“An excerpt from the letter [to D.]” by A.S. Pushkin: addressee, function, dating

Abstract

The article proves that the text, published in the literary almanac “Northern Flowers for 1826” under the title “An excerpt from A. Pushkin’s letter to D[elvig]”, was, in fact, created as a letter to Pushkin’s brother Leo (Lev Sergeevich). The article revises the date and pragmatics of this work, its connection with the literary and biographical context. The article contains a detailed critical analysis of the interpretations of the topic introduced by leading Pushkin scholars: Boris Modzalevsky, Mstislav Tsiavlovsky, Grigorii Vinokur, Vadim Vatsuro, Sergei Fomichev, and Yanina Levkovich. The conclusions of the author are based on a thorough study of the history of the text of the “letter”: its draft manuscript copy in the “Second Masonic notebook”, its fair copy, and all lifetime publications.

Keywords

• alexander pushkin
• lev pushkin
• anton delvig
• text criticism
• dating
• addressee problem
• text history
• narrative poem “the fountain of bakhchisarai”
• crimea