Information about the author:
Ekaterina D. Generalova
Ekaterina D. Generalova — Postgraduate Student, Maxim Gorky Institute of Literature and Creative Writing, Tverskoy Blvd., 25, 123104, Moscow, Russia.
ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-0760-4234
E-mail:
Abstract:
The article analyzes the diaries of Alexander Afinogenov, which he kept since 1926. The entries in the first notebooks are irregular and deeply personal, reflecting the playwright’s experiences and observations, plans for staging plays, discussions of the books he had read, and more. The “Diary of the Last War” from 1941, in contrast to the previous intimate and personal entries, is addressed to a broader audience. The domestic chronicles are interspersed with military reports, and the panic among the Moscow intelligentsia, noted by the writer’s keen eye, contrasts with the absolute calmness of the home front workers. The study is supplemented by an analysis of the “Diary of Assignments”, which Afinogenov kept from September 9 to October 28, 1941, while working in the literary department of the Soviet Information Bureau, as well as a summary of the key points of his articles “Bad Weather” (Izvestia, No. 232, October 1, 1941) and “Aryans Do Not Smile” (Izvestia, No. 235, October 4, 1941). Afinogenov’s 1941 diaries reflect one of the most dramatic periods of Soviet history, captured through the eyes of a playwright who believed in the imminent victory of the USSR over Nazi Germany.
Keywords: A.N. Afinogenov, diaries, the Great Patriotic War, frontline and rear, everyday life.
