“And then – silence…”: the main quotes from Alexander Shirvindt about life and death

The death of Alexander Shirvindt on the evening of March 15 had a painful effect on the public. After the sudden event, a mournful “flash mob” began on social networks: hundreds of people published photographs (in most cases, black and white) or quotes from Shirvindt. Most often – from his latest book, a philosophical and self-irony collection “Excerpts from Scraps”. But there were other books: “Ahead of the obituary”, “Sclerosis, scattered through life”… The statements of the wise and self-ironic actor in these hours are “pulled away into quotes” – this could be said without quotation marks, but he did not write lengthy memoirs, as he always expressed himself succinctly and aphoristically. His excerpts are a maximum of a paragraph long, often these are short impromptu notes written down after a while.

I hope the copyright holders will not throw slippers at me, but I will give a few samples. Thus, Shirvindt told how pianist Yuri Bogdanov performed a nocturne created by Chopin for one hand. “I couldn’t stand it and blathered,” recalls Alexander Anatolyevich in the first person. – Chopin is a genius! Two centuries ago he created a nocturne for Paralympic athletes.”

“To threaten confession is coquetry. Our generation lived with its tail between its legs,” he admitted.

“Addiction is human nature. Statistics feel like lines of news, and not like concrete coffins,” Shirvindt wrote at the height of the pandemic, calling COVID-19 a disease descended on us from space.

“We, people who mostly run, are not used to sitting still. They said that during quarantine we would finally start reading, philosophizing, and taking care of the children. But if a person has never seen a book in his life, why would he suddenly rush to Tyutchev?” – the actor remarked shrilly at the same time.

How can we define in terms of genre what Shirvindt did in writing?

Imagine that you are in the deep taiga, there are wolves all around, it’s night, the stars are shining in the sky, your phone is 99% discharged, so you can’t call for help. And in these last 20 seconds of communication with the most dear people you put the really important words. This is how Shirvindt worked: each aphorism is like the last.

Even then, in 2022, readers called Shirvindt’s notes belonging to “golden literature” – praise for his lifetime was too generous, but now it is perceived quite normally. Alexander Anatolyevich was not afraid to talk about the topics of life and death – probably because of this there was a feeling that we would all inevitably lose him, and the very obituaries that he tried to overcome and delay would follow.

“Existing is stupid, we still need to strive for something” – this quote is not from a paper source, but from a video interview. Alexander Oleshko and Alexander Shirvindt are sitting at a restaurant table covered with a white tablecloth.

“I wanted to ask: what’s next (after existence)?” – a young colleague asks a wise mentor.

“And then – silence…” responds Shirvindt, playing on the title of the play, which was performed on the stage of the Mossovet Theater for many years.

“I can wish you – get everything as slowly as possible,” is Shirvindt Oleshko’s response.

And then this dialogue:

– What should I wish for you?

“So that my students like you (Shirvindt says slowly) will all study my biography just as carefully and finish Shirvindt’s omelet.”

On the Internet, by the way, there is a specific recipe for a signature dish from the People’s Artist of the RSFSR, but this, of course, is not about food, although the atmosphere has a hint of a feast.

We all, to one degree or another, finish the great dish of their mastery, bask in the rays of their glory, rely on their experience, knowing how to be followers, but not pioneers.

In 2023, dozens of artists left us on Earth: Inna Churikova, Gleb Panfilov, Yuri Solomin, Igor Yasulovich, Anatoly Elizarov; Now it’s Shirvindt’s turn. And every time we say: “Russian theater is orphaned”, “our culture has suffered an irreparable loss” – but all this does not reflect even a fraction of the depth of grief that we are experiencing.

Blessed memory to you, Alexander Anatolyevich!