Book “Black River. Before and After” was prepared by the famous Italian researcher Professor S. Vitale and Russian Pushkin scholar V. P. Stark. The published letters of J. Dantes to J. van Heeckeren and E. N. Goncharova were extracted from the de Heeckeren archive in France. Their existence has been known for a long time - fragments of two letters were published by A. Troyat back in 1936, and since then there has been heated controversy around them. Most of these letters were published several years ago in the Zvezda magazine, but the current complete bilingual publication makes it possible to finally introduce them into scientific circulation and will be the impetus for new discoveries in the understanding and interpretation of Pushkin’s pre-duel days. The letters fully reveal the nature of the relationship between Dantes and Heeckeren, which clarifies the place of both in the history of the poet’s last duel, and also clarifies the negative role of E. N. Goncharova in it. In addition, in the Appendix, the Dutch researcher F. Suasso publishes materials he discovered in the Dutch archives about the so-called adoption of Dantes by Heeckeren, shedding light on Heeckeren’s unseemly behavior in this story. From the letters, a picture of life in St. Petersburg at that time emerges from a new perspective - through the eyes of Pushkin’s opponents. The book is illustrated with numerous portraits and views of St. Petersburg and is provided with a detailed commentary. The publication won the “Pushkinist” competition of the Open Society Institute (J. Soros Foundation) and was supported by the Institute. Publication, foreword and commentary by Serena Vitale, Vadim Stark, France Soisso. Translation from French by Margarita PisarevaEditor translation by Leonid TsyvyanTranslation from Dutch by Igor BratusyaEditor Irina MuravyovaArtist Svetozar Ostrov