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Abstract:

For the first time Yuri Verkhovsky’s poetic and prosaic letters to Vyacheslav Ivanovich Ivanov are published in extenso. The author reconstructs (in particular on the basis of the materials previously absent from scientific circulation) the major milestones of their friendship, which lasted for two decades — starting from their acquaintance in the winter of 1905/1906 up to the last Moscow meeting in the summer of 1924. The letters are notable not only as an almost perfect example of symbolist correspondence but also as a sample of texts that are difficult to comment on, for the plethora of hidden quotations, implicit allusions, and vague references to lesser-known persons.