Issues

For forty years Leonid Zurov and Boris Zaitsev’s family had close friendly relations. Their correspondence, covering the period from 1928 to 1971, is introduced into scholarly circulation. The letters reflect different periods of their communication and contain Zaitsev’s assessments of Leonid Zurov’s most significant works such as the novel “Field,” the novellas “Fatherland” and “Cadet,” and the collection “Maryanka.” Zaitsev discovers in Zurov’s books an “excellent Russian language,” a “courageous tone,” and the “poetry and religion of Russian antiquity.” The correspondence reveals a number of previously unknown biographical details, in particular, it allows us to establish the time and circumstances of Zurov and Zaitsev’s acquaintance. Boris and Vera Zaitsev share their impressions of their trip to Finland with Zurov, who had visited Valaam, and Natalia and Andrey Sollogub talk about their acquaintance with the places of Zurov’s historical and archaeological research in Scotland. Natalia Sollogub’s letters of the 1960s testify to her constant and active assistance to Zurov during his illness. The correspondence thus adds remarkable touches to the picture of the Russian literary abroad.