Marina Tsvetaeva’s dowry

Abstract

S. Lyutova and I. Dronova have put together a comprehensive description of the history and topography of the house in Ttryokhprudny Lane: known from M. Tsvetaeva’s early poems, it was her and S. Efron’s only real estate property. By introducing archived materials into the context of published literary sources that mention ‘Tsvetaeva’s house’ in Zamoskvorechye, the researchers were able to analyse the emotional images from letters and memoirs alongside the accurate descriptions of property assessors; they also discovered that Sergey Efron was the property’s registered owner, and detailed such facts from Tsvetaeva’s everyday life as the house’s type and market price, its previous owner, and the tenants during Efron’s ownership. Having thoroughly researched the documentation related to the house in Tryokhprudny Lane, they prove that the house ended up in Efron’s ownership as the dowry from the ‘rich’ Marina to her young husband in 1912: it played a crucial role in supporting the newlyweds financially.