The prose of the Russian Garibaldian

Lev Mechnikov - the brother of the famous biologist Ilya Mechnikov - was a multifaceted man. Historian Mikhail Talalay introduces readers and listeners with his prose

Ivan Tolstoy: Lev Ilyich Mechnikov - the eldest brother of the famous biologist, Nobel Prize laureate. At the age of 20, he left Russia forever, showed his brilliant talents in various fields, living mainly in Italy and Switzerland, traveling around the world as a publicist, writer, geographer, sociologist, ethnographer, linguist, artist, political and public figure. Lev Mechnikov is a participant in the movement of Garibaldi, a follower of Mikhail Bakunin, a loser of a river, a conspiracy and a scientist. He left valuable scientific works and memoirs. His main work, published posthumously, - "civilization and great historical rivers" - brought him the glory of the father of Russian geopolitics. We have already talked about this side of his activity. But now Lev Mechnikov unexpectedly opened on the other side. Says a historian of Russian-Italian cultural ties Mikhail Talalay.

Mikhail Talalay: Yes, yes, again Lev Ilyich. Again swordsmen. An extraordinary personality, including unusually prolific and multifaceted. Unlike his brother Ilya Ilyich, the Nobel laureate, who constantly beat at the same goal and became the Nobel laureate, Leo Ilyich was very scattered. He is a publicist, and a geographer, and a sociologist, and an ethnographer, and a linguist, and an artist, and a Garibaldian, and a Bakunist, if I may say about a follower of Bakunin, anarchist, a revolutionary, most likely, Mason and so on.

He wrote unusually a lot. We gathered, along with the late professor-Russianist Renato Rizalitia, who incredibly carried away by Mercnikov, four volumes of his works. The first three volumes and Renato and I conditionally called "Tricolor" and stained their roots in the colors of the national Italian flag. They are dedicated to the Italian association "RIPZHEMENTO" - green, white, red. This, by the way, is the colors of the most famous Italian pizza "Marger". So, Renato Risalitia and I first gathered in book form under the hard covers what Memnikov wrote in his most beloved country after Russia, in Italy, where he sought from his youth, where he wanted to become an artist, but became a revolutionary, and even the Italians themselves did not withstand his republican-anarchic onslaught, and he spent the last years of his life to his life in his life in his life in his life in his life Switzerland, where he worked as a geographer, ethnographer, scientist.

He also wrote about literature. And the fourth volume that we collected with Renato was dedicated to his essays on French literature. Of course, like all Europeans of that time, he grew up on great French literature, wrote a lot about it, felt it well, and we first collected these critical essays. But it turned out that Lev Ilyich himself was a writer, or wanted to become such. And my last book, already without Renato Risalitia, which recently published in the Alethei publishing house with a name taken according to one of Mechnikov’s novels-“in the World Widewoman,” and set this new goal: to show the Russian reading public that the lion of the writer’s lion existed.

Lev Mechnikov. In the worldwide field. SPb, 2022

This story began with an almost detective plot. In 1880, one of the then advanced magazines, the case, published in three numbers an Italian historical novel, although the story there was still fresh, called the Garibaldians. The title was the name of the author - Vittorio Ottoolini. The name of the translator was not indicated. Another Italian novel, much more successful - Rafartak Rafaello Giovanioli, who in childhood and adolescence, read, also read in the same numbers of “business”. The novel "Garibaldians" did not receive such success, but the audience was then interested in Italian affairs, recent hot events were described there, only 20 years after the famous Garibaldian expedition to the Italian south.

Who translated, who is the author - they were not particularly interested in this. About 50 years ago, my senior linen-identor Zlata Mikhailovna Potapova in her book “Russian-Italian Literary Relations” first suggested that the translator of this book is Lev Mechnikov, indicating that many motives in it are echoing with his own famous and almost signed (the letter “M”) “Notes of the Garibalian” (almost at once it was clear to everyone that it was clear that this Mechnikov). Renato and I published these "Notes", indeed, the roll call with Roman Ottoolini is too clear and mysterious.

The most important book of Mechnikov is “Civilization and Great Historical Rivers”

It takes some time and the reprint of the most important book of Mechnikov - “Civilization and the Great Historical Rivers” is coming out. To this reprint, geographer Vladimir Ivanovich Evdokimov writes his preface, where, describing the creative path of Mechnikov, he mentions the Italian novel “Garibaldians” and expresses a daring assumption that the writer Vittorio Ottoolini does not exist, that this text is exclusively Mechnikov, and that this is one of his many pseudonyms: our rebel used diverse pseudonyms.

It turned out - neither one nor the other. A completely exceptional case became clear. The writer almost existed, but his name in the magazine was distorted - he was not Vittorio Ottoolini, but Wittore Ottolini. Perhaps, because of this initial troubles, the researchers did not know that such an author-Wittore Ottoolini-really existed. I found him, this is a forgotten Milan writer, wrote really historical novels, was also a Garibaldian and composed a whole trilogy about the Garibaldian epic in fresh traces. I also found Ottoolini’s transferred Roman, however, not immediately, because the name in the Russian magazine was also slightly changed, this is not the “Garibaldians”, but a very long and boring name - “one of a thousand Garibaldian expeditions to the south of Italy”. But this is the same novel. Now it is available on the Internet. The first chapter in the original by Vittor Ottoolini is called Roberto, the first chapter of Vittorio Ottoolini in the magazine, Robert. This is the same text and it begins in the same way.

Lev Mechnikov. Naples and Tuscany. St. Petersburg, Aletheia, 2018

“Ivan Tolstoy: “ On the sign of a tavern located at the very end of the only street, crossing the village of Albeze, the belt image of San Carlo flaunts; but it is executed to so ugly that pregnant peasant women, in the interests of their offspring, passing by, try not to look at him; San Carlo is crossed into the breasts, as if to him, as if to him, as if he He begs passers -by to go into the tavern, as the blasphemous owner of the tavern expressed. "

Mikhail Talalaya: However, when I compared the first paragraph with the original, I realized that I had as an editor, and I was originally going to publish this text as a translating Mechnikov, there will be many problems. Before us is an unusually free translation: in the original there is no pregnant peasant women, the owner of the tavern is not called “blasphemous”, but simply “profane”, which in Italian means “layman”, and San Carlo (this is actually St. Carl of Milan), does not cross his hands on his chest, as if he was pleasing to the taverns, but simply “turned his hands on the prayer Pose ". That is, in one phrase there are already four extraordinary liberties.

I began to work on the text, comment on it, find out where Mechnikov deviated from the original. There were a lot of such deviations. The author gravitated to the local history genre: he described in detail the historical realities of Milan, his surroundings. Mechnikov avoided this, especially when he came across some unknown things. In particular, the Italian writes that some Oroobi lived on the hills around Milan. Mechnikov did not know that there was such an ancient Celtic tribe, did not particularly engage in this and wrote, in accordance with his beliefs that “feudal predators” lived on the hills around the city.

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Especially freely, he treated the paratroist using a modern fashionable term. So, he removed all the epigraphs, while he had to change the text itself, because the Italian author transferred the bridges from the epigraphs to the beginning of his chapters, he changed the name of the chapters, removed almost all the notes, especially the bibliographic ones, where Ottolini referred to certain publications, and especially loved to refer to his own previous books. All this was mercilessly cleaned up.

Lev Mechnikov. The last Venetian rain. St. Petersburg, Aletheia, 2017

But then I found that he began to clean the heroes. He removed the lover of one Garibaldian, which he did not like. It was found that under his representation of the association of Italy, he was shared various kinds of realities that the Italian author has. In particular, in the closet of the protagonist-garbaldian Ottolini hangs a portrait of the united king on the wall. The anarchist Mechnikov is not such a part by the collaboration, he removes this portrait from the wall and the Camor is left without a portrait of the monarch. And many such examples of free handling of the text could be given, but my complete confusion came in the middle of the book, when Mechnikov left the author’s text and began to write someone else's book!

An amazing story: Polonnigi is a free translation, and the rest of the half -pound is the author’s text of Lev Nikolayevich Mechnikov with interesting finds. In one place where Mechnikov already writes his own plots, his own story about that epic, to explain thoughts to his own author’s text, he puts notes supposedly from the translator: there is a difficult game. He introduces a new heroine, a selfless garbaldian girl. And in general, from the second, swordsmen, this whole story becomes much livelier and more interesting. This patriotic Amazon appears, which goes along with Garibaldi his heroic path, of course, falls in love with one of the Garibaldians. Mechnikov uses his experience, because he himself went through this campaign in the Italian south, from Sicily and Palermo reached Naples, shed blood on Italian land, and it was possible, lit the hearts of local patriot.

It is possible that he was not arranged by the political approach of the Italian author, who was a monarchist

I don’t know why he abandoned his original plan of translation and began to write his own book. I don’t know if he informed the Italian author about it. It is possible that he was not arranged by the political approach of the Italian author, who was a monarchist: when the Italian began to represent his monarchist vision of the Italian association, then the anarchist swordsman began to protest internally and presented his concepts, introducing Garibaldi the main character, almost fabulous, remembering his personal communication with Garibaldi and giving him an epic like a hero. epic.

“Garibaldi in that era turned fifty -four years old - the age of complete vigor and strength for people with such as his iron organism. It was a person below the average height, but a very strong physique. His wour and hair were red; gray hair was just starting to break through in them. Garibaldi's face was wonderful. It was created in order to inspire the crowd in the fields, in squares, in folk assemblies.

Mikhail Talalay: The whole plot of the second part of the novel became different, he still borrowed some small interspersed from Ottoolini, but also made another ending. In the Italian author, the protagonist, Garibaldian Roberto, ends his life with a wealthy farmer, bred pigs and geese. For Mechnikov, this is unacceptable, and Robert in his version becomes the caretaker of the famous Milan Gallery Brera, one of the most prominent people in the city, a bohemian man who, nevertheless, plunged into the world of art, does not forget his Garibaldian friends and helps them in every way from the height of his position. The novel "Garibaldians" occupies half the book of artistic prose of Leo Ilyich, because I ranked it precisely to the author's texts.

Ivan Tolstoy: And what else did you please the reader, except for this hoax or what to call it more correctly?

Lev Mechnikov. Notes of the Garibaldian. St. Petersburg, Aletheia, 2016

Mikhail Talalay: Maybe anarchy? .. The next novel is "in the world field." I became less interested in this text, because the action takes place in Paris, although there are constant references to Italy, the main characters discuss Italian affairs. Mechnikov wrote this book in 1882, signing with his name, and this is a unique evidence of the Russian colony in Paris of that time. I wrote off with colleagues-Russianists in France, they were surprised and delighted with this forgotten text: this is an accurate and interesting description of the community of Russian artists, to which Mechnikov gravitated. He attributes the heroes of this story from his acquaintances. One of the main characters, the artist of Stepan Kalachev, he writes off from a close friend of Ivan Petrovich Pryanishnikov. This is not just a friend, this is his ally in the Garibaldian movement. Pryanishnikov even went further than Mechnikov, he signed up for the Montenegrin movement to liberate from the Turkish yoke. These were hot young people. Pryanishnikov is also little known in Russian culture, because just like Lev Mechnikov, he stayed in the West, left for the USA, then returned to France, where he graduated from his life. The main intrigue of this story is the “Cheboksarsky Lantern”. In fact, this is a candle of Yablochkov. Mechnikov himself saw this whole story when Yablochkov’s candle, also a forgotten moment, the plot of Russian innovative technology, then thundered throughout Europe - a new type of electricity, lighting.

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Ivan Tolstoy: Why, Mikhail Grigoryevich, do you say that you are forgotten? In St. Petersburg, on the Petrograd side, there is Yablochkova Street, as far as I remember.

Mikhail Talalay: There is such a street, in the early Soviet times it was called Edison Street, but this name fell victim to the struggle against cosmopolitanism. In the days of Mechnikov, the name of Yablochkov rattled in Europe with the slogans of the commercial type - "Light comes from the east." Mercnikov, as non -conformist, all this hype and speculative fuss around the invention were deeply disgusting, so this novel is an ironic sketch of the cunning Parisians who quickly chop the joint -stock society, arrange advertising actions around the Yablochkov candle, get out, then the candle goes out, because other candles are invented. Here is the double intention of Mechnikov: against the backdrop of a benevolent story about artists - the denunciation of a predatory bourgeois society, ready to cash in on everything that came to him, including the wonderful invention of a Russian scientist.

Yablhekova candles illuminating Avenue Opera in Paris, 1878

The third story in our collection is a "bold step." This is chronologically the very first thing of Mechnikov, he wrote it at 22, when he was still looking for himself in the world, he did not know what he would do after the Garibaldian campaign, but he obviously wanted to become a writer. In this story, he portrayed his own love story. The action takes place in St. Petersburg, but everything was really in Florence. This is his fatal meeting with Olga Skaritina, a Russian married lady who lived in Florence, which the young man took away from her respectable and liberal husband-intellectual, the gold producer of Scaritin. Leo Ilyich outlined this simple story in his first story. It is interesting that the censor of the story, which Mechnikov passed to the magazine "Contemporary" in 1863 under the pseudonym Leon Brandi (and "Brando" is the Italian "sword"), was Ivan Alexandrovich Goncharov, then a member of the press of the press, and he briefly retold the content of this book in his censor recall:

“The young woman, the wife of a smart, honest and noble person, first loved, or thought that she loved her husband, then in his eyes and with his consent, began to get closer to the circle of young people; she was carried away by a student and after some struggle went away. And she stayed with him. The husband waved her hand with contempt. There is the whole content. Thus, I even doubt it. Here: it would be necessary to inquire in the editorial office of “Contemporary” whether the second part is not in view of the second part, before allowing the story to be printed. ”

Leo Ilyich Mechnikov

Mikhail Talalai: During the publication of this story, I had a discussion with my colleague, geographer Vladimir Ivanovich Evdokimov, who reprinted the famous monograph by Mechnikov about great rivers. Vladimir Ivanovich was so carried away by Mechnikov that he considered that the story "The Bold Step" influenced Tolstoy’s novel Anna Karenina. What was my colleague based on? On comparison of two triangles. Mechnikov has a married Lisa Sretneva, there is her husband, there is a young student Bogdan Skotarenko. Tolstoy has Karenin, her husband and Vronsky. I became very careful when we prepared a story for publication, protest and introduce reservation concepts - they say, maybe Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy was inspired by Leo Ilyich Mercnikov, especially since Tolstoy never mentions Mechnikov. Но меня мой соредактор просто одернул, назвав мои сомнения "трусливыми оговорками". Евдокимов сообщил мне, что свое открытие он даже "залитовал", согласно его загадочному выражению, а именно – уже опубликовал статью в журнале "Мой современник" под названием "Прообраз треугольника из “Анны Карениной”". Его статья заканчивалась фразой, что повесть "Смелый шаг" оказала влияние не только на Льва Толстого, но и на других русских писателей 1860-х годов.

На новом этапе Евдокимов стал развивать свою мысль о влиянии "Смелого шага" на всю великую русскую литературу. Среди попавших под это влияние – сам Гончаров, который, будучи цензором, в отличие от Толстого, читал-таки повесть Мечникова. В результате в повести Гончарова "Обрыв" главный герой становится художником, а у Мечникова его главный герой Богдан мечтает стать художником. Даже на Достоевского, на "Преступление и наказание", повесть Мечникова оказала влияние, продолжал Евдокимов. Достаточно сравнить бедную каморку Раскольникова и бедную каморку мечниковского Богдана. И та, и другая каморка – в Петербурге. Раскольников мечтает убежать в Америку и наш Богдан тоже стремится заграницу и хочет уехать в Италию.

Я никак не мог пропустить в печать такой текст. Владимир Иванович отказывался смягчать свои залитованные формулы, и редактировать книгу художественной прозы Мечникова мне пришлось заканчивать уже одному.