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 A.M.GORKY INSTITUTE OF WORLD LITERATURE
OF THE RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

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fedor@dostmirkult.ru

ISSN 2619-0311 (Print)
ISSN 2712-8512 (Online)

Notes from the Underground: A Letter to Stalin in Defense of Dostoevsky

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  • Author: Petr A. Druzhinin
  • Information about the author:

    PhD in History, Senior Research Fellow, Vinogradov Institute of Russian Language of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Volkonka St., 18/2, 119019 Moscow, Russia.

    https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3097-3375

    E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
  • For citation:

    Druzhinin, P.A. “Notes from the Underground: A Letter to Stalin in Defense of Dostoevsky.” Dostoevsky and World Culture. Philological journal, no. 2 (30), 2025, pp. 326–343. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22455/2619-0311-2025-2-326-343
  • Received: 02 Mar. 2025
  • Approved after reviewing: 14 Apr. 2025
  • Published: 25 June 2025
  • Issue: 2025 no. 2 (30)
  • Department: DOSTOEVSKY IN THE 20TH AND 21ST CENTURIES
  • Pages: 326-343
  • DOI: Visit Website
  • EDN:

    https://elibrary.ru/DSSOOC
  • UDK: 821.161.1.0
  • BBK: 83.3(2Рос=Рус)
  • Publication Type: Research Article
  • Keywords: Dostoevsky, Nesterova, Dolinin, Stalin, Udmurtia, Izhevsk.
  • Abstract: The article publishes a previously unknown letter to Joseph Stalin in defense of Dostoevsky’s legacy, written in 1948. Until now, this document was preserved in the archival collection of the prominent Dostoevsky scholar A.S. Dolinin in the Manuscript Department of the Russian National Library as a letter by an unknown author. The present article not only identifies the author’s name but also introduces a previously unknown figure into the history of Dostoevsky studies, whose biography the author attempts to reconstruct. This figure is Elena Ivanovna Nesterova (1916–?), born into an Old Believer family, who graduated from a teachers’ institute and worked as a librarian at the Udmurt Republican Pushkin Library in the 1940s. Living and working in Izhevsk, Nesterova dreamed of becoming a scholar of Dostoevsky’s works and continuing her philological education in graduate school. In 1946, she wrote an essay on Dostoevsky’s humanism for this purpose, which was sent to Leningrad University and came into the hands of Professor A.S. Dolinin. The correspondence that ensued between them reveals not only Dolinin’s compassionate, generous, and truly pedagogical character but also paints a portrait of Nesterova, who, though shaped by Soviet upbringing, had been deeply influenced by Dostoevsky’s works from a young age. Moreover, she managed to gather around her a circle of literary enthusiasts who shared her views. When the campaign against Dostoevsky erupted in December 1947, Nesterova found the courage to stand up in defense of her beloved writer by writing a letter to Joseph Stalin.

References

1. Aleksandrov, V. “F.M. Dostoevskii: (11 noiabria 1821 – 9 fevralia 1881 goda): [K 125-letiiu so dnia rozhdeniia]” [“Fyodor Dostoevsky: 11 November 1921 – 9 February 1881: [For the 125th Anniversary]”]. Ogonek, no. 46/47, 1946, pp. 26–27. (In Russ.)

2. Druzhinin, P.A. Ideologiia i filologiia: v 2 tomakh [Ideology and Philology: in 2 vols]. Moscow, Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie Publ., 2012. (In Russ.)

3. Ermilov, V.V. “F.M. Dostoevskii i nasha kritika” [“Dostoevsky and Our Criticism”]. Literaturnaya gazeta, no. 66, 1947, 24 Dec., p. 2. (In Russ.)

4. Zaslavskii, D. “Protiv idealizatsii reaktsionnykh vzgliadov Dostoevskogo” [“Against the Idealization of Dostoevsky’s Reactionary Views”]. Kul’tura i zhizn’, no. 35 (54), 1947, 20 Dec., pp. 3–4. (In Russ.)

5. Kliuieva, I.V., and L.M. Lisunova. “‘Vy otkryli mne... glaza’: Istoriia pis’ma saranskoi studentki <N.N. Andreevoi> M.M. Bakhtinu” [“‘You opened my... eyes’: The Story of a Letter from a Saransk Student <N.N. Andreeva> to M.M. Bakhtin”]. Bakhtinskii vestnik, vol. 4, no. 2, 2022, pp. 63–68. (In Russ.)

6. Leites, N.S. Iz istorii moei sem’i: Stranitsy vospominanii [From the History of My Family: Pages of Memories]. Ed. by R.S. Spivak. Perm’, Permskii gos. nats. Issledovatel’skii universitet Publ., 2015. 183 p. (In Russ.)

7. Matusovskii, Mikh. “Golos druga: Obzor redaktsionnoi pochty” [“Voice of a Friend: A Review of the Editorial Mail”]. Literaturnaia gazeta, no. 18, 1948, 3 Mar., p. 4. (In Russ.)

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