“Living with fools is as difficult as with geniuses”: Lolita Milyavskaya on the qualities of her muse and idols

Recently, VK Music launched the new season of the Muses podcast with the Storm podcast studio. Each issue is the life story of a woman who was long overshadowed by a famous man, but played a special role in its formation.

The audience does not know which hero he is until the end. Thus, she has the opportunity to see the world through the eyes of her muse and feel everything she feels.

Each episode is voiced by a new heroine – Olga Seryabkina, Elena Pinskaya, Dead Blonde, Susanna, Mary Gu and Lolita Milyavskaya.

Memories of Kora Landau, wife of the eminent Soviet physicist Lev Landau, sound like Lolita’s voice. We talked to the artist about what qualities a muse should have and why he chose this hero.

I grew up in Theater on the Microphone (a program in which theater artists sing books and plays, one could say radio plays). It was great. At that time there was an opportunity to listen to the voices of great artists, for which you could definitely not buy tickets. Let’s say I lived in a small town in Lviv, and that brought me up. Growing up, I could not imagine what it would be like to reach the heart of the listener with sound without visualization. And I realized that it would be difficult for me. But I am, of course, an adventurer, and even when I heard the composition of the participants, I immediately agreed, screaming with delight. It was an experiment for everyone.

I realized that there will be a lot of artists, poets, writers, well-known people in one way or another. The biography of Lev Landau’s wife, Kora, is one of my favourites. This is the first thing that shocks me from such outspoken biographies of women. Now many people were talking about harassment, various ailments, there were no such words back then. Only this woman lived that way and found the courage to tell everything so clearly. In the biographies associated with many great people, say, the chapter dealing with the sexual and other intimate components of life, as a rule, is not mentioned or is mentioned in passing. It’s all pretty elaborate here, but not because it’s sexual, but because it’s more than just painful. That’s why it’s such a powerful piece of literature for me.

When I first read it probably 15 years ago, it made me feel absolutely negative. And now it causes completely opposite feelings. Even then, I worried about her, but every time I read it I thought: “Mad woman, there’s nothing to send. What a goat he is! I don’t care if it’s great, I don’t care if it’s genius!” And now I take this story differently. We’ve heard more about the work of psychologists, and therefore, we already understand what can happen to a person to find himself in this special relationship. I didn’t delve into it at the time, but I’m not just feeling sorry for her today, she’s one of my favorite heroines. It’s a huge overpowering one – only a very great person can write so candidly about everything that’s happened to you.

I don’t like the phrase about generals, that a woman makes a general out of a soldier or something. In my personal experience, I have not come across this, so I cannot confirm or refute this sentence, but it all depends on how the couple developed. If it develops as a single organism with a head, arms, legs, and torso, they would likely go in the same direction. And if you begin to serve someone blindly, and someone behaves like a vampire, both morally and physically, and you manage to enjoy that service, it is for a psychiatrist.

There is an anomaly in everything, but perhaps genius is revealed through this abnormality. Everyone has their own mission on Earth, and since man is given such a test, he is given for this purpose to cope. But on the other hand, perhaps for the emergence of another brilliant discovery or artifact. Therefore, it seems to me that this is reasoning at the level of what is more important – chicken or egg.

On the one hand, the muse is always something sublime and inaccessible. This is something that can certainly set the table, but is always elegant.

On the other hand, it is a service, it is a sacrifice. And so far I have not witnessed a single printed biography that could refute that. It’s hard work when you put yourself at the altar of genius. In the beginning, you realize that there is a very extraordinary person next to you, and you believe in his genius and nurture him. This is not given to everyone, this is probably a women’s private repository. But it is unknown to me. Probably because I don’t live with geniuses and it’s hard to imagine myself in spiritual slavery. Although living with idiots is as difficult as living with geniuses. This has been confirmed by personal experience. You are prolific with a genius, then you will go down in history, but here you are just a statistic for psychology textbooks.

I am only one of those who must be served, and I realize that this is impossible. Probably in couples where women serve a man, this is possible due to the psychotype of women, their physiological qualities. It’s harder for me because I have to lower a man to the level of a woman. And it is always difficult, they resist. Of course, I’m being ironic about this, but I just tried this role.

They need other women. Yes, it’s interdependence, it’s hard work, but without it we would have lost so many memories. I don’t think there will be any less geniuses because of this, they still find someone to serve them.

There is a man I still love. I think it’s ideal. But he died 2,000 years ago, this is Marcus Aurelius. He is an incredible philosopher, the most intelligent commander and a supporter of fortitude. That’s exactly what has kept me going lately, that I missed out on at the institute and then mastered on my own. This is a philosophical trend that I love. He is one of the winners for me.

If we talk about those who left not so long ago, then this is Frank Sinatra. This is the kind of man I wouldn’t live with, but I love his story because it’s a story with ups and downs. As a man, it’s not a very compelling story, but it’s human. This is a person with whom I will be close and with whom we will quarrel, so … This is also evidenced by the love story with an outstanding actress. It didn’t always please me as a person, but his volatile creative past has moved me at a certain point in my life.

I do not foresee new musical material this year. Therefore, I am preparing for the concert that will be called “Lolita”. 60 and that says it all. It’s not based on new material, it’s not based on old material – I listened to it again and probably realized I said this moment and it stayed there, I didn’t want to return anything. My job is routine. The routine lies in the fact that in the preparation of the concert – from the creator to the advertising – there are many meetings, agreements – this is something that no one cares about. It’s much more interesting to come into the living room and look and think: “What, at 60 he’s still acting, right?” But I have an example of a person with whom before my eyes … Sorry, I misinformed you, I have today’s muse. This is an 83 year old man to whom you would never give 83 years old. In fact, the fire in his eyes is a boy’s. This is an extraordinary world-famous artist Yuri Kuper.

I’ve never met a more wonderful man. Every time I see him, he hugs me in a fatherly way and makes me feel so small. Then I think: “Thirty years ago, this would have been the only man I would have fought for.” Understandably, he fails, because his novels have a dizzying world veil. This man has it all for me: the symbol of genius and the father and the symbol of the man, this is the only living thing. And when I started whining under my 60s, I remember Cooper. That’s why I found you the hero of my time. Think about it, he’s in the top three of my men, and thankfully he’s alive now.