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These letters were written in the summer of 1963 in the village of Zhukovka, not far from Moscow, within thirty-five days. The free form of letters allowed me to be absolutely sincere, and I consider what is written to be a confession. At that time, it was not possible for me to even think about publishing a book. Now, when such an opportunity appeared, I did not change anything in it, although four years have passed since then, and now I am already far from Russia. In addition to the necessary editing in the process of preparing the manuscript for printing, minor cuts and the addition of footnotes, the book remained in the form in which my friends in Moscow read it. I would now like everyone who reads these letters to consider that they are addressed to him personally.