Dondok Ulzytuev is rightfully considered a classic of Buryat literature of the twentieth century. As noted by literary critic L.S. Dampilova, “Dondok Ulzytuev in Buryat poetry - one of the brightest innovative artists - was multilaterally connected with the traditions of national and world literature, looking for a fruitful solution to the relationship between traditions and innovation.” Much has been written about the work of D. Ulzytuev, his poems and poems have become the object of analysis by many literary scholars, but his diaries, which are part of his creative heritage, still remain unstudied. The diaries of D. Ulzytuev, which first saw the light only in 2020, are a unique document that reveals new facets of the poet’s creative personality, which captures his thoughts, his creative searches.

Two diaries of D. Ulzytuev have been preserved, representing three small notebooks, the first of which are related to the poet’s years of study in Moscow (1957-1958), within the walls of the Literary Institute, and the third notebook records the events of 1969-1970, when the poet lived in the village. Boyarsk on the shore of Lake Baikal. In D. Ulzytuev's early diary of 1957-1958 (Moscow period), we find a young man inquisitively peering around himself, attentive to the details of the world around him. He studies life on the go, nothing escapes his gaze - everyday everyday affairs, pictures of the city landscape, memories of his native land, thoughts on a variety of topics - all this is recorded in his notes. The writer depicts what is happening around him not only as sequential events, but also reveals it through personal perception. The diary is a kind of laboratory of his literary experiments; it includes his poems, sketches, and sketches of future works. Let us note that these records were associated with the beginning of the poet’s studies in Moscow.

As for the diary of 1969-1970 (the Baikal period), they reflected the writer’s daily concerns regarding everyday life and pressing problems, meetings and communication with different people, the poet’s assessment and perception of reality. If in the early entries we see a young man who is just beginning his path in life and creativity, then in the Baikal diaries we are presented with a mature and mature artist.

There is a time difference of more than 10 years between these records. Judging by the daily entries of these found diaries, it is not difficult to assume that there were other diaries, which, unfortunately, are not known to us.

In the first diary of D. Ulzytuev, 1957-1958. The events of the beginning of studies in Moscow within the walls of the Literary Institute are captured. Second half of the 1950s - early. The 1960s - an era called the “thaw”, which began after the 20th Congress of the CPSU, when democratic changes were outlined in all spheres of life, it was a time when the spirit of renewal and freedom was in the air. Unfortunately, as the researchers note, “the phenomena characterizing relative “warming” did not develop, either died out or went underground (in samizdat, in “abroad”, in kitchen meetings, in friendly get-togethers, feasts, etc. .).

Thus, D. Ulzytuev’s diaries become a unique form of personal self-awareness, give an idea of his inner world, his worldview, his attitude to himself and to people, to creativity, a unique document of the era. Personality and society, poet and era, man and nature - these are the key themes not only in D. Ulzytuev’s diaries, but also in his entire work. The study of D. Ulzytuev’s diary entries allows us to identify patterns not only of the existence of an individual person, but also of society as a whole.