Sergei Nikitin. Non-literary walks

Non-literary walks
Boris Nosik. Walks in Paris: Left Bank, Right Bank: In 2 vols. - M.: OJSC Publishing House "Raduga", 2000

Sergey Nikitin

Date of publication: September 19, 2000

Paris is the eternal Russian dream. In general, every generation has a special, envious feeling towards the inhabitants of a particular city. Only the Stalinist milkmaid wants to go to Moscow, the Irish singer Bono from the group U2 wants to go to New York, and Joseph Brodsky wants to ride gondolas in Venice. After this, you might even die on Vasilyevsky Island.

And yet: Paris. For the Russian heart (Dostoevsky noted this) there is no city more desirable. Just some kind of rock. It was there that the Moscow writer Boris Nosik moved to live fifteen years ago. He liked the city of Paris. And the rich history of this city finally found a modern Russian voice.

No matter how many Russians came to Paris and lived in it, none of them managed to write anything fundamental about the city. Two volumes of Nosik, successively describing the neighborhoods on both banks of the Seine, are an absolutely unexpected gift against this background.

The essence of Nosik's book is people, not monuments; This is what distinguishes him from the authors of traditional guidebooks, whose attention is drawn primarily to works of art. In some ways, Nosik is largely right: Paris of the twentieth century has always attracted a special mixture of its atmosphere and population - emigrants from different countries and cities. It was precisely this environment that primarily interested Nosik, and he dedicated his book to Paris as a place of activity for creative people. By the way, it is no coincidence that the book about modern Paris is written in Russian: there are a lot of Russian characters in it. Not only imperial persons, Anna Akhmatova ( “Modigliani’s St. Petersburg love” ), priests and ancient aristocrats are used, but also miner Sanya, who has never been to Paris and served with Nosik in the army, and Nosikov’s classmates, and, of course, neighbors Nosik in his Moscow apartment.

Maybe that's how it should be? If we don’t write it ourselves, no one will write it. However, there are perhaps too many heroes like Sana and the lyrical digressions associated with them in the book about Paris.

Probably the reason for the excessive Russianness of this Paris is simply that two years ago B. Nosik published another book, “Russian Secrets of Paris.” It is logical that the materials not included in it, along with what had already been published, partially ended up on the “left” and “right” banks of “Walks,” respectively.

The most amazing thing about “Walks” is the stories and examples from the author’s own life and the life of his family. For a Baedeker, such a genre is rare. Usually, the program of a tourist walk around the city does not include details of the guide’s personal life. Privacy, private matter. However, Nosik is convinced of the opposite and with amazing persistence imposes his own, purely individual coordinates on the Parisian topography. While talking about someone, for some reason he notices that this someone got on the bus to Orly airport at the same stop as Nosik himself. Do you remember Hemingway? Me not. Of course, Ham was not known for his modesty. But he was the king of style and even in translations he did not lose his beard and pipe.

The abundance of “I” somehow looks inappropriate in the phrase about “the most royal of roads” - the Rue Saint-Denis: “In years past, I often wandered along this street alone, and I always thought that it was a little like our life. It begins elegantly, stormily, near the banks of the Seine, near Lombard Street and Chatelet, near the fabulous fountain, and then gradually becomes boring, fades and ends not only sadly, but even, I would say, almost shamefully . "

Confused in the verbal tinsel, the author forgot to explain to us what a “fairytale fountain” is and what the “shamefulness” of Saint-Denis is - and he remembered about it only a few pages later. It turns out that the author considers the quarter of former brothels to be the “almost shameful end” of Saint-Denis. So what is the contradiction with the “turbulent” start to the quarter? A few pages later, Nosik nevertheless explains that Saint-Denis even today “has not yet become quite decent . ” Let us note the exquisite word order: “I often wandered along this street...” Nosik really likes to slightly shuffle the normative Russian syntax.

In my opinion, the author makes the biggest stylistic mistake in the story about the Paris City Hall when he notes that “my daughter received her diploma there . ” The episode, although it does not deserve special attention in itself, is still indicative: even the children of Russian emigrants can receive a diploma at the old Parisian city hall. But why not just say “daughter”, “daughter”? Even without being a psychoanalyst, you can figure out what these autobiographical details serve. In youth slang the word “show-off” and its derivative “show-off” are used. This means “showing off”, especially about one’s own successes and advancement (business, intellectual, etc.) Honestly, when reading the book, the thought arises that the author wanted us to envy him a little: and Paris before him, and his daughter (athlete, Komsomol member) - at a reception at the mayor's office, and all that jazz. Lucky. The author forgot that his future readers are not at all unassuming neighbors in a communal apartment like the character Raikin, who read out the famous letter from an agricultural exhibition, but 10,000 Soviet citizens eager to learn more about Paris.

However, not only Soviet citizens, but also Parisian citizens are present in the book. However, these characters - especially well-known ones - are often presented in a comic light. For example, Nosik - like all the "sixties" without exception - is concerned about the fate of Commissar Maigret and his author Georges Simenon. It is really interesting to wander through the streets that the commissioner paced; It would have been a real detective tour. But here it turns out that Nosik simply cannot stand Sim (as he familiarly dubbed him). There is no other way to explain, for example, the following passage: “A little later, Simenon gets a servant from the village, a strong woman named Bull, that is, Sharik. She is Simenon’s type, so she becomes a servant, a family friend and the owner’s mistress . ”

The further into the forest, the more the author Maigret is exposed. It becomes clear that he can no longer resist either hurried work for money, or self-promotion, or exhibitionism. Even when he finally grew old, Simenon suddenly announced in a conversation with Federico Fellini that he had 10,000 women, of which 8,000 were prostitutes. In a word, for a good nine pages in neat font Nosik simply has to condescend to the “creator of Maigret,” raking through the dark pages of his biography. It is not clear why such sacrifices are made; Why force yourself to write a whole section and title it “In the footsteps of Commissar Maigret and his creator” ? It would seem: how many celebrities lived in Paris; you could find someone you really like! At the end of the chapter, the author finally changes his anger to mercy and remarks: “Maybe this Simenon’s Quai de Orfevre is the real one. After all, so many people all over the world are familiar with it from Simenon . ” Did you understand? And Simenon had insights.

Regardless of Nosik's wishes, the literary roots of his presentation are too reminiscent of Soviet propaganda. “The Pravda people,” that is, Pravda journalists, spoke in precisely this condescending tone about the useless American generation, rotten intellectuals, beatniks, etc.

After a sarcastic story about Sima and Balzac, Nosik no longer has enough emotions for Frederic Chopin. Regarding the tragedy of the Polish maestro, he only has time to note: “Of course, he shared the pain of the Polish intelligentsia and its freedom-loving aspirations . ” That's all. Immediately after this is a list of Chopin's friends: as usual with Nosik - some of them are completely unknown persons (Hortensia Allard, Marie Dorval - who are they?..) To quickly introduce them into the text, the author uses a clever formula, reminiscent of the method of tailors from the fairy tale "The Naked King" “: it is enough to add the adjectives “famous”, “famous” or “brilliant” to any name - and the majority of those who know nothing about this, ashamed of their own ignorance, will assent. Let me give you a typical example. The writer Victor Hugo “received... guests whose names are probably familiar to you: Balzac and Mérimée, de Vigny and Lamartine, Dumas and Sainte-Beuve, Beranger and David of Angers... They lived on this glorious square and in the hotels of the Marais quarter Jacques Benigne Bossuet, Théophile Gautier, Marion Delorme, Alphonse Daudet and many other celebrities" . From this list, only Balzac, Dumas and Merimee can be considered “probably familiar”. The rest of the people are known to a narrow circle of professionals who study French literature, and who David of Angers is remains a mystery. Perhaps this is a typo and we are dealing with one of the descendants of the Dukes of Anjou. But to make a decision, it is necessary to have at least the French version of the surname, which is missing, as well as the years of life and the specialty of this person. If we sum up the manifestations of the author’s erudition, I would like to ask: why rewrite memorial plaques and quote encyclopedic publications without explaining which figures we are talking about and what their greatness is?

But you can have a good laugh at the French, at their exhibitionism, talking about the names of the streets (Cairo Square and Street, Nile Street, etc.) associated with Napoleon’s eastern campaign. Nosik discovered that the “Egyptian” street names were supposed to remind citizens suffering from a national inferiority complex of the glorious victories of the allegedly shamefully lost (and skillfully passed off as won by Napoleon) campaign. There is no need to prove that such wording is offensive. But not for Paris, but for readers who love this city in absentia, who turned to Nosik’s book not to listen to his fantastic mockery of Parisians. By the way, if Nosik had become truly interested in toponymy, he would have discovered that there are streets with names of this “imperial” type in many countries. Let the following parallel remain on his conscience: “These were difficult days for the workers of the guillotine. The famous French executioner Sanson, in order to serve his native people, showed here a record-breaking or, as they later said, Stakhanov’s time.” .

All this does not deny that you can find a lot of useful information in the book - the kind that can only be obtained by living in the city and constantly walking around it. For example, I did not know that in Paris there is a monument to Dumas, at the foot of which, in turn, stands a small statue of D'Artagnan. Or that in Montmartre there is a monument to the singer Dalida. But in order to read this far, it takes effort on yourself, because after all the above-mentioned faux pas, the author simply doesn’t want to believe it.

However, there are factual errors in the book, which, of course, can be forgiven, given the wealth of information the author shared with us. The “Left Bank,” let’s say, makes mistakes that are simply awkward, “shameful ,” to use the author’s language. Let's give the most typical one. Judge for yourself: Henry I and Charles I (the Great) are separated by more than two hundred years; therefore, it was not worth marrying Charles (742-814) - instead of Henry - to the daughter of Yaroslav the Wise (1018-1054) Anna Yaroslavna. A similar confusion occurs with Francis the First, who was already on the “Right Bank” killed by a monk instead of Henry the Fourth.

The author persistently tries to instill in the reader the skills of high style, using the words “blessed” , “particularity” , “child-loving” , etc. But in other cases, he himself breaks down into kicks: “The French classic (Hugo. - S.N. ) lived here for a good sixteen years, indulged in decorating his home interior to his heart’s content . ” Why not say more commonly: “interior decoration”? Or maybe that’s how they do it in Paris?

sounds unconvincing The word “autodidact” , introduced by Nosik into the Russian language to replace the old and familiar “self-taught”, also . It should be noted here that professional translators and guides try to use as few foreign words as possible in their speech, replacing them with those already in the listener’s dictionary.

It’s a shame that in this Russian-French sea of ​​surnames and destinies, mistakes and typos, extremely significant figures, around whom a fascinating narrative could be built, fade into the background (from the chapter titles). These are the innovative artist Boccioni, the poet, creator of the song "Autumn Leaves" Jacques Prévert, Jean Cocteau, Francois Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard. I list only those who immediately come to mind. All these people are known and loved in Russia, each played a unique role in its culture. Boccioni influenced the sculptor Tatlin, Prévert's song is performed in every second underground passage thirty times a day, and Godard, Cocteau, Truffaut are familiar to us from old Soviet film purchases. It is about their Paris that we would like to read in Nosik’s book - after all, he claims to tell about the city through people.

Despite all the “buts,” we have no doubt that the book’s circulation will quickly sell out and a new edition will be required. We hope that the text will be clarified, provided with a detailed commentary and an annotated index of personalities and events.