was so in order to live normally, to eat something, only to take off from the dining car from passing trains. This is what they wanted to do for us.
- Specially for Yevtushenko.
Yes, I told my people: guys, I do not advise you to do this. And everyone understood me. And they were all sent home. And shared everything with them. And everyone treated our people very well, the whole group.
When we filmed the wartime bazaar, the locals all came and filmed for free. They didn't ask for anything. They came in those fur coats, katsaveikas that they had ...
When our group was leaving for Moscow, one guy did a bad, monstrous thing. He was young, stupid, spoiled - the son of one of the leaders of Mosfilm. The locals gave us all their family photos, the most precious thing they had. To shoot. And he did not give them back these family photos, their relics. I immediately fired him. And no matter how my dad tried to save him, I said no! He insulted people.
And they are just like family. They followed us all.
So no one made a movie. We were shown all the material, then it was sent to us. And I allowed (I was told that there was no such case) that all the people went and watched different takes. And to choose and vote for some. It was also very important for me - their opinion. Directors usually hide it, quietly show it. And then everything was open. It was just wonderful. They turned out to be wonderful editors.
By the way, we made the premiere of the film in the same place, at Zima station.
- I will definitely pass on your story about Zima to the guys ...
And pass on my thanks to them. The most beautiful thing that can be is greetings from the homeland.
MEANWHILE
About the time machine, hatred for Muscovites and golden panic buttons
32 degrees.
Authentic, says Huseynov. Siberia, half-Muscovites (Vorsobin is from Saransk, Huseynov is from Kaliningrad, - Ed.), met us correctly. She showed me right away who was who. Where is she - strong, stern, with gigantic pride looking at us through the window of the train, and where - European-flu "near zero"
History of Zima City
The first mention of the city of Zima is contained in the materials of the Central State Archive of Ancient Acts - "Revision Tales" of the middle of the 18th century. In August 1743, the Irkutsk Provincial Chancellery ordered the creation of a station on the Great Moscow Road. Prisoners were driven along this road in the middle of the 18th century. Winter got its name from the Buryats: they called this place zeme, which means guilt, misconduct.
The coachman Nikifor Matveev is considered the first inhabitant of Zima. “In the past 1743, by the Decree of the Irkutsk office from the Bratsk jail, he, Matveev, was assigned to the Ziminsky village as a coachman for the maintenance of a haul chase ... in a seven hryvnia salary,” it is recorded in the “Revizsky tales”.
During the second half of the 18th century and the entire 19th century, Zima developed as a tribal village near the tract. Builders and railway workers, exiles and prisoners settled in Zima. In 1878 the village was the center of the rural Ziminsky society, which included Khulgunuyskaya Zaimka and the village of Ukhtui.
In 1891, the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway began. Zima station appeared, where a locomotive depot, railway workshops, and a residential village were built.
The city status was assigned to the settlement in 1917.
Today, Zima is a city of regional subordination, the center of the administrative district of the Irkutsk region, a major railway station of the East Siberian Railway.
In the period from 1906 to 1913, the Stolypin agrarian reform was carried out. A large mass of migrants from various regions of European Russia arrives at Zima station. Their forces began large-scale agricultural development of the lands adjacent to the Trans-Siberian Railway. Grain and timber cargoes began to be sent from Zima station.
In 1933, poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko was born in Zima. True, there are sources claiming that this is just a legend. By the way, there is a funny story connected with the poet. Someone might think that this is more of a farce - but this is not entirely true.
Evgeny Yevtushenko In 1962, while in Hamburg, Paul McCartney received a book of Yevtushenko's poems, Zima Station, translated into English as a gift from a friend. They say that before performances, the Beatles loved to read it to cheer up, and once they even scared a saxophonist from a friendly team who accidentally looked into the dressing room with an expressive recitation of Yevtushenko's poems - he thought that his appearance had violated some kind of intimate creative ritual, muttered an apology and jumped out. That, in fact, is all. This gave rise to the emergence of sources where Yevtushenko is presented only as the “fifth Beatle”, which you can check for yourself. Let the details of this "collaboration" remain a mystery, the solution of which is unlikely to be remembered by at least one of the musicians. Definitely, the only truth here is that even in those years the Soviet poet was widely known and popular not only in his homeland, but also far beyond its borders.
In the summer of 1976, Vladimir Semyonovich Vysotsky passed the Zima station - there is a picture of Vysotsky with the gold miner Tumanov.
How it was:“... on the way from Nizhneudinsk, on the train, L. Monchinsky took about a dozen pictures of Vysotsky with a guitar and several pictures at the railway station in the city of “Zima”, because Vysotsky really wanted to give a photo from Zima to E. Yevtushenko.”
... Vysotsky kept coming up to the conductor, asking when it was Winter, and at the station he was the first to jump off the footboard and go into the city. He returned just before the train left, dusty and happy.
“The town is not very noticeable,” he said, following the wooden houses firmly sitting on the ground with his eyes.
- An ordinary Siberian town. But you see how it turns out - a poet was born in him ...
He meant Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Yevtushenko.
By the way, contrary to the popular legend, Yevtushenko was not born in the town with the romantic name "Winter", namely in Nizhneudinsk. And his surname was not Yevtushenko, but his father's surname: Gangnus. in Zima, Yevtushenko lived with his grandmother only during the evacuation. Parting with an uncomfortable then German surname and rejuvenation for a year occurred before the return of the boy Zhenya to Moscow, which made it possible to avoid difficulties with paperwork.
Either Vysotsky was in the grip of the fairy tale about Winter, or by “the birth of a poet” he understood not a biological act, but a creative one: “Station Winter” is Yevtushenko’s first poem.
The architectural heritage of the city is represented by the current white-stone church of St. Nicholas the Pleasant (1884), wooden estates of the 19th century.
For 2015, the population is insignificant, but it is declining and today it is 31,440 people.
Here is a story turned out - shared his impressions. And I also liked this photo so that you understand how beautiful winter can be in the outback - real, fluffy, beautiful. The picture was taken very close to the city of "Zima", also in the Irkutsk region - in the city of Ust-Ilimsk. I would call this picture: "dream tram"
photo: joyreactor.cc To be quite frank, and ask the question - would I visit this city - and why not. And the point is not that once the great Vladimir Semenovich was puzzled by the same question ... I would come in winter, I still want to walk along the snow-covered streets of the city with a promising name, I would stand on the square, make a snowman together with the locals, and make a gorgeous snapshot for memory: in winter in the city of "Winter". I would ride on snow slides, I would remember my childhood, my provincial childhood ...
I am sure that this wonderful northern city lives its own special life and its own stories, and someday, one of the winters, I will take a ticket to Irkutsk, buy champagne and fly to celebrate the New Year in the small provincial town of Zima, and this holiday will be special - with accordions and songs, ditties, snowballs, sleigh rides - the way a real New Year should be.
In the 60-70s, he gathered full halls of fans and recited poetry. The poet was incredibly popular, his heartfelt words sunk into the soul. Thanks to Yevtushenko, millions of people learned about the Bratsk hydroelectric power station, and about Baikal, and about the poet's small homeland - a railway station called Zima. There he was born and raised. I went there in 2015, as it turned out, for the last time. “I am returning to Siberia not as a guest, but as her grateful son,” Yevtushenko said in an interview.
And here are those same poems and poems about the Siberian expanses, each line of which is saturated with love in the homeland. Komsomolskaya Pravda publishes excerpts from immortal works.
"Station Winter", a poem
We said goodbye, and, stepping carefully,
looking at strangers and at home,
I walked happily and anxiously
at a very important station -
I thought ahead of time
wondering how she's doing
what if she didn't get better,
it didn't get any worse than it was.
But for some reason they looked smaller
Zagotzerno, pharmacy and city garden,
as if everything has become much smaller,
than it was nine years ago.
And I did not immediately understand, by the way,
describing long circles,
that the streets have not become shorter,
but the steps just got wider.
I used to live here, as in my apartment,
where, even if the light is not turned on,
I found seconds in three or four,
no stumbling, closet or bed.
“I am a Siberian breed…”
I am Siberian.
I ate bread with wild garlic
and the boy ferries
pulled like a big one.
The command was given.
There was a ferry on the Oka.
From steel rope
hands were on fire.
Muscular,
forehead,
I riveted rivets
and a deep shovel
as ordered, dug ....
"Again at Zima Station"
Winter! Train station with a palisade
half a dozen stunted trees,
piglets in the bags of collective farmers ...
And the train slows down
and the passengers are hairy,
in their striped pajamas,
like tigers, jump forward.
Here it roams briskly along the platform,
dropping slippers, fat man.
He whistles with a veiny nose.
He's covered in sweat. He's looking for beer
and can't find it...
"Native Siberian dialect"
Native Siberian dialect,
like a warm light parka
at the lips, when the frost is under forty.
Like an omul, almost extinct,
no, no, he suddenly flashes on the way
forgotten splash in conversations.
I know him by heart.
It bitters like a salted mushroom.
Like blueberries - with sour
and delicate smoky pollen.
He's like a missing from the tray
bird cherry flour,
where, like a brown eye is round,
you look - and the bone is intact.
When the light fades
then on the mound of a chaldonochka
with milk is hard as a punt:
"However, it's time to sleep - it's getting dark ..."
"You are behind me, Baikal"
You follow me, Baikal,
like Bulba Taras for Ostap,
If you break networks
And, having risen, kudlato, hunchbacked,
"Do you hear, son?" - you roar
I answer you: "I hear, father!"
Stuck in skyscrapers
I am a little naughty
your banner, Baikal, -
like a sail - a caftan with holes.
To your rocks, Baikal,
Not afraid to hit the rocks.
I always raked -
fugitive convict of glory.
Horizon without you
cannot be radiant in Russia.
If you are polluted
I can't feel clean.
Like a cry of purity
Do you hear son?
"Bratskaya HPP", a poem
I will not say that immediately youth -
ahah! - returned on the wings of joy,
but I went to build a hydroelectric power station in Bratsk.
Yes, youth, my boy, is irretrievable,
but look out the window: is there a dam there?
And, therefore, I also exist in the world.
"Matchmaking"
Forty-first year groom
leaving for the war the next day in a wagon,
was planted by Ziminskaya relatives
on a creaking stool,
and sticking out her chevron boots
still new pale ears
over the bend of the thieves' bootlegs,
played by golden
kerosene light.
This year, the regional center Zima experienced a great loss - on April 1, the famous poet and publicist Yevgeny Yevtushenko died. He always considered Zima his small homeland, devoted many works to it and even filmed his autobiographical film here. Therefore, it is not surprising that the news of Yevtushenko's death shocked all Zimints. They carried flowers and candles to his house-museum. At this time, they were already preparing for his 85th birthday, which was planned to be celebrated on July 18. Museum staff carefully filled out an album with rare photographs of the poet, prepared a festive scenario. Today, despite the mourning, the Poetry Museum is still preparing for a significant event. On the birthday of the hero of the day, here, as before, they expect to see fans of Yevgeny Yevtushenko, his relatives and friends.
Jacket for Fidel
Last year, a monument to the coachman, the first settler of the Zima land, was erected in the central park of Zima. It became direct evidence that the development of one of the oldest settlements in Eastern Siberia began with the laying of the Siberian Highway. Then Zima was only a pit station. In 1743, the coachman Beznosov was assigned to the Ziminsky village by decree from the Irkutsk office. He became the first official resident of the future town. Following him, several families from the Balagansky prison were sent there.
Ivan Zuev, a well-known sculptor in the Irkutsk region, worked on the creation of this monument. He portrayed a coachman in ancient warm clothes. With one hand he holds a horse by the bridle, and in the other - an old scroll. As it turned out, popular belief is connected with him. It is said that in the 18th century a coachman found a secret document while performing his service, according to which one who touches this scroll will find happiness and goodness in the house, health and well-being. It is not surprising that the sculpture of the coachman became the national treasure of Zima.
The townspeople also have special memories associated with the railway. Many people remember how Fidel Castro made his way through their quiet, inconspicuous station. He was struck by the benevolence and openness of the Siberians. And it was like this: having learned that a train with a Cuban leader was passing by rail, the lumberjacks blocked his path. The train was surrounded by a crowd of Siberian men demanding a meeting with a celebrity. Fidel heard a noise and went out into the vestibule in his tunic. Then there was a severe frost. The crowd greeted him with a roar, people wanted to listen to Fidel. The Cuban began to speak directly from the footboard of the carriage, and then through the crowd someone's quilted jacket "sailed" into his hands. People handed it over to Fidel to keep warm. From such care, he was touched and began to look for what to give the Siberians in return. And felt three cigars in his pocket. He handed them to the peasants, they lit a cigarette and, taking one puff each, began to transfer foreign luxury to each other. Watching this touching action, Castro shed a tear ...
No one in the West would act like that. Those who got the cigars would put them in their pockets. They would. Now I understand why the Russian people are invincible,” the Cuban leader said.
Another story is connected with Yevtushenko's friend, Vladimir Vysotsky. They say that when in June 1976 he was returning with friends to Irkutsk and the train stopped at Zima station, Vysotsky offered to go out and take a picture. He said that he would call Zhenya Yevtushenko later and say that he was in his homeland. After the deed was done, he returned to the compartment and said thoughtfully: “An ordinary town, but you see how it turned out, a poet was born in it!”
Monitored each item
Despite the fact that Zima is a rather small town, there are many memorial complexes here. Residents proudly say that many worthy, courageous and selfless people were born on their land. Among them are fighters of the revolution, soldiers of the Great Patriotic War, fellow countrymen who served in hot spots, etc. And there are craftsmen, artists, writers and poets here. And of course, the main place is given to Yevgeny Yevtushenko.
In 2001, a house-museum of poetry appeared in Zima, where poetry evenings are held every year. From the same year, the International Poetry Festival on Baikal was launched. The sunny courtyard accommodates hundreds of guests who come to get acquainted with the life and work of Yevtushenko. The museum was created during the lifetime of the poet. He himself was present at its opening. He came with his wife and two sons: Zhenya and Mitya. According to tradition, the first thing they let into the yard was a cockerel, and a cat into the house. Zhenya did not let go of the keeper of the hearth all day.
The poet's house, unfortunately, has not been preserved. But the house of his uncle and aunt, with whom Zhenya spent a lot of time, was completely recreated. He called his beloved relative, Andrei Dubinin, "the driver of all Russia." The head of the Ziminsky car depot could restore and repair any car. Once Yevgeny Yevtushenko came to him together with famous travelers from Czechoslovakia - Jiri Ganzelka and Yaroslav Zikmund. At the entrance to Zima, at one of the Tatras, on which the Czechs were riding, the engine went haywire. Zimintsy undertook to repair it. Travelers were not embarrassed by the modest life, nor by the fact that they had to sleep on the floor. On the contrary, they thanked the hosts for their hospitality and continued on their long journey.
Each time, visiting his small homeland and visiting the house-museum, the writer carefully made sure that everything in the apartment was the same as during the life of his relatives. The same furniture, utensils, books. The typewriter on which Yevtushenko created more than one of his works has also been preserved. About this time, he wrote: “At Zima station, visiting my uncle, I knocked on a typewriter like a woodpecker ...” Therefore, if the employees of the institution put new exhibits in the rooms, he immediately noticed this and did not always welcome it.
In the hallway, his cap is still hanging on a hanger, as if waiting for its owner. It seems that he went out for a short time and will definitely return soon.
“It was not in vain that I ironed my brother’s trousers”
Despite the tragic events, the house-museum continues to live today. All employees are at their work post and work as usual.
Now work is in full swing here to prepare for the celebration of the poet's anniversary.
We are preparing an album for the birthday of Yevgeny Yevtushenko. 85 sheets, according to the number of years lived. Rare photographs of the poet will be placed on them. We also planned that it would include 85 wishes for Evgeny Aleksandrovich. They thought that he would see them, read them. But, unfortunately, this is no longer possible. Our plans were grandiose. Nevertheless, we continue to prepare today. This year, the city administration has prepared a gift for our house-museum of poetry - a bust of Yevgeny Yevtushenko. And a three-meter monument will be erected near the city's House of Culture "Horizon," says Olga Starikova, keeper of the MBUK "IKM" funds.
The opening of the monument is tentatively scheduled for City Day, June 24. If the work is not completed, then the townspeople will see the sculpture on the birthday of the hero of the day. However, it will be the most dear event for Elvira Dubinina, Yevgeny Yevtushenko's cousin. She followed the fate and work of her brother all the years. She suffered and rejoiced with him.
Yevtushenko did not always have an even relationship with the authorities. There were conflicts with the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU Nikita Khrushchev. Yevtushenko was in a depressed state, but his fellow countrymen, Zimins, saved him. They asked me to read poetry to them. And there, for the first time, lines dedicated to Elvira were heard: “My sister ironed my trousers and convinced me fervently, sometimes with feminine tenderness, sometimes strictly: “Everything will be fine, Zhenya!”. And many years later, when Yevtushenko was awarded the Russian Prize, established by Ludwig Nobel, Elvira Dubinina said jokingly: “No, it was not in vain that I ironed his trousers.”
Night gatherings with foresters
Each visit of Yevtushenko to his homeland was accompanied by stormy meetings. Relatives and friends were always waiting for him on the platform. Here he came to read poetry and rest his soul. His favorite vacation spot was the upper reaches of the Oka River. This place was opened for him by his uncle, Andrey Ivanovich. And then his friend Nikolai Zimenkov became his indispensable companion. They met during one of the poet's visits to his homeland in the 80s. Nikolai worked as a correspondent for the Irkutsk regional television studio. He was instructed to make a story about the poet's homeland and about himself.
To my great shame, then I was familiar with poetry through Pushkin and Lermontov. About Yevtushenko and did not suspect. The first work that I met was "Northern allowance". I read it myself, then aloud to my family - I laughed and laughed. It was so vividly written, with irony and a smile. Through his poems, I then filmed a story about the poet's homeland. I met his uncle, Andrei Ivanovich. It was one of the most venerable pigeon breeders in Zima. From his filing, a whole galaxy of boys grew up - lovers of pigeons. Also in Zima, he met with well-known Yevtushenko scholars - Vitaly Komin and Valery Prishchepa. Then with Zhenya himself. Despite his imposing appearance, some arrogance in clothes, foppishness, he turned out to be a fairly simple person.
It was Evgeny Alexandrovich who introduced Nikolai Zimenkov to the beauties of the local nature.
In the upper reaches of the Oka there are canyons, waterfalls - no Switzerland is needed. We gathered five or six people and hit the road. The Zimints love Yevtushenko very much, so they always ensured his safety and comfort. Foresters were definitely swimming with us. We lived there for several days, and imagine: night, a fire and Yevtushenko reading poetry to the foresters. The gatherings continued until 4-5 o'clock in the morning. It was interesting to watch not so much for him as for his listeners, Siberian peasants. They were such connoisseurs - it was felt that they understood his poems, let them through themselves. It costs a lot! Completely different perception. And how he knew and felt the river - I was only amazed. It seems that I already swam on it more than him, but he more accurately determined where it was better to raft. Where there are no obstacles and pitfalls.
Jogging around the neighborhood
As the journalist notes, he was always admired and amazed by the poet's efficiency. What is worth only one of his "Anthology of Russian Poetry". This is a huge painstaking work. For many years he taught Russian poetry and cinema to American students. Who else can boast of such educational work? In addition, he was also passionate about photography, cinema.
When his film was being shot in Zima, I was constantly with him. They lasted from early morning until late at night. It was in February. In the morning the team is still sleeping, and he gets up at 6 am, puts on his sneakers and makes a circle around the Angarsky microdistrict. Always kept himself in good physical shape. He was fit, wiry, - says Nikolai Zimenkov.
Once Yevgeny Alexandrovich included his friend in one of his works - the novel "Do not die before death."
There was such an episode: in 1991 I was the executive secretary of a local newspaper. And when the putsch took place in the country, I watched it on television. I immediately placed on the front page an article where I predicted the death of the putschists. The editor saw it and removed it. Then a few days later, when everything happened as I predicted, he apologized to me. Soon after these events, Zhenya arrived, I told him this story. And he used this episode in the book. True, he wrote as if I called him in Moscow and in a thin voice (I was indignant about the tone of my voice) told him about the situation in Zima: how the people of Zima perceived this event, ”Nikolay says, laughing.
"I will die of happiness that I live"
As for his personal life, Yevgeny Yevtushenko did not like to talk about it. It was a kind of taboo for him and his friends. They talked only about his creativity and work. True, he brought his fourth wife, Maria Novikova, to the "bride" in Zima. They sat in a tight circle. Only with the closest.
At first I didn’t like it, - Nikolai Vasilyevich recalls. - Constantly pulled him up in a conversation, treated everyone with caution. And I thought there was snobbery in her. And then she opened up. And my opinion about it has changed dramatically. I'll even start with the fact that it was she who managed to get him to quit smoking. He was a terrible smoker. He always brought a large suitcase with him, half of which was filled with cigarettes. Having smoked one, he took on another. And thanks to Mary, he said goodbye to a bad habit. She took care of him, took care of him.
According to Nikolai, on their last meeting, in 2015, he was stung - if this was the last tour. Yevgeny Yevtushenko underwent a complex operation, he could not completely do without outside help. This depressed and discouraged him. After all, in his life he was used to doing everything himself. Nevertheless, even in such a depressed state, he continued to work.
The news of the death of a friend Nikolai Vasilyevich came from Yevtushenko's relatives. And he took the news hard. Both countrymen and all admirers of the poet's work mourned with him.
Do you know what surprises me? At a young age, when he was not yet 30 years old, he wrote a poem that ends with these lines: "If I die in this world, I will die of happiness that I live." And it shocked me. He was happy to be in this world.