круг общения

The article raises the question of whether the people from M. E. Saltykov’s circle in his provincial periods of life should be noticed. N. S. Rzhevskaya, a talented singer and composer, a friend of Saltykov in his Tver and later Ryazan periods, was one of them; her relationships with the writer were based on trust.

The paper presents materials of the project on publishing the encyclopedia M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin and his contemporaries. Among the project goals is the representation of the writer’s various connections with his contemporaries, particularly not only with those whom he knew personally, but with those who existed in his creative consciousness irrespective of any personal acquaintance and who responded to his works. This approach allows a more objective understanding of the writer’s texts.