Sanctus Amor

Nina Petrovskaya (1879–1928) — a bright representative of women's prose of the Silver Age, widely known in the circles of Moscow symbolists. She was the muse of Andrey Bely, Valery Bryusov, and Sergey Auslander. In 1911, she permanently emigrated from Russia. The central theme of her work became the fatal rift between the dream of perfect, almost mystical love and the reality of earthly relationships. A typical hero of Petrovskaya is an eternally longing decadent, a lonely dreamer, searching for his ideal. He is visited by a mysterious and often cruel lady: she gives moments of happiness but condemns him to suffering. These broken souls wander through foggy streets, their dreams and memories mingled with the cold light of the moon. The book includes the collection “Sanctus Amor” (“Holy Love”), created under the impression of the breakup with Bryusov, and stories from periodicals.