Sergey Durylin and Boris Sadovskoy: An Unpublished Correspondence

Abstract

The article offers the introduction into scholarly circulation of the correspondence between Sergey Nikolaevich Durylin and Boris Alexandrovich Sadovskoy (for years 1911–1913) and supplies it with historical and literary commentaries. The letters are of particular interest for philologists, since they clarify the relationship between two men of letters and reflect significant events in social and cultural life of the time. Durylin valued Sadovskoy’s acquaintance and kept sending out to this “clever and sharp” critic his own poems, requesting Sadovskoy’s “friendly and strict judgement” on them. Sadovskoy pointed out what was most characteristic and authentic about Durylin’s writing and predicted his future poetic success. The letters disclose Durylin's plans for his trip to Lake Svetloyar, where the Kitezh legend was originated. This trip turned out to be very meaningful for Durylin: later he was to publish several works on the Kitezh theme. An important aspect of the correspondence is Sadovskoyʼs cooperation with the St. Petersburg literary periodicals – the “Sovremennik” magazine and the “Russkaya Molva” newspaper – and his plans to publish there the works of several Muscovite authors who were close to him (including Durylin). The letters contain materials related to the history of the Moscow literary circles with which Durylin and Sadovskoy were associated. Four poems by Durylin are presented here for the first time.