OH, LOVE: «A Cloud in Trousers» and Complete Freedom
Artwork: huxley.media via Photoshop
A TURBULENT BEGINNING
She was named after Lili Schönemann, the beloved of the great Goethe, about whom the poet said shortly before his death that she was the first, and perhaps the last, woman he profoundly and sincerely loved. It’s unlikely that her name played a role in making her an irresistible passion for a great poet as well, but the coincidence is striking… In any case, many fell in love with her!
In her later years, she would joke about her insomnia, saying that instead of counting sheep, she would count her lovers and quickly fall asleep, never reaching the end of the list. Since her school days, she has been the center of attention for a wide variety of men, including Fyodor Chaliapin and Grigori Rasputin.
But there were many others – a fashionable director, a talented artist, a brilliant officer who threatened to shoot himself if he was denied a kiss, her uncle who was going to marry her immediately, a music teacher with whom she played her way to pregnancy, abortion, and such an unusual thing in those days as an operation to restore virginity…
In general, passions were boiling, and when, at 13, she met a 17-year-old former high school student expelled for «political reasons», it seemed to her an insignificant matter. Time passed, and he found her again to propose marriage. She, of course, refused — her life was then entirely of other passions. But he was persistent and, after graduating from law school, managed to catch her attention.
His parents, having heard about the specific reputation of their child’s chosen one, initially panicked, but the happy groom assured them that these were only rumors. To calm them down, she declined a diamond necklace for the wedding, explaining that a piano would suffice.
They were legally married on March 11, 1912, and she took her husband’s surname — Osip Maksimovich Brik. Now, she is known as Lilya Brik.
EXPANDING THE MARRIAGE
At first, everything followed a fairly conventional path. The young husband was actively working in his father’s business, traveling to Central Asia on business, and they were even planning to move there (which would have significantly altered literary history!). Did the young wife curb her unbridled temperament? Why should she? Her husband didn’t mind.
There is a story about how, after an argument with her husband, Lilya picked up an officer and immediately cheated on Osip in a private dining room at a restaurant. When she asked her husband, «What should I do now?» Osip Maksimovich calmly replied, «First of all, take a bath». It’s no surprise that just two years after their wedding, Lilya wrote in her diary about her husband: «We have somehow physically drifted apart».
Later, she mentioned that she had ceased intimate relations with her husband — most often citing 1915, though the date varied depending on her mood. The other aspects of their marriage remained unaffected — they continued to live in the same apartment, shared similar interests, and were actively involved in the bohemian circles of the time.
Everything changed one day when her sister Elsa finally introduced her suitor, an aspiring poet named Vladimir Mayakovsky, to the Briks. Lilya had seen him before — she remembered him as «tall, shaggy, coarse, with bad teeth and terribly dressed». But on this day, everything was different.
He began reciting his newly finished poem «A Cloud in Trousers». After finishing, he asked Lilya, «May I dedicate this to you?» and immediately wrote in the corner of the manuscript: «To Lilya Yuryevna Brik». It was like signing a contract, through which the author of the poem handed over his soul to the dedicatee — for the rest of his life, as it turned out. Brik was so impressed by the poem that he published it at his own expense, marking the beginning of his career as Mayakovsky’s manager — a role in which he was pretty knowledgeable and successful.
Soon, Mayakovsky moved in with the Briks — the family expanded. They lived without quarrels — everything that happened suited all of them. Later in life, Lilya told Andrey Voznesensky, «I loved making love with Osya. We would lock Volodya in the kitchen. He would struggle, wanting to join us, scratching at the door and crying».
So what of it? If it’s not true, no harm done — Lilya was teasing a naive poet. But if it is true, it means Mayakovsky didn’t mind. Perhaps he even liked it. Moreover, Lilya never restricted his personal life and was aware of his numerous affairs, and if she did interfere, it was done skillfully, effectively, and almost imperceptibly.
THE ART OF SURVIVAL IN THE USSR
The family greeted the revolution quite positively, as it opened up numerous new opportunities for them. Osip Brik, who had a legal education, got a job in the CHeKa (the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution and Sabotage). Despite his modest position as a legal consultant, he enjoyed shocking guests with stories from his work (sometimes quite horrific ones).
Someone — possibly Sergei Yesenin — even composed a biting epigram: «You think Brik lives here? A researcher of language? I don’t think so! Here lives a spy and investigator from the CHeKa». However, Brik was quickly dismissed from his position, most likely for neglecting his duties out of laziness.
In this agency’s archives, they found credentials not only for Osip but also for Lilya — perhaps to obtain an exit visa or for another reason. Additionally, Osip became a theorist and organizer of several Soviet literary associations, including well-known ones like OPOJAZ and LEF. As for Mayakovsky’s work with «ROSTa Windows», everyone already knows about that.
Behind the door with the plaque that read «Briks. Mayakovsky», а interesting literary circles would gather — although not only literary figures were allowed in. Practically a regular in the house was Yakov Agranov, deputy head of the secret department of the GPU (the crypto-analytical service of the RSFSR and USSR for the protection of the country’s classified information). Frequent visitors included Valery Gorozhanin, head of the special bureau at the NKVD (the central state administration body of the USSR for combating crime and maintaining public order), and Mikhail Gorba, deputy head of the GPU’s foreign department.
Pasternak later remarked, «The Briks» apartment was essentially a branch of the Moscow police». The bohemians visiting the Briks were well aware of the company they were keeping, and they seemed to like it. Much later, after Stalin’s death, a conversation about the atrocities of the CHeKa came up in a gathering.
After hearing yet another horrific story, Lilya exclaimed, «My God! To us, the Chekists were saints!»
NOT IN THE FAMILY, BUT NEARBY
Indulgent of Mayakovsky’s affairs, Lilya also allowed herself the right to be captivated by someone — why should she be any different? Her affair with party official Alexander Krasnoshchyokov was interrupted by his arrest for financial misconduct.
Lilya took in his daughter, brought him care packages, and told Mayakovsky that she couldn’t abandon him while he was in prison. When Krasnoshchyokov was amnestied, she left with director Lev Kuleshov, went on vacation with him to the Caucasus, and on the way back, in Kharkiv, Mayakovsky caught up with them. He approached her train car, she threw her suitcase out the window, and she ran back to him.
There was also the first chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars of Kyrgyzstan, Yusup Abdrakhmanov — many consider him the most enigmatic figure in Lilya’s circle. Yet, from all these extraordinary men, Lilya would always return to her home, behind the door marked «Briks. Mayakovsky». Even Osip Brik, who divorced her in 1925 and married Yevgenia Sokolova-Zhemchuzhnaya, did not entirely leave their shared apartment — he got married, so what?
Lilya only reacted to Vladimir’s affairs in severe cases. When Mayakovsky decided to marry a student named Natalia Bryukhonenko, she wrote to him: «Volodya, I hear rumors that you are seriously planning to get married. Please don’t do this!» and that was enough.
During his trip to the USA, he had a daughter with the émigré Elli Jones. Lilya became worried and sought help from her sister Elsa Triolet, who had long since moved to France and eventually married the French communist writer Louis Aragon. Elsa got involved in family matters and introduced Mayakovsky to a beautiful fashion model, also a Russian émigré, Tatiana Yakovleva.
This was also necessary for Elsa — at the time, she had not yet won the Prix Goncourt and relied on financial support from her sister’s wealthy admirer. Moreover, in the Brik-Mayakovsky household, the poet’s earnings were the primary source of income.
During Mayakovsky’s visit to Paris, Lilya inundated him with requests to bring her a «little car» — a significant expense even for Mayakovsky. Still, he managed, and Lilya became possibly the first Soviet woman driver.
THE TRUE RIVAL
But even too much of a good thing can be dire: Mayakovsky became so seriously infatuated with Tatiana Yakovleva that he began dedicating poems to her — a domain Lilya considered her exclusive right. An immediate wedding was primarily hindered by Mayakovsky’s dream of Tatiana moving to the USSR, a prospect she, being pragmatic, categorically opposed. The sisters feared that either Vladimir or Tatiana might change their minds…
Elsa wrote to Lilya from Paris, informing her that Tatiana had a new suitor — a French aristocrat. Lilya made sure that Mayakovsky also learned about this. Consequently, he lost hope and broke off contact with Tatiana, who indeed married the French aristocrat, so this threat to the triadic family was also averted.
But Lilya likely wanted to play it safe. Mayakovsky’s leaving would have meant financial ruin for the Brik family, and she evidently decided it would be better if Mayakovsky developed another light-hearted affection to help him forget Tatiana.
Soon, Osip Brik invited various acquaintances, including the Moscow Art Theatre actress Veronika Polonskaya, to the races. At that time, Mayakovsky evidently needed someone to help him forget Tatiana, and Polonskaya fit the bill perfectly.
Everyone thought the future looked bright: Veronika plunged headfirst into a love affair, Mayakovsky found it a bit easier to bear the separation from Tatiana, Lilya didn’t see any danger in his feelings for a young actress, and Veronika’s husband, Mikhail Yanshin — a future mega-star — didn’t give his wife’s new acquaintance much thought.
They failed to consider that life in such a free-spirited family could lead to an excessive expenditure of energy and nerves, which could result in anything happening, including outcomes that were far from desirable.
THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF LIVING
When Mayakovsky received definitive news that Tatiana Yakovleva had married, he began demanding that Polonskaya leave Yanshin and marry him. While she didn’t outright refuse, she wanted to soften the process and take things slowly, but he no longer wanted to wait another second.
On April 14, he brought her to his office, where they usually met, and abruptly demanded that she immediately leave both her husband and the theater. He was already behaving like a severely ill person with a troubled mind, unwilling to listen to any objections. She agreed to leave her husband immediately and move in with him, but she honestly said that the theater was her life, and she couldn’t leave it.
As she left his room, she almost immediately heard a gunshot. He didn’t have time to write a will and farewell letters, which means he had written them in advance and tried to use his last chance to change the situation, but it didn’t work…
After Mayakovsky’s death, Lilya did a great deal to preserve his creative legacy. In 1935, she wrote a famous letter to Stalin, lamenting the underappreciation of his work, and received a reply in which Stalin called Mayakovsky «the best and most talented».
Pasternak accurately observed that after this, Mayakovsky was promoted with the same intensity as potatoes were during Catherine the Great’s reign. His collected works were published, his poems were included in school curricula, and a Mayakovsky museum was established.
Lilya continued living her life as she had, becoming the unofficial wife of Civil War hero Vitaly Primakov (it is said that when he was executed, Stalin remarked, «We won’t touch Mayakovsky’s wife», and she remained free and unarrested). She later married literary scholar Vasily Katanyan, with whom she lived until the age of 87, in fame, prosperity, and well-being.
Like Mayakovsky, she voluntarily left life when, after a hip fracture that was untreatable at the time, she refused to remain immobile. She chose this life for herself and achieved almost everything she wanted — how many can say the same about themselves?
