The Story of One Failed Publication: about the Manuscript “Additions to Correspondence with Friends”

Abstract

The article is devoted to certain aspects of the censorship history of “Selected Passages from Correspondence with Friends” related to the preparation for the publication of “Works by Gogol” in 1855–1856. At that time, an attempt was made to publish the text of “Selected Passages…” without censorship exceptions, and the Moscow Censorship Committee received the manuscript “Additions to Correspondence with Friends,” which included the texts of chapters that were not allowed for publication in 1846. The paper presents the circumstances of its censorship consideration. It also establishes that one of the handwritten copies of the prohibited chapters of “Selected Passages…” stored in the Manuscript Department of the Russian State Library is a part of this manuscript, although it now has a different name. Comparison of this handwritten copy with other censorship materials showed that the edits in it fully correspond to those described in one of the documents of 1856; the page numbers with pencil marks coincide with those indicated in the censor’s report; the sequence of chapters is the same as in the manuscript submitted to the Moscow Censorship Committee; and finally, there are edits made by P.A. Vyazemsky, who, as is known, read the “Additions to the Correspondence…” and planned to discuss the necessary changes with the publisher. At the same time, there are still a lot of questions related to both the history of the creation of this manuscript and its future fate.

Keywords

• n.v. gogol
• s.p. shevyrev
• n.p. trushkovsky
• p.a. vyazemsky
• censorship history
• “selected passages from correspondence with friends.”