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Letters to younger children Mick and Tika September 9, 1933, on the way to Svobodny No. 8. 1933.IX.9. Dear Tika, I am writing to you, having just left the city of Tulun. We stayed 1 1/2 days in Krasnoyarsk. We drive slowly, the train is every 10–15 minutes. stops because it is a freight-passenger vehicle. In the Krasnoyarsk region the terrain is very beautiful, very undulating at first, and then mountainous, very uneven. Beautiful forests and copses - birches, firs, larches, cedars, and occasionally red aspens. Now the terrain has become almost flat, although mountains are still visible in the distance. The firs are very beautiful - sharp, like cypresses. It's cold at night, and not warm during the day, despite the sun, and yesterday there was cereal. Villages are rare here, people are almost invisible. The forests are seen to be almost undeveloped; there are many dead trees, others grow unharmoniously; this is already close to the real taiga. I’m eating and thinking about you all, how you’re living, whether you’re healthy. Do you always spend time with Anya? 182 Are you helping mommy? We crossed many big rivers - look at the map with Olya - which ones exactly. – Soon we will approach a city called Winter, and recently there was a station called Koitun, which means Frost in Buryat. I kiss you deeply, dear Tika, kiss mommy and Olya, bow to grandma and Anya. Tell your mom not to be bored and to have fun. Be healthy, don't forget German and music. Do you pick mushrooms? I kiss you deeply again. Tell mom I'm fine. When the opportunity arises, tell Baba Olya and Baba Sonya that I kiss them warmly. November 15–16, 1933, art. Ksenievskaya 1933.XI.15–16. My dear, dear Tika, thank you for the letter, which made me happy. 183 Like you, I do counting, adding and dividing numbers, but you probably do it better than me now. In addition, I create tables and charts; You probably learned how to do both. Are your music lessons going well? You would give your dad great joy if you learned to play so that you understand good pieces. Congratulations, dear, on your belated birthday. 184 Ask mommy to show you my books and choose the most beautiful one that you like. Let this be a gift from your dad. And besides, choose some Roman or Greek coin for yourself, so that you can attach a clasp to it and wear it as a brooch. Your dad always remembers his bird and asks him to live more cheerfully and take care of his mommy. Are your dolls safe? Bow to them from me and tell them not to be naughty and to obey their mother. Have you already learned the multiplication table? Did you know that it was invented by the ancient Greek philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras, so you need to know it well. Is your chicken Jonette alive? Tell her to bring you more eggs and give her the shells. What a pity that I still have bread here, you could treat your chickens with it. Tell my mother that I have everything I need, don’t let her send me any parcels, but rather let her write letters. I kiss you and wish you to be healthy, sleep more and be cheerful. Recently I heard a sparrow chirp that you are getting up too early. Is this true? I kiss you again. February 22, 1935, ex. Filippova Hermitage Dear Tika, in the Laboratory where I live now, there are many inhabitants that are interesting to you. First of all, rabbits, there are 12 of them. Most of them live in the attic and tinker there with such noise, like people. The largest of them is dark gray, just like a hare and is called Bunny. Every 10 days it is weighed on scales, such as those found in shops. He sits quietly on the scales and in general does not seem to be at all afraid of people. Then there live guinea pigs, there are 8 of them. Of these, 4 are boys, 2 are girls and 2 are boys who were recently born. The pigs' names are: Red, Chiganoshka - Black Gypsy, Girl, Black, Yellow and Mommy; Mama has two children, who have not yet received names, but both of them together are called Scoundrels, because... they jump out of their boxes and run around the room. All pigs are weighed every 10 days. They feed on hay, oats, rutabaga, and turnips. Sometimes, despite their calmness, they start fights among themselves and even the boys hurt each other. Pigs of different colors: some are black with white spots, others are tricolor. For you, the most interesting ones would probably be white mice. There are 30 of them, adults, teenagers and very small ones; these 3 boys are so small that they can be mistaken for small balls of cotton wool. White mice are not as nimble as gray mice, and therefore are not disgusting. I remember how, at the age of 3–4 years, I had two mice, also white. They crawled up my collar and up my sleeve, and I wasn’t afraid of them at all. In general, these little animals are very pretty, completely white, without the slightest spot. Finally, we must mention the huge cat. Everyone here calls him differently. Who is Vasily Ivanovich, who is Alikhan, and who is just Kotik. This Kitty carries fish and sometimes leaves traces of his presence on the beds. There was also a pigeon and a German shepherd, Jackie, a puppy who grew up in great friendship with Kitty and slept with him in the same box. But now there is no dove and no Jackie. All of the animals listed above cause a lot of trouble. Either they feed them, then they put them to bed, then they cover them with hay, then they clean their boxes with them, then they break up fights, and then they bite those who separate them, then they weigh them - in a word, there is more trouble with them than with people. Guinea pigs purr like pigeons, but in higher voices, and small ones make sounds like sparrows; That's why they are called sparrows here. Look, the whole letter came out like a beast. I kiss you, dear Tika. Write to your dad and don't forget him. March 13–14, 1935, ex. Filippova Hermitage Dear Mick, I bring you the latest news about silver foxes. There are only six of them. They must marry local red foxes. Silver foxes are called silver foxes here, and I am not sure that they are identical with silver foxes. Children from such marriages are called sivodushkas and, as I read in the newspaper, the fur of sivodushki is very valuable. Silver-black foxes have made friends with dogs and piglets here. They wander everywhere and sometimes break the glass of greenhouses, probably climbing onto the upper parts of buildings. It seems they are busy catching mice near the greenhouses. Despite their tameness, foxes do not allow themselves to be touched. Today, while walking, I saw a lot of fox tracks, but I don’t know which foxes made them. There are very few dogs here. There are no birds to be seen yet, but they say that seagulls will soon fly in and drive out the crows that have entered there for the winter from their nests from last year. I haven't heard any more news about animals yet. – I am telling you an interesting experiment on the transformations of starch. Make the weakest starch paste by pouring starch (potato flour) into a few tablespoons of cold water on the tip of a penknife, grinding it into a homogeneous mixture and pouring it into 1/4 cup of boiling water, stirring the liquid well and boiling slightly, very briefly. Pour a little of this starch paste into a test tube and add 1 drop of iodine tincture, slightly diluted with water. The paste will turn blue, this is a reaction to starch. Then heat the blue liquid, but do not heat it for long - it will become discolored. Let it cool and it will turn blue again. Heat it again - it will discolor again, etc. Now add a little acid (sulfuric or hydrochloric) and boil the solution; If the iodine evaporates, you will have to add another drop during cooling. The solution will turn purple. This is a reaction to amylodextrin. Heat it even more - iodine gives a red color - a reaction to amylodextrin. Heat it even more - the color will no longer be obtained - a reaction to achroodextrin. When heated, especially with acid, the complex starch molecule gradually breaks down into simpler ones, which give different colors. You need to add a little acid and a weak one, boil for 2-3 minutes each time. Now I will tell you about fish farming. The White Sea is a wonderful sea; nowhere are there as many islands as there are: the whole sea is made up of islands. But then the islands are not islands, but solid lakes. There are hundreds of lakes on Bolshoi Solovetsky Island, I even forgot how many exactly. Everywhere you look there is a lake. These lakes lie at different heights. In the 16th century, the already famous Philip Kolychev, later Metropolitan of Moscow, connected the lakes with channels, so that the water gradually flows from one to another. In many lakes the water is clean, like in the mountains; These are so-called alpine-type lakes. Other lakes are closer to swamps. In connection with this diversity of lake waters and the mildness of the climate, they have long thought about breeding fish in the Solovetsky lakes, and it would be possible to select favorable conditions for fish of various families and lifestyles. They think, for example, that in alpine-type lakes there would be suitable conditions for whitefish, in others - for bream, carp, crucian carp, etc. However, the fish grows here very slowly and the crucian carp are almost tens of years old - only small crucian carp. It seems that the main reason for this is that the water is too fresh, the lack of salts in the water, and this circumstance does not allow plankton, and even the fish, to develop. That is why in some of the local lakes there is no fish at all, in others, although there is some, it is very small and small, and only in some places the fish have been more successful. However, more complex measures may provide the fish with more favorable living conditions. But there is a lot of fish in the sea and, moreover, the best species. The famous Solovetsky herring, a lot of navaga, cod and others. Along the banks there is a flounder crawling (precisely crawling, not swimming), but it is small; at low tide, as I heard, it is collected on the bottom abandoned by the water. Lots of different shellfish. Shells, small sea crabs, sea urchins, and starfish are found in abundance off the coast. This is explained by the warmth of the White Sea water (due to the outflow of the Gulfström), the abundance of algae and the flatness of the shores. End of paper. I kiss you deeply, dear. April 27–28, 1935, ex. Filippova Hermitage Dear Mick, seagulls have flown into the Kremlin. 185 They are completely tame and run around at your feet like chickens. They make different sounds all the time, the most unusual ones. Sometimes they scream like a turkey, sometimes they cackle, sometimes they scream piercingly, sometimes they seem to cry, very similar to capricious children. This bird cry has such an effect on nervous people that they cannot sleep. There are a lot of seagulls. They fly over the Kremlin wall, towers, churches or run around the Kremlin courtyard. Sometimes one will funnyly open its beak and start screaming, and then others will join it and compete to see who is louder. These seagulls are larger than a duck and smaller than a goose. Their chest, neck, mantle and head are white, and there is also a white stripe near the tail, and their back is ash-gray, with a bluish tint, and smoky, as if a smoky-gray gull had been thrown over a white seagull. The beak and paws are yellow, as are the eyes. The tail is black, but with white spots, and there are black spots on the back. The beak is long, straight, with a strongly curved end. The legs are weak, thin, but quite long. V.7–8. Yesterday I heard about an adventure with a silver-brown fox. These foxes run everywhere, run into restrooms, garbage dumps, and are accustomed to begging from everyone. Such a fox got into the habit of one fisherman, he gave him a perch, the fox left. But one day the fisherman caught a lot of perch, and the fox, having received a handout, was not satisfied with it and began to ask for more. The fisherman chased the fox and scolded him. The fox grabbed his leg. The fisherman pushed away. Then the fox took the mitten lying on the ground in his teeth and set off into the forest with it. The fisherman chased the fox, but got tired. The fox finally threw the mitten into the bushes, and it took quite a long time to find it. Meanwhile, the fox came back and ate all the fish. “We recently caught a seagull with a ring on its leg that was worn in Rome. So this is where the Solovetsky gulls fly. 12.V. The sea has mostly opened up, but there is still an ice border near the shore. Airplanes have stopped flying, navigation will probably resume soon. When does your school year end? How are your exams going now that they have started? With this letter I was late for the last airplane, but now I have to take my time, because... it still won't go until navigation opens. – One Iranian (as Persians are now supposed to be called) tells me about Iranian life, about morals, customs, foods, and quotes from Persian poets. “You write that you were hunting, but you don’t say with whom.” Bow for me to Katya and tell her that I remember her constantly. Tell Mommy (there is no room to write directly to her anymore) that I am very glad when she tells me all sorts of little things in your life and that I ask all of you to write more of them. I kiss you, darling. I'll write again one of these days. Dear Tika, I tell you the news - the guinea pig gave birth to 4 babies, but 2 were dead. These babies are bigger than I thought, but cute. They are born sighted and, one might say, quite old, and within a week after birth they eat all kinds of food. On the third day after birth, one weighed 84 g and the other 97 g, and on the 9th day the weight was 120 g and 100 g. All pigs were hanged on an empty stomach. Another news: the mother rabbit gave birth to 4 rabbits. One pair is gray, like hares, and the other is black. Rabbits are born blind, but after 5-6 days they open their eyes. – The other day the cat ate one rabbit, only not a born one, but an older one. No matter how much they fought off the rabbit, the cat still ate it. For this, the cat is now put in a cage, and he purrs from there. The cat is very cunning and looks so insightfully that you feel uneasy. It seems that now he will say: “What kind of cat am I to you?” Yesterday, i.e. On May 6th, it snowed again, just like in winter. It's quite cold now, only a little warmer than it was in winter, although the snow has already become loose. And it’s all the more strange to look at this snow because it’s light almost all night. I go to bed when it’s already light. Even by midnight it doesn’t really get dark, and at 11 1/2 o’clock, although according to civil time, it is only twilight. But during the day, the light is somehow not real, liquid, transparent, as if you see everything in a dream, and not in reality. V.8. I’m at odds with the cat for his tricks, I look into his eyes, he turns away, starts yawning, feels that I’m angry with him. V.13. There are many seagulls in the Kremlin, they all scream, cackle, cackle, make turkey sounds, cry, but unlike their sounds, they are beautiful, especially when they fly. And then I heard them talking. One seagull tells the other that she recently came from Moscow and was in a city called Zagorsk. And he says, there’s a girl there, Tika, she has a sailor’s dress, very beautiful, very beautiful, have you seen it? And the other one answers: I’ll definitely fly over to see it. I came closer to them, but they flew away. Bow to your grandmother. Will you have Anya in the summer? Bow to her. June 13–14, 1935, ex. Filippova Hermitage Dear Tika, you are busy with chickens, and we have all sorts of other “atas and yatas” here: rabbits, sea piglets, white mice, and probably there will be kittens. Sometimes rabbits are allowed out of their cages for a walk. They jump around the kitchen and in the hallway, and I catch them, although this is not always possible. They are big cowards. Very soft, plush faces. Some rabbits are black, and some are gray, just like hares. Pigs of different colors, spots: white, black and yellow-brown, in different combinations. They are all also very meek and cowardly. Their squeaking sounds either like the grunting of little piglets or the chirping of birds. Recently I watched how the little rabbits settled on their mother, as if on a sofa. Guinea pigs always try to gather together and lie on top of each other. Each one tries to penetrate deeper and pushes out the others, and those, jumping out, lie on top and push out those who have reached a more comfortable bottom. Write to me what you are playing now and how your German is going. To learn to write more competently, try every day to carefully read at least 10 lines of some good work, look closely at every word, every letter and every comma, so that your eye gets used to how this or that word is written and where and in what case this or that punctuation mark is placed. It would be nice if you and Anya or Mick worked through a few lines together and drew each other’s attention to the writing. You can spend 20 minutes on this, but it will be both useful and fun. What do your dolls do? You never write to me about them. Write down every day what you did and what you saw interesting, and someday I will see your diary, and it will be interesting for you to remember what you have lived through. But even better, just take advantage of the air and relax in the sun to gain strength for the winter. I write so poorly because the paper here is damp, almost wet, I have a few drops of ink and I’m sitting awkwardly. So don’t follow your dad’s example and try to write better. Do you speak German with Anya? She probably already learned to speak. Bow to her from me, and also to her parents. Bow to your grandmother and wish her health from me. How is Katya Mikina's health? Bow to her too. I learned from the seagulls that you have a new blouse. Is this true? Yes, I forgot to write to mommy (I wrote earlier, but I’m afraid the letter didn’t arrive) that it would be nice if Grandma Olya lived with us in the summer. Have you received this letter? I just don’t know whether her health will allow her to come by electric or rail. I kiss you deeply, dear daughter. Don't forget your dad and write to him. June 23, 1935, ex. Filippova Hermitage 1935.VI.23. Dear Tika, I am telling you the latest news. Today our old tricolor pig gave birth to babies. Usually they are born in twos. But this time the pig brought five: one almost white, two three-colored and two red. These piglets are born completely ready - sighted and quite large, and immediately begin to run. Do you know how these babies are watered and fed? - From a pipette, like an eye dropper, but with a ball. Pigs willingly open their mouths and swallow the liquid that is squeezed into them. – Another event: today I saw a seagull nesting in a flowerbed in the Kremlin, in the middle of the Kremlin square. Gulls were running around her, I saw two. They are quite large, about the size of a partridge, and do not look like seagulls at all: sandy, yellow-gray in color, without feathers in the wings and without a tail, on long legs, very clumsy. The plumage sticks out in all directions. The gulls can be mistaken for kiwi birds. 1935.VII.3. There are whole clouds of mosquitoes that get under the mosquito nets, fly into the rooms and give no rest to anyone. And there are almost no butterflies: in all the time I saw, it seems, no more than three. Here the animals quickly become tamed. For example, silver-brown foxes at a certain time come to the window of a remote barracks, knock with their paws and demand a handout. A wounded deer himself comes from the forest to be bandaged, and the deer here live like wild ones, without care, and run around the forest. I kiss you deeply. Bow to your grandmother. August 21, 1935, former Filippova Hermitage Dear Tika, on August 19th most of the seagulls flew away. Those remaining on duty with the younger generation of chicks cry pitifully. I recently saw chicks. They have grown up to be big, as big as an adult seagull, they walk importantly, but their plumage is not white, but gray-yellow, motley. Look out the window and see if you can see the seagulls flying, and maybe talk to them. Recently I watched a seagull knocking, very insistently, on the window of the library room on the 2nd floor. The window was finally opened. The seagull very deftly picked up pieces of bread thrown to it from afar. The most remarkable thing is that she swallows such pieces at once that you would have enough for lunch; and won't choke! Do you see the grandmothers – Olya and Sonya? Tell Grandma Sonya if you see her that I often think about her and lately I’ve been imagining her very vividly, as if she were standing in front of me. Mommy couldn’t remember the name of the plant that smelled like lemon. This is lemon balm. I am very sorry that Melissa was not accepted with us. M.b. Is it too cold for her in the garden? We should try to let it get stronger in the room first, and then plant it in the garden in the summer. Did Kira bring anything for the garden? Did the forest orchids that I once planted near the balcony bloom? It’s a pity that I didn’t plant white (“night violets”). And here there were a lot of them, but they smell much weaker, although more drunken, than here. How are your classes going? You're probably well prepared by now. If you haven’t prepared, you’ll learn it later—it will come in due time. Do you play 4 hands? Bow to your grandmother and Mikina Katya, kiss Anya. Did Vasya receive the picture I sent him? Have you set up a school for dolls? Write what your cheeks are like now, are they pink? I kiss them warmly, and you too, dear Tika. September 5–6, 1935, ex. Monastery forge Dear Tika, although it’s late, I congratulate you on your name day 186 and ask you to eat something delicious. I look at the last remaining seagulls and think about my dear daughter. Now, quite importantly, four little seagulls are walking around Kremlin Square. They have grown quite large and have become slender, but their feathers are still not white, but gray-motley and have a black tail. They grew up among a crowd of people and, one might say, under their feet. Therefore, they are not afraid of anything, now they go without their mothers and show carelessness. Recently, one of these fools did not bother to move away from a truck, and his tail was run over by a wheel, but without harm. His mother then scolded him, of course in her own language, saying that the Zagorsk girl does not leave her mother’s side, even sleeps with her, but he keeps running away somewhere and is careless. The gulls began to quarrel among themselves: they open their mouths wide, shout something, must be swearing like a gull, and jump on each other. Their mothers persuade them not to quarrel and refer to the Zagorsk girl who does not fight or quarrel with her brothers and sister. On August 29th I spent my last day at the Biogarden. I was lying under a tree with a book, and right above me, 3 meters away, a woodpecker was crawling along the trunk of a spruce tree and did not pay attention to me. As he flew away, he shouted: “Goodbye, goodbye, kiss the Zagorsk girl.” Bow for me to Ledovit Ivanovich, 187 tell him that I remember him here. Yes, more about seagulls. A boy I know was sitting at a table in kindergarten and studying. Two seagulls flew in, sat on the table on either side of it, right and left, and watched over him while he sat there. They probably wanted to know if he was working hard. If you want to get yourself a dog, then get one, you just have to take care of it yourself, feed it and make sure it doesn’t run into the street. However, I don’t know where you will get her, because Atina is no longer there, so it’s difficult to get puppies. Bow to your grandmother and Mikina Katya. Tell Olya to start compiling a chronicle of family events, i.e. I would write down the dates of births and other family events in a notebook (and first on pieces of paper) and arrange them in chronological order. I kiss my dear Tika deeply. September 16, 1935, ex. Monastery forge Dear Tika, the last seagulls have bid farewell to us, and crows have come in their place. They say that this year's gulls will arrive only in 3 years, obviously they will be raised somewhere in warm countries. Even seagulls, as you see, have to learn their Seagull sciences. Bow to Ledovit Ivanovich. Before the seagulls departed, I happened to hear a conversation between them. The mother seagull said to her cubs: “Here, we will soon fly over Zagorsk, and then over Odessa. Look, don’t learn to speak like in Odessa. They say very funny things there. For example, they say: “Sonya, don’t shake the sofa, you’ll wake up dad.” Or they also say: “He burst the glass.” They also say: “I borrowed from him” instead of “I borrowed from him.” But in Zagorsk they say it correctly. When they read a book, they try to remember the turn of phrase and think about it. The Zagorsk girl always does this, and you learn from her,” she said something else, but I couldn’t understand it. Do your new girlfriends live with you? Bow to them from me, if they remember me. But they probably forgot, they saw me when they were very small. Has Anya left? When you read, look closely at how this or that word is written and try to remember, then you will quickly learn to write without mistakes. Copy poems that you like into your notebook, but copy them without mistakes, this will also help you master literacy. Comfort mommy, on my behalf and on yours, and try to make it more fun for her. Play more 4-hand games and don’t forget your dad, who kisses you deeply. April 19–20, 1936, formerly Tannery Dear Tika, mom asks me about our animals. Tell her the following. A black Hare is running around the laboratory premises. Actually, this is not a hare, but a rabbit, but his name is Hare. He climbs everywhere, bouncing rather clumsily and ponderously on the floor, and when he gets into one of the laboratories or into our room, it is difficult to kick him out. I recently met with an old man I know who lives not in the Kremlin, but on a so-called business trip, i.e. away, about 12 kilometers, in a separate house. Lives alone. He told how deer and foxes came to him every day, asking for food. He fed the deer a little of his hay mattress. Here the animals are all semi-tame. Mom asks if foxes are killed? No, they are doing an acclimatization experiment; they want to find out whether the silver-brown fox will reproduce in the wild. Deer are sometimes killed - in the spring, because... they fight among themselves, and would probably kill some anyway. They live in complete freedom. There are no predators here. “The seagulls have arrived, and the Kremlin is therefore full of turkey calls.” It’s good that you said that your Buska 188 is a boy, but I thought it was a girl, judging by the name. Are you afraid of him? I sent Mick a starfish. Let him write whether he received it. We've been seeing northern lights here almost every day lately, although they don't always play out well. Here on the islands there are many eiders, a bird that provides precious down. This down is taken not from the bird itself, but from its nests, which it covers with down. It is very expensive. Previously, there were much more eiders, but they were gradually exterminated (she is very trusting). They also took her eggs, they went in monastic times, long ago, for eggs, and therefore the islands where the eider nested were called Zayaitsky; 189 later this name was changed to Zayatsky, and in common parlance they began to be called Zaychiki, although they have nothing to do with hares. The seagulls had already shouted to me that in Posad a girl was making waterfalls. I realized that this was probably Tika, and therefore in a letter to my mother I tell you something about the highest and widest waterfalls, like yours. How is your German going? Bow to your teacher for me. How's your music? Do you play with four hands? The seagulls told me that you are expecting a little one. 190 What will you do with him? Do you listen to Maria Veniaminovna's play? And write what you learned from Maria Veniaminovna? One of the seagulls saw a fresco in Zagorsk and said that it would be interesting for me to see it, but she didn’t say why. M.b. you can explain what's going on. For me, bow to the larks, who are not heard here and whom I miss. Perhaps with a little one you will forget your dolls, and they will be offended by you. Bow to your grandmother and tell her to be healthy and strong. Bow to Anastasia Fedorovna. Write to me what breed your Buska is and what size he is. Does he listen to you or do what he wants? When I wrote to you about Chinese cuisine, I forgot to tell you that mussels (sea shells like the toothless anodone, found in ponds) and slugs are considered delicious dishes there; They say both are delicious with seasoning. I kiss my dear daughter deeply and kiss her again. 1936.VI.24. Now I found out that the first starling was seen on the roof. May 1, 1936, ex. Tannery V.I. Dear Mick, you haven't written to me for a long time. What are you doing? How are your eyes? They bother me a lot. Now I’m looking through Shokalsky’s “Oceanography” 191 and find a lot of interesting things there. I want to tell you something about the sea. Firstly, about the calming effect of the oil on anxiety. The oil really calms the crests of the waves and prevents the wind from tearing them off and smoothes the surface. The oil layer can be very thin, no thicker than 0.2 m, i.e. 0.0002 mm, and therefore oil consumption is insignificant: e.g. 50 cm 3 oils in 20 min. covers an area of ​​15,000 m2. For an average size vessel, the consumption is about 3 liters of oil per hour. Oil is poured from bags of hemp - the bags are oiled through and through (4 liters of oil per bag) and hung on the sides of the ship. Animal oils (fish or seal oil) work best, then vegetable oils, and mineral oils are worse. V.3. I would like to write more, but they took the book from me. I remember the waves rushing onto the shore during volcanic eruptions and earthquakes: in Japan, for example, the wave was 12 m high, and during the eruption of Krakatoa in 1883 it reached 34 m in height and carried away not only the inhabitants, but even the land, i.e., from the shores to great depths inside the island. soil. This wave traveled around the entire ocean, but of course with an ever-decreasing height. Do you see in my lifetime what events I have experienced: the most remarkable comet of 1882, the 192nd eruption of Krakatoa, which is considered the most grandiose that has ever occurred on Earth in historical times, the emergence and development of all electrical engineering (the first energy transmission was arranged in 1894), the invention of the phonograph, radio, color photography, cinema, the discovery of X-rays, radium, the electrical nature of matter, cosmic rays, a complete revision the fundamentals of geology, inoculation against contagious diseases, measurement of the size of atoms, the principle of relativity, quantum mechanics, the development of aeronautics, electric transport, synthetic resins, the liquefaction of gases, the discovery of helium and noble gases, travel to the poles, and countless other new phenomena and ideas. When I look back at my life, it seems to me that I am reading a chronicle of hundreds of years. Add here the great archaeological discoveries: Troy, Crete, prehistoric Greece, Egypt, African cultures, etc. You see how old your father is, almost a thousand years old. I kiss you deeply, dear. October 11–12, 1936, formerly Tannery Dear Mick, I received your letters, I’m scared, even in retrospect, by your adventures and in particular by the airplane. Have you seen Aunt Lilya and her whole family in Tiflis? Have you been to Uncle Shura’s apartment? 193 Were you at the grave of Yulia’s grandfather and grandmother? In the summer I studied physics with a club. Solved problems according to Tsinger’s problem book “Problems and Questions in Physics”, 7th ed. 1935. This problem book was compiled very well. Each problem conveys something interesting, the problems are easy, do not require any tricks, and are thorough. I would really like for you to get yourself such a problem book and solve all the problems in it from cover to cover, solving at least one problem every day, but systematically and thoughtfully, and not just to get an answer. You are now at an age when the foundation of all subsequent knowledge is being laid, and if you do not lay the foundation in good faith, then everything will go unsteadily and will be difficult to master. And Zinger’s problem book touches not only physics, but also various branches of natural science and technology. Your letter about Svaneti was very interesting to me. I have not been to Svaneti, but I saw it from the Utini pass in Racha (Racha district earlier) and received a strong impression from it. You probably saw this Utini ridge, at least from an airplane, because... to Kutais from Svaneti you need to fly through it. Other areas you mentioned are well known to me: I lived in Kutais and know the whole region well - Tkvibuli, Naneralsky ridge, Shaoru, etc. I also lived in Chiaturi and climbed all the highlands, carefully examining them. I spent my entire childhood in Batum and I know Cape Verde, where the Botanical Garden was just about to begin in my time. It’s also a pity that you didn’t see my beloved Batumo-Akhaltsykh road. 194 But your time is yet to come. However, when visiting Adjaris-Tskali in 1925 (?) with Kira and Vasya, I was bitterly convinced that the wildness and untouchedness of Adjaristan had already disappeared, so I simply could not recognize many places. The comforts of civilization penetrate everywhere, and at the same time poetry and comfort dissipate. How the surroundings of our Zagorsk have changed before my eyes in 30 years, beyond recognition. I kiss you, dear Mick, try not to waste time and listen to your dear mother. Do you like your nephew? 195 Bow to your grandmother. October 23, 1936, ex. Tannery Dear Mick, how I would like to be with you, to accustom you to proper work and to the accumulation of knowledge. However, if you sometimes think about your dad, then you probably try to take advantage of the best years of your memory and freshness of perception, so as not to waste time and prepare yourself for future serious work. When I was your age, every lost minute seemed to me either a misfortune or a crime, and I tried to fill it all the time. I had notebooks where I wrote down everything significant from the books I read and reviews of books, notebooks of interesting quotes, albums of sketches from nature, notebooks of experimental work divided into paragraphs, notebooks for field observations. Every day I gave myself a score for my work (this was done in the evening) with motivation. It was in this way that I acquired a stock of knowledge, work skills and, most importantly, the habit of judging things independently, and not from someone else’s voice, by the things themselves. I tried to compare and summarize the acquired information in the form of tables, diagrams, curves - in such a condensed form they become clearer, come to life and are comprehended: immediately, of course, an “empirical generalization” is obtained. – By the way, while reading about the fruits of plants, I made a small summary for myself on the discrepancy between everyday terminology and botanical terminology. It is based on the botanical classification of fruits, shown in the tablet.... As you can see, the ordinary everyday name does not at all coincide with the scientific one. – There are a lot of partridges and grouse in the forests here. You walk through the forest, and flocks of black grouse fly up. Partridges are not very fearful and are easy to lure. And then they catch without luring. I was recently in the northern part of the island. 196 One worker left the house and a few minutes later returned with a partridge - he killed it with a stick. Recently we saw a lot of swans - they are found in the North (Karelia) and Solovki. Black-brown foxes scurry around like little dogs, climb into the Kremlin, wander around the streets and are not at all afraid of people, for example, they eat directly from people’s hands. – Have you carefully examined the plants on Cape Verde? Write to me how you generally imagine the difference between subtropical vegetation and vegetation in the middle zone, i.e. posadskaya - namely, what is the distinctive character of the leaves, trunk, flowers, fruits, etc., of both, if we try to generalize the characteristics of the most typical and numerous representatives of both floras. Then write to me about the difference between subtropical and average or northern-medium soil. And also write to me whether there is iron in chlorophyll, and if not, then whether there is any metal there. I kiss you deeply, dear. Be healthy. How are your eyes? November 25, 1936, ex. Tannery 1936.XI.25. Solovki, No. 82. Dear Mick, I have just returned from a small excursion. Last night I was assigned to give lectures on one of my business trips, in the eastern part of the island, 10 km from the Kremlin. We left at 7 pm, i.e. in this case, quite at night. But the sky was clear, freezing, and the bright moon was shining, so, despite my eyes, I walked easily and freely, but, as always, with my tall rowan staff. The road goes through the forest, then through swamps. Until recently, it was difficult to walk through these swamps even during the day. Now they have made a sand embankment there, and besides, everything is frozen. It was deserted; we didn’t meet anyone the whole way. I gave 2 lectures in the evening, and another one the next morning, all about algae and the algae industry, of course. I have talked about these issues so many times that there is a danger of becoming a gramophone. Therefore, I try to diversify the approach, plan and partly the content, so that it would be interesting for myself. In classical music they liked to write variations on a theme, so I write variations in different keys and tempos. The foreman of the business trip, an Armenian from near Tiflis, treated me to various Caucasian supplies - cheese, honey, nuts and apples, even kaymak, so I ate and warmed up in the hotly heated barracks. We remembered the Caucasus, different places and dishes. On the seashore I picked up some interesting algae in my bag, without which I never go anywhere. The sea begins to freeze: it is covered with slush, it is washed to the shore by the tide and waves, so that the water is covered with the so-called. lard - thick ice crystals. They make it thicker and resemble solidified lard. The surf changes characteristically. The waves no longer form crests, do not break or capsize, but slowly and reluctantly find their way to the shore, leaving part of their sludge on it. This causes a white shaft along the coastline, which at first can be mistaken for snow, but what is striking is the strangeness of such snow falling in a long narrow strip, while the rest of the surface is still bare. Mixed with this slush are algae washed up on the shore, frozen from above into a total mass. It became difficult to take them - you must first break through the ice crust. In addition, a cold wind pierces the shore, and your feet fall into the seaweed, under which there is cold water. In some places, pancakes sway lazily on the waves, surrounded by lard. This is the name given to ice disks, completely round, the size of a good pancake, formed from the freezing of slush into a total mass. I've never seen pancakes at sea before. It turned out that this name is very successful - it accurately conveys the appearance of these ice formations. I collected algae, but not by choosing, but almost at random: with a glove, you don’t have to sort out wet algae, and it’s inconvenient if the species are delicate, and without a glove, your hands get very cold in the wind. On the way back, along the road, about 4 meters away from me, I saw a white partridge. We looked at each other for a long time, and I saw her very well. This is a charming bird - white, like snow or good porcelain, very graceful, with pretty dark eyes, all smooth, as if chiseled or cast, not at all timid. I kiss you, dear Mick. Don't upset mommy and don't forget your dad. I kiss you again. [1936.XI.25. No. 82] Dear Tika, behind the plank partition our night watchman, the physical education teacher, is saying something, I don’t know with whom. I look out the door (it’s already 2 am). It turns out that he is talking to a cat, which he hid behind his jacket. When I asked who he was talking to, I received the answer that he was talking to a cat, because... I remembered that he also caressed his one-year-old daughter and carried her everywhere in his arms, and she wanted to be taken down to the floor. And I remember my daughter, whom I also carried in my arms and who was afraid of the forest. Are you afraid now? Are you still working on your dolls, or have you fallen behind them? Perhaps they will soon be passed on to the little nephew? However, I still remember and regret my dolls, especially about the Yulia doll, which I liked so much in the store that they bought it for me, despite part of her neck being broken. I not only sewed dresses for this doll, but also embroidered, knitted, constantly washed, generally took care of her as best I could and even prepared dinner for her. I kiss you deeply, dear Tik, don’t forget dad. December 18–19, 1936, formerly Tannery Dear Tika, I am telling you fox stories. One person went ice skating and took off her felt boots. A black-brown fox crept up, stole one felt boot and ran away with it. Despite the pursuit of those present, it was not possible to return the felt boots. The fox will probably split it to decorate his hole. Foxes run everywhere and love to be in the Kremlin, so they have already begun to get nicknames. One of them, even though he is a fox and not a fox, is named Katya. This Katya runs along the corridors of the hostel, climbs into the cells and then they feed him. He especially loves sugar. In one of the cells, where he was often treated to food, he stole a galosh, but it could not be returned and could not be found for a whole day. The next day he realized that getting sugar was more profitable for him than owning galoshes, and he returned it himself, bringing it in his teeth. These foxes don't bother anyone and are quite cowardly. They move silently, as if a black shadow is gliding. The black and brown foxes were not brought here on purpose, only one, probably due to an oversight. They wanted the cubs to be bred from black-brown foxes and common red foxes - this cross is distinguished by beautiful fur and is called gray foxes. But it seems that no such babies are born. And the black-brown fox had children, very pretty, as they say - I didn’t see them, however. “We have winds here and often a thaw, but the frost is still 1-2°, it’s even hard to believe that we are near the Arctic Circle. Latitude affects, however, the shortness of the day. At about 9 am it is still dark, semi-dark; Without artificial light, you can only work in the room for 2 hours a day. The sea has not frozen yet, but we expect navigation to stop soon. Therefore, do not be surprised if there is a break in my letters. I constantly think about my daughter. She would need to read and tell stories out loud more often to get used to speaking. At least you should tell your mom more. Vasyushka, when he was little, talked incessantly, especially on walks. He himself noticed this and explained it this way: “You know, mom, when a bee flies, it buzzes all the time. So when I walk, I speak.” But Tika, on the contrary, does not look like a bee at all. How will she collect honey? Her dad wants her to collect a lot of honey for him. - By the time this letter arrives, you will probably have already opened my package. Write if you found anything interesting there. – Currently, I live in a new place, that is, in the same building, but next to the laboratory, which has been moved to another room, in the oldest part of the 2nd floor. I live alone. The room is small, 10 steps deep and 3 wide. The room is more secluded than it was before and quieter, but a little cold. But on the other hand, it’s easier for me, especially in the late evenings, to think about you. This room is similar in shape to the one in which I lived in 1906-1908, but not so high and not vaulted. 197 I kiss my dear daughter deeply and kiss her again. June 19, 1937, ex. Chobotnaya Chamber 1937.VI.19. Dear Tika, I always have to say goodbye to something. I said goodbye to the Biogarden, then to Solovetsky nature, then to algae, then to Yodprom. As if we wouldn’t have to say goodbye to the island. You ask me to draw something for you. But now I don’t have paints, and besides, I can’t send you even if I painted for you. We'll have to wait for a more suitable time. You can take some geological species or some algae from my Caucasian album and hang it for yourself. But take what is prettier and glue it under glass. I'm sorry that drawing has stopped, because... it calms you down, just like music does if you play it yourself. I hope that my daughter will draw for me, and probably better than her dad. For me, bow to your grandmother and Anastasia Fedorovna. Kiss mommy and little one and show him something beautiful. The seagulls say you have a new dress, don't they? I kiss my daughter deeply. October 13–14, 1933, art. Ksenievskaya Dear Olechka, I kept meaning to write to you, but I’m so busy, from early morning (from 6 a.m.) until late at night (12 p.m.–1 a.m. or later), that I don’t have a minute of free time, and besides, there are no postcards. Tell mom that I don’t need to send anything, I hope that somehow I’ll get everything I need. You can write to me as much as you want, but I probably won’t be able to write often, so don’t worry if you don’t receive letters for a long time. Read Ostrovsky, Leskov, Turgenev in Russian literature; Read Pushkin, Zhukovsky, Lermontov, Boratynsky more and more carefully, and when you grow up, Tyutchev and Fet. Among foreign writers, read Schiller, V. Hugo, Hoffmann. It’s good for you to read Pushkin in Polivanov’s edition, 198 reading the explanation each time. Then I came across the 1st volume of this publication and after lunch I read Pushkin’s lyric poems for 1/4 hour. I kiss you deeply, dear daughter. I kiss my mother, Vasya, Kira, Mika and Tika. Bow to your grandmother. My address: st. Ksenievskaya, Zabaikalskaya railway d., mailbox No. 1, 5th camp point, me. November 12, 1933, art. Ksenievskaya 1933.XI.12. Dear Olechka, I received your letter and am sitting down to answer you. First of all, don’t worry about your failures with school: everything will work out and work out for the better. Calmly do what is available at every moment, grow, develop, and be sure that everything you gain now, in your youth, will someday be needed and, moreover, it will turn out that this seemingly random knowledge will be required. I tell you this based on long life experience. What do you need to do? First, you need to learn certain skills that are necessary no matter what you do in the future: languages, literature, mathematics, physics and natural sciences, drawing, at least a little, and drawing, music. This is necessary in every situation in life and in every activity. Learn to express thoughts, those of others and your own, learn to describe: acquire the skill of paying close attention to words, to style, to construction. It’s good that you started learning German seriously; don’t forget French; To do this, try to read at least a page every day, and certainly out loud, and look up unfamiliar words in the dictionary. It’s also a good idea to read in French, having a Russian translation of the text and comparing what is translated and how, catching the shortcomings of the translation. In general, try to make languages, both Russian and foreign, a living sound for you, and not just icons on paper. Therefore, try to read Russian works, if not entirely, then at least a little at a time, and catch the perfection of sound, the rhythm of construction, both from the sound, semantic and figurative side. Be sure to read good poems aloud, especially by Pushkin and Tyutchev, let others listen too - learn and relax. I came across a volume of Pushkin in the Polivanov edition. How nice it was after lunch, on the banks of the Gloomy River, to read Pushkin’s poems out loud and ponder the highest perfection of every word, every turn of speech, not to mention the construction of the whole. In mathematics, try to ensure that you don’t just remember what to do and how to do it, but understand and assimilate how a piece of music is learned. Mathematics should not be a burden in the mind brought in from the outside, but a habit of thought: one must learn to see geometric relationships in all reality and discern formulas in all phenomena. He has not mastered mathematics, who knows how to answer exams and solve problems, but forgets mathematical thinking when there is no talk about mathematics. You ask whether you should study botany. Of course, as much as you have time and effort, try to, if not study, then prepare for these classes: look at more pictures in botanical works, comparing plants in drawings and in nature, try to understand the style of families, the artistic and biological unity that underlies them. Finally, you should little by little accumulate a capital of plant names and, moreover, in such a way that these are not empty names, but piggy banks that will contain information about the life, properties and use of plants denoted by these names. The richer your information, even if scattered, about individual plants, the easier and more interesting your botany studies will be subsequently. Understand that it is wrong to begin any kind of science without previously acquired baggage; this leads to dead and harmful ballast, and without immediately being able to digest it, students are left forever with a clogged head. When we walked together, I tried to draw your attention to the similarities of individual plants, to tell you some names. Now we can add to this the technical properties of plants. In particular, read Kerner von Merelaun’s “The Life of Plants”, 199 you will find a lot of useful things there, you don’t have to rush, but rather read little by little, calmly, assimilating and thinking about it. It is very good to look at images of the same plant in different books and generally return to the same plant many times in order to make it close to you. I kiss you deeply, dear Olechka, kiss mommy. Live cheerfully and cheerfully, work and be healthy. Your dad. Tell mom not to worry about me, because... There is always someone who takes care of me and helps me arrange food and other living conditions. December 27, 1933, Svobodny 1933.XII.27. Dear Olya, mom writes that you are upset about school. 200 In vain. Firstly, this matter will settle down and settle down over time, and secondly, it is much more useful for you to study German and music, work on mathematics and physics, and read literature. Otherwise, when you graduate from school, you will be left without the necessary general preparation, because they will have their own classes and you won’t have time. About myself, I will say that all the knowledge I acquired, which turned out to be truly lasting and useful later, was accumulated through personal efforts, and not at school. True, these efforts come with great difficulty; but they also provide greater satisfaction and better results. There is no half-knowledge here: what I learned, I learned reliably. Therefore, dear, do not be upset, but consider the current situation as your gain. Write to me what you are reading. If you have a chance, read Leskov, and others will also find it useful and interesting. Then read Leontiev, I mean his stories and novellas. But when you read works of fiction, do not be satisfied with the plot alone, but be aware of the structure of the work, the peculiarities of the language, think about the types. You need to understand how the work was made, in its whole and individual elements, and why it was made exactly this way and not otherwise. Then you will see that various features of the work, even those that at first may seem like shortcomings, shortcomings, whims of the author, actually have a purpose as a whole - in order to achieve the greatest impression in a certain sense, in order to give integrity and organic coherence to individual parts. Other things seem random at first, but when you think about it, you will see its necessity, you will see that otherwise it would be worse. But, of course, this applies only to works of a higher order. Weak ones, on the contrary, are full of accidents, inappropriateness, and internal inconsistencies. In this regard, it is very useful to consider works in their successive editions. Here you can see how the artist mercilessly destroys individual parts, phrases, chapters, etc., which in themselves are very significant and strong, but violate the unity and integrity of the work. Pushkin especially followed this. Many, many times he rewrote and corrected and corrected everything, so that the entire manuscript turned out to be crossed out, overwritten, crossed out again, overwritten again, so that you couldn’t make out anything. And now the original versions are being restored, and they turn out to be highly artistic in their parts, and yet destroyed due to the violation of the whole impression. 1933.XII.29. Dear Olya, I just can’t finish this letter to you—everyone keeps busy, and it’s too late in the evening to write. I don’t receive letters from you and I’m worried what’s wrong. Tell Vasya and Kira that I really wanted to write to them, but I’ve been holding the letter for a very long time: I shouldn’t delay it any longer. I’ll write next time, but for now I kiss them and you all. I kiss you, dear Olya. Don't forget your dad, be cheerful and calm. Today it’s warm here, there’s light snow, or rather some sign of barely snowing, but it’s nice that it’s turned a little white. I kiss you again. Tell mommy that I earn something here, much more than I need with everything ready, and that she doesn’t worry about me. April 8, 1934, Svobodny 1934.IV.8. Night. Skovorodino, compulsory medical insurance. Dear Olya, today I received your letter and, getting ready to leave, I hasten to write to you, because... Otherwise I won’t be able to do it for 8 days. Regarding your music, you are needlessly nervous and twitchy. You need to calmly go your own way and learn what you are capable of and how you are capable, the rest does not depend on you. I completely understand your teacher 201 when you ask her questions about what will come out of your music. Personally, I do not at all consider it a prerequisite to wait for something extraordinary in order to study music. It is a very important element of upbringing and education, which will bring you and others a lot of light, but if you do not set yourself the vain goal of becoming an artist and playing excellently. When learning to read and write, they do not worry about whether the student will become a writer; no, literacy is required, the ability to read books and express one’s thoughts, and if, in addition to this, literary talent is discovered, then this is a free application, a gain of fate. Likewise, in music one needs literacy, the ability to use the treasures of musical culture. If you acquire this ability as a result of training, then I consider the goal achieved. If, in addition to calculations, talent is revealed, then this is an unexpected gift, but it is wrong to demand it to yourself or from yourself. Grow, learn, develop, learn to partake of the best that humanity has - that’s the goal. It is possible that Maria Afanasyevna does not expect more from you. So, isn't the goal I'm talking about worth working for? But with your questions, you are obviously trying to get Maria Afanasyevna to say that she doesn’t expect more, she doesn’t want to say this, and besides, neither she nor anyone else can confidently say that she can ultimately graduate from training. It often happens that great abilities, having shown themselves brilliantly at first, then wither away, and vice versa, there is a sudden awakening of abilities after a sluggish and dull beginning. But neither one nor the other can be said with certainty in advance, and in neither case can one refuse to work. The only bad thing is when, instead of interest in the matter itself, the driving principle is vanity and pride, replacing reality with one’s own person. This is what I want to warn you about. Plant the plant, water it, tend it, and leave the rest to the organizing force to produce what it can produce. Don't disturb her, don't bother her, be calm. Nothing in the world is wasted, and work bears fruit, although often not at all what you expect. Now about school activities. You didn't tell me that you started going to school, and that was news to me. Of course, if you can’t pass all the subjects, then don’t push yourself, pass what you can, and you’ll do the rest in the summer. In particular, you will study physics and other things that you will not pass. Now I am studying physics and mathematics with one boy, the son of our director. 202 My student is 17 years old, but due to his family moving from place to place, he only completed 7 classes and is now out of work, he wants to catch up. Take care of mommy, try to keep her cheerful and cheerful. Don't get annoyed with Tika. After all, the poor girl lived her entire little life in anxiety and under the yoke of difficult impressions, and she was also sick. If her character flaws are now manifesting themselves too strongly, then this is quite understandable, and besides, it is probably just some kind of fracture in internal growth. But this will pass, and Tika will soon change for the better. If you take her current condition into account too much, it will only get worse, and it may get stronger. January 22, 1935, Kremlin, former. Viceroyal Corps 1935.I.22. Dear Olechka, did you receive the letter in which I wrote you something about Tyutchev? I read Racine now and enjoy it. Today, having read “Iphigenia at Aulis” and under the spell of this tragedy, I unfolded, in anticipation of the test, our daily evening test, Goethe’s “Faust” and was amazed at how rude and unpleasant “Faust” is after Racine. True, I must add that I read Racine in the original, and Goethe in a translation, which coarsens and erases the subtle rhythm of the original Goethe. I'll say a few words about Racine, maybe. you will be interested. First of all, the amazing construction of the tragedies - of course, this is still not an ancient construction, but perfect in its own way. The whole tragedy is monolithic, there are no solders or glues. The action moves forward inexorably, undistracted by archaeological details, props, or side thoughts, feelings and words. Therefore, there are no stops, no useless narrative, everything is purposeful. This is pure dynamics, without dead and motionless things. The second thing that draws attention to could be called, oddly enough for a court poet, a kind of classlessness or the impression of classlessness: it is explained by the fact that only kings and heroes act, while mere mortals are barely mentioned and serve only as a pale background. Thus, all the characters are equal to each other, but have no contact with the rest of the world and, therefore, do not show their relationship to it. The third thing I would like to draw your attention to is the extreme courage of the poet. His dedications to crowned heads are full of inner dignity, and his works, written for the court theater, were supposed to serve as lessons, moral teachings and denunciations of the court. It’s amazing how such tragedies were allowed to be staged. Next, there is the purity and transparency of Racine, somewhat reminiscent of Mozart's music, although without the playfulness and childlike clarity of Mozart. There is nothing vulgar, heavy, smeared. The structure, like crystals, rises upward. And finally, although monotonous, there is a full-voiced and sharp rhythm of the verse, with precise, mathematically precise language, in which there is not a single superfluous, approximate, or randomly placed word. “Here, my dear, the entire letter went to Racine.” However, I don’t know what to write about, because my life is monotonous, every day is like another, not only to do anything, but also there is no time and nowhere to think. 1935.I.29. A few words regarding your questions (I received a letter the other day and one today). Anna Karenina also doesn’t seem clear to me in general. Individual features are very bright, but they flash like in a movie, but the holistic image and especially the internal development of Anna Karenina do not appear clearly. True, I read Tolstoy a long time ago and remember him poorly. - Regarding you. Try to spend more time outdoors. I am afraid that the headaches and serious condition are partly due to lack of fresh air and overwork. “Nature is the best purifier.” You can sit in a room for many days to no avail, and some hour in nature will make you understand something that you did not understand before. Thoughts and understanding grow and ripen like plants; no need to poke too much into them. By patiently waiting for a thought to mature, you will receive something valuable, but by torturing a thought, you risk falling into an apparent value, which will only burden the consciousness and, being unnecessary itself, will not allow growth of what is needed. The main thing is not to rush and calmly look at your own growth: do not waste time, but at the same time do not anticipate growth: everything will come in due time. I kiss you deeply, darling. I’ll write again next time about other questions you raised. Send me the manuscript or a copy of the poem "Oro". June 13–14, 1935, formerly Philip's emptiness Dear Deer, you are finally starting to get better. Just make sure you don't mess it up again. Use the sun as much as possible, this is the best way to eradicate the infection. Exercise as little as possible, but the main thing is to get enough sleep, eat well and breathe fresh air. It would be good for you to take advantage of the summer and eat more herbs, but better in a prepared form. So as not to forget. “Oro” 203 does not need to be rewritten in its entirety; I somehow restored it, albeit poorly. But you still don’t need to send it to me. Only two excerpts came - about Batum and about forest fires, nothing more is required. I cannot restore these passages. Regarding the historical and musical department (what? - I don’t remember), in my opinion it’s too early to decide. To study the history of music requires good general historical and aesthetic preparation, knowledge of ancient languages ​​and, of course, a good musical education. Those. in addition to understanding harmony, counterpoint and instrumentation, one must be able to perform works well enough and, in addition, even if poorly, master a number of different instruments. Otherwise, you will have to read and talk about things that you cannot perceive, i.e. wasted. This is why I think that the decision regarding the historical and musical department should be postponed; Probably, over the coming year, your musical successes and opportunities will already be determined, and then it will be clear whether it is worth making music as an activity not for yourself and your loved ones, but as a profession. It would be good to consult with Maria Veniaminovna about this, but not now, when there is still not enough data for a decision, namely after the winter. After all, music, as a profession, will only give satisfaction when you have sufficient strength, otherwise it is burdensome. Music for internal use, during leisure hours, is a completely different matter: even the weakest music is a great help for the soul. But, beyond all that, this does not mean that you should not be familiar with the history and theory of music: this knowledge will be very useful both for the music itself and for general development. However, I warn you once again, as I have done many times before. So that you don’t count on “trying to add an ounce of height to yourself.” 204 There is pressure and impatience in your character; you want to take with pressure what is given only by organic growth and comes on its own in its own time, hatching from the shells that hid inner growth from view. Take your time, do not anticipate what is not given in the present, live for what you have now and hope for the future with patience. Now you grab yourself something to do, this and that and the third at once, and as a result it may turn out that nothing will be learned and your head won’t stand it. Don’t get excited and don’t be greedy, everything you need will come. Work in moderation and leave energy and time for assimilation: after all, stuffing your head without assimilation is not only not useful, but also downright harmful. Assimilation takes place during rest, in the quiet of the senses - even in some boredom: “fastidium est guies, - boredom is the rest of the soul.” Try to think deeply about what you do and assimilate, try to be grateful for what is, and not grumble about what is not, both in the environment and in those around you. I'm afraid you don't value our dear mother, your brothers and sister and others enough. Take from them what you will never get later, probably the best thing you can ever get in life. After all, all other things are just a seasoning for relationships with loved ones, and when these relationships do not exist and when they are incomplete, then no seasoning, no matter how refined, will satisfy the soul and will seem unnecessary. – You ask about the growth lines of Russian literature. I’ll write later, now my head is so full of work and worry that it’s hard to concentrate. I would like to point out to you only the idea expressed by Prosper Merimee in his correspondence with Sobolevsky, 205 namely, that all literature of the 19th century (Russian and European) is determined by two initial centers: V. Hugo and Pushkin, they are antipodes. Merimee believes that from Pushkin there comes a healthy current, and from Hugo it is unnatural, painful and rhetorical. For example, Dostoevsky followed the last line, i.e. Merimee says it all. It would probably be difficult to follow Merimee's thought to the end, but there is some valuable core in it that should be reflected on. Regarding the genealogy of writers, pay attention to the family ties of Slavophiles among themselves and revolutionaries among themselves, and the latter come mainly from the Decembrists (I’m talking about figures of the 19th century, and not at the very end). I kiss you deeply, dear, get well soon, rest over the summer so that you can be strong for winter. After all, summer is short and you need to take advantage of the sun. Dear Olya, I recently read “The Serbian Epic” in the publication. "Academia" 206 and really enjoyed it, especially the older songs. Great beauty, great style and much that is infinitely close to the soul, probably evokes a response from distant ancestors from the Balkans or, b.m., and some more southern ones, unknown to me. And at the same time, there is a contradiction to Zartushtrianism, which probably comes from other ancestors: it is gloominess, hopelessness. There is no sun, transparency, clarity in Slavism! There is no clarity or peace. Some hopeless and internally unmotivated complications of life. In this Serbian epic, the roots of Dostoevsky are already exposed and it becomes clear how he emerged from the Slavic soul by subtracting the “youth” from him, i.e. chivalry. It seems that this is significantly connected with the failure to assimilate the symbolic, Goethean approach to life. Be able to see and appreciate the depth of what surrounds you, find the highest in the “here” and “now” and not rush to look for it in what is not there or what is far away. Passion is harmful because in the name of what does not exist, a person passes by what is and which is essentially much more valuable. She's blinding. Staring at a point, a person climbs onto it, not noticing the beauty of the nearest one. “I want this” and therefore I neglect everything else. And after a while, when this is no longer there, I “want” it and do not use what I wanted before and what has already been achieved. Passion in this interpretation is a typically Slavic trait: a constant emphasis on the non-existent or not in the given and the unwise rejection of everything else - the lack of lateral vision. But unbeknownst to myself, I began to write not about the beauty of the Serbian epic, as I wanted, and now I have forgotten what exactly. The main thing is that I want you to cultivate a cheerful, vital mood in yourself and be able to symbolically perceive reality, that is, first of all, to rejoice and use what you have, instead of searching for what is not there now. I feel that you have not learned to appreciate homes and those around you, and this will never happen again. Mommy is much more valuable and dearer than all sorts of things and people who seem valuable, but are immeasurably less meaningful than she is. Do not stare at random points with passion, but look around you calmly and clearly. Everything you need will come in due time, but what you have now will go away and cannot be returned. It seems that you have already understood that the game needs ease; but you haven't learned to be easy in life. Try not to demand from life, but to give. Mom needs to be helped so that she does not feel overwhelmed by the burden of life. – You ask if there is a moon here. I haven’t seen her for almost 1/2 a year, and now, lately, the sky is clear quite often, though not for very long, and the moon shines brightly. The lake silvers beneath her. In some places you can see pillars and spots of gold - from lanterns. The northern lights are shining on the other side of the sky. The clouds here are very diverse and unique. But the winds started, it rains several times a day. The lake splashes like a fast river. From the steep bank I collect water with a bucket for washing, tea and cooking and watch a wild duck or goose swim on the lake. And now it’s night, the wind is raging outside the window, raindrops are flying, the wind is sweeping through the room, and I feel like I’m in oblivion. I kiss you deeply, darling. Don't be discouraged and don't forget. November 1–4, 1935, Kremlin, former. Nikolsky building Dear Olya, I really miss you and worry about your health. Be sure to take care not to catch a cold, because... in your situation, any cold can lead to a relapse of the disease. Dress warmly, this is very important, it will help the body fight against infection. I think it would be good to use internal heating - diathermy (with high frequency currents), perhaps. Mom will ask an experienced doctor about this. Do you have to talk to Natasha about music? I think it is very important to discuss musical works, even if not entirely correctly, because the need to formulate your thoughts makes you think and teaches you to dissect impressions. Try to make diagrams of musical works, it’s okay if you make mistakes. It would be good to discuss such schemes with someone. At one time, although in a different area, in philosophical works, I learned a lot from such schemes. It is a great pleasure and satisfaction to make the architectonics of a work completely transparent to oneself and to establish an organic connection between its individual organs and tissues (in a creative work there are no parts, but only organs). Then it becomes clear that even the contradictions and inconsistencies of the work flow from its general concept and, of all conceivable possibilities, express it most fully. What is the difference between the organic-living-creative and the mechanical, material, lifeless - born from something made? Because what is made is devoid of true unity, it is not the WHOLE, and what is born is the whole. “The whole is before its parts” (Aristotle), i.e.: it produces them from itself, it deduces, posits, while what is made is composed of its parts and is posited by them, there is only an abstract thought about the interaction of these parts. There is no whole here. Where there is a whole, the parts generated by it are organs. The tasks of studying poetry, music, painting, scientific thought, etc. – understand what is being studied as a whole, i.e. to see how its whole posits and produces its parts - organs. So, your whole body must correct your organs and direct them to complete health. This is a matter of time, but for now we need to maintain vigor and energy and help the body, in particular with warmth. I am sending you plants that appear here early, in June: a fern and another that covers entire fields, the name of which I do not know. Take some for yourself, give some to mommy and anyone else who wants it. For me, bow to your grandmother and Sofya Ivanovna. If you see Maria Veniaminovna, tell her that I constantly think about her and wish her peace and success. – Every other day I write 2 verses to Oro, there is no time, no place, no favorable state of mind: nature. I kiss my dear Deer deeply. January 1936, Kremlin, former. Nikolsky building Dear Olen, in one of your letters you express, if not your intention, then its shadow, to quit music, citing the failure of your studies. How many times have I told you about the falsity of posing the question this way? What do you want, what kind of success do you think about? To become a famous pianist? I never counted on this and, perhaps, would not want it for you. Variety is a painful business, requiring great sacrifices, giving little to the inner person, separating from the music itself and transferring interest from music to pride and pleasing the public. Do not replace pure, disinterested admiration of beauty with a fussy pursuit of glory, which brings nothing but grief. Don't ask yourself too much. In “Memoirs” of Zhikharev 207 there is a remarkable instruction to him from the elderly Merzlyakov. “A passion for great literary works is an undoubted sign of small talent, just as a passion for thoughtless colossal undertakings is a sharp sign of a small soul: both prove an unclear consciousness of its goal and the delusion of pride” (p. 334). You ask about Shakespeare and the Futurists. I already wrote to you about the latter, but you probably forgot. I’ll start about Shakespeare now so that I can talk more about it next time. But what can you say about Shakespeare in a few lines? After all, Shakespeare is an ocean, sometimes raging, sometimes splashing peacefully, taking on all possible colors, hiding within itself all imaginable creatures. This is the fullness of human feelings, characters, situations. He is close to Beethoven, but in terms of power, Shakespeare embraces the entire world of human possibilities, all shades of feeling. But over this stormy ocean there is no ray of enlightenment, which is so clear in the ancient tragedy. There is a lot of nobility here, but there is no holiness, as a force that is new in quality and actively reorganizing. Pay attention. Will without end, will in excess - and yet this will passively takes life as given, but does not set itself the task of transforming and enlightening it. Shakespeare expresses in this regard the very essence of the new, Renaissance culture - the loss of man in the world, the elimination of man as the beginning of new series of causality. Man is not a creator, a man who looks at the world through a keyhole, a man who has no place in his own invented worldview. This person has no roots other than the elemental, and therefore he is a playground of the elements, in everything: in morality, in personal life, in the family, in the state, in society, in economics, and even in knowledge and art (naturalism). To a large extent the same must be said about Beethoven. – I kiss you deeply, dear Olya, bow to your grandmother and Anastasia Fedorovna. Kiss mommy and be sure to eat like a human being. February 29 – March 1, 1936, Kremlin, former Tannery Dear Deer, you ask a number of questions, but it is difficult to answer them in any understandable way in a letter where there is so little space. You ask about the applicability of physical and chemical laws to man and to society. The answer to such a question is quite complex because it requires distinguishing between a number of different applicability and inapplicability. First of all, man and society represent qualitatively new planes of reality, characterized by their own laws. Consequently, since physical and chemical laws characterize matter of a different quality, the direct transplantation of this law onto a foreign plane is unacceptable. However, there is some kind of correspondence between the plans, a symbolic expression of one to the other, and therefore an emotional-figurative transference is possible, a metaphor (and this means transference), which, however, is not only a metaphor, but also represents something more, indicating the internal affinity of the areas, but which cannot be precisely formulated. I said "since". This is because most of the laws of physics and chemistry do not cover this plane as such, but are only explained by them as an example, but in fact they are broader than their generally accepted, generally accepted content, and their true subject is not this specific plane of being, but some of its formal properties that can be detected in the phenomena of another and other planes. A mathematical scheme (formula), related to a known area and found on its basis, often takes into account not the specific properties of this area, but some general relationships. Therefore, it is quite natural that it turns out to be applicable to other areas, essentially very different from this one, but nevertheless possessing the same general relationships. If, for example, Ohm’s formula IE/R is true for electric current, then it will be true for heat, magnetism, electric field, diffusion, etc. It can be transferred to a number of phenomena of human life. Each time we will mean different things by the symbols I, E and R, but the ratio of the symbols will remain the same. I’m afraid, dear Deer, that you, as usual, walk around, staring at one point, and not seeing your surroundings. In this case, I’m talking about mommy, brothers and Tika, whom you don’t notice because of your comrades, while comrades are temporary, but loved ones are forever. You must try to be able to take what you have and what is around you, and not be seduced by the elegant instead of the essential. And strangers are inevitably more dressed up than their own, because they are visiting, and they always dress up when visiting. This is a natural thing, but understanding things as they really are is also natural. A holiday is a holiday, one cannot object to it, but it is harmful and false to seek a permanent holiday and replace everyday life with it. Sofya Ivanovna suffers from precisely this shortcoming, she needs a continuous holiday (maybe she needed it, now I don’t know), and she knows how to organize them perfectly. But forgetting about everyday life or not wanting to know them, she remains dissatisfied and unfed. The mistake of many! But remember that only in the silence of peaceful everyday work can you find yourself and your satisfaction. I kiss you deeply. March 10–11, 1936, ex. Tannery Dear Olya, yesterday I came across a book by Bertols, Ferdowsi and his work, L-M., 1935, Ed. Academician Sci. 208 Despite some mistakes in terms of taste, the book is generally well written. It characterizes Ferdowsi and his work against the background of Persian history, and in this respect the author has a fluent command of the material. It would be useful for you to read this book (it is small, 71 pages) not only for the sake of the great epic poet, but also for the sake of ancient history and literary history, since it gives a comparative description of Ferdowsi and Homer. I also recently read Memoirs of the watercolor artist Sokolov 209 and used them to compile a genealogical table of the Sokolov family with its numerous representatives of the fine arts, the Bryullovs, Bruni and others. This is one of the many illustrations of GENETICS (the study of heredity) and the historical significance of biologically transmitted properties - a thought that has occupied me for decades, although I have not had the opportunity to deal with it on purpose. It is my deep conviction that if people were more attentive to the properties of the race as a whole, and took into account heredity, which may not manifest itself clearly at a given age, but will affect it later, then many life complications and difficult circumstances would be avoided. But people, especially in their youth, think self-confidently that they can bypass the laws of nature and do as they themselves want at the moment, often on a whim or caprice, and not as it follows from the nature of things - in this case - from the elements of heredity, GEN, materially present in our body and cannot be removed from it anywhere. And for their reluctance to think, study and delve into, for their whim, they then cruelly pay, unfortunately, not only with themselves and their personal fate, but also with the fate of their children. Ancient tragedy is built entirely on this understanding, because the basis of the tragic plot lies not in the misdeed of a given person, but in his “tragic guilt,” i.e. the guilt contained in his very being, not in evil will, i.e. in the wrong birth, in the wrong combination of genes. Otherwise, the tragedy would not have arisen; if a person has sinned and bears natural retribution for his sin, then one can feel sorry for him, but one cannot help but feel moral satisfaction that the sin did not remain indifferent and unpunished. The tragic, as such, arises from the spectacle of the discrepancy between retribution and an offense or deed, and a person cannot be held responsible for his act, but he committed it due to his hereditary properties and therefore pays for the fatal guilt of his ancestors. Greek tragedy is the most instructive, deepest and most perfect part of world literature. I always got from her a feeling of absolute perfection: it couldn’t be better and there’s no need to – the ideal has been achieved. That is why after the Greeks there were no more tragedies in the proper sense and there could not have been: the task was completed, solved; Of course, there is nothing more to solve it. – The other day, digging through the garbage material “30 days” (such a magazine), it seems No. 2 of 1936, at the end, petit, I found a pearl - a hitherto unpublished poem (on 2 pages) by Velimir Khlebnikov, and, moreover, Orochenskaya, i.e. based on Orochen motives. 210 Here is a writer whom I have been anticipating for many years as being kindred in spirit and to whom I cannot approach: despite all my efforts, I could not get hold of his collection, published posthumously, but I only know individual excerpts that came to me by chance. In him I sense a closeness to another close one, to Novalis. But these are just premonitions, and I am not sure that they will not dissipate when Khlebnikov’s enchanted writings are before my eyes. In my life, for some reason, it has always been like this: all questions, books, research, especially those that worried me, fled from me, supplanted by alien things, done out of the duty of the present moment, and I always had to put off for the future everything that was deeper and more truly exciting. – I kiss you deeply, dear Deer, be healthy and cheerful. April 27–28, 1936, formerly Tannery Dear Deer, I read and re-read Balzac. Now - under the impression of Cesar Birotteau and Nucingen. The brilliant brush of the Dutch master is amazing - and at the same time alien. This is a typically urban culture, a writer from the bourgeoisie, a society of traders and speculators of all calibers, a spirit of commercialism. In one family, as a friend told me, a girl was born, and the first word she uttered was money. And so for Balzac everything revolves around money, predatory or passive, successful or unsuccessful, but only around it. Money is associated with honor, and love, and success, and suffering - only with it. Money and things, things and money. Everything is littered and cluttered with things. No signs of nature, not a single tree, not a piece of azure, not even in the window, not a cloud. Plants - only in the form of bouquets, but even then very rare. There is not even a street or square; everything is limited to rooms and restaurants. But what concreteness in the writing of things and people, what insight into their inner life - if one can call the inner life the life not of a person as such, but of a member of bourgeois society, completely and thoroughly permeated by the principles of this society, like wood permeated by the mycelium of destructive fungi, and itself almost destroyed. Unlike representatives of the naturalistic school, with their cold, external and analytical description, in Balzac things and people are not described, but appear. Please note that they are not external images, depending on lighting conditions, perspective and other random circumstances of their existence, but are illuminated from within by their own light, like still lifes of Dutch painting. This is not a photograph with its conventional objectivity and not the subjective impressions of impressionism, but the things themselves in their own being, real things, although not in a deep section. I’ll say it again, this is an exact analogue of the Dutch masters of painting. - Now about something else. Have you thought about the meaning of poetic speech? Of course, its meaning is diverse, but now I want to note only one point - its condensation. Poetic speech is many times shorter than a non-poetic presentation of the same topic. The poet is forced to be stingy with words; as Goethe said, one must write in such a way that “words are cramped and thoughts are free.” But what does this mean? The poet cannot say many words where a prose writer would say an unlimited number of them, and therefore, he is forced to condense the most important of what he would like to say in the words of a few, that is, he must discard everything that is unimportant and condense the most characteristic. And because condensation follows the path of a visual image, and not an abstract concept, then the image in poetic speech is forced to become a type, idea, symbol - in contrast to a photograph seductive for prose and a concept inherent in abstract cognition. Poetic speech is poetic in nature. There are other reasons for its poetry - of the sound order, but I won’t talk about them now. I just want to emphasize that the difficulty of the poetic form itself already directs the presentation towards poetry. This general difficulty is further intensified by special types of poetic speech. A difficult form (sonnet, terzas, octaves, etc.) leads to a rise in creative effort, it serves as a dam that increases the level of water - pressure, and creativity, instead of easily pouring out along the easiest path and giving a lot of, but loose and cheap product, condenses, works at a high potential and will create full-fledged works if it can rise to the barrier, or does not break free at all if it is weak. In this increase in potential there is great significance in difficult forms, which are often (wrongly) thought of as conventions that only interfere with the free expression of creative efforts. If you like, they really do get in the way; but when the impulse does not meet any resistance, then it does not create anything, and instead of Niagara you will get only a stagnant puddle. This applies not only to poetic creativity, but to the entire culture, because in any area it creates barriers that isolate a phenomenon and do not allow it to disperse and mingle in an indifferent and impersonal unity with others, as a result of which an individual and enhanced disclosure of the creative impulse arises, if it is powerful enough, and elimination if it is not able to achieve the proper potential. In order to grow great things, you need to weed out everything small around you, or the small things will drown out the great things, since the second principle of thermodynamics (in an in-depth interpretation) comes down to what is natural, i.e. outside of culture, outside of the activity of mind and life, the lower displaces the higher, because the lower is always more likely than the higher. In the state of nature, the less noble species of plants and animals are slaughtered and crowded out by the more noble ones, as well as by the lower Vor. we energy and matter are replaced by higher ones. Only by installing cultural barriers can one fight against this disintegration in the world process. And these barriers are achieved in difficult forms - everywhere in technology, in art, in science, in everyday life, etc. “I kiss you deeply, dear Deer, and kiss you again.” May 22, 1936, ex. Tannery Dear Deer, spring is ending, that is, astronomical, but the spring of life here is just beginning. On May 20th I found flowering wolf's bast (Daphne mezereum) in the forest, cabbage grass near the ditches, and today, on the 23rd, pink buds of gonobobel in the swamp. Grass has appeared, although in most places the autumn grass is still dry. It's getting colder. A kind of despondency reigns, and the spring here is more like autumn than spring. Just above the algae emissions, the multitude of flies makes one think that something like summer is near. Sea experiences take me back to my childhood. 211 The sea was the closest and dearest to me, and everything connected with it seemed especially desirable and cherished. One thing that upset me was that there are no islands in the Black Sea. I asked my parents about this many times and, wanting to get a positive answer, I repeated my question. (However, now I have learned that there are still islands on the Black Sea, although they are insignificant and in small numbers.) The island seemed mysterious and full of meaning. Living on an island, seeing the ebb and flow of the tides, collecting shells, starfish and algae - this was the ultimate dream. At the same time, the island certainly seemed small, like a coral reef. It had to be such that from one place one could cover the entire coastline at once and clearly feel the isolation of the island from the mainland. I dreamed of sailing on the sea. In our yard in Batum, 212 in Aivazov’s house, there was a box in which my father tested cement and lime. I climbed into this box, took sticks instead of oars and saw myself floating on the vast expanse of the ocean. Flying fish jumped out of the water, corals and algae were visible in the depths, and I swam in ecstasy, forgetting about everything around me. Sometimes he built a raft out of boards and floated it around the yard. This imaginary sea merged with the real one and all its gifts in Batumi, 2 by the way, very poor, were received with warmth: ordinary corn cobs, turned sticks, planks and corks, horned nuts Trapa natans (chilim - I did not know this name), jellyfish and various sea pebbles and gravel. June 1936, ex. Tannery Dear Deer, you have completely forgotten your dad. But dad is still okay, and I’m afraid that you, as usual, indulge in one hobby, go to him with blinders and do not perceive your surroundings. This is very sad and bad, first of all for you. The wisdom of life lies in the ability to use, first of all, what is, in the correct assessment of each of the phenomena in comparison with others. In this case, I mean mom, brothers, Tika and other loved ones. School and everything connected with it is a fleeting episode in life. There is a friendly environment today, but tomorrow it will dissipate and everyone will forget about each other. This always happens. And then you may find yourself in emptiness. After all, a friendly environment attracts all attention because friendly relations are essentially irresponsible, everyone is responsible for themselves and everyone is busy with their own interests. That's why it's easy. But this lightness is the lightness of emptiness, and the authentic requires effort, work and bears responsibility. But what you get with effort, truly internally worked out, remains for life. What your home can give, no one or nothing will give you later, but you have to earn it, you have to be attentive to the house yourself, and not live in it like in a hotel. Maybe I'm wrong and exaggerating your condition, I would be glad to be wrong. But look for yourself, if in my words there is at least a partial indication of your incorrect assessment of the environment, then later you will bitterly repent of a mistake that you can no longer correct. - Now about something else. I recently read “Travail” by E. Zola, “Labor”. I have never read this work before. And I was amazed at how weak it was. Artistically this is an empty place. There is not a single living person - all schemes of abstract concepts, as in the medieval “Moralites”, i.e. moralizing performances, where various vices and virtues appear instead of characters. Zola imagines that he is following in the footsteps of Balzac. But what deep self-delusion this is. In Balzac everything is dense, concrete, humane, constructed. Zola has ethereal ghosts, emptiness, abstract reasoning. He wants to be close to life, but you don’t feel any reality from him. In vain he tries to compensate for the emptiness of the images with detailed descriptions of things and furnishings: this staging is fake, the descriptions are scattered into separate signs that do not form anything integral - Zola’s descriptions are a catalog, not a painting, not even a photograph. And finally, the ideology is naive, without the wisdom of life, some kind of gymnasium exercises on social topics. I was, perhaps, even curious to read this book in order to see with my own eyes what poor food the people of that time ate and how little they understood life and foresaw the future. – Regarding Tyutchev and, partly, Pushkin, I have long wanted to point out to you one method of their versification, which gives their poems full-sounding rhythms. This is precisely the placement at the beginning of the verse of polysyllabic words, mainly compound words, in which the stress of the first component word weakens, and therefore the stressed syllable becomes weak, but its stress is compensated by length: “But the Admiralty needle is bright,” the verse reads not like “Admiralty needle”, but like this: “Admiralty star.” 213 VI.7. Now, at the sight of the dawn sliding along the horizon, the verse sounds to me: “The dawn is in a hurry to replace another,” 214 and I think: after all, this is not Poltava or Ukraine, but Pskov province, if not Tsarskoe Selo. And in Poltava the dawn is by no means “in a hurry” to replace another, between them there is a dark summer night. This is one of the few examples of inaccuracy in Pushkin; in general, he is scientifically accurate and factual down to the smallest detail. Pushkin had an exceptional sense of reality and, despite all the flights of creative imagination, he never broke with concrete impressions of reality. The small details and touches of Pushkin’s narration and description are remarkable. Careful analysis always allows us to establish their factuality. One such example is not noted in Pushkin’s literature, this is the image of Triquet. 215 It would seem that he was made up. But Triquet actually existed, and it was in Tambov that the Triquet family, close to the Levshins, lived (Pushkin also mentions Levshin in connection with Tambov), and the actual proof of this was kept by Ivan Semenovich, 216 but unfortunately burned down in a fire. Even Pushkin did not like to invent surnames and names, but took them from life. Hence the strength of his creations, saturated with reality and full of life, despite (or, more precisely, as a result of) the photographic nature of random circumstances, like those of naturalists. Zola chases reality with a Kodak - and catches nothing. Pushkin goes “where a free mind leads,” and is always faithful to reality, his image is always felt as dense and full of life. Pushkin and Goethe, the freest in terms of external intimacy - and the most real of poets. Hence the conclusion follows: about the fallacy of the passive fixation of random details, so characteristic of Russian literature. – I kiss you deeply, dear Olya, be healthy and rest. Bow to grandma and Anastasia Fedorovna, bow to Sofya Ivanovna, kiss mommy. August 25, 1936, former Tannery VIII.25. Dear Deer, in the last letter I received from my mother there was a message that the doctor gave you some new medicine and promised a quick recovery. I suspect that this is some kind of endocrine drug, because... only this can cause faster growth of one or another organ, in this case the heart. Did this medicine help you? And also, write what kind of work you were promised that you can take home. Or was the possibility of taking her home just a guess? I would be greatly consoled by your homework, both for the state of your health and for you to be with mommy. If you have to quit music, it's very sad. The replacement of classes with concerts is in no way valid. Passive perception does not in any way replace our own activity, and we assimilate (even assimilate!) only what we actively process within ourselves. But to assimilate, just to assimilate, is not enough. “It’s more pleasant to give than to lie.” This applies not only to social revenge, but also to the entire relationship with the world: only activity in the world is the source of consciousness and knowledge, and without it dreams begin, and they gradually die out. A person withdraws into his subjective sphere and, without an influx of nutrition, gradually falls asleep, so that even dreams stop. Incarnation is the main commandment of life, - Incarnation, i.e. the realization of one’s capabilities in the world, the acceptance of the world into oneself and the design of matter. Only through the Incarnation can one verify the truth and value of oneself, otherwise sober criticism of oneself is impossible. Daydreaming creates a swamp in us, where there are no solid points, no benchmarks (surveyors' term), no criteria for the real and the illusory, the valuable and the valueless, the good and the bad. By realizing the possibility, albeit weakly and poorly, you can judge it, correct it, move on; Remaining passive, you are reflected in the fog of ghosts, but the ghosts also fizzle out over time, turn pale, fade away. Hibernation begins and together with deep dissatisfaction. Passivity is very characteristic of Russian nature, but it is precisely from passivity that comes, further, eternal causeless dissatisfaction, dissatisfaction, fluctuations between drunken self-exaltation and dull self-abasement. How many people do I know who devour books ten times larger than mine? But these reserves are of no use. These people not only cannot generate a fresh idea, but they are not even able to simply understand the simplest question when it appears before them not dissected in a book, but in reality, in nature and life. Such knowledge is worse than ignorance, because... relaxes and instills a false idea of ​​mastery of the subject. Meanwhile, any knowledge should not be a self-sufficient lump in the soul, but only an auxiliary line of our life relationship to the world, our connection with the world. What is said about knowledge—the meaning of the general—applies to art, philosophy, and everyday life. – I recently read, for the first time, Danilevsky’s novel “The Ninth Wave.” Until now I instinctively avoided Danilevsky. And he became convinced that his instinct was correct. But I still didn’t expect to encounter such weak literature. The plot is stitched together from episodes that are not only unmotivated, but simply arbitrary. There is no sense of purpose. The characters are pale and sketchy. It is impossible to understand what the author’s worldview is, and most likely there is simply no worldview. The language is monotonous, careless, without rhythm, plump. The persons described are not shown by action or words. Instead of the picture, the author powerlessly comments on what this or that person is thinking, i.e. unmotivated and unprovenly attributes any internal movements to him, and there is no way to verify that this is true. And finally, the general depressing impression of rottenness, decay and emptiness of all elements of society. This would be even more tolerable if showing this rottenness was the author’s goal. But this happens to him by chance, and everything lofty (according to the author’s thoughts) turns out to be powerless, internally powerless, and rotten. The bright, proud and strong heroine, after a series of nonsense, drowns herself for no reason at all. The revolutionary ascetic is fond of gambles and business. An idealistic teacher is drawn into a stock market game. No one understands the people around them or knows how to act (except for scammers). – I kiss you deeply, dear Deer. I am sending you a plant, the frying pan onion (Allium schoeno oprasum L, family Liliaceae) from Ludeyny Island, taken on July 16. Dear Olya, I am sending you sketches (from books) of individual branches and leaves of the GINKGO tree (Ginkgo biloba), a tree that has deeply fascinated me with its structure since childhood, although I did not know what was interesting about it. Copies of it grew in Batum on the boulevard. When Lyusya and I were taken for a walk, I always stopped in front of the ginkgo and felt its leaves. Their fan-shaped, Japanese-style shape, whitish-green-blue color, veininess without connecting bridges are remarkable. These are signs of antiquity (probably a grayish color), intermediateness between the leaf itself and the needles. Only later did I learn that the ginkgo is, indeed, a relic of the distant past - a living fossil of a class already extinct, which arose at the end of Carboniferous time, became widespread in the middle of the Jurassic time and then became semi-extinct. Only at Japanese churches were specimens preserved, from which others have now been propagated in botanical gardens, and then more specimens were found in Southern China (it seems recently). By the way, ginkgo seeds are edible and resemble pistachios. There were ginkgo leaves in my herbarium, maybe there are still some, look for them. Since childhood, I have had a special nose for phenomena and things that magically attracted my attention without any obvious reason. They excited not only the mind, but the whole being, the heart beat, a chill ran down the back. Many years later, it was discovered that this phenomenon or thing is “special points” (mathematically speaking) of the world fabric and that they contain the keys to understanding the deep past of the universe or some of its hidden corners. So, I sketched the ginkgo, wanting to remember my childhood excitement, I am sending you these sketches as a transcript of my development. But I understand well that even the object itself can appear soulless to someone else’s gaze, not to mention a bad drawing. Write to me, do you know any composite plants, such as inextricable communities, and which ones exactly? Discuss this issue all together. What is mycorrhiza? Can any plants live without oxygen? What modern ones do you know whose origins date back to ancient geological times? I kiss you deeply, dear Deer. Be healthy and listen to mommy. Do you play 4 hands? I kiss you again. October 29–30, 1936, formerly Tannery Dear Olya, I keep worrying about your head. You know, as a child, especially from 4 to 8-9 years old, I had never-ending headaches. This can be compared as if someone grabbed the back of the head with a strong hand. Because of these pains, I constantly wrung my neck back, throwing my head back, as if trying to throw off the weight and this hand that grabbed me, but of course the heaviness and pain did not go away. In addition, probably from malaria, there was a daily fever. Dad, who took me for a walk, was worried and asked “if my head hurts” many times a day and felt my forehead. I saw how upset he was by my affirmative answer and the discovery of an elevated temperature, I wanted to reassure dad, but the matter spoke for itself and I could not do anything reassuring. During these walks, I asked Dad a thousand questions, mainly natural science and especially about tropical countries. And in my head, maybe. Due to the heat, symphonies sounded incessantly. I remember their general character to this day. These were majestic polyphonic counterpoints, in the spirit of Bach, and partly music in the style of Haydn and Mozart. M.b. the works of these particular composers were unconsciously reproduced and varied, because Aunt Sonya then studied music intensively and played a lot of classical music. My mother, as well as Aunt Sonya, had good voices and often sang - almost exclusively Schubert and Glinka romances, 217 i.e. perhaps the best available in world vocal literature. These romances are etched into my consciousness and, as soon as I hear them, I involuntarily remember my childhood. From vocal music, childhood impressions remained from the female doctor Marya Viktorovna Florina. 218 She came to treat us and generally examine us, and at the same time she sang - Dargomyzhsky, Glinka and other Russian composers. But I liked my mother’s singing much more. Aunt Sonya later studied singing at the Leipzig Conservatory and was going to perform, but because of tuberculosis she had to give up singing unconditionally. I also had a cousin Nina. 219 She had a wonderful voice, like silver. She completed a course at the Philharmonic, began performing - and almost suddenly died of tuberculosis. My Valya also sang, 220 at home, and also died, from the same illness. So, by association, I fell into sad memories that did not at all get along with the frantic rumbas and tangos rushing today like a sin, exclusively clearly from the radio, through 3 walls, albeit planks. However, I don’t regret that I sometimes write down childhood memories in letters - maybe. someday they will become interesting to you. Write what kind of manuscripts you have to “read.” I think this is a very useful activity - for literacy, development of style and, perhaps, enrichment of literary and scientific. I kiss you deeply, dear Olya. Dear Deer, today, December 1st, I heard radio sounds from the Red Corner - a broadcast of a concert - which delayed me. I didn't hear the beginning. Complex and very clean work, great skill, but essentially primitive and poor. I compared it to silver chasing or wood carving by a first-class master of the 17th century. For a long time I could not understand what they were playing. Only after the end of the program did I learn: Bach’s 1st Hamburg Concert. And then I told myself that I had determined correctly. In Bach I always feel like a craftsman. Do not understand this word as a reproach. I really respect and appreciate craftsmen, especially old ones; I will say more, I would really like to be a craftsman. But this is a completely special structure of the spirit. Habits and skills, hereditarily developed over centuries, mastery without impulse and inspiration, or more precisely, without the inspiration of a given moment, work that a master can begin at any time and stop at any time without damage. This is probably the healthiest creativity, always flowing along certain channels, without torment, without searching, without romance, without tears and without delight, but with calm confidence in its hand, which itself knows what to do. Brilliant, but without the slightest trepidation - like the boxes of Afonia, 221 although they have grown into entire houses. This thoughtless mastery is infinitely far from our time, where everything is built either on painful sincerity and throwing, or on the desire to produce something different from what others are producing, to surprise, stun, hit - and the fear of accidentally falling on a path already taken by others. It is immediately clear that Bach, like Athos - a fragment of ancient times, is not afraid of repetition - neither of himself nor of others. He produces his high-quality product, is confident in its excellent quality, and is confident in the approval of the consumer. He knows the power of his skill and at the same time treats his work not as his child, whose personality is unique and irreplaceable, but as a good thing that will forever remain valuable and which, at the same time, could be replaced by another, although perhaps of less good quality. – This is the complete opposite of Beethoven (if we talk about values ​​of approximately the same order). - Well, I signed about Bach - and there’s no room anymore. Write to me exactly what you are doing, how your health is, how you feel. I kiss you deeply, dear Olya. March 23, 1937, ex. Tannery 1937.III.23. Solovki. No. 96. Dear Olen, I received your letter dated February 11th on March 21st. With messages so slow, you don’t know whether to answer questions. M.b. interest in the answer will already disappear when the answer reaches you. Nevertheless, I answer. You ask about Tchaikovsky and Scriabin. First of all, there is no way I can put them side by side. Not in terms of significance: both of them, and I’ll start with this, are, of course, great people, undeniably gifted. But in the meaning and nature of their activities they are significantly different. You ask me about my attitude towards both of them. I repeat, I recognize their great strength, but I am internally repulsed and do not accept them. When I want to give myself a final answer to the question about the value of a work, I ask myself: what would happen if this work did not exist. Would the world be lost without him? Would one of the rays of life be closed? - And so. If there were no Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, even Schubert, Glinka, the world would have dimmed. What if there were no Tchaikovsky and Scriabin? “I’m afraid,” this is too harsh and disrespectful, I myself hate to express my thoughts, “I’m afraid the world would brighten up a little.” It is not good to wish death on anyone. But there are difficult people, after whose departure life becomes easier. I’m afraid that after these works disappear from people’s consciousness, i.e. Tchaikovsky and Scriabin, it would be more fun. However, do not think that I want to discredit them, I know their strength. For example, “The Queen of Spades,” it seems to me, is perhaps the most integral, the most forged of operas, but that’s all the worse, because it is a ball of despair, i.e. the most poisonous of feelings. And she powerfully infects with despair. The sophistication of the clothes and the attractiveness of the forms do not change the essence of the matter - that this is Death creeping into the soul, and creeping in all the more unhindered because it nowhere calls itself by its name, does not lead to disputes and protests, internal struggle against itself and self-resistance. I have different things against Tchaikovsky and against Scriabin, but these different things seem to be united in one thing, in their irrealism. One goes into passive suppression by one’s own moods, the other into an active, but illusionistic-magical substitution of the reality of one’s dreams, which do not transform life, but instead substitute scenery, albeit a deceptive one, instead of life. But both do not feel the depths of existence from which life grows; both live in illusoryness. – Tchaikovsky is without a core, there is no ontology in his music, and he consciously runs away from ontology, shrouding it in his despondency. Undoubtedly, these ghostly shadows are beautiful, but I cannot call them beautiful, for beauty is not only beautiful, but also true. Scriabin wants to be magical, and he achieves his goal, he is magical. But after all, magic is a deception, not in the sense that it is only charlatanism (although in this area between charlatanism and deception in the highest sense, the border is fluid and can never be established with certainty - this is the essence of magic), but in the higher sense, it is always a deception: instead of “it is so” it substitutes I, I want it this way, and by one or another technique it forces one to see as the magician wants, but only for a while, until the confusion dissipates. It can give a shift to consciousness - a kind of suggestion and restructuring of perception, but this violent restructuring is unstable, and unstable because it is non-existent. If you want, you can say that Scriabin and Tchaikovsky are anti-Pushkin and anti-Tyutchev. That says it all. I remember one evening organized after the death of Scriabin. The best pianists from Moscow and some from Leningrad took part. They played in different ways, i.e. technically everything is excellent, but with varying degrees of penetration. But the play of one, Buyukli 222 (they say he is the son of Nikolai Rubinstein) was brilliant. Both he himself and his acting are straight out of Hoffmann. But not only during its performance, in front of everyone, I almost saw with my own eyes that the chairs were jumping, the tables were dancing, the sofas were running around the room - what a little more - and the walls would crumble. Was it good? - No, rather creepy. Magic session. No less miraculous effects are produced by ultrasounds, causing chemical reactions, mechanical effects, warming, even burning and killing. But they have nothing in common with music. If I exaggerate somewhat, then I would like to say about Scriabin’s works: amazing, amazing, creepy, impressionable, magical, crushing, but this is not music. Scriabin was in a dream. He intended to create a work that, when performed somewhere in the Himalayas, would produce a shock to the human body, so that a new being would appear. For his world-crushing mystery, he wrote a rather helpless libretto, but the point is not that, but a reluctance to reckon with the reality of the musical element as such, in the desire to go beyond its limits, while the music of Mozart or Bach is infinitely more effective than Scriabin’s, although it is only music. One third-rate writer expresses the thought: “Russia is a country of prophets.” Yes, only false prophets. Every gifted person does not want to be what he is and what he can really be, but despises his real abilities and in his dreams becomes a reorganizer of the universe: Tolstoy, Gogol, Dostoevsky, Scriabin, Ivanov 223 (artist), Ge, etc. etc. Only Pushkin and Glinka are true realists. Wisdom is the ability to limit yourself and understand your true strength. Scriabin lived in the mists of dreams. I kiss you deeply, dear Olya. May 13, 1937, Kremlin, former. Chobotnaya Chamber Dear Deer, I can’t remember what you said I wrote to you that was unfair, but I think you misunderstood something. It is very difficult to write in a way that will be understood correctly when you have to account for every square centimeter of paper. But behind all this, remember, I consider it my duty to say everything useful that I can say, and do not be offended. I hope that with the onset of spring you will have some rest. Do you know the plant Chickweed? (Stellaria media.) It usually grows near water - along ditches, near swamps. You can make a delicious salad from it, try it; You can also cook it in different forms. I am writing this so that you can take advantage of the spring time to use the herbs that your body needs. I have often thought about the similarities between Tiki and Gosei, so your letter only confirmed my thoughts. I'm going back to herbalism. It seems that it would be correct to recognize the position that the quantity and variety of plant food, and especially herbaceous parts, roots and tubers, is a measure of the culture of a society. Turning to history, one is surprised at how late modern Europeans adopted plant foods. For example, the culture of lettuce, carrots and some other vegetables was mastered only under Henry VIII, i.e. in the 1st half XVI century, and asparagus only under Charles II, in the XVII century. 224 For noble cultures, the material basis is plant food, at least mostly. The point is not in vegetarian principles - which I do not recognize - but in the physiological effect of plant foods on our body, which becomes coarser from meat and wears out quickly. The secret of creativity is preserving youth. The secret of genius is preserving childhood, the child's constitution, for life. This constitution gives the genius an objective perception of the world, not a centripetal one, a kind of reverse perspective of the world, and therefore it is holistic and real. The illusory, no matter how brilliant and bright it may be, can never called genius. For the essence of a brilliant worldview is penetration into the depths of things, and the essence of an illusory one is to close reality from oneself. The most typical of genius: Mozart, Faraday, Pushkin - they are children by nature, with all the advantages and disadvantages of this warehouse. “I re-read your letter again and I just can’t remember what upset you.” In any case, I am upset about this myself. You don’t understand the feeling of a father who wants his children to be not only impeccable, but also to represent the highest value. Not for others, but for yourself, you need to be like that, but it doesn’t matter how others think about you: to be, not to seem. To have a clear, transparent mood, a holistic perception of the world and to cultivate an unselfish thought - so that in old age you can say that in life you have taken all the best that has been learned in the world, all that is most worthy and beautiful, and that your conscience is not soiled with the rubbish that people cling to so much and which, after the passion has passed, leaves deep disgust. I kiss you deeply, darling. Letters to the eldest sons Vasily and Kirill November 13, 1933, Art. Ksenievskaya 1933.XI.13. Dear Kira, today I received your letter, written upon my arrival home. 225 I am very glad that you had a successful trip and that you returned safely. It’s also good that you’ll be working on sorting out collections and learning from an experienced mineralogist. However, I am afraid whether you have enough time and energy to work in three places at once. Then I am also worried about the question of your housing and food. Especially with regard to the latter, try to adjust it so that you eat correctly and satisfyingly. Of course, one should not break with paleontology, especially since in the field of sedimentary rocks it is absolutely necessary to be guided by paleontological data. Bioliths are the main concept here, and bioliths can only be understood in the light of paleontology and biology. It would be very important that you m.b. not now, but later, he mastered paleobotany and in particular the paleobotany of lower plants. If you have time, then read at least superficially Samoilov’s “Biolytes” and Vernadsky’s latest works – “Biosphere” and others; I was preparing for publication, but I don’t know if Vernadsky’s very important book about water has been published. 226 If she comes out, be sure to study her. – Also: if my article “Measuring Form” was published in Soren, 227 then talk about it with your supervisor, I think it could be used to study placers and, in particular, probably develop a morphometric analysis of placers, i.e. judge the nature of mineral fragments by their form, characterized quantitatively. If this article is not published, then in my papers, namely in the soil folder, you will find a handwritten copy. It's a pity that you don't read English; I’m talking about sedimentary rocks, sands, etc. There are many interesting American works in publications of American institutes and universities. This literature should be used. On your free day with Vasya, try to at least get acquainted with what exactly is there, so that you can keep it in mind in case you need it. In particular, I have a monograph on monazites. If necessary, go to the editorial office of the “Technical Encyclopedia” and ask Nikolai Petrovich Rakitsky, the scientific secretary of the editorial office, to arrange for you to be given the volumes of the “Technical Encyclopedia” and the “Reference Book” that are missing from me and due to me, but first inquire, which I do not have. I wrote to Rakitsky about this and sent my mother a power of attorney to receive it, but I’m afraid that neither one nor the other was received, and therefore I am writing about it again. I would be very sorry if the Technical Encyclopedia with my articles were not available to us. If necessary, in particular, look at the article “Duty factor”; 228 True, it was cut down in the editorial office, but still it could be. useful to you, because It contains a variety of information that cannot be found summarized in books. But for rocks, porosity is a significant factor that makes it possible for water activity to manifest itself. I live in such a distant East that it would seem there is nowhere to go; but I’ll probably soon go another 1200 km to the east. Unfortunately, I don’t yet have literature on the local region in my hands, and therefore I still have a bad idea of ​​it, although I feel that there is a lot here that should be thought about and what should be done. That’s why I want to go further east, where there are conditions for scientific work, as they say, but I myself am not entirely sure of this yet. All the time I remember you all, and in particular you and Vasya, and you seem to me like two bunnies, while the younger ones are birds. I especially remember how Mick and Tika, huddled together and silent, sat on an ottoman by the stove and only whispered to each other when my mother had an attack of pain in her liver. This is exactly how I’ve been imagining them for 9 months now. Try to ensure that the younger ones gain knowledge and skills for work, I don’t mean classes here, but small conversations, participation in work: disassembling books, looking at pictures in books, sorting through collections. Sometimes show them minerals, rocks (I have collected quite a lot of them), materials, maps. There is no need to show much at once. If they see one or two objects, one or two pictures, that is enough, but some remark must be made about what they see, then the object will be saturated with content. Let them learn terms, ways of working, diagrams; Little by little material will be stocked up for further work. Only such knowledge is necessary and useful. It is important that children are not left without images of art that are related to them, especially Hellenic, whether it be sculpture, architecture or poetry. And you yourself will find it useful and refreshing, because... You, too, will notice something new for yourself and become enriched. I have already written that Vasya and you can use handwritten materials collected in my folders, but with the condition of being careful and not mixing up the sheets. I kiss you deeply, dear. Tell Vasya that I will write to him next time, because... The letter already comes out too thick and is delayed, but I write it in fits and starts, when I have to. Kiss mommy, bow to grandma. If you visit Grandma Olya, give her a kiss for me and tell her that I received a letter from her, the last one, probably, but only one. November 23, 1933, Art. Ksenievskaya 1933.XI.23. My dear Vasenka, I’m finally writing to you. I received one letter from you. I learned from my mother that you went on an expedition in the summer, and therefore I did not write to you, and then I could not find a suitable time. I was very glad that you and Kira went to places that were new to you, 229 especially since throughout the summer, i.e. until August 13, I was sure that your trip was not a success. I hope you gained new impressions and knowledge, so your horizons have been enriched. When studying nature, the main thing is to have direct impressions, which, if observed as unbiased and unprejudiced as possible, gradually add up by themselves into the overall picture; and from the general picture the intuition of the types of structure of nature arises, and it is this that provides the basis for in-depth conclusions. Without this intuition, conclusions always remain only conditional schemes that can be directed in arbitrary directions and therefore are conditional and even harmful - they interfere with observing and noticing what is really important. In the area in which you are working, it is necessary to cultivate a sense of landscape in yourself, and then much of what is acquired without this sense through a painstaking and easily leading to error path is given by itself. Therefore, it would be very useful if you tried to formulate what characterizes the style of the landscape you saw - first in separate strokes, an unsystematic list of individual features that emerge in the mind, and then gradually merging these features into a single description of the type. Goethe possessed this ability to see the type of what was observed to an exceptional degree; One must learn from Goethe to understand nature. If you have the opportunity, at least read Lichtenstadt's book; you will find it in the closet where the books on philosophy are. Read also Medtner's book about Goethe; but Lichtenstadt will be more useful for you, because... He gives large chunks of Goethe’s works in a translation that, as far as I remember, is quite good. 230 I'm worried about how you and Kira have settled down—where you live and how you eat. Over time, I hope you will settle down more or less tolerably, but right away it is very difficult. I wrote to my mother that in my papers (a folder with certificates and other documents) there is a letter from the deputy. director of VEI, in which he promises to provide living space if I left my service at VEI. Of course, all such promises are very conditional, but still it does not hurt to find this letter and ask, on the basis of it, for some space in return for the one that I once transferred to the Institute. The main thing is to take care of your health. You are at just the age when this is especially important; In five years, the body will be stronger and more reliable, but now special care is required. Therefore, be sure to arrange your and Kira’s food properly, try to sell things to provide food. In addition, dress warmly and don’t walk awkwardly in the cold, I’m very afraid of a cold, especially with general exhaustion and fatigue. More regarding your activities. Take everything you need from my materials, just try to maintain order and not thin out the materials, because... otherwise they will become completely useless. True, my materials were selected for other purposes than those that stand before you, but nevertheless you will find something useful there. In addition, it is generally useful for you to get acquainted with a related area from practice; it can lead to some new tasks and conclusions. I’ve already written about myself many times, so I’m tired of it. But just in case the letters haven’t arrived, I’ll let you know once again that I live well: the food is quite sufficient and many times better than what I had in Moscow, but it’s unpleasant for me, because... have to eat meat. I live in a room with several engineers; although I have nothing in common with them, they are quiet and calm people, so I don’t feel any inconvenience. I sleep on a wooden bunk, on the 2nd floor, where you have to climb, like in a railway carriage. I received warm clothes - a padded jacket, trousers, felt boots, a short coat, called a pea coat here. All these things (except felt boots, of course) are made with cotton wool. The room is now warm, it can even be quite hot when, having gathered for the night, we light the iron stove. However, the quality of the room means little to me, because... I am at work all day and return home for 1-1 1/2 hours during the day and late at night. My closest boss, the 231st department head, was a Russified German, studied abroad and was at one time a professor in Leipzig. This is a cultured and benevolent person. He treats me attentively, so working with him is very smooth. The only pity is that he is an economist and agronomist by profession, and economics is very far from my interests. Yesterday I spoke with him regarding the possible date of my departure. This will probably be in early December, because... I need to finish some work here. On November 23rd I received my mother’s letter dated November 8th. From this letter I learned that you and Mick are nervous and restless. This upset me greatly, firstly, because of your condition, and secondly, because of your incorrect attitude. It's time for you to understand that everything that happens has its own meaning and is done in such a way that, in general, life is heading for the better. You cannot avoid troubles in life, but troubles endured consciously and in the light of general phenomena educate and enrich, and in the future bring positive results. Therefore, my dear boy, be calm, wait for a better future, don’t worry and try at every given moment to use what you have and what you can do at this time. I am always with you in spirit, I love you all deeply, I always think about you. Work on yourself, take care of your mother and children, take care of your health and try to enjoy what is available to you. Be sure to breathe more air. You can take whatever you need from my books. Also use chemical preparations for analysis, I am sure that you will find substances that are useful to you and, moreover, chemically pure. I kiss you deeply, my dear. Kiss your mother and children, your grandmother, bow to another grandmother. I'm afraid you won't understand my letter: the pencil is short, and it's difficult for me to write without glasses. February 12, 1934, Svobodny 1934.II.12. Dear Vasenka, today is a holiday at your home, and I join you in my thoughts and congratulate you and Uncle Vasya. 232 We have a day off, but, as always, this day I sit at work and work. On such days there are relatively few people, so the institution is quiet and works much more successfully than on ordinary days. After all, when there are too many people, it is difficult to concentrate, they are often interrupted by various questions when something needs to be explained or done, and therefore the thought is scattered. This is the time we, i.e. Several people who know and appreciate poetry remembered Andrei Bely a lot in connection with the newspaper news that reached us about his death. True, I have not seen him for many years, but the memories of my youth, when I knew him well and when he was at the peak of his talents, are so vivid that it is as if it were a few weeks ago. I am even glad that I did not meet him in recent years, which were years of decline, illness and aging for him. Probably new, less bright impressions would have smoothed over the old and old appearance with which he will remain in my mind. We only regretted that there was nothing to read from his previous works, which no one here has, and that we had to be content with the pitiful fragments preserved in our memory; but almost nothing intact has survived, although I once knew a lot. This means that another thread that connected me with the years of my youth has broken. Here, despite the frost, spring is clearly felt. The snow has almost disappeared, even from the roofs. Don't think you've melted. Due to the dry air and winds, the snow here does not melt, but simply evaporates, passing from the solid phase directly into the vapor phase. The impression is as if it were not snow, but flakes of solid carbon dioxide. As before, and maybe even more so than before, I am immersed in my thoughts in the permafrost. Everything here - natural phenomena, construction interests, and the conversations of others - leads to this topic. In addition, Pavel Nikolaevich and I are actively gathering and preparing for the trip - relocation to the permafrost station in Skovorodino (formerly Rukhlovo station at the junction of the Trans-Baikal and Ussuri railways). There it will be necessary to carry out a series of experiments, observe permafrost phenomena, and come into contact with them under construction conditions. I collected a lot of materials related to the physics and, partly, the geology of these processes, and made summaries. It seems to me that I have already unraveled the mechanism of formation of the so-called abysses, and it turned out that the views developed in the literature are incorrect and, in any case, significantly incomplete. It's amazing how observant people are. For example, here at every step you can see long and wide cracks, the so-called “frost cracks” - in the soil, in the ice of rivers and ice. Everyone writes and says that their reasons are unknown. But simple evidence indicates the presence in the soil, along with positive vertical pressures, heaving pressures, also negative pressures, or horizontal stretches, forces that tear the soil. The mechanism for the emergence of both forces turned out to be simple, but not at all the “expansion of water during freezing” by 9 °/o, which is on everyone’s tongue and mind. The point is in the pressures and tensions during the crystallization of water, that is, in the forces that are not hydrostatic, not comprehensive, but vector, with a direction along the axes of the crystal lattice along which the orientation of ice molecules occurs (water, or what is usually called water, is a solution of ice - trihydrol (H 2 0) 3 and a pair of monohydrol (H 2 0) 1 in water itself, dihydrol (H 2 0) 2 . The process of cooling water leads to an increase in the concentration of trihydrol, and when there are many of these molecules, they crystallize in the direction of the lines of heat propagation or, more precisely, against them, and they tend to stick to solid surfaces on which there is an adsorbed layer of water, presumably already in a solid state, since the adsorbed molecules are oriented. A solid body touching ice causes irritation in it, and the ice grows in the direction of the surface pressing on it, just as tissue grows when something irritates it. From the point of view of general energy, this is a manifestation of Le Chatelier's principle. 233 The system strives to maintain its current state by developing processes that are exactly the opposite of the factor causing its change. If some pressure is applied to ice, then at weak pressures (up to 15 kg/cm 2) and low t° it counteracts the compressive force by increasing in this direction, and at strong pressures and relatively high temperatures it increases its melting point, as was discovered by James and William Thomson, 234 because the melting of ice leads to an increase in its temperature and, consequently, to thermal expansion, which counteracts the reduction in volume produced by pressure. This irritating effect is so great that it leads to the lifting of heavy objects, layers of soil, buildings, rocks, and rupture of cracks. I was told about cases when the freezing of water located under huge boulders of 10x8x5 meters raised them, for example, by 10 cm, despite the fact that the water had every opportunity to flow out from under the stone and freeze somewhere to the side. But, on the contrary, it was collected by the forces of crystallization under the boulder and, contrary to the laws of hydrostatics, pressed upward vertically. Not only that. In order to crystallize in the direction of counteraction (with a force of up to 15 kg/cm 2 ) to pressure, the substance of water is borrowed from the environment and from the side faces of the same crystal. It “melts” where there is no pressure in order to feed the edge growing under the influence of irritation with its material. Hence the appearance of negative pressure on these faces, i.e. lateral, and the suction effect of the growing crystal: it contracts in width (i.e. in directions perpendicular to the main axis - the direction of growth) and, therefore, breaks away from other crystals parallel to it; Water is sucked into the cracks that form and flows into the growth of the irritated face, hence a new low pressure is formed. Thus, the ice grows, cracks, grows again and the soil above it swells, and the soil particles move apart, between which ice crystals appear. That this phenomenon has nothing to do with the volumetric expansion of water during freezing is evidenced by the fact that similar effects occur in liquids that, when solidified, do not increase their volume, but, on the contrary, decrease it. I will continue to carry out control experiments in this direction in Skovorodino. Well, the whole letter came out about permafrost. It’s already late, I have to leave, otherwise I’ll be left without dinner. I kiss you, my dear. I'm afraid you still don't eat well, and that worries me very much. Have you and your mother done what I wrote earlier regarding nutrition? Have you received the “Handbook” and the “Technical Encyclopedia”? 235 November 7, 1934, Kremlin, former. Trinity Cathedral 1934.XI.7. Dear Vasyushka, I hope you have already returned from your trip. How I wish you were healthy this winter. I think about you all the time, about all of you. There are interesting people here, but they should rather be called formerly interesting: because everything is gray and dull, so you can’t even believe that these are the very people who could be significant. Only when you start talking, sometimes something flashes, like erased gilding. I’m probably the same, not even likely, but probably so. A typical part of the conversation is about who worked where today and how much% they worked - the second is always of interest to everyone, because... This is related to the quantity of bread provided and the quality of food. The monastery - a fortress - is all kind of shabby, very unpleasant, despite its historical and archaeological interest. I don’t even want to look at him. Mom probably told you about the mineral - did you identify it with Kira? If you define it, let me know what you think it is. I kiss you, dear, be healthy and write. November 26, 1934, Kremlin, former. Viceroyal Corps Dear Kirill, your mother writes that you have to work a lot and, in addition, there is nowhere to sleep in Moscow. I hope Vasya has arrived now, and you will spend the night with him. Try to maintain your health and eat properly. It’s difficult to talk about your future activities from here. But I think we should stick to mineralogy. There’s only one thing: you don’t like the Pamirs. But maybe and your leader 236 will be connected in the future not with the Pamirs, but with other regions? I still don't know what you found in my mineral. Probably a lot of iron, but is there really nothing more interesting? Not only do I have nothing instructive in the field of mineralogy, but I don’t have anything in sight, because... the entire island is covered with glacial debris - boulders, sedimentary clays, etc., so you can't see the bedrock. And I can’t stand these glacial sediments that came from nowhere and are deprived of connection with their original source. But there is seaweed here, I’m going to try it: I’ve been interested in it for a long time, since childhood, as well as iodine. I don’t see any new books here at all, and there are no old ones I need either. There’s nothing to even think about about journals, so I have no idea what’s going on in science and, of course, I quickly forget what I knew. I kiss you, dear Kira, write. Dear Vasenka, I hope you have finally returned home. I worry about you all the time, and about your health, and because of your isolation from home and about your health. Write what you did over the summer. Perhaps next summer it would be good for you and Kira to go to new places to get acquainted with nature, different from the Pamirs. Here I will probably lead a math club, but the trouble is that there are no new books, I will have to improvise, and there is no time to prepare either. I already wrote to you from here, but judging by my mother’s letters, I think that the letter did not arrive, perhaps. because of its size. Try to tell your children something about mineralogy, physics, chemistry, geology, among other things. This will enrich them and prepare the ground for further studies. If you show a mineral, explain its composition, features, and technical name. Mom will tell you something about my work on ice, unless she has forgotten. Unfortunately, these works were interrupted; they promised to provide valuable conclusions. You've probably already seen ice classification tables, but they are hard to understand without text and pictures. Kiss Grandma and Aunt Lucy in Moscow. Be healthy, dear, try to be kind and arrange your diet to reassure me at least partly. I kiss you deeply. December 14, 1934, Kremlin, former. Viceroyal Corps 1934.ХII.14. Dear Vasechka, you probably received my old letters, except for one large one, which obviously did not arrive. Now I have the opportunity to write more often than before, so you will hear from me several times a month; but there will probably be an interruption in the near future, because... Navigation will stop and air traffic will not be established. I am very glad that you are finally home and relatively healthy. Tell me what you did in the summer and what you found interesting. Now I am busy thinking (in private, this does not relate to my official work) how to organize here a complex production - an entire plant - for the extraction of bromine from sea water using wind and tidal energy in a well-closed cycle of various processes and products. A beautiful scheme is outlined, but translating it into a project requires a lot of work and, unfortunately, books that are not here. Still, I will think through this problem, together with some specialists. I’m also gradually thinking through various options for iodine and other seaweed products. Essentially, here, in the question of algae and bromine, there is a lot of important and interesting things, and, moreover, closely related to my work on electrical materials. But nevertheless, it is difficult to move away from research and thoughts about permafrost and ice, where a big step forward could be made. In addition, the local nature, despite the views that cannot but be called beautiful and unique, repels me: the sea is not a sea, but something either dirty white or black and gray, stones all brought by glaciers, hills, hills themselves, alluvial, from glacial debris, in general, everything is not indigenous, but came from outside, including people. This randomness of the landscape, when you understand it, is depressing, as if you are in a clogged room. So are people; all contacts with people are random, superficial and not determined by any deep internal motives. Just as the crystalline rocks from which boulders are made are interesting in themselves, but become uninteresting in their isolation from the underlying deposits, so the local people, who are significant in themselves and on average much more significant than those living in the wild, are uninteresting precisely because they were brought from the outside, today here, and tomorrow they will find themselves in another place. And one more thing: I don’t know why, since childhood I unconsciously couldn’t stand the Solovetsky Monastery, I didn’t want to read about it, it seemed to me not deep and not meaningful, despite its great significance in history. And now, having arrived here, I feel deep indifference to these ancient walls and buildings, I do not examine them, I have not even visited the cathedral, where excursions are conducted and which is considered a local landmark. Intellectually, I well understand the injustice of such an attitude, but still it remains and even grows. This is the first time in my life when antiquity does not evoke any excitement or attraction in me. Perhaps algae and iodine are the most significant things I find on Solovki. – Do you manage to rest after the expedition? It would be nice if you could live with your mommy. In order not to forget: try to write down thoughts and observations every day, without postponing their consolidation for the future; after all, they are quickly forgotten, and if they are stored in memory, it is inaccurate and dim. From such notes, if you take them, you accumulate materials for large works, and this way of working gives the work richness and richness. Best of all, always have a notepad with you so that you can take notes on the go and under any conditions. I kiss you deeply, dear Vasya, write and don’t forget your dad. January 24–25, 1935, Kremlin, former. Viceroyal Corps Dear Kirill, I often think about you, especially when I go to bed late at night. I remember with pain that I upset you by not being your age and demanding something that you did not understand. Dear boy, how I would like not to correct the past, which has already passed and is irreparable, but to somehow compensate you for it. I wanted to give you an inheritance of an honest name and the knowledge that your father worked all his life unselfishly, without thinking about the consequences of his work for himself personally. But it is precisely because of this unselfishness that I had to deprive you of the comforts that others enjoy, the pleasures that are natural at your age, and even communication with you. Now I'm sad that instead of getting any benefit for yourself in the present for all my efforts, you don't get what most people get, despite the lives of their parents for their own sake. My only hope for the preservation of everything that is being done: in some way, albeit unknown to me, I hope you will still receive compensation for everything that I deprived you, my dear ones. If it weren’t for you, I would have remained silent: the worst thing in my fate is the interruption of work and the actual destruction of the experience of my whole life, which is now only ripe and could bear true fruit - I would not complain about this if it were not for you. If society does not need the fruits of my life’s work, then even if it remains without them, it is still a question of who is more punished, me or society, by the fact that I will not show what I could show. But I’m sorry that I can’t convey my experience to you, and, most importantly, I can’t caress you as I would like and as I always caress you in my mind. – I wrote to you in January, but I don’t know if my letter arrived. You will learn about how I live from a letter to my grandmother. I kiss you deeply, dear. I have to finish the letter, it’s very late and I’m collapsing with fatigue. February 22, 1935, Kremlin, former. Filippova Hermitage Dear Vasya, you have completely forgotten your dad, you don’t write anything. But I need to know what you do, what you do, what you think. Are you writing anything? Be sure to write, and record fleeting and systematic observations and thoughts, and process them. From my own experience, I see that accumulating a lot of material for future use leads to the fact that most of it remains unprocessed and not put in order. Try to take advantage of the experience of my life and spend your labor more rationally, i.e. quickly document what you find. Larger generalizations and more complete systematization will come in due time, and nothing prevents us from then returning to the old, revising, supplementing and correcting what has been done, but more consciously and purposefully. More. When researching, try to involve as many different characteristics as possible into the circle of consideration and compare them with each other. Then conclusions will come naturally that would otherwise require a lot of effort and luck. It is especially important to use various physical methods for studying matter, i.e. chemistry gives characteristics that are too poor, too far from the actual substance; it speaks not specifically and too generally. I kiss you deeply. March 3, 1935, Kremlin, former. Filippova Hermitage Dear Kirill, from my mother I learned about the death of Davyd Ivanovich, which shocked and saddened me. One thing I can still be pleased with is that you managed, although far from sufficiently, to work under his leadership. I feel sorry for him, and you, and myself, but especially, of course, his family. Give Sofya Vladimirovna my greetings and express my sympathy for her loss. M.b. in the next letter I will write her a few words, but there’s no room anymore. You see, dear, your concern about choosing a leader disappeared by itself, and you did not upset Davyd Ivanovich. 239 In life it often happens that difficulties resolve themselves, just don’t twitch or show impatience. Mom writes that you are unemployed now. It’s unclear to me why: after all, you work in mineralogy. Or is this only in the summer? I am studying chemistry, and lately I have been mainly studying organic science. I understand different types of carbohydrates and their derivatives, next will be proteins; I prepare reagents and set up analysis methods. Along the way, other work is underway, preparation for electrochemical processes, because I want to try the electrochemical way of complex use of algae. Along the way, various details become clear, unknown from the books, but important in one way or another. We live alone, quietly, at work, surrounded by forest and snow. This is especially good at the moment, because... I was unwell and after the flu I had the usual weakening of the heart and polyneuritis pain. There is nothing serious, but staying at home is useful. However, I read lectures on mathematics and go to the bathhouse. I kiss you deeply, dear. I’m glad that you got settled with your apartment, but now you definitely need to get settled with food. Write how Sofia Vladimirovna’s financial and housing affairs are going. July 15, 1935, Kremlin, former. Filippova Hermitage 1935.VII.15. Dear Vasyushka, I’m afraid my letter will no longer find you, but just in case, I’m still writing. Mom writes about your expected departure, but does not say anything about its duration. First of all, about your personal affairs. You know how much I love you and all of you. I want you to feel good and to enjoy as much joy as is possible on earth. This is true in general and in this case. It’s impossible for me to say anything about your choice from here, because... I don’t know Natasha, it’s correct to say that I don’t know her at all and I can’t even imagine her from stories. Yes, besides, my reasoning, if it were possible, would still be useless. But I believe in my children and hope for their prudence, especially when it comes to organizing their lives. Before you is your mother’s example and follow it from there. I only want you to find peace and silence, everything else is in the background. However, you must not forget about mommy and brothers and sisters. This duty, of course, would fall on you in all circumstances. But to my deep chagrin, a difficult and great task falls upon you - a double duty, i.e. I can’t do anything to give mommy any joy and peace. She had lived her whole life hard, and now, when she should have been in peace and joy, especially difficult times had come to her lot. Remember her love for you and do so as not to cause her unnecessary grief. Mommy writes about your concerns regarding your crystallography classes. Here are a few considerations that might help. will help you. First, try to use visual aids and models as often as possible. Spatial imagination, three-dimensional in a person at the present stage of development, is very weak, and if one is not accustomed to imagining spatial images, it often simply refuses to work. You can be completely intelligent and still not master the representation of spatial images. Therefore, it is necessary to help here with models. Let the students make them themselves, this also helps a lot. Use a stereoscope. Find detachable models, etc., use painted surfaces and colored chalk more - color greatly enhances the understanding of form. Secondly, it would be absolutely necessary for you to study vector calculus, which is the most important tool for crystallography. Now I’m studying this discipline with engineers, and how annoying it is that I can’t study with you. If you master (but precisely master) at least the first chapters, i.e. basic operations with vectors, you will immediately feel armed, whereas without vector thinking you usually feel helpless. (By the way, I have in my hands the book “Vectoral Calculus” by N.E. Kochin, Leningrad-M., 1933, 3rd ed.; another good book by J.N. Spielrein; briefly – in the theoretical physics of Eichenwald, issue “Field Theory”.) But to master vector calculus, you definitely need to solve problems, otherwise nothing is remembered. Thirdly, try to saturate crystallography with physical and chemical content (exemplary book: Lehmann, Die Molekular physik, although in many ways it is very much behind, but contains precious material, try to resort to it). Fourthly, I note some books: Delaunay B.N., Mathematical foundations of structural analysis of crystals and determination of the main parallelepiped of the surface (?) using x-rays. L. 1934. 328 pp., 4 r. 20 † 1 r. I remind you about Vernadsky crystallography - for general purposes. It would be very useful (in the future) to delve into FEDOROV’s ideas. 240 Regarding your studies of sedimentary rocks: a particularly important point, in particular for understanding the genesis of rocks, is their texture. 241 Match materials to different ways to characterize texture; in my materials (for example, about marble) you will also find something. I am convinced that texture analysis, when it is based on an accurate accounting of shaped elements and their geometry (in connection with the theory of probability), has a great future. In addition, try to generally delve into the physical methods of characterizing rocks (reflectivity, capillarity, etc., electrical properties). Even if you don’t do the measurements yourself, then at least select materials based on what has already been done. This gives a lot of insight into how rocks are built. – I’m sending you a picture – a view of the laboratory. – A very important area, intermediate between the gross - macroscopic - and subtle - microscopic - structure of all kinds of natural bodies, is somehow avoided, although it is with it that the most striking properties of bodies are associated. – Regarding the motley Perm retinue 242, I have one idea, I’ll develop it next time, and you think about it. Isn't this formation a genetic analogue of granite and gneiss, but very young? It would be very interesting to trace the ENTIRE sequence, both towards even younger deposits of a related type, and towards more ancient ones, and reach metaphorical crystalline rocks. I didn’t think this idea through properly, perhaps. and I’ll refuse it, but it’s worth thinking about. I kiss you deeply, dear. – Pay attention to unconformable bedding (cross-bedding). September 5–6, 1935, ex. Monastery forge. Dear Kirill, if you have arrived, please inform us about yourself as soon as possible. Mommy is worried, but so am I. I hope you will write what you did over the summer. Have you received my “Persian” letters? 243 I also inform you that the word al, red, is of a special shade, i.e. the same root as the Russian scarlet, probably not just related to ours, but brought to us from Persia. I once studied the ancient Russian names of precious stones. Many of the names usually either remain incomprehensible or are explained in dictionaries of the Old Russian and Slavic languages ​​completely falsely. I was able to establish the exact meaning of the terms, relying on ancient inventories of things that were preserved in kind, and directly establishing the nature of the mineral. Many ancient Russian names turned out to be eastern: Armenian, Persian, Hindu, etc., some entered through Greece from Assyria. It is a very interesting topic to trace the migration of mineralogical terminology, and I have collected significant materials for work of this kind. Take a look at them someday, you will probably find something useful for yourself. – Now I live on the shore of the Holy Lake, so close to it that you can’t see the shore from the room. The weather is rainy, sometimes the wind rages with squalls, the lake rages like a sea. The house is ancient, with almost fortress walls. Mom is worried about the cold here. But this is a mistake on her part: the climate in Solovki is much warmer than Moscow, although the summers are cool, but the winters are not cold either. We say it's like being in a thermostat here. In winter the winds blow constantly, in summer they blow frequently. Therefore, I call Solovki the Island of the Winds (according to Greek views, the home of the winds was in the country of the Hyperboreans, i.e., therefore on Solovki). The last few days I have been sitting on applications for a number of inventions related to the use of algae. We would like to obtain an application certificate for a nomogram for the analysis of halides. I write articles on the same topics. – Once I wrote to you about Vernadsky’s book on Radiogeology, 244 but I don’t know if the letter reached you. Now I’m thinking of writing another article about this book, especially since the local newspapers (wall and some printed) need something. I am concerned about your teaching: you were late to arrive on time, as if there were complications due to this. In any case, pay the main attention to completing the course; this is necessary not only for formal reasons, but also in essence. Did you bring any interesting minerals? Mom asks me to send her plants. But she obviously doesn’t realize that I can’t send parcels, and besides, the parcel will be so delayed that the plants will die. I think most of the local plants can be obtained from other places - heather, blueberry, gonobobel, blueberry, cloudberry, dwarf birch, a special type of wintergreen, etc. I kiss you deeply, dear; write quickly. Dear Kirill, in Vernadsky’s book I read about the antiquity of Karelian crystalline rocks and in particular about the Sinepal rocks that broke the world record for antiquity. This goes well with the appearance of the Kremlin wall and the buildings - made of boulders, so that it seems something cyclopean, especially since the towers and all the buildings in the lower part expand, like the butt of pines and spruces, like an onion. The boulders of the walls are overgrown with yellow lichen, as if they had been painted. They carry loads here mainly on bulls, very thoroughbred, massive and archaic. When a cart drawn by a bull enters the passage of the Holy Gate, prehistoric times are imagined, some kind of archaic ritual - the impressions of the majestic bull and heavy, somewhat shapeless stonework grow together. Some of the bulls here are high-horned, with long sharp horns, and others, and they are especially strong, are very heavy, with short, thick and blunt horns; These ones are closer to me, more Egyptian. – Regarding your studies, I want to remind you of the existence of nomography: be sure to learn how to use nomographic methods, 245 this makes calculations much easier. In particular, make paper with various special coordination grids your usual asset. Of these, semi-logarithmic and double-logarithmic grids are especially useful. With the help of these and other similar grids, you can almost easily reveal various dependencies between phenomena that are often difficult to establish by direct calculation. Tell Vasya about this too. Do you write down your observations of nature so that you can gather material? Then, it’s time for you to collect a bibliography on the issues you are working on and notes from what you read in magazines and books. It is best to make these notes on standard-sized pieces of paper and then organize them into folders. Then, by moving records from folder to folder, they can be easily classified and each issue will be easily reviewed, so that the preparation of materials will become quick and complete, and most importantly, will not require much effort. While there are few materials, these measures seem unnecessary, but then, as data accumulates, the material begins to put pressure. Meanwhile, it is very dangerous to rely on memory; because of this, a lot of valuable things escape attention. I kiss you deeply. December 16, 1935, Kremlin, former. Nikolsky building Dear Kirill, I am very upset that you are in Moscow without shelter. At least try to eat properly. Maybe now Vladimir Ivanovich has arranged something for you? In the book B.C. Dokturovsky “Peat Bogs”, 2nd ed., M-L., 1935, containing a lot of useful data on peat, I found (pp. 35, 36) indications of the algae Cladophora Sauten - plant balls of the Bogs (remember I had them). It turns out that they are found in some lakes of the Vladimir province, in lake. Ardina, Nizhny Novgorod province, in Glubokoye Lake. Moscow province, and in some places in Western Europe. These balls interest me very much, in particular due to their connection with manganese oolites, 246 I think the latter are of the same origin. My papers contain micrographs of thin sections of these oolites, as well as an analysis of the Zabolotskaya cladophora. On page 77, data on determining the age of sapropel and saprocoll by annual microzones is presented. “The difficulties of your life are somewhat reminiscent of my own.” I know that many people consider me to be spoiled by life and easily achieve success. But this is a deep mistake, maybe. explained by the fact that I am used to not complaining about fate. Everything that others received easily was given to me with effort, or not at all. In general, when comparing myself with any of my acquaintances, I see that in life I have not received even a small share of what each of them received. And what we have was obtained through effort, work on oneself, persistent reflection and labor. Even books that were literally floating into the hands of others either did not reach me or arrived late. I extracted ideas from myself, which I later found in books or heard from others; but my ideas bore fruit, while for others they remained an external appendage. Perhaps the difficulty of obtaining it was a condition for organic assimilation. I see my advantage over others in persistence of thought and incessant work, and not in the abilities that I might have. less than many others. This path is difficult and tiring, but internally it is more fruitful than easy success and external quick assimilation. And if I were given the opportunity to start life again, from childhood, I would probably follow the same path that has already been taken. I made mistakes. But mostly my conscience is calm. I kiss you deeply, dear. Write and be cheerful. 1935.XII.16. Dear Vasyushka, without receiving letters from you, I come to the conclusion that you are too busy with your work. I'm sorry that this is the case, and for more than one reason. First of all, your work suffers from this. At the age you are at, you need to give your thoughts the opportunity to crystallize and not interfere with this process by constantly babbling them around: you need to have at least a small period of time every day for contemplation. What would I like and expect from you? The Latin proverb says: Non multa, sed multum, and in Russian one could convey the meaning: “Not much, but large.” I want you not to waste your time on many little things, but to do something whole. This does not mean that little things are not needed. No, the whole finds itself in the little things, but for this the little things must be organized, must be directed, determined and collected as a whole. “The whole is before its parts” (“before” - not in a chronological, but in an essential sense); it generates its parts from itself and for its own sake, and is not mechanically formed by them, as by random elements and influences. You must find yourself, and for this you need silence and, at least at times, an unclogging consciousness. This is the first thing. Secondly, it’s time for you to think seriously about organizing your life. Once you have started a family, you must take care of its improvement, and this, first of all, consists of internal completeness and connectedness. Natasha cannot be left to her own devices, nothing good will come of this; the least dangerous outcome is that she will be bored, sad, and wither internally. But it can happen much more easily that, out of an instinct of self-preservation, she will try to fill the void, and then the family will break up, if not legally, then in fact. Therefore, you need to make sure that you are included in her inner life, and she is in your interests and, in any case, is not left alone. Third, you must think about your mother and brothers and sisters. I say “should” not in a moral sense, which you can guess about yourself, but in the sense of your own interests, because, having lost a living connection with your mother, brothers and sisters, you will then no longer be able to restore it and will remain in emptiness. And in the name of what? – In the name of vain little things that, in essence, you do not need, even harmful for your development, – i.e. in the name of passivity and unwillingness to think about the possible consequences of your actions. Organize your life consciously and purposefully so that it is determined not by random factors, but by design, as far as possible. And finally, you must think about your health - this is a simple calculation, because you have to live and act, and for this you need to save and conserve your strength. I kiss you deeply. Hello Natasha. December 24–25, 1935, Kremlin, former. Nikolsky building 1935.XII.24 – 25. Dear Kirill, in recent days the Konchurka valley with its water meadows overgrown with grass has been constantly appearing before me, and you, little one, have climbed into the grass with your head and are running in it with the exclamation: “I am a grass animal!” Do you remember what it was like when we walked through this valley with mommy? Do you remember how you and I went mushroom hunting? I vividly remember the virgin thicket near the Bethan pond, where the space between the shallow swamp-meadows, littered with rotten trunks, was completely covered with honey mushrooms. For some reason no one comes to these places, and they give me the impression of some forests in the Amazon. Do you remember how you and I carried heavy baskets of mushrooms and, in order to make the journey along the road easier, we divided it into sections - stretches between stations? Although I have seen a lot of different places, the most dear and dear ones seem to be the surroundings of the old Posad, which have now changed almost beyond recognition. When I settled in Posad, they were completely deaf, silent and solemn, partly creepy. One could walk for days without meeting a single soul, and it seemed that every sound, every word disturbed the sacred silence of the forests. “I’ve been meaning to write to you for a long time about the need to prepare a summary of data on the chronology of geological formations - to write down everything that comes across on this topic. In my conditions it is systematically impossible to do this, but I will little by little let you know what I will meet. Here's something to start with: the growth of peat in deposits (i.e. compacted) in the Kyiv region is 10 cm per century (Buganskoe swamp). 2. The same in Austria (Aaibach swamp) 7 cm per century. 3. Beginning of peat formation, i.e. general climate humidification in the Kyiv region, i.e. the disappearance of post-glacial deserts coincides with the beginning of the Neolithic and dates back to 5000–7000 years ago 4. The end of the Neolithic and the beginning of the Bronze Age ca. 3000 l. ago (Ukraine) (see “Peat Business” 1928, No. 9, pp. 269–272, Kurdyumov). 5. The beginning of the formation of sapropel strata 247 in the lakes of Karelia was 6700 years ago, and in Lake Saki 1620 years ago. 6. Annual growth of sapropel 0.8–3-4 mm (Dokturovsky, Peat bogs, 2nd ed., 1935, p. 77). I kiss you deeply, dear. February 29 – March 1, 1936, formerly Tannery Dear Kirill, I received two of your letters. I rejoice at your successes and, in particular, your upcoming studies on asymmetry in nature. This is a topic of the greatest importance, I have been thinking about it for probably 44 years now and have dreamed of someday realizing my thoughts and materials. I am going to write you a long letter on this topic and therefore I will not write now. I'll probably start writing it tomorrow. I draw your attention to the new edition of graphite: in concentrated H 2 S0 4, graphite in the presence of oxidizing agents Cr 2 0 3, HNO 3, etc. gives a bright blue bisulfate and swells. (Rüdorff u Hofmann, Chem Ztd 59, no. 58, 589, 1935 - “Journal of the Chemical Industry”, vol. 12, December 1935, p. 1929, ref. no. 20). More about graphite: two varieties of soot: 1° Noire de flamme, granular, from intense black to deep chestnut color tone, from aliphatic hydrocarbons and 2° Noire de fumee, gray with a bluish tint, flaky, from cyclic hydrocarbons (Chim. & ind- 24, No. 2, 280, 1930 - Journal of Chemical Industry. T. 8, No. 4, February 28, 1931, p. 437, Ne362). I am writing this to you in connection with a letter about carbon minerals. Books come across here by chance, they are always sorted. I recently re-read Balzac’s volume and am amazed at his high skill. It contains a whole world of characters and images, presented realistically and objectively, but at the same time permeated with thought, or rather, it is real because it is permeated with thought. A comparison arises with the work of artists of the Flemish and Dutch schools, where materiality is combined with idea. Balzac's images are visual, and therefore picturesque, in contrast to the sculptural tactile-visual images of other French writers. Like a sunflower. They glow from within, like the images of Dutch artists, and are not illuminated from the outside, and therefore are not naturalistic. You see the substance itself, and not its appearance with random reflexes. And I would like to say: due to the completeness of his elaboration, Balzac paints in oils, and does not draw: he has no lines, but volumes. The “Human Comedy” is amazing. Every time I take up Balzac, there is again a closed completeness of space in all his works, in complete contrast to photography: these are not cut-outs, but self-folding goals, beyond which there is no need and is meaningless, although plot-wise, in the sense of narration, individual works end as if unfinished. There is nowhere else to write. I kiss you deeply. November 11–12, 1936, ex. Tannery 1936.XI. 11–12. Solovki. No. 79. Dear Kirill, I’m now in the laboratory where I spend literally all day and night, and next to me a new employee is doing violin exercises. He plays well; he is embarrassed to exercise around me, because... he is afraid to interfere, having learned from experience that everyone is persecuting him. But I asked him to play with me - it calms me down. After all, I live “without deity, without inspiration, without tears, without tea, without love.” 248 The sounds of the radio are irritating, but the exercises are somewhat adjustable, at least they do not interfere. The thought of Davyd Ivanovich often comes up: I never saw him for the last time. And I won’t see Vladimir Ivanovich either. True, I don't have anything special to say. But there are so few people in the world with whom I internally reckon that not seeing two is too great a loss. It’s not even about the size of a person, but about the structure of his thoughts. The majority have the idea, maybe. and strong in its own way, nevertheless external, empty (there is no reality in it, but only chess moves), not comprehending nature, but counterfeiting it and adapting to externally invented schemes. Reading most of the works, I am amazed at their dexterity and don’t believe a single word. All this is a haze, perhaps more or less harmoniously designed, but it speaks of the virtuosity of the research writers, and not of nature. I do not consider Vladimir Ivanovich a virtuoso; his thoughts are not brought to the point of transparency, are not fully formed, are often unfinished and contradictory. But in him I always sense a natural scientist, and this is what the vast majority lack: they are not natural scientists, but chess players. Modern natural science has made enormous strides, but I fear that it has lost the main thing - a living sense of the reality of its object. That is why I am sad not to have the opportunity to exchange a word with someone who has not lost this feeling and lives in it, continuing the traditions of genuine naturalists of past centuries. Now a few words in connection with your work (by the way, I did not receive an article on the definition of vanadium). – One day I come to the editorial office of the “Technical Encyclopedia” and half-consciously glance at the galley (!) with the proof of the article signed for publication - it seems it was called “Dissymmetric Carbon” or something like that. I read in it: dissymmetric carbon forms compounds that differ in the enantiomorphism of their crystals and optical activity, but is completely identical in other physical and chemical properties. Something like that. The article is about to be sent. I’m illegally interfering in something that’s not my business, I’m detaining you. I ask who the author is – Berkenheim. I explain to him, forcefully persuade him that his statement is incorrect, and the next day I bring evidence. The properties of asymmetric compounds can be identical only those that manifest themselves in relation to symmetric factors. Those. they are not the same, but there is simply no manifest data to distinguish them. They appear every time the factor itself is not symmetrical. Chemical reactions of asymmetric compounds with asymmetric or hidden-asymmetric ones must necessarily be different and produce compounds with different physical and chemical properties. Are there, however, truly symmetrical factors? I am sure that NO, at least because every factor acts in time, which is devoid of symmetry. Consequently, asymmetric compounds should always give different manifestations, although b.m. in certain cases, this difference, due to our inattention or its smallness, eludes direct observation. But life, as especially clearly manifesting the procedural nature of existence, and therefore especially closely connected with time, must also be a particularly subtle reagent to the asymmetry of chemical compounds. To complete this, I’ll give you a few examples: 1° Often optical antipodes differ in taste: d-leucine is very sweet, d – l-leucine has a slightly sweet taste, and l-leucine is bland and slightly bitter; bb and gg amino acids are tasteless (E. Fischer, Ber., 35, 2660, 1902; E. Fischer and Warburg, ibid., 33, 3997, 1905). – 2°. Undoubtedly, the same should be true for smells. – 3°. There should be different digestibility (you need to look for examples). – 4°. Of a number of compounds such as ascorbic acid (anti-scorbutic vitamin C), only those in which the 4th atom (in the sorbose chain) is characterized by right rotation are anti-scorbutic (see “Advances in Chemistry”, vol. V, issue 5, 1936, p. 678, P. Carrer). 5°. Similar phenomena are observed in enzymes. – 6°. Pieces of fish exposed to polarized light for 12–14 hours rot severely, while control pieces remain unchanged. It has been suggested that the prejudice of the inhabitants of the tropics against eating meat or fish illuminated by moonlight has its basis because moonlight is rich in polarized rays, which accelerate the process of putrefaction (E. G. Bryant, Chimie et industry, 42, 681, 1923). We are probably talking about circular polarization here. 7°. The light reflected by the sky is polarized. Obviously there must be very different behavior between living organisms and b.m. unorganized matter depending on the exposure (i.e. direction) to the cardinal points and points of the sky. At V.N. Obolensky, Fundamentals of Meteorology, M.-L., 1933, pp. 399–401, you will find data on the polarization of daylight and further references. To make it easier, I give you a diagram of the polarization phenomena of the firmament. M.b. This drawing will make it easier for you to understand the phenomena discussed. 8°. The asymmetrical (maybe non-isotropic?) structure of the tissues of our body is reflected in the so-called Haidinger beams - a direct observation of the polarization of sky light. They can be seen if you look at the points of greatest polarization of the sky (see: Helmholtz, Handbuch der physiologich. Optik). But I personally observed them simply by looking at the reflective (and therefore polarizing) surface of the glass, for example through a microscope, when the light from the mirror entered the eye. – It cannot be that this difference in light sent by different parts of the sky does not affect the processes of photosynthesis and other actions of light. It is necessary to review various data on the value of exposure in plant and other processes. - The place is all occupied. It's time to finish. I would like to ask you a lot, but I hope that you will write it yourself, that’s why I don’t ask. Write about the progress of your studies, academic and work, how you settled with your apartment and board, whether you visit your grandmother and how she lives. I kiss you, dear Kira. Tell your grandmother that I will write to her next time and that I remember her often. I kiss you again. January 7, 1937, ex. Tannery 1937.I.7. Solovki. No. 87. Dear Vasyushka, I wrote you a letter, but it was not possible to send it due to the day off tomorrow. I'm sitting down to the next one. – Today stood out from the rest: heaven clear elk, frosty. By evening the sowing began. shine. Hours approx. 7 in the north A bluish light segment appeared in part of the sky, something like the light of the full rising moon, but brighter and more sharply defined. This segment began to rise above the horizon, increasing the brightness from the ENE side of the sky. Then concentric arcs of the same bluish color began to separate from it, stretching in a latitudinal direction across the sky. More precisely, it was as if the segment itself consisted of concentric arcs and gradually disintegrated into them. One arc passed through the zenith, the other was even further south. At the same time, the light segment turned into a clearly defined dark one, darker than the rest of the sky, but surrounded by a bright arc of light. From the side of the segment this arc was outlined sharply, and from the outside it gradually merged with the sky. By the way, during the northern lights, and in particular today, the sky is not black, but everything glows somewhat, like a blurred Milky Way. Stars are visible, but brighter, and in numbers far from corresponding to the brightness of the atmosphere. Of the light arcs in brightness, after limiting the segment, it was zenith. - After a short time, these arcs moving across the sky began to break at the zenith and something like a tent was formed with the top at the zenith. It was clear and convincing that the pillars of the tent were nothing more than streams of energy escaping into the atmosphere in the nadir direction, parallel to each other - and streams of corpuscles causing the glow of rarefied gas. The pillars from the NE were lighter than those from the north-west; According to the brightness, the pillars changed their order and also changed their place in the sky. In the SBC side, along with the bluish pillars, a vast spatially (in terms of the bodily angle of vision) intensely red, crimson-colored glow appeared, like a light and transparent cloud. Its length was 4–5 times greater than its width and direction along the arc of the height circle. All the glows began to move especially vividly and quickly and change their brightness, somewhat reminiscent of lightning. Then the pillars collapsed, forming flat, edge-on clouds of light. Further, these clouds stretched even more towards the ground in the form of curtains of light, whimsically wriggling and beautifully draping in large, loose folds. The structure of these curtains was columnar, as if all their fabric was corrugated. The color of the curtains was green, and the brightness decreased very gradually towards the top, and increased towards the bottom until it ended abruptly. The curtains shook strongly and quickly, as if shaken by the wind, the folds moved, running along the curtain, the whole picture changed with great speed. An orange border, red-orange, glowing in color, appeared at the lower border of the green glow. The movement became even more intense. Some folds were made compound - triple, quintuple and very wide, almost the entire width of the curtain. When the glow of the upper parts of the curtain weakened, a strongly wriggling light snake remained. Although all these phenomena played out throughout the northern part of the sky, to the zenith and further, from W to E, but especially strongly towards the E, where they were brighter, more diverse and more changeable. From 9 1/2 to 10 o'clock. In the evening (zonal time), the northern lights shone especially beautifully. Then it began to fade. The curtains fell to pieces, the glow diminished in brightness. At 1:30 a.m. I went out to look at the sky. In the northern part, characteristic light cloud-like masses were visible, similar to clouds illuminated by the moon, but glowing from within. At the same time, the sky became much darker, so that these clouds stood out especially clearly and in contrast. – I deliberately gave you a more detailed description of the northern lights, because... Observations of this kind must be accumulated and consolidated. Indeed, in the literature, despite thousands of observers of the northern lights, there are still very few sufficiently clear stories about them. Unfortunately, I could not make magnetic observations due to the lack of a compass. 1937.I.11–12. After that radiance there followed a series of new ones, almost every day, sometimes weak, in the form of a light arc - above the horizon, then strong, when this arc and the sky throws out a pillar. – I constantly think about the little one, I regret that I don’t see dreams about the little ones. 1937.I.13. I sit as usual at night. So the old style brought the new year. The signs of this day do not amuse me: today I saw your grandmother - my mother, in a sad look; looked at the northern lights, majestic, but above the blackest, probably cloudy, segment; I listen to the howling of the wind. And everything is somehow alarming and sad. If by joy we mean not a feeling of admiration, but the encounter of some kind of addition to life, then my only joy was a small one, as if new in the world. And everything else is, at best, not too flawed. Of course, and for this you should be grateful. However, when you think about what is missing, you take care of what you have rather with fear than with joy. Let me just say that my point of inner support for the world has long since shifted from myself to you, or more precisely, to you. Therefore, the only thing I really want is for you and your mother to be happy and enjoy life, and for there to be an awareness of its fullness and value. I kiss you all deeply. I’ll write to mom and others later. Bow to Natasha. Navigation has stopped; someday this letter will reach its destination. I kiss you, darling. Be healthy and take care of yourself. 1937.V.19. Dear Kirill, I involuntarily remember the distant past and often I see you in my dreams, but always small, as well as my brothers and sisters, also small. And I often remember you in connection with your desire, when you were 5 years old, to go to the Caucasus and join some mountain tribe. Then I told you about the impossibility of fulfilling this desire. But you know, strange as it may seem, for some reason many Mohammedans sympathize with me, and I have a Persian friend, two Chechens, one Dagestani, one Turk from Azerbaijan, one Turk, not actually a Turk, but a Kazakh who was educated in Turkey and Cairo. I slightly tease the Persian, pointing out the superiorities of the ancient religion of Iran, Parsism (however, he almost agrees with me). I sometimes have philosophical conversations with an educated Kazakh citizen. And the uneducated Chechen mullah finds that I would make a good Muslim and invites me to join the Chechens. Of course I laugh it off. But the Chechen is a real Chechen and has probably cut up a lot of people in his lifetime. Once, when he invited me to Chechnya in front of someone, he noticed that they were thugs and they slaughtered 30 people a day there. The Chechen objected calmly: “Not 30 at all, but 5-6 a day, in his village.” His eyes sparkle gloomily at every opportunity and it is clearly visible that it costs him nothing to kill anyone. Once he described the high quality of their weapons. “Why do you need daggers?” – the interlocutor asked. “How else can you go and steal horses?” - he answered. This Chechen is sleeping right above me. However, we get along well with him and others like him. Next to me, side by side, one Armenian peasant is sleeping, and on the other side is a Pole. Sometimes I express regret that we do not have a single black person; other peoples, the white and yellow races, are fully represented. I kiss you deeply, dear. Tell us where you are going, and be careful during your trip when climbing mountains and other risky cases of travel. March 24, 1936, ex. Tannery 1936.III.24. Dear Natasha, I received one of your letters. I hope that you are taking care of yourself and your baby. 250 As I already wrote to you, I am heartily glad of his existence and feel that I love him. My only regret is that I won’t see him with my own eyes. But you will later tell him that his grandfather loved him when he was not yet under the sun. But it would be sad if your music studies stopped for a long time. It is very inconvenient that you do not have an instrument at home - both for exercise and for joy. In my papers was a genealogy of your family compiled by me based on stories. Ask one of our team to rewrite it so that you can have it too. I believe that knowing one’s past is everyone’s duty and brings many benefits for self-knowledge and correcting or preventing possible mistakes in life, because makes it possible to take into account your innate inclinations, controversialities and weaknesses. I especially want your children to be armed with this material of self-knowledge - of course, in the future, which will not come soon. Let me know when the little one is due to be born. Solovki, due to some innate antipathy that I had since childhood, are deeply alien to me, despite the fact that it would certainly not be difficult to find their attractive sides. I know well, in particular, that here in many respects it is better than in many other places - and yet this island is pushed out of my consciousness. For example, until now I have not been to the Cathedral, 251 I’m even ashamed to admit, but I have no desire, and this despite my passionate love for ancient art. The monastery is very picturesque, but not pleasing. The only thing I still look at is the sunsets: the colors here are extremely varied and delicate, a treasure for a good colorist. I also look at the northern lights; a beautiful and educational spectacle. Once it seemed to me that seeing the northern lights constituted the crown of human desires; but when it came, the burning interest had already faded. So it is with everything in life: the fulfillment of desires comes too late and in too distorted a form. All the best, take care of yourself and be healthy. April 8–9, 1936, ex. Tannery 1936.IV.8–9. Solovki. N 56. Dear Annulya, today I received yours dated March 30, N 12. I am answering questions. You ask about algae. It is impossible to answer your questions in one sentence. There are 13 classes of algae, and in the White Sea, of the more remarkable 4 classes, 121 species and 129 forms were found, found already in 1925, and the number of species found is increasing. Currently, mainly brown algae (which include various types of kelp and fucus) and crimson algae (which include ahnfeltia) are of practical importance. I have to work with these three births. Iodine, algin and other substances are extracted from kelp (and partly fucus), and agar-agar is obtained from ahnfeltia. You ask how they are caught. In most cases, they are not caught, but simply collected on the shore. After storms, the coast is covered with emissions, the shores of the White Sea are literally littered with algae, and the shafts of emissions stretch for many kilometers, with a height of 50 cm or more, and a width of 1 m or much more. Every year at least 25 thousand tons are thrown out on Solovki alone, and this is not all the emissions, but the most useful ones are “sea kale” (kelp), “tura” (fucus), “midge” (anfeltia). The algal reserves of the White Sea are estimated at 1.5 million tons, and the renewal of reserves is estimated to take 3 years. For 1 sq. m of the bottom surface (near the coast) grows about 5-6 kg of kelp and 9-10 kg of fucus - but, of course, where they can grow at all. The size of kelp varies greatly depending on age and different conditions. Small ones - 50–75 cm. Large specimens up to 350 cm tall, with a trunk thickness of 3.5–4 cm. Now such a specimen lies in front of me. 5 plants attached their rhizoids (“like roots”) to one stone - a 20 kg piece of granite. They stick to the stones so firmly that you can’t tear them off, you can only cut them with a knife. It’s not clear how they hold on, because... rhizoids are only on top of the stone, as if glued to it. On the stone there are all sorts of sea inhabitants: small algae, pink coating - probably also algae, polyps, sponges, shells, caviar, starfish, etc. The stems are smooth, tight, completely without fibers and vessels, like rubber. Towards the middle they are somewhat thicker, slightly curved with a wavy line, lying like a ball of snakes. The stem is 1/2 the length of the algae, the other half is something like a leaf. In Laminaria digitata it is like a hand with long fingers - there are many of them, these fingers are a gap in writing. Freshly pulled out of water or discarded, brown algae are brown in color, but after about a day in the air they turn dark green. – In addition to harvesting, algae is also obtained by dredging. Dredged seaweed is fresher and of higher quality, but dredging is not easy. Both collection and dredging are carried out in the summer, i.e. from spring to autumn inclusive. But because I needed fresh algae, so an attempt was made to dredge it not from the boat, but from under the ice, and the algae had already been dredged several times. Of course, a lot of them are required, even for experiments of 100 kg per day, and for production - tons and tens of tons. – IV.9–10. Fresh seaweed smells pleasant - damp and sea, but when it rots, the smell becomes disgusting. – For the winter, algae must be dried if you intend to extract various useful substances from them. If only iodine is extracted, then the algae is burned - either in pits or in special ovens, partly in the fall and summer, partly in the spring - rotted material, “canned” algae; In both cases, before burning, you have to dry the algae, and this is not easy, especially in these conditions, with damp air and lack of sun, because algae are fleshy and watery, containing at least 4/5 water. – The bag is also dried after washing; it is easier to dry, it is drier and its thallus consists of thin fibers. – Enough about algae. I didn’t write about the name for Vasya and Natasha because I wasn’t asked, and I don’t want to impose my opinion. It is very difficult to talk about this issue in general, not specifically. After all, a name in itself does not make a person good or bad; it is only a musical form from which one can write a work, both good and bad. The name can be compared to hriya, i.e. the method of distribution and correlation of the main parts and elements of an essay, but not the name, creates the theme of the essay or its quality. And then you need to reason, starting from the specific conditions of time, place, environment, wishes, etc. and draw a conclusion about the suitability or unsuitability of the name to these conditions. Positive name, i.e. without internal breakdowns and complications, but also without inspiration, Andrey. A hot name, with temperament and some elementality, Peter. Of the meek names, on the border with good simplicity, Ivan. Twisting and dialectical, with corresponding contradictions and dynamics - Pavel. Also complex in its own way, but with a bias towards pretentiousness and an artificial, bloodless approach to life, curling around random phenomena - Theodore. A fiery name if possible and very spiritual in nature, but in unsuitable conditions it can give heaviness and clumsiness (like a fish on land, or more precisely, like a wet bird) - Michael. Alexander is the most harmonious name, the name of great people, but it becomes a pretension if there is no strength to fill it with the proper content. Alexey is close to Ivan, but with a cunning, somewhat on his own mind. A pleasant name, but not one of the highest, Roman. George gives activity, at best, objectively aimed at higher goals, at worst, at organizing one’s own life affairs. Nikolai – also active, but somewhat elementary-oriented; the name is good in relation to helping others, so to speak, helping the lowest. Sergei is a subtle name, but somewhat fragile, without a core, and Sergei requires some kind of pairing, without this he cannot develop the fullness of his energies. I love the name Isaac, but for us it is associated with associations that complicate the path of life. It seems to me that one should not take Slavic-Scandinavian names. They smell like something fictitious, some kind of masquerade as “truly Russian.” In addition, due to their youth, they are not well settled, are probably not very stable and, in any case, are poorly studied and recognized - Vsevolod, Oleg, Igor, Svyatoslav, Yaroslav, etc. I would prefer a name that is reliable, tried and true. There are very few female names at all. The best, of course, is Maria, the most feminine, balanced and internally harmonious, kind. In second place is Anna, also very good, but with imbalance, a predominance of emotion over the mind. Julia is a capricious and eccentric name; it is very difficult to work with. Elena is not bad, but cunning. (Anna corresponds to John). Natalia is an honest name, but life is difficult. Varvara - eccentric nobility, demonstrative generosity, exaggerated directness, Varvara’s life is difficult due to her own fault. Nina is a light name, feminine, slightly frivolous, i.e. rather not deep. Pelageya is a meek name. Daria has a managerial personality that is not entirely feminine. Valentin has masculine traits that are very unsuitable for a woman. Praskovya - inner severity, a good name, but rather monastic. Sofia – management, organizational abilities and, in connection with this, the habit of standing above others around her. Faith is a tragic name, with impulses towards self-sacrifice, but usually unnecessary, invented from a heated imagination. Well, you can’t go through all the names. For a boy, if I don’t have any special conditions and desires in mind, I would settle on Mikhail or Peter, or Ivan, for a girl on Maria, Sofia or Anna. Yes, another of the male names is benign Adrian, a calm and solid name, without breaks, but not deep. When choosing, it is difficult to decide what to want: a relatively calm, smooth existence, but without inner brilliance, or to take risks in depth and possible strength, but with possible breakdowns and failures. – I wrote to you about Kirina’s work: I like it, but I can’t check it due to the lack of vanadium compounds. However, let other, experienced analysts check. – I received Nina Yakovlevna’s book, thanked her for it and was very pleased with the elegance and clarity of its presentation, which did not compromise the depth of thought, even leading to an in-depth consideration of issues of graphics. You all need to master this book, i.e. not just read, but study with a pencil in hand. I am glad for the success of Maria Vladimirovna and her children, but tell her, in vain she regrets that she did not devote herself entirely to painting: now she would cry, as Nina Yakovlevna cried in her time from the opposite, regretting the lack of children except Adrian, although Adrian in all respects is an example and does not leave much to be desired. 253 Maria Vladimirovna would not have created the World, but would have painted several dozen paintings, I admit that they were very good, and would have been mentioned in some reference book, in 2 lines. Is this really worth losing your privacy over? As for creativity in the proper sense of the word, it was never ordered from her and would have burst forth if she had had it (in the proper sense of the word!), despite any obstacles. After all, there is a big difference between abilities and creativity. Many people have abilities, only a few have creativity in the tens of millions, and even then such units do not always appear. If Maria Vladimirovna has Nikita and Vanya, 254 then this is absolutely enough for art and you can step aside calmly, the rest is from pride. When you write about various acquaintances, I remember, but I don’t remember anything myself: this is both a weakening of memory and a defensive reaction of the body, so as not to give unnecessary reason for sadness. As for your letters, they are the only thing I live by here, and the more of them, the better. I kiss you deeply, dear Annulya. I bow to Maria Veniaminovna and am glad to learn that she came to see you. Its meteoric character must be accepted as a fact, i.e. take each of its appearances on its own and not make any calculations or conclusions for the future. I kiss you again. April 21–22, 1936, ex. Tannery [1936.IV.21–22. No. 58]. Dear Natasha, I received your letter dated April 13. 1936. I am happy about the little things and I want to tell you that you should not be sad about the temporary cessation of studies: they will come in their own way, and they are not the most important thing in life. But of course you should finish what you started. In view of your interest in embroidery, I am sending in a letter a sample of sewing, 255 as if it was once quite good; - I came across it by accident in rags for wiping chemical glassware. I wrote to Anna Mikhailovna about the names, but, obviously, the letter did not reach. If it’s just for now, then we’ll wait, but if it’s completely, then I’ll write again. I have no objection to my name, but you will find a detailed description of it in my manuscript. My namesake, Pavel Yakovlevich, has the same one. 256 In general, read my “Names”. 257 As for the women’s, in addition to what is written in the letter and in “Names”, I will say about Elizabeth that despite its general good quality, it is difficult in fate - somehow awkward and therefore uncomfortable. Elena is not bad, but you still can’t find a better person than Maria, and why not give the best that you can, unless there are some special motives against it. It is best to take a photograph not in a photographic studio (where they always come out poorly), but at home, and a home photograph, even with poor technology, always conveys a person better than one taken in an alien environment, with the wrong hands and with artificial tricks. One day I needed a photograph. One acquaintance took me to one of the best Moscow photographers, and he, through acquaintance (and according to the local terminology “through connections”), made a special effort. The result was an image that, 12 years later, still makes me blush, and at night, when I wake up and remember it, I feel a bout of nausea. It is quite understandable that along with music you are interested in sewing. After all, a pattern is an abstract formula of some kind of world processes, either external or internal, or more precisely: external, since they went through internal development, internal, since they were expressed in some sequential series of movements: “d emotional movement, gesture, drawing, imprinting a pattern by sewing, etc. Music is the same world formula, but imprinted in a different way (and not entirely different, because musical notation itself is an ornament and, in addition to its sound content, has visual significance), so sewing is music and music is sewing. You will say that sewing is not always like this. No, it is always like this, but it can be naturalistic, or formalistic, or not compositional, or poorly executed. Of course, but music can have all these vices. Therefore, we will be equal in the highest manifestations. In particular, it would be interesting to provide a stylistic comparison of sewing patterns and music across eras and centuries. I'm sure parallelism will show up. – All the best to you and the baby, about whom I think about all the time. May 24, 1936, ex. Tannery Dear Natasha, I received your letter, thank you for the messages about Vasya, which let me know what others do not write about, probably because they themselves do not know. How I would like to help you all, but alas, help is impossible. I don't know when the little one is expected; I think it will be soon. However, be more precise. It is necessary to ask for caution with yourself while waiting for the little one. However, I remember how a distant relative, an old man of 80 years old, Pekok, Gottlieb Fedorovich, sent me a letter when Anna was waiting for Vasyushka and urged me to beware of fire and mad dogs. I am afraid that my requests and advice would not come out in the same way, and therefore I remain silent. For you, these events are a long time ago, prehistory, but for me they are yesterday, and everything that happened then is remembered with such vividness, as if it literally happened yesterday. Even more, yesterday is forgotten, and it is difficult for me to remember what I did or said yesterday, but what happened then is alive in the smallest detail. I imagine Vasya, who has just been born, as if he is now in front of me in diapers and a mattress. However, you can also imagine these diapers and mattress, because... Anna probably gave them to you for the new little one. Be healthy and cheerful, I'm waiting for news, I bow to your parents and the whole family. June 24–25, 1936, ex. Tannery 1936.VI.24–25. Solovki. Dear Vasyushka, I received news from my mother about the birth of my little one. 258 I hope that Natasha’s health is not bad, but I would like to know about this for sure. I would also like the little one to spend at least the summer at home, i.e. in Posad, especially since there is good air and closer to nature. Unfortunately, I don’t know what I have and therefore I can’t give him anything. But you choose what you find suitable and give it from me. You need to take advantage of the summer sun and have a good rest for winter, and also indulge in reflection, so that the accumulation of knowledge and experience does not clutter and burden your memory, but actually enriches your general understanding of the world. I still don’t know about the fate of your works. The main thing is that it seems to me necessary to fix them so that they do not become a heap that easily erodes, is forgotten and does not leave lasting traces. Try, whenever possible, to summarize the results by drawing up tables, diagrams, diagrams - this not only records, but also gives the material an easily observable form, necessary for comparisons and conclusions. In addition, such coordination of materials and data serves as a good teaching aid, even if diagrams and other things are not used as a directly shown aid, because thought and presentation acquire sufficient clarity. In our country, both before and now, few people knew how to express clearly, and yet this is especially important to learn. Now, for example, I’m reading Fersman’s “Pegmatites” 259 and I find that the material presented is extremely ponderous, unformed and indigestible: a typical German presentation, which must be fought in every possible way. Vernadsky, despite his French sympathies, also presents his precious material in a completely different way from how it should be and how any Frenchman, even many heads lower than Vernadsky, would present it. There must be a living sense of the work’s architectonics and its rhythm, and this requires inner clarity of thought. Among various works I am working, although very slowly moving forward, on the problem of morphometry. I have outlined one path, it seems that it should give good results, but it requires a lot of preliminary study of a number of mathematical issues. I am approaching this elaboration, but in the meantime I am deducing a number of formulas. Unfortunately, the path I have outlined is analytically complex and presents mathematical difficulties, the possibility of overcoming which in the presence of very meager, almost child benefits and the absence of others, even meager, I am far from confident. However, the formulas I derive would probably be useful in themselves, even if it were not possible to use them for their intended purpose. – In “Complete Works” by I.F. Ryleev (Academia, 1904, p. 297, No. 88) 260 I found a note “About Ostrogozhsk”. Ostrogozhsk, “now” a district town in the Voronezh province, was the main city of the Ostrogozhsky Sloboda Regiment. It was built in 1652 and was originally inhabited by order of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich by Trans-Dnieper Cossacks, among 1000 people who came with their colonel Dzenkovsky... etc.” This information interested me in connection with one of the graves in the former Trinity-Sergius Lavra, in which a resident of Ostrogozhsk was buried - according to all data, one of the descendants of these Cossacks. – In the next few days I’m thinking of driving to outcrops of primary metamorphic rocks, maybe. I'll find something interesting and useful. Apparently there is an outcrop of a pegmatite vein. – Try to take advantage of the summer and spend more time with the baby and mommy, grandmothers, Olya and Tika, to make up for lost time over many years. Also, go for walks and think about your dad. When my father came to Posad for one day, he was delighted with the views and vegetation, he kept saying, “It’s just a park,” and he’s seen a lot in his time. I kiss you deeply, dear. Dear Natasha, I welcome the little one and rejoice at his appearance. I hope you will raise him in music so that he is saturated with its rhythm. I have already written that I would like to hear about your stay in Posad in the summer, and the sooner the better, so as not to lose the short, warm summer in our latitudes. Please convey my regards to your parents and other family members. – Reading V.A. Bilbasov “The History of Catherine the Second” (vol. 1, 1895, p. 229), I made a note that may be of interest to you. Bilbasov says that on June 17, 1745 Vel. Book Peter Fedorovich was declared an adult and took over the administration of the Duchy of Holstein. In 1746, a special Council was formed under Peter Fedorovich to govern Holstein. The secretaries of the Council were appointed f. Bramsen and Zeiss. 261 I am telling you this information because... historical little things cannot be collected at once; they are accumulated, to form a complete picture, over the years and with great difficulty. I advise you to save them, writing them down on scraps or in a general notebook, but then under numbers, so that you can later compile an index of names and objects. Now, after the birth of your son, this responsibility of cultural accumulation falls on you with all the weight. But you are young and, I hope, energetic. Therefore, do not get discouraged and do not put off until tomorrow what you can and should do today. Namely, write down what you read in history that is necessary to establish your (in the person of your kind) place in the historical past, ask, squeeze information from whomever you can - yes, squeeze it, for, as Pushkin said bitterly, “we are not curious,” and lack of curiosity about our past is a vice. Unfortunately, we are not only not curious, but we always try to forget about the past and therefore we do not learn from the present and repeat the mistakes of the past. – Living in Posad, I hope you will play, it is useful not only for you, but for everyone, especially for the baby. All the best, get better and be happy. July 7–8, 1936, ex. Tannery Dear Natasha, congratulations on the birth of your son. 262 I hope you have now completely recovered and are feeling well. Ask to write about your impression of the family event. But what kind of b.b. do I have? impression, in addition to feelings: I know about the event only from letters and look at it through your eyes. I can only say that I am very happy in general and in particular with the successful outcome. The boy was born at about the same time as Vasya (May 25th, and Vasya on the 21st), but apparently decided to wait 4 days in order to be born on a particularly good day. Of course, I love the baby very much, but I can’t be of any help to him. I want to give just one piece of advice. Let him receive the best impressions of the world from the very first days. It is a big mistake to think that these “unconscious” impressions are indifferent. It is they, more than any other subsequent ones, that form the basis of personality, laying down the first stones of its foundation. You know the basic law of psychophysics - Weber-Fechner: 263 sensation (and, I might add, impression) is proportional to the logarithm of irritation. Or: the product of a noticeable change in sensation by an existing irritation is proportional to the increase in irritation. Therefore, when there was almost no irritation yet, the increase in sensation is large with little additional irritation. And the “trifle” is therefore perceived as a revelation. But the whole question is what kind of revelations the baby will receive from the world. They need to be beautiful, clean and bright. Then they will become the fundamental images of the entire appearance, and related material will begin to grow on them, crystallizing. Generally speaking, the opposite can happen, and this must be feared and guarded against. What exactly should be given to the baby for the first food? In accordance with the spirit of the family known to me, I can select the most suitable food. This is: music, but of a higher order, i.e. Bach, Mozart, Haydn, perhaps Schubert, who, although not deep, is healthy and clear. Then flowers. It is necessary to draw the baby’s attention to flowers, i.e. show them to him and get his attention. Next - greenery, water, and the elements in general. Next is the sky, clouds, dawns. Next: works of fine art, at least in reproductions. From the very first hours of his life, he must get used to getting used to nature and the best manifestations of human creativity. Don’t be embarrassed that it will seem alien to what is being shown: it only seems so. He will perceive, but will not be able to manifest his perception. But later you will see for yourself that these impressions did not escape him, and they will affect one way or another, in the most obvious way. – When I wrote to Vasya, I couldn’t fit one thought in; tell him. This, precisely, is the need to carefully consider cross-bedding when studying sedimentary rocks - a phenomenon that has been little studied, but is very characteristic and gives grounds for genetic conclusions. The study of cross-bedding is adjacent to the study of facies. 264 Due to some minor oversights, Nalivkin 265 was only half-recognized and kept in a black body. Meanwhile, his very mistakes testify to the mobility of his mind and the freshness of his approach. His thoughts must be mastered (maybe not fully assimilated) and applied somehow, probably with appropriate changes. After all, the essence of the matter lies in a very simple and completely indisputable idea: the emergence of a rock depends not only on the passage of time (as is usually accepted in geology), but also to the same extent on its location in space. Therefore, the structure of geological formations is a function of a point in space-time, and not just time. This is a simple thought, but proper conclusions and application are not made from it. I would like Vasya to approach natural phenomena as directly as possible, without closing his eyes with one-sided and clearly insufficient concepts, current and accepted without criticism. – I’m going back to the little one. You write about his black or dark hair and dark gray eyes. But neither one nor the other at this age says anything about the future. These first hairs are replaced and, quite often, are colored in a completely different color; Likewise, the eyes change color at an early age. If necessary, make an imprint of his hand: you need to smoke the paper, put it on the table and put the pen on it, pressing lightly. Then lines will be imprinted on the soot. And then the print is fixed, for which the paper is dipped flat into an alcohol solution, a very weak one, of some kind of resin, or, in extreme cases, simply into alcohol. It will be instructive to have an imprint of the hand lines as he grows older for comparison. I had Vasya’s handprint somewhere in my papers, it would be interesting to compare them with each other. I'm probably falling into childhood, because... the company of adults, which has always burdened me, becomes completely unbearable, and only the company of children (which I don’t have here) and teenagers is acceptable. Therefore, I would especially like to have the little one near me and it’s sad that I don’t see him. - Best wishes. Greetings to your parents 266 and all yours. Give the paper to test for watercolors to Vladimir Andreevich. 267 December 23, 1936, ex. Tannery 1936.XII.23. Solovki. N 85. Dear mom, according to established custom, I dedicate the last letter of the month to you. Still, dividing time into months is not entirely arbitrary, and the end of the month also means summing up results - both work and personal. The end of December is especially significant for Solovki residents. We are preparing for hibernation, i.e. to cessation of navigation and wintering in isolation. Some people dream of moving to the mainland, others fantasize about liberation. I can’t understand dreams about the mainland, because... I am convinced that in many respects it is much better here than on some mainland business trip. I think in this case the word continent is more effective than a sober assessment of the continent itself. But any cessation of navigation is always accompanied on Solovki by these fruitless conversations. However, I personally hardly hear them, sitting around the clock in the laboratory or in my cell, which represents a secluded part of my laboratory. For several days now, since December 18th, I have moved to new premises within the same building. Now both the laboratory and my cell are more secluded and quieter, but they are devoid of the originality of the past: there the roof rose above my head at a height of more than 10 meters. You look up and see the rafters, which I really liked. Now I am in ordinary plastered walls, although the walls are very old and quite thick, but still they do not give any special impressions. I sit day and night, if at this time on Solovki you can talk about day and night: it’s dark or semi-dark almost all day, because we live near the Arctic Circle, and yesterday was the shortest day. I am located on the second floor, so you can see the colors of the sky and the Kremlin. I conduct research related to developing production, chemical and technological research. Over the last month we have been working a lot on algae from the botanical side - studying their structure under a microscope, determining how much it can be determined in our lack of literature, herbarizing, making sketches of microscopic pictures. I am considering a device for continuously obtaining iodine directly from algae. Set the mode of the agar bleaching process, etc. I collect, again as far as possible in our conditions, materials on algae from all points of view. This is necessary both for work and for giving lectures at the courses of Algae Masters (probably these are the first courses in the world with such a specialization) and - secret hope - for a book about algae, which could be written only a long time later, after completing a series of studies and obtaining the literature absolutely necessary for the book. – I received several photographs from home and especially from the little one. The last ones, November ones, seemed to me the most interesting, perhaps. because the little one has a completely intelligent appearance and, at least it seems, is in a healthy state. I am sorry that you do not see your great-grandson, who bears the name of his great-great-grandfather. I would like to see him too, but it’s also good that they send him photographs from home. You can see from these pictures how the little one is growing and getting stronger. Everyone, but a few, to whom I have shown these photographs praise the little one and find him plump and healthy. Being here, I still feel like I am with you, I constantly remember you all and am distracted by work. I don’t know how much use will come out of it, but I work constantly, and there’s not even 1/4 of an hour left for reading something irrelevant. The other day I sent the children and Anna a collection of animals, plants and stones, very poor, of course, because... I couldn’t send another, but it still gives some idea of ​​the local nature, especially since the younger ones have not seen marine nature and have no idea about it. Has Aunt Sonya returned? Are you healthy, dear? Kiss Lyusya, bow to Lily with her family and offspring, Shura, Andrey and her family, if you write to them. I kiss you warmly, dear mother, take care of your health. I kiss you again. I'm in a hurry to finish the letter, because... It's already half past two, and tomorrow morning is the deadline for submitting December letters. I kiss you again. December 23–24, 1936, ex. Tannery 1936.XII.23–24. Solovki. No. 85. Dear Natasha, the pictures you send me of my little one greatly console me in my loneliness. Using them I monitor his growth and development. Each photo shows the little one in a new way. Now, that is According to the November photographs, he has already acquired a meaningful expression, and, apparently, the ability to direct movements according to his desire. I like him very much, and I am quite happy with him, as long as he is healthy. Others who see my pictures of him also like him. However, I don’t keep them open; it’s unpleasant for any stranger who comes into my cell to look at them. Currently, I live, one might say, in seclusion, I don’t go out anywhere, except for the daily passage to the Kremlin - to have lunch, and, every other day, to the Kremlin for breakfast. Every other day - this is because one of my friends and I, in order to better distribute food over time and to save time, decided to take breakfast “home” and do it alternately. You are asking about feeding your little one. I think he should not be weaned, but should be fed. Firstly, there will be a more varied and plentiful diet, and secondly, he will get used to the food that he will have to eat later, so the transition will not be too abrupt. In summer, making such a leap is generally undesirable, and with poor digestion it could be risky. It seems to me, further, that it would be good to give him carrot juice - grate the carrots and squeeze through a clean cloth. However, ask your doctor about this. I think it would regulate his digestion and, in addition, give him vitamins. What a pity that I can’t see his development, and he won’t get used to me. But what should you do? Are you continuing your English classes? Bow to your teacher 268 for me. It was in vain that they abandoned music, you need to play at least a little, but every day, and even the little ones need to get used to the sounds. Play Bach and Mozart for him, and he will become saturated with their rhythms. It’s sad that our house, despite my efforts and convictions, does not sound, this would be very important for peace of mind. All the best, be healthy and kind, take care of my grandson. February 13, 1937, ex. Tannery Dear Natasha, you haven’t reported for a long time how my little grandson is growing. And I constantly not only think about him, but live with him. It is very, very unfortunate that I do not see his growth and development, just at the time when the very framework of his personality is being laid. Everything else, the later ones, are just variations on the theme of early childhood. Try to surround him with impressions of the beautiful, but only truly beautiful, first-rate things. These impressions will become the seeds of crystallization, on which the most beautiful will subsequently be deposited, and everything alien will be thrown out. Are you studying English? How did you decide with your teacher: will she stay in Zagorsk or leave? Are you involved in music? It would be sad if you abandoned it; you definitely need to play, at least for the little one, if not for yourself. Is he healthy now? I think how beneficial it would be to give him seaweed, it has such a beneficial effect on the stomach. Or at least agar-agar. M.b. not now, but later. He could cook flour jelly on agar. April 20, 1937, ex. Tannery 1937.IV.20. Solovki. No. 98. Dear Annulya, on April 15 I received your letter No. 9 dated March 20. Don’t be surprised that you haven’t written for a long time: you can only write 2 letters this month. I received a sprig of pseudomimosa (acacia), it reminded me of Batum, with its streets lined with these trees, and therefore of my childhood. You misunderstood me when I wrote about little Pavlik: I’m not upset at all, I’m glad that you have an object of attention and consolation, even if he replaces me, maybe when he grows up, he will replace me, if not for you, then in work. After all, heredity often skips one generation. However, I don’t want to say that my direct children will not replace me. You know how much I love them and believe in them. But the structure of thought and character in children is usually not the same as that of their parents, but is closer to their grandfathers and, in general, to a generation later. I had too many scientific plans to have the strength to carry them out. But maybe the little one will be able to continue the thread of reflection, although, of course, it will be in a new way, and let it be better and in better conditions. Looking back, I see that I never had truly favorable working conditions, partly due to my inability to manage my personal affairs, partly due to the state of society, with which I diverged by at least 50 years - I ran ahead, whereas for success it is permissible to run ahead no more than 2-3 years. But, nevertheless, I am not writing all this about myself, that is, not for my own sake, but for the sake of the little one - I want to explain why I am happy about the attention to him. - Regarding Mika. Yes, he should not be left to his own devices, and besides, it is necessary that he gain impressions from nature. If nothing else can be arranged, then let him live with Kolya, 269 but it is necessary to ask Kolya to look after him and not let him go wild. Let him record his observations of nature in the summer and draw from life. Maybe Kolya has some meteorological installations; it would be nice to entrust them to Mick for systematic observations. And try to take advantage of spring and summer to see more of the forest, meadows, flowers, clouds. After all, this is the best thing in life and the most soothing thing, you need to use it. And the little one can also use it; nature is the best education. – In some memoirs (“Russian Antiquity”, 1887, vol. 26, November, p. 324) I read an interesting everyday fact: in the 18th century, sofas (large, of course, as was customary later) were arranged with steps. Probably these sofas were very high and it was warm on them, like on a floor. – It seems to me that this summer should be hot and dry. I'm afraid your garden will be bad, because... plants will need watering. But don’t be discouraged in advance, maybe. my thoughts are wrong. I wish there was more greenery. Load up on salads. A very tasty salad made from chickweed (Stellaria media), and if you add something nutritious to it (at least milk), then you will probably like it. Children should be given more fresh herbs, and little ones should be given vegetables, especially carrots or, for now, carrot juice. You write that Olya wants something tasty. But what becomes tasty is made so mainly by seasoning: it is necessary to give the food a smell, fry it well, add spiciness or sweetness, and then the simplest supplies turn into tasty dishes. Russian cuisine suffers from tasteless, steamed, overcooked food; in the middle zone they spoil all sorts of supplies, turning them into an oily mess, without structure, without smell or taste. In this regard, look how they know how to cook in the Caucasus: from any supply that we wouldn’t even have, they make a delicious dish, adding herbs, something for flavor, etc. Do you ever make my cheese for your children? This is a good seasoning for porridge, even the most tasteless, and makes the same porridge or potatoes look elegant. And you only need to eat what you like, otherwise the food is of little use. Toast the bread, spread a little cheese on it, sprinkle with dill - it will be a pleasant breakfast that does not require any hassle or fuss. If I were with you, I would make you marmalade - the sugar consumption generally remains the same, if not less, but the impression is completely different. I want to say: you need to be able to live and enjoy life, relying on what you have at the moment, and not being offended by what you don’t have. After all, no one and nothing can return the time lost to dissatisfaction. I kiss you deeply, dear Annulya. I will write my next letter in May. I kiss you again. Giatsintova Anna Vasilievna (1892–1987) – niece of A.M. Florenskaya. Letter to Tiki (October 23, 1933; children’s spelling is preserved): “...I am very sorry that you are not with us. I miss you... I mother all day... I will never forget you, my daddy... And everyone wishes you health. And kind. Tika." Birthday of Fr.'s youngest daughter. Pavel Florensky Maria-Tinatin – November 11 The Solovetsky gull is a subspecies of the herring gull (Larus argentatus). Seagulls were tamed by monks, and for centuries they even nested under benches in the park. There were legends about Solovetsky gulls. A miracle is associated with them. “In 1854, when two English frigates began to bombard the monastery, the seagulls soared in a thick cloud above the most enemy frigates and with their piercing screams seemed to drive away the English, and with more than one cry they bothered them, so that the enemy had to engage in battle with the birds that had stained his honor... The seagulls in this matter proved their courage and devotion to the monastery.” (P.F. Fedorov. Solovki. 1898.) “The monks forbade touching them, and they laid eggs right in the middle of the Kremlin...they immediately hatched thin-legged, ugly, like plucked chicks, getting tangled under the feet of the pilgrims.” (Gennady Andreev “Khomyakov G.A.” Solovetsky Island. 1927–1929 // North. 1990. No. 9. P. 3–93.) In the last years of STON’s existence, the seagulls were destroyed: “...soon after the transformation of Solovki into STON, brigades were created to destroy seagulls. When nests were found, the chicks were trampled and the adult gulls were shot. The rest of the seagulls were killed after their return in the spring of 1938. This is how the endemic species “Solovetsky gull” was destroyed (Chirkov Yu.I. And it was all like that... M., 1991). Tiki's name day was celebrated on August 4 (NS), St. equal to Mary Magdalene. Koryakin Leonid Ivanovich - crystallographer, acquaintance of the Florensky family, who lived in Yaroslavl. One of the few who maintained relations with the Florensky family after 1933 and visited them in Zagorsk. Florensky was on a business trip to the Zayatsky Islands. Litvinov (1936.V.15) also describes them: “...I don’t have any news. I live and work in the same place. It must still be said that both the first and second are very enviable on a local scale. But of course it's good local. The main advantage, indeed a significant one, is the possibility and necessity of long-distance travel along the seashore. I have already walked one shore of the island - 12 kilometers to the north, 10 kilometers to the south. In addition, we also have farming on various small islands. In particular, I have now returned from a voyage to the so-called Hare Islands. In essence, this name is incorrect. The monks collected bird eggs on them and therefore called them the Hare Islands. Their distance is about 6 or 8 kilometers from the Kremlin. We sailed there with the head of our enterprise on a motorboat. The day was very sunny. The sea is not entirely smooth and the journey was enchanting. The whole sea is in small islands. Some are small and low, overgrown with some kind of faded and stormy grass from last year. Some are just a pile of boulders, and sometimes here and there there is just a boulder sticking out of the water. On others, higher up, bushes grow. The first and closest one bears the name “Dog Luda”. On Zaichiki there are the remains of a church and stone buildings from the 15th century, absolutely lovely. Since the sea here is quite treacherous, a harbor was built near the village, of the same modest and cozy nature as all the buildings. A dam is built from the boulders, surrounding a pool the size of a good apartment, in which half a dozen large boats can be kept. The boulders that make up the dam are of unheard-of size, each larger than a Ford car. And all around is the sea, waves and endless wind. On the horizon are silhouettes of distant islands and even the coastline. When, as a boy, I read novels with travel and adventure, then, of course, traveling on a motorboat to such islands would be the height of dreams. I must admit that even now it gave me melancholic pleasure. I sighed languidly as I drove past Pesya Luda, associating this name with the events of past and pleasant days. Perhaps someday I will visit these places again in a more pleasant situation...” This refers to the expected child of Natalia and Vasily Florensky. Shokalsky Yuli Mikhailovich (1856–1940) - Russian oceanographer and cartographer, developed a methodology for cartographic work. He owns the major work “Oceanography” (1917), grandson of A.P. Kern. This comet about. Pavel Florensky notes in his memoirs, speaking about his special relationship with comets in childhood: “Comets attracted almost the most attention to me. With a longing that can only be likened to intense thirst... I wanted to see a comet with my own eyes, and, in the absence of an original, I fired up my imagination with drawings of comets in Meyer’s “Konversation Lexicon” and in astronomy courses. But on the other hand, I received some satisfaction from dad’s stories about how he himself saw comets: from the feeling of unity with my father, his eyes were almost mine for me, and the comet seen by dad seemed to be seen by me. Dad talked about one comet he saw in his youth, probably the August comet of 1876, and about another that happened in the year of my birth, the September comet of 1882, which, according to Newcomb, was considered “the most wonderful sight in our century” (p. 163). We are talking about Mick’s trip to Tiflis, where Florensky’s brother and sister, Elizaveta Alexandrovna and Alexander Alexandrovich, lived. Batumi-Akhaltsykh road - the road that was built by A.I. Florensky and with whom childhood memories of Fr. Pavel. (See note 3 to letter dated April 6–7, 1935, p. 98.) This refers to the grandson of Fr. Pavla is the son of Natalia and Vasily Florensky. This refers to a trip to the northern part of the island, where the village of Rebalda was located. R.N. also writes about these places. Litvinov (1936.VI.23): “...It must be said that the Solovetsky Islands are of glacial origin, and therefore mainly consist of boulders and gravel of various sizes. If there is lime, it was brought by the monks. The northern coast is picturesque and more undulating than the southern one. Oddly enough, the climate there is palpably better and warmer. This is because Golfström's tongue swims here, as the old-timers say. The vegetation there is real and decent. Large pine trees, birch groves and a lot of greenery. To the south it all becomes smaller and worsens. Pine is replaced by spruce, aspen trees appear, there are more tundra areas, and the terrain becomes smooth. And yet there are lakes everywhere. Very beautiful and very deserted. About 70 of them are connected by overflows and channels along which a small steamer can and does travel and drags a barge with cargo. From the same canal system, water flows into the former Holy Lake, on the shore of which the Kremlin stands, and from there to the turbine of the power plant. All this was done (except for the steamship and the turbine) by Abbot Philip, who, according to legend, was strangled by Malyuta Skuratov, who at that time held the corresponding position...” Father Pavel recalls the room in which he lived as a student at the Moscow Theological Academy, in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. Works by A.S. Pushkin with an explanation of them and a set of criticism. Ed. L. Polivanova for family and school. T. 1–5. M., 1887 (republished in 1898 and 1905). We are talking about the book: Kerner von Marilaun A. The Life of Plants. In 2 volumes. St. Petersburg, 1899. After the arrest of Fr. Pavel Olga was not accepted into school; she would be able to return to school only in February 1934 after endless appeals to various authorities. Bobyleva Maria Afanasyevna - a music teacher in Zagorsk, taught the younger children of Fr. Pavel Florensky. Bykov N.I., his son – Igor. Father Pavel talks about the poem “Oro”, which he restored on Solovki from memory, but asks to send some excerpts. Paraphrase of the Gospel words: “And which of you, by caring, can add even one cubit to his stature” (Luke 12:25). A.K. Vinogradov. Merimee in letters to Sobolevsky. M., 1928. Serbian epic. Translation by N.V. Berga, N.M. Golkovsky, N.I. Kravtsova. M.L.: Academia. 1933. S.P. Zhikharev. Notes from a contemporary. T. 1. M.-L.: Academia. 1934. E.E. Bertelier. Abul-Qasim Ferdowsi and his work. L.M., 1935. Sokolov Pyotr Fedorovich (1791–1848) – Russian painter and watercolorist. Author of portraits of many of his famous contemporaries; his son - Pyotr Petrovich Sokolov (1821–1899) - Russian painter and draftsman. Khlebnikov Velimir. The Eye: The Orachon Tale. // "30 days". 1932. No. 2. For children's impressions of the sea, see notes. to the letter dated June 18, 1937, p. 250. About this in the memoirs: “Looking back now at my childhood, I see the exceptional poverty of the Batumi coast with emissions and the excellent insignificance of our finds; Apart from the pebbles, which were really nice, we didn’t find anything valuable or interesting. But then these finds delighted me endlessly, although I was a spoiled child, they pleased me, like gifts from the great blue sea, gifts, signs of attention, trust and patronage to me personally” (“To My Children”, p. 49). Quote from the “Introduction” to the poem by A.S. Pushkin "The Bronze Horseman". “Admiralty Star” is a typo, it should be “needle”. Probably Fr. Pavel is referring to a line from the third song of A.S.’s poem. Pushkin’s “Poltava” - “The East is burning with a new dawn”, as it further speaks about Poltava and Ukraine. In the form Florensky quotes it, it is closer to the lines from the “Introduction” to the poem “The Bronze Horseman”: “One dawn to replace another // Hastens, giving the night half an hour.” The character of the novel in verse by A.S. Pushkin "Eugene Onegin". Efimov Ivan Semenovich (1879–1959) - sculptor, people's artist of the RSFSR. One of Fr.'s close friends. Pavel Florensky, who did not forget his family after 1933. Schubert's and Glinka's romances - as a child, Florensky constantly heard the romances of Schubert and Glinka in his house: “... I remember the relatively few, but romances of Schubert and Glinka that took root in the house - by the way, and now they seem to me to be the most perfect of all the works of this kind that I know” (“Memoirs”, p. 82). Florina Maria Viktorovna is a native of Tiflis, a pediatrician for the Florensky family. N.A. Alikhanova (Saparova). Father Afoniy (Vishnyakov) is a monk of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, who painted boxes and brooches in the spirit of Fedoskino miniatures. Father Afoniy, at the request of Fr. Pavel and designed a portrait of P.G. according to his design. Saparova - decorated and framed (“To my children,” p. 401). Buyukli Vsevolod Ivanovich (1873–1921) - Russian pianist, famous interpreter of the work of A.N. Scriabin. Rubinstein Nikolai Grigorievich (1835–1881) - Russian pianist, conductor, organizer of the Moscow Conservatory. This refers to the artist S.V. Ivanov, according to Fr. Pavel Florensky is his paternal ancestor (the Ivanov family, see: “Genealogical Research”, “For My Children”, pp. 367–372). Henry VIII (1491–1547) – English king since 1509. Charles II (1630–1685) – English king since 1660, from the Stuart dynasty. Letter from Kirill (1933.X.21): “... I had a good trip, I’m pleased with the trip - the Uzbeks are an interesting people... I brought bulbs of mountain plants and seeds to my mother. I acquired some knowledge in the geology of placers, more precisely, in the handling of concentrates - heavy mineral residues. In the winter I will work in 2 places - in paleontology and mineralogy in the Tajik expedition... I’m studying at the institute... Don’t worry about your mother, we’ll get along, but without you it’s boring and very empty... I kiss you deeply, dear daddy, don’t worry about us, please, and settle down as best you can. Write more often. I kiss you again. Kira." We are talking about books: Samoilov Ya.V. Bioliths. L., 1929; Vernadsky V.I. Biosphere. L., 1926; Vernadsky V.I. History of minerals of the earth's crust. T.2: History of natural waters. L., 1933. The article “Measuring Form”, co-authored with Ya.Ya. Khan, was not published. The manuscript has survived without one page. The technique was reconstructed and used. "Sorena" - see note. 4 to the letter dated 1933Х13–14, p. 37. Florensky P.A. Duty factor. // Technical encyclopedia edited by L.K. Martens. T. 21. M.: “Soviet Encyclopedia”. 1933. pp. 73–113. Vasily and Kirill worked in the Tajik-Pamir expedition, Vasily - in the area of ​​the Varzob River, and Kirill - in Fergana. Medtner E.K. Reflections on Goethe. M., 1914. Book of Lichtenstadt - see note. 4 to letter dated April 22–23, 1935, p. 108. February 12 is the day of remembrance of St. Basil the Great, on the feast of three saints - Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom - the name day of the eldest son of Fr. Pavel Vasily and his relative, Vasily Mikhailovich Giatsintov, brother of A.M. Florenskaya. Le Chatelier Henri Louis (1850–1936) - French physical chemist and metallurgist. Formulated (1884) the general law of displacement of thermodynamic equilibrium (Le Chatelier-Brown principle; Brown Karl Ferdinand / 1850–1918 - German physicist). Thomsons - Florensky inaccurately names the initials, referring to the English physicists George Paget Thomson (1892–1975) and William Thomson (1824–1907). “Directory” and “Technical Encyclopedia” are publications in which P.A. took part. Florensky, being an employee of VEI. Kirill’s leader was Veniamin Arkadyevich Zilbermints (1887–1938?) – mineralogist, head of the laboratory at the Institute of Applied Geochemistry and Metallurgy (later BIMS), founder and head of the Department of Crystallography and Mineralogy of the Moscow Petroleum Institute (now the I.M. Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas). He was repressed and executed in 1938(?). Kirill worked under the leadership of Zilberminets in 1932–1935, until the arrest of his teacher. Ilovaisky David Ivanovich (1878–1935) – professor of paleontology at the Moscow Petroleum Institute named after. THEM. Gubkina. Together with him K.P. Florensky wrote the book “Upper Jurassic ammonites of the Ural and Ileka river basins” (M., 1941). Ilovaiskaya Sofya Vladimirovna - widow of D.I. Ilovaisky. K.P. Florensky completed his work on the Tajik-Pamir expedition (1933–1935). From April 1935, he was enrolled in the biogeochemical laboratory, headed by Academician. V.I. Vernadsky, where he will work under the guidance of A.M. Simorina. Evgraf Stepanovich Fedorov (1853–1919) – Russian mineralogist and crystallographer, one of the founders of modern structural crystallography and mineralogy, founder of a scientific school. Texture is the preferred orientation of crystals in polycrystals or molecules in amorphous solids. Formation (col.) – the basic unit characterizing the sequence of formation of rocks. This refers to a letter dated August 21, 1935, addressed to Kirill, where Fr. Paul talks about the Persians and gives the etymology of some Persian names. V.I. Vernadsky. Le problème de radiogeologie, Paris, Herman, 1935. Nomography is a branch of mathematics in which the theory and methods of constructing special drawings are studied - nomograms, with the help of which it is possible, for example, without making calculations, to obtain an approximate solution of equations or approximate values of functions. Oolites are mineral formations in the form of small rounded grains. Sapropel is an organic ide, sediment of land reservoirs, consisting mainly of organic substances and remains of aquatic organisms. Used as fertilizer. Paraphrase of a quote from a poem by A.S. Pushkin “I remember a wonderful moment”: “Without deity, without inspiration, / Without tears, without life, without love.” Two Chechens - Abdulkadyrov Khasan and Saiev Abuyazit, born in 1904, native of the village of Moskety (Nozhai-Yurtovsky district), b/p, KOGPU dated 10/16/33 under Art. 58–2, 11 of the Criminal Code, he was sentenced to death with the replacement of imprisonment in a correctional labor camp for 10 years. Sentenced to capital punishment on October 9, 1937, executed on October 25. or 1–4.XI near Medvezhyegorsk. In the late 90s, his descendants were found and reported details of his life. Abuyazit Saiev, whom Fr. Pavel Florensky in his letter calls him a “Chechen mullah,” he was a devout person, studied the Koran, and called people to a righteous life. This was probably the reason for his arrest. His family received his last letter from the Solovetsky concentration camp in the spring of 1937. In it, Abuyazit writes to his brother: “Apparently, I won’t be able to get out of this prison. Therefore, I ask, Baezed, to name your son after the prison, if one is born in your family. Let this become a living memory of me and a reminder to descendants that such a prison exists in the world.” The first-born in the Saiev family received the name Solovka. He lived a difficult but righteous life. When Solovka was 5 years old, his family, like all Chechens, were deported to Kyrgyzstan, where they lived in poverty for 13 years. In 1956, Chechens were allowed to return to their homeland. Solovka settled in the village of Chervlenoe, became a machine operator, worked successfully, got married, had children, and was a respected person in the republic. In the winter of 1995, refugees from the burning Grozny arrived in Chervlenaya. Their caravan was bombed on its way. An entire family died. And then a miracle happened. The deceased woman tore the baby from her womb. The child was alive. No one knew the name of the deceased family or where she was from. It was decided to hand over the baby to the most respected resident of the village, Solovka Saiev. The boy was named Shamil. He became the son of Solovki and lives in his friendly family. About all this P.V. Florensky was informed by their close relative, the Chechen poet Umar Saiev. In May 2002, Solovka Saiev died. This refers to the then expected grandson of Fr. Pavel Florensky. Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral (XVI century) is the main church of the Solovetsky Monastery. Nina Yakovlevna Simonovich-Efimova (1877–1948) - a close friend of the Florensky family, graphic artist, author of the book “Notes of a Parsley Plant” (M., 1925), the foreword to which was written by Fr. Pavel (published in the 1966 edition), author of portraits of P.A. Florensky. We are talking about the son of N.Ya. Simononich-Efimova - Adrian. Sons of V.I. and M.V. Favorskikh. The envelope contained cutwork embroidery on a piece of white linen fabric. About needlework, manual labor Fr. Pavel Florensky writes in “Memoirs”: “In the work of a human hand, whatever it may be, in the roughest, there is always a mysterious flicker of life, just as this flicker is directly felt in some shell, a stone ground by sea waves, in the layering of agate or carnelian, in the finest plexuses of the veins of a leaf. A machine-made thing does not flicker, but shines, gleams dead and impudently. I clearly remember, although I was not always able to say clearly, but directly, almost physiologically, as the state of my body, I felt with complete vividness the qualitative difference between manual and machine” (“To My Children,” p. 60). Interest P.A. Florensky's approach to artistic sewing continued the traditions of the Saparov family - the family kept carpets of Caucasian work and rare fabrics, samples of gold embroidery. Work in the Commission for the Protection of Monuments of Art and Antiquity of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra enriched his ideas about Old Russian and Byzantine embroidery. His cousin, Tamara Arkadyevna Armand, also studied the ornament. Her book “Ornamentation of Fabric” (M.-L.: Academia, 1981) contains interesting stylistic comparisons of ornaments from different countries and eras, but without contact with musical art. Pavlinov Pavel Yakovlevich (1881–1966) – artist, friend and colleague of Fr. Pavel Florensky at VKHUTEMAS. Illustrated his work “Dielectrics and Their Technical Application” (Moscow, 1924). This refers to the book “Names”; for the first time in full: Florensky Pavel, priest. Names. M., 1993. Work about. Paul's "Names" contains both a study of the nature and meaning of a name in general, and detailed characteristics of a number of names. Grandson o. Pavla was born on June 7, 1936. In honor of his grandfather he was named Pavel. Fersman Alexander Evgenievich (1883–1945) - Soviet chemist and mineralogist, one of the founders of geochemistry. “Pegmatites” (1931) is his fundamental work. A typo about. Pavel - we are talking about the collected works of Kondraty Fedorovich Ryleev. Bramzen Henrietga Gustavovna is Natalia Ivanovna’s paternal grandmother. In the same letter there is a congratulation to Vasily: “Congratulations on your son. Of course, I am very happy that this happened during my mother’s and my lifetime. You, me, my father and grandfather grew up and were born without grandfathers, and besides you, without grandmothers, and as a child I thought with bitterness why I had neither grandfather nor grandmother. And your son has two grandfathers, two grandmothers and three great-grandmothers (or maybe four? I don’t know). Therefore, there will be someone to pamper him, and he will be set into the groove of time, to put it in Shakespearean terms (“time has gone out of its grooves,” says Hamlet). Being in the groove of time is very important for understanding life and its correct direction.” The Weber-Fechner law is a law in psychology about the relationship between sensations and stimuli, named after the scientists Ernst Heinrich Weber (1795–1878), a German anatomist and physiologist, the founder of experimental psychology, and Gustav Theodor Fechner (1801–1807), a German physicist, psychologist and philosopher. Facies (geol.) – one of the characteristics of the physical and geographical features of the landscape. Dmitry Vasilievich Nalivkin (1889–1982) – Soviet geologist and paleontologist. Developed the doctrine of facies. See: Nalivkin D.V. The doctrine of facies. Conditions for the formation of precipitation. L., 1932. Parents of Natalia Ivanovna: Zarubin Ivan Ivanovich (1887–1945), agronomist, and Zarubina (Nikolaeva) Anna Lavrentievna (1887–1959) – teacher of Russian language and literature. V. A. Favorsky, a sheet of paper treated with alginate was enclosed in the envelope. Malinovskaya Ekaterina Antonovna. She also taught English to Florensky’s children. You might be interested in: