Wednesday (literary club).

Wednesday: Derived etymologically from the word middle middle, but essentially meaning the opposite of the word environment. That is, everything that is around the middle (around me). In this meaning it is usually used with clarification (what environment?) ... Wikipedia

1. WEDNESDAY, s, wine. environment; pl. environment; and. 1. Substance that fills which l. space and having certain properties. Air village Propagation of light in a homogeneous medium. Refractive media. Filter media. Nutritious s. (liquid or... encyclopedic Dictionary

A literary circle in Moscow has been meeting on Wednesdays with the writer N.D. Teleshov since the 90s. 19th century until 1916. Participants V.V. Veresaev, A.I. Kuprin, I.A. Bunin, M. Gorky and others. After the Revolution of 1905 07, the so-called. The young environment led by Yu. A.... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

A literary circle in Moscow has been meeting on Wednesdays with the writer N.D. Teleshov since the 90s. XIX century until 1916. Participants V.V. Veresaev, A.I. Kuprin, I.A. Bunin, M. Gorky and others. After the Revolution of 1905 07, the so-called “Young Environment” arose, led by ... encyclopedic Dictionary

I Environment in biology, a set of abiotic (inorganic) and biotic (organic) living conditions of animals, plants or microorganisms of one or different types. Abiotic factors of S. include chemical ( chemical composition… … Big Soviet encyclopedia

- “Ash Wednesday”, painting by Karl Spitzweg, 1855-1860. This term has other meanings, see Environment (meanings) ... Wikipedia

This article is about the house of I. F. Lopatin at 68 Nevsky Prospekt. About the house of I. F. Lopatin at 100 Nevsky Prospect. See Nevsky, 100. This article is about the Dekhterev house on Nevsky Prospect. About Dekhterev’s house by... ... Wikipedia

- - was born on May 30, 1811 in Sveaborg, recently annexed to Russia, where his father, Grigory Nikiforovich, served as a junior doctor for the naval crew. Grigory Nikiforovich received his last name upon entering the seminary from his educational... ...

- — famous poet. ?. CHILDHOOD (1783-1797) The year of birth of Zhukovsky is determined differently by his biographers. However, despite the evidence of P. A. Pletnev and J. K. Grot, indicating the birth of J. in 1784, it must be considered, like J. himself... ... Large biographical encyclopedia

Literature of the era of feudalism. VIII-X centuries. XI-XII centuries. XII-XIII centuries. XIII-XV centuries. Bibliography. Literature of the era of the decay of feudalism. I. From the Reformation to the 30 Years' War (late 15th-16th centuries). II From the 30 Years' War to the Early Enlightenment (XVII century... Literary encyclopedia

From the beginning of the nineties to October revolution In Moscow there was a Literary and Artistic Circle - a club that united all the cream of literary and artistic Moscow. Members of the club were Stanislavsky, Ermolova, Chaliapin, Sobinov, Yuzhin, Lensky, Serov, Korovin, Vasnetsov, all outstanding writers and scientists, journalists and politicians (mainly cadets). These were full members. In addition, there were competing members without literary or artistic experience: bankers, factory owners, lawyers, and for some reason a lot of dentists. These members have voting rights on general meetings did not have. What they could “compete” in in the Circle is unknown. And how they were useful to the Circle will be clear from what follows.

The annual membership fee for full members was 15 rubles, for competitive members - 25. Formally speaking, these membership fees were the only income of the Circle; per year it amounted to no more than ten thousand rubles. Meanwhile, the Circle occupied a huge luxurious premises on Bolshaya Dmitrovka in the Vostryakov house, No. 15 (where the Moscow Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks was later located, and now the Supreme Prosecutor's Office of the USSR). For this room alone, the Circle paid forty thousand a year, annually allocated 5–6 thousand for replenishing the library and the same amount for purchasing works of art, provided financial assistance writers and artists in need. The library was magnificent, the walls of the Circle were hung with paintings by first-class artists; there were especially many portraits: the famous Serov portrait of Ermolova, Leo Tolstoy - Repin, Yuzhin and Lensky - Serova, Chaliapin - Golovin, Chekhov - Ulyanova, Bryusov - Malyutin, etc. I think I will not be mistaken if I say that the actual annual budget of the Circle was 150 –200 thousand rubles. Where did this money come from?

On the top floor there was a large hall with a low ceiling, filled with round tables with green cloth. Real life this hall began to live from eleven to twelve o'clock at night. Here they played iron games. There were “golden” tables, where lowest bid was golden. Thousands and tens of thousands were won and lost. More and more people were drawn into the game and corrupted. Some venerable professor or young writer walks around the tables and watches the players with an ironic grin; while playing around, he will “get close” to someone’s bet, bet a golden ten-ruble piece, win (fate is usually very merciful to beginners), returns to his friends having dinner in the dining room and says, chuckling:

Now, I've earned myself some money for dinner!

You see, after a year or two he no longer leaves the upper hall, no longer pretends to be, but takes a place at the table and plays all night long. This is where the competitive members “competed”, this is the purpose for which they were selected.

I had to observe some very strange types here. Carefully after the theater, the artist of the Maly Theater K. N. Rybakov, a magnificent actor, the son of the famous N. X. Rybakov, came here. Tall, dense, very silent. He sat down near the table where the biggest game was going on and watched. Never took part in the game. But he looked very carefully, without looking away. This is where I asked myself to have dinner and ate at a small table set aside, continuing to follow the game. Silent. A barely noticeable grin runs across his thin, shaved lips. He sat carefully until six o'clock in the morning - the deadline before which the game was allowed - and was the last to leave. And - never played. I was very interested in him. What's the matter? Knowledgeable people they explained it to me. This happens to ardent players who quit playing. Once Rybakov lost cruelly, he promised himself not to play. And so I mentally experienced all the vicissitudes of someone else’s game, finding a kind of pleasure in it.

This upper hall of the Circle has seen many views, its walls could tell about many acute events. Here is one such event that was discussed for a long time in the Circle.

Late night. In the smoky upper hall the electricity burns brightly. There is a thick ring of spectators around one of the “golden” tables. Everyone is excitedly watching the game. Mechet bank famous artist Maly Theater Prince A.I. Sumbatov-Yuzhin. His face is calm and impassive. The already mentioned artist K. N. Rybakov (he was still playing at that time) paces around the table in excitement. He looks at the table, grabs his head and says to himself:

No, he is positively - crazy! He is s-u-m-a-s-sh-e-d-sh-i-y!

Rybakov entered the bank mortgaged by Yuzhin with half his share. Yuzhin won nine times, twenty-five thousand in the bank. But Yuzhin continues to throw.

I give you a map!

Wins for the tenth time. There's fifty thousand in the bank. Rybakov demands to finish. But Yuzhin doesn’t seem to hear and again:

I give you a map!

Losing is almost certain. Those present bet their last money in hopes of winning, their eyes are burning, their faces are pale, their hands are trembling. Only Yuzhin’s hands are calm, and his face is still impassive.

Winning for the eleventh time! There's a hundred thousand in the bank. And again a calm voice:

I give you a map!

General silence. And no one has that kind of money anymore, and even if they did, they wouldn’t do it like that - everyone was gripped by that mystical horror of luck that is familiar only to gamblers.

Yuzhin repeats:

I give you a map!

A noticeable mischievous smile runs across his lips. Rybakov comes to life: there are no takers. Suddenly a quiet old voice:

Allow me a card! By the bank!

Millionaire tobacco manufacturer Bostanzhoglo. With a gold pen he writes a check for one hundred thousand rubles and places it on the table.

Yuzhin is rushing. Open the cards. Yuzhin has five points, Bostanzhoglo has a winning nine. The bank is broken.

Rybakov grabbed his head and fell heavily into a chair. And Prince Sumbatov-Yuzhin ran his hand across his forehead with a lordly gesture and said in a calm, careless voice:

Well, now let's go drink red wine!

This upper hall served as the main source of income for the Circle. Officially, the game was supposed to end at twelve o'clock at night. For every extra half hour, the player paid a fine, which increased in a very significant progression. The game finally stopped at six o'clock in the morning. Anyone who stayed until this hour paid a fine of thirty-two rubles. It is quite understandable: for a person who won hundreds and thousands overnight, it cost nothing to pay these thirty-two rubles; a person who had lost hundreds and thousands easily accepted a fine in the hope of winning back.

This is where the main income of the Circle went to the cash desk. This was the case everywhere; all major clubs lived on such income. Often voices of protest were heard against this state of affairs in the Circle, they said that it was a shame to turn the club of the cream of the Moscow intelligentsia into a gambling den and live on the income from it. They objected to this with a smile: in this case, it would be necessary either to increase membership fees twenty to thirty times, or to rent an apartment for one hundred rubles a month, make do with two or three employees, keep a buffet with only vodka, beer and sandwiches, pay five -six newspapers and magazines. No one will go to such a club.

And here: a suite of large halls with shiny parquet floors, cozy upholstered furniture and expensive paintings along the walls, numerous polite waiters in green tailcoats with gold buttons, a huge quiet reading room with soft armchairs and Turkish sofas, with electric lamps under green lampshades holding the ceiling in shadow; on the tables there are all kinds of Russian and foreign newspapers and magazines; a wonderful library with the rarest expensive publications. A wonderful buffet, an inexpensive and elegant table, the finest wines. It was very convenient to observe the previously completely unfamiliar life of the old regime club and the wide circles of the cream of the Moscow intelligentsia.

Numerous literary and art societies: Society of Periodical Press and Literature Workers, literary circle “Sreda”, Society of Free Aesthetics, etc. Banquets and anniversary celebrations were organized. In big auditorium on Fridays there were executive meetings - speakers best artists and singers, members of the Circle and visiting celebrities. On Tuesdays, reports were read on literary, artistic, philosophical and political topics. Disputes often took on a very interesting and poignant character.

One of these disputes stands out vividly in my memory. Modernist D. V. Filosofov, who came from St. Petersburg, read a report on Lev Shestov’s book “The Apotheosis of Groundlessness.” Yves came to see me. Iv. Skvortsov-Stepanov - Bolshevik, future editor of Izvestia. I suggested that he go to the report. He had never been to the Circle before. Interested. Let's go together.

On the stage at a table covered with green cloth is the speaker, who came with him from St. Petersburg D. S. Merezhkovsky and Z. N. Gippius, Andrei Bely. The modernist poet S. A. Sokolov-Krechetov presided. The speaker on Shestov’s book spoke about our general groundlessness, about the deep moral decline modern literature, about the bleak social outlook. Then the debate began. Andrei Bely made a long, hysterical speech. He stretched out his hands to the audience and spoke excitedly about the terrifying general groundlessness and unprincipledness, about the hopelessness of the future, about the unheard of moral decay literature. Writers are in the business of poisoning cats with dogs. (At this time, the St. Petersburg newspapers were making noise about a game that one well-known fiction writer and two journalists had invented for themselves: they tied a cat to the leg of a piano and baited it with fox terriers.)

The literature has completely sold out! - Bely exclaimed. - Stayed small group writers, which still honestly holds its banner. But we are exhausted in an impossible struggle, our strength is weakening, we are being overwhelmed by a wave of universal corruption... Help us, support us!..

Andrei Bely was a wonderful speaker. His speech, with its passion, had a purely hypnotic effect on the listeners, infectious with its intimacy and surprise. The audience applauded warmly.

Ivan Ivanovich listened, shrugged his shoulders and choked with laughter.

No, I can't stand it! Are outsiders allowed to perform at your place?

Certainly.

He came out - huge, thunderous. At first he was slightly out of breath with excitement, but soon he controlled himself and spoke caustically and mockingly. I was perplexed why the speakers looked so hopelessly at the future; they spoke of powerful “social forces,” temporarily defeated, but uncontrollably rising and growing again. Then about literature.

Mr. Andrei Bely cites as an example of the depravity of our literature a mediocre writer who became famous for outright pornography, and two newspaper reporters who were engaged in joint baiting of cats. And this is our literature? They are literature, and Leo Tolstoy, living and creating in Yasnaya Polyana, he is not literature? (Thunder of applause.) Korolenko is alive and working - isn’t this literature? Maxim Gorky lives “beyond reach” - do you think it’s really because he sold out? Or, in your opinion, is it not literature? Mr. Andrei Bely reports to you that only a handful of them remain in literature, that they have not sold yet, but he is terribly afraid that someone will buy them. And she begs the audience to support her. I am reminded of the old saying: “A virtue that needs to be guarded is not worth guarding!” So it is with you: you are afraid to be tempted, you are afraid not to resist - and don’t! Sell ​​yourself! We won't cry! But leave Russian literature alone: ​​it has nothing to do with it!

It was as if a stormy draft had burst into a stuffy hall full of subtly poisonous, relaxing fumes and was freely flying over the heads of the silent audience. When Skvortsov finished, applause thundered, such as this hall had rarely heard.

Merezhkovsky jumped up, his face pale with anger. Looking defiantly through the black carnations of his prickly eyes, he declared that the public is completely devoid of its own thoughts, that it applauds completely opposite opinions with equal enthusiasm, that all its approval and disapproval are worthless.

And I will prove it to you. So I scold you, but I predict in advance with complete confidence: you will applaud me too!

Indeed, they applauded. But whistles and hissing were heard nearby. Many of the listeners rushed to the stage, but the chairman, Sokolov-Krechetov, did not give them the floor. Still, one student ran up to the stage and excitedly declared:

I must explain to Mr. Merezhkovsky what he should understand himself: “The public” is not an organism with one brain and two hands. Some applaud Skvortsov, others applaud him.

I had to close the meeting. Ivan Ivanovich laughed and rubbed his hands.

Had a very interesting evening! I've never seen anything like this. Thank you!

Nikolai Dmitrievich Teleshov (1867-1957), famous Russian and Soviet writer and a poet, came from a fairly wealthy merchant family of Zamoskvorechye, whose dacha in Malakhovka is depicted on this old postcard.

His ancestors were serfs of the Vladimir province, who bought their freedom on their own. Grandfather Nikolai Dmitrievich had a store in the Old Gostiny Dvor on Ilyinka Street. Subsequently, he became a co-owner of the trading house "Teleshov Dmitry Egorovich", established by his father in 1877, a member of the board of the commercial and industrial partnership "Yaroslavl Big Manufactory", guild head of the merchant council of the Moscow Merchant Society (1894-1898).

Ilyinka street in Moscow. Old postcard from the early twentieth century

In 1884, Nikolai Teleshov graduated from the Moscow Practical Commercial Academy. In the same year, he published his first poem, “Abandoned,” in the Rainbow magazine. In 1895, Teleshov’s first book, “On Troikas,” was published by Sytin’s publishing house. The writer's stories and essays quickly gained popularity by the beginning of the twentieth century.

Teleshov Nikolay Dmitrievich

(1867-1957)

In general, N.D. Teleshov entered the history of Russian literature primarily as the initiator of the “Teleshov Wednesdays” and the author of the memoir book “Notes of a Writer.” The “Wednesdays” in Teleshov’s house were attended by all the cream of literary Moscow of the early 20th century: L.N. Andreev, K.D. Balmont, V.Ya. Bryusov, I.A. Bunin, A.S. Serafimovich, V.V. Veresaev, A.M. Gorky, A.I. Kuprin, B.K. Zaitsev and many others. Gorky read his play “At the Lower Depths” for the first time here. S. Rachmaninov played the piano, and F. Chaliapin urged his friends to listen to him here: “Listen to me here, not in Bolshoi Theater“I sing there for money!”

N. D. Teleshov and I. A. Bunin, 1910

The book of these “notes” was reprinted several times in Soviet time and was interesting because it was illustrated with photographic portraits of Russian writers. The fact was that these portraits contained a personal dedicatory autograph to Teleshov. Since collecting these portraits was Teleshov’s passion, he managed to obtain dedicatory inscriptions on portraits from Leo Tolstoy, Chekhov, Korolenko, Gorky, Kuprin, Bunin, Serafimovich, Veresaev, Belousov, Skitalets, Leonid Andreev, Mamin-Sibiryak, Zlatovratsky, Spiridon Drozhzhin, Chaliapin and many others.

In the 1948 edition of “Notes of a Writer,” among other portraits, there was an illustration that reproduced the famous 1902 group portrait of the Sreda writers. Its difference from the original portrait was that the image of the Russian writer and playwright E.N. Chirikov behind I.A. Bunin was carefully retouched.

The literary circle "Sreda" existed in Moscow from 1899 to 1916 and met on Wednesdays at the writer Nikolai Teleshov's Chistoprudny Boulevard, and then in a house on Pokrovsky Boulevard.

In 1899, Teleshov married E.A. Karzinkina, a representative of a wealthy merchant family, whose dowry included the lands of Malakhovka. Elena Andreevna, the writer’s wife, graduated Moscow school painting, sculpture and architecture, was a student of V.D. Polenov and had wide circle dating among artists. Thanks to her, artists A. Ya. Golovin, K. K. Pervukhin, A. M. Vasnetsov, I. I. Levitan attended the “Wednesdays”.

Malakhovka station. Old postcard from the early twentieth century

After the opening of the Malakhovka railway platform in 1880, dacha construction began, and by the end of the century it was already a fashionable dacha village of more than 300 dachas, one of which was the large wooden dacha of the Teleshovs, depicted on this old postcard. The Teleshovs lived in Malakhovka for more than 20 years - from 1899 to 1921. Sometimes they arrived in early spring, and left only in late autumn, since from 1913 to 1915 a winter stone house was built on the estate. Relatives and friends often came to visit the Teleshovs, and the “Sreda” circle often gathered at this dacha. Photographs of Teleshov with guests in the room, on the veranda, and on the porch of the dacha have been preserved. I. A. Bunin and L. N. Andreev often came. Once A. M. Gorky visited Teleshov’s Malakhov dacha. In 1924, he wrote to Teleshov: “Your “Wednesdays” had a very great importance for all of us, writers of that era."

A group of participants in the Moscow literary circle “Sreda”.Old postcard from the early twentieth century

Prominent and well-known writers of that time visited Teleshov's dacha: A.P. Chekhov, A.I. Kuprin, V.V. Veresaev, poet and translator T.G. Shevchenko, prominent literary critic A.E. Gruzinsky, playwright S.A. .Naydenov, author of the famous play “Vanyushin’s Children”, doctor and art critic S. S. Goloushev (Sergei Glagol), who actively participated in literary life Moscow, and other figures of Russian culture.

F.I. Chaliapin in Malakhovka with Luzhsky and Teleshov. Photo from 1918

I liked relaxing in Malakhovka and F.I. Chaliapin, who often came with his family to visit Teleshov. Many Russian theater figures such as A.I. Yuzhin-Sumbatov, director of the Maly Theater, and V.I. Nemirovich-Danchenko visited the “Lake” estate, which received its name from a dam on the Makedonka River, more than once.

Gymnasium in Malakhovka. Old postcard from the early twentieth century

The Teleshovs actively participated in the life of the village. Thanks to the exceptional energy of Nikolai Dmitrievich, it was possible to open “the first village gymnasium in Russia” in Malakhovka - now school No. 48, “above the ravine.” Also, the Teleshovs, using their own funds, organized a hospital in Malakhovka (1915) and built a rural hospital (1916).

But in 1921, the Teleshovs’ estate was nationalized, and the family moved to Pokrovsky Boulevard to the Karzinkins’ house. This has been the Moscow apartment of the Teleshovs since 1913, where Alexander Andreevich Karzinkin, the brother of the writer’s wife, invited them to move.

The Karzinkins' house on Pokrovsky Boulevard, No. 18/15, where N.D. Teleshov lived

The wooden house in Malakhovka was demolished, and only main house and an outbuilding built before the 1917 revolution. After the expulsion of the owners, the building housed a school, and then a physical education institute, now transformed into the Moscow state academy physical culture. In 2014, the outbuilding, which was historical monument, without permits, according to city defenders, was illegally demolished.

After the revolution, Nikolai Dmitrievich participated in the organization of the Moscow Museum Art Theater. In 1938, N.D. Teleshov received the title of Honored Artist of the RSFSR for organizing the Moscow Art Theater Museum in Kamergersky Lane, of which he was director since 1923. In 1943, the first edition of Teleshov’s book of memoirs, entitled “Notes of a Writer,” dedicated to his wife, was published.

Moscow Art Theater building. Old postcard from the early twentieth century.

It should be noted that in 1911 the composition of the “Wednesday” circle expanded, and for some time the circle was called “Young Wednesday” under the chairmanship of Yu.A. Bunin, the elder brother of Ivan Alekseevich, and the members were: A.N. Tolstoy, I.S. Shmelev, V. G. Lidin, B. A. Pilnyak, etc. In September 1913, “Sreda” from a private circle turned into an officially registered association - the Commission for Literary Interviews of the Moscow Society for Assistance to Writers and Journalists (100 members). In 1918, “Sreda”, having separated from the association, became an independent organization. Meetings again took place at Teleshov’s apartment on Pokrovsky Blvd., 18: permanent - until 1922, and occasional - until the death of the owner in 1957.

thumb|left| St. Syezzhinskaya, 16, address V. M. Gribovsky K.K. Sluchevsky was a fairly high-ranking official at that time: editor of the official newspaper “Government Gazette”, member of the Council of the Minister of Internal Affairs, chamberlain of the court, and although his salon was not visited by radical democrats, the meetings turned out to be quite representative. Both Ya. P. Polonsky and K. K. Sluchevsky were tactful and diplomatic people and knew how to reconcile the guests of the most different views. In the new circle, K. K. Sluchevsky united mainly poets; in addition to previous participants - Sluchevsky himself (Lieutenant S.), P. I. Weinberg, V. P. Burenin, S. A. Andreevsky, E. E. Ukhtomsky, A. A. Tikhonov (Lugovoy), P. P. Gnedich, we find here representatives of “ new wave"Russian poetry, its emerging: , . The names of the rest of the “Fridays” participants were also well known to readers poetic pages then literary magazines of liberal and conservative orientation: N. N. Ventzel (N. N. Yuryin), V. A. Shuf, O. N. Chyumina (O. N. Mikhailova), F.V. Chernigovets, book. D. N. Tsertelev, S. A. Safonov, P. F. Porfirov, N. I. Poznyakov, D. L. Mikhalovsky, V. S. Likhachev, V. P. Lebedev, A. A. Korinfsky, gr. A. A. Golenishchev-Kutuzov, V. P. Gaideburov (Harry), P. V. Bykov, A. N. Budishchev, book. V. V. Baryatinsky, . In addition to poets, the circle united prose writers: A. A. Izmailov, historian and prose writer V. M. Gribovsky, playwright. Thanks to the caustic remark of one feuilletonist, “Friday” meetings were called "mutual admiration club". Aesthetic position For most of the named “Fridays” participants, it was very vague. They preferred to listen. The growing division in the modernist camp completely relegated them to the background, relegating them to a role in best case scenario epigones of symbolism: Allegro, K. N. Ledov, etc. On the other hand, in the coming years, both St. Petersburg and Moscow symbolists had enough platforms in order not to confuse themselves with the eclectic followers of K. K. Sluchevsky. I. A. Bunin occupied his own isolated position, and soon became close to the Moscow people of N. D. Teleshov and other “Znanievites.”

"Wednesday" (literary circle), Teleshov's Wednesdays is Moscow literary and artistic circle (1899-1916), founded by N. D. Teleshov. The first chairman of the circle’s directorate is A. I. Sumbatov, the second is V. Ya. Bryusov.

Foundation and activities of the circle

The literary and artistic association of Moscow writers “Sreda” was organized in 1899 in Moscow by the Russian writer Nikolai Dmitrievich Teleshov. Meetings of members of the commonwealth were held in the apartment of N. D. Teleshov on Wednesdays.

During the meetings, young writers presented new, previously unpublished works for discussion by colleagues, and the authors personally performed their works. Famous play Maxim Gorky’s “At the Lower Depths” was read for the first time at Sreda.

Writers also organized weekends, or large “Wednesdays,” in which writers, actors, artists, doctors, and lawyers participated as guests. A group of Moscow writers supported and composed protests caused by the violent actions of the government. The revolutionary nature of the creativity of the members of the commonwealth is due to their connection with representatives of decadence, modernism and other trends. Big “Wednesdays” were visited by K. D. Balmont, Krechetov, V. Ya. Bryusov and other poets.
The works of Moscow writers were included in the collections of the circle “Knowledge”, “Word”, “Cry”, “Book of Stories and Poems”.

Members of the circle

Native members and regular visitors creative circle“Wednesday” included famous Russian writers and playwrights of the 19th-20th centuries: N. D. Teleshov, M. Gorky, E. N. Chirikov, L. N. Andreev, Skitalets, Naydenov, Veresaev, A. I. Kuprin, I A. Bunin, Yu. A. Bunin, Serafimovich, E. P. Goslavsky, N. I. Timkovsky, F. I. Shalyapin, S. S. Goloushev, etc. Among the senior writers are P. D. Boborykin, N. N. Zlatovratsky, S. Ya. Elpatievsky, Mamin-Sibiryak, V. A. Goltsev. Guests creative evenings A. P. Chekhov, V. G. Korolenko, A. Ya. Golovin and others were often present.

Members of the circle, except general creative interests, tied up friendly relations. The group members were distinguished by self-irony: they had a tradition of openly giving their regular comrades nicknames, which were chosen from a number of names of Moscow squares and streets. This process was called "giving addresses."

Maxim Gorky received the address of the Moscow Khitrovka Square in honor of the play “At the Lower Depths”, I. A. Kuprin - “Horse Square” for his passion for the circus and horses; Veresaev was given the address " A stone bridge"for unwavering views, Yu. A. Bunin - "Staro-Gazetny Lane" for long experience in editorial offices; N. N. Zlatovratsky was named “Old Triumphal Gate”, etc.

"Young Wednesday"

Since 1909, the character of “Sreda” has changed significantly. Meetings of the group, headed by Yu. A. Bunin, were held in the Moscow Literary and Artistic Circle. The composition of the community expanded with young writers. The updated circle, which continued the traditions of its predecessors, was called “Young Wednesday”.

Closing the circle

The last years of the existence of the literary association “Sreda” occurred during the height of the First World War. The final meeting took place in 1916 without previous success, after which creative meetings stopped.

The Sreda partnership not only made a significant contribution to the development of Russian culture, but also had a significant public role– the activities of writers are mainly based on the principles of protecting people and mutual assistance.