Vadim Bayan (born Vladimir Ivanovich Sidorov; 5 January 1880 – 29 March 1966) was a

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

futurist poet, writer and playwright.

Biography

Vladimir Ivanovich Sidorov () was born in 1880 to the family of an agronomist in the village of Novovasilevka,

Berdyansky Uyezd Berdyansky Uyezd (; ) was one of the subdivisions of the Taurida Governorate of the Russian Empire. Its administrative centre was Berdiansk. Other populous places in the uyezd were and Tokmak. It was established in 1842. Demographics At the tim ...

Taurida Governorate Taurida Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit ('' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire. It included the territory of the Crimean Peninsula and the mainland between the lower Dnieper River with the coasts of the Black Sea and Sea o ...

, in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

. He graduated from

real school Real school (, ) is a type of secondary school in Germany, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It has also existed in Croatia (''realna gimnazija''), the Austrian Empire, the German Empire, Denmark and Norway (''realskole''), Sweden (''realskola''), F ...

Melitopol Melitopol is a city and municipality in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, southeastern Ukraine. It is situated on the Molochna River, which flows through the eastern edge of the city into the Molochnyi Lyman estuary. Melitopol is the second-largest city ...

and worked as an office clerk. In 1906, he moved to

Simferopol Simferopol ( ), also known as Aqmescit, is the second-largest city on the Crimea, Crimean Peninsula. The city, along with the rest of Crimea, is internationally recognised as part of Ukraine, but controlled by Russia. It is considered the cap ...

, where he worked as a

proofreader Proofreading is a phase in the process of publishing where galley proofs are compared against the original manuscripts or graphic artworks, to identify transcription errors in the typesetting process. In the past, proofreaders would place co ...

in a printing house. Known primarily for his 'cosmopoems' ''Universe on the ''Plakh'' '' (, 1919-1920) and ''On the Pavement of Millennia'' (, (1922), as well as his

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based on the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autob ...

s ''

Mayakovsky Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky ( – 14 April 1930) was a Russian poet, playwright, artist, and actor. During his early, pre-Revolution period leading into 1917, Mayakovsky became renowned as a prominent figure of the Russian Futurist mov ...

in the First Olympiad of Russian Futurists'' (). He made his debut in the

newspaper ''Tavrichanin'' in 1908 with the poem "Two Horses". In the same year in Melitopol was published his book ''Compressed Tape. A novel (in verse) 1905-1908'' (. In 1910 in Petersburg he listened to lectures on philosophy and natural sciences at the Lesgaft Higher Courses. Then he printed at his own expense the book ''Lyrical Stream. Lyrionettes and Barcarolles'' (1914). In 1914 he organised and partially financed poetry evenings in the cities of

Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...

, called the ''Olympics of Russian Futurism'', which were attended by

Vladimir Mayakovsky Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky ( – 14 April 1930) was a Russian poet, playwright, artist, and actor. During his early, Russian Revolution, pre-Revolution period leading into 1917, Mayakovsky became renowned as a prominent figure of the Ru ...

David Burliuk David Davidovich Burliuk (; 21 July 1882 – 15 January 1967) was a Russian poet, artist and publicist of Ukrainian origin associated with the Futurism (art), Futurist and Neo-Primitivist movements. Burliuk has been described as "the father of ...

Igor Severyanin Igor Severyanin (; pen name, real name Igor Vasilyevich Lotaryov: И́горь Васи́льевич Лотарёв; May 16, 1887 – December 20, 1941) was a Russian poet who presided over the circle of the so-called Ego-Futurists. Igor wa ...

and others. Having stayed in Crimea during the revolutions of 1917 and the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

, he created a literary association and helped young poets, including Boris Poplavsky (1903–1935). In 1919 he published the book ''Radio'' (), which included his cosmopoem ''The Universe on the Plakh'', a note by his sister, the poetess and critic Maria Kalmykova, and a portrait of Bayan by

. He sent his anthologies ''From the Battery of the Heart'', ‘A Chopped Kiss from the Lips of the Universe’ to Mayakovsky with the inscriptions: "To Mayakovsky, the Great". From 1922 he lived in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, wrote for amateur performances, composed samples of new ‘Soviet rituals’ for young people - parties, games, dances and weddings. The result of these works was the book ''Kumachovye goulanka'' (), twice published by the publishing house Molodaya Gvardiya (‘Young Guard’). Bayan is probably the prototype of the opportunistic writer ''Oleg Bayan'' from Mayakovsky's play '' Klop''. Offended by this use of his pseudonym, in 1929 he published an "Open Letter to Mayakovsky" in the ''

Literaturnaya gazeta ''Literaturnaya Gazeta'' (, ''Literary Gazette'') is a weekly cultural and political newspaper published in Russia and the Soviet Union. It was published for two periods in the 19th century, and was revived in 1929. Overview The current newspa ...

'' and received a dismissive reply from the latter. In the 1930s he withdrew from poetry, writing one-act plays, political

sketch Sketch or Sketches may refer to: * Sketch (drawing), a rapidly executed freehand drawing that is not usually intended as a finished work Arts, entertainment and media * Sketch comedy, a series of short scenes or vignettes called sketches Fil ...

conference A conference is a meeting, often lasting a few days, which is organized on a particular subject, or to bring together people who have a common interest. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always d ...

s. His unpublished drama in five acts, ''

Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin () was a Russian poet, playwright, and novelist of the Romantic era.Basker, Michael. Pushkin and Romanticism. In Ferber, Michael, ed., ''A Companion to European Romanticism''. Oxford: Blackwell, 2005. He is conside ...

'', and a major novel about the people of the Soviet provinces, ''Olga Korableva'', have survived. For the last 15 years of his life he worked as a graphic designer. He died in Moscow in 1966, buried in

Vagankovo Cemetery Vagankovo Cemetery () is located in the Presnensky District of Moscow, Russia. It was established in 1771, in an effort to curb 1770–1772 Russian plague, an outbreak of bubonic plague in Central Russia. The cemetery was one of those created ou ...

.{{Cite web , url=http://m-necropol.ru/bayan.html , title=Vadim Bayan's grave , archive-date=2016-03-06 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306172424/http://m-necropol.ru/bayan.html He was featured as a character in the novel by V. V. Bondarenko ''The Captain's Grandson'' (2018), set in 1919 in Alexandrovsk.

References

External link

* Marko, Vladimir
''Russian Futurism: A History''
University of California Press. Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1968, pp. 94, 206, 207. 19th-century poets from the Russian Empire 20th-century Russian poets Literary characters Pseudonymous writers Russian dramatists and playwrights Russian Futurism Russian memoirists 1880 births 1966 deaths