Throughout the 1920s Bulgakov looked through newspapers every day and cut out articles that mentioned his name or reviews of his works. Newspaper clippings were also supplied to the writer by a special “Bureau of Newspaper Clippings”. Mikhail Afanasyevich then pasted all these materials into a separate album.
Mikhail Bulgakov’s scissors
Creation period
the early 20th century
Place of сreation
the Russian Empire
Dimensions
17,7x10 cm
Technique
steel; stamping, assembling
Collection
0
Open in app#5
#6
It is such a pity that I do not remember exactly what date in September I arrived two years ago in Moscow. Two years! Has much changed in that time? Certainly, a lot.
#7
That is why his clippings album begins with the symbolic date of his literary debut in the newspaper “Grozny” with the feuilleton “Future Prospects”, which took place in 1919. Although it was dangerous to keep the White Guard press, Bulgakov cut out a fragment from the issue with his publication and placed it on the first page of the album. The album was followed by dates marked in blue and red pencils. The writer’s entire album is mottled with blue and red underlines and exclamation marks. Most of the clippings fall on 1926 — the year of the premiere of the plays “Days of the Turbins” and “Zoyka’s Apartment”. Bulgakov kept this album on the lower shelves in his study on Bolshaya Pirogovskaya Street.
In a letter to the government of the USSR in March
1930, Mikhail Afanasyevich wrote,
#8
Having analyzed my albums of clippings, I found 301 reviews of my ten years of literary work in the press of the USSR. Of these: 3 were praiseworthy, 298 were hostile and scolding. The latter 298 mirror my life as a writer.
#9
Sergey Yermolinsky, Bulgakov’s friend, screenwriter and playwright, recalled,
#10
He memorized the names of his ‘critics’ and remembered them for the rest of his life. He passed on to Lena, as a baton, the entire black list of these names. She knew them by heart. If you mention a name that seems to be friendly, she would immediately say, ‘Oh, yes, I remember, it’s the one…’
#11
Mikhail Bulgakov’s scissors were later used by his second wife Lyubov Belozerskaya.
#13
Mikhail Bulgakov’s scissors
#12
Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation
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Mikhail Bulgakov’s scissors
Creation period
the early 20th century
Place of сreation
the Russian Empire
Dimensions
17,7x10 cm
Technique
steel; stamping, assembling
Collection
0
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