On the Description of Mandelstam’s Socio-Cultural Situation in the 1920s–1930s (Osip Mandelstam and Marietta Shaginyan)

Abstract

Based on previously unused materials, the article examines the literary relations between Osip Mandelstam and Marietta Shaginyan and demonstrates the closeness of their socio-cultural positions since the mid-1920s. The author explains why Mandelstam has chosen Shaginyan as the addressee of his letter asking for assistance in releasing B. Kuzin in 1933. Also the article establishes a possible reflection of Mandelstam's reading of Shaginyan's “Diaries” in his later poems.