Ilja Erenburg - fajczarz

The aim of the article is to look at the figure of Ilya Ehrenburg (1891–1967) through the prism of auto/biographical writing, which is a sketch for a literary portrait of the artist. This perspective will allow us to present the creative profile of Ehrenburg the pipe smoker, which emerges from the texts of his contemporaries and the writer’s correspondence with friends and acquaintances. Ehrenburg’s epistolary legacy was introduced into the scientific circulation and the letters he received will make it possible to reconstruct his creative personality and artistic strategy, built largely on the influence of broadly understood European culture. For Ehrenburg, a pipe was not only a utilitarian object but also an expression of passion. In Russia, the pipe had mostly a European origin; for the writer, it remained a visible sign of life philosophy. Thanks to it, Ehrenburg successfully managed to attract the attention of the environment. What is more, the pipe taught him patience, favored self-reflection, and helped measure the rhythm of the passing time.