Z. N. Gippius’s letters in diary discourse of S. P. Kablukov

The article analyzes Z. N. Gippius’s correspondence with the secretary of the St. Petersburg Religious and Philosophical Society S. P. Kablukov. The material for the article contains Z. N. Gippius’s letters of 1909, received by Kablukov and rewritten by him in a diary. Since the folder with Z. N. Gippius’s letters was not preserved in the S. P. Kablukov’s archive, this documentary evidence is of apparent interest and allows us to get an idea of the nature of the correspondence between Gippius and the author of the diary. The subject range of Z. N. Gippius’s and S. P. Kablukov’s epistolary communication is diverse, but the diary author focuses on issues of religious nature, since he was an Orthodox Christian. At the same time, Kablukov was sympathetic to the supporters of a “new religious consciousness” and often assessed the current events precisely from their point of view. The letters also discuss literary problems, Z. N. Gippius’s stories “Mass” and “Overheard Words”. Z. N. Gippius’s and S. P. Kablukov’s letters provide an opportunity to penetrate the atmosphere of the era of the early 20th century, to identify features of the religious renovation movement, to see the crisis state of the historical Church, and also to assess the role of the Russian intelligentsia in the attempts to reform it. Gippius’s letters are distinguished by a special tonality that encourages her correspondent to be sincere. They manifest her subtle humor, self-irony, imparting an intonation of trust to the text. Her letters feature a genuine interest in people, the desire to understand an individual person, to penetrate his soul. Thus, Z. N. Gippius’s and S. P. Kablukov’s correspondence reveals new facets of the personality of the “first Russian decadent”, allows one to get an idea of her epistolary strategies.