“I Choose the Chapter About Protopopov for Testing...” (From the History of A. Blok’s Essay “The Last Days of Imperial Power”)

Abstract

This work is devoted to the fate of the chapter on A.D. Protopopov, chosen by A. Blok as a work, as part of his official activities in the Extraordinary Commission of Inquiry, for reporting to the Constituent Assembly. A wide range of source material (notebooks, diary, letters to his mother) demonstrates Blok’s attitude towards the last Minister of Internal Affairs. The research concerns the poet’s particular focus on the personality of the disgraced official. The article analyzes documents from Blok’s archive related to his work on the chapter and traces Blok’s parallel work on the chapters “The Last Days of the Tsarist Regime” and “Protopopov.” The article presents, among other things, unknown archival materials from the Manuscript Department of the Pushkin House.

Keywords

• a.a. blok
• extraordinary commission of inquiry
• february revolution
• essay
• official activity