Elena Dovlatova biography

On the way to New York. Letters from Vienna. Life in Leningrad, in my opinion, is even difficult to call a period. This is a city in which he not only grew up, lived, but should have been born. Due to the war that had begun in the year, this physically occurred in Ufa. Also, by chance, the first year of service in the army was held on the meridian, where he was born. If you attribute to the story “Voice” biographical properties, then this year of service, when a young man from an intelligent family was in the special conditions of army life, complicated by the specifics of the service itself and the most difficult climate, helped to understand the main thing for himself, to understand that his calling was a writer.

While in the army, in the second year, when he was already transferred to serve near Leningrad, Dovlatov wrote the first “serious” work: the small story “Captains on Land”. In a recycled form, her episodes later entered the “zone”. The story has never been published. The manuscript option in a thick “common” notebook was read by a small number of acquaintances.

Then this notebook disappeared. Upon returning from the army, new stories were written, the writer’s biography began with them. The Tallinn period, a little more than two years, occupies a separate place in both the creative and personal life of Dovlatov. A trip to Tallinn was made to a large extent due to the possibility of publishing a book. Who does not know how important it was in those years by official recognition, that is, the opportunity to publish their works.

All types of art, together with the work of teaching, were considered “ideological” and were supposed to be authorized by the relevant authorities and organizations. There was an opinion that the pressure of these organizations is weaker in the territories of bilingual ones, where there were a national literature, that is, in Russian, and national. The calculation that in Estonia is still further from the so-called center, from Moscow and Leningrad, and, accordingly, the Estonian section of the Writers' Union there is the main one, and the Russian-secondary, Dovlatov went to Tallinn.

Two and a half years in Tallinn and six months in Vienna have some common features. The Russian names themselves, uttered by a local resident, sounded differently. Gothic architecture, purity on the streets, good ventilation in beer bars, where a Russian man smokes more than anywhere else. Even children's cry has a different tonality and does not cut the ear. How remarkable in sound all the names and surnames of the heroes are in the stories and letters of Dovlatov from there.

This time not only was reflected in his work, but, one might say, was the first step in the incompletely formalized decision to move to the West truly. In the Baltic states - in Riga, Vilnius, Tallinn Soviet people who were practically not allowed to travel abroad, went to Europe. The return from Estonia was for the period when events began to occur that changed the life of the country and people, preparing the ground for changes that take place now.

Then the emigration began, which was called the "Third Wave." The theme of departure began to arise in a conversation between members of the Dovlatovsky family. From the moment the set of the first book was scattered in Tallinn and Sergey Dovlatov returned to Leningrad, the circumstances of his life, having changed little, still worsened in something very important. Normal life seemed unrealistic.

The justification of such an existence was references to the life of the previous generation. Nadezhda Mandelstam in her book wrote that one day the husband told her at her complaint: “Why did you decide that you should be happy? Thanks to the “votes” and the books coming from the west, the information that encouraged action was accumulated and settled in consciousness.

It is only necessary to transport the manuscript.

Opportunities began to find and were found. Even the Ardis publishing house, led by the Professi, arrived in Leningrad. They took the manuscript of the invisible book to America. But the day of departure Sergey Dovlatov did not appoint everything. Although the calls were received. Finally, the wife decided that she could wait for more unbearable than all this could end. She firmly decided to go.

And she began to pack up. Permission was obtained quite quickly. The family was divided. Two left. Although Dovlatov himself did not go with his wife and daughter, nevertheless, much that could be considered as preparations for leaving was discussed in details: what to do first upon arrival in Vienna, to whom to send letters, what to tell them, how to answer the proposals of publications, what to answer the question why Dovlatov himself remained in the Union, etc.

Vienna was an important stage in the life of a former Soviet man who became an emigrant. She was a buffer zone. Often, people who decided to leave their homeland only made a final decision in Vienna about what part of the world or in which country they would go to live. Further, as Dovlatov wrote, “designate a dotted line”: a wife with a daughter in Vienna, the first call to Leningrad, after 10 days - a train to Rome.

Letters, phone calls, cautious questions, the same cautious answers. Four months have passed. The first call from New York to Leningrad brought news that Sergei was arrested and was in prison for Kalyaev.The campaign in defense: messages in the newspapers "New Russian Word", "Russian Thought," Figaro ", on the Radio" Freedom "finally, the confusion in the actions of the KGB and the district police is already behind, the plane with Dovlatov, his mother Norah and the dog Glasha are landed in Vienna.

And the period lasts six months begins. Here I want to interrupt the chronological presentation. And tell one story. It seems that Mikhail Alexandrovich, who persistently demanded from the wife of the diary, once told her that she would not speak publicly with the memories of him: “When I told this story to Sergey, he laughed to write“ now ”a book of memoirs about him, and he will edit it.

So that I have been prepared, so to speak. In response to this, I invited him to write memories of him on behalf of his wife. For some time the idea was discussed. She gave an impetus for the book "refrigerator", remaining unfinished. And now, guided only by vague considerations, I want to present the Dovlatov “letters from Vienna”. However, only part of them.

In total, in the family archive, they were preserved, apparently, lost. Vienna was an intermediate point, the penultimate stop on the way to America. And if for someone a stay in Vienna was a moment of painful thoughts about which decision to make, where to go, in which part of the world, then there was no hesitation for Dovlatov. He rode "reunite." From the correspondence with already settled in America, a lot of information was extracted.

But there are things that even people with increased ability to analyze and with rich imagination cannot be represented in reality. And this was so in the part that was related to universal concepts. But there were many questions, the answers to which required personal participation from a person. Therefore, in almost every letter he writes: "The prospects are foggy." These letters are personal.

They do not have special “talk about literature”. But they explain the state of a person who fell into new, completely new living conditions. At this moment, creative plans and personal relationships are equally important. It is important for a creative person to live with the feeling that he is protected at least from the rear. This function is performed by a family for which Dovlatov in a letter dated October 24 formulates his everyday program as follows: “The basic principles of my life are as follows.

As you descend, acute and importance: 1. To be with you. Print the best, from written. Read the notice. Somehow earn a living. ” According to Dovlatov’s letters, one can see how the writer’s attitude towards everything that was at first perceived in a state of euphoria changes. And first of all, it turned out to be unclear what relations would have developed with people, whom he judged with trepidation, without having personal contacts with them.

The degree of its own security of the emigrant also became incomprehensible - with the whole well -known wealth of America - in the Western world Elena Dovlatov 1 18 Sept. We are still in the Admiral. Maybe soon we will move to a 3-room luxurious dwelling. The fund is ready to pay 4. Yesterday I sent an article for the “continent”. It is called "Reading Lessons." On the spread of illegal region in the USSR.

All the same pluralism.