Dmitri Filosofov’s letter to Tatyana Gippius (From comments to T. Gippius’ diary letters of 1906–1908)

Abstract

The publication introduces into scientific circulation an unknown letter from Dmitry Filosofov to Tatyana Nikolaevna Gippius (1877–1957) from the Merezhkovskys collection in the Amherst Russian Center (Massachusetts, USA). The document refers to the period of the Merezhkovskys and Filosofov’s Paris emigration in 1906–1908, being a fragment of the extensive family correspondence of the period, in which Filosofov participated as a family member. The larger part of correspondence consists of the so-called “diaries” of T.N. Gippius (her almost daily letters-reports to Paris), in which a chronicle of the inner life of the Merezhkovskys’ neo-Christian commune is traced. Response letters have been lost, with a few exceptions. Filosofov’s letter to T. Gippius captures a remarkable fact of the epistolary dialogue and relations of correspondents, contains a real commentary on a number of plots of “diary” letters, and introduces new additional touches to the picture of the Merezhkovskys and Filosofov’s Parisian life in 1906–1908.

Keywords

• tatyana gippius
• dmitry filosofov
• the merezhkovskys
• diary letters
• neo-christian commune