Who owned the cryptonym E.I.? (On the review by A.A. Blok)

Abstract

The article deals with the circumstances associated with the review of A.A. Blok (“Novyj Put’”, 1903, no. 5), devoted to the book “Gaplights” and Moods” (1903), published under the cryptonym E.I. To date, its author has not been identified. As a result of archival and source studies, the authorship was established: this is E.I. Arsenieva, wife of K.K. Arseniev, a well-known lawyer, literary critic, liberal figure, editor of the journal “Vestnik Evropy”, Solovyov’s correspondent. The article provides biographical information about the Arseniev family, including previously unknown ones. The charitable activities of Arsenieva and her daughter, the organizer of a women's community and a monastery, fit into the context of the social and Christian movements of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The paper presents information about the literary circle organized by Arsenieva, about its orientation on the spiritual heritage of Soloviev, as well as fragments of her correspondence with P.P. Pertsov and N.M. Minsky, which shed light on the circle of her contacts, as well as on the history of the emergence of Blok's review. In addition Arsenieva’s sketch “The Soul of the Poet-Philosopher (about V.S. Soloviev)” extracted from the book “Gaplights” and Moods” is published.