Konstantin Dimitrievitch Balmont

Wikipedia Biographical Summary:

"...Konstantin Dmitriyevich Balmont (Russian: Константи́н Дми́триевич Бальмо́нт; 15 June [O.S. 3 June] 1867 – 23 December 1942) was a Russian symbolist poet, translator, one of the major figures of the Silver Age of Russian Poetry..."

"...Konstantin Balmont was born in village Gumnishchi, Shuya (then Vladimir Guberniya, now Ivanovskaya oblast), the third of the seven sons of a Russian nobleman, lawyer and senior state official Dmitry Konstantinovich Balmont and Vera Nikolayevna (née Le′bedeva)The latter, having come from a family of military men where enthusiasm for literature and theater was almost hereditary, had the most profound influence over her son: she introduced him to the world of music, history and folklore. Vera Nikolayevna knew several foreign languages and often received guests who might have been deemed 'politically risqué' at the time. It was from her that Konstantin Balmont, as he later remembered, inherited 'tempestuousness of character' and rabble-rouser mentality..."

"...In 1889 Balmont married Larisa Garelina, the daughter of a local factory-owner. The marriage proved to be unhappy one; it brought two tempestuous characters together..."

"...In Мarch 1890 a near fatal accident occurred: Balmont attempted suicide by jumping off the 3rd floor window. He survived, but broke his leg and received multiple injuries which left him bed-ridden for a year. The immediate impulse has been provided apparently by Tolstoy’s Kreytzerova Sonata, but there was more rational reason behind it: the falling apart of his marriage, alcohol abuse and financial difficulties (his parents, who loathed Larisa, have left the pair without support). The year of recuperation, though, became an important turning point for Balmont, who, in his words, experienced "the unusual mental agitation and the ensuing rush of cheerfulness". It was then that he recognized 'life’s sacred value' and envisaged his 'poetic mission'.

After the divorce Balmont for some time was destitute: none of the literary journals showed interest in his own work..."

"...In 1896 Balmont married Yekaterina Andreyeva, a fellow translator whose placidness and rationality provided a much-needed counterbalance to his own flashy and emotional character. That year the couple went abroad to travel through Western Europe. the spring of 1897 Oxford University invited Balmont to read lectures on the Russian poetry..."

"...The book in question was Burning Buildings (Goryashchiye zdaniya, 1900), a collection of innovative verse which later came to be regarded an apex of Balmont’s legacy. At the very core of it, according to the author, was the "longing for inner liberation and self-understanding". In 1901, along with a copy of Burning Buildings Balmont sent Leo Tolstoy a letter, saying: "This book is a prolonged scream of a soul caught in the process of being torn apart. One might see this soul as low or ugly. But I won't disclaim not a single page of it as long I keep in me this love for ugliness which is as strong as my love of harmony".[28] Burning Buildings have made Balmont the leader of the Russian Symbolism. From then on "for a decade he was hovering above everybody else in the Russian poetry..."

"...The October revolution horrified Balmont and made him repudiate many of his views of the past. Being the 'absolute freedom' idea apologist, he condemned the dictatorship of proletariat doctrine as destructive and suppressive..."

"...1918–1919 were the years of enormous hardship for Balmont who, now living in Petrograd with his third wife Yelena Tsvetkovskaya (and their daughter Mirra),[33] had to support Yekaterina Andreeva (and Nina) whom he from time to time visited in Moscow..."

"...On May 25, 1920, Balmont and his family left Russia for good..."

"...In 1921 Balmont moved out of Paris into the province where he and his family rented houses, mostly in Brittany, Vendee and Gironde. 1926 he spent in Bordeaux..."

"...In the early 1930s life for Balmont became hard, as financial support from the Czech and Yugoslav governments' literary funds ceased. The poet who had to support three women (of whom daughter Mirra’s erratic behavior was a constant source of trouble) has fallen into poverty..."

"...Balmont died on December 23, 1942 in the Russian House asylum, due to complications of pneumonia. He was buried in Noisy-le-Grand's Catholic cemetery with four words engraved on a grey tomb: "Constantin Balmont, poete russe". Few people were present, among them Boris Zaitsev, daughter Mirra and Jurgis Baltrushaitis' widow...."

SOURCE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konstantin_Balmont

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