Стихи, переписка, разговоры с Борисом Рыжим

In the first part of this article the author notes a number of lexico-syntactical and intonational correspondences between some of Ryzhii's verse lines and predecessors from the Russian literary tradition, such as Baratynskii, Fet, Nekrasov, Blok, Mandel'shtam, Nabokov, and contemporary poets such as Brodskii, Rein and the author himself. In the second part the author provides comments on Ryzhii and his poetry in connection with his personal acquaintance with the poet, as he recalls some conversations and cites some of Ryzhii's letters.