Vladimir Mayakovsky book "War and Peace", 2nd edition, with handwritten address and autograph

The book "War and Peace" (second edition) with handwritten address and autograph

The antique book "War and Peace" (second edition) was published in 1919 in Petrograd by the publishing house "Parus". The author's autograph and the address on the book are accompanied by the place and date: Moscow, April 2, 1920.

The poem "War and Peace", named by analogy with the famous novel by Leo Tolstoy, was written by Mayakovsky in 1915-1916 - at the height of the First World War. By the time this work was created, poems dedicated to the theme of war had already been published from the poet's pen. Unlike most other authors, Mayakovsky, with all his inherent accuracy and expressiveness, depicted the senselessness and unjustified cruelty of the massacre that broke out on the fronts. The military theme in Mayakovsky's work reaches its culmination precisely in "War and Peace", a work incomparable in its shrillness. The lyrical hero of the poem acts as the "only person" among the chaos of endless battles and depicts what is happening around him without the usual "poetic gloss". The poet strongly condemns the war - but not its direct participants, but those who stand behind them - the heads of state and the thirst for enrichment that drives them. The poem was not passed by military censorship and saw the light only after the February Revolution.

Vladimir Mayakovsky is a Russian and Soviet poet, playwright, publicist, and film actor. He is known as one of the leading creators of Russian futurism, and then as "the main Soviet poet, founder and ideologist of the magazine LEF and the subsequent Novy LEF and REF. The poet did not immediately start writing poetry - at first he was going to become an artist and even studied painting. Fame came to Mayakovsky after meeting the avant-gardists, when David Burlyuk enthusiastically greeted the first works of the young author. Futuristic group, "Today's Lubok", "Left Front of Arts", advertising "Windows of Growth" - Vladimir Mayakovsky worked in many creative associations. He wrote to newspapers, published a magazine, made films, created plays and staged plays based on them. Marina Tsvetaeva called him "the world's first poet of the masses... the first Russian poet-speaker."

Mayakovsky, who "equated a pen to a bayonet," became the voice of the revolution and a symbol of the Soviet era. But, like any great poet, Mayakovsky has outgrown his time: his work - no matter how controversial it may be today - is in demand by new generations of readers, his life in art has turned out to be long.

The exhibit is accompanied by an examination of the State Historical Museum