Banin's memoir is a bright piece of the literary mosaic of the Parisian exile. The style of the memoir is similar to the books of the wife of Georgy Ivanov, Irina Odoetseva "On the Banks of the Neva River" and "On the Banks of the Seine River." They both wrote about Parisian émigré circles and about their youth. The youth of Odoetseva took place on the Neva River, and the youth of Banin - on the shores of the Caspian Sea. Banin was friends with Teffi, she knew Remizov, Merezhkovsky, Gippius, Lossky and Berdyaev, Ivan Bunin was even in love with her. The most interesting part of her memoir is the description of her time spent in the Caucasus. An autobiographical book by Banin with the same title, published right after the Second World War, is imbued with satire and self-irony. It is a kind of encyclopedia of the life of residents of Baku who became rich during the oil boom, very personal writing, showing a great understanding of what was happening on the part of the author.
Umm el-Banu didn’t want to leave Baku. By the time many former owners whose property was seized by the new authorities moved to the fortress old district of the city. The Asadukayevs either. The fortress district of the city had an original structure. The fortress came down from the hill to the sea. A castle of the Middle Age governors, and houses with flat roofs were situated behind it. There were mosques. Streets were narrow and windy in the fortress. Even the revolution at first lost in mazes of the Inner City (Icherishekher) and there were no serious changes.
When she moved to Icherishikher, Umm el-Banu felt that now she lived in a Muslim city. Only camels and donkeys could walk narrow streets; there were no cars. All women wore hijabs. A true Eastern atmosphere reigned over the city. The old city protected its children from the rest of the world with its threats and troubles and encouraged them. The city beyond the fortress’s wall had a different life: modern buildings, cars, cinemas characterized it.
It was almost impossible to get permission for leaving the country. Umm el-Banu and her husband moved to Tiflis where they had been waiting for foreign passports for three months. The future writer liked Georgia. The city life was joyful and bright. Those who still had money spent it in restaurants, theaters, and races. Djamil was thought to be the most well-known gambler in the Caucasus. Soon the Tbilisi apartment of the just-married turned into a poker club.
People in Tiflis wore good clothes and didn’t starve. Houses of wealthy people were seized, and so they lived in rented flats. However, people didn’t feel special threats in the context of the revolution; they were happy, well-dressed, women wore expensive jewelries. Life in the Caucasus cities looked like European life.
At last foreign passports were made and the young family moved from Batumi to Turkey. This country amazed Umm el-Banum –progress was obvious. In the new Turkish Republic women didn’t wear hijabs and didn’t hide faces. Many of them wore white or colorful scarves on heads. Um el-Banu caught up this fashion. There were many “Russian cabarets” in Istanbul. Later these cabarets spread in the West and concentrated in Paris where many Russian emigrants lived. Djamil enjoyed parties in the cabaret called “The Black Flower” where he sometimes took his young wife. People sang Russian songs, drank Champaign and “missed the motherland” there. Nobody wanted to change it for a more joyful place. Djamil were gambling away last money. Living in a luxury house, the young family went to bed hungry, ate only bred and fish cans.
As the result, Umm el-Banu left to Paris without unloved husband. When all family jewelries were sold and money ran out, a question of a well job appeared. Recommended by her stepmother, Umm el-Banu began a career of a model in the fashion house. There she collected experience and material for her book “Paris Days” which was published right after “The Caucasian Days.”
In 1946 Banin met Ivan Bunin. She believed that God sent the Nobel Prize Winner to her. Banin perfectly suited for a role of a kept woman: she was surrounded by halo of the Caucasian and Muhammadan exotics which had always been so attractive for Russian writers – Lermontov, Pushkin, Tolstoy. She belonged to the same corporation as Bunin – she was a writer and took the last step of the hierarchy stair in the sphere, while Bunin took the upper step. So, Bunin said that Banin was “the black rose” about whom he dreamed all his life.
Banin accused Bunin of alcoholism, prejudices, subjected treatment of Communists, the West, and the French.
Bunin made her write in Russian, but she resisted: “I forbade you to dress me into a Russian. You turned my homeland into a colony, it’s alright. But we didn’t make up our minds to this. If you could see my grandmother who hated “Russian Christian dogs,” you would better understand our peaceful feelings to us. Neither my family nor my ancestors, religion, nation has been Russians. I am not a Russian who writes for Russians only. I believe I am a Western person, but even more I am a citizen of the world.”
