The Serapion Brothers 1921-1929

The history of the “Serapion Brothers” is insufficiently studied; some events are known only from memoir testimonies, and some things are lost forever. Many “Serapions” later became classics of Soviet literature, and therefore censorship bans operated with double force: historians of Soviet literature sought to paint an idealized and conflict-free picture. Another reason for the lack of documentation is the initially declared freedom from any instructions and regulations. “...in a period of the greatest regulations, registrations, and barracks-like order, when everyone was given one iron and boring statute, we decided to meet without statutes and chairmen, without elections and voting,” L. Lunts recounted in the article Why We Are the ‘Serapion Brothers.’ The “Serapion Brothers” are almost the only literary group that did not issue a declaration or manifesto fixing their creative principles. Nevertheless, the history of the group can be reconstructed in broad outlines.

In February 1919, the Studio of Artistic Translation opened at the Petrograd publishing house “World Literature,” which was supposed to train qualified translators. It soon became clear that the youth who came in response to the recruitment announcement wanted to master not only the art of literary translation but literary craftsmanship in general. Soon the translation studio moved to the newly opened “House of Arts” on November 19, 1919, and was transformed into a Literary Studio. Here young authors attended lectures by famous writers and philologists—Zhirmunsky, Bely, Shklovsky, Chukovsky, and others—and participated in seminars led by Zamyatin (prose), Gumilev (poetry), Lozinsky (verse translation). Some time passed before from the mass of capable students emerged those who formed the core of the “Serapion Brothers” group.

The purposeful organizational work to create the group dates back to January 1921. At this stage, the main factor was not so much the literary abilities of the participants as their friendly ties. The first meeting of the “Serapion Brothers” took place on February 1, 1921; from that day, the “Serapion calendar” began. Almost immediately, the admission of new members was tightened and then stopped altogether. The “canonical” composition of the group is captured in a 1921 photograph. It includes Lunts, Nikitin, Slonimsky, Gruzdev, Fedin, Ivanov, Zoshchenko, Kaverin, Polonskaya, Tikhonov (listed roughly in the order they were admitted).

Not only the composition but also the traditions of the group formed quite quickly. The minutes of the meetings at first partly followed the style of the protocols of the “Arzamas Society of Unknown People,” which united writers of the Pushkin circle. The humorous nicknames that the “Serapions” gave each other were again a tribute to the literary tradition associated with “Arzamas.” One of the group’s founders, Vladimir Pozner, mentions some of them: “Brothers: Gruzdev – brother abbot, Nikitin – brother canonarch, Lunts – brother jester, Shklovsky – brother scandalist, I am the young brother. Without a nickname – you, Akhmatova, Annenkov, Zamyatin, Zoshchenko, Odoyevtseva, Kolya Chukovsky.” The mention of Akhmatova, Shklovsky, and other authors who were not officially members of the group is explained by the fact that the young writers had many friends and like-minded people, many of whom regularly attended Serapion meetings and participated in discussions of new works. Not being “Serapions” in the full sense of the word, they were also not “guests” — a term used for casual or not very close people admitted to open meetings (sometimes meetings were held in a narrow circle where only “brothers” were present). In addition, there was the so-called “institute of Serapion maidens.”

The question of the origin of the group’s name belongs to the realm of Serapion folklore, which has spawned many legends. According to Shklovsky, the original name considered was “Nevsky Prospect,” which was to be understood in two ways. First, as a reference to the “Petersburg myth,” and second, as an emblem of Serapion life—the room of Slonimsky, which for a long time remained the meeting place of the “Serapions,” had its only window facing Nevsky Prospect. Nevertheless, preference was given to another name, taken from the eponymous novel by Hoffmann; no one could remember who first proposed this name.

The history of the phrase “Hello, brother! Writing is very hard,” which is traditionally considered the Serapion greeting and which Kaverin used as the title of one of his memoir books, is also legendary. This phrase appeared in a letter from Fedin addressed to Gorky, where the author spoke about the difficulty of the literary craft: “Everyone has gone through some unwritten lesson, and this lesson can be expressed as: ‘writing is very hard.’” The phrase was enthusiastically picked up by the addressee: “Writing is very hard” is an excellent and wise slogan.” Thanks to Gorky’s efforts, the literary group not only formed but literally survived. For example, thanks to Gorky’s intercession, the “Serapions” were granted food rations, given clothing, and received parcels from the ARA on his recommendation. Moreover, Gorky provided financial assistance to the writers, promoted the “Serapions’” work abroad, arranged for translations of their works into foreign languages, and monitored the observance of copyright. He was at the origins of the planned 1921 almanac, which was to include works by the “Serapions,” and even sketched a possible publication plan. The almanac never appeared (among other Serapion initiatives that failed for various reasons were the magazine “The Twenties,” a weekly newspaper dedicated to literature and art issues, and a bookshop).

Shklovsky’s article “Serapion Brothers,” published in 1921, was the first mention of the “Serapions” in print. In it, he not only characterized the current situation of young writers: “Have you seen how people gather before the raised wall span of the Palace Bridge? So the impossibility of publishing brought the Serapion Brothers together.” Indeed, the group’s disintegration began as soon as its members gained the opportunity to publish.

The small book (just under 4 printed sheets) and very modestly designed, but published in a serious print run for that time (the colophon states 4,000 copies), remained the only Serapion collection. Later, the book Serapion Brothers. Foreign Almanac that appeared was only an expanded version of the Russian edition.

Group members—together and separately—gave readings of their own works. Among such public performances, two literary evenings held at the House of Arts on October 19, 1921, and October 26, 1921, should be mentioned; Polonskaya, Chukovsky, Zoshchenko, Nikitin, and Lunts read, with Shklovsky delivering the introductory speech at both evenings.

At that time, the ideological question was primary, and their answer to it was: “Who are we, the Serapion Brothers? We are with the hermit Serapion. We believe that literary chimeras are a special reality, and we do not want utilitarianism. We do not write for propaganda. Art is real, like life itself. And, like life itself, it has no goal and no meaning: it exists because it cannot not exist.”

The task of those in power was to implicitly divide the “Serapions” and subject the group to their influence. This is evident, for example, from a private letter from Voronsky to Lenin, listing the names of talented young writers. Among others, Nikitin and Fedin were named. As encouragement, the most promising “Serapions” from the party’s point of view were given the opportunity to publish. In particular, some were admitted to the writers’ artel “Krug.” This artel, as revealed by recently published documents, existed on party funds and was a cunning trap for writers. Thus, the state exploited the heterogeneity of the “Serapions.”

The group members tried to assert unity, but centrifugal tendencies were so strong that on December 2, 1922, at the next meeting, Lunts delivered a speech with an unexpected and harsh conclusion—the “Serapions” “sold the plot for the lentil soup of literary clamorous success.”

The end of this period in the group’s history is marked by the death of the twenty-three-year-old Lunts on May 9, 1924. Fedin wrote to Gorky: “Of course, each of us grieved in his own way. But now we are connected by the past and personal friendship, not by that literary surety that once bound the brotherhood. We have not broken up because the Serapions exist outside of us. This one name, living its own life, holds us together, beyond our will, and for some even against their will. And even the death of one of us, like Lunts’ death... will change nothing in the ‘literary society Serapion Brothers.’ This society has differentiated; the brothers have grown up, acquired habits, honed characters. We often get together, we like to get together, but our meetings are conditioned by habit, friendship, necessity, but not by need. The need to live and work in brotherhood disappeared with the conditions and romance of hungry Petersburg.”

The group was not officially disbanded, and former “Serapions” maintained friendly or amicable ties until the end of their lives. They acted as a united front in literature. The “anniversaries” of the “Serapion Brothers” were regularly celebrated until 1929, gradually transforming from friendly meetings with unchanged satirical wall newspapers and “cinematograph” (a kind of “living pictures” invented by Lunts and skillfully hosted by Yevgeny Schwartz) into ordinary friendly drinking parties. The intention to publish an almanac for the group’s fifth anniversary remained just a good intention. At the anniversary evening held on February 3, 1926, at the Leningrad House of Printing, Zoshchenko did not appear.

An attempt to revive the group at the end of 1929 was unsuccessful. The very idea of the group had outlived itself, and the time was not conducive to the existence of literary groups, which were finally abolished with the emergence of the unified Union of Writers. However, the short history of the “Serapion Brothers” was so turbulent, and the personal ties of former “Serapions” so widely known, that the group was mentioned in the 1946 party resolution On the magazines “Zvezda” and “Leningrad,” as well as in A. Zhdanov’s report interpreting it. As a result, various sanctions of different severity were imposed on former “Serapions” – Zoshchenko, Slonimsky, and Tikhonov.

Sources:

https://www.persee.fr/doc/slave_0080-2557_1999_num_71_3_6615

https://www.krugosvet.ru/enc/kultura_i_obrazovanie/literatura/SERAPIONOVI_BRATYA.html