Abstract

The issue of the creative heritage of writers of the Russian abroad has been studied by many domestic and foreign scientists, but the problem of their works existence in the library special collections is not studied enough. The work objective is to present the specificity of acquisition of major Russian (Soviet) library with publications of authors-immigrants, to reveal general and specific principles of collection formation and preservation inherent for special depositories based on the analysis of documents storing in the Center for Contemporary Documentation, the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art (RGALI). The methodological basis is a set of principles and approaches of historical, cultural and bibliologic nature. After the October Revolution a large number of creative intelligentsia left Russia (philosophers, writers, artists). The first wave of Russian emigration that began in 1918 was a mass and lengthy process. Among the famous writers there emigrated: I. Bunin, I. Shmelev, A. Averchenko, K. Balmont, Z. Gippius, B. Zaitsev, A. Kuprin, A. Remizov, I. Severyanin, A. Tolstoy, Teffi, Sasha Chrernyi, M. Tsvetaeva, M. Aldanov, G. Adamovich, G. Ivanov, V. Khodasevich. At the end of the World War II, the second wave of emigration began, which was no longer as mass as the first. Most of the writers and poets emigrated to Germany and the United States. The most famous among the representatives of the second wave are poets: I. Elagin, D. Klenovski, V. Yurasov, V. Morshen, V. Chinnov. The third wave of emigration started in “Khrushchev ottepel” time. A. Solzhenitsyn’s works were prohibited for publication, сriminal cases were brought against Y. Daniel and A. Sinyavsky, I. Brodsky was convicted for slothfulness, exiled to remote places. Later, V. Aksenov, V. Voinovich, V. Maksimov and others were forced to leave the USSR. Writes-emigrants stayed a great number of works created and published off the frames of Soviet census, which allow preserving historical facts for future generations The literature of the Russian emigration has always occupied a significant place in the libraries' stocks of special storage. The Russian abroad literature divides into three periods corresponding to three waves in the history of Russian emigration: 1918 – early 1940s – the first wave; mid 1940– 1950s – the second wave; late 1960s – early 1980s – the third wave. The collection of literature of the Russian Diaspora of the Russian State Library contains works of the authors of all waves of emigration. In total, over 700 thousand of documents are stored here. In the library of the Russian Academy of Sciences, works of Russian writers and scientists published after 1917 are stores in the reading room of the Russian Diaspora collection. There are significant collections in the Russian National Library – white guard newspapers and journals of the Civil war, literature of foreign centers of the Russian emigration of the 1920–1930s, as well as some works of writers of the emigration first wave. These specific library departments formed and preserved a huge literature collection of the Russian Diaspora of the XX century. Thanks to them, scientists, researchers and intellectuals had the opportunity to get acquainted with the literature of emigrant writers.

Full Text
Published version (Free)

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call