Autographs Don’t Burn

Vera Tsareva-Brauner is a lecturer at the University of Cambridge, specializing in Russian language and translation studies. Born in St. Petersburg, she graduated from St. Petersburg State University, moving to Manchester, UK for her post-graduate studies. She edited the first full English translation of Yuri Tynyanov’s novel Death of the Vazir-Mukhtar and is currently editing a book on the challenges of translating from Slavic languages.

• Table of ContentsArchives and LibrariesAcknowledgmentsIntroductionChapter 1: The People behind the AutographNikolai Karlovich KulmanNatalia Ivanovna Bokii-Likhareva-KulmanNikolai and Natalia Kulman: Their StoryGleb Bokii—The Case of Myth CreationChapter 2: The ExodusChapter 3: Note on Translation of LettersChapter 4: Letters of Nikolai Kulman to Ivan Bunin (1922–1935)Chapter 5: Letters of Nikolai Kulman to Vera Bunina (1928–1938)Chapter 6: Letters of Natalia Kulman to Ivan Bunin (1944–1952)Bibliography

“This is not an ordinary study of literary history. It starts as Tsareva-Brauner’s personal journey—beginning with her chance discovery of an autograph of writer Ivan Bunin on the inside cover of a book—and develops into a family history of Nikolai and Natalia Kulman, close friends and financial supporters of the Bunin family in Russia and France… This is a book for readers who already know and admire Bunin’s work. However, it is also a book for those interested in following the twists and turns of intellectual history as it unfolds... Highly recommended.”–A. J. DeBlasio, Dickinson College, CHOICE“By translating the letters ofthe Kulmans to the Bunins,the author of Autographs Don’t Burn: Letters to Bunins sheds light on the unknown life of Russian émigré intellectuals andtheir close friends who had to flee the country during the establishment of theSoviet Union and provides information on what these intellectuals went throughduring a very turbulent time in Russian history, as well as their lifeexperiences and activities to preserve their culture and language in a foreigncountry.”—Ayse Dietrich, International Journal of Russian Studies