Our Notes & References

Inscribed by the author, “one of the most beloved Russian people’s writers of the 20th century” (Saprykin, our translation here and elsewhere).

Writer and journalist Sergei Dovlatov (1941-90) was unable to print his works in official Soviet publications during his lifetime. In the late 1960s, his works were distributed in samizdat, which led to his persecution by the authorities and immigration to the US in 1978. He died of heart failure just a couple of years before he gained outstanding national fame in his homeland: his complete collections of works were published in Russia in multiple editions and large print runs, unlike works of all other Russian 1990s authors — as one of his former colleagues, Valerii Popov, recalled, “[Dovlatov] replaced all of us” (from Ryzhova).

Marsh odinokikh is a collection of Dovlatov’s 66 selected essays and feuilletons published in the weekly newspaper Novyi amerikanets [New American] (1980-82) where he was an editor-in-chief and ran the editor’s column. In the preface, Dovlatov recalls the best years of the newspaper, the reasons of its decline and his departure from the editorial staff: “For two years I wrote my Editor’s Columns. I think they reflect the history of the third emigration. If not the history of emigration, then the history of the newspaper. If not the history of the newspaper, then the history of my longing soul”.

This lovely copy is inscribed to a figure of the Russian community in the USA, Iraida Vandelos-Legkaia: “To dear Iraida in memory of a failed venture. S. Dovlatov”, most probably referring to the New American. Vandelos was a Latvian-born Russian poetess, translator, journalist and radio presenter at the “Voice of America” (1963 –1987). Dovlatov and Vandelos in many ways were colleagues: he was a presenter at “Radio Svoboda” [“Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty”] where he very likely had several interview-collaborations with Vandelos.

Provenance

Iraida Vandelos-Legkaia (1932-2020; manuscript dedication from the author on the upper flyleaf: “Miloi Iraide v pamiat ob odnoi provalivsheisia zateie. S. Dovlatov”).

Bibliography

Varvara Ryzhova, “Sergei Dovlatov. Zapovednik”, Polka academy, 2020; Iurii Saprykin, Varvara Babitskaia, Lev Oborin, “Solo na diktofone” // Radio svoboda, 2021.