Vasily Belov and Victor Astafyev: the history of their personal and creative relationships

The article examines the dynamics of the relationships between outstanding Russian writers of the second half of the twentieth century V I. Belov and V. P. Astafyev, reconstructed mainly on the basis of letters, memoirs, and little-known publications in periodicals. The internal (psychological) nature of their conflict is analyzed for the first time. This approach is increasingly relevant, because recently the scientific literature and journalism have been either politicizing the relationships between the writers or mythologizing them, making them seem nearly perfect. The analysis of the sources leads to the conclusion that from the typological perspective the writers’ relationships can be classified as “frenmity” (a portmanteau of “fiendship” and “enmity”), which presupposes a certain internal plot. Its main stages are the following: mutual interest, soft patronage from the senior writer, a sense of spiritual affinity, the first signs of being disappointed in each other while maintaining external unity, enmity, regret on both sides about the disagreement, and individual statements about the intentions to restore old friendship.