Handwritten Draft of the Obituary “To V.D. Nabokov” (1922) by Z.N. Gippius

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Abstract:
This article is the first publication of the handwritten draft of the obituary “To V.D. Nabokov” (<1922>), which was written by Z.N. Gippius in a notebook and recovered from the archives of Illinois University. Comparison of this text with the published version, “A great man”, indicates that the author seemingly reconsidered the concept of the obituary over two weeks. The Merezhkovskys received the news of V.D. Nabokov’s demise from N.V. Tchaikovsky. Z.N. Gippius gave the death a biblical interpretation in her reply on 1 April 1922, denying the ideological similarity between the deceased and P.N. Milyukov. However, her work on the obituary emphasized the protest against possible negotiations between the Europeans and the Bolsheviks, expressed as a direct reference to Genoa and the upcoming international conference. The printed version of the obituary “A great man” employs a metaphor of the red mask, thus concealing the subject of Z.N. Gippius’s protest. The news of V.D. Nabokov’s assassination presumably reached Z.N. Gippius during her work on a text called “Fevralisty (Soiuz X 2). Istoriia”, found in the same notebook. The metaphor of the red mask is common to it and the obituary. The difference between the handwritten draft of “To V.D. Nabokov” and the printed version of “A great man” is due not to a change of opinion, but to the need to publish two obituaries — by Gippius as well as by Merezhkovsky.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.22455/CM.2949-0510-2025-6-633-643
EDN:
https://elibrary.ru/XLKKCF
Author: Elena A. Andrushchenko
About the author: Elena A. Andrushchenko, DSc in Philology, Professor, Director of Research, A.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Povarskaya St., 25A, bld. 1, 121069 Moscow, Russia. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8260-4961 E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Received: April 14, 2024
Date of Publication: June 26, 2024
Approved after reviewing : November 11, 2025
Publication Type: Research Article and Publication of Archival Materials
For citation: Andrushchenko, Е.А. “Handwritten Draft of the Obituary ‘To V.D. Nabokov’ () by Z.N. Gippius”, Article and Publication by E.A. Andrushchenko. Codex manuscriptus, issue 6. Moscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2025, pp. 633–643. (In Russian) https://doi.org/10.22455/CM.2949-0510-2025-6-633-643
Keywords: 20 century, Petrograd, literary environment, “World literature”, manuscript albums, literary translation.

REFERENCES

Os’minina, “‘My ob’iavim <…> nash Soiuz Dukha sushchestvuiushchim…’ (Merezhkovskie i N.V. Chaikovskii v nachale 1920-kh)” [“‘We Will Declare <...> Our Union of Spirit Existing...’ (Merezhkovsky and N.V. Tchaikovsky in the Early 1920s)”]. Diaspora. Novye materialy, no. 5, 2003, pp. 611–627. (In Russ.)
“Perepiska Merezhkovskikh s N.V. Chaikovskim, podg. teksta i primech. E.A. Andrushchenko” [“Correspondence of the Merezhkovskys with N.V. Tchaikovsky, ed. text and notes by E.A. Andrushchenko”]. Merezhkovskie i Evropa, pod obshch. red. V.V. Polonskogo, red.-sost. E.A. Andrushchenko, O.A. Blinova, V.M. Vvedenskaia [Merezhkovsky and Europe, ed.-in-chief V.V. Polonsky, ed.-comp. E.A. Andrushchenko, O.A. Blinova, V.M. Vvedenskaya]. Moscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2023. pp. 354–408. https:// doi.org/10.22455/978-5-9208-0739-7-354-408 (In Russ.)