Soviet literature

K. A. Fedin’s diaries related to the time of the intense activity of the literary community “Serapion brothers” (1921–1924) have not been preserved. Therefore, the material for the studies of the life of the group as well as of its separate members is obtained by the researchers in the epistolary legacy of the writer. The researchers hardly ever refer to the diaries of the later period, apparently believing that Serapion brothers entirely disappeared from the literary life after 1929.

In the article literary life of the Soviet Russia of the years 1920-1922 is analyzed as it was reflected in the newspaper Izvestiya VZIK (All-Russian Central Executive Committee). The main components of this life are investigated, literary soirees, formation of new literary organizations and institutions, literary competitions, and writers’ names among them.

The article analyzes the correspondence of E. G. Polonskaya and K. A. Fedin, members of the literary group Serapion Brothers, formed in Petrograd in 1921. The short but bright period of the existence of the association is still of interest to many researchers. Particularly relevant is the study of documentary sources, which make it possible to fi ll in the factual gaps in the history of both the Serapion fraternity itself and the relationships of its individual members.