"A tragicomedy of strivings' is the oldest manuscript found in the Vygotsky archive. Its text was jotted down in an exercise book with the following text printed on its cover: "This exercise book belongs to the pupil… of the … class in the year 191…" A handwritten "2" was added, so that we can date the manuscript to 1912. The text is written in the pre-revolutionary spelling and comprises 20 pages.