“Petersburg-Leningrad is a vital topic for me”: V.N. Toporov’s letters to A.M. Konechny

Abstract

Published herewith Vladimir Nikolaevich Toporov’s letters (1928–2005) to the author of the present paper, shed light on certain aspects of the studies devoted to the ”Petersburg text” of Russian culture, undertaken by V.N. Toporov in the 1970s. Toporov’s works recreated the tradition of studying Petersburg against historical-cultural and literary context, and laid a new basis for it. The letters and comments mention the founder of the tradition — N.P. Antsiferov.

Keywords

• history of philology.
• v.n. toporov
• scholarly correspondence
• “petersburg text” of russian culture