Zinaida Nikolayevna Gippius (1869-1945)
Characterisations in three words. n.d.
Manuscript, 'Characterisations in three words', a series of epigrams, n.p., n.d.

In Russian. In the hand of Gippius's secretary, V.A. Zlobin, with corrections in the hand of her husband, Dmitry Merezhkovsky, in pen and pencil, 20 two-line epigrams on two pages, 270 x 209mm. Provenance: Temira Pachmuss (1927-2007, professor of Russian literature at Illinois University at Urbana-Champaign and leading Gippius scholar).

Biting 'characterisations' of her entire literary circle. The manuscript comprises simply a list of names with caustic three-word epigrams on their characters. The targets include Georgy Ivanov, Yuri Felsen, Lidia Cherninskaya, Irina Odoyevtseva, Ekaterina Bakunina, Georgy Adamovich, Vladislav Khodasevich, Nikolai Otsup, Georgy Raevsky, Vladimir Smolensky, Antatoly Ladynsky, Vladimir Varshavsky, Anatoly Al'ferov, Boris Dikoi, Vladimir Zlobin, Lazar' Kel'berin, Sergei Sharshun, Viktor Manchenko and Pericles Stavrov.

The 'characterisations' summon the atmosphere of the Merezhkovskys' famous gatherings of literary émigrés each Sunday between 4pm and 7pm in their apartment at 11bis rue du Colonel Bonnet in Paris, whilst also evoking the fiery wit and sometimes brutal honesty of Gippius herself. With the involvement of Gippius's secretary (and presumed lover) Vladimir Ananievich Zlobin (1894-1967) – whose own name appears on the list – and her husband Dmitry Merezhkovsky as amanuenses, the manuscript brings together the three members of this pre-eminent literary household.

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