Writers' Answers to the Questionnaires of Mass Periodicals at the Beginning of the 20th Century
The article analyzes the genre of the questionnaire and the answers to them in the periodicals of the early 20th century on a broad source study material. The author of the article considers examples of polls, the recipients of which were politicians, the diplomatic corps, the military, members of the State Council and the State Duma, philosophers, scientists, lawyers, industrialists and financiers. These answers are compared with the autobiographies of writers from F.F. Fidler's book The First Literary Steps: Autobiographies of Contemporary Russian Writers, which is written in the form of answers to questions from the compiler of the book. The article analyzes the multifaceted nature of the answers to the questionnaires of the Russian writers of the early 20th century. The questionnaires were frequently published in the leading St. Petersburg newspaper Birzhevye Vedomosti and in its supplements (Novaya Illyustratsi-ya, Ogonyok, Novoe Slovo). The questionnaires of these newspapers were filled in by all the famous literary persons of the era: A. Blok, Vyach. Ivanov, V.Ya. Bryusov, L. Andreev, Z.N. Gippius, as well as by numerous poets and novelists of the second and third rates. The article shows that writers' figurative answers in the periodicals of the beginning of the 20th century cease to be a sociological research tool. The answers to the newspaper questionnaires in a number of cases are small stories, polemical and analytical articles, anecdotes, travelogues, etc. The article reviews A.M. Remizov's answers to the questionnaires of Birzhevye Vedomosti and Ogonyok, including the previously unpublished ones. In his answers to the questionnaires, Remizov writes about a meeting with "pilgrims of God", about strong Russian people "who will not sell Russia for any money", about life in Bobrovka, in A.A. Ra-chinskaya's estate, about Kostroma and the Ipatiev Monastery, about the Godunovskaya Psalter with miniatures of the amazing works of our Russian masters", etc. Such detailed answers are the most important sources of information today; they contain specific biographical facts and can be compared with certain artistic plans. Having analyzed the nature of Remizov's answers to the questionnaires in Birzhevye Vedomosti and Ogonyok, the author of the article comes to the conclusion about the artistic nature of the writer's answers. In fact, when answering typical questions, in a number of cases, the writer creates miniatures similar to those that Remizov referred to as "twirls". Some of these texts later became part of his collage novels, some were included in the book Krashenye Ryla. Teatr i Kniga [Painted Faces. Theater and Book].