Freak and genius Alexander Kuprin

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

When it comes to famous and talented writers, in our imagination they often appear in the form of people who are wise in life, radiating nobility and self-control. But it often happens that along with genius, certain eccentricities "go hand in hand". Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin was no exception.

Among his contemporaries, he was known as "the most sensitive nose in all of Russia." For the first time, Fyodor Chaliapin called a writer this way at a dinner he hosted in his own home. One of the guests was a perfumer from France. He decided to test the abilities of Alexander Ivanovich and asked him to determine the composition of the perfume that was the development of his company. The Frenchman understood that such a task was sometimes beyond the power of even a professional. And I was extremely surprised when Kuprin confidently pronounced all the components of the unique aroma. He exclaimed, “Such an incredible talent! And you're just some kind of writer."

Friends noted that sometimes Kuprin's actions looked like the habits of an animal. Mamin-Sibiryak said that Alexander had one rather extraordinary habit. It consisted in the fact that the writer liked to sniff like a dog at objects and people.

Not everyone liked Kuprin's eccentric behavior. Many, especially women, took offense at him for this. Nevertheless, one of the ladies, who was also a writer (N. Teffi), admired his strangeness. She showed sincere admiration for him: “Just look! He determines the character of the interlocutor by smell alone!"

Kuprin's rival in regard to acute sense of smell was his friend Ivan Bunin. During friendly meetings, they competed, who is the best to recognize this or that smell. The story is known, as once between Bunin, Chekhov and Kuprin there was a dispute about what women smell like. The first writer said they have an ice cream flavor. The second is that the fair sex smells like slightly wilted linden inflorescences. And Kuprin noted that the smell of young maidens resembles warm cow's milk and juicy watermelons, and old women in the southern area - incense, tart wormwood, cornflowers and dry chamomile. Then Bunin and Chekhov unconditionally recognized the victory of their friend and colleague.

I want to become a woman

Before starting his writing career, Alexander Kuprin tried more than two dozen professions. He managed to visit a teacher, a wrestler in a circus, a digger, a boxer, an advertising agent, a fisherman, an actor, an organ grinder and an aeronaut. The main reason for the frequent job change was not a desire to increase earnings, but a craving for everything new and a keen desire to test their capabilities in this or that business. An all-consuming passion and a certain excitement pushed Alexander into the thick of things. He plunged headlong into a new sphere for himself.

One day, Leon Trecek, an employee of a local newspaper, introduced Kuprin to a firefighter. The writer was extremely impressed with the stories of the firefighter, and expressed a desire to take part in such a dangerous work. Soon he was in a copper helmet, risking his life, all night helping to tame the fire in a residential building on one of the main streets of the city.

Kuprin often said that he would like to turn into a tree, a dolphin or a horse for a while. And also he was not averse to becoming a woman in order to feel what pregnancy and childbirth are

Such a thirst for a bright life stimulated Kuprin to test himself as a detective, a morgue worker and even a criminal! At one of the dinners in a restaurant, the writer made an acquaintance with a thief known in certain circles. Immediately Alexander Ivanovich fired up the idea to feel on himself all the adrenaline that accompanies a person when performing such actions. And yet he went on this adventure. He entered someone else's home and collected all the valuables in a suitcase. But he could not bear them, because he lacked determination. Fortunately, Kuprin stopped in time, grabbing the pen, and such experiments did not have time to lead to sad consequences.

Skullcap, pillow and haystack

Alexander Kuprin's mother came from a Tatar princely family. He was very proud of his roots. Being very sensitive and vulnerable, the writer rushed at anyone who made a mistake in the pronunciation of his surname.

From the memoirs of Bunin it is known that in public he took such a position of the body, as if he was a real khan. With women, Alexander behaved shy and gentle. But in the company of men he was arrogant and quick-tempered. Being in a state of alcoholic intoxication, he often asked for trouble. He provoked quarrels and conflicts, which often escalated into fights.

It should be noted that Alexander Ivanovich was distinguished by excessive laziness. He dragged out the process of creating his works for a long time and often worked "out of the blue." His first wife Maria Karlovna Davydova really wanted her husband to be a popular writer, and constantly encouraged him to work by all means available to her. Sometimes it reached the point of absurdity. For example, she moved him to a rented apartment and allowed him to come home only if the spouse provided her with several pages of written text.

Then, in the attic of his house, Kuprin equipped an office where he went to create his masterpieces every morning. Strange, but the work stood still, and for almost a month not a line appeared. The writer always found excuses for this fact: he had a headache, then a stomach, etc.

Once after breakfast, when Alexander was about to go up to his office, his wife noticed that he had a too big belly. She looked under her husband's coat and saw there … a pillow! Then Davydova went up to the attic and found that instead of a table there was a haystack. It turned out that all this time, instead of working, Kuprin slept sweetly in an embrace with a pillow. He began to explain to his wife that while he was thinking about his future creation, sometimes he accidentally fell asleep. To which Maria retorted: "Breakfast is over from now on!"