“In Moscow there’s nobody to talk about Lermontov with”: Correspondence of Emma Gershtein and Boris Eikhenbaum

Abstract

The correspondence of Emma Grigoryevna Gershtein (1903–2002) and Boris Mikhailovich Eikhenbaum (1886–1959) is introduced into scientific circulation, being important both for characterizing personalities and scientific methods of two philologists and for supplementing the history of Russian literary criticism of the Soviet period. The correspondence, which lasted for more than twenty years, is an interesting document, which reflected many aspects of its authors’ life, especially their deep scientific interest in Mikhail Lermontov’s life and work. The correspondence gives an idea of many circumstances of its participants’ life, contains information about the events of scientific life in Moscow and Leningrad, about fellow philologists, about preparation of books and articles for publishing, about working on exhibitions and archives of past years. Emma Gerstein’s discover the gradual formation of a profound researcher of Lermontov’s works, who went his own way in philology and had his own voice. The combination of facts, events, individual features gave her the opportunity to reconstruct many realities of Lermontov’s creative life, to reinterpret the content of works, to clarify dates and relations with people. As a rule, Gerstein turns to Eichenbaum with questions and problems regarding her work on the Lermontov theme, where Eichenbaum’s letters, with few exceptions, are just reciprocal.

Keywords

• emma gershtein
• boris eikhenbaum
• history of literary criticism
• mikhail lermontov
• “circle of 16”