The spouses Yakov and Lyubov Polonsky were part of Bunin’s closest circle of friends. Lyubov Polonskaya was Mark Aldanov’s sister, who was Ivan Bunin’s closest friend, writer and publicist.
The writer sent the postcard displayed in the museum to the Polonsky family to Nice, Hotel “Victoria”, where they lived during the war. In the text of the message, he asked to give him the new address of Mark Aldanov, who had left for the United States.
After June 1940, when France was occupied by Nazi Germany, many Russian émigrés writers tried to leave dangerous areas. The Polonsky family was no exception. Yakov Polonsky planned to move with his wife to Marseille, but due to bureaucratic delays, they had to stay in Nice. The Bunins themselves also thought about moving to the US. According to writer Mikhail Osorgin, at that time it was easy for Russian writers to receive the exit visa to leave.
Mark Aldanov also decided to move overseas. In the summer of 1940, he submitted documents to the American Consulate and left France at the end of the year. The Bunins had not heard from him for several months, so the writer asked Yakov Polonsky to give him Mark Aldanov’s address. He also asked about their plans, ‘And what about you — what are you going to do? Write about yourselves as well.’
Things worked out well for Mark Aldanov in the United States. During the Second World War, together with Mikhail Tsetlin, they founded the magazine ‘Novy Zhurnal’ (‘The New Review’) in New York, where they published works by Ivan Bunin, Dmitry Merezhkovsky, Aleksandr Kuprin, Vladislav Khodasevich, Vladimir Nabokov. Many works banned in the USSR were published on its pages, including Mikhail Bulgakov’s “The Purple Island” and Varlam Shalamov’s ‘Kolyma Tales’.
In addition, Aldanov organized literary evenings, during which he raised funds to support emigrant writers. During the war years, he supported the Bunins by sending then money and food, helping them to survive in the difficult conditions of the German occupation.
The friends renewed their correspondence and continued it until the end of their lives. Mark Aldanov’s letters to Ivan Bunin were partially published by Professor Militsa Greene of the University of Edinburgh. In 1965, they appeared on the pages of Novy Zhurnal.
The writer sent the postcard displayed in the museum to the Polonsky family to Nice, Hotel “Victoria”, where they lived during the war. In the text of the message, he asked to give him the new address of Mark Aldanov, who had left for the United States.
After June 1940, when France was occupied by Nazi Germany, many Russian émigrés writers tried to leave dangerous areas. The Polonsky family was no exception. Yakov Polonsky planned to move with his wife to Marseille, but due to bureaucratic delays, they had to stay in Nice. The Bunins themselves also thought about moving to the US. According to writer Mikhail Osorgin, at that time it was easy for Russian writers to receive the exit visa to leave.
Mark Aldanov also decided to move overseas. In the summer of 1940, he submitted documents to the American Consulate and left France at the end of the year. The Bunins had not heard from him for several months, so the writer asked Yakov Polonsky to give him Mark Aldanov’s address. He also asked about their plans, ‘And what about you — what are you going to do? Write about yourselves as well.’
Things worked out well for Mark Aldanov in the United States. During the Second World War, together with Mikhail Tsetlin, they founded the magazine ‘Novy Zhurnal’ (‘The New Review’) in New York, where they published works by Ivan Bunin, Dmitry Merezhkovsky, Aleksandr Kuprin, Vladislav Khodasevich, Vladimir Nabokov. Many works banned in the USSR were published on its pages, including Mikhail Bulgakov’s “The Purple Island” and Varlam Shalamov’s ‘Kolyma Tales’.
In addition, Aldanov organized literary evenings, during which he raised funds to support emigrant writers. During the war years, he supported the Bunins by sending then money and food, helping them to survive in the difficult conditions of the German occupation.
The friends renewed their correspondence and continued it until the end of their lives. Mark Aldanov’s letters to Ivan Bunin were partially published by Professor Militsa Greene of the University of Edinburgh. In 1965, they appeared on the pages of Novy Zhurnal.
