E. N. Konshina and Her Work on the Publication of Dostoevsky’s Notebooks

Abstract

One of the most notable literary textual critics of the XX century is Elizaveta Nikolaevna Konshina (1890-1972), who studied and published A. P. Chekhov’s, and subsequently F. M. Dostoevsky’s notebooks and books. "Notebooks of F. M. Dostoevsky" were published in 1935 under her editorship. The article presents the main facts of the professional path of E. N. Konshina, analyzes the part of her considerable archive that is associated with the preparation of Dostoevsky's notebooks for publication, and notes the unique features of the researcher’s textual work. In the 1920s and 30s, E. N. Konshina used her own method of studying autographs in an attempt to understand the workings of the writer's creative thought. Her techniques include reproducing manuscripts and simultaneously reconstructing Dostoevsky’s text editing process. In addition to deep interpretations of the works of Pushkin, Chekhov, Bryusov, and Ibsen, few of which were published in Konshina's articles, her textual experience provides modern researchers with unique opportunities to understand the work of Dostoevsky and Chekhov.