Two letters by the Amfiteatrovs to Petr Krasnov: Finishing the project

Abstract

Journalist, prose writer, playwright Alexander Amfiteatrov and Ataman of the Great Don Army General Petr Krasnov, the author of numerous novels and short stories, belonged to the older generation of Russian émigré writers. Amfiteatrov lived in Italy, and Krasnov in Paris, and they communicated by mail. Their correspondence that began in 1927 lasted more than 10 years, until Amfiteatrov’s death. The previously published large complex of their letters contains not only significant additions to the literary biography of correspondents, but also an important information on the political, social, and literary history of the Russian Abroad in the 1920s and 1930s. Moreover, Krasnov’s letters are only a small part of the huge Amfiteatrov émigré collection, researched by the author of this publication in collaboration with Oleg Korostelev with plans to devote several books of the Amfiteatrov volume in the academic series “Literary Heritage” to these materials. This publication presents two recently discovered letters to Krasnov, written by Amfiteatrov himself and by his widow, reporting on her efforts to collect a book in her husband's memory during the outbreak of World War II.

Keywords

• russian abroad
• literature and politics
• alexander amfiteatrov
• petr krasnov
• periodicals of the russian diaspora