Literary Men, House of, Literary Organization

Categories / Literature. Book Publishing/Salons, Circles, Creative Associations and Unions
Literary Men, House of, the literary and education organization. It was opened on 1 December 1918. It was situated at 11 Basseinaya Street (today Nekrasovа Street). The management was executed by the general meeting of members of the House of Literary Men, during breaks - by an annually reelected committee, N. Y. Kotlyarevsky was a permanent head of the committee; A. V. Amfitetatrov, A. A. Akhmatova, A. A. Blok, A. V. Ganzen, F. F. Zelinsky, A. F. Koni, B. M. Eichenbaum were among members of the commitee. From the summer of 1920, having preserved self-Government, it passed to the jurisdiction of the People's Commissariat of Education. Full members of the House of Literary Men (in January 1922, there were over 600 of them) were able to receive material support: a canteen, heated work rooms, the issue of rations, passes to sanatoriums etc. existed to help writers. A library-athenaeum, literary studio for writers-beginners functioned in the House of Literary Men; three book shops were opened in the city. The House of Literary Men became a place for meetings and socialising. Public readings were routinely arranged; A. Bely, Blok, S. M. Gorodetsky, E. I. Zamyatin, M. A. Kuzmin, O. E. Mandelstam, V. A. Pyast, F. Sologub, O. D. Forsh, K. I. Chukovsky et al. read compositions, S. A. Vengerov, A. L. Volynsky, Eichenbaum, V. M. Zhirmunsky, P. A. Sorokin, Koni, E. V. Tarle, E. L. Radlov et al. gave reports and lectures on different spheres of knowledge, musical concerts, celebrations of literary anniversaries were arranged. The literary-research and critique-bibliographical journal Letopis Doma Literatorov (the Chronicle of the House of Literary Men) was published in 1921-22 (nine issues were published), the journal Literaturnye Zapiski (Literary Notes) was published in 1922 (three issues). It was closed in the autumn of 1922. The House of Literary Men was the biggest cultural centre of postrevolutionary Petrograd along with the House of Arts, differing from the latter by mass character and less ideolgical and aesthetic integrity.

References: Мартынов И. Ф., Клейн Т. П. К истории литературных объединений первых лет советской власти: (Петрогр. дом литераторов, 1918-1922) // Рус. лит. 1971. № 1. С. 125-134.

D. N. Cherdakov. Akhmatova Anna Andreevna
Amfiteatrov Alexander Valentinovich
Bely Andrey (real name Bugaev Boris Nikolaevich)
Blok G.P.
Chukovsky Korney Ivanovich
Eichenbaum Boris Mikhailovich
Forsh Olga Dmitrievna
Gorodetsky Sergey Mitrofanovich
Hansen Anna Vasilievna (nee Vasilieva)
Koni Anatoly Fedorovich
Kotlyarevsky Nestor Alexandrovich
Kuzmin Mikhail Alexeevich
Mandelstam Osip Emilievich
Pyast Vladimir Alexeevich
Radlov Ernest Anatolievich
Sologub Fedor (real name Teternikov Fedor Kuzmich)
Sorokin Pitirim Alexandrovich
Tarle Evgeny Viktorovich
Vengerov Semen Afanasievich
Volynsky (Flexer) Akim Lvovich
Zamyatin Evgeny Ivanovich
Zelinsky Faddey (Tadeusz-Stephan) Franzevich
Zhirmunsky Viktor Maximovich
Nekrasova St./Saint Petersburg, city, house 11
Мартынов И. Ф., Клейн Т. П. К истории литературных объединений первых лет советской власти: (Петрогр. дом литераторов, 1918-1922) // Рус. лит., 1971 Arts, The House of, literary society
1918