“My two dear Ellies. I already miss you... I kiss all eight of your paws,” this is an excerpt from a letter from Vladimir Mayakovsky addressed to his American love, Ellie Jones and their common daughter Helen Patricia Thompson. The fact that the revolutionary poet had a child overseas became known only in 1991. Until then, Helen had kept the secret, fearing for her safety. When it became possible to talk openly about Mayakovsky, she visited Russia and devoted her future life to studying her father’s biography.

Patricia Thompson's Russian name is Elena Vladimirovna Mayakovskaya. At the end of her life, she preferred to call herself that way, because she finally had the legal right to declare that she was the daughter of a famous Soviet poet. Elena was born in the summer of 1926 in New York. By this time, Mayakovsky's American journey to the United States had come to an end, and he was forced to return to the USSR. Overseas, he had a three-month affair with Ellie Jones, a Russian-speaking translator, German by birth, whose family first came to Russia on the orders of Catherine, and then emigrated to the United States when the revolution broke out.

At the time Ellie met Vladimir, she was in a fictitious marriage with the Englishman George Jones (he helped her emigrate from Russia, first to London, then to America). After Patricia was born, Jones showed interest and gave the girl his last name, which is how she acquired American citizenship.

Patricia was sure all her life that her mother kept the secret of her origin, fearing persecution by the NKVD. For the same reason, it seems to her, the poet himself did not mention them in his will. Patricia met her father only once, when she was only three years old, she and her mother came to Nice. Her childhood memories preserved the touching moments of the meeting, the joy that the poet experienced when he saw his own daughter.

Elena Vladimirovna visited Russia in 1991. Then she talked with interest to distant relatives, literary critics, researchers, worked in archives. I read biographies of Mayakovsky and came to the conclusion that I was very similar to my father, and also devoted myself to enlightenment and serving people. Elena Vladimirovna was a professor, gave lectures on emancipation, published several teaching aids, edited science fiction novels and worked for several publishing houses. All the memories told about Mayakovsky by her mother were preserved by Elena Vladimirovna as audio recordings. Based on this material, she prepared the publication Mayakovsky in Manhattan.

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Roger hopes that he will have enough time to eventually publish a book about his mother; he already has a title for it - “Daughter”. This word is the only mention of Elena in Mayakovsky’s diaries. Elena Vladimirovna once said that Lilya Brik did everything possible to destroy any evidence of American history. But, leafing through the archives, she managed to find a preserved sheet in one of the diaries, on which only this word was written.

Vladimir Mayakovsky is known not only for his brilliant poetic talent, but also for his powerful charisma, which at one time broke many women’s hearts. Many love affairs and hobbies, both in the poet’s poems, gave life to real people. Mayakovsky's children are one of the main questions for researchers of the poet's biography. Who are they, the heirs of the great futurist genius? How many children does Mayakovsky have, what was their fate?

Personal life of the poet

Vladimir Mayakovsky was a very charming, intelligent and prominent man. Almost no woman could resist his piercing gaze, striking straight to the heart. The poet was always surrounded by a crowd of fans, and he himself easily threw himself into the ocean of love and passion. It is known that his special, ardent feeling and affection were associated with Lilya Brik, but this did not limit his passion for other women. Thus, love affairs with Elizaveta Lavinskaya and Elizaveta Siebert (Ellie Jones) became largely fateful for the poet, forever occupying a niche in his memory and legacy.

A question of legacy

Mayakovsky's children, their fate - this question became especially acute after the death of the poet. Of course, poems, memoirs of contemporaries, diaries, letters, and documentary records are very valuable for the history of Russian literature, but the issue of posterity and heritage is much more significant.

The living continuation of the memory and history of the brilliant futurist, who are the children of Mayakovsky, is shrouded in secrets, doubts and inaccuracies. Lilia Brik could not have children. However, researchers are 99% sure that the poet has at least two heirs. And they appeared from two different women, on different continents. This is the son Gleb-Nikita Lavinsky and daughter Patricia Thompson.

For a long time, information about them was not disclosed, and only close people knew the details of their birth stories. Now Mayakovsky’s children (their photos and documents are stored in museum archives) are an established fact.

Son

While working at Windows of ROST (1920), Vladimir Mayakovsky met the artist Lilia (Elizaveta) Lavinskaya. And although at that time she was a married young lady, this did not stop her from being carried away by the stately and charismatic poet. The fruit of this relationship was their son, who received the double name Gleb-Nikita. He was born on August 21, 1921 and was recorded in documents under the name of Anton Lavinsky, his mother’s official husband. The boy Gleb-Nikita himself always knew who he was. Moreover, despite the lack of fatherly attention (Vladimir Mayakovsky’s children did not interest him, he was even afraid of them), he deeply loved the poet and read his poems from a young age.

Life

Nikita-Gleb's life was not easy. With living parents, the boy grew up in an orphanage until he was three years old. According to those social views, this was the most suitable place to raise children and accustom them to the team. Gleb-Nikita has few memories of his own father. Much later, he would tell his youngest daughter Elizaveta about one special meeting they had, when Mayakovsky took him on his shoulders, went out onto the balcony and read his poems to him.

Mayakovsky's son had a subtle artistic taste and an absolute ear for music. At the age of 20, Gleb-Nikita was called up to the front. All Great Patriotic War he passed as an ordinary soldier. Then he got married for the first time.

After the victory in 1945, Mayakovsky's son entered the Surikov Institute and became his most significant and outstanding work - the monument to Ivan Susanin in Kostroma (1967).

Resemblance to father

In 1965, literary critic E. Guskov visited the workshop of sculptor Gleb-Nikita Lavinsky. He was struck by the man’s external resemblance to Vladimir Mayakovsky, his deep, low voice, and his manner of reading poetry as the poet himself did.

For his stepfather Anton Lavinsky, his son was always a living reminder of his wife’s infatuation and betrayal. Perhaps that is why the relationship between stepfather and stepson was rather cold. But friendship with Mayakovsky, on the contrary, was surprisingly warm and strong. Family archive I have preserved many photographs testifying to this.

American daughter

In the mid-1920s, there was a crisis in the relationship between Mayakovsky and Liliya Brik, and the political situation in Russia itself was difficult for the revolutionary poet at that time. This became the reason for his trip to the USA, where he actively toured, visited a friend. There he also met Russian emigrant Ellie Jones (real name Elizaveta Siebert). She was a reliable comrade, a charming companion and translator for him in a foreign country.

This novel became very significant for the poet. He even seriously wanted to get married and create a calm family haven. However, his old love (Lilia Brik) did not let him go, all impulses quickly cooled down. And on June 15, 1926, Ellie Jones gave birth to a daughter from the poet, Patricia Thompson.

At birth, the girl received the name Helen-Patricia Jones. The surname came from the emigrant mother's husband, George Jones. This was necessary so that the child could be considered legitimate and remain in the United States. In addition, the secret of birth saved the girl. Possible children of Mayakovsky could then come under persecution by the NKVD and Liliya Brik herself.

Fate

Helen-Patricia found out who her real father was at the age of nine. But this information remained a family secret for a long time and was inaccessible to the public. The girl inherited her father's creative talent. At the age of 15, she entered art college, after which she got a job as an editor at Macmillan magazine. There she reviewed films and music records, edited Westerns, science fiction, detectives. In addition to her work in publishing, Helen-Patricia worked as a teacher and wrote books.

In 1954, Mayakovsky's daughter married an American, Wayne Thompson, changed her last name and left the second part of her double name - Patricia. After 20 years, the couple divorced.

Meeting with father

When Patricia was three years old, she met her father for the first and only time. The news of the birth of his daughter made Mayakovsky very happy, but he could not get a visa to the United States. But I managed to get permission to travel to France. It was there, in Nice, that Ellie Jones and her daughter were vacationing. Patricia called him Volodya, and he constantly repeated “daughter” and “little Ellie.” Not yet realizing who was in front of her, the girl still retained warm and tender memories of this meeting.

Grandchildren

Children of Mayakovsky, their fate is a separate chapter of history genius poet. Now, unfortunately, they are no longer alive. But the line of memory is continued by grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

It is known for sure that Mayakovsky’s son, Gleb-Nikita, was married three times. From these marriages he had four children (two sons and two daughters). The first-born son was named in honor of his poet father Vladimir, and the youngest daughter was named Elizaveta in honor of her mother. Mayakovsky's children followed in the footsteps of their ancestor and became honored creative figures (sculptors, artists, teachers). Information about their fate is presented rather sparsely and fragmentarily. It is only known that the poet’s eldest grandson and namesake (Vladimir) died in 1996, and his granddaughter runs a children’s art workshop. The Mayakovsky family is continued by five grandchildren of Gleb-Nikita (Ilya, Elizaveta, and Anastasia). Ilya Lavinsky works as an architect, Elizaveta works as a theater and film artist.

Information about Patricia Thompson was closed to Russian society until the 1990s. However, with proof of kinship with the famous poet, the reasonable question of procreation arose. Does Mayakovsky's daughter have children? As it turned out, Patricia Thompson has a son, Roger, he works as a lawyer, is married, but does not have children of his own.

• Mayakovsky's son received a double name due to parental disagreements in choosing a name for the boy. He received the first part - Gleb - from his stepfather, the second part - Nikita - from his mother. Mayakovsky himself did not take part in raising his son, although he was a frequent guest of the family in the first few years.
• In 2013, Channel One released the film “The Third Extra,” dedicated to the 120th anniversary of the poet’s birth. The documentary was based on the story of the fatal love between Mayakovsky and Lilia Brik, the possible reasons for the poet’s suicide, and also touched on the eternal topic - Mayakovsky’s children (briefly). It was this film that for the first time openly and conclusively announced the heirs of the poet.
• The futurist poet has always been the center of women's attention. Despite his all-consuming love for Lilya Brik, many novels are attributed to him. And what happened after, in most cases, history is simply silent. However, Gleb-Nikita Lavinsky once mentioned that Mayakovsky has another son who lives in Mexico. But this information never received documentary or any other confirmation.
• Patricia Thompson wrote 15 books during her life. She dedicated several of them to her father. Thus, the book “Mayakovsky in Manhattan, a love story” tells about her parents and their short but tender relationship. Patricia also started an autobiographical book, “Daughter,” but did not have time to finish it.
• Already at an advanced age, Patricia became acquainted with her father’s archive (the library of St. Petersburg). On one of the pages she recognized her childhood drawings (flowers and leaves), which she had left during their first and only meeting.
• At the request of Ellie Jones herself, the daughter cremated her mother's body after her death and buried her in the grave of Vladimir Mayakovsky on Novodevichy Cemetery.
• The poet’s granddaughter, Elizaveta Lavinskaya, writes the book “Son of Mayakovsky.” about her father, son famous poet, his difficult relationship with his stepfather and selfless love for his own father, whom he never had time to consciously meet. After all, Gleb-Nikita was only eight years old when Mayakovsky died.
• Pregnant from Mayakovsky was his last love - Veronica Polonskaya. But she was married and did not want to cut off so abruptly marital relations for the sake of the heartthrob poet. That's why Polonskaya had an abortion.

P.S.

Did Mayakovsky have children? Now we know for sure that yes. And although he was never officially married, now that all prohibitions and dangers of persecution have been lifted, we know that there were at least two heirs of the great revolutionary poet. Moreover, his descendants still live today, following their own creative path. And the memory of this literary phenomenon Like Mayakovsky, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren will openly carry it through many years to come.

PATRICIA THOMPSON: “SO MAYAKOVSKIYN’T LEAVE WITH MAMMY” A m e r i c , L i l i l i n p r o s t r o i l a m e n t i n g w i t h T a t i a n a Y a k o v l e v a »
The only daughter of the singer of the revolution, Vladimir Mayakovsky, is named Patricia Thompson, lives in Upper Manhattan and teaches feminism at New York University.
The Revolution Singer's only grandson is Roger Thompson, a fashionable New York lawyer from Fifth Avenue. When you look at Mayakovsky’s daughter, you feel uneasy. It seems that Mayakovsky himself has stepped down from his marble pedestal - a tall, thin figure and the same sparkling gaze, familiar from numerous portraits of the famous futurist. Her apartment is filled with portraits and sculptures of Mayakovsky. During the conversation, Patricia periodically glances at the small figurine of her father, given to her by Veronica Polonskaya, as if awaiting confirmation (“Really dad?”). It seems that these two would understand each other without words. She is now 84 years old. In 1991, she revealed her secret to the world and now asks to call herself Elena Vladimirovna Mayakovskaya. She claims that Mayakovsky loved children and wanted to live with her and her mother. But history decreed differently. He was a singer Soviet revolution, and his beloved is the daughter of a kulak who escaped from the revolution.
- Elena Vladimirovna, you met your father only once in your life...
- Yes. I was only three years old. In 1928, my mother and I went to Nice, she was there solving some immigration issues. And Mayakovsky was in Paris at that time, and our mutual friend told him that we were in France.
- And he came to you right away?
- Yes, as soon as he found out that we were in Nice, he immediately rushed over. My mother almost had a stroke. She didn't expect to see him. Mom said that he came to the door and said: “Here I am.”

As a young man in Manhattan
- Do you remember anything yourself?
- All I remember are long legs. And also, you may not believe me, but I remember how I sat on his lap, his touch. I think it's kinesthetic memory. I remember how he hugged me. My mother also told me how touched he was when he saw me sleeping in the crib. He said: “There is probably nothing more attractive than a sleeping child.” There was another case when I was rummaging through his papers, my mother saw this and slapped my hands. And Mayakovsky told her: “You should never hit a child.”
- But you never met again?
- No, this was the only meeting. But for him it was very important. After this meeting he sent us a letter. This letter was the most important treasure for my mother. It was addressed "To the two Ellies." Mayakovsky wrote: “My two dear Ellies. I already miss you. I dream of coming to you. Please write quickly. I kiss all eight of your paws...” It was a very touching letter. He never wrote such letters to anyone else. The father asked for a new meeting, but it did not happen. My mother and I went to Italy. But Mayakovsky took my photograph taken in Nice with him. His friends said that this photograph stood on his father’s table all the time.

Entrance to Mayakovskaya's apartment in Manhattan
- But Lilya Brik tore it, didn’t she?
- I know from authoritative sources that when he died, Lilya Brik came to his office and destroyed my photographs. I think the point is that Lilya was the heir to copyright, and therefore my existence was undesirable for her. However, one entry remained in his notebook. On a separate page there is only one word written there: “Daughter”.
- But your mother was also in no hurry to talk about your existence.
“My mother was very afraid that the authorities in the USSR would find out about my existence. She said that even before I was born, some nasal commissar came to her and asked who she was pregnant with. And she was very afraid of Lily Brik, who, as you know, was connected with the NKVD. My mother was afraid all her life that Lilya would get us even in America. But, fortunately, this did not happen.
- Your mother actually stole Mayakovsky from Lily Brik, right?
- I think at the time when Mayakovsky came to America, his relationship with Lilya was in the past. My father's love for my mother, Ellie Jones, marked the end of their relationship.


Books written by Mayakovskaya
- Mayakovsky’s biographer Solomon Kemrad found an entry in one of the poet’s “American” notebooks English: 111 West 12th st. Elly Jones. Did your mother live there?
- Yes, my mother Ellie Jones had an apartment in Manhattan. In terms of money, she always felt free. Grandfather was a successful businessman, a wealthy man. In addition, her mother worked as a model and translator: she knew five European languages, learned them at school in Bashkiria, as a little girl. She worked with the American administration. My mother devoted her whole life to trying to explain to Americans what Russian culture is and who the Russian people are. She was a true patriot. And she taught me the same.
- Is she German from Bashkiria by origin?
- Yes, her Russian name- Elizaveta Siebert. The family history on my mother’s side is generally amazing. My ancestors came from Germany to Russia on the orders of Catherine the Great. Then a lot of Europeans came to develop Russia, Catherine promised them all freedom of religion. Grandfather was a successful industrialist. And then the revolution happened.
- How did your grandfather manage to take his family out at the height of the revolution?
- It was unsafe to stay in Russia. If they had not left, at best they would have been dispossessed and sent to camps. The mother's family lived in Bashkiria in big house. This is quite far from Moscow, and revolutionary sentiments did not reach there immediately. When a revolution took place in the capital, one of my grandfather’s friends advised him to leave the country, saying that people with weapons would soon come. The grandfather had enough money to take everyone to Canada. My personal opinion is that if the so-called kulaks had not been persecuted in the Soviet Union, had not been exiled, but had been given the opportunity to work, then this would have greatly helped to develop the Soviet economy.

Mayakovskaya in her youth
- However, your mother did not go with the whole family, did she?
- Yes, she spent some more time in Russia. Her mother worked for a charity in Moscow; no one knew about her kulak origin. Then she met the Englishman George Jones, who worked for the same organization; married him and went to London and then to New York. I think that the marriage was rather fictitious. The mother wanted to go to her family, George Jones helped her. By the time she met Mayakovsky, she no longer lived with her husband...
- How did she meet Mayakovsky?
“She saw her father for the first time in Moscow, at the Rizhsky station. He stood with Lilya Brik. The mother said that she was struck by Lily’s cold and cruel eyes. The next meeting, in New York, took place in 1925. Then Mayakovsky miraculously managed to come to America. It was impossible to get directly to the United States; he traveled through France, Cuba and Mexico, and waited almost a month for permission to enter. When he arrived in New York, he was invited to a cocktail party with a famous lawyer. My mother was also there.
- What did she say about this meeting?
- Mom was interested in poetry, read it in all European languages. She was generally very educated. When she and Mayakovsky were introduced to each other, she almost immediately asked him: “How do you write poetry? What makes poetry poetry? Mayakovsky hardly spoke any language. foreign languages; Naturally, he liked the smart girl who speaks Russian. In addition, the mother was very beautiful, she was often invited to work as a model. She had a very natural beauty: I still have a portrait by David Burliuk, taken when they were all together in the Bronx. Mayakovsky, one might say, fell in love with my mother at first sight, and after a few days they almost never parted.


Mayakovsky and his daughter in his youth
- Do you know where they went most often? What were Mayakovsky's favorite places in New York?
“They appeared together at all the receptions, met with journalists and publishers together. We went to the Bronx Zoo, we went to look at the Brooklyn Bridge. And the poem “Brooklyn Bridge” was written immediately after he visited it with his mother. She was the first to hear this poem.
- You probably conducted an investigation when you wrote a book about Mayakovsky in America. Has anyone seen your parents together?
- Yes. Once I was visiting the writer Tatyana Levchenko-Sukhomlina. She told me how in those years she met Mayakovsky on the street and got into conversation with him. The poet invited her and her husband to his evening. There she saw Mayakovsky with a tall and slender beauty, whom he called Ellie. Tatyana Ivanovna told me that she had the impression that Mayakovsky had very strong feelings for his companion. He never left my mother's side for a minute. This was very important to me, I wanted confirmation that I was born as a result of love, although internally I always knew this.


Mayakovsky and Ellie Jones
- Was your mother the only woman in Mayakovsky’s life at that time?
- Yes, I'm quite sure of that. Mom said that he was very careful with her. He told her: “Be faithful to me. While I’m here, there’s only you.” Their relationship lasted all three months while he was in New York. His mother said he called her every morning and said, “The maid has just left. Your hairpins scream about you!” Even a drawing made by Mayakovsky after a quarrel has been preserved: he drew his mother with sparkling eyes, and below his head, humbly bowed.
- Is there not a single poem directly dedicated to your mother?
“She said that once he told her that he was writing a poem about them. And she forbade him to do this, said: “Let's save our feelings only for us.”
- You weren’t a planned child, were you?
- Mayakovsky asked his mother if she was using protection. She then answered him: “Loving means having children.” At the same time, she had no doubt that they could never be together. He then told her that she was crazy. However, in one of the plays this phrase of hers is used. “From love we must build bridges and give birth to children,” his professor says.

Letter from Mayakovsky to two Ellies
- Mayakovsky knew that your mother was pregnant when he left America?
- No, he didn’t know, and she didn’t know. They parted very touchingly. She accompanied Mayakovsky to the ship bound for Europe. When she returned, she discovered that the bed in her apartment was strewn with forget-me-nots. He spent all his money on these flowers, which is why he returned to Russia fourth class, in the worst cabin. Mom found out that she was pregnant when Mayakovsky was already in the USSR.
- As a child, you bore the last name Jones...
- When I was born, my mother was still technically married to George Jones. And the fact that she was pregnant was a very delicate situation, especially for those times. But Jones was very kind, he gave me his name for the birth certificate and was very helpful in general. My mother was not convicted of having an illegitimate child, and I now have American documents: he legally became my father, I am very grateful to him. Nowadays people forgive much more than a child born out of wedlock, but back then things were different.
- When Mayakovsky found out about your existence, did he want to return?
-I am sure that Mayakovsky wanted to have a family, wanted to live with us. Everything that was written about him was controlled by Lilya Brik. It's not true that he didn't want children. He loved children very much, and it was not for nothing that he wrote for them. Of course, there was a very difficult political situation between the two countries. But there was also a personal moment. When Lilya found out about us, she wanted to divert his attention... She didn’t want another woman to be next to Mayakovsky. When Mayakovsky was in Paris, Lilya asked her sister Elsa Triolet to introduce Mayakovsky to some local beauty. She turned out to be Tatyana Yakovleva. A very attractive woman, a charming woman from a good family. I don't deny this at all. But I have to say that it was all Brick's game. She wanted him to forget the woman and child in America.

Tatiana Yakovleva
- Many people think that it was Tatyana Yakovleva who was last love Mayakovsky.
- Her daughter, the American writer Frances Gray, came to Russia long before me. And everyone thought that she was Mayakovsky’s daughter. Frances even published an article in the New York Times about Mayakovsky's last muse, her mother. She says that on October 25 he spoke about his endless love for Tatyana Yakovleva. But I still have a letter to my mother, dated October 26, he asked her to meet. I think he wanted to cover up politically dangerous relationship with my mother and a high-profile affair with Yakovleva.
- Only letters written to Lilya Brik have been preserved in Mayakovsky’s archive. Why do you think she destroyed correspondence with the other women?
- Lilya was who she was. I think she wanted to go down in history alone. She had influence on the public. There is no denying that she was a very smart, experienced woman. But, in my opinion, she was also a manipulator. I didn’t know the Briks personally, but I think they built a career for themselves using Mayakovsky. They said he was rude and uncontrollable. But his mother told a completely different story about him, and his friend, David Burliuk, said that he was very sensitive and kind person.
- Do you think Lilya had a bad influence on Mayakovsky?
- I think that the role of the Briks is very ambiguous. Osip helped him publish at the very beginning of his career. Lilya Brik, one might say, was included in the set. When Mayakovsky met her, he was very young. And the adult, mature Lilya was, of course, very attractive to him.

Statuette of father in Mayakovskaya's house
- Elena Vladimirovna, tell me, why Mayakovsky suicide note defined his family as follows: mother, sisters, Lilya Brik and Veronica Polonskaya. Why didn't he say anything about you?
- I thought about this a lot myself, this question tormented me. When I went to Russia, I met my father's last lover, Veronica Polonskaya. I visited her at a nursing home for actors. She treated me very warmly and gave me a figurine of my father. She told me that Mayakovsky talked to her about me, about how he missed me. He showed her the Parker pen that I gave him in Nice, and told Polonskaya: “My future is in this child.” I'm sure she loved him too. Charming woman. So, I asked her this very question: why?
- And why weren’t you in the will?
- Polonskaya told me that my father did this to protect us. He protected her when he included her in his will, but on the contrary, he did not mention us. I’m not sure that I would have lived peacefully until these days if then the NKVD had learned that the Soviet poet Mayakovsky was having a child in America with the daughter of a kulak.
I know that he loved me, that he was happy to become a father. But he was afraid. It was not safe to be the wife or child of a dissenter. And Mayakovsky became a dissenter: if you read his plays, you will see that he criticized the bureaucracy and the direction in which the revolution was moving. His mother didn't blame him, and I don't blame him.

Mayakovskaya with a portrait of her mother
- Was Veronica Polonskaya the only one to whom Mayakovsky told about your existence?
- Another friend of her father, Sofya Shamardina, wrote in her memoirs about what Mayakovsky told her about his daughter in America: “I never thought that it was possible to miss a child so much. The girl is already three years old, she is sick with rickets, and I can’t do anything for her!” Mayakovsky talked about me with another friend of his, telling how difficult it was for him not to raise his own daughter. But when they printed a book of memoirs in Russia, they simply threw out these fragments. Perhaps because Lilya Brik did not want to publish it. In general, I think that there are still many blank spots in my father’s biography, and I consider it my duty to tell the truth about my parents.
- When you came to Russia, did you find any other documentary evidence that Mayakovsky had not forgotten about you?
- I made one amazing discovery when I was in St. Petersburg. I was sorting through my father’s papers and found a drawing of a flower made by a child’s hand. I think this is my drawing, I drew exactly the same as a child...
- Tell me, do you feel like Mayakovsky’s daughter. Do you believe in genetic memory?
- I understand my father very well. When I first read Mayakovsky’s books, I realized that we look at the world in the same way. He believed that if you have talent, then you should use it for social, public action. I think exactly the same. And I had this goal: to create textbooks, books from which children learn something about the world and themselves. I wrote textbooks on psychology and anthropology, on history, and tried to present it all in a way that children could understand. I also worked as an editor at several major American publishing houses. She edited fiction, including Ray Bradbury. It seems to me that an excellent activity for the daughter of a futurist is to work with science fiction writers.

Mayakovskaya with a picture she painted
- You have paintings you painted hanging on your wall. Did you also inherit this talent from your father?
- Yes, I like to draw. At the age of 15 she entered art school. Of course, I’m not a professional artist, but something works out.
-Can you call yourself a revolutionary?
“I think my father’s idea of ​​revolution is the idea of ​​bringing social justice.” I myself am a revolutionary, in my own understanding, that is, in connection with the role of women in society and in the family. I teach feminist philosophy at New York University. I am a feminist, but not one of those who seeks to belittle the role of men (which is typical of many American feminists). My feminism is the desire to save the family, to work for its benefit.
- Tell us about your family.
- I have a wonderful son Roger, a lawyer in the area intellectual property. He is Mayakovsky's grandson. Amazing blood flows in his veins - the blood of Mayakovsky and the blood of a fighter for American independence (my husband’s ancestor was one of the creators of the Declaration of Independence). I have a grandson, Logan. He is now finishing school. He's from Latin America, Roger adopted him. And although he is not Mayakovsky’s own great-grandson, I notice that he has exactly the same wrinkle on his forehead as my father. It's funny to watch him look at Mayakovsky's portrait and wrinkle his forehead.
To be honest, I still really miss my father. It seems to me that if he knew me now, learned about my life, he would be pleased.
- You have lived almost your entire life under the name Patricia Thompson, and now on your business card There is also the name Elena Mayakovskaya.
- I have always had two names: Russian - Elena and American - Patricia. My mother's friend was Irish, Patricia, and she helped her when I was first born. My American godmother's name was Elena, and my grandmother's name was also Elena.
- Tell me, why do you hardly know the Russian language?
- When I was little, I didn’t speak English. I spoke Russian, German and French. But I wanted to play with American children, and they didn't play with me because I was a foreigner. And I told my mother that I don’t want to speak all these useless languages, but I want to speak English. Then my stepfather, an Englishman, taught me. But Russian remained at the children's level.
- And you didn’t speak Russian at all with your mother?
- I resisted, refused to read Russian. Maybe because for me the death of my father was a tragedy, and I unconsciously walked away from everything Russian. In addition, I have always been an individualist, I think I inherited this from my father. My mother also supported me in this; she was a very strong, courageous woman. It was she who explained to me that you can’t remain in your father’s shadow, be his cheap imitation. She taught me to be myself.

Mayakovskaya with her son in Moscow at the monument to her father gives autographs
- Who do you feel more like, American or Russian?
- I would say - Russian-American. Few people know that even during cold war I always tried to help Soviet Union and Russia. When I was an editor at Macmillan in 1964, I edited a test and selected photographs for the book Communism: What It Is. I specifically made several edits to the text so that Americans would understand what good people live in the USSR. After all, at that time the Americans were presented with a not entirely adequate image of the Soviet man. When choosing photographs, I tried to find the most beautiful ones; show how Soviet people know how to enjoy life. And when I was working on a children's book about Russia, I emphasized that the Russians freed the peasants even before the abolition of slavery in America. This historical fact, and I think this is an important fact.
- Elena Vladimirovna, you assure that you feel and understand your father. Why do you think he committed suicide? Do you have any thoughts on this?
- Firstly, I would like to say that even if he committed suicide, it was not because of a woman. He had reasons to live. Burliuk told me that he believes Mayakovsky had bullets placed in a shoebox. In the Russian aristocratic tradition, receiving such a gift meant dishonor. Disgrace began for him with the boycott of the exhibition; simply no one came there. He understood what was happening. It was a message: if you don't behave, we won't publish your poems. This is a very painful topic for creative person- to be free, to have the right. He was losing his freedom. Mayakovsky saw in all this a prediction of his fate. He simply decided that there was only one way - death. And this is most likely the only reason for his suicide. Not a woman, not broken heart- this is absurd.
- Tell me, do you like biographical books written about your father?
- Of course, I didn’t read everything that was written. I'm not his biographer. But some facts that I read translated into English biographies, clearly did not correspond to reality. My favorite book was by Swedish author Bengt Youngfeldt. The man really wanted to find earlier unknown facts about my father, and he managed to unearth something.
- Tell me, are you not going to write a biography of Mayakovsky for the Americans? Do people in America actually know who Mayakovsky is?
- Educated people Of course they know. And they are always very interested when they find out that I am his daughter. But I won’t write a biography. But I would like a woman to write Mayakovsky’s biography. I think it is a woman who is able to understand the peculiarities of his character and personality in a way that no man can understand.
- Your parents decided not to tell anyone about your existence, and you kept the secret right up until 1991... Why?
- Can you imagine what would happen if the USSR learned that Vladimir Mayakovsky, the singer of the revolution, was raising an illegitimate daughter in bourgeois America?
- And why did you decide to reveal the secret of your mother and Mayakovsky?
“I considered it my duty to tell the truth about my parents. The well-invented myth about Mayakovsky excluded me and my mother from his story. This missing piece of history must return.

Ellie Jones in her youth
- How do you think your mother, Ellie Jones, would feel about your decision to tell this secret?
- Before my mother died, in 1985, she told me that I had to make a decision myself. She told me the whole story of their love, and I recorded it on a tape recorder, it turned out to be six tapes. They later provided me with material for the book “Mayakovsky in Manhattan.” I think she would be happy to know that I wrote a book about their love story.
- Who was the first person you revealed your secret to?
- For the first time I told the poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko about this when he was in America. He didn’t believe me and asked to show my documents. I then said: look at me! And only then everyone believed it. And I am very proud that I became a professor and published 20 books. I did all this myself, no one knew that I was Mayakovsky’s daughter. I think that if people knew that Mayakovsky had a daughter, all doors would be open to me. But there was nothing like that.

With his son at the monument to his father
- Immediately after that you visited Russia?
- Yes, in 1991, I came to Moscow with my son Roger Sherman Thompson. We met with Mayakovsky's relatives, with the descendants of his sisters. With all friends and admirers. When we were driving to the hotel, I saw the Mayakovsky statue on the square for the first time. My son and I asked the driver to stop. I couldn’t believe we were there... I was in his museum on Lubyanka Square, in the room where he shot himself. I was holding a calendar in my hands, open at the bottom of April 14, 1930... last day my father's life.
-Have you been to the Novodevichy cemetery?
“I brought some of my mother’s ashes with me to Russia. She loved Mayakovsky all her life, until her death. Her last words were about him. At my father’s grave at the Novodevichy cemetery, I dug up the ground between the graves of my father and his sister. There I placed some of my mother's ashes and covered it with earth and grass. I think Mom hoped to one day be united with the person she loved so much. And with Russia, which has always been in her heart.

ANASTASIA ORLYANSKAYA

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Patricia Thompson - American daughter of the great Russian poet

Patricia Thompson, daughter of the poet Vladimir Mayakovsky. Photo from the personal archive of Patricia Thompson

No one has ever questioned the fact of her relationship with the great Russian poet Vladimir Mayakovsky. Unless Yevgeny Yevtushenko somehow demanded documents from her. Standing up to her full height, inherited from her father, she made Yevtushenko embarrassed. “Yes, there is definitely something,” he admitted. No one called her an impostor - neither researchers of Mayakovsky’s work, nor his executors. In one of the Moscow museums there is a notebook where the poet’s hand says “Daughter” next to her American address. Finding herself in Moscow for the first time, she cried when she saw this recording...

Ellen Patricia Thompson asks to be called Elena Vladimirovna Mayakovskaya. She admits that she is unlikely to ever change the typical American surname received at birth to a Russian one, loud and recognizable in the world of Russian poetry, because she was born and lived her whole life in the New World. In New York, her mother, an emigrant from Russia Ellie (Elizaveta) Siebert, was a guide and translator for Mayakovsky, who came to the United States in 1925 on a creative business trip. A year later, Ellen Patricia was born, on her first and last time who saw her father at the age of 3 in Nice, France, where she went on vacation with her mother. The girl found out who her real dad was at the age of 6 and remained silent about it for more than half a century. She says that until her death, her mother asked her not to reveal the main family secret to the world: ““She always avoided any talk about her affair with Mayakovsky. Plus, I didn’t want betrayal of my stepfather, who was a wonderful person.”

Recently, Professor Patricia Thompson left her teaching job for a well-deserved retirement. Her academic career has focused on feminist issues and sociology. She is the author of 15 books, the main of which, by her own admission, is a book about her father, who would have turned 120 years old this year, “Mayakovsky in Manhattan.” She is proud that she is Russian on both her father and mother’s side. I am convinced that the 21st century will become the century of Russia.

P.T. My father is known, remembered and loved not only in Russia. Just the other day I received a letter from Buenos Aires; it turns out that there are also his admirers in Argentina. Why is he remembered? Perhaps not least because he was a handsome man.

But his work was part of Soviet ideology...
My mother met Mayakovsky when she was 20 years old. This was a meeting of two young hearts, and not the mouthpiece of the era and its admirer. My father’s poetic talent did not appear to the world thanks to socialism; it was born along with it, long before October Revolution. I keep my father's last letter, which he wrote to us, and I think that in all his legacy there is nothing like this touching monologue in which he cried his heart out. I really like it love lyrics. Especially "Cloud in Pants".

Why didn't Mayakovsky stay in America?
The NKVD was watching him. If he had expressed a desire to remain abroad, he would have been liquidated.

Perhaps one of the main reasons why he always wanted to go home to Russia was his muse Lilya Brik?
I have complicated attitude to Lila. She was a very experienced woman and manipulated my father. Her husband Osip - he, yes, was Mayakovsky's mentor, in the good sense of the word, that is, a mentor - helped him, guided him.

Have you tried to establish contacts with Lilya, her stepson - researcher of Mayakovsky's work, Vasily Katanyan?
Somehow it didn't work out. After all, Lilya was Mayakovsky’s main heir and executor for a long time. I didn’t receive a penny and I achieved everything in this life on my own. They say that Lilya tried to find us, but my stepfather gave me his last name, and it was pointless to look for me.

You consider yourself Russian, but you don’t speak Russian...
I have a Russian soul! When I was little, I communicated with my mother in Russian, French and German. Mom knew four foreign languages, she had good education. Yes, I have lived in America all my life, most of which was spent outside the Russian-speaking community. Everything was turning out in the world in such a way that we were simply sure that we would never return home. Plus, in America, for decades it was dangerous to sympathize with Russia.

On one of my visits to Russia, I visited Bashkiria, in Davlekanovo, where the house where my grandparents lived and where my mother was born was preserved. Entering it, I felt like I had returned home. Later she wrote the book “My Discovery of Bashkiria”, arranging a kind of roll call with her father, who wrote “My Discovery of America”.

Do you consider yourself a Russian American or a Russian emigrant?
My mother was a kind of people's diplomat, a conductor of Russian culture in New York. So in my later years, after the Iron Curtain collapsed, I realized that I could also do a lot in this direction and became an activist of the Russian-American Cultural Center “Heritage”, which is actively working in the Big Apple City. I never miss meetings with World War II veterans; I always try to touch their military orders and medals and say “thank you.” Many Americans do not know that the United States has never been at war with Russia. There was a Cold War, yes, there was no other.

Do you consider yourself a patriot of Russia?
I am a patriot of Russia, and you can be a patriot while living outside the borders of your fatherland. I remember that when I worked in one of the academic publishing houses, I edited textbooks in which they wrote about Russia on any occasion only in negative tones. I did it more than once or twice and in the end everything sounded completely different. I remember that in one of the chapters describing the history of slavery in the United States, I wrote: in Russia, peasants were freed from serfdom much earlier than slavery was abolished in America. I even chose the most beautiful illustrations for textbooks about Russia, so that no one would think that on the streets Russian cities bears and communists roam. This is how I defended the homeland of my ancestors then. In order to be a patriot, it is not at all necessary to become a spy, it is enough just to be an intellectual. Is this good or bad? An intellectual is definitely not a capitalist. And a modest pension - the only and last source of my income - is one of the reasons why I have not been to Russia for a long time.

Have you chosen a specific mission for yourself in this life?
My whole life is survival, and I have lived a long life. I have a wonderful son, a wonderful grandson. By the way, my son Roger's wife is Jewish. Being involved in issues of feminism, I never considered myself to be one of the women who do not like men. I have written several books on this topic. The first stage of feminism is the idea of ​​gender equality. I stopped at this stage... A woman has great power over a man, but this does not mean that she should exploit him.

My father left, my mother could not talk about him, and then she was justifiably afraid for our lives, because many of my father’s close friends began to disappear without a trace in New York. But, it is worth recognizing that many people made careers on the name of Mayakovsky, and many researchers say that he did not shoot himself.

Patricia Thompson - American daughter of the great Russian poet

"...My mission is to justify my father. I want everyone to know the main thing - my father Vladimir Mayakovsky did not commit suicide! Even if he did do it, he put an end to the dishonor in which the Soviets tried to involve him."
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New very interesting materials about Vl. Mayakovsky and the role of Lily Brik in his life and biography.

Anastasia Orlyanskaya · 29/11/2010
interview

Patricia Thompson: “To prevent Mayakovsky from leaving to join his mother and me in America, Lilya arranged a meeting for him with Tatyana Yakovleva”

The only daughter of the singer of the revolution, Vladimir Mayakovsky, is named Patricia Thompson, lives in Upper Manhattan and teaches feminism at New York University.
The Revolution Singer's only grandson is Roger Thompson, a fashionable New York lawyer from Fifth Avenue. When you look at Mayakovsky’s daughter, you feel uneasy. It seems that Mayakovsky himself has stepped down from his marble pedestal - a tall, thin figure and the same sparkling gaze, familiar from numerous portraits of the famous futurist. Her apartment is filled with portraits and sculptures of Mayakovsky. During the conversation, Patricia periodically glances at the small figurine of her father, given to her by Veronica Polonskaya, as if awaiting confirmation (“Really dad?”). It seems that these two would understand each other without words. She is now 84 years old. In 1991, she revealed her secret to the world and now asks to call herself Elena Vladimirovna Mayakovskaya. She claims that Mayakovsky loved children and wanted to live with her and her mother. But history decreed differently. He was a singer of the Soviet revolution, and his beloved was the daughter of a kulak who escaped from the revolution.

- Elena Vladimirovna, you met your father only once in your life...

Yes. I was only three years old. In 1928, my mother and I went to Nice, she was there solving some immigration issues. And Mayakovsky was in Paris at that time, and our mutual friend told him that we were in France.

And he came to you right away?

Yes, as soon as he found out that we were in Nice, he immediately rushed over. My mother almost had a stroke. She didn't expect to see him. Mom said that he came to the door and said: “Here I am.”

Do you remember anything yourself?

All I remember are long legs. And also, you may not believe me, but I remember how I sat on his lap, his touch. I think it's kinesthetic memory. I remember how he hugged me. My mother also told me how touched he was when he saw me sleeping in the crib. He said: “There is probably nothing more attractive than a sleeping child.” There was another case when I was rummaging through his papers, my mother saw this and slapped my hands. And Mayakovsky told her: “You should never hit a child.”

But you never met again?

No, this was the only meeting. But for him it was very important. After this meeting he sent us a letter. This letter was the most important treasure for my mother. It was addressed "To the two Ellies." Mayakovsky wrote: “My two dear Ellies. I already miss you. I dream of coming to you. Please write quickly. I kiss all eight of your paws...” It was a very touching letter. He never wrote such letters to anyone else. The father asked for a new meeting, but it did not happen. My mother and I went to Italy. But Mayakovsky took my photograph taken in Nice with him. His friends said that this photograph stood on his father’s table all the time.

But Lilya Brik tore it up, didn’t she?

I know from authoritative sources that when he died, Lilya Brik came to his office and destroyed my photographs. I think the point is that Lilya was the heir to copyright, and therefore my existence was undesirable for her. However, one entry remained in his notebook. On a separate page there is only one word written there: “Daughter”.

But your mother was also in no hurry to talk about your existence.

My mother was very afraid that the authorities in the USSR would find out about my existence. She said that even before I was born, some nasal commissar came to her and asked who she was pregnant with. And she was very afraid of Lily Brik, who, as you know, was connected with the NKVD. My mother was afraid all her life that Lilya would get us even in America. But, fortunately, this did not happen.

Your mother actually stole Mayakovsky from Lily Brik, right?

I think at the time Mayakovsky came to America, his relationship with Lilya was in the past. My father's love for my mother, Ellie Jones, marked the end of their relationship.
- Mayakovsky biographer Solomon Kemrad found an entry in English in one of the poet’s “American” notebooks: 111 West 12 st. Elly Jones. Did your mother live there?

Yes, my mother Ellie Jones had an apartment in Manhattan. In terms of money, she always felt free. Grandfather was a successful businessman, a wealthy man. In addition, her mother worked as a model and translator: she knew five European languages, learned them at school in Bashkiria, as a little girl. She worked with the American administration. My mother devoted her whole life to trying to explain to Americans what Russian culture is and who the Russian people are. She was a true patriot. And she taught me the same.

Is she German from Bashkiria by origin?

Yes, her Russian name is Elizaveta Siebert. The family history on my mother’s side is generally amazing. My ancestors came from Germany to Russia on the orders of Catherine the Great. Then a lot of Europeans came to develop Russia, Catherine promised them all freedom of religion. Grandfather was a successful industrialist. And then the revolution happened.

How did your grandfather manage to take his family out at the height of the revolution?

It was unsafe to remain in Russia. If they had not left, at best they would have been dispossessed and sent to camps. The mother's family lived in Bashkiria in a large house. This is quite far from Moscow, and revolutionary sentiments did not reach there immediately. When a revolution took place in the capital, one of my grandfather’s friends advised him to leave the country, saying that people with weapons would soon come. The grandfather had enough money to take everyone to Canada. My personal opinion is that if the so-called kulaks had not been persecuted in the Soviet Union, had not been exiled, but had been given the opportunity to work, then this would have greatly helped to develop the Soviet economy.

However, your mother didn't go with the whole family, did she?

Yes, she spent some more time in Russia. Her mother worked for a charity in Moscow; no one knew about her kulak origin. Then she met the Englishman George Jones, who worked for the same organization; married him and went to London and then to New York. I think that the marriage was rather fictitious. The mother wanted to go to her family, George Jones helped her. By the time she met Mayakovsky, she no longer lived with her husband...

How did she meet Mayakovsky?

She first saw her father in Moscow, at the Rizhsky station. He stood with Lilya Brik. The mother said that she was struck by Lily’s cold and cruel eyes. The next meeting, in New York, took place in 1925. Then Mayakovsky miraculously managed to come to America. It was impossible to get directly to the United States; he traveled through France, Cuba and Mexico, and waited almost a month for permission to enter. When he arrived in New York, he was invited to a cocktail party with a famous lawyer. My mother was also there.

What did she say about this meeting?

Mom was interested in poetry and read it in all European languages. She was generally very educated. When she and Mayakovsky were introduced to each other, she almost immediately asked him: “How do you write poetry? What makes poetry poetry? Mayakovsky spoke almost no foreign languages; Naturally, he liked the smart girl who speaks Russian. In addition, the mother was very beautiful, she was often invited to work as a model. She had a very natural beauty: I still have a portrait by David Burliuk, taken when they were all together in the Bronx. Mayakovsky, one might say, fell in love with my mother at first sight, and after a few days they almost never parted.

Do you know where they went most often? What were Mayakovsky's favorite places in New York?

They appeared together at all receptions, met with journalists and publishers together. We went to the Bronx Zoo, we went to look at the Brooklyn Bridge. And the poem “Brooklyn Bridge” was written immediately after he visited it with his mother. She was the first to hear this poem.

You probably did some research when you were writing a book about Mayakovsky in America. Has anyone seen your parents together?

Yes. Once I was visiting the writer Tatyana Levchenko-Sukhomlina. She told me how in those years she met Mayakovsky on the street and got into conversation with him. The poet invited her and her husband to his evening. There she saw Mayakovsky with a tall and slender beauty, whom he called Ellie. Tatyana Ivanovna told me that she had the impression that Mayakovsky had very strong feelings for his companion. He never left my mother's side for a minute. This was very important to me, I wanted confirmation that I was born as a result of love, although internally I always knew this.

Mayakovsky and Ellie Jones
- Was your mother the only woman in Mayakovsky’s life at that time?

Yes, I'm quite sure of that. Mom said that he was very careful with her. He told her: “Be faithful to me. While I’m here, there’s only you.” Their relationship lasted all three months while he was in New York. His mother said he called her every morning and said, “The maid has just left. Your hairpins scream about you!” Even a drawing made by Mayakovsky after a quarrel has been preserved: he drew his mother with sparkling eyes, and below his head, humbly bowed.

Is there not a single poem directly dedicated to your mother?

She said that once he told her that he was writing a poem about them. And she forbade him to do this, said: “Let's save our feelings only for us.”

You weren't a planned child, were you?

Mayakovsky asked his mother if she was using protection. She then answered him: “Loving means having children.” At the same time, she had no doubt that they could never be together. He then told her that she was crazy. However, in one of the plays this phrase of hers is used. “From love we must build bridges and give birth to children,” his professor says.

Letter from Mayakovsky to two Ellies
- Mayakovsky knew that your mother was pregnant when he left America?

No, he didn't know, and she didn't know. They parted very touchingly. She accompanied Mayakovsky to the ship bound for Europe. When she returned, she discovered that the bed in her apartment was strewn with forget-me-nots. He spent all his money on these flowers, which is why he returned to Russia fourth class, in the worst cabin. Mom found out that she was pregnant when Mayakovsky was already in the USSR.

As a child, your surname was Jones...

When I was born, my mother was still technically married to George Jones. And the fact that she was pregnant was a very delicate situation, especially for those times. But Jones was very kind, he gave me his name for the birth certificate and was very helpful in general. My mother was not convicted of having an illegitimate child, and I now have American documents: he legally became my father, I am very grateful to him. Nowadays people forgive much more than a child born out of wedlock, but back then things were different.
- When Mayakovsky found out about your existence, did he want to return?

I am sure that Mayakovsky wanted to have a family, wanted to live with us. Everything that was written about him was controlled by Lilya Brik. It's not true that he didn't want children. He loved children very much, and it was not for nothing that he wrote for them. Of course, there was a very difficult political situation between the two countries. But there was also a personal moment. When Lilya found out about us, she wanted to divert his attention... She didn’t want another woman to be next to Mayakovsky. When Mayakovsky was in Paris, Lilya asked her sister Elsa Triolet to introduce Mayakovsky to some local beauty. She turned out to be Tatyana Yakovleva. A very attractive woman, a charming woman from a good family. I don't deny this at all. But I have to say that it was all Brick's game. She wanted him to forget the woman and child in America.

Many people think that Tatyana Yakovleva was Mayakovsky’s last love.

Her daughter, the American writer Frances Gray, came to Russia long before me. And everyone thought that she was Mayakovsky’s daughter. Frances even published an article in the New York Times about Mayakovsky's last muse, her mother. She says that on October 25 he spoke about his endless love for Tatyana Yakovleva. But I still have a letter to my mother, dated October 26, he asked her to meet. I think he wanted to cover up his politically dangerous relationship with my mother with a high-profile affair with Yakovleva.

Only letters written to Lilya Brik have been preserved in Mayakovsky's archive. Why do you think she destroyed correspondence with the other women?

Lilya was who she was. I think she wanted to go down in history alone. She had influence on the public. There is no denying that she was a very smart, experienced woman. But, in my opinion, she was also a manipulator. I didn’t know the Briks personally, but I think they built a career for themselves using Mayakovsky. They said he was rude and uncontrollable. But his mother told a completely different story about him, and his friend, David Burliuk, said that he was a very sensitive and kind person.

Do you think Lilya had a bad influence on Mayakovsky?

I think the Briks' role is very ambiguous. Osip helped him publish at the very beginning of his career. Lilya Brik, one might say, was included in the set. When Mayakovsky met her, he was very young. And the adult, mature Lilya was, of course, very attractive to him.

Elena Vladimirovna, tell me why Mayakovsky defined his family in his suicide note as follows: mother, sisters, Lilya Brik and Veronica Polonskaya. Why didn't he say anything about you?

I thought about this a lot myself, this question tormented me. When I went to Russia, I met my father's last lover, Veronica Polonskaya. I visited her at a nursing home for actors. She treated me very warmly and gave me a figurine of my father. She told me that Mayakovsky talked to her about me, about how he missed me. He showed her the Parker pen that I gave him in Nice, and told Polonskaya: “My future is in this child.” I'm sure she loved him too. Charming woman. So, I asked her this very question: why?

And why weren't you in the will?

Polonskaya told me that my father did this to protect us. He protected her when he included her in his will, but on the contrary, he did not mention us. I’m not sure that I would have lived peacefully until these days if then the NKVD had learned that the Soviet poet Mayakovsky was having a child in America with the daughter of a kulak.

I know that he loved me, that he was happy to become a father. But he was afraid. It was not safe to be the wife or child of a dissenter. And Mayakovsky became a dissenter: if you read his plays, you will see that he criticized the bureaucracy and the direction in which the revolution was moving. His mother didn't blame him, and I don't blame him.

Was Veronica Polonskaya the only one to whom Mayakovsky told about your existence?

Another friend of her father, Sofya Shamardina, wrote in her memoirs about what Mayakovsky told her about his daughter in America: “I never thought that it was possible to miss a child so much. The girl is already three years old, she is sick with rickets, and I can’t do anything for her!” Mayakovsky talked about me with another friend of his, telling how difficult it was for him not to raise his own daughter. But when they printed a book of memoirs in Russia, they simply threw out these fragments. Perhaps because Lilya Brik did not want to publish it. In general, I think that there are still many blank spots in my father’s biography, and I consider it my duty to tell the truth about my parents.

When you came to Russia, did you find any other documentary evidence that Mayakovsky had not forgotten about you?

I made one amazing discovery when I was in St. Petersburg. I was sorting through my father’s papers and found a drawing of a flower made by a child’s hand. I think this is my drawing, I drew exactly the same as a child...

Tell me, do you feel like Mayakovsky’s daughter? Do you believe in genetic memory?

I understand my father very well. When I first read Mayakovsky’s books, I realized that we look at the world in the same way. He believed that if you have talent, then you should use it for social, public action. I think exactly the same. And I had this goal: to create textbooks, books from which children learn something about the world and themselves. I wrote textbooks on psychology and anthropology, on history, and tried to present it all in a way that children could understand. I also worked as an editor at several major American publishing houses. She edited fiction, including Ray Bradbury. It seems to me that an excellent activity for the daughter of a futurist is to work with science fiction writers.

You have pictures you painted hanging on your wall. Did you also inherit this talent from your father?

Yes, I love to draw. At the age of 15 she entered art school. Of course, I’m not a professional artist, but something works out.

Can you call yourself a revolutionary?

I think my father's idea of ​​revolution is the idea of ​​bringing social justice. I myself am a revolutionary, in my own understanding, that is, in connection with the role of women in society and in the family. I teach feminist philosophy at New York University. I am a feminist, but not one of those who seeks to belittle the role of men (which is typical of many American feminists). My feminism is the desire to save the family, to work for its benefit.

Tell us about your family.

I have a wonderful son, Roger, an intellectual property lawyer. He is Mayakovsky's grandson. Amazing blood flows in his veins - the blood of Mayakovsky and the blood of a fighter for American independence (my husband’s ancestor was one of the creators of the Declaration of Independence). I have a grandson, Logan. He is now finishing school. He is from Latin America and Roger adopted him. And although he is not Mayakovsky’s own great-grandson, I notice that he has exactly the same wrinkle on his forehead as my father. It's funny to watch him look at Mayakovsky's portrait and wrinkle his forehead.

To be honest, I still really miss my father. It seems to me that if he knew me now, learned about my life, he would be pleased.

You have lived almost your entire life under the name Patricia Thompson, and now your business card also includes the name Elena Mayakovskaya.

I have always had two names: Russian - Elena and American - Patricia. My mother's friend was Irish, Patricia, and she helped her when I was first born. My American godmother's name was Elena, and my grandmother's name was also Elena.

Tell me, why do you know almost no Russian?

When I was little, I didn't speak English. I spoke Russian, German and French. But I wanted to play with American children, and they didn't play with me because I was a foreigner. And I told my mother that I don’t want to speak all these useless languages, but I want to speak English. Then my stepfather, an Englishman, taught me. But Russian remained at the children's level.

And you didn’t speak Russian at all with your mother?

I resisted, refused to read Russian. Maybe because for me the death of my father was a tragedy, and I unconsciously walked away from everything Russian. In addition, I have always been an individualist, I think I inherited this from my father. My mother also supported me in this; she was a very strong, courageous woman. It was she who explained to me that you can’t remain in your father’s shadow, be his cheap imitation. She taught me to be myself.

Who do you feel more like, American or Russian?

I would say - Russian-American. Few people know that even during the Cold War, I always tried to help the Soviet Union and Russia. When I was an editor at Macmillan in 1964, I edited a test and selected photographs for the book Communism: What It Is. I specifically made several edits to the text so that Americans would understand what good people live in the USSR. After all, at that time the Americans were presented with a not entirely adequate image of the Soviet man. When choosing photographs, I tried to find the most beautiful ones; show how Soviet people know how to enjoy life. And when I was working on a children's book about Russia, I emphasized that the Russians freed the peasants even before the abolition of slavery in America. This is a historical fact, and I think it is an important fact.

Elena Vladimirovna, you assure that you feel and understand your father. Why do you think he committed suicide? Do you have any thoughts on this?

Firstly, I would like to say that even if he committed suicide, it was not because of a woman. He had reasons to live. Burliuk told me that he believes Mayakovsky had bullets placed in a shoebox. In the Russian aristocratic tradition, receiving such a gift meant dishonor. Disgrace began for him with the boycott of the exhibition; simply no one came there. He understood what was happening. It was a message: if you don't behave, we won't publish your poems. This is a very painful topic for a creative person - to be free, to have the right. He was losing his freedom. Mayakovsky saw in all this a prediction of his fate. He simply decided that there was only one way - death. And this is most likely the only reason for his suicide. Not a woman, not a broken heart - this is absurd.

Tell me, do you like biographical books written about your father?

I, of course, did not read everything that was written. I'm not his biographer. But some of the facts that I read in the biographies translated into English were clearly not true. My favorite book was by Swedish author Bengt Youngfeldt. The man really wanted to find previously unknown facts about my father, and he managed to unearth some.

Tell me, are you not going to write a biography of Mayakovsky for the Americans? Do people in America actually know who Mayakovsky is?

Educated people, of course, know. And they are always very interested when they find out that I am his daughter. But I won’t write a biography. But I would like a woman to write Mayakovsky’s biography. I think it is a woman who is able to understand the peculiarities of his character and personality in a way that no man can understand.

Your parents decided not to tell anyone about your existence, and you kept the secret until 1991... Why?

Can you imagine what would happen if the USSR learned that Vladimir Mayakovsky, the singer of the revolution, was raising an illegitimate daughter in bourgeois America?

And why did you decide to reveal the secret of your mother and Mayakovsky?

I considered it my duty to tell the truth about my parents. The well-invented myth about Mayakovsky excluded me and my mother from his story. This missing piece of history must return.

How do you think your mother, Ellie Jones, would feel about your decision to tell this secret?

Before my mother died in 1985, she told me that I had to make the decision myself. She told me the whole story of their love, and I recorded it on a tape recorder, it turned out to be six tapes. They later provided me with material for the book “Mayakovsky in Manhattan.” I think she would be happy to know that I wrote a book about their love story.

Who was the first person you revealed your secret to?

I first told the poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko about this when he was in America. He didn’t believe me and asked to show my documents. I then said: look at me! And only then everyone believed it. And I am very proud that I became a professor and published 20 books. I did all this myself, no one knew that I was Mayakovsky’s daughter. I think that if people knew that Mayakovsky had a daughter, all doors would be open to me. But there was nothing like that.

Did you visit Russia immediately after that?

Yes, in 1991, I came to Moscow with my son Roger Sherman Thompson. We met with Mayakovsky's relatives, with the descendants of his sisters. With all friends and admirers. When we were driving to the hotel, I saw the Mayakovsky statue on the square for the first time. My son and I asked the driver to stop. I couldn’t believe we were there... I was in his museum on Lubyanka Square, in the room where he shot himself. I held the calendar in my hands, open to April 14, 1930... the last day of my father's life.

Have you been to the Novodevichy cemetery?

I brought some of my mother's ashes with me to Russia. She loved Mayakovsky all her life, until her death. Her last words were about him. At my father’s grave at the Novodevichy cemetery, I dug up the ground between the graves of my father and his sister. There I placed some of my mother's ashes and covered it with earth and grass. I think Mom hoped to one day be united with the person she loved so much. And with Russia, which has always been in her heart.