Two Letters from V. Bryusov to P. Bartenev

Abstract

The publication complements the materials collected in the book Valery Bryusov as a literary historian (Moscow, 2019, series “Literary Heritage Library”, edited by N.A. Bogomolov and A.V. Lavrov) that contains Bryusov’s correspondence with P.I. Bartenev and N.O. Lerner. The correspondence of Valery Bryusov and Petr Bartenev includes, among others, 39 Bryusov’s letters of 1898–1909, preserved in the Russian State Archive of Literature and Arts. The corpus of Bryusov–Bartenev correspondence reflects the poet’s work as a secretary, contributor, reviewer in the journal of history and literary history Russkiy Arkhiv (Russian Archive) edited by Bartenev (Bryusov has become an outstanding Russian classical poetry expert of his time). Two more Bryusov’s letters relating to Bartenev’s last years have been recently discovered. They are preserved in the State Literary Museum Manuscript Department and shed light on some details of Bryusov’s relations with Bartenev, as well as their shared interest in classical literature, and provide some additional data for the biographies of Bryusov and his correspondent — a contemporary of Tyutchev, Pogodin, the Aksakovs, an “archive-digger”, described by Bryusov as “a committed publisher of historical materials” and viewed by the poet as a person not at all alien to literature and culture of the early 20th century.

Keywords

• v. bryusov
• p. bartenev
• letters of literary historians
• correspondence
• early twentieth century russian literature