Eliseeva, N. V. Wanderers of War

Abstract: This article contains a review of the book “Wanderers of War: Memories of the Writers’ Children. 1941–1944” written by Natalya Gromova and published in 2012. The book describes memories of children of the Soviet writers who were evacuated and lived at the hostel arranged by the Foundation for the Support of Writers in Chistopol. The first part of the book contains a story about the three young men who died: Marina Tsvetaeva’s son Georgy Efron, Vsevolod Bagritsky and Nikita Shklovsky. The second part of the book is devoted to detailed memories about childhood in the years of war and everyday life before the war and describes families of Soviet writers and their relations, performance of the local radio, school days and games played by children, personalities of Timur Gaidar, Stanislav Neuhaus and Aleksey Surkov and etc. The book also tells us about the teachers of the hostel such as Boris Pasternak, Faina Kogan, Anna Stonova, Nikolay Sychev, Flora Leytes, Elizaveta Loyter, Angelina Stepanova and others. Boris Pasternak used to read his translations of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliette” to the kids. Tvardovsky’s “Vasili Tyorkin” was first performed in Chistopol. The book also describes how Aleksey Surkov’s “Strawberry” was created.

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