There are seemingly insignificant episodes in the history of philology that rarely attract the attention of modern researchers. Meanwhile, such "fragments" sometimes reveal events and circumstances unknown to the general scientific community of the relationship between Russian scientists and their compatriots, who became "non-returnees" due to the tragic days of the revolution and persecution, but lived with the hope of returning to Russia, love for their native country and a great desire to communicate with people close in spirit.
One of these courageous scientists was Roman Osipovich Yakobson (1896-1982). Fate separated him from the friends of his youth for many years, and only from the mid-1950s could he freely return to his homeland, where he had not been for almost 40 years.
The works and archives of P. O. Jacobson (both domestic and foreign) have repeatedly become the subject of close attention of researchers, monographs have been written about the scientist, a bibliography of his works has been compiled, etc. Nevertheless, we believe that every discovery, even if it is as insignificant as a few letters, will help readers better understand the world of ideas and hobbies of this undoubtedly talented philologist and big man.
In the proposed selection, it is precisely the" humanistic " aspect of his epistolary heritage that is important for us, because it reveals the very essence of his personality, his attitude to people and, above all, his willingness to help a friend, colleague, or just an acquaintance with a letter, advice, or a real man's act. And P. O. Jacobson did it "without any stretch", without straining and as if obliging himself (after all, he still lived in better conditions), but in a brotherly, sympathetic way.
Roman Osipovich Yakobson has a special epistolary style. And its tone largely depends on the addressee. P. G. Bogatyrev, a well-known Russian ethnologist and folklorist, who had known P. O. Jacobson from a young age and often communicated wi ...
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