Our Notes & References

The ​​Russian in Australia, or as the editors specify it, “a national non-party magazine serving the interests of Russians in Australia” (our translation), began appearing in 1937 but ran for just over a year. Almost 12 years later, in August 1950, new publishers decided to revive the magazine that would then come out monthly under the editorship of Yurii Davidenkov, with illustrations and designs by L. Linevich until the mid-1960s. The magazine was printed on a typewriter, but when funds allowed, it was also printed on professional presses.

Under the pink cover in neorussian style reminding of designs by Ivan Bilibin and Natalia Goncharova, this issue is representative of emigre publications. It includes news overviews and comments (M. Georgievich’s “V poiskakh vykhoda iz tupika” [“Searching for the exit from the dead end”] and “Vremena goda” [“Seasons”] by N. Kharkov), reviews and announcements of community events, a poem Senia Chichkin by Anatolii Makridi and A. Bondarev’s short story Vliiatelnyi rodstvennik [Influential relative], mocking the Soviet reality; and a couple letters to readers from various societies and unions, including religious and military ones. The magazine ends with a supplement: the “Peoples’ Monarchic Union Bulletin”, indicated with a curious vignette, and a fragment from V. Fedoniuk’s novel Kak byt? [How to be].

Provenance

Avenir Nizoff (émigré, pianist, who lived in Edmonton, Canada, in the second half of the 20^th century, and gathered a large, wide-ranging library of Russian works, especially covering art, history and literature).

Bibliography

Andrei Kvartsov, Russkaia Avstraliia. (online).