‘People and good books make me happy’. Ekaterina Livshits’ letters to Aleksandr Deich and Evgenia Deich-Malkina

2018 ◽  
pp. 298-377
Author(s):  
P. M. Nerle
Keyword(s):  
Literary Critic ◽  
State Archive ◽  
Literary Works ◽  
The Core ◽  
Russian State ◽  
Literary Process

At the core of this publication are letters written by E. Livshits (1902–1987), the widow of B. Livshits, to her close friends: literary critic A. Deich (1893–1972), whom she knew ever since her Kiev days, and his wife E. Deich-Malkina (1919–2014). Kept at the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, this epistolary collection spans over 20 years, starting from 1967. Along with accounts of private circumstances, each letter contains accounts related to B. Livshits, Osip and Nadezhda Mandelstam, I. Nappelbaum, A. Shadrin, and others. At the same time, E. Livshits’ comments and descriptions of people and literary works are very lifelike and fascinating. On the whole, the reader gets a picture of the period and certain literary process, viewed by a sophisticated connoisseur rather than squinted at by an aging disenfranchised widow of an executed writer. The publication is prefaced by P. Nerler, who collected and prepared the book of letters and reminiscences of E. Livshits, to be printed by Elena Shubina Publishers (AST).

scholarly journals “Nero (artist)” in Fedor Dostoevsky’s Workbook of 1864—1867

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 118-132
Author(s):  
Ekaterina L. Smirnova
Keyword(s):  
Detailed Analysis ◽  
State Archive ◽  
Literary Works ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Initial Stage ◽  
Russian State ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
First Time

The article examines the problem of attribution of an essay from F. M. Dostoevsky's workbook of 1864—1867 (Russian State Archive of Literature and Art. Fund 212.1.5. p. 10), titled “The Usurer”. The novelty of the study is in that Nero (the artist), a character who emerged from the writer’s knowledge and concept of Emperor Nero, for the first time becomes the subject of detailed analysis. Based on the evidence from the classical and early Christian writers, as well as on scientific and literary works written during Dostoevsky’s lifetime, the author makes an argument for Nero’s figure to be considered a junction of at least three elements. He is not merely Nero-the-artist, but also Nero-the-persecutor of Christians and Nero-the Antichrist. This image reveals a ramified network of extensive ties with the preparatory materials for an early draft of “The Idiot”. Thus, it augments the aggregate of B. N. Tikhomirov’s arguments regarding other records, characters, motifs and prototypes in this essay. It also support his theory regarding “The Usurer”, which states that it is not the author’s independent and unexecuted idea, but, rather, should be examined in the framework of the creative history of “The Idiot”, specifically, its initial stage.

scholarly journals Leonid Biletskyi as Historian of Ukrainian Literature

2019 ◽  
pp. 20-30
Author(s):  
Stepan Khorob
Keyword(s):  
Contemporary Literature ◽  
Social Consciousness ◽  
National Literature ◽  
Literary Critic ◽  
The Core ◽  
Literary Process ◽  
History Of ◽  
Characteristic Features

The paper deals with historical and literary concepts in the works of the Ukrainian scholar from diaspora Leonid Biletskyi based on the extensive material of his studies on the Ukrainian literature. Using philological, comparative historical and genetic methods the author of the paper analyzes these concepts in the light of Biletskyi’s methodology of studying the ideological and aesthetic phenomena of a national literature that includes revealing characteristic features, specifi c principles and views on the existence and development of the literary process. This method allows outlining specifi city of Leonid Biletskyi as a historian of the national literature, noticeable in his textbook “The History of Ukrainian Literature”, being a kind of encyclopedia of the national cultural and historical spirituality of Ukrainians, as well as in a series of the ‘portrait stories’ presenting many writers of the old, new and contemporary literature. The paper reveals and systematizes historical and literary approaches of the scholar to studying literary and artistic phenomena, processes and certain works. The literary critic evaluated every ideological and aesthetic phenomenon of the national literature based on the general literary criteria. His analysis started from the form (genre, style, stylistics), as, according to the researcher, the form renders the development of the literary process, in which only the core of the author’s artistic thinking – a man and his being – remains unchanged. At the same time Leonid Biletskyi grounded his estimation of the writer’s works and creativity not only on the development of the national literature, but also on the changes in social consciousness of the time. Thus, as a historian of literature, he managed to  combine in his scholarly thinking the subjectivity and objective development of the literary process. The historical concepts of Leonid Biletskyi haven’t been studied suffi ciently yet. The present paper off ers the fi rst review and systematization of them and aims at revealing the special views of the emigration scholar on the development of the Ukrainian literature.  

Romeo and Juliet in A. Smirnov’s letters to T. Shchepkina-Kupernik

2021 ◽  
pp. 210-251
Author(s):  
E. M. Lutsenko
Keyword(s):  
State Archive ◽  
Political Repression ◽  
Romeo And Juliet ◽  
The Core ◽  
Joint Preparation ◽  
Russian State

At the core of this article and publication are archived documents, namely, letters of A. Smirnov to T. Shchepkina-Kupernik, their collection kept at the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art (RGALI). Collaboration between the Shakespeare scholar and the translator lasted for over 30 years (1916–1947). This epistolary legacy is rich in different philological subjects, including Smirnov’s and Shchepkina-Kupernik’s joint preparation of Shakespeare’s works to be printed for adult as well as younger audiences (for example, the collected works for children in four volumes, which features the first publication of Shchepkina-Kupernik’s translation of Romeo and Juliet, produced on Smirnov’s request). It is Shchepkina-Kupernik’s work on the tragedy that the author attempts to piece together in the article. The correspondence also prompts a broader question about the translatororiented editions of Shakespeare prepared for print by Smirnov in the late 1930s. The commentary supplied to the correspondence offers a reconstruction of A. Smirnov’s wide network of contacts in the cultural and publishing setting in the grim period of 1930s political repression.

"MOTHER, SHOWING NO SPECIAL AFFECTION FOR YOU, WRITES TO YOU VERY FRIENDLY". COUNT V.A. MUSIN-PUSHKIN'S PRE-WEDDING LETTERS TO HIS BRIDE

2020 ◽  
pp. 59-75
Author(s):  
Yuliya V. Kim ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Everyday Life ◽  
Family Life ◽  
Married Couple ◽  
State Archive ◽  
Human Relations ◽  
Russian State ◽  
The Family ◽  
The Status ◽  
Traditional Patterns ◽  
Power Hierarchy

The article presents two letters from V.A. Musin-Pushkin which he wrote to his bride shortly before the wedding in 1828 (the letters are kept in the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts). The text of the letters reflects the context of the time and everyday life, the system of views and the peculiarities of the worldview of a young aristocrat, the specific features of intra-family interaction in the field of feelings, marriage, human relations which inevitably turn out to be associated with the concepts of the family honor, family duty, the need to preserve the status of a noble family. The author traces how the power hierarchy is manifested at the level of relations within a close circle of relatives, as well as how traditional patterns are combined with new elements. Vladimir Alekseevich Musin-Pushkin, the youngest son of the archaeographer Count A.I. Musin-Pushkin, was arrested in connection with the case of the Decembrists, transferred from the Guards to the army and exiled to serve in Finland, where he met his future wife, Emilia Karlovna Shernval von Wallen. The article provides details of the family life of this married couple, as well as private facts from the biography of some other members of the Musin-Pushkin family.

‘...Insured against the tyranny of time’.Knut Hamsun’s last play and an unknown Russian film script

2018 ◽  
pp. 76-102
Author(s):  
T P. Lonngren
Keyword(s):  
Film Adaptation ◽  
State Archive ◽  
Short Summary ◽  
Russian State ◽  
History Of ◽  
Theatrical Play ◽  
Russian Film

After a short summary of the story behind K. Hamsun’s play In the Grip of Life [Livet i Vold], its plot and stage history in Russia, the article proceeds to tell about an unknown film script. Cinematic adaptations of Hamsun’s books have always dominated Norwegian literature, while none of his dramatic pieces have made it to the screen. However, a film script was uncovered, an adaptation of In the Grip of Life: a play specially written for a Russian theatre. The script was found in the Russian State Archive of Literature and Arts, among the documents of Evgeny Sergeevich Khokhlov. Based on the history of filmmaking and relevant filmography, Khokhlov’s film script is not just the only attempt at film adaptation of a Hamsun play, but the first ever project based on a theatrical play in Russian cinematic history. Written almost 100 years ago, the script is far from perfect in the modern understanding of filmmaking; nonetheless, it has certain merits in the eyes of contemporaries. The very attempt to interpret the play by means of a nascent artistic genre may be considered a proof of its relevance to Russian audiences at the time.

„Arvīd, uz kurieni Tu aizgāji?”: Arvīda Griguļa personības loma Rakstnieku savienības vēsturē

2020 ◽  
pp. 74-84
Author(s):  
Madara Eversone
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Communist Party ◽  
Central Committee ◽  
State Archive ◽  
National Archives ◽  
Literary Heritage ◽  
Literary Process ◽  
Long Time ◽  
The Impact

The article aims to highlight the role of Arvīds Grigulis’ (1906–1989) personality in the Latvian Soviet literary process in the context of the Latvian Soviet Writers’ Union, attempting to discover the contradictions and significance of Arvīds Grigulis’ personality. Arvīds Grigulis was a long-time member of the Writers’ Union, a member of the Soviet nomenklatura, and an authority of the soviet literary process. His evaluations of pre-soviet literary heritage and writings of his contemporaries were often harsh and ruthless, and also influenced the development of the further literary process. The article is based on the documents of the Central Committee of the Latvian Communist Party, the Latvian Soviet Writers’ Union and the Communist Party local organization of the Latvian Soviet Writers’ Union that are available at the Latvian State Archive of the National Archives of Latvia, as well as memories of Grigulis’ contemporaries. It is concluded that the personality of the writer Arvīds Grigulis, although unfolding less in the context of the Writers’ Union, is essential for the exploration of the soviet literary process and events behind the scenes. The article mainly describes events and episodes taking place until 1965, when Arvīds Grigulis’ influence in the Writers’ Union was more remarkable. Individual and further studies should analyse changes and the impact of his decisions in the cultural process of the 70s and 80s of the 20th century.

THE PROJECT OF STAGING "KHOVANSHCHINA" BY M. P. MUSSORGSKY IN B.V. ASAFYEV’S ORCHESTRATION

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 95-102
Author(s):  
V. A. Aleksandrova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
National Museum ◽  
State Archive ◽  
Central State ◽  
Saint Petersburg ◽  
Russian State ◽  
Archival Documents ◽  
History Of ◽  
Orchestral Score ◽  
First Time

The article is devoted to the history of an unrealized performance of M. P. Mussorgsky’s opera "Khovanshchina" orchestrated by B. V. Asafyev. On the basis of archival documents, stored in the Russian State Archive of Literature and Arts, the Russian National Museum of Music, Central State Archive of Literature and Art of Saint Petersburg, the Bolshoi Theatre Museum, most of which are introduced into scientific circulation for the first time, studied the circumstances under which the opera was planned to be staged in the State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet (nowadays — the Mariinsky Theatre). Fragments from the reports of the Artistic Council of Opera at the State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet meetings, the correspondence between B. V. Asafyev and P. A. Lamm, the manuscript "P. A. Lamm. A Biography" by O. P. Lamm and other unpublished archival documents are cited. The author comes to the conclusion that most attempts to perform "Khovanshchina" were hindered by the difficult socio-political circumstances of the 1930s, while the existing assumptions about the creative failure of the Asafyev’s orchestration don’t find clear affirmation, neither in historical documents, nor in the existing manuscript of the orchestral score.

The Challenges to Social Control in Brezhnev’s Soviet Union, 1964-1982

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 160-173
Author(s):  
Fedor L. Sinitsyn
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Social Control ◽  
Soviet System ◽  
State Archive ◽  
Central State ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Russian State ◽  
The Government ◽  
General Secretary

This article examines the development of social control in the Soviet Union under Leonid Brezhnev, who was General Secretary of the Communist Party from 1964 to 1982. Historians have largely neglected this question, especially with regard to its evolution and efficiency. Research is based on sources in the Russian State Archive of Modern History (RGANI), the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History (RGASPI) and the Moscow Central State Archive (TSGAM). During Brezhnevs rule, Soviet propaganda reached the peak of its development. However, despite the fact that authorities tried to improve it, the system was ritualistic, unconvincing, unwieldy, and favored quantity over quality. The same was true for political education, which did little more than inspire sullen passivity in its students. Although officials recognized these failings, their response was ineffective, and over time Soviet propaganda increasingly lost its potency. At the same time, there were new trends in the system of social control. Authorities tried to have a foot in both camps - to strengthen censorship, and at the same time to get feedback from the public. However, many were afraid to express any criticism openly. In turn, the government used data on peoples sentiments only to try to control their thoughts. As a result, it did not respond to matters that concerned the public. These problems only increased during the era of stagnation and contributed to the decline and subsequent collapse of the Soviet system.

scholarly journals ON THE SPECIFICS OF THE ACTIVITIES OF THE PLENIPOTENTIARIES OF THE STATE DEFENSIVE COMMITTEE DURING THE GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR (ACCORDING TO DOCUMENTS OF FEDERAL AND REGIONAL ARCHIVES)

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-118
Author(s):  
D. V. Repnikov
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Federal State ◽  
State Archive ◽  
Central State ◽  
Socialist Republic ◽  
Soviet Socialist Republic ◽  
Russian State ◽  
Great Patriotic War ◽  
Udmurt Republic ◽  
History Of

The article is devoted to such an important aspect of the activities of the plenipotentiaries of the State Defensive Committee during the Great Patriotic War, as conflicts of authority. Contradictions between the plenipotentiaries of the State Defensive Committee and the leaders of party, state, economic bodies at various levels, as well as between the plenipotentiaries themselves, that were expressed in the emergence of various disputes and often resulted in conflicts of authority, became commonplace in the functioning of the state power system of the USSR in the war period. Based on documents from federal (State Archive of the Russian Federation, Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History, Russian State Archive of Economics) and regional (Central State Archive of the Udmurt Republic, Center for Documentation of the Recent History of the Udmurt Republic) archives, the author considers a conflict of authority situation that developed during the Great Patriotic War in the Udmurt Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, which shows that historical reality is more complicated than the stereotypical manifestations of it.

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