Alexandra Veselova. Boys shoot

Boys shoot
Sergey Kolbasyev. Arsene Lupin. "Dzhigit." River

Alexandra Veselova

Date of publication: October 6, 2000

It is my deep conviction that, minus the literature of the last two centuries and, perhaps, the architecture of its former capital, the only thing Russia can be proud of is the history of its own fleet.
Joseph Brodsky. One and a half rooms

I was a St. Petersburger, I didn’t like Moscow and I loved Kipling!
Sergey Kolbasyev

I dare to suggest that among the readers of the Russian Journal there are few who are familiar with the work of Sergei Kolbasyev. But many have watched the film “We Are From Jazz” and remember the handsome and slightly sad naval officer in the finale. This is Captain Kolbasyev, Sergei Adamovich Kolbasyev, a face, contrary to the impression from the film, quite real. Graduate of the Naval Cadet Corps. Combat officer. Commander of a mine destroyer division, in 1922 transferred by government order from the navy to work at the World Literature publishing house. Translator and diplomat. Author of several books on radio science. A fan of Kipling, and therefore Gumilyov. Connoisseur, connoisseur and defender of Russian jazz.

I have loved Kolbasyev's stories for a long time. In our house, marine painting has always been held in high esteem, and Navy Day was a family holiday for me. And the annual parade of warships on the Neva ended with a model of the cruiser "Kirov" standing on a bookcase - a gift to my grandfather from graduates of the Nakhimov School - and a photograph of my grandfather himself, a captain of the second rank, whom I had never seen, but of whom I was always proud. As a child, I generally considered only two professions worthy: a naval sailor and a doctor. At some point they were embodied in the figure of singer-songwriter Alexander Rosenbaum. I admit that I still listen to “Flagship March” not without excitement: “We are in the wake of a proud formation...”

What determines the popularity of Rosenbaum’s “sea” songs? Divinely free, even careless handling of such beautiful words as “wake”, “kabeltov”, “flagship”, the use of seemingly simple, but requiring comment expressions like “dress according to the first deadline”, the shine of gold buttons and the blackness of peacoats on cast shoulders. And all this splendor is crowned by the promise to preserve “your honor and glory.” Therefore, Rosenbaum’s audience is divided into two unequal parts. The first part is fascinated by the secrets of the unknown, the second is captivated by the feeling of belonging. Since childhood, I knew that a knot is a mile per hour, and therefore I considered myself second.

Kolbasyev writes that “marine” literature arises from tales in the wardroom. He himself is an unsurpassed master of this genre. The stories about a fox terrier stuck in a porthole, or about senior lieutenant Luka Pustoshkin, who easily found a common language with the Greek king: “Rua, one more buvon?”

But if you simply tell naval jokes, casually juggling words, and even tearing your vest on your chest, you will end up with Alexander Rosenbaum, who, however, is not to blame - he did not study in the Marine Corps. But in Kolbasyev’s prose one can clearly feel that same “nobility of spirit”, which, according to Brodsky, is inherent in all three components of Russian glory, and therefore in the tradition of St. Petersburg-Leningrad marine painting, generated by this triad.

Kolbasyev writes about how wonderful and amazing the life of a senior midshipman is. He is already almost an officer; he already has an entire junior company under his command. But he is still a boy, he is no stranger to “midshipman’s daring,” and therefore he selflessly and inventively plays Arsene Lupine, the character of Maurice Leblanc’s detective stories, a kind of Robin Hood, protecting the weak and punishing the strong. And with bated breath we follow the vicissitudes of his struggle with senior lieutenant Ivan Posokhov, nicknamed Dermo, and the rest of his superiors. The narrative is constructed according to all the rules of the detective genre, the reader, along with the unfortunate Ivan, almost until the very end of the first story of the trilogy, does not know who to suspect: the reserved and condescending Vasily Bakhmetyev, the tireless Boris Lobachevsky, the quiet Stepan Ovtsyn or the temperamental Greek Konstantin Patanioti.

But Kolbasyev also writes that while children are playing Arsene Lupine, a revolution is taking place outside the windows of a closed educational institution, and future naval officers know nothing about it . Nothing at all: “Are you crazy... You... No, I heard something, but I just didn’t pay attention. They said that the factories were on strike, but for some reason they are always on strike... You’re lying anyway. All this cannot happen . " We have been told for too long that the events of 1917 were a “turning point in history.” And all subsequent events in our country confirmed this. We know that the revolution had supporters and opponents, we can treat them differently, but to not notice the revolution... This seems very strange, almost incredible. As well as the characteristic “cheerful crowd” in relation to the revolutionary-minded masses who broke into the building to take possession of weapons: “It was interesting for her to closely examine the real admiral, and in general she was in an excellent mood.” . And because this crowd very soon ceases to pay attention to the old admiral, the corps director not loved by the cadets and midshipmen, who went out onto the main staircase to “wait for the end ,” it becomes even more strange and even creepy. Here, of course, there should have been a scene of bloody reprisal against a representative of the old world. This would be correct from both points of view - both red and white. This would provide an opportunity to take sides. But this would be incorrect from a historical and human point of view. The corps did not go over to the side of the rebels and did not offer resistance to them. They were simply locked away. They were simply scared: “There was no order anymore. The whole world with dizzying speed was sliding into an unknown direction, and everything in the world was collapsing at once . ”

In the preface to the trilogy, we can safely write that this is the path to the formation of the revolutionary self-awareness of the hero, who passed from a midshipman in the tsarist army to the captain of a Soviet warship. And it won't be untrue. But in fact, this is the story of a very fast growing up of a teenager who, like many others, suddenly found himself faced with the need to make a choice. And we had to choose who to shoot at. And the decision was not made based on conviction. It’s just that for him, yesterday’s midshipman Vasily Bakhmetyev, it turned out to be very important to earn the respect of the sailor Pletnev, who first saved his honor and then his life. This was much more important than everything that was happening in the country. And the good attitude of Captain Konstantinov, and Commissioner Yaroshenko, and many other good people was also important. Believing these people, Bakhmetyev took their side with all his boyish firmness. Because he was a very good boy and, from the time he studied in the Marine Corps, he learned well that “one can seriously talk about only one tradition of the corps, about the truly ancient and ineradicable law of the brotherhood of all students, about a strict law that does not allow even the slightest manifestations of infidelity.” . That’s why he became a good red commander of a warship, not afraid to make decisions, unlike those “former ones” who were “hurt in the seventeenth year” and to whom it always seemed “that they would now start throwing them overboard . ”

There is only one question: how could all this appear in the 30s? I only remember the story of Bulgakov’s “White Guard,” about which Stalin seemed to say that this work affirms the power of the Red Army, which managed to defeat such very good people.

PS Last year, Boris Lobach-Zhuchenko, the prototype of Boris Lobachevsky, one of those who played Arsene Lupin, died. He lived to be 98 years old. And about eight to ten years ago they told me that Arsene Lupine appeared at the Sevastopol diving school, plotting intrigues to his superiors. This is probably the tradition of the Russian fleet...