“Belinsky testament” in the editorship of D.S. Merezhkovsky: from public lecture to brochure (history of the text and its literary critical perception)

The article reconstructs for the first time the history of the creation of the “Belinsky Testament” by D.S. Merezhkovsky from a public lecture to the first newspaper publications and further to the final text in the book of the same name in 1915. As sources in the article are collected periodicals and mostly non-reprinted materials from the First World War (including newspaper chronicles). Textual analysis revealed differences between the writer’s oral speeches in Petrograd, Moscow and their printed versions. A study of the author’s corrections at the stylistic, compositional and substantive levels showed that Merezhkovsky was attentive to the publication of the brochure and updated its socio-political issues. The article provides arguments for choosing the main text of the “Belinsky Testament” for the new collected works of Merezhkovsky in 20 volumes. After a textual reconstruction, the author turns to the problem of the functioning of the brochure, which attracted the attention of its first readers, critics and reviewers. For the first time, their reviews are systematized and commented on. As a result, a conclusion is drawn about the further study of the “Belinsky Testament”, taking into account its metatextual links in four perspectives: along with literary and critical speeches of the writer; in the context of his journalistic articles on the role of the intelligentsia, patriotism, nationalism, war and revolution; in connection with the artistic (primarily dramatic) work of Merezhkovsky of those years; finally, from the point of view of an autobiographical interpretation (so far it is the least obvious, since the problem of conscious and unconscious autobiography in Merezhkovsky’s journalism has not yet been formulated by researchers).