V. K. Kuchelbecker’s Poem “The Seven Sleepers”: History of the Text

Based on diaries, letters and unpublished materials from the archive of V. K. Kuchelbecker, the article reconstructs the history of the text of the poem “The Seven Sleepers,” which can be considered one of his least studied works. The poem was first published in the edition of Kuchelbecker’s works edited by Yu. N. Tynyanov in 1939, and to this day this publication remains the only one. It was made according to the poet’s manuscript, which was subsequently lost, but a copy of it made by B. I. Koplan in the 1930s has survived. Comparison of this copy with the published text of the poem revealed some inaccuracies in the publication. The only surviving autograph of the poem “The Seven Sleepers,” located in the Manuscript Department of the Russian State Library, contains another, earlier version of the poem, significantly larger in volume than the text published in 1939. The article describes this early version of the poem, cites some stanzas (previously unpublished), characterizes the amendments made by the author, and offers conclusions about its place in the creative history of the poem.