Ivan F. Gorbunov as a Collaborator of the Journal “Time” (On the Note Previously Attributed to Dostoevsky)

Abstract

The article discusses a note signed “Ch. komitetskij”, published in the journal “Vremya” (“Time”, edited by brothers Dostoevsky) and dedicated to the activities of the Theater and Literary Committee under the Directorate of the Imperial Theaters. In recent years, researchers used to attribute it to Fyodor Dostoevsky and Apollon Grigoriev. The Committee was established in 1856 and was supposed to consider the plays that entered the stage of the state theaters from an aesthetic point of view. Fierce controversy broke out in the press shortly after the Committee had declined the comedy “The Marriage of Balzaminov” by Alexander Ostrovsky, the most popular Russian playwright of the time. The play was first published in “Vremya”, so it is not surprising that Dostoevskys’ journal opposed the Committee. The author of the note demonstrates that he possesses insider’s information considering the Committee’s work; in particular, he was familiar with the ways the reading of the plays was organized. Based on that, we can assume that the signature of its author should be deciphered as “chtez komitetskij” (a “reader of the committee”). Archival data on the personnel of the committee indicate that there were only few readers. One of them, actor Ivan Gorbunov, repeatedly condemned the activities of the Committee and supported Ostrovsky, whose play was not recommended by the Committee for staging. Most presumably, the note was authored by Gorbunov.