Diary Of V.N. Muromtseva-Bunina as a Source for Studying the Cultural Environment of the Russian Diaspora (1941–1943)

The article presents new material – previously unknown diary entries of V.N. Muromtseva-Bunina, stored in the Russian Archive in Leeds (Great Britain) and describing the years 1941–1943 as one of the most important periods of the Bunins’ life during their emigration to France. Vera Nikolaevna’s diary under consideration becomes the most important source of information about the cultural life of the emigration. Firstly, here she speaks about her correspondence with other creative figures of the era, and also mentions the names of individuals in her letters to friends and relatives, thus creating a circle of communication with the emigrants who remained in Paris. Secondly, she records meetings with representatives of the intelligentsia of the Russian Diaspora in France, which in turn constitutes a separate circle of emigrant culture. The discussion concerns the Bunins’ relations with the Merezhkovskys in the last years of their lives, the Zaitsevs, the Libermans, the Teffis, and others. Despite the many every day and financial problems that the representatives of the Russian emigration faced during that period, cultural communication between writers and philosophers continued. Vera Nikolaevna’s diary sheds light on the opportunities that writers in exile used to develop cultural ties: extensive correspondence with close friends, acquaintances, and representatives of the creative intelligentsia who found themselves in different parts of the world, meetings with Russian writers, their friends, and relatives who were in France, as well as providing assistance to those who needed it during that period and accepting assistance from others.