Book by V.G. Bazanov (1911-1981), a famous literary historian and folklorist, about Nikolai Klyuev was one of his last major and, apparently, most cherished works. A comprehensive study of the artist of a complex, tragic fate, who embodied the rich experience of folk culture in his poetry, rare in its verbal beauty and deep socio-philosophical content, was completed by the scientist by the mid-1970s. More than once, the book already seemed to be approaching the printing press, but new obstacles, reinsurance of publishers, double-checks, “control” and other reviews, additional exhausting requirements, annoying and offensive withdrawals kept pushing aside the innovative scientific work, which remained unpublished during the author’s lifetime. Now this book, which at one time shared the sad fate of many other outstanding works of fiction and scientific literature, is finally coming out to the reader.