INTRODUCTION
translated from
https://fantlab.ru/autor47307
Semyon Petrovich Dyachkov (1800 [or 1809?] - after 1844) - poet and prose writer, author of populist moral and satirical tales for "common people." [Translators note: or "Lubok", see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lubok]
The son of a second lieutenant (then serving in the Mamadysh district court of the Kazan province), with a clerical background. He received his home education, and in 1826 he entered the literature department of Moscow University, two years later he moved to Kazan University, from which he graduated from the literature department in 1831 with the title of "Deystvítelnyy student", [Translators note: literally "real student", a lower degree, then the qualification title of a university graduate in the Russian Empire, introduced in 1819, falling out of favor in the 1835]. He began serving as provincial secretary in the Department of Railways, and in the same year he joined the Commissariat Department of the War Ministry. Over the next eight years, he changed places five times in different departments (mainly in St. Petersburg), but he could not stay anywhere for more than a year because of his strong addiction to wine.
He began to publish in 1827, when his compilation "History of the Roman Republic" was published. In the years 1827-28, Dyachkov was looking for "literary patrons"; apparently, therefore, "Ode to the solemn celebration of the bright Resurrection" came out with a dedication to Major General Count Kirill Ivanovich Gudovich. The first poetic book - "Rural Life" - was published in Moscow in 1828. Dyachkov was published more often in the second half of the 1830s: a collection of his poems "A Bouquet of Flowers, or Various Poems, Elegies, Songs for Beautiful Girls" was published in St. Petersburg in 1837, and the poem "Money" was published there in 1839.
In addition, Dyachkov published three tales in verse for the common people: "Poetic Tale of the Fool and the Treasure" (1836), "The Tale of the Found Diamond" (1840), "The Thief Cat: A funny story in verse" (1843). The plots of the "fairy tales" by Dyachkov, ridiculing harmful human passions, are simple: a rich fool has the reputation of being an intelligent person; a merchant is frightened by a cat who has climbed into the cupboard; a scientist - a loser and a poor man - thanks to the discovery of a wonderful diamond, marries a princess.
In his poems, Dyachkov admits adversity ("Talent, if it’s slightly dipped in wine, / In the poet, it seems to come to life again") and constantly touched this topic in his tales. In the last years of his life, he worked odd jobs, getting drunk more and more, and literature, apparently, was his main source of livelihood. Criticism labelled the works of Dyachkov as craft for the "popular market" and put his name on par with the popular writers A.A. Orlov and F.S. Kuzmichyov. Dyachkov’s work bore the traces of the well-known education and psychology of a "provincial poet," which could not even be held at the level he achieved in his youth.
The author is frequently confused with his namesake, born a little later, Dyachkov Semyon Dmitrievich (1827-1844) - historical writer, fiction writer and poet.
Bibliography:
1844 - A trip to the moon in a wonderful machine with a description of the countries there, customs and various rarities
1843 - The Thief Cat
1840 - The Tale of the Found Diamond
1839 - Money
1837 - To Nature
1836 - A poetic tale of a fool and treasure
1828 - Ode to the solemn celebration of the bright Resurrection
1828 - Rural Life
TRANSLATORS NOTE
http://epizodsspace.airbase.ru/bibl/fant/dyachkov/dyachkov_na-lunu-1844.djvu
- Chrononauts translation office, July 5, 2020.
A TRIP TO THE MOON IN A WONDERFUL MACHINE WITH A DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRIES THERE, CUSTOMS AND VARIOUS RARITIES (1844)
therefore, the permitted amount of copies of the printed submission herewith, was presented to the Censorship Committee, Moscow, October 6th, 1843.
Censor S. Barshve
---
It has been known for a long time that those Astronomical spyglasses have discovered mountains and seas on the moon, and therefore it has been concluded that the moon is of the same kind of land as this sublunar world - this gave me an idea to investigate: are there inhabitants of cities and other terrestrial objects on the moon? but since it was necessary to visit the moon for this, I began to think of the means to do this, and I found the best way was to invent and construct an air-pressure machine in which I could reach the moon; I thought for a long time about such a machine, and finally conceived a very intricate kind of cage; and instead of a wire, I put an elastic tube in it, filled with a particular gaseous essence that I created; for their lightness, I attached huge wings of cork-wood to the sides of the cage; the cage was divided in two by a wall; one half of it, for my seat, and on the other, I placed some tools, books (which I carried to the moon in order to show them there for their rarity, and they also might prove to be useful for other things, especially the Architectural and Economic parts), toiletries; as well as the most necessary things on the road - edible supplies; over the cage - in case of bad weather - a large umbrella was set up; on one side of the cage I arranged another small organ, both for myself, for boredom on the journey, and that I wanted to surprise the inhabitants of the moon with music of an earthly invention; I also hung several boxes with different birds in my air-machine, several crates and boxes with various rarities, so my cage, being completely ready, had a very funny appearance.
Soon after, having said goodbye to my acquaintances from my earthly dwelling, I unscrewed the taps of my cage's tubes and with the speed of lightning, I took to the air; when I reached the clouds and looked below, the earth already seemed like a single black mass; finally I was above the clouds; they struck me with their vastness and whiteness; flying even higher, I did not see them anymore, and they were rushing through the empty spaces in my machine; glancing up by chance, I saw a great deal of brilliant stars of a large size, and below them was a huge, pale light body; it was the moon itself and I thought that I would soon reach it, but I was cruelly deceived because, afterwards, I flew for about forty days; the night was tedious for me, even though my cage had lanterns, to illuminate the way; I will not say anything about my journey, because it was very monotonous; finally, to my delight, I saw I was nearing the moon, which seemed to be the same kind of land as that of the sublunar; its soil was gray in color and covered with high mountains and forests, but the villages were not yet noticeable; I attached myself to one place, a very lively one, namely towards a wooded grove on the banks of one river: here I thanked the sky for a safe arrival to the moon; but as it was evening, the cage instead served me as a shelter for that night's lodging; with such consolation I thought; that finally my wish came true, my intention to survey the lunar objects was fulfilled; at nightfall, I was extremely amazed by the new physical phenomena in the air: multicolored lights appeared for an instant, which were composed in different shapes on the river, waves were surging in the form of pillars and afterwards they noisily collapsed; unusual sounds were heard in the forest; I did not understand where they came from, but finally, fatigue compelled me to fall asleep. The next day, waking up early, I was quite amazed by this wonderful phenomenon: the air was filled with a fragrant pink-colored mist; in this mist brilliant crystal needles were performing, and producing a wonderful effect; which soon dissipated, and I was splashed with beautiful flowers, shrubs, and trees, such merry locations not on the globe were beckoning me towards them; having breakfast, I decided to examine them and randomly went one way with a fishing line, I got out into a clearing and was struck by the view of a magnificent building, the only one in this calm harbor; it appeared to be some kind of monument, and in this I was not deceived, having learned afterwards from the lunar inhabitants, it was erected to one virtuous queen, who was distinguished by her glorious deeds; the exterior of this monument is very beautiful; it was all polished and decorated with unusual figures, carvings, arabesques and other ornaments. Having seen enough of these marvelous works of art, I went further and came out of the forest, and again saw a new wonder: a crystal city, from which the sun's rays produced an extraordinary brilliance; coming closer to it, I was completely sure that all the houses were made of crystal, probably because the moon had entire mountains of crystal, and as for stone, there was very little of it, and it was considered a jewel; and, as it was day, I could see through the crystal walls of the houses; but everywhere there was monotony and boredom; women were engaged in some kind of work or the manufacture of dishes; men were walking back and forth through the streets, forming crowds and chatting about something; there were no equipage or shops; I soon found out that there was no trade at all on the moon, because every one had their own allotted grain; it was not necessary to go to other countries for their products, because nature scattered throughout the moon the same abundance for them; there were no mills or factories on the moon, because every inhabitant made everything himself that was necessary for his daily routine; but some arts flourished there, for example Architecture was highly regarded; painting and music also; there was no money in circulation; I surprised the inhabitants there when I showed them the coins I had taken with me and other small items; looking around the Lunar city, I began to observe the customs of the Lunites, and here are some of them: in the morning, the landowner walks around their house, and then feeds the Natises [Translator note: Natis is the singular form], which are the only domestic animals that are eaten there; they have six legs, after feeding the animals, they then go to a public space and there the Lunites talk about how best to fish (because they are enamoured with fishing), which gear is better to use, how to make the Natises fat, and other unimportant subjects; after that they say goodbye in the same strange fashion they say hello, namely they will make a circle and the foreman will go around them, and hiting everyone with his passion, shouts: - "Egra" - and then dismisses everyone to go home; there the Lunites have lunch, which consists of cold dishes and fruit, called a ranbas [Translator note: Ranbas is also singular], which grow in abundance on small trees of a strange shape, they drink juice from these same fruits; they don’t have hot drinks, and I was a little sorry about this, as I sometimes liked to drink them out of boredom, but thanks to myself, it’s good that I stocked up on them on the road and they remained on the moon for a long time in my barrel - after lunch, the Lunites go to the forest to pick ranbasses, or to fish from the river, having brought their goods home, they go out in droves out of town for a walk; they sing there, and some dance, for which they are given ranbasses; their dance is very funny with their putting on terrible masks, which however give them great pleasure; in these dances there was a certain pantomime performance, they took place for quite some time, with different changes, and among other things, their dances are accompanied by musical sounds, quite pleasant, but too bassy, their instruments also produce different kinds of tones and forms; some amazing devices include; а box with stretched strings producing a rattling sound is especially surprising; a large twisted wooden pipe, producing a whistle and a squeal: a drum filled with crystal balls, which makes a rumbling and ringing; it turned out to be an amusing concert, after which the dance ended, everyone went home; finally dinner and peace. Here I mention one strange thing about the Lunites in relation to naming them; there are no proper names, such as Natalya, Semyon, etc., but they are given names according to the qualities of each, such as: Mr. Smart, Mr. Stupid, (they are not offended by this, because they love the truth, and though they try to better themselves in vain, they are given a name corresponding to this quality), Mr. Good, Mr. Nice-catch, Mr. Glutton, Mr. Silence, Mr. Self-righteous, Mr. Ranbaslover. Women are also called by their qualities: Ms. Gorgeous, Ms. Sly, Ms. Saucy, Ms. Nasty, Ms. Concise, Ms. Good, Ms. Affectionate, and others. Another oddity is a celebration at home: the owner gives a feast when he catches a lot of fish and collects many ranbasses; he puts up a long pole near his house with a fish hanging from it; then he takes a fife and sounds it, calling the guests in this manner; when they come, they stand in a row in front of the house and are given each a fish, after that they maneuver everyone in a queue at the door; there they usually are treated to lunch and dessert.
Now, I want to briefly mention some lunar objects and rarities of a particular sort; and the first thing is that neither gold nor silver are there, but there is a fossilized material of a blue color, very brilliant, used in houses for decoration; women dress up in materials woven thinly from some kind of reed; their headdress consists of a wreath of flowers and feathers; everyone travels on foot, except for the King and Queen, who are carried in the Arbor, since there is a drought on the moon and rain is very rare, when there is no water and the rain comes, there are pedestals with reservoirs, for which travelers are very grateful, and they themselves have hats for the same purpose, small tubs of thin wood are arranged at the top of them; when the rain comes, it fills them with water and a passerby can quench his thirst in an easy fashion.
In one building of the Lunar city, a famous hero's shield is shown, with its strange images, also a very wide sword and a spear of five fathoms. - In the same city there once lived one Author, whose works were respected by everyone, and therefore, upon his death, the house in which he lived remained uninhabited and was preserved, as a memory of a glorious man; in this house, with particular pleasure, I examined the different things in the cabinet and involuntarily ran into an impromptu verse:
How I am enjoying myself mentally
Looking at this office -
Through these things, I'm convinced
That the poet once lived in it.
[Translator's note: this rhymes in Russian with an ABAB scheme]
But according to the legend, the Author was engaged not only in prose and poetry, but also in other scientific and art subjects, such as: Mechanics, Physics, Technology, and even Alchemy, and at the end of his life he threw away everything and became a Philosopher, moving from his house to the forest in a secluded place where nature formed a crystal of enormous size and amazing shape: various fragments in the form of square rods emerged from it, and below there was an opening in the cave, in which the Philosopher settled, despite the boredom.
There remains to be said something about one more attraction on the moon, which I considered with great pleasure. It was a machine which was used to make every meal in kitchens of the rich; it was divided into several parts and in each, a special potion was placed; and after a few minutes, this machine produced soups, sauces, fried goods, and cakes; I previously said that poor people used cold meals, and therefore they did not need a machine that was so expensive; after having had a nice lunch with a Lunar Prince and resting, I got into my machine and flew back to the earth with a stockpile of valuables, after which I arrived home, I fell asleep firmly and crashed in my room; then I found out that everything I saw was a dream, but so entertaining that I conveyed it in this book of amiable stories; - I do not know if I succeeded in that.
END
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