The poet Aleksandrs Čaks has economics, a love of order and the ability to cook. Friends regularly enjoyed Chaka’s legendary pancakes. Various details of home life, as well as shoes and clothes in Chaka’s stories mark not only the social status of the characters, but also the nature of their soul.
A skillful poet
Alexander Chuck’s memorial apartment has a large photo wallpaper on the wall, which shows Chuck cleaning the house, and dressed in suit pants, a vest and shoes on his feet. When creating the Alexander Chuck Museum twenty years ago, it seemed important to the creative team – to show the landlord, because it is known – both before the guests and after their visit, the apartment was cleaned and the dishes were washed.
Antra Medne, the head of the Chuck Museum, points out in the Latvian Radio program “Kultūras Rondo” that, uncharacteristically for poets, Chuck was a very economical man. He is freely oriented to cooking, as evidenced by the memories of Chuck’s friends. Medne continues: “Friends had liked Alexander Chuck’s apartment because they knew that they would always be able to eat there. Its first legend is related to baking Chuck pancakes. Pancakes were baked with him on weekend mornings, and friends knew that, of course. As if passing Lāčplēša Street, someone always came up to have breakfast.
Baking thin pancakes on Chuck’s side was a whole show – fry on one side, throw in the air and fry the other side again.
Seen from the outside, it seemed like a pretty simple thing. Everyone also wanted to try what it was like in the air, but not always the pancake fell back on the pan. It happened in every way. ”
Milda Grīnfelde, on the other hand, was treated to a hearty soup on those rare occasions when she visited Čak’s apartment. Medne says that his friends Chuck brought cakes every time. Even if the cakes didn’t taste good to them at all. It must be said that the stories about Chuck and his passion for cooking are related to his mother Emily Lizette Chadaraine. “She has taught Chuck in cooking, taught to maintain order at home. Recipe books bought by Emilija Lizete Čadaraine have also been preserved.[..] Extremely interesting are the names of the dishes they have eaten – chocolate soup, beer soup. It was important for Chuck to keep a leaflet with [pamācību], how to make coffee in three different ways, ”says the museum manager.
On January 10, 1940, Alexander Chuck received the Anna Brigadere Prize for “Those Affected by Eternity.” This is not the only bonus Chuck received. At that moment, there was more money and many friends met in the apartment on Čaka Lāčplēša Street. Some have felt that the table is not richly set and Chuck saves money without buying the best products. In his narration, Antra Medne reveals that the poet has diverted the money to another purpose: “Alexander Chuck’s father had decided that he would like to spend the rest of his life in Pardaugava. If they could save that money, they would buy a very small house with a garden in Pardaugava. A separate account was opened with the bank, where Alexander Chuck credited the money received for the “Affected by Eternity”. Unfortunately, as a result of the economic situation in 1941, the bank disappeared with all its money. Therefore, they did not buy this house. “
The depiction of the home environment in Chuck’s literary works
Researchers always find unexpected points of view on how to look at the works of writers. Thus, for example, Antra Medne together with the literary critic Māris Grudulis developed the study “Textiles and their role in the Chadaraiņi family and the prose of Aleksandrs Čaks”.
While reading Chuck’s prose, Grudule noticed a couple of details that mark the middle layer environment – it is a rubber tree, five flower pots on the windowsill, a rug, a small crystal jam dish. These are just small details, but that’s exactly what Chuck marked the environment to which he belonged. The literary critic points out that
Chuck has also portrayed the rural environment, but if we talk about the reflections of the family’s occupation, then they are brighter in the stories in which the urban environment is depicted.
She continues: “Chuck’s father was a tailor, so it’s about clothes and also fashion clothes, their functions. Chuck also uses clothes and shoes very skilfully as objects of revelation to the inner world of man. ” Mara Grudule’s favorite episodes of Chuck’s stories are directly related to shoes. For example, the main character of the story “Reņģu Andrejs” wears clogs. Through them, the writer reveals to the reader what the soul of Reņģi Andrejs is like. When the hero arrives for the last hour, he associates shoes with unfulfilled expectations.
Continuing about shoes, Grudule mentions Chuck’s story “Good Death”. It is a message about a woman of good age. “Chuck doesn’t pay too much attention to her clothes, but there are shoes where we can read the biography of this woman again. She lives on the top floor of a suburban house, her son oversees the shop. To get to the street where she sometimes loves the sun to sit, she has to travel a long, very difficult path for her. Here are her shoes: “Old brown shoes that are a bit of a vanity and still retain their original skin acidity and breath, because they never flashed in the rain and sat up to their throats in the cold, snowy snow.” So we see which layer of society she represents. The shoes are old and worn, but she has never felt that they get wet, ”explains the literary critic.
It is difficult to say whether it is the impression of my father’s profession or the fashion of that time, but Māra Grudule highlights such a garment as a coat. Chuck himself has always taken it with him. Even today, no one has seen the old photos from the beach, where Anita Bērziņa is dressed Chuck from head to toe. Probably a coat somewhere nearby. He did not deviate from the label. Grudule emphasizes that the coat is also a garment behind which one can hide. The stories in which, in her opinion, the coat is especially marked, Chuck most often wrote in the first person.
The last literary scholar names a tie. It is especially highlighted in the story “Chair”. Grudule goes on to say, “If I’m not mistaken now, it was in 1924 that a modern tie made of three pieces of clothing was invented in America.
Here is the neck of Chuck’s hero Juris, and he talks to him. Sometimes when he is sad, Juris asks him to tie him something. ”
Professor Māra Grudule, like other researchers, appreciates Chuck’s prose, which, in her opinion, is original and with such imagery that is also characteristic of his poetry.
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