Vladimir Mayakovsky’s Mexican Notebook: Facts and Hypotheses

Abstract

The article deals with the history of the so-called Mexican notebook of Mayakovsky, he traveled with from Europe to America and back in 1925. The notebook preserves one record in Spanish made by José Manuel Puig Casauranc, Minister of Public Education in Mexico, and traces of torn pages. According to Mayakovsky's testimony, Casauranc’s record was followed by a brief appeal to the working people of Soviet Russia, written in Spanish by the deputy F. Moreno, which the poet destroyed when crossing the US border, fearing political complications. It was suggested that two separate pages from Mayakovsky archive with the autographs of F.-T. Marinetti in French belong to this notebook. Drawing on new archival and memoir sources, the paper explores social, cultural and biographical circumstances of getting the autograph. Particular attention is paid to the interpretation of the goals and results of Mayakovsky's trip to Mexico, his contacts (Alfonso Reyes, Diego Rivera, Manuel Casauranc, Francisco Moreno, Tina Modotti, List Arsubido). On the basis of historical, literary and textual analysis of the Mexican notebook, its publication as part of the 19th volume of the Complete Collection of Works by V.V. Mayakovsky in 20 vols. (IWL RAS) is justified.