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- Abstract:
Olga Blinova’s article focuses on the collection of allegedly scientific works owned by D.S. Merezhkovsky and sold by V.A. Zlobin to the National Library of France in 1950. Following in the footsteps of M.M. Pavlova’s «Contribution to the history of the Paris archives of Z.N. Gippius and D.S. Merezhkovsky», it contributes original research to the field.
The article starts off by describing the collection of works owned by Merezhkovsky in Paris, giving the number of items it contained, the languages of publication and mentioning the owner’s handwritten annotations. It then goes on mentioning what became of the works after they were bought by the National Library of France, discussing the problems related to dating the foundation of the collection. Some of the dedications figuring on the works in Merezhkovsky’s collection are also presented in the course of the argument.
The second part, structured in chronological order, is concerned with the connexions between the texts integrated into the collection and Merezhkovsky’s literary heritage. Elements borrowed from A.I. Nezelionov’s Nicolai Ivanovich Novikov, press editor 1769–1785 in Merezhkovsky’s play Pavel I (1908) are brought to the fore. Those borrowings were particularly important in forming the Masonic aspects of this play. In the part on Merezhkovsky’s Egyptian projects, Olga Blinova suggests that the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922 propelled his creative process. Scientific works written by Egyptologists in 1923 testify to the special interest Merezhkovsky felt for this discovery. There are also some more sources relating to the author’s essays on Atlantis (1930) and on Pascal (1941). But the collection’s greatest bulk of works is devoted to Christ and to problems related to Christianity.
The article concludes on facts allowing us to assume that Zlobin did not sell Merezhkovsky’s whole collection. However, those works which are now in the National Library of France support Gippius’s words on the scientific approach used by Merezhkovsky in his writing.
- Keywords: D.S. Merezhkovsky’s collection of scientific works in Paris; archives of Z.N. Gippius and D.S. Merezhkovsky in Paris, D.S. Merezhkovsky, V.A. Zlobin, Z.N. Gippius, A.I. Nezelionov, National Library of France, Pavel I, Freemasonry, Tutankhamun, Atlantis, Blaise Pascal, Jesus Christ, Christianity, emigration
- References:
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