Translated material
Reading the race
The Diary of the Gonkur brothers, even at the Western Department of the Filfak, Moscow State University was not included in the list of “compulsory” literature, but, of course, I should read it even then. However, what could I understand in it without a “background” accumulated for a lifetime?
I did not find the original “diary” on the Internet, but in the Belousenko electronic library there is a Goslitizdat abbreviated translation [1]. These are approximately 1,500 pages in 2 volumes, which I, oddly enough, read it, from time to time turning to Google for different information (for example, there is a website www.freres-goncourt.fr ).
The French classics of the XIX century -Hyugo, Stendhal, Balzac, Flobert, Zola, Maupassant -in the USSR a lot were published and read. In the 1930-50s, high school students read “Father Gorio”, “93rd”, “Madame Bovary” and “Germinal”; And the story of Maupassant “Necklace” was published before the war in the famous series “Book behind the Book”, intended for elementary grades. And, of course, I, like many children then (i.e., born in the early 1930s) with enthusiasm and more than once listened to children's radio broadcasts-“Kozetta” and “Gavrosh”-staging on the “outcast” Hugo.
It would seem, taking into account what was said, in the French literature of the 19th century, I had to feel “at home”-if, of course, to close my eyes to my very approximate ideas about the history of France and, above all, about its cultural history. And yet, until I set out to read the whole Proust, even if from the screen, such a limited knowledge did not bother me very much. Bye…
And so I tried to understand why different authors so often refer to the "Diary of the Goncurs" (Edmond and Jules de Goncourt).
I learn, for example, that the Goncura brothers were passionate collectors of Japanese art - a lot of space is dedicated in this diary. After the death of Jules for the older brother, ED monk, the collecting of Japanese porcelain remained one of the rare consolations. However, then many of the “Japanese” were fond of (and experienced their influence) - in particular, French impressionists. Without knowing the era, we tend to see the “special” in a typical addiction for one or another time.
The “Diary: Notes on Literary Life” is meaningfully disintegrated into two parts. The first of them covers the period from 1851 to the beginning of 1870, when the diary is mainly the youngest of the brothers, Jules. Although often he writes “I”, the heroes of the story are always us.
About this time, the brothers work together - they write articles in newspapers, essays, research and novels, are friends with the famous engraver of Havarni and study the etching technique, travel, are present on the premieres of performances in their novels, attend salons, and equip their house in Otheila.
The Goncur Diary is, first of all, an exciting reading. He opens the whole world to us, moreover, in different angles: we see a street Paris crowd, rehearsals in the theater, another lunch in the salon of Napoleon's niece Princess Matilda, where the races were for many years; “Writing” dinners “Manya”, friendly conversations with Flaubert, Saint-Bevom, Turgenev, Gauthier ...
Judging by the diary, both brothers did not differ in good health. However, in the late 1860s, Jules’s health worsened sharply, and by 1870 he no longer could write, but simple physical actions became inaccessible to him. In the summer of 1870, he died with a painful death, and Edmond described in detail the extinction and death of Jules as a conclusion to this part of the diary.
The long -term and, apparently, unique spiritual and spiritual proximity of the brothers prompted Edmond to continue the diary, despite the feeling of abandonment and unnaturalness of his existence in a world where there is no more july.
I must say that the description of the “disappearance” of Jules’s personality, the intelligence and soul of which in front of Edmond “dissolve” in illness, make a strong impression by the minimalism of techniques, which nevertheless allowed to show the unbearable loss of not only the beloved brother, but the true part of himself.
The continuation of the diary becomes for Edmond at the same time as a duty in front of the departed Jules, preserving some kind of life rod that Edmond will feel for many years as existence in the absence of Jules.
The stronger side of the Goncurs as authors were historical essays about the art and characters of the XVIII century. Edmond de Gonkur repeatedly regretted that the works published in this genre could not be published, accompanied by illustrations. Today, we would put these works of the Goncurs in the category of publicly available essays of art and everyday life; Apparently, both brothers were extremely meticulous in working with sources and in the selection of illustrative material.
Despite the fact that the Goncurs lived on rent, they worked incredibly a lot. Such a way of life, apparently, was not unusual in their time-a close friend of Goncurs, Flobert, who had not experienced money difficulties for a long time, worked no less. Additional and constant voltage was generated by frequent clashes with censorship, which either forbade the articles of the Goncurs, then after a particularly successful premiere of the performance by the next novel prohibited further ideas.
It was curious to find out that the staging of successful novels was a common source of replenishment of the theater repertoire. And at the same time, each particularly successful production was a source of constant stress for the authors who were waiting for a censorship ban: there were enough articles in several influential newspapers to see the next concussion of the foundations in the play.
Edmond de Gonkur left us a detailed description of everyday life in the besieged and starving Paris of 1870. This rather buying prose prompts to recall Goya's etchings. Fortunately, the House of Goncurs, their library and collections survived.
Gradually, the house in Otil turns into a permanent place of meetings of Edmone's friends and colleagues. In the 1880s, he rebuilt the third floor in it, creating a small but extremely valuable museum and a kind of writer club there. This third floor is Grenier, i.e. “The attic” remained under this name in the history of French literature.
A great consolation for Edmon Goncura was the friendship with the family of Alfons Dode, who in the early 1870s was already a famous writer, the author of Arlezianka and Jacques. Essentially, for the first time after the death of his brother, Edmond de Gongkur found a family. He died in the country house of Dode, where he stayed for a long time in the last years of his life.
The passion for life and its beauty did not leave Edmond in his later years. Here is what he wrote in 1894: “. Last week, I bought silk fabrics of dresses that were worn by women of the 18th century; Of these, I want to make books of books. And I always come up with something that does not occur to others. ”