Would you like to talk about poetry? The tragedy of the life and work of Vladimir Mayakovsky

I thought it would be easy to write a short story about the poet Vladimir Mayakovsky, but it turned out not to be so. However, let's talk about everything in order.

This year the central city library named after Vladimir Mayakovsky held several events dedicated to the life and work of the poet, lectures, meetings, excursions and much more were organised. I was particularly interested in two events. They were the exhibition "Projection", which was held in the library's courtyard, and the one-day festival "Mayakovsky. Scene"

The exhibition started in July and ran for several weeks, and the festival was held last Sunday. I chose one of the warm summer days to visit the exhibition, and it was a pleasant walk, during which I took my time looking at all the exhibits.

The one-day festival "Mayakovsky. Scene" completed the series of events dedicated to the poet. The weather on that day was autumnal - cold and rainy at times. The festival was held in the same courtyard where the exhibition had been set up a little earlier. A cold wind was blowing, but the walls of the surrounding houses protected the festival visitors. The main event of the festival was a theatre performance based on the transcript of Vladimir Mayakovsky's last public speech.

The exhibition-installation "Projection" was organised on the principle of indirect quotation, it left a great space for imagination. One had to recall the poet's works, facts from his life and unravel the meanings.

An important place in the exhibition was occupied by paintings. The source of inspiration for these works was the work of Mayakovsky. I was not able to decipher all the riddles, and I had to admit that I was not familiar enough with the creative heritage of this author. Besides, walking around the exhibition I realised how ambiguous my attitude to the figure of the poet is and how difficult it would be for me to talk about him.

Vladimir Mayakovsky is considered one of the most important Russian poets of the 20th century, and perhaps I would not be wrong if I said that at least a few lines from his poems can be recalled by any person you stop on the street with this question (unless, of course, you accidentally stop a tourist who does not speak Russian).

I don't know what lines you'll hear exactly. Maybe, "If the stars are lit, then someone needs it." Or: "To shine always, to shine everywhere... That's my slogan and the sun's!". Or: "Who's walking on the right? Left!" On the other hand, few people are familiar with the work of this author deeply enough. Quotations remain in memory, and rarely does anyone study the work of this poet and can tell what is the difference between his early poems and his later ones.

But the most difficult thing to tell is that Mayakovsky's work can not be considered in isolation from his biography, from the stormy events of the early XX century. He lived a short but very bright life. Vladimir Mayakovsky shot himself with a pistol in 1930 at the age of 37. And I am not prepared to discuss the poet's role in the political life of the country at that time, nor the reasons that prompted him to make such a tragic decision. I fear that most researchers have been biased, and have judged the complex and diverse figure of Mayakovsky based on their own limited life experience.

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Location	Saint Petersburg, Russia