Unknown Materials about Esenin’s Publishing Activity (1921)

Abstract

The article introduces into scientific circulation two archival documents signed by S.A. Esenin, which were not included in “The Complete Works of S.A. Esenin” in 7 vols. (9 books) (1995–2001). These documents are kept in the Moscow City Council fund in the Central State Archive of the Moscow Region and indicate plans to expand the publishing activities of imaginists, namely, the project of opening their own printing house. The main document is a letter with an informal appeal to the chairman of the Moscow City Council L.B. Kamenev signed by Esenin, V.G. Shershenevich, and A.B. Kusikov. An official petition addressed to Kamenev, signed by Shershenevich, Esenin, S.T. Grigoriev, R. Ivnev, and Kusikov, is attached to the letter. Both documents were registered in the expedition of the Executive Committee of the Moscow City Council on December 31, 1921, and are commented on in detail in the article. The content of the discovered letter to Kamenev confirms that there was previously a successful initiative of a similar nature. Among the “illegal” publications of the imaginists is the author’s collection of Esenin “Treryadnitsa,” published in mid-October 1920 under the brand of the non-existent publishing house “Cereal,” as well as three collections with the participation of Esenin — “The Foundry of Words,” “The Tavern of Dawn,” “The Cavalry of Storms,” published in February–May 1920. These discovered documents open previously unknown pages of Esenin’s biography.

Keywords

• s.a. esenin as a publisher
• archives
• unknown documents
• l.b. kamenev
• imaginists
• printing house
• literary life of 1920–1921