Shklovskys. Family Chronicles

Viktor Shklovsky is a unique person in Russian culture. A writer and literary scholar, a screenwriter and philologist, the creator of formalism and OPOYAZ, 'a whole raging flame, sharp philological wit' (Osip Mandelstam). But this book is about something else. 'Shklovskys: Family Chronicles' is a biography of Viktor Shklovsky, his family, and people from his immediate circle against the backdrop of the catastrophic Russian history of the 20th century. The heroes of the book: the writer's father - St. Petersburg educator Boris Shklovsky, uncle - Isaac Shklovsky, a bright publicist known to all reading Russia under the name Dioneo; tragically deceased brothers - Vladimir, Nikolai, Evgeny, and sister Evgenia; friends Yuri Tynyanov, Boris Eikhenbaum, Roman Jakobson. The authors tell about Viktor Shklovsky's own family - his wife Vasilisa Shklovskaya-Kordi, children Varvara and Nikita, about the friendship between Vasilisa and Nadezhda Mandelstam, about young Viktor Shklovsky's infatuation with Elza Triol and his later love for Seraphima Suok. The authors of the book - literary historians Tatyana Pozdnyakova and Natalia Gromova - carefully listen to Viktor Shklovsky's voice, closely analyze mentions of relatives in his texts, and simultaneously refer to impersonal documents. The text of the book is largely based on archival sources, most of which have not yet been published. This is a wonderful work, the value of which goes beyond literary history, encompassing the history of the country. This is a saga about the destruction of Russian culture, about the death of the most valuable part of the nation, called 'the Russian intelligentsia,' whose descendants today strive to recreate and preserve its image. At the same time, it is a saga about the possibility of a bright and strong personality to preserve itself 'through loss': the refusal of principles, distortion and camouflage of ideas and discoveries. This required remarkable courage and remarkable self-respect, awareness of one's uniqueness and value. Sofia Bogatyreva