Literary department of the newspaper Zhizn': Persons, ideas, controversy

Abstract

The author of the article, noting the insufficient study of the newspaper world of Russia and the USSR in the 20th century, makes an attempt to partially fill this gap with the characteristics of authors and activities of the literary department and the literary part of the critical and bibliographic department of the Moscow newspaper Zhizn' (“Life”, published from April 22 (10) until July 6, 1918). In contrast to recent publications on this subject, a comprehensive review is given, which, however, leaves room for further research. The value of the material presented for the study of the topic is determined, among other things, by the fact that, first of all, it provides information about unknown or little-known authors and their contributions to the newspaper. Two relatively stable groups that have developed around the Grif publishing house and the art periodical “Bez muz” (the only issue was published in 1918 in Nizhny Novgorod) are distinguished among the newspaper staff. Several episodes connected with the 1918 literary and pseudo-literary controversy and related to I.G. Ehrenburg, S.A. Auslender, V.G. Shershenevich and S.P. Bobrov are considered. As a result of the study, it is concluded that activities of the newspaper Zhizn' literary department and some of its authors showed indicative trends both in the historical period as a whole and in individual circumstances related to the authors and the newspaper’s editorial staff.

Keywords

• the newspaper zhizn'
• literary department
• critical and bibliographical department
• controversy
• grif publishing house
• “bez muz”