The most important step in the study of Vladimir Mayakovsky's idiostyle was made by G. O. Vinokur, who identified two main principles of the poet's language - publicity and colloquialism (See: Vinokur G. O. Mayakovsky-language innovator, Moscow, 1943). The concept of Distillery was concretized and developed by M. L. Gasparov. In particular, he listed those features of Mayakovsky's poetics that are derived from the central image of a square rally speaker for all his work (See: Gasparov M. L. Vladimir Mayakovsky / / Essays on the history of the language of Russian poetry of the XX century. Experiments in describing idiostyles, Moscow, 1995). I would like to add another observation to the resulting picture: in the texts of early Mayakovsky, three variants of the attitude of an area speaker to the crowd to which he addresses with a "new word"are described.
The first option, in fact, just boils down to the speaker's suggestion to listen to him and learn how to do as he does ("Could you?"). The other two options come into force after the crowd has already listened to the speaker, but they did not want to do as he did (the usual case with Mayakovsky).
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The second option: you don't want to learn from me - it means (because) you are a redneck, it will be worse for you.
The third option: you don't want to learn from me, but I still love you and will give my life for you, I will be crucified for you. It is easy to see that the third option implies a more or less conscious and careful self-identification with Christ. The second and third variants of relations with the reader were actively developed by late Tsvetaeva, the third-by late Pasternak, poets of various kinds, but close to Mayakovsky.
In this article, we will further discuss Mayakovsky's poem "To You!" (1915), which could serve as an ideal illustration of the second of the described variants of the poet's attitude to his readers and listeners.
To you who live behind the orgy orgy,
having a bathroom and a warm toilet!
Aren't you ashamed of your love for George
read from newspaper columns?!
Do you know, talentless, many,
those who think it's better to get drunk as, -
Maybe now bomb your feet
Did it rip out Petrov's lieutenant?
If he had been brought to the slaughter,
Suddenly I saw, wounded,
how are you smeared in a cutlet lip
Lasciviously humming a Northerner!
Do you love women and dishes,
give your life to please?!
I'd rather be at the fucking bar
serve pineapple water!
What does Mayakovsky blame his readers and listeners for this time? At first (after reading the first stanza), it seems that they dare to enjoy a peaceful life while their less fortunate tribesmen rot in the trenches. As usual, exaggerating, in the first two lines, the poet methodically lists the benefits and pleasures that are not available to the belligerents: they do not have women to arrange orgies, they do not have bathrooms, their closets are cold, not "warm". V. B. Shklovsky, who wrote in his memoirs, was inclined to interpret the poem "Vam!" as anti-militarist.: "Stray Dog was patriotic. When Mayakovsky read his poems in it:
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Do you love women and dishes,
give your life to please?!
I'd rather be at bar b...
serve pineapple water, -
what a squeal it was.
Women very much cried" (Shklovsky V. B. About Mayakovsky / / Shklovsky V. B. Sobr. soch.: in 3 vols. Vol. 3. Moscow, 1974, p. 64).
But already in the second stanza of the poem "To You!", where the faceless "many" is contrasted with the concrete and at the same time extremely generalized "Petrov the lieutenant" (cf. in the early Zabolotsky: "The Ivanovs came to the service In their trousers and shoes"), Mayakovsky, among others, throws a somewhat unexpected reproach to these "many" :
"Do you know, talentless ones, many..."
Further - more. In the third stanza, the motives of lust and gluttony reappear, and the listeners of the poem are indirectly accused of almost cannibalism (Mayakovsky implements the metaphor "cannon fodder"; " Petrov's lieutenant "is led" to the slaughter " like cattle, and then a lip smeared "in a cutlet"is depicted in close-up). But lust and gluttony in this verse are just the setting for a much more serious sin. Mayakovsky's audience is not only consumerist about women, food, and war, but also consumerist about poetry. Poetry is represented here by Mayakovsky's former friend and rival, Igor Severyanin.
In the final stanza of the poem "To you!" after the leitmotif mention of "bab da dishes", the poet, as they say, "at the top of his voice" shouts out his cherished thesis, which, translated from the poetic language into prose, sounds something like this: I don't want my poetry and my very life to serve as a source of pleasure for you. So that you "sing" or read my poems, as you read" from the columns of newspapers ""about love for George". Rather than please "you", I would rather please those who at least are not hypocritical, and most importantly, do not covet poetry, being content with "pineapple water".
In this way, a poem about war ends up being a poem about the poet's appointment.
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