A.N. Tolstoy in the Memoirs of M.V. Neustrueva. Part 2. Aleksey Nikolaevich and Mariya Vasilievna

Abstract

This publication of fragments of the memoirs of M.V. Neustrueva (1885–1961) is a continuation of the publication presented in the previous issue of the journal. Having moved to St. Petersburg in 1909, Neustrueva entered the Bestuzhev Courses. She became an active participant and visitor to various literary, artistic, and other salons and societies, where she met many famous artists. Some of these meetings, as well as her ongoing acquaintance with recent Samara resident Aleksey Tolstoy, she described in her memoirs, which are a unique document that reveals in a new way both the life of the capital, seen through the eyes of a recent provincial and Tolstoy, whose rise to fame began quite recently but was confident and became more and more intense day by day. The introductory article preceding the publication reveals some biographical aspects of Aleksay Tolstoy’s life against the background of which the events described by Mariya Neustrueva unfolded.

Keywords

• a.n. tolstoy
• m.v. neustrueva
• petersburg
• cultural life of the 1910s
• religious and philosophical society
• “old petersburg” society
• academy of arts
• student evenings.