“There are impressions in every man's life that are alive in his soul until his last breath”. Letters of S. Y. Kulakovsky to E. V. Spektorsky. 1938
Authors:   I. G. Petrovsky Bryansk State University, Bryansk, Russia, Mikhalchenko Sergey I. , Tkachenko Elena V. ,   I. G. Petrovsky Bryansk State University, Bryansk, Russia
Published: December 2024

Three letters from the famous Slavic philologist and novelist, Russian emigrant of the “first wave”, lecturer at the University of Warsaw, Sergei Yulianovich Kulakovsky, to the jurist and historian, professor at the University of Ljubljana, Evgeny Vasilievich Spektorski, are published. The letters date back to 1938 and are published according to manuscript originals kept in the E. V. Spektorski's fund in the Archive of the Republic of Slovenia in Ljubljana (Arhiv Republike Slovenije (ARS). Fond AS.1901. ?v.1). Content-wise, the letters fall into two parts. The first is an autobiographical characterization of S. J. Kulakovsky's scientific and teaching activities, his achievements in the field of Romance and Slavonic philology, since the reason for writing the letters was his desire to get a job at the University of Ljubljana and his request to E. V. Spektorski for patronage. The very important second part is S. Y. Kulakovsky's detailed memoirs, scattered throughout the letters, about the life of the Kiev and Moscow professors during the Civil War. Thus, there is a kind of unification/intersection of two types of sources of personal origin - letters and memoirs. The impetus for writing this part was the publication of E. V. Spektorsky's memoir-jubilee book about St. Vladimir's University, of which he was rector in 1918-1919. V. Spektorsky about St. Vladimir's University, whose rector he was in 1918-1919. S. Y. Kulakovsky, having highly appreciated the book, presented a kind of additions to it, connected, first of all, with the possibility of realization in the revolutionary years of academic activity. The addressee tells in detail about the difficulties with the organization of his master's exams, characterizes the living conditions and conditions of teaching work in 1919-1921. The memoirs of S. Y. Kulakovsky about the classicist professor, dean of the History and Philology Department of Kiev University in 1919-1922, A. I. Sonny (including his attempt to go to Finland), as well as about the Kiev counter-revolutionary organization “Center of Action”, which, as it turns out, took place in Kiev. A. I. Sonny (including his attempt to go to Finland), as well as about the Kiev counter-revolutionary organization “Center of Action”, in which, as it turns out, S. Y. Kulakovsky took part (as well as, among others, the famous historian Professor P. P. Smirnov). The content of the letters, undoubtedly possessing considerable informational value, allows us to draw a conclusion about a certain academic autonomy preserved in universities during the Civil War, and also adds new touches to the characterization of those difficult years. The published letters, on the one hand, once again demonstrate the value of epistolary heritage as a historical source, and on the other hand, they are an example of combining/intersecting two types of sources of personal origin - letters and memoirs.