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Abstract

It is commonly believed that on January 27, 1837, at 4 p. m., Pushkin met with his Lyceum friend K. K. Danzas at the Wolf and Beranger confectionery on Nevsky Prospekt, and from there they went to the duel on the Chernaya Rechka (the Black River). This version was created by V. A. Zhukovsky in a letter to the late poet’s father, S. L. Pushkin, on February 5, 1837. When creating the official version, V. A. Zhukovsky relied heavily on Danzas’s testimony on February 2, 1837, which Pushkin’s second provided to the investigation. Meanwhile, a study of the investigation file suggests that this version was invented by Pushkin’s friends to make the participation of the poet’s second, Danzas, who faced criminal prosecution for taking part in the duel, seem almost accidental. In reality, Pushkin and his second, after Danzas purchased the pistols at Aleksey Kurakin’s gun shop located opposite the Wolf and Beranger confectionery, went to the French Embassy and from there to the duel site at Chernaya Rechka (the Black River).