From Old Newspapers: an Unknown Essay by Alexander Kuprin and an Unaccounted Publication of Ivan Shmelev’s Fairy Tale

Abstract

The article discusses the history of publication of two works by Alexander Kuprin (1870–1938) and Ivan Shmelev (1873–1950) in “Russkaya Gazeta” (“Russian newspaper”), which is an emigrant newspaper issued in Paris in 1923–1925. Their publication remained unnoticed by modern researchers. The article examines Kuprin’s participation in this periodical, as well as the historical context of Kuprin’s article “Diaries and Letters” (1923) published in this newspaper at the beginning of 1924, and dedicated to the publication of the “Diary of Emperor Nicholas II”. In particular, the author discusses the history of the “Diary”’s publication in Berlin in 1923 and the peculiarities of the reaction to its appearance among the Russian emigration. He also discusses the history of the publication of I.S. Shmelev’s political fairy tale “Preobrazhenets” (1919–1923–1927). Particular attention is paid to the edition of this tale, which was published together with Kuprin’s article in the same issue of “Russkaya Gazeta” (January 7, 1924). For the first time, the article presents the full text of Kuprin’s article, as well as the text of Shmelev’s fairy tale in its 1923 edition, in comparison with its final version published in 1927.