Russkaâ literatura
The quarterly peer-review academic journal published since 1958.
Founders
- Russian Academy of Sciences
Publisher
- Russian Academy of Sciences
The journal is published under the supervision of the RAS Department of Historical and Philological Sciences (OIFN RAS).
About the journal
“Russkaia literatura” (Russian Literature) is the country's first and only periodical devoted to the history of Russian literature at all stages of its development. One of the most urgent tasks of "Russian Literature" is to present the current state of academic literary criticism and the most striking achievements in its individual fields. The same aim is pursued by the chronicles of current conferences and reviews of recently published scholarly monographs and anthologies. The volume is intended for specialists in the history of Russian literature and is aimed at a professional audience.
Key areas
- Folklore;
- Old Russian and 18th century literature;
- Classical heritage;
- Modern (20th century) literature;
- Theoretical and historical-literary studies;
- Biographical and textual research;
- Thematic sections on the anniversaries of classic writers, polemics and attribution;
- Critical reviews and critiques;
- Comprehensive information about current scientific life, including chronicles of international symposia and conferences.
Indexation
Media registration certificate: № 0110194 от 04.02.1993
Ағымдағы шығарылым
Ашық рұқсат
Рұқсат берілді
Рұқсат ақылы немесе тек жазылушылар үшін
№ 4 (2025)
Articles
TWO LOVE(LESS) SONGS BY MARK FREYDKIN (BABY VA AND AMOUR PERDU)
Аннотация
The article analyzes the internal structure and the intertextuality of two songs by Mark Freydkin. Fragments of the 1830-2013 poems written in the Ya4mmmm meter, with the quanter halo of «categoric attachment to one thing and nothing else», are published in the Attachment.
Russkaâ literatura. 2025;(4):5-26
5-26
History of a Poem
A KNIGHT AND A HOLY MAIDEN (HOW «THERE ONCE LIVED A POOR KNIGHT» BY A. S. PUSHKIN WAS CONCEIVED)
Аннотация
The article suggests new potential sources of Pushkin's poem «There Once Lived a Poor Knight…» through the biographical context of its iterations. The collection of Old French fablios and novels by Legrand d'Aussy that Pushkin became familiar with no later than 1828 features the image of a galloping knight in full armor, very similar to Pushkin's sketch on a draft of «Poltava», the sketch being related, according to V. B. Sandomirskaya, to Pushkin's work on a poem about a knight. The autobio-graphical motive of a Mediaeval knight's platonic love to an unattainable ideal, connected by Pushkin and his milieu with the events of his wooing of N. N. Goncharova, might have been one of the reasons why the poet had never published the poem in the Northern Flowers almanac, dedicated to the deceased A. A. Delvig.
Russkaâ literatura. 2025;(4):27-33
27-33
«THERE ONCE LIVED A POOR KNIGHT» (HISTORY OF CREATION)
Аннотация
The history of the creation of Pushkin's poem «There Once Lived a Poor Knight» has been interpreted differently by various researchers, since the four existing autographs (a rough draft and three clean copies) were introduced into academic circulation with intervals of decades. Pushkin intended twice to publish the poem in the Northern Flowers almanac, but nally gave up the idea, presumably for censorship reasons. In the summer of 1835, a shortened and revised text of the poem was included in his un nished . By dating each of the autographs and examining the iterations, we identi ed three versions of the poem «There Once Lived a Poor Knight».
Russkaâ literatura. 2025;(4):34-47
34-47
Remizoviana
A NEW OUTLOOK ON THE OLD MYSTIFICATIONS: GERMAN, TURK AND BEAR IN A. M. REMIZOV AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SHORT STORIES
Аннотация
The article deals with the instance of Remizov addressing the episodes of his own life in 1906, i. e. the practical jokes on his literary acquaintances, in 1946-1948. Three St. Petersburg stories dealing with real people, J. von Gunter, a German poet and translator, C. Jakobson, a Latvian poet, and I. To tesh, an entrepreneur, seem to be the reminiscences about mysti cations built around the arrival of a «foreign» guest to the Northern Capital. Documentary evidence, both previously published and unknown, about the practical jokes is related. In his later years, Remizov regarded the pranks of his youth as a spe cial feature of his artistic mind, that differed him from the esthetic mainstream of the Symbolist culture.
Russkaâ literatura. 2025;(4):48-76
48-76
M. REMIZOV’S UNKNOWN ESSAYS OF 1956-1957: AND
Аннотация
The article analyzes the new memoir narratives discovered in the writer's archive. Thematically and stylistically, they carry on the tradition of Remizov's 1950s essays on the Dead Souls, based on the literary analysis of the classic's style as construed in Andrei Bely's book Gogol's Mastership (1934). In both essays, a hyperbolized symbol, representing the «grain» of the character's image, forms a lyrical plot that shapes itself around it. The drafts of the essays about N. Berdyaev and V. Lebedev preserved in the writer's notebooks testify to the beginning of a new stage of Remizov's creative career as a memoirist.
Russkaâ literatura. 2025;(4):77-86
77-86
Публикации и сообщения
PERSIA IN AFANASY NIKITIN'S VOYAGE BEYOND THREE SEAS
Аннотация
The article examines the reception of the image of the «stranger» in the Voyage beyond Three Seas by Afanasy Nikitin. The descriptions of alien space, alien culture and religion are considered. It is determined that Nikitin borrowed from various Eastern languages to construe their descriptions. The authors were the rst to identify the source languages of all Persian and Mazandaran borrowed words and expressions and to provide their exact translations, as well as comments. In the course of the analysis, missing words, incorrect translations and transliterations of foreign words in the Voyage… were identi ed.
Russkaâ literatura. 2025;(4):87-97
87-97
THE UNSOLVABLE RIDDLE OF THE 1835 PRINTED EDITION OF GOGOL'S MIRGOROD
Аннотация
The article examines discrepancies found in the copies of the 1835 editions of Mirgorod. It reviews the theories proposed by N. L. Stepanov, I. A. Vinogradov, E. G. Paderina regarding the origins of these discrepancies, including the probability of censorship interference and typographical errors. In addition to the previously identi ed «special» copy of Mirgorod discovered by N. L. Stepanov in the Library of the Academy of Sciences in the 1930s, two other previously overlooked «special» copies are analyzed: one from the Prague Scienti c Library and another from the A.V. Nikitenko Library in Tomsk, each exhibiting unique features. Notable inconsistences include: the presence of a preface to the story «How Ivan Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich» in both the Library of the Academy of Sciences (BAN) and Nikitenko Library copies; the absence of the nal scene in «Viy» in the BAN copy, while the Nikitenko copy features both this scene and the preface; a duplicated note in «Viy», labeled as an «Error» but unrelated to the story's content, suggesting a metatextual play with the reader. These ndings challenge the exiting hypotheses, including the previously accepted chronology of Gogol's revisions of Mirgorod during the typesetting stage, prompting further scholarly inquiry.
Russkaâ literatura. 2025;(4):97-107
97-107
LOUIS LÉGER, POPULARIZER OF RUSSIAN LITERATURE IN FRANCE
Аннотация
The article describes the contribution of the French Slavic scholar Louis Léger (1843-1923) to the popularization and study of Russian literature in France. Léger is presented as the successor to the tradition of E. M. de Vogüé. For the rst time in Russian literary criticism, a comparative analysis of Léger’s anthology of Russian literature and the anthology compiled by his predecessor A. Tardif de Mello is provided. Léger’s Russian Literature anthology (1892) is considered as the prologue to his History of Russian Literature (1893). The History of Russian Literature is deemed to be more popular and perfunctory, while the preface to the anthology is more problem-setting and analytical, testifying to the af nity of Léger the scholar to the cultural and historical school in French literary criticism.
Russkaâ literatura. 2025;(4):107-112
107-112
A. A. FET'S UNKNOWN LETTERS TO K. N. LEONTIEV (1884-1891)
Аннотация
The article introduces fteen letters of A. A. Fet to K. N. Leontiev, discovered in 2021 and currently preserved in a private collection in Russia. Until recently, it was believed that Fet's part of eight-year the fairly regular correspondence had been almost entirely lost. This exceptional discovery restores the epistolary dialogue between Fet and Leontiev in almost the whole of its diversity, shedding new light on the history of the relationship between the poet and the «Optina Hermit».
Russkaâ literatura. 2025;(4):113-141
113-141
«YOU ARE A FAMOUS CRITIC, I AM AN EMERGING NOVELIST» (ANNA MAR'S LETTERS TO A. A. IZMAILOV, 1910-1914)
Аннотация
The article introduces the letters of Anna Mar (1887-1917), a popular novelist and playwright of the early 20th century, to the famous critic A. A. Izmailov (1873-1921). At the time of their epistolary acquaintance, Izmailov was an accomplished journalist, a popular parodist, head of the literary criticism department of Birzhevye Vedomosti; Anna Mar was an employee of the Kharkov news-paper Yuzhny Krai, embarking on the professional writing career. Real fame came to her after the publication of the collection of short stories The Impossible (Moscow, 1912). The correspondence touches on the suicide of the poet V. V. Hoffman, with whom Anna Mar had a personal relationship. The article traces the history of the publication of her collected stories (Walking By, 1913, I Sinned to you Alone, 1914), and the vicissitudes of her publishing projects. From the very beginning, Anna Mar’s epistolary style was intimate; the reports of the daily events were supplemented by the description of indepth personal experiences, which was congenial to her literary style. The source of the publication of Anna Mar’s letters to Izmailov is the autographs from the Manuscript Department of the Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkinskiy Dom), Russian Academy of Sciences. The location of Izmailov’s letters is unknown.
Russkaâ literatura. 2025;(4):141-155
141-155
REVISED VS. SUPPLEMENTED: TOWARDS THE PUBLISHING HISTORY OF THE SECOND EDITION OF PAUL VERALAINE'S TRANSLATIONS BY F. K. SOLOGUB
Аннотация
The article deals with particular issues of the creative history of the second edition of Paul Verlain's translations by F. K. Sologub, published in 1923. The data from the Sologub Papers lead to believe that the edition was shaped step by step; the reasons why the number of the revised translations from the rst edition turned out to be more than planned are discussed.
Russkaâ literatura. 2025;(4):155-164
155-164
«ALL OUR EXCELLENT PLANS... WOULD GO TO HELL»: ABORTED D. I. FONVIZIN COLLECTED WORKS AT ACADEMIA PUBLISHING HOUSE
Аннотация
The article reconstructs the progress of the aborted edition of D. I. Fonvizin's Complete Works, prepared at the Academia Publishing House by Ya. L. Barskov and G. A. Gukovsky. The related data are preserved at the Academia archives (RGALI, f. 629) and in the papers of G. A. Gukovsky (TsGALI, St. Petersburg, R-145) and Ya. L. Barskov (RGB, f. 16). The episode highlights the publishing processes of the 1930s and supplements the academic biography of G. A. Gukovsky.
Russkaâ literatura. 2025;(4):164-180
164-180
THE PUBLISHING HISTORY OF F. K. SOLOGUB'S POEMS AT POET'S LIBRARY (1939)
Аннотация
The article publishers and analyzes V. N. Orlov’s review of the manuscript of F. K. Sologub’s Poems, prepared for the Small series of Poet’s Library by O. V. Tsekhnovitzer. The review suggests what the initial version of the book looked like and which principles the editors were expected to apply to this academic edition. The notes by Orlov, who was deeply immersed in the epoch, transformed the volume that, for a long while, remained to be the only reissue of Sologub’s poetic legacy.
Russkaâ literatura. 2025;(4):180-191
180-191
AGAIN ON VEDENYAPIN IN DOCTOR ZHIVAGO BY B. L. PASTERNAK
Аннотация
The article highlights one of the sources of the ideas of immortality and art, culture and history, Antiquity and modernity in B. L. Pasternak’s Doctor Zhivago. The analysis shows that as the writer worked on the novel, his ideas might have been in uenced by his communications with his cousin O. M. Freydenberg, his long-term correspondent and congenial spirit.
Russkaâ literatura. 2025;(4):192-196
192-196
THE AESTHETICS OF SOCIALIST REALISM AND SOVIET DISCOURSES OF THE POSTWAR PERIOD IN THE GULAG MEMOIRS
Аннотация
The article focuses on the memoirs about Gulag produced by the amateur writers in the 1960s - mid-1980s. The theoretical framework for the study is the clari cation of the relationship between the poetics of the memoirs and the artistic structure of the Soviet novel. While the authors working on their manuscripts during the Thaw were strongly in uenced by the of cial discourses and tended to use the literary models of Socialist Realism, those writing in the 1970s-1980s chose the narrative strategies close to 'labor camp prose' and autobiographical narratives of the dissidents.
Russkaâ literatura. 2025;(4):196-206
196-206
AMSHEY NURENBERG AND MARC CHAGALL IN YU. V. TRIFONOV'S NOVELLA ANOTHER LIFE
Аннотация
The article analyzes Yury Trifonov’s novella Another Life and its minor character Georgy Maksimovich (the father-in-law of the protagonist Sergei Troitsky), an elderly artist who had renounced his original avantgarde painting style for the ideologically acceptable aesthetics of Socialist Realism. Amshey Nurenberg, the father of the writer’s rst wife, served as the prototype of the character. Georgy Maximovich’s story arc expands the historical and biographical context of the novella: apart from exploring the life story of Nurenberg, Trifonov goes into the ones of his contemporaries, including Marc Chagall, who embodies the ideal of creative freedom in the novella.
Russkaâ literatura. 2025;(4):207-217
207-217
APPROACHES TO TEXTUAL ANALYSIS AND AUTHORSHIP PROBLEM IN THE PLAY TEN DAYS THAT SHOOK THE WORLD
Аннотация
This article analyzes the documentary and literary sources of the renowned play Ten Days that Shook the World. It looks into the poetics of the play which manifests the special features of the dramaturgy of the 1920s-1930s, including the experience of collective authorship. The previously unpublished archival data are used. The term "dramaturgical experience" is proposed.
Russkaâ literatura. 2025;(4):217-225
217-225
INTERFACE AS THE HERMENEUTICAL SPACE
Аннотация
The article outlines the main principles and conceptual foundations underlying the interface design for Pushkin.digital, a digital edition developed at the Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkinskij Dom). In this edition, navigation, visual composition, and modes of interaction with the text are conceived as the elements of philological - and, specifically, interpretative - practices. Rather than being an auxiliary tool, the interface is the form of organizing philological scholarship, a structure that de nes the relationships between the text, its history (genesis), and commentary.
Russkaâ literatura. 2025;(4):226-234
226-234
Заметки
UNKNOWN LETTER AND POEM BY N. M. BAKHTIN
Аннотация
The article supplements one of the episodes of the early life of N. M. Bakhtin, Russian émigré literary critic and classical philologist. The following archival documents are presented: Bakhtin's letter to A. A. Vrubel, the sister of the famous artist, and the poem M. A. Vrubel; the biographical, historical and literary contexts of this story are reconstructed.
Russkaâ literatura. 2025;(4):235-237
235-237
THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON BY J. BOSWELL AS TRANSLATED BY YU. D. LEVIN
Аннотация
The Life of Samuel Johnson by James Boswell turned out to be the last translation of Yu. D. Levin. This work is held in high esteem both by the writer’s compatriots and by all the students of English cultural history. The major part of the translation has been preserved, the work was to be incorporated into the fundamental three-volume edition of Johnson’s works Biographies of the Renowned English Poets and Critical Reviews of their Works (Moscow, 2023), prepared by N. I. Reyngold and T. A. Gu revich for the Literary Monuments series. Boswell’s work is important for analyzing the genre of biography and autobiography both in the European and Russian literature. The translation begins with Boswell’s description of Johnson’s early years and ends with the description of his meeting with King George III in 1767. The text was annotated by N. I. Reyngold who had supplied the edition with copious notes. The poems by Johnson in Yu. D. Levin’s translations are included into the commentaries that introduce the reader to various versions of the texts. Yu. D. Levin’s transliterations of the names of the English writers, based on the Russian 18th-century tradition, have been preserved.
Russkaâ literatura. 2025;(4):237-239
237-239
Обзоры и рецензии
240-244
A VALUABLE COLLECTION OF ARCHIVAL DATA ON THE HISTORY OF RUSSO-ITALIAN SOCIAL AND CULTURAL TIES
Аннотация
[Review:] Dagli archivi romani agli archivi pietroburghesi / A cura di Giuseppina Giuliano, Andrej Shishkin = Ot rimskikh arkhivov k arkhivam peterburgskim. Novye materialy / Pod red. Dzhuzeppiny Dzhuliano, Andreia Shishkina. Roma: Valore Italiano Editore, 2024. 480 p., ill. (Correnti d'incontro tra Russia ed Europa; vol. 02/2024).
Russkaâ literatura. 2025;(4):244-246
244-246
247-248
249-251
Хроника
MUSEUM AND ICONOGRAPHY SEMINAR OF THE PUSHKIN HOUSE IN 2023 AND 2024 [Meeting Abstract]
Russkaâ literatura. 2025;(4):252-256
252-256
VTORAYa MEZhDUNARODNAYa MOLODEZhNAYa KONFERENTsIYa «DOMAShNIE ChTENIYa: K ISTORII MALOGO: NEZAMETNOE, OKKAZIONAL'NOE, PERIFERIYNOE V RUSSKOY LITERATURE»
Russkaâ literatura. 2025;(4):256-260
256-260
NAUChNAYa KONFERENTsIYa «SOTsREALIZM „POSTMORTEM“ (POZDNYaYa SOVETSKAYa ESTETIKA) 2024»
Russkaâ literatura. 2025;(4):260-264
260-264
TRINADTsATYY AGIOGRAFIChESKIY SEMINAR
Russkaâ literatura. 2025;(4):264-266
264-266
VLADIMIR PETROVICh STEPANOV: PORTRET UChENOGO. K 90-LETIYu SO DNYa ROZhDENIYa
Russkaâ literatura. 2025;(4):267-269
267-269
OL'GA ANDREEVNA BELOBROVA - ISSLEDOVATEL' RUSSKOY PALOMNIChESKOY LITERATURY. K 100-LETIYu SO DNYa ROZhDENIYa
Russkaâ literatura. 2025;(4):270-275
270-275
UKAZATEL' STATEY I MATERIALOV, OPUBLIKOVANNYKh V ZhURNALE «RUSSKAYa LITERATURA» V 2025 GODU
Russkaâ literatura. 2025;(4):276-282
276-282
SUMMARIES
Russkaâ literatura. 2025;(4):283-327
283-327