Denis Dragunsky about the father, adolescence and psychoanalysis
The writer Denis Dragunsky is the author of the order of 1,000 short stories published in nearly two dozen anthologies, the son of the classics of Russian literature Victor Dragoon. Why don’t we often love those who love us, but quite the opposite? What mistakes we committed in your early days? And who is to blame? All of these questions the writer asks in his new, largely autobiographical, the book “the Boy, uncle and I,” which was recently published in “Edition Elena Shubina”. The author not only analyzes his youthful actions, but also talks about real people, many of whom are well known. Explorer “Ribbon.ru” Natalia Kochetkova met with Denis Dragunsky.
“Ribbon.ru”: Tell one young colleague that I was going to a meeting with Denis Dragunsky. “Oh! says a young colleague delighted with happy guesses. — I know him, “deniskiny stories” written!” I know that on the one hand, you are madly loved my father. On the other, an endless comparison with the literary character you are not pleased. But this theme in the book is almost there. Why are you bypassed?
Denis Dragunsky: “Boy, uncle and I are” a little about that. I someday want to write a book that was called “the True story of Dennis Korableva,” in which all would have been told consistently about this, from early childhood until his father’s death.
And recently I realized that my experience of living a double life (person and character) there is nothing wrong. This is something that will be with me always and after my death too. And I even like it in some sense. It’s funny, when you are confused with the literary hero. Although I know that, say, Christopher Robin, did not survive this competition. He hated his father, something awful gave at his funeral: he whispered something in the ear of the mother, and she slapped him across the face, then she got hysterical. However, it was teased Winnie-the-Pooh in College, where he studied, had been given a Teddy bear. At the end of his life he turned into a notorious old man.
One English Professor in the 1980’s he was still alive Christopher Robin — was this idea. He wanted to meet three literary characters: Christopher Robin, yours truly, and rear Admiral Timur Arkadievich Gaidar. But nothing came of it, because Milne Jr. flatly refused.
But oddly enough, to be described in a work of art is not only a unique experience, as we have seen, but still curious. For example, when I was a kid, I was 10, 11, 15 years, no one on my connection with the literary character was not paying attention. It happened when the girls who read “deniskiny stories”, became mothers. That is in step with the generation. Remember, we were walking at night in Moscow, the boulevards, and some my friend said, “Girl, girl, and I wish you an interesting person to meet him? And this is Denis V. dragunskii, passport can show. Read “deniskiny stories”?”
If they read it and said, “Oh! Really? How interesting!” — I was hurt. Turns out that someone you love for beauty, kindness, talent, and I’m interesting just because I’m Denis from the stories. But if the girl said “What? Denis? What Is Denis? Don’t know — didn’t read”. And I became even more offensive. (Laughs.) And then, based on this experience, I realized that the offense is not necessary on either the first or the second.
Victor Dragunsky Denis
Photo: from family archive Dragoon
I’ve thought about it, worried. Have been a difficult situation. Because, for example, because of the huge love for the father and his works, I wrote bad scripts “Deniskiny stories”. I sincerely believed that my main goal is to preserve the author’s text. And absolutely did not think that the author’s text can be saved only on the condition that the film Alexey Herman, who will build authentic Moscow with the old trolleys, vending machines with soda, a classroom with old desks and dress Raisa Ivanovna in old dress. And to make this movie for 14 years. (Laughs.)
But if shooting a movie about the present, all live in their own apartments, no communal, no old yard and I grabbed the text, as the Duke of Wellington in the village of Waterloo and not a step back, you get kinoindustria. And so it went. But these films still revising. Even the old film Benjamin Dorman 1962.
By hook — or by crook. I never wanted to become a writer and did not want to imitate the father. But it turned out that he died and got me into a class session.
But you wrote before. Plays, say…
They were so-so and put them reluctantly. Scenarios were just earnings. I felt that I was missing something that can’t pass a certain threshold in itself. There was a lot of internal censorship — all the pieces were decent enough. They didn’t look like the texts written thirty years. More like a sad 50-year member of the writers ‘ Union. And even when I’ve allowed myself some liberties, from the point of view of morality or policy, they were still very neat, Packed. Except, perhaps, for one play.
I then all your plays and scenarios with a total number of three dozen gathered and threw it in the trash. Although there are around 100 well written pages you can find.
And how you felt after that?
Has become easier.
And then?
And then began to write. From me as my experience of life flooded. This anecdotal experience rather. Experience table of the narrator, a specialist short stories that all were amazed and to laugh, was transformed in these short stories.
What was going to happen that you not just had the desire to write these stories, but combine them in a collection (since 2009 your books have come out one after the other)?
Had to be invented Live Journal. In this sense of the Internet, incredibly grateful. I in Soviet times wrote two stories. They were published in the journal “October”. And have not received any response from any person. I had a feeling that I’m writing into the void. And cost me in Internet to publish the first story, I immediately began to write: “Nonsense”, “Excellent”, “Nonsense”, “Author Pesci ischo”, “whom do you mean?”. Receive feedback, as they say. For me it was important. Although I played a lot in the press and on television as a publicist. But it’s a bit different. It’s because you — not you, the expert on a particular topic.
Any memoir is a way to deal with the outside world. “Boy, uncle and me” — rather an attempt to explore their inner world. Not the typical story.
I am convinced that all the books dedicated to the showdown with the outside, with very rare exception, actually written in order to sort myself out. All the conflicts that humans happen outside — it’s just vneshneye, or, as we say in the Smolensk region, the externalization of internal conflicts. And not Vice versa. Therefore, when a person tells in his memoirs how he was nasty, like someone cheating on your wife or husband, actually he is working with internal objects, which do not give him rest. So many revelatory memoir does not stand up to scrutiny. For example, three different authors wrote about the same person or a couple. And as a result all get different — because everyone eventually wrote about her. Rather they are not Sherlock Holmes that’s true I wonder whose buttons.
And I decided not to scratch the left ear over the right shoulder, and directly deal with them.
Usually the desire to understand oneself is a sign of some crisis state, overcoming another life stage.
Crises people have a lot. Erickson averaged, I think, seven. But really, as a result of writing this book I came to some sort of is important is not the conclusion but rather the stage of maturity. Each person needs to recognize their independence / dependence / mortality / sexuality a person has many such points, through which he must pass. This book is aware of its own ordinariness. Obyknovennoi. Banality. I’m just like everybody else.
Denis (left) and Bear (right)
Photo: from family archive of Denis Dragoon
No, of course I have my unique life path, mustache, bald head, education, eye color, body shape. But as unique people on the earth seven billion. Therefore, we are all banal. And this path was very important to me. And any action that my relatives do with me, is an ordinary transaction at the fair life.
The worst thing that tormented me throughout life, that I was betrayed and I was fleeced. Writing this book I tried to get rid of this feeling. And I’ve come to understand that it is not. No one had not betrayed me — she just stopped loving me and fell in love with the other. She didn’t have me to love. I myself, when they cast the girls, neither of which his treachery had not thought, and said, as the March cat: “But Mary I like”. That is not demanded of eternal loyalty you demanded from women. And if my play is not a means, it is not correctly set. So she was bad. Something like that.
So now you are calm and happy?
I generally always happy. Cheburashka, multiplied by crocodile Gena — I’m always good. Although there were some terrible cases — I mean they also write in the book. But you know, until the end of the analysed person is a person incandescent wyposazony. Such a robot or something plastic. He fully understands the conflicts and complexes that are adequate to the surrounding world. And all his feelings for him clear, understandable and analyzed. I think it’s also a kind of disability. He’s such a — cut with your gut. So I can’t say that this book brought themselves to a state of complete Nirvana. Just something about myself, I realized.
Denis Dragunsky
Photo: from family archive of Denis Dragoon
Actually I write all the books myself. I do not particularly hide. First, many of my stories are written in the first person. Or when I say “a friend of mine told me” or “one of my friends said” — no great literary mind to understand who this man is. (Laughs.)
And yet, why did you have to go back now in the days of youth? It was a few decades ago. At present life deeds that time is not very affected.
We live in the mirrors of others ‘ views. Sometimes I think all the ideas about the self of a person is made up. That man is the amount of views, amount of reflections. And in that building, which I represent, has a very smooth beautiful upper floors and gaps, empty the bricks closer to the Foundation. They need to fill. Passed most of his life, nothing about yourself is not understood. We should make new life acts, which is much more serious than thesis or something like that. Every new book is a new great deed that includes all of me. Therefore it is necessary well to understand myself.
Not scared to cross the border of that world and this, past and present, to return to their 50-year-old?
Scary, of course! But the tales we love just for the fact that they are terrible. I like to experiment not with texts, but with feelings. Play not with words, but people, please, please. The fate, situations, shame. Its a shame, its heroes. What is a natural projection of my own shames, horrors, redness of the skin, so to speak, that someone will see what I want actually that did something ugly. Here it is interesting to me. Often when I’m writing a story, I want to break free from some embarrassing experiences.
I look at the world as it is refracted in my perception. I’m interested in, first, love, second love and third. Nothing but these three things, in the lives of young people and adults are no more. But being neither a sociologist, nor a sexologist, I can only appeal to their own experience.
