Metadata: L. N. Andreev
Collection
- Country:
- Russia
- Holding institution:
- Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkin House) of the Russian Academy of Sciences
- Holding institution (official language):
- Институт русской литературы (Пушкинский Дом) Российской Академии наук
- Postal address:
- 199034, St. Petersburg, nab. Makarova, d. 4
- Phone number:
- (812) 328-19-01
- Web address:
- http://www.pushkinskijdom.ru
- Email:
- irliran@mail.ru
- Reference number:
- F. 9
- Title:
- L. N. Andreev
- Title (official language):
- Андреев Л. Н.
- Creator/accumulator:
- Andreev, Leonid Nikolaevich
- Date(s):
- 1849/1927
- Language:
- Russian
- French
- Extent:
- 152 archival storage units
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- Good
- Scope and content:
- The fonds contains manuscripts of works by Leonid Andreev (1908-16), his correspondence (1890-18) and materials of various persons (1912-40). There are particular files and file fragments (mainly in ops. 2 and 3) that pertain to Jewish history and culture, including letters from Osip Dymov (Perel’man) (1916-17); a letter from S. V. Posner (1916); an article by S. G. Svatikov titled “Jews in the Russian Liberation Movement” (undated); as well as documents of the Russian Society for the Study of Jewish Life, including a brochure from a literary and musical evening held in Petrograd on 22 March 1916 with a list of participants, excerpts from the society’s charter, and portraits of Leonid Andreev, I. A. Alchevskii, Maksim Gorky, A. I. Ziloti, I. V. Tartakov, M. A. Sherling, and others (1916).
- Administrative/biographical history:
-
Leonid Nikolaevich Andreev (1871-1919) was a writer, playwright and commentator, and a major representative of the Silver Age of Russian literature. After graduating from Moscow University law school, to which he had transferred from St. Petersburg, Andreev became an assistant attorney (1897). He began his literary career writing newspaper feuilletons and serving as a court reporter. His stories first appeared in print in 1898. In 1901, he published his first collection of short stories, which included “The Little Angel”, “The Grand Slam”, etc. The collection’s stories were noted for their realism and served to confirm the high appraisal of his talent by Maksim Gorky, and he became a literary celebrity virtually overnight. His fame after 1905 was due in large part to his success as a playwright. Noteworthy among his plays is Samson in Chains (1914), usually recognised as his masterpiece, and the two satirical plays Love Thy Neighbor (1908) and The Beautiful Sabine Women (1912). In 1913, he spoke out in defence of M. M. Beilis, and along with K. K. Arsen’ev, V. G. Korolenko, Gorky and other representatives of the Russian intelligentsia signed a collective protest against Beilis’s indictment on the charge of ritual murder. After the Russian Revolution, he emigrated to Finland. His last work, an unfinished novella titled Satan’s Diary, was published in 1921.
The Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkin House) (IRLI RAN) is a research institution within the Russian Academy of Sciences system. It was established in December 1905 on the initiative of several Russian cultural figures. In 1899, the Academy of Sciences had organised a commission to prepare celebrations of the centenary of Alexander Pushkin’s birth. The commission originally planned to erect a monument to the poet, but eventually it was decided to establish a museum and library. In April 1906, government funding was allocated for the acquisition of Pushkin’s library, which, upon its transfer to Pushkin House, became the initial basis for an enormous collection of books, manuscripts, and items related to the great Russian poet. The main fonds of the Pushkin House was assembled by B L Modzalevskii. He also drafted the “Pushkin House statute”, ratified by Emperor Nicholas II in 1907. Since 1930, the Pushkin House has been the academic Institute of Russian Literature while also preserving its original name of Pushkin House. In 1955, the Pushkin House was added to the State Codex of Particularly Valuable Objects of Cultural Heritage. The Pushkin House is currently one of the leading centres for research on Russian literature.
The manuscripts department constitutes a complex for source studies; along with the literary museum and library, it served as the basis for the establishment of the Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkin House) (IRLI RAN) in 1930. It was organised in 1906, when the Pushkin House received the library of A. S. Pushkin, numbering over 3,500 volumes. In 1908, the first manuscript materials were received: A. N. Pleshcheev’s letters to V. D. Dandevil’ and autograph manuscripts of A. S. Pushkin; subsequently received (1928) was a collection of Pushkin-era manuscripts and memorabilia that had belonged to A. F. Onegin. By resolution of the government (1938) and Academy (1948), all Pushkin autograph manuscripts formerly held in the country’s various archives were concentrated at Pushkin House. In 1917, the manuscript heritage of M. Iu. Lermontov was transferred to Pushkin House, and in 1919, the Dashkov collection and the collection of M. I. Semevskii, consisting especially of the extensive archive of the journal Russkaia starina [Russian Antiquities]. Upon the incorporation of Pushkin House into the Academy of Sciences structure in 1930, the manuscripts department was established and tasked with the special functions of collecting, housing, systematising and studying the manuscript heritage of Russian writers, and fonds of their personal papers were organised. The manuscripts department also includes collections of literary organisations, publishing houses and periodicals. In all, the manuscripts department houses over 900 fonds and collections. There are also numerous reference and biblioGraphic materials, first and foremost the card catalogue of S. A. Vengerov. This is joined by the card catalogues of B. L. and L. B. Modzalevskii, as well as of V. I. Saitov; these contain bibliographic, biographical and genealogical information, not only about writers but also about the entire cultural stratum of 19th-century Russian society. The manuscripts department is constantly updated with new materials. The department’s research activities are reflected in its publications and editions, its primary serial being the Yearbook of the Manuscripts Department of Pushkin House. The web site of the Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkin House) features an electronic version of the publication Personal Fonds of the Manuscripts Department of Pushkin House. An Annotated Index (St. Petersburg, 1999).
- Access points: locations:
- Russia
- St Petersburg
- Subject terms:
- Correspondence
- Literature
- Music
- System of arrangement:
- The fonds comprises five series arranged chronologically and alphabetically.
- Finding aids:
- Inventories are available.
- Yerusha Network member:
- Jewish Theological Seminary
