Article

Name: On Literary Environment of the 1920s: The Circle of Hermes

Authors: A. B. Ustinov

“Aquilon” Books & Publishing, San Francisco, USA

In the section Literary Life: Plots and Destinies

Abstract: The essay reconstructs history of a literary circle of authors united under the auspices of Hermes, a typewritten magazine edited in Moscow in the first half of the 1920s. These “poets- philologists” published three full issues of the magazine, 12 copies each. The fourth issue was prepared in just one copy and the authors considered it “unpublished.” Later they edited two typewritten almanacs: Mnemosyne and Hyperborean. The first part of the essay describes how the fourth and last issue of Hermes was collected and edited. Its preparation was accompanied by dramatic encumbrances caused by both external and internal circumstances, the most tragic of which was the death of Maksim Kenigsberg (1900–1924) one of the founders of the Hermes circle. Nina Wolkenau (1901‒1973?), who took his place as a chief editor was forced to cease the publication. The second part of the essay discusses the composition of authors represented in the fourth issue of Hermes, in particular those who joined the magazine from other Moscow literary associations, like Kifara and Green Lamp. Further, the table of contents of that “unpublished” issue is presented here with necessary commentary. A separate supplement is dedicated to a collection of poems by the authors of Hermes, either dedicated to members of this association, or directly related to the magazine itself. The third part of the essay, Addenda ad volumen, complements previous scholarly incursions regarding the circle of Hermes with the unpublished materials from the final issue of the magazine. These are Nina Wolkenau’s review of Mikhail Kuzmin’s book Novyi Gul’ (Leningrad, 1924), and Maksim Kenigsberg’s discussion of Pavel Muratov’s collection of novellas Moralí (Berlin, 1923), where he also wrote about Kuzmin’s art of prose. Another publication is Lev Gornung’s review of the posthumous collection of Nikolai Gumiliov’s poems K Sinei Zvezde (Berlin, 1923) Gornung published another version of that review in a printed “almanac of poetry and criticism” Even and Odd (Moscow, 1925) edited by the same circle of authors, as Hermes. The final supplement includes two other reviews of the Gumiliov’s collection. The émigré publication of K Sinei Zvezde was a significant event in the Soviet underground culture. The poems included in this book became a “lovers’ code” for young Russian readers of the 1920s.

Keywords: literary environment, literary unions and associations, history of Samizdat, underground culture, Maksim Kenigsberg, Nina Wolkenau, Lev Gornung, Boris Gornung, Mikhail Kuzmin, Nikolai Gumiliov

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