著者

新井 美智代

出版者

天理大学地域文化研究センター

雑誌

アゴラ : 天理大学地域文化研究センター紀要 (ISSN:13489631)

巻号頁・発行日

no.12, pp.61-73, 2015

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The poet Arseny Tarkovsky wrote over 10poems about a woman named "Maria". One of these poems "First Dates" is read aloud in Andrei Tarkovsky's film The Mirror. At first Arseny's daughter Marina hoped that the portrayal of "Maria" should be represented by Maria Vishnyakova, her mother and Arseny's first wife. However Marina discovered that this was not true. The woman who was represented in the poems was Maria Fal'ts, a beautiful and clever widow, who was a teenage acquaintance of Arseny in his hometown of Elisabetgrad. In contrast the model of heroine of The Mirror is Maria Vishnyakova. It might therefore seem that "First Dates" is an inappropriate choice for the theme of The Mirror. However "First Dates" is used as an independent work in The Mirror separate from its author's reference to Fal'ts. Indeed, as L. Boiajieva and L. Batkin state, the reading of "First Meetins" in combination with the film's screen image produces a wonderful effect. Marina Tarkovskaia's hope that the above-stated poems were dedicated to Maria Vishnyakova is reiterated by P. Volkova and this writer. In order to clarify the reason why I hope so, I would like to trace Maria's life. Maria Ivanovna Vishnyakova was born in 1907 in Moscow. In 1916, her mother Vera eloped with a doctor named Nikolai Petrov. Several years later Maria was taken in by her mother. In 1925, Maria began studying literature at the University College in Moscow and met Arseny. They married in 1928. In 1929, the college was closed and Maria gave up a transfer admission examination into Moscow State University at Arseny's insistence. Andrei and Marina were born in 1932 and 1934, respectively. Because of that Maria had to devote herself to child rearing and housework. In 1936, Arseny left home, and in the following year he started to live with Antonina Bokhonova, who was then Bladimir Trenin's wife. Nevertheless, Maria maintained good relationship with Arseny for the sake of their children. In 1943, Arseny was wounded at the front and his left leg was amputated. In 1950, Arseny and Antonina divorced. In the folloing year Antonina was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. Maria kindly took care of her until Antonina died. In 1973, Andrei asked Maria to appear in his film The Mirror. Maria resisted taking the part out of shyness, but ultimately agreed to play the role for the sake of her son. In 1979, Maria was diagnosed with lung cancer. She died, on October fifth surrounded by her children.