А. Блок – читатель и рецензент «Стихотворений» И. Бунина (по материалам библиотеки Блока)

A. Blok as a Reader and a Reviewer of I. Bunin’s Poems (Based on the materials from the Blok’s Library)

This article examines the notes and marginalia of Alexander Blok which were left on the books Poems in two volumes of Ivan Bunin. The books are preserved in the personal library of Blok at the Institute of Russian literature (Pushkinskiy Dom) in Saint Petersburg. Book notes and marginalia are considered as a special form of text study which requires comprehension and inclusion in a coherent picture of understanding of both the historical and literary context, and the biography and works of writers. This article analyzes the very reading process of Bunin’s poetic texts in the course of reviewing on these texts by Blok, and the interpretation of Bunin’s lyric poems by symbolist as well. In doing so, we could find that the difference between the ideological and aesthetic orientations and the philosophy of creativity of these two contemporaries was emphasized. This article traces the change in Blok’s evaluation and opinion to Bunin’s poetry (articles “On the lyric poetry”, “Letters on poetry”, “Literary conversation”) and the inclusion of the writer’s name in the context of thinking about “the elements and culture”, “the people and the intelligentsia”. Blok’s attitude toward Bunin’s works was ambiguous. From his point of view, Bunin did not open new ways in poetry, but in Bunin’s works the symbolist Blok sensed the power of realism, which attracted him, because in “the public” period (in the late 1900-ies) he saw one of the possible ways from the crisis of individualism in that. By paying attention to the notes and marginalia of Blok left on the books of his library, and classifying and differentiating them, we can reconstruct the very work process of Blok as reviewer, and expand the context of the reception of Bunin’s works.