' (, "Contemporary Papers") was a politicized literary journal published from 1920 to 1940. A group of adherents of the Russian
Socialist-Revolutionary Party
The Socialist Revolutionary Party (SR; ,, ) was a major socialist political party in the late Russian Empire, during both phases of the Russian Revolution, and in early Soviet Russia. The party members were known as Esers ().
The SRs were ag ...
launched the journal during the
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...
.
Headquartered in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
, ''Sovremennye zapiski'' published the poetry, fiction, and articles of Russian emigrants, many of them highly respected writers and philosophers.
It is one of several Russian journals that published the early fiction of
Vladimir Nabokov
Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov ( ; 2 July 1977), also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin (), was a Russian and American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist. Born in Imperial Russia in 1899, Nabokov wrote his first nine novels in Rus ...
; Nabokov's novel '' Despair'' was first serialized in ''Sovremennye zapiski''.
Featured titles
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Vladimir Nabokov
Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov ( ; 2 July 1977), also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin (), was a Russian and American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist. Born in Imperial Russia in 1899, Nabokov wrote his first nine novels in Rus ...
Ivan Bunin
Ivan Alekseyevich Bunin ( or ; rus, Ива́н Алексе́евич Бу́нин, p=ɪˈvan ɐlʲɪkˈsʲejɪvʲɪdʑ ˈbunʲɪn, a=Ivan Alyeksyeyevich Bunin.ru.vorb.oga; – 8 November 1953)Mitya's Love''
** '' The Life of Arseniev''
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Andrei Bely
Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev (, ; – 8 January 1934), better known by the pen name Andrei Bely or Biely, was a Russian novelist, Symbolist poet, theorist and literary critic. He was a committed anthroposophist and follower of Rudolf Steiner. Hi ...
** ''The Baptized Chinaman''
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Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy
Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy (; – 23 February 1945) was a Russian writer whose works span across many genres, but mainly belonged to science fiction and historical fiction.
Despite having opposed the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, he was abl ...
** ''Sisters'' (first part of ''
The Road to Calvary
''The Road to Calvary'' (), also translated as ''Ordeal'', is a trilogy of novels by Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy, tracing the fate of the Russian intelligentsia on the eve of, during, and after the revolution of 1917. It consists of the novels ' ...
'')
See also
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February Revolution
The February Revolution (), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and sometimes as the March Revolution or February Coup was the first of Russian Revolution, two revolutions which took place in Russia ...
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October Revolution
The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...
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Russian diaspora
The Russian diaspora is the global community of Ethnicity, ethnic Russians. The Russian-speaking (''Russophone'') diaspora are the people for whom Russian language is the First language, native language, regardless of whether they are ethnic Russ ...