Let Us Be Like the Sun

Let Us Be Like the Sun

First edition cover
Author	Konstantin Balmont
Original title	Будем как Солнце
Country	Russia
Publication date	1903
Media type	Print

Let Us Be Like the Sun is the sixth book of poetry by Konstantin Balmont, first published in 1903 by Scorpion in Moscow.

For an epigraph Balmont has chosen the words of Anaxagoras: "I entered this world to see the Sun." The book came out with a dedication to Valery Bryusov, Sergey Poliakov, Yurgis Baltrushaitis and Lucy Savitskaya.

Most of the its poems were written in 1901-1902 when Balmont stayed at the Sabynino estate in the Kursk Governorate. In March 1902 Balmont made the public recitals for members of G. G. Bakhman's literary circle. The censorship committee instantly got interested, examined the book and demanded that numerous changes should be made. On July 1, 1903, Balmont wrote in a letter to Yeronym Yasinsky, then the editor of Ezhemesyachnye sochinenya (Monthly Books) magazine: "Have you received the book Let Us Be Like the Sun which while running through the censorship gauntlet has lost ten poems in the process? They wanted to throw out "The Devil's Artist" too, but it was saved by the fact that it had been published already in Ezhemesyachnye sochinenya."

The book was completed in late 1902 and published in 1903. Its second edition came as part of the Collection of Poems (1904, Scorpion, Moscow), the third of the Complete Poems by Balmont (1908, Scorpion, vol.2), the fourth of the Complete Balmont (Scorpion, 1912, vol.3), the fifth of The Collection of Lyric (Moscow, 1918, vol. 5)

In November 1902 the book was presented to the Moscow censorship committee. The author had to edit it, especially its erotic section called "Enchanted Grotto" (a metaphor for vagina), but that, apparently, was not enough. On March 3, 1903, the censor Sokolov submitted a report to the Saint Petersburg Publishing Department, stating: "Konstantin Balmont's book consists of 205 poems [...] From the censorship's point of view all of them are worthy of attention, since they belong to the so-called symbolism, too many of them being erotic, cynical and even sacrilegious. As a censor I found the book in question exceptionally detrimental and would recommend it to be reported immediately to the General Publishing Dpt., adding the notion that it might be especially harmful for modern times when the majority of readership, young people in particular, are so fond of symbolism."