September 19: Birthday of Viktor Bokov, a poet who passed through Siblag
Viktor Bokov was born on September 19, 1914, in the Vladimir province. He is a poet, novelist, and folklorist. He is the author of the lyrics to the songs "A Young Sailor Goes on Leave" and "Orenburg Downy Shawl."
And yet: life is a miracle,
You can't forbid a miracle!
Long live the amplitude!
Sometimes you fall, sometimes you fly!
Childhood and first poems
He grew up in a village. His parents were farmers. After school, he entered a pedagogical college. He attended a literary circle, one of whose leaders he was. Mikhail Prishvin — He was the first to appreciate Bokov’s talent.
In 1930, he began publishing poetry in a local newspaper. In 1938, he graduated from the Gorky Literary Institute. He worked as a literary consultant at the All-Union House of Folk Art.
Arrest by denunciation and Siblag
With the onset of the Great Patriotic War, he evacuated with his family to Chistopol (Tatarstan). In 1942, he was drafted into the army. He was arrested after being denounced for "conversations" while a cadet at a military camp near Tomsk. The reason was a "discrediting" letter to writers. Boris Pasternak и To Alexander Fadeev, in which he asked to be released from the army:
And if you don't pull me out with your combined efforts, I'll die—that's no exaggeration. While you can still pull me out
In other letters to friends he wrote about the unbearable conditions in which the soldiers found themselves.
We study 16 hours a day. Not a minute free. Every minute, all poetry is knocked out of our heads. This is incompatible with the army.
There is a version that the reason for his arrest was also his disparaging statements about Stalin and the torture of prisoners.
Exile to the Kaluga Region
He spent five years in Siblag. In 1947, after his liberation, he was exiled from the capital to Kaluga region. He wrote most of his works there. In 1956, after his exile ended, he returned to Moscow.
I experienced persecution,
He grieved inconsolably.
But even in bitter moments
Someone warmed my soul.
Someone put their hand on my shoulders,
Someone whispered to me like rain:
- Calm down, man,
You will live to see happiness!
Confession during the "thaw"
He received recognition after Stalin's death, with the onset of the "thaw." In 1957, he won a prize at the World Festival of Youth and Students for the lyrics to the song "In a Clear Sky, a Bright Moon."
In 1960, he won the All-Union Competition for Best Song. He later joined the Writers' Union of the RSFSR and the editorial board of the weekly "Literary Russia." He was awarded orders and medals, including the "For Courage and Love of the Fatherland" award.
I stood firm,
I endured it,
Digested,
I crossed such mountains,
Which geography has not yet known.
Here is my biography!
Songs by Viktor Bokov
Collaborated with famous composers - Alexandra Pakhmutova, Grigory Ponomarenko, Alexander Averkin, Vasily Solovyov-Sedoy.
He wrote the lyrics to the songs “A young agronomist went out to the fields”, “I look at the spacious fields”, “A young sailor goes on leave”, “Orenburg downy shawl”, “There is silence on Mamayev Kurgan”, “I will call you dawn”.
Why is it in our village?
Are the girls in a commotion?
Who raised them early in the morning,
Who could have alarmed them so?
He's going on leave
Young sailor.
His chest is covered in medals,
Ribbons in anchors
On this stormy, unkind evening,
When there is snowy haze along the roads,
Throw it over your shoulders, dear.
Orenburg downy shawl
Lyrics, homeland and folklore
He wrote hundreds of poems—not only lyrics, but also lines about his homeland, nature, duty, honor, and conscience.
The Russian song is the vastness,
Which I will have to follow all my life.
This is Father Don near Rostov,
This is Mother Volga on the road
Let's make two separate meadows
Two springs of two sunny valleys.
It's better that we miss each other,
How can we suddenly get tired of each other?
Life is a terrible thing,
If you think about it.
Then they will want to hang,
Then they will want to increase,
Then you will be a general,
Then you'll be a private,
Then you get royalties,
That's a tip for you.
He collected and published folklore. He preserved rare quatrains that were performed in remote corners of Russia.
Why did you shabarkul me?
With a balalaika on the shoulder?
Then I barked you -
I want to meet someone
Viktor Bokov died at his dacha in Peredelkino in 2009, at the age of 95.
Maybe tomorrow all this will end,
Nowadays I really want this:
I run fast,
Pure snow,
Fresh mail,
The buds are tender,
Dawn of the Azure,
Ozone storms,
White lilies,
Warm showers,
Springs from the glaciers,
Amber from the seas,
Only now, immediately, quickly!
