#mikhail kuzmin

[lillyli-74]

How I delight in serene melancholy.

~Mikhail Kuzmin

[petaltexturedskies]

Mikhail Kuzmin, from "The Summer's Love" featured in A Treasury of Russian Verse

[marfa-g]

I should probably talk about the context because the character depicted in this illustration is not the most famous or popular even in his homeland. Outside of Russia, you may have heard of him in connection with the novel "Wings". But Mikhail Kuzmin is an interesting figure as a poet, writer, and representative of the queer culture of the Russian Empire. I think it can be noted that I enjoy studying the history and culture of the LGBTQ+ community of different eras, so this personality has already interested me before. However, I found a great source of inspiration in his diaries, which he kept for a long time and shared his worldview, notes on creativity, contemporaries, life, and his romantic relationships. For this illustration, I used an excerpt from the 1906 entries, which is dedicated to celebrating Easter, but also addresses Kuzmin's spiritual doubts and the conflict of his religiosity with the theme of his orientation. I hope I can shed some light on this unusual topic with my art.

[fitz-higgins]

We were washing, we were dressing,

In the morning we were kissing,

And our night was full of love.

We were drinking, like two brothers,

And did not take our masks off.

And these masks were sweetly smiling,

While our eyes were not aligning,

And our lips were mute for once.

Playing Faust in the lamplight,

As though never knowing of night,

Those are night men, they're not us.

– by Mikhail Kuzmin

Kuzmin was a poet and an openly gay man who also wrote diaries that offer a glimpse into the life of a writer and homosexual of the early 20th century. His poetry and prose was often based on his own life. See, for example, an entry for July 25th, 1906:

We were waking up, washing up, I laid the table thoroughly [...] When we greeted each other with a kiss and sat for tea, as if with some relative, nephew, guest, sweet, obliging, modest, to feed, to entertain [him] after the night of love – it was delightful. I have a passion for the man I love to exist and be [with me] not just for the moments of love. Then I played Faust and Schubert

[Translations are all mine]

[aarghhaaaarrrghhh]

An English Translation of Wings (Крылья, 1906) by Mikhail Kuzmin

I'm a big fan of Maurice by E.M. Forster and The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde and as I was looking up other homoerotic literature from the period, I came across this quote:

"Wilde in The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890) only hinted that his hero's inner corruption resulted from his suppression of his true nature; Gide did not dare to name the attraction of his hero in The Immoralist (1902); Proust felt impelled to engage in all manner of subterfuge, and Forster wrote Maurice for the desk drawer."

by John E. Malmstad in relation to the novella Wings by Russian author Mikhail Kuzmin. One of, if not the first, works of literature focussed on (male) homosexuality explicitly and positively came out of stereotypically repressive Tsarist Russia - how could I not be intrigued? I immediately decided that I should make it my next translation project.

At the outset I was not familiar with any previous translations, though since finishing a rough draft, I found the Hesperus Modern Voices edition, which I do recommend for its introduction and extensive footnotes by Hugh Aplin; however, I found that translation to be quite wonky in a lot of places and I hope mine clears up at least a little bit of the confusion some readers may have had at certain points. That said, as an amateur, I do not mean to disparage a professional translation and I recognise my own work still has its own passages I'm not totally satisfied with; Kuzmin's style in this book (I'm admittedly not very familiar with his other work) is difficult in that, despite the layers upon layers of high-brow references and ornamentations, its texture, it is quite laconic in its actual structure; the novella is composed of vignettes, presented on their own, without clear immediate relation to one another, or much, if any, scene-setting. It is disorienting, especially at first, and certainly unexpected given the forms of narrative typically encountered in the era, but, as others have pointed out, it has its similarities to cinema: Kuzmin's prose is like a camera pointed at various objects, leaving one to draw their own conclusions on the meaning based both on the image and the contrast created by the cuts between images, while the camera does not have a voice of its own to explain its intent in the same way an author can.

The same principle of recording detail whilst leaving a large part of the context implied applies to the dialogue as well - the main difficulty I found was in making sense out of the many disjointed phrases, often with multiple possible meanings, seperated from an obvious preceding or following context found throughout that represent several of the conversations. I apologise if my rendering of the dialogue is difficult to read or doesn't flow well, but at the same time, I believe this disorienting effect is intended at least in part by the original author.

The novella is divided into three parts, which I shall post seperately:

Part One here

Part Two here

Part Three here

[murakamijeva-muza]

“How i delight in serene melancholy” - Mikhail Kuzmin, from “The Summer’s Love,” featured in “A Treasury of Russian Verse”

[femalehieronymusbosch]

Mikhail Kuzmin, Muse

[onenakedfarmer]

MIKHAIL KUZMAN "Night was Done. We Rose and After … "

Night was done. We rose and after Washing, dressing, — kissed with laughter, — After all the sweet night knows. Lilac breakfast cups were clinking While we sat like brothers drinking Tea, — and kept our dominoes.

And our dominoes smiled greeting, And our eyes avoided meeting With our dumb lips’ secrecy. “Faust” we sang, we played, denying Night’s strange memories, strangely dying, As though night’s twain were not we.

[anthropologistfromentropy]

Wings by Mikhail Kuzmin from 1906 has a happy ending too! Now I want a crossover between it and Maurice so bad 😭

Based on Patience and Sarah (1969) by Alma Routsong and Maurice (~1914) by E.M. Forster.

I drew something similar a couple years ago but have been wanting to revisit it — both are some of the earliest lgbtq books with a happy ending and I cherish that a lot. Also, trying to post a version without the panels with nudity to see if Tumblr will accept it this time

[mykolahohols]

russian flagㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤrussian fag

[makingqueerhistory]

Selected Works from Yury Yurkun

Yury Yurkun was a part of the early 20th-century Russian art scene. He was known for his talent as an artist and his life-long relationship with the prominent Russian poet, musician and novelist, Mikhail Kuzmin. Kuzimin is known for his contributions to the Silver Age of Russian Poetry. Yurkun later met Olga Hildebrandt-Arbenina, an actress. The two did not legally marry, but they considered themselves a married couple and loved each other dearly.

Yurkun's watercolors seem to be inspired by magazine illustrations, more stylized and gestural than literal. As magazine illustrations shifted during the 20s and 30s to be more stylized and whimsically colorful, Yurkun's work seems to follow suit. In the early 20s, Arbenina began working as an artist, painter and watercolorist.

The three lived together, along with Yurkun's mother, until Kuzimin's death in 1936. Yurkun was executed in a massive political purge just a few years later. Arbenina died last, in 1980.

You can find these works and more in our gallery!

[not-the-aesthete]

Mikhail Kuzmin, The Summer’s Love featured in A Treasury of Russian Verse

Source

[anthropologistfromentropy]

Current reads:

Also technically "The Unreal Life of Sergei Nabokov" but I haven’t read it in 6 months... Read 88 pages of The Vanishing Half (in Finnish) 2-3 months ago. Well worth the read but got too repetive and slow for me. Probably gonna give up and DNF it tho, tbh.

Next reads:

Not sure which one my ADHD ass will actually end up reading next 😅 Also want and need to read Yusupov's Lost Splendor and Nijinsky's "diary", really should have ages ago, but I guess guilt is making me more interested in these other books lol.

(It's all related to my Felix Yusupov fic, though The Origin of Others less obviously so. The rest basically screams "I'm interested in early 1900s queers and Jews, tsarist Russia and Ballet Russes" 😅)

I see you already tagged my bestie @dark-wackademia

@delighted-nice-person @aro-spectre @aronarchy @leonardoeatscarrots @eloves-off @odd-little-guy @start-where-i-end @bunny--manders @lunearcher @kyluxtrashpit

Reblog with your current/next reads :p

Current:

Next:

Anyone can, but tagging: @barnbridges @one-hell-of-otaku-is-here @tmin-n @infactilovetea @poeticabomination @memory-the-unconscious

[marfa-g]

[fitz-higgins]

LGBT literature of the 1860s–1910s. Part 5

After a long pause, the list is back! Here we have a couple of plays, accounts by two trans women, lesbian poetry, and more.

1. Despised and Rejected, by A.T. Fitzroy (Rose Allatini; 1918). A pacifist novel published during World War One? With gay and lesbian characters? Yes, that was sure to get people in trouble. Its publisher was fined and the judge called it “morally unhealthy and most pernicious”. So, Dennis is a young composer who hates violence and therefore refuses to go to war. He also suffers because he is a “musical man”, that is, gay, and loves Alan, art-loving son of a wealthy businessman. His friend Antoinette, meanwhile, is “strangely attracted” to a woman. Nevertheless, the two attempt to love each other. When the war begins, Alan appears in Dennis’ life again, and they try to avoid being sent to the front together. Alan also persuades Dennis to accept who he is. Edward Carpenter himself defended the novel, saying that “the book is also a plea for toleration of a very much misunderstood section of humanity”. Read online

2. Autobiography of an Androgyne, by Ralph Werther (1918). Ralph Werther, also known as Jennie June, wrote this autobiography for doctors, and it is very revealing. Being a New York fairy (male prostitute) and possibly a trans woman, they tell frankly about the city’s gay underworld of the early 20th century and their personal experience, which is sometimes too frank and dark perhaps, but all the more interesting. Read online 

3. Poems by Mikhail Kuzmin. Kuzmin was not just the author of Russia’s first gay novel, but also a poet. Many of his works were dedicated to or mentioned his lovers. I’d recommend Where Will I Find Words (in English and Russian), Night Was Done (both in English and Russian), from the 1906-1907 collection Love of This Summer (available fully in Russian), mostly based on his love affair with Pavel Maslov in 1906. And also If They Say (in English and Russian), which is a great statement.

4. The Loom of Youth, by Alec Waugh (1917). A semi-biographical novel based on Evelyn Waugh’s older brother’s experience at Sherborne School in Dorset. It is a story of Gordon Caruthers’ school years, from the age of 13 to 19, and it is full of different stories typical for public schools, be it pranks and cheating exams or dorm life and sports. Although the homosexual subject was quite understated, the author implied that it was a tradition and open secret in public schools. The book became popular and soon caused a great scandal. Worth noting that before that Alec was expelled for flirting with a boy.  Read online 

5. Two Speak Together, by Amy Lowell (1919). Lowell was a famous American poet and lesbian. Many of her poems were dedicated to her lover, actress Ada Dwyer Russell, specifically the section Two Speak Together from Pictures of the Floating World. These poems are infused with flower imagery, which wasn’t uncommon for lesbian poetry of the time. Read online

6. De berg van licht/The Mountain of Light, by Louis Couperus (1905-1906). Couperus is called the Dutch Oscar Wilde for a reason: this is one of the first decadent novels in Dutch literature. It is also a historical one, telling about a young androgynous Syrian priest Heliogabalus who then becomes a Roman Emperor. Homoerotism, hedonism, aestheticism: Couperus creates a very vivid world of Ancient Rome. He also covered the topic of androgyny in his novel Noodlot, which was mentioned in Part 3 of this list. Read online in Dutch 

7. Frühlings Erwachen/Spring Awakening/The Awakening of Spring, by Frank Wedekind (1891, first performed in 1906). This play criticized the sexually oppressive culture prevalent in Europe at the time through a collection of monologues and short scenes about several troubled teens. Each one of them struggles with their puberty, which often leads to a tragic end. Like in The Loom of Youth, homosexuality is not the central focus of the play, but one character, Hänschen, is homosexual and explores his sexuality through Shakespear and paintings. The play was later turned into a famous musical. Read online in German or in English

8. Twixt Earth and Stars, by Radclyffe Hall (1906). Though it wasn’t known to many at the time, these poems were dedicated to women, some to Hall’s actual lovers. Read online

9. The Secret Confessions of a Parisian: The Countess, 1850-1871, by Arthur Berloget (published in 1895). This account is similar to the Autobiography of an Androgyne, albeit shorter. The author nowadays is thought to be a trans woman. They describe their love for women’s dresses, the euphoria from wearing dresses, makeup and wigs, the life as a “female impersonator” in Parisian cafe-concerts, and their love affair with a fellow prisoner. The autobiography is not available online, but you can read it in Queer Lives: Men’s Autobiographies from Nineteenth-Century France by William Peniston and Nancy Erber.

10. At Saint Judas’s, by Henry Blake Fuller (1896). This is possibly the first American play about homosexuality. It is very short. An excited groom is waiting for his wedding ceremony in the company of his gloomy best man. They are former lovers, and this short scene is not going to end well… Read online

Previous part is here

[aarghhaaaarrrghhh]

My Translations Master post

Since I've started another big translation project, I feel I need a new pinned post that will link to everything, so here we go.

Wings/Крылья (debatably the first openly published novel/la explicitly about male homosexuality)

A Summer in a Pioneer's Neckerchief/Лето в пионерском галстуке (contemporary YA about two boys falling in love at summer camp in the 1980s USSR)

What Lastochka Left Unsaid/О чём молчит ласточка (A Summer in a Pioneer's Neckerchief sequel)