«Михаилу Афанасьевичу Булгакову лично»: к истории одной литературной мистификации

In the archive of the writer Viktor Nekrasov, an anonymous document has been preserved: the manuscript of a letter to V. M. Lisovich dated October 31, 1927. This letter is from Vanda Lisovich, a literary character in the novel The White Guard – she is the wife of the engineer Vasily Lisovich. The prototypes of the Lisovich couple were Vasily Pavlovich Listovnichy (1876–1919) and Yadviga Viktorovna Listovnichy (1863–1936). There is still no conclusive evidence about the authorship of the letter and the time of its writing, nor is there any proof that the text of the letter belongs to Viktor Nekrasov. But the fact that the letter has been preserved in his archive suggests that it is not a document alien to the writer, originating, at the very least, in his circle of friends.

Keywords: Viktor Nekrasov, Mikhail Bulgakov, “The White Guard”, hoax, Vanda Lisovich, Vasily Lisovich