In the article the artistic work and silhouette of a forgotten Russian emigrant, Anatoly Gladilin, are both researched. He was a representative of the third wave of Russian emigration and the author of The Street of Generals. In the so-called Soviet text the atmosphere of the 1960s, in which Anatoly Gladilin appeared as a writer, was reconstructed. Reflecting the historical and factual image of the 1960s generation, Gladilin recalls many authors who, as well as he, were forced to leave their homeland and to eat the bitter bread of exile.
The article analyses the images of female terrorists in a novel of Roman Gul, a first-wave Russian emigrant. The members of the Socialist Revolutionary Party, including women, committed two well-known terrorist acts, i.e. the assassination of the Minister of the Interior Vyacheslav von Plehve and the murder of Grand Duke Sergey Alexandrovich.
The prose written by a representative of the First Wave of Russian Emigration – B.K. Zaytsev – has been investigated in Poland since the 1980s, and at the beginning of the 21st century we know that there are some academic centers and researchers that have dedicated their work to different aspects of the prose written by the author of ’A Writer’s Diary’. This article examines Zaytsev’s essays devoted to the spiritual values of the Russian Orthodox Church. Their essence is described in Zaytsev’s essays about John of Kronstadt or the Optina Hermitage, which is where Russian notables such as N. Gogol, V. Solovyov, K. Leontyev, F. Dostoyevsky or even L. Tolstoy himself came to seek advice. Zaytsev’s essays: ‘The history of the Russian soul’ and ‘One more time about Athos’ are very important as they provide an understanding of the values of the Russian Orthodox Church. In the latter the author contemplates his visit to the monks of Athos reminiscing about their kindness, rectitude and modesty which, according to Zaytsev, ‘calmed his own soul’.
Among the group of Russian emigrants in the 20th century, after the October Revolution, were many famous satirists and humorists, for example, A. Averchenko, Sasha Cherny, N. Teffi, V. Goryansky, Don-Aminado and many other acclaimed masters of satire. Attention is focused on a mock novelette about emigration and emigrants that was written by the so-called “new Kozma Prutkov” – a forgotten satire writer Don-Aminado (real name: Aminad Petrovich Shpolyansky). The year 2012 marked the 55th anniversary of his death. This article examines Don-Aminado’s aphorisms and a mock novelette about his fellow countrymen in France. The experience the satirist gained from his wanderings after hehad emigrated from Russia let him re-evaluate many things and allowed him to make fun of himself, his friends and the fact that, by a stroke of fortune, they came to Paris. The existence of a “little man”, i.e. a Russian emigrant in France, his/her poverty, debts, the privation he/she suffered, the lack of professional job offers and the fact that he/she lived on credit was the major theme in Don-Aminado’s satire. Don-Aminado is said to beKozma Prutkov’s successor as regards his poetic parodies, maxims and aphorisms that are applicable to life, which is the secret of their longevity.
This paper examines the letters exchanged between Vadim Sidur and Karl Eimermacher, and Julia Sidur and Karl Eimermacher in the context of the influential testimony of the 20th century. In the letters from Vadim Sidura addressed to Karl Eimermacher - the German Professor of Slavic Studies - the predominant issue discussed is the artistic work of the former and his future plans: exhibitions, books, catalogues; it also covers in detail the culture of the epochs of Leonid Brezhnev, Yuri Andropov, and the early years of Mikhail Gorbachev’s activity. Letters authored by Vadim Sidura’s wife Julia, written after his death, convey descriptions of perestroika and the atmosphere within the culture of the 80s. It is worth noting that both addressers are critics not only capable of noting particular phenomena, but also keen of providing analytical judgements. This exchange happens to be a significant testimony of the times of perestroika and the convoluted events accompanying the political transformation. Importantly enough, it shows both that part of society which yearns for preserving the old political system, and those citizens who actively participate in the creation of the new society and its structures. Both collections of letters along with the facts, descriptions, and evaluations they cover, boil down to a testimony of an epoch in which dialogue has been - and still is - possible.
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