M. A. KUZMIN’S THE THAWED TRAIL: A FAILED ATTEMPT AT WRITING A NOVEL ABOUT CURRENT EVENTS

Abstract

The article introduces the third chapter of M. A. Kuzmin’s unfi nished novel Talyi Sled (The Thawed Trail). The novel was written in 1917, and two chapters were published only in 1921. The third chapter remained unpublished, and has so far been excluded from the corpus of Kuzmin’s prose. Based on the manuscript of the third chapter, a possible plot of the novel is reconstructed, and con-clusions regarding the pragmatism and the dynamics of Kuzmin’s writing strategy in the post-revo-lutionary period are drawn.