I.S. Shmelev and B.K. Zaitsev: The crossing of destinies

UDC 821.161.1-6
DOI 10.20339/PhS.3-26.048

Surovova Lyudmila Yu.,

Candidate of Philology, Senior Researcher

Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences

e-mail: l.sur@mail.ru

The article tasted the personal and creative relations of I.S. Shmelev and B.K. Zaitsev. One of the most curious periods of their relationship is considered — from about 1927 to 1937. Both writers met in pre-revolutionary Moscow at literary meetings, but became really close only in emigration. Despite the similarity of their worldview, they were different in temperament and reacted differently to certain events. So they disagreed about the change of editor in the right-wing emigrant newspaper Vozrozhdenie, with which they both collaborated. There was a quarrel between the writers, which ended in a final reconciliation thanks to Zaitsev’s trip to Valaam in 1935. Zaitsev found Shmelev’s first book in the Valaam monastery library, published in 1897. Undoubtedly, he was interested in the work of young Shmelev, reflecting the life of the Valaam monastery forty years ago. And when creating his series of essays on Valaam, Zaitsev, willingly or unwittingly, drew on the experience of his predecessor in depicting the ascetic spirit that reigned on the holy islands. In turn, Shmelev, having decided to transform his first book into a completely new work, was impressed by the essays Zaitsev wrote after the trip. The article examines how Shmelev and Zaitsev influenced each other when working with the same material. Archival documents were used for the conducted research.

Keywords: I.S. Shmelev, B.K. Zaitsev, Valaam, Russian emigration of the first wave, essay, biography, epistolary heritage, literary influence

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