A.M. GORKY INSTITUTE OF WORLD LITERATURE
Issues
A Background for the Young Tolstoy. Alexey N. Tolstoy in the Memoirs of E.Yu. Gan
- DOI:
- EDN:
- УДК / UDK: 821.161.1.1
- Publication Type: Research Article and Publication of Archival Documents
- Received: 22.03.2026
- Approved after reviewing: 12.05.2026
- Date of publication: 25.06.2026
- Issue:
no. 2 (40), 2026
- Abstract:
This publication of excerpts from the memoirs of E.Yu. Gan (1883–1961) concludes a memoir essay, the first part of which was published in 1982 in the collection “Alexey Tolstoy and Samara.” A classmate of A.N. Tolstoy at the Samara Realschule, E.Yu. Gan described in his memoirs the entire period of their acquaintance with the future writer, lasting from the late 1890s to 1910–1911. This fragment describes several encounters between former classmates during their student years, which began in the fall of 1901 and, for various reasons, lasted for a full ten years, until the early 1910s. Of greatest interest are the memoirist’s detailed descriptions of his meetings with Tolstoy during the winter holidays of 1901–1902, exploring the old library in the house of the young Tolstoy’s stepfather in the summer of 1902, as well as brief encounters during the revolutionary unrest of 1905–1907 and their final meeting at a literary evening in Tolstoy’s St. Petersburg apartment in 1911. The introductory article preceding the publication reveals certain facts from the memoirist’s biography, clarifying the nature of his relationship with A.N. Tolstoy.
- Keywords: A.N. Tolstoy, E.Yu. Gan, Samara, student vacations, the 1905– 1907 revolution, Dresden, St. Petersburg, literary evening, F. Sologub, M. Kuzmin.
- For citation:
Perepelkin, M.A. “Background for the Young Tolstoy. Alexey N. Tolstoy in the Memories of E.Yu. Gan.” Literaturnyi fakt, no. 2 (40), 2026, pp. 33–58. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22455/2541-8297-2026-40-33-58
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