Vs. Ivanov

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.

The article examines the responses of critics and leaders of the Siberian partisan movement to Vsevolod Ivanov’s story Partisans, as well as the historical events of 1919–1920 in Siberia, which influenced the formation of the idea of the story. The author identifies the historical and literary contexts that contribute to understanding both the writer’s work and the period of the Civil War in Russia.