‘He had a bestial relation to literature as though it were the sole source of animal warmth. He warmed himself by the side of literature, he rubbed up against its coat with his bristly red hair and unshaven cheeks. He was a Romulus who hated the she-wolf which gave him suck, and hating, he taught others to love her…’
— Osip Mandelstam describing his teacher V. V. Gippius