Our Notes & References

Very rare Civil War poetry, printed in the Caucasus – in a unique example, with the linocut coloured by a contemporary hand and the title page warmly inscribed by Evangulov and Ivnev(?) to Ivan Ivanov, the artist of the striking cover:

“Talantlivomu avtoru nashei oblozhki khud. Iv. Ivanovu na pamiat etot “Koster” koriashchii v nashikh umakh / 17.IX.1920 / Geor[gii] Evangulov” [To the talented illustrator of the cover of our book, artist Iv. Ivanov, a gift of this “Campfire” lighting up our minds / 17.IX.1920 / Geor[giy] Evantulov].

“Dorogoi Vanichka! A dalshe ne khvatilo porokhu. R. I.” [Dear Vanichka! To write more I haven’t got what it takes. R.I. (probably Riurik Ivnev)].

Very rare. WorldCat locates only one copy, in the Getty research Institute, to which we could add the St. Petersburg RNB’s copy, uncoloured. Not in Savine.

This collection of poems (which could also be translated as The Pyre) was published just some months after General Denikin was expelled by the Red Army from the city of Vladikavkaz in March 1920. The new authorities brought with them arbitrariness and repression that found an immediate reflection in the works of local authors. Such was G. Astakhov’s (here under his initials G.A.) poem ‘Krasnoe znamiia’ [The Red Banner] included in this collection, noting that “molchat zakony, vse razresheno” [“laws are silent, everything is authorised”; p. 10].

In 1920 Vladikavkaz was a transit city for many of those mobilised or displaced by the Civil war that were travelling between the Northern Caucasus and the European Russia. Its atmosphere was vividly described by Iurii Sliozkin (1885—1947), a Russian writer, who was serving in the Committee for Public Education of Vladikavkaz in 1920 together with the young Mikhail Bulgakov:

“In Chernigov poets create under the stars of Blok and Briusov, but in Vladikavkaz Mayakovsky dominates everything. In general, curiously enough, Vladikavkaz is rather “futuristic” in all the areas of life. […] Russian poets (there are five of them) publish their works in the periodical “Tvorchestvo” (The Creativity) printed by Kavrosta. This is the only organisation that still has paper. Around two months ago this same publisher issued the book “Campfire“, with poems by Georgii Evangulov, Riurik Ivnev and Konstantin Iust. […]. Then, as a separate book there was published “Noev Kovcheg” [Noah’s Ark] – a novel by Evangulov, a young poet from Tiflis. However, the novel was immediately banned and confiscated. The reason for it was one short and very expressive word put on the pages of the novel by the author’s brave hand.” (Iurii Sliozkin «Literatura v provintsii (Pismo iz Vladikavkaza)” [Literature in the province (A letter from Vladikavkaz), 1920, our translation here and elsewhere).

Judging by the rarity of this “Campfire“, the book might have had a similar fate to the Evangulov’s “Noah’s Ark“.

It is not entirely clear how our provincial printers Terkavtsentropechat were linked with Kavrosta (Caucasian Russian Telegraph Agency), stated by Sliozkin to be the publishers of this edition. We could find only two other titles mentioning Terkavtsentropechat in the Russian State Library: the “Noev Kovcheg” by Evangulov mentioned above and banned by the Bolsheviks, and a title by Liudmila Stal.