“My Dear, Close and Distant Friend”: Nina Berberova’s Letters to Sergej Rittenberg (1947–1975)

Abstract

the German). When Lotman wrote his Puškin biography, such a talent had particular historical poignancy, as had the elusive qualities of Puškin’s personality and oeuvre for Tynjanov and Tertz. Erik Egeberg’s Aleksandr Puškin: Russlands store dikter takes its readers through Puškin’s life and writings with a light touch, and he certainly stirs interest in reading Puškin himself. It is Egeberg’s merit that he does not reduce Puškin to easy relatability, as happened with Dostoevskij’s Brothers Karamazov during a long-running reading programme on Norwegian national radio (“Salongens lesesirkel” NRK P2) in 2019–2020. One may hope that Egeberg, but also Tynjanov, Lotman and Tertz, fall into the hands of an enterprising radio host before long. Puškin’s mercurial life and works appear to be made for it.