Фридрих Горенштейн и Василий Шукшин: некролог как диагноз

Judaic-Slavic Journal. 2024. № 1-2. С. 207–223.

Фролова Е. В.

This publication of the previously unknown complete text of Friedrich Gorenstein’s obituary for Vasily Shukshin, written in 1974, is accompanied by an introductory article and commentary. The obituary circulated among Moscow’s creative elite (“intelligentsia”) of the 1970s, but the means of its dissemination remain unclear. At the time, Gorenstein’s essay was perceived as an expression of envy toward a more successful colleague. In 1997, the cinematographer Anatoly Zabolotsky, and later, in 2015, the writer Alexei Varlamov, proposed two differing accounts of the obituary’s creation. Both of these theories are now called into question following the discovery of Gorenstein’s original text, pre-served in the archive of the Research Centre for East European Studies at the University of Bremen (Germany). The version of the obituary published by Zabolotsky and Varlamov had long been considered the only complete version. However, in light of the archival text, the previously known version appears to be a collection of fragments where the author’s focus is primarily on Shukshin’s persona and creative work. Examination of the complete text reveals that for Gorenstein, Shukshin’s sudden death served as an impetus to reflect on the state of Moscow’s “intelligentsia” as a social group. The article also incorporates ma-terial from Gorenstein’s previously unpublished notebooks.

Keywords: архив, Soviet intelligentsia, obituary, некролог, творческая интеллигенция, Василий Шукшин, Archive, неопубликованные фрагменты, V. M. Shukshin