Ivan Gruzinov, restoration of historical justice

MOSCOW. The publishing house "Aquarius" published a collected works of the poet Ivan Gruzinov.

The publication of a book with poems by Ivan Gruzinov will restore historical justice and expand the range of knowledge about Russian literature in the first third of the 20th century. This is the first collected works of a talented poet, who died in 1942 in the city of Kuntsevo near Moscow (now part of Moscow). During his lifetime, only separate collections were published - "Raspberry Shawl", "Tambourines of Pain" and others. At a presentation held at the Cultural Center of the New World Foundation on December 13, poet and translator Sergei Zenkevich noted that Gruzinov’s fate could have been different if he had been born in a different era. For many, he remained just a close friend of Yesenin, his kind angel and one of the minor figures of a group of imagists. Although under the letter to Pravda about the termination of its existence, it was precisely his signature that was next to Yeseninskaya. Gruzinov agreed with Yesenin that his colleagues in the creative workshop pay too much attention to the decorative and superficial side. Together with him, he dreamed of creating a new poetic association - “Russians”.

Objective life circumstances interfered with the ability to declare one’s own poetic gift in full voice. The first time he was arrested for the book “Seraphic Pendants”, co-authored by his wife Nina Habias, with an unacceptable - by Soviet standards - naturalistic cover and the use of profanity. The second - because of the fabricated OGPU "Cases of Ganin." In 1927, he was again under investigation for political reasons, was deprived of the right to reside in several large cities. The grave of the poet who died of starvation was not preserved.

Elena Tanakova © Gallerix.ru