Count Apraksin’s Dacha in The Life and Work of K. G. Paustovsky

This article focuses on the former dacha of Count Apraksin in Balaklava, where Paustovsky spent his vacation in 1929.To study the influence of this period on the author’s life and work, we analyzed letters, diaries, and literary works, as well as the memoirs of the writer’s son, Vadim. The author discovered that the architecture of the “Priboy” dacha complex, built in the 1900s by N.P. Krasnov, was of little interest to Paustovsky. Instead, he focused on the nature and history of the area, as well as the life of the Greek fishermen, which was described in “Listrigons” by A.I. Kuprin. The dacha, which was turned into a holiday home, was a quiet refuge for Paustovsky, a working office, and a starting point for hiking and exploring the surrounding area. The significance of the month that the writer spent at Apraksin’s dacha cannot be overstated. His experiences in Balaklava served as the inspiration for his short story “The Sea Vaccination” (1935), his book “The Black Sea” (1936), and his article “The Flow of Life (Notes on Kuprin’s Prose)” (1957). According to the writer, it was after his time in Balaklava that he made the decision to fully dedicate himself to writing, moving from his fascination with exoticism to a more “realistic” romanticism.