Karamzin history and literature.  Karamzin N.M. Key dates of life and work. Early literary activity

Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin as a historian and his methods of studying the past

Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin is an outstanding leader of the minds of Russia at the end of the 17th and beginning of the 19th centuries. The role of N.M. Karamzin in Russian culture is great and what he did for the benefit of the Motherland would be enough for more than one life. He embodied many of the best features of his century, appearing before his contemporaries as a first-class master of literature (poet, critic, playwright, translator), a reformer who laid the foundations of the modern literary language, a major journalist, an organizer of the publishing industry, and the founder of wonderful magazines. A master of artistic expression and a talented historian merged in the personality of N.M. Karamzin. He left a noticeable mark in science, journalism, and art. N.M. Karamzin largely prepared the success of his younger contemporaries and followers - figures of the Pushkin period, the golden age of Russian literature. N.M. Karamzin was born on December 1, 1766. And during his fifty-nine years he lived an interesting and rich life full of dynamism and creativity. He received his education at a private boarding school in Simbirsk, then at the Moscow boarding school of Professor M.P. Shaden, then reported to St. Petersburg for service and received the rank of non-commissioned officer. Then he works as a translator and editor in various magazines, becoming close to many famous people of that time (M.M. Novikov, M.T. Turgenev). Then he traveled around Europe for more than a year (from May 1789 to September 1790); During the trip, he makes notes, after processing which the famous “Letters of a Russian Traveler” appear.

Knowledge of the past and present led Karamzin to a break with the Freemasons, who were quite influential in Russia in late XVIII V. He returns to his homeland with a wide program of publishing and magazine activities, hoping to contribute to the education of the people. He created the "Moscow Journal" (1791-1792) and "Bulletin of Europe" (1802-1803), published two volumes of the almanac "Aglaya" (1794-1795) and the poetic almanac "Aonids". His creative path continues and ends with the work “History of the Russian State,” work on which took many years, which became the main result of his work.

Karamzin had been approaching the idea of ​​creating a large historical canvas for a long time. As proof of the long-standing existence of such plans, Karamzin’s message in “Letters of a Russian Traveler” about a meeting in 1790 in Paris with P.-S. is cited. Level, author of "Histoire de Russie, triee des chroniques originales, des pieces outertiques et des meillierus historiens de la nation" (only one volume was translated in Russia in 1797). Reflecting on the merits and demerits of this work, the writer came to a disappointing conclusion: “It hurts, but it must be said in fairness that we still do not have a good Russian history.” He understood that such a work could not be written without free access to manuscripts and documents in official repositories, so he turned to Emperor Alexander I through the mediation of M.M. Muravyova (trustee of the Moscow educational district). “The appeal was successful and on October 31, 1803, Karamzin was appointed historiographer and received an annual pension and access to the archives.” Imperial decrees provided the historiographer optimal conditions work on "History...".

Work on “The History of the Russian State” required self-denial, rejection of the usual image and way of life. In the figurative expression of P.A. Vyazemsky, Karamzin “took his hair as a historian.” And by the spring of 1818, the first eight volumes of history appeared on book shelves. Three thousand copies of "History..." were sold in twenty-five days. The recognition of his compatriots inspired and encouraged the writer, especially after the historiographer’s relationship with Alexander I deteriorated (after the release of the note “On Ancient and New Russia,” where Karamzin in a sense criticized Alexander I). The public and literary resonance of the first eight volumes of “History...” in Russia and abroad was so great that even the Russian Academy, a long-time stronghold of Karamzin’s opponents, was forced to recognize his merits.

The readership success of the first eight volumes of “History...” gave the writer new strength for further work. In 1821, the ninth volume of his work saw the light. The death of Alexander I and the Decembrist uprising delayed work on “History...”. Having caught a cold on the street on the day of the uprising, the historiographer continued his work only in January 1826. But doctors assured that only Italy could give a full recovery. Going to Italy and hoping to finish writing the last two chapters of the last volume there, Karamzin instructed D.N. Bludov has everything to do with the future edition of the twelfth volume. But on May 22, 1826, without leaving Italy, Karamzin died. The twelfth volume was published only in 1828.

Having picked up the work of N.M. Karamzin, we can only imagine how difficult the work of the historiographer was. A writer, poet, amateur historian takes on a task of inconceivable complexity, requiring enormous special training. If only he had avoided serious, purely intelligent matter, and had only vividly narrated old times, “animating and coloring” - this would still be considered natural, but from the very beginning the volume is divided into two halves: in the first there is a living story, and those for whom this is enough need not look into the second section, where there are hundreds of notes, references to chronicles, Latin, Swedish, German sources. History is a very harsh science, even if we assume that the historian knows many languages, but on top of that, Arab, Hungarian, Jewish, Caucasian sources appear... And even by the beginning of the 19th century. the science of history did not stand out sharply from literature, all the same, Karamzin the writer had to delve into paleography, philosophy, geography, archeography... Tatishchev and Shcherbatov, however, combined history with serious government activities, but professionalism is constantly increasing; from the West, serious works of German and English scientists come; The ancient naive chronicle methods of historical writing are clearly dying out, and the question itself arises: when will Karamzin, a forty-year-old writer, master all the old and new wisdom? The answer to this question is given to us by N. Eidelman, who reports that “only in the third year Karamzin confesses to close friends that he ceases to be afraid of the “Schletser ferule,” that is, the rod with which a venerable German academician could flog a careless student.”

One historian alone cannot find and process such a large amount of materials on the basis of which the “History of the Russian State” was written. It follows from this that N.M. Karamzin was helped by his many friends. He, of course, went to the archive, but not too often: several special employees, headed by the head of the Moscow archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and an excellent expert on antiquity, Alexei Fedorovich Malinovsky, searched, selected, and delivered ancient manuscripts directly to the historiographer’s desk. Archives and book collections of the foreign collegium of the Synod, the Hermitage, the Imperial Public Library, Moscow University, the Trinity-Sergius and Alexander Nevsky Lavra, Volokolamsk, Resurrection monasteries; in addition, dozens of private collections, and finally, archives and libraries of Oxford, Paris, Copenhagen and other foreign centers. Among those who worked for Karamzin (from the very beginning and later) there were several remarkable scientists in the future, for example, Stroev, Kalaidovich... They sent more comments on already published volumes than others.

In some contemporary works Karamzin is reproached for the fact that he worked “not alone.” But otherwise, it would have taken him not 25 years to write “History…”, but much more. Eidelman rightly objects to this: “It is dangerous for one to judge an era by the rules of another.”

Later, when Karamzin's authorial personality develops, a combination of historiographer and junior collaborators will emerge that might seem delicate...However, in the first years of the 19th century. in such a combination it seemed quite normal, and the doors of the archive would hardly have been opened for the younger ones if there had not been an imperial decree about the eldest. Karamzin himself, selfless, with a heightened sense of honor, would never allow himself to become famous at the expense of his employees. Besides, was it only “the archive regiments that worked for the Count of History”? It turns out not. “Such great people as Derzhavin send him their thoughts about ancient Novgorod, young Alexander Turgenev brings the necessary books from Gottingen, D.I. Yazykov, A.R. Vorontsov promises to send ancient manuscripts. Even more important is the participation of the main collectors: A.N. Musin -Pushkin, N.P. Rumyantsev; one of the future presidents of the Academy of Sciences, A.N. Olenin, sent Karamzin on July 12, 1806, the Ostromir Gospel of 1057." But this does not mean that all of Karamzin’s work was done by his friends: he discovered it himself and stimulated others with his work to find it. Karamzin himself found the Ipatiev and Trinity Chronicles, the Code of Law of Ivan the Terrible, and “The Prayer of Daniil the Prisoner.” For his “History...” Karamzin used about forty chronicles (for comparison, let’s say that Shcherbatov studied twenty-one chronicles). Also, the great merit of the historiographer is that he was not only able to bring together all this material, but also organize the de facto work of a real creative laboratory.

The work on “History...” came at a turning point in a sense, which influenced the author’s worldview and methodology. In the last quarter XVIII. In Russia, the features of the decomposition of the feudal-serf economic system became increasingly noticeable. Changes in the economic and social life of Russia and the development of bourgeois relations in Europe influenced the internal policy of the autocracy. Time confronted the ruling class of Russia with the need to develop socio-political reforms that would ensure the preservation of the dominant position by the class of landowners and power by the autocracy.

"The end can be attributed to this time ideological quest Karamzin. He became the ideologist of the conservative part of the Russian nobility." The final formulation of his socio-political program, the objective content of which was the preservation of the autocratic serfdom system, falls in the second decade of the 19th century, that is, at the time of the creation of "Notes on Ancient and New Russia." Determining significance The revolution in France and the post-revolutionary development of France played a role in shaping Karamzin’s conservative political program. “It seemed to Karamzin that the events in France at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries. historically confirmed his theoretical conclusions about the paths of human development. He considered the only acceptable and correct path of gradual evolutionary development, without any revolutionary explosions and within the framework of those social relations, the state structure that is characteristic of a given people." Leaving in force the theory of the contractual origin of power, Karamzin now makes its forms strictly dependent on the ancients traditions and national character. Moreover, beliefs and customs are elevated to a certain absolute that determines the historical fate of the people. “The institutions of antiquity,” he wrote in the article “Notable views, hopes, and desires of the present time,” “have a magical power that cannot be replaced by any power of mind." Thus, historical tradition was opposed to revolutionary transformations. The socio-political system became directly dependent on it: traditional ancient customs and institutions ultimately determined political form states. This could be seen very clearly in Karamzin’s attitude towards the republic. An ideologist of autocracy, Karamzin, nevertheless, declared his sympathies for the republican system. His letter to P.A. is known. Vyazemsky from 1820, in which he wrote: “I am a republican at heart and will die as such.” Theoretically, Karamzin believed that a republic was a more modern form of government than a monarchy. But it can exist only if a number of conditions are present, and in their absence, the republic loses all meaning and right to exist. Karamzin recognized republics as a human form of organization of society, but made the possibility of the existence of a republic dependent on ancient customs and traditions, as well as on the moral state of society.

Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin was born in 1766 in Simbirsk (on the middle Volga), into a family of provincial nobles. He received a good secondary education at a private school of a German - a professor at Moscow University. After school, he almost became a dissolute nobleman looking for nothing but entertainment, but then he met I.P. Turgenev, a prominent freemason, who led him away from the path of vice and introduced him to Novikov. These Masonic influences played main role in shaping Karamzin’s worldview. Their vaguely religious, sentimental, cosmopolitan ideas paved the way to the understanding of Rousseau and Herder. Karamzin began writing for Novikov magazines. His first work was the translation of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar(1787). He also translated Seasons Thomson.

In 1789, Karamzin went abroad and spent about a year and a half there, traveling through Germany, Switzerland, France and England. Returning to Moscow, he began publishing a monthly Moscow magazine(1791–1792), from which the new movement began. Most of the materials contained in it belonged to the pen of the publisher himself.

Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin. Portrait by Tropinin

His main work, published there, was Letters from a Russian traveler(see summary and analysis), received by the public almost as a revelation: a new, enlightened, cosmopolitan sensitivity and a delightfully new style appeared before their eyes (see article Karamzin as a reformer of the Russian literary language). Karamzin became the leader and the most outstanding literary figure of his generation.

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Biography, life story of Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin

Karamzin Nikolai Mikhailovich - Russian writer, historian, translator.

Childhood and youth

Nikolai Karamzin was born on December 12 (1 according to the old style) December 1766 in the Znamenskoye estate (Mikhailovka village, Simbirsk province, Russian Empire). Some historians claim that Karamzin was actually born in the Orenburg province, but the first version is considered to be official.

Until 1778, Nikolai studied at home, then he was sent to the boarding school of Moscow University professor Johann Matthias Schaden. At the same time, during the year (from 1781 to 1782) Nikolai attended lectures by the famous educator Ivan Grigorievich Schwartz at the University. Karamzin studied foreign languages, philosophy, history and literature with great pleasure.

Nikolai's father Mikhail Egorovich Karamzin was a retired captain. It was he who insisted that his son, after completing his studies, enlist in the Preobrazhensky Guards Regiment of St. Petersburg. Nikolai Karamzin did not want to contradict his father’s will and carried out his decree. However, he did not stay in the regiment for long - Nikolai retired very soon.

Creative activity

Karamzin first tried his hand at literature during military service. Even then he began to take notes (exclusively for himself); even then he felt that writing was much more enjoyable for him than military work. After Karamzin left the service, he lived for some time in Simbirsk, then moved to Moscow. In Simbirsk, Nikolai Mikhailovich was a member of the Golden Crown Masonic lodge. Arriving in Moscow, he joined the “Friendly Scientific Society”, engaged in charitable and educational activities, and remained a member of this Masonic meeting for four whole years - from 1785 to 1789. At this time, he met many famous writers, communication with whom greatly influenced the future fate of the writer. Around the same time, Karamzin began creating the first Russian children's magazine " Children's reading for the heart and mind."

CONTINUED BELOW

In 1787, Nikolai Mikhailovich published his version of the translation of the tragedy of the Great. A little later, the book was included in the list of prohibited books. This was Karamzin's first experience as a translator. The second time he became interested in foreign literature was in the early 1790s - he translated the drama “Sakuntala” by the Indian playwright Kalidas.

From 1789 to 1790, Nikolai Karamzin was on a trip across the expanses of Europe. Thanks to this trip, Karamzin was able to significantly expand his horizons - he met Immanuel Kant, saw the Great French Revolution with his own eyes... The result of the trip was the collection “Letters of a Russian Traveler”, after the publication of which they started talking about Karamzin. The writer gained fame and was loved by readers and colleagues. By the way, it is thanks to “Letters of a Russian Traveler,” which over time began to be considered the first book of modern Russian literature, that Karamzin is considered one of the most important Russian writers.

Returning to Moscow, Karamzin continued to write - in 1792 the story “ Poor Lisa”, which became the starting point for the emergence of sentimentalism in Russia. Later sentimentalism becomes mainstream literary movement in Russia, and Nikolai Karamzin is the generally recognized leader of this trend, the creator and distributor of this genre.

Nikolai Karamzin wrote both prose and poetry, and was the editor of many famous magazines. Any task that the writer took on turned out to be easy and natural for him. Nikolai Mikhailovich carried out a real reform in the Russian language - it was he who eliminated from the prose the familiar and already quite boring church vocabulary, heavy and difficult to perceive. Karamzin, inspired by the French language, made modern literature lighter, airier, gentle, and pleasant to the ear. In addition, the writer introduced many neologisms into use, such as “falling in love,” “freethinking,” “humane,” and so on. Karamzin is also one of the first to use the letter “ё” in writing.

In 1803, by decree, Karamzin became a historiographer and began creating the “History of the Russian State.” Nikolai Mikhailovich worked on this work until the end of his days, while simultaneously creating other masterpieces.

Family

Nikolai Karamzin was married twice. In April 1801, he married Elizaveta Protasova, an educated girl of a noble family. A year later, Elizabeth gave birth to her husband’s daughter Sophia. Alas, the woman’s health turned out to be very poor - she died a month after giving birth.

In January 1804, Karamzin found himself a new wife. She became Ekaterina Kolyvanova, illegitimate daughter Prince Vyazemsky. In the marriage of Nikolai and Catherine, nine children were born - daughters Natalya (1804-1810), Ekaterina (1806-1867), also Natalya (1812-1815), Elizaveta (1821-1891) and sons Andrei ( 1807-1813), again Andrey (1814-1854), Alexander (1815-1888), Nikolai (1817-1833), Vladimir (1819-1879).

last years of life

At the beginning of 1818, the first eight volumes of the History of the Russian State were published. Over the next few years, three more volumes were released, and the writer continued to work on another part. All this time Karamzin lived in Tsarskoe Selo, often communicated with

According to one version, he was born in the village of Znamenskoye, Simbirsk district (now Mainsky district, Ulyanovsk region), according to another - in the village of Mikhailovka, Buzuluk district, Kazan province (now the village of Preobrazhenka, Orenburg region). IN Lately experts were in favor of the “Orenburg” version of the writer’s birthplace.

Karamzin belonged to a noble family, descended from the Tatar Murza, named Kara-Murza. Nikolai was the second son of a retired captain and landowner. He lost his mother early; she died in 1769. For his second marriage, my father married Ekaterina Dmitrieva, the aunt of the poet and fabulist Ivan Dmitriev.

Karamzin spent his childhood years on his father's estate and studied in Simbirsk at the noble boarding school of Pierre Fauvel. At the age of 14, he began studying at the Moscow private boarding school of Professor Johann Schaden, while simultaneously attending classes at Moscow University.

In 1781, Karamzin began serving in the Preobrazhensky Regiment in St. Petersburg, where he was transferred from the army regiments (he was enlisted in the service in 1774), and received the rank of lieutenant ensign.

During this period, he became close to the poet Ivan Dmitriev and began his literary activity by translating from German “The Conversation of the Austrian Maria Theresa with our Empress Elizabeth in the Champs Elysees” (not preserved). Karamzin’s first published work was a translation of Solomon Gesner’s idyll “The Wooden Leg” (1783).

In 1784, after the death of his father, Karamzin retired with the rank of lieutenant and never served again. After a short stay in Simbirsk, where he joined Masonic lodge, Karamzin moved to Moscow, was introduced to the circle of the publisher Nikolai Novikov and settled in a house that belonged to the Novikov Friendly Scientific Society.

In 1787-1789 he was an editor in the magazine “Children's Reading for the Heart and Mind” published by Novikov, where he published his first story “Eugene and Julia” (1789), poems and translations. Translated into Russian the tragedies "Julius Caesar" (1787) by William Shakespeare and "Emilia Galotti" (1788) by Gotthold Lessing.

In May 1789, Nikolai Mikhailovich went abroad and until September 1790 traveled around Europe, visiting Germany, Switzerland, France and England.

Returning to Moscow, Karamzin began publishing the "Moscow Journal" (1791-1792), where the "Letters of a Russian Traveler" written by him were published; in 1792, the story "Poor Liza" was published, as well as the stories "Natalia, the Boyar's Daughter" and "Liodor ", which became examples of Russian sentimentalism.

Karamzin. In the first Russian poetic anthology “Aonids” (1796-1799) compiled by Karamzin, he included his own poems, as well as poems by his contemporaries - Gabriel Derzhavin, Mikhail Kheraskov, Ivan Dmitriev. In "Aonids" the letter "ё" of the Russian alphabet appeared for the first time.

Karamzin combined some of the prose translations in the “Pantheon of Foreign Literature” (1798); brief characteristics of Russian writers were given by him for the publication “The Pantheon of Russian Authors, or a Collection of Their Portraits with Comments” (1801-1802). Karamzin’s response to the accession to the throne of Alexander I was “Historical word of praise Catherine the Second" (1802).

In 1802-1803, Nikolai Karamzin published the literary and political magazine "Bulletin of Europe", in which, along with articles on literature and art, issues of foreign and domestic policy Russia, history and political life foreign countries. In the "Bulletin of Europe" he published works on Russian medieval history "Martha the Posadnitsa, or the Conquest of Novagorod", "News about Martha the Posadnitsa, taken from the life of St. Zosima", "Journey around Moscow", "Historical memories and notes on the way to the Trinity " and etc.

Karamzin developed a language reform aimed at bringing the book language closer to the spoken language of an educated society. By limiting the use of Slavicisms, widely using linguistic borrowings and tracings from European languages ​​(mainly French), introducing new words, Karamzin created a new literary syllable.

On November 12 (October 31, old style), 1803, by personal imperial decree of Alexander I, Nikolai Karamzin was appointed historiographer “to compose a complete History of the Fatherland.” From that time until the end of his days, he worked on the main work of his life - “The History of the Russian State.” Libraries and archives were opened for him. In 1816-1824, the first 11 volumes of the work were published in St. Petersburg; the 12th volume, dedicated to describing the events of the “time of troubles,” Karamzin did not have time to finish; it was published after the death of the historiographer in 1829.

In 1818, Karamzin became a member of the Russian Academy and an honorary member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. He received an active state councilor and was awarded the Order of St. Anne, 1st degree.

In the early months of 1826 he suffered from pneumonia, which undermined his health. On June 3 (May 22, old style), 1826, Nikolai Karamzin died in St. Petersburg. He was buried at the Tikhvin Cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.

Karamzin was married for the second time to Ekaterina Kolyvanova (1780-1851), the sister of the poet Pyotr Vyazemsky, who was the mistress of the best literary salon in St. Petersburg, where poets Vasily Zhukovsky, Alexander Pushkin, Mikhail Lermontov, and writer Nikolai Gogol visited. She helped the historiographer, proofreading the 12-volume History, and after his death she completed the publication of the last volume.

His first wife, Elizaveta Protasova, died in 1802. From his first marriage, Karamzin had a daughter, Sophia (1802-1856), who became a maid of honor, was the owner of a literary salon, and a friend of the poets Alexander Pushkin and Mikhail Lermontov.

In his second marriage, the historiographer had nine children, five of whom lived to adulthood. Daughter Ekaterina (1806-1867) married Prince Meshchersky, her son is writer Vladimir Meshchersky (1839-1914).

Nikolai Karamzin's daughter Elizaveta (1821-1891) became a maid of honor at the imperial court, son Andrei (1814-1854) died in the Crimean War. Alexander Karamzin (1816-1888) served in the guard and at the same time wrote poetry, which was published by the magazines Sovremennik and Otechestvennye zapiski. Younger son Vladimir (1819-1869)

(December 1, 1766, family estate Znamenskoye, Simbirsk district, Kazan province (according to other sources - the village of Mikhailovka (Preobrazhenskoye), Buzuluk district, Kazan province) - May 22, 1826, St. Petersburg)

Biography

Childhood, teaching, environment

Born into the family of a middle-income landowner in the Simbirsk province, M. E. Karamzin. Lost my mother early. From early childhood he began to read books from his mother’s library, French novels, “Roman History” by C. Rollin, works by F. Emin, etc. Having received primary education at home, he studied at a noble boarding house in Simbirsk, then at one of the best private boarding houses of Moscow University professor I.M. Schaden, where he studied languages ​​in 1779-1880; He also attended lectures at Moscow University.

In 1781 he began serving in the Preobrazhensky Regiment in St. Petersburg, where he became friends with A.I. and I.I. Dmitrievs. This is a time not only for intense intellectual pursuits, but also for the pleasures of social life. After the death of his father, Karamzin retired as a lieutenant in 1784 and never served again, which was perceived in the society of that time as a challenge. After a short stay in Simbirsk, where he joined the Masonic lodge, Karamzin moved to Moscow and was introduced into the circle of N.I. Novikov, settled in a house that belonged to the Novikov Friendly Scientific Society (1785).

1785-1789 - years of communication with Novikov, at the same time he also became close to the Pleshcheev family, and for many years he had a tender platonic friendship with N.I. Pleshcheeva. Karamzin publishes his first translations and original works, in which his interest in European and Russian history is clearly visible. Karamzin is the author and one of the publishers of the first children's magazine “Children's Reading for the Heart and Mind” (1787-1789), founded by Novikov. Karamzin will retain a feeling of gratitude and deep respect for Novikov for the rest of his life, speaking in his defense in subsequent years.

European travel, literary and publishing activities

Karamzin was not inclined towards the mystical side of Freemasonry, remaining a supporter of its active and educational direction. Perhaps the cooling towards Freemasonry was one of the reasons for Karamzin’s departure to Europe, where he spent more than a year (1789-90), visiting Germany, Switzerland, France and England, where he met and talked (except for influential Freemasons) with European “masters of minds” ": I. Kant, I. G. Herder, C. Bonnet, I. K. Lavater, J. F. Marmontel and others, visited museums, theaters, and social salons. In Paris, he listened to O. G. Mirabeau, M. Robespierre and others at the National Assembly, saw many outstanding political figures and was familiar with many. Apparently, revolutionary Paris showed Karamzin how powerfully a word can influence a person: in print, when Parisians read pamphlets and leaflets, newspapers with keen interest; oral, when revolutionary speakers spoke and controversy arose (an experience that could not be acquired in Russia).

Karamzin did not have a very enthusiastic opinion about English parliamentarism (perhaps following in the footsteps of Rousseau), but he very highly valued the level of civilization at which English society as a whole was located.

"Moscow Journal" and "Bulletin of Europe"

Returning to Moscow, Karamzin began publishing the Moscow Journal, in which he published the story “Poor Liza” (1792), which had extraordinary success with readers, then “Letters of a Russian Traveler” (1791-92), which placed Karamzin among the first Russian writers. These works, as well as literary critical articles, expressed the aesthetic program of sentimentalism with its interest in a person, regardless of class, his feelings and experiences. In the 1890s, his interest in Russian history increased; he gets acquainted with historical works, the main published sources: chronicles, notes of foreigners, etc.

Karamzin’s response to the coup of March 11, 1801 and the accession to the throne of Alexander I was perceived as a collection of examples for the young monarch “Historical eulogy to Catherine the Second” (1802), where Karamzin expressed his views on the essence of the monarchy in Russia and the duties of the monarch and his subjects.

Interest in world and domestic history, ancient and new, and the events of today prevails in the publications of Russia’s first socio-political and literary-art magazine “Bulletin of Europe”, published by Karamzin in 1802-03. He also published here several essays on Russian medieval history (“Martha the Posadnitsa, or the Conquest of Novagorod”, “News about Martha the Posadnitsa, taken from the life of St. Zosima”, “Journey around Moscow”, “Historical memories and notes on the way to the Trinity” etc.), testifying to the plan of a large-scale historical work, and the readers of the magazine were offered its individual plots, which made it possible to study the reader’s perception, improve the techniques and methods of research, which would then be used in the “History of the Russian State”.

Historical works

In 1801 Karamzin married E.I. Protasova, who died a year later. For his second marriage, Karamzin was married to P. A. Vyazemsky’s half-sister, E. A. Kolyvanova (1804), with whom he lived happily until the end of his days, finding in her not only a devoted wife and caring mother, but also a friend and assistant in historical studies .

In October 1803, Karamzin obtained from Alexander I an appointment as a historiographer with a pension of 2,000 rubles. for essay Russian history. Libraries and archives were opened for him. Before last day Karamzin’s life was busy writing “The History of the Russian State,” which had a significant influence on Russian historical science and literature, allowing us to see in it one of the notable cultural-forming phenomena not only of the 19th century, but also of the 20th. Starting from ancient times and the first mentions about the Slavs, Karamzin managed to bring “History” to the Time of Troubles. This amounted to 12 volumes of text of high literary merit, accompanied by more than 6 thousand historical notes, in which the historical sources, works by European and domestic authors.

During Karamzin’s lifetime, “History” managed to be published in two editions. Three thousand copies of the first 8 volumes of the first edition were sold out in less than a month - “the only example in our land,” according to Pushkin. After 1818, Karamzin published volumes 9-11, the last, volume 12, was published after the death of the historiographer. The History was published several times in the 19th century, and more than ten modern editions were published in the late 1980s and 1990s.

Karamzin's view on the development of Russia

In 1811, at the request of Grand Duchess Ekaterina Pavlovna, Karamzin wrote a note “On ancient and new Russia in its political and civil relations,” in which he outlined his ideas about the ideal structure Russian state and sharply criticized the policies of Alexander I and his immediate predecessors: Paul I, Catherine II and Peter I. In the 19th century. This note was never published in full and was circulated in handwritten copies. In Soviet times, it was perceived as a reaction of the extremely conservative nobility to the reforms of M. M. Speransky, however, with the first full publication of the note in 1988, Yu. M. Lotman revealed its deeper content. Karamzin in this document criticized unprepared bureaucratic reforms carried out from above. The note remains in Karamzin's work the most complete expression of his political views.

Karamzin had a hard time with the death of Alexander I and especially with the Decembrist uprising, which he witnessed. This took away the last vital forces, and the slowly fading historiographer died in May 1826.

Karamzin is perhaps the only example in the history of Russian culture of a person about whom his contemporaries and descendants did not have any ambiguous memories. Already during his lifetime, the historiographer was perceived as the highest moral authority; this attitude towards him remains unchanged to this day.

Bibliography

Works by Karamzin

* "The Island of Bornholm" (1793)
* "Julia" (1796)
* “Martha the Posadnitsa, or the Conquest of Novagorod”, story (1802)



* "Autumn"

Memory

* Named after the writer:
* Passage Karamzin in Moscow.
* Installed: Monument to N. M. Karamzin in Simbirsk/Ulyanovsk
* In Veliky Novgorod, on the Monument “1000th Anniversary of Russia”, among 129 figures of the most outstanding personalities in Russian history (for 1862), there is the figure of N. M. Karamzin

Biography

Karamzin Nikolai Mikhailovich, famous writer and historian, born December 12, 1766 in Simbirsk. He grew up on the estate of his father, an average Simbirsk nobleman, a descendant of the Tatar Murza Kara-Murza. He studied with a rural sexton, and later, at the age of 13, Karamzin was sent to the Moscow boarding school of Professor Schaden. At the same time, he attended classes at the university, where he studied Russian, German, and French.

After graduating from the Schaden boarding school, Karamzin in 1781 entered service in the St. Petersburg Guards Regiment, but soon retired due to lack of funds. The first literary experiments date back to the time of military service (translation of Gessner’s idyll “The Wooden Leg” (1783), etc.). In 1784, he joined the Masonic lodge and moved to Moscow, where he became close to Novikov’s circle and collaborated in its publications. In 1789-1790 traveled throughout Western Europe; then he began to publish the “Moscow Journal” (until 1792), where “Letters of a Russian Traveler” and “Poor Lisa” were published, which brought him fame. The collections published by Karamzin marked the beginning of the era of sentimentalism in Russian literature. Karamzin's early prose influenced the work of V. A. Zhukovsky, K. N. Batyushkov, and the young A. S. Pushkin. The defeat of Freemasonry by Catherine, as well as the brutal police regime of Pavlov’s reign, forced Karamzin to curtail his literary activities and limit himself to reprinting old publications. He greeted the accession of Alexander I with an ode of praise.

In 1803, Karamzin was appointed official historiographer. Alexander I instructs Karamzin to write the history of Russia. From that time until the end of his days, Nikolai Mikhailovich worked on the main work of his life. Since 1804, he began compiling the “History of the Russian State” (1816-1824). The twelfth volume was published after his death. A careful selection of sources (many were discovered by Karamzin himself) and critical notes give special value to this work; rhetorical language and constant moralizing were already condemned by contemporaries, although they were liked by a large public. Karamzin at this time was inclined to extreme conservatism.

A significant place in Karamzin’s heritage is occupied by works devoted to history and current state Moscow. Many of them were the result of walks around Moscow and trips around its environs. Among them are the articles “Historical Memoirs and Notes on the Way to Trinity”, “On the Moscow Earthquake of 1802”, “Notes of an Old Moscow Resident”, “Travel Around Moscow”, “Russian Antiquity”, “On the Light Clothes of Fashionable Beauties of the Nine-Nine century." Died in St. Petersburg on June 3, 1826.

Biography

Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin was born near Simbirsk in the family of retired captain Mikhail Egorovich Karamzin, a middle-class nobleman, a descendant of the Crimean Tatar murza Kara-Murza. He was educated at home, and from the age of fourteen he studied in Moscow at the boarding school of Moscow University professor Schaden, while simultaneously attending lectures at the University. In 1783, at the insistence of his father, he entered service in the St. Petersburg Guards Regiment, but soon retired. The first literary experiments date back to this time.

In Moscow, Karamzin became close to writers and writers: N. I. Novikov, A. M. Kutuzov, A. A. Petrov, participated in the publication of the first Russian magazine for children - “Children’s reading for the heart and mind”, translated German and English sentimental authors: plays by W. Shakespeare and G.E. Lessing and others. For four years (1785-1789) he was a member of the Masonic lodge “Friendly Scientific Society”. In 1789-1790 Karamzin traveled to Western Europe, where he met many prominent representatives of the Enlightenment (Kant, Herder, Wieland, Lavater, etc.), was in Paris during the great French Revolution. Upon returning to his homeland, Karamzin published “Letters of a Russian Traveler” (1791-1792), which immediately made him a famous writer. Until the end of the 17th century, Karamzin worked as a professional writer and journalist, publishing the Moscow Journal 1791-1792 (the first Russian literary magazine), published a number of collections and almanacs: “Aglaya”, “Aonids”, “Pantheon of Foreign Literature”, “My Trinkets”. During this period, he wrote many poems and stories, the most famous of which is “Poor Liza.” Karamzin’s activities made sentimentalism the leading direction of Russian literature, and the writer himself became the destined leader of this direction.

Gradually, Karamzin's interests shifted from the field of literature to the field of history. In 1803, he published the story “Martha the Posadnitsa, or the Conquest of Novagorod” and as a result received the title of imperial historiographer. The following year, the writer practically stopped his literary activity, concentrating on creating the fundamental work “History of the Russian State.” Before the publication of the first 8 volumes, Karamzin lived in Moscow, from where he traveled only to Tver to visit Grand Duchess Ekaterina Pavlovna and to Nizhny, during the occupation of Moscow by the French. He usually spent the summer in Ostafyevo, the estate of Prince Andrei Ivanovich Vyazemsky, whose daughter, Ekaterina Andreevna, Karamzin married in 1804 (Karamzin’s first wife, Elizaveta Ivanovna Protasova, died in 1802). The first eight volumes of “The History of the Russian State” went on sale in February 1818, the three-thousandth edition sold out within a month. According to his contemporaries, Karamzin revealed to them the history of his native country, just as Columbus discovered America to the world. A.S. Pushkin called his work not only the creation of a great writer, but also “the feat of an honest man.” Karamzin worked on his main work until the end of his life: the 9th volume of “History...” was published in 1821, 10 and 11 – in 1824, and the last 12th – after the writer’s death (in 1829). Karamzin spent the last 10 years of his life in St. Petersburg and became close to royal family. Karamzin died in St. Petersburg as a result of complications after suffering from pneumonia. He was buried at the Tikhvin Cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.

Interesting facts from life

Karamzin owns the most a brief description of social life in Russia. When, during his trip to Europe, Russian emigrants asked Karamzin what was happening in his homeland, the writer answered in one word: “They are stealing.”

Some philologists believe that modern Russian literature dates back to Karamzin’s book “Letters of a Russian Traveler.”

Writer's Awards

Honorary member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences (1818), full member of the Imperial Russian Academy (1818). Knight of the Order of St. Anne, 1st degree and St. Vladimir, 3rd degree/

Bibliography

Fiction
* Letters of a Russian traveler (1791–1792)
* Poor Lisa (1792)
* Natalya, boyar's daughter (1792)
* Sierra Morena (1793)
* Bornholm Island (1793)
* Julia (1796)
* My Confession (1802)
* A Knight of Our Time (1803)
Historical and historical-literary works
* Martha the Posadnitsa, or the Conquest of Novagorod (1802)
* Note on ancient and modern Russia in its political and civil relations (1811)
* History of the Russian State (vol. 1–8 - in 1816–1817, vol. 9 - in 1821, vol. 10–11 - in 1824, vol. 12 - in 1829)

Film adaptations of works, theatrical performances

* Poor Liza (USSR, 1978), puppet cartoon, dir. Garanin's idea
* Poor Lisa (USA, 2000) dir. Slava Tsukerman
* History of the Russian State (TV) (Ukraine, 2007) dir. Valery Babich [there is a review of this film on Kinoposk from BookMix user Mikle_Pro]

Biography

Russian historian, writer, publicist, founder of Russian sentimentalism. Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin was born on December 12 (old style - December 1) 1766 in the village of Mikhailovka, Simbirsk province ( Orenburg region), in the family of a Simbirsk landowner. Knew German, French, English, Italian languages. He grew up in his father's village. At the age of 14, Karamzin was brought to Moscow and sent to a private boarding school for Moscow University professor I.M. Schaden, where he studied from 1775 to 1781. At the same time he attended lectures at the university.

In 1781 (some sources indicate 1783), at the insistence of his father, Karamzin was assigned to the Life Guards Preobrazhensky Regiment in St. Petersburg, where he was enrolled as a minor, but at the beginning of 1784 he retired and went to Simbirsk, where he joined the Masonic lodge of the Golden Crown ". On the advice of I.P. Turgenev, who was one of the founders of the lodge, at the end of 1784 Karamzin moved to Moscow, where he joined the Masonic “Friendly Scientific Society”, of which N.I. was a member. Novikov, who had a great influence on the formation of the views of Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin. At the same time, he collaborated with Novikov’s magazine “Children’s Reading”. Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin was a member of the Masonic lodge until 1788 (1789). From May 1789 to September 1790 he traveled around Germany, Switzerland, France, England, visiting Berlin, Leipzig, Geneva, Paris, and London. Returning to Moscow, he began publishing the Moscow Journal, which at that time had a very significant success: already in the first year it had 300 “subscripts”. The magazine, which had no full-time employees and was filled by Karamzin himself, existed until December 1792. After Novikov’s arrest and the publication of the ode “To Mercy,” Karamzin almost came under investigation on suspicion that the Freemasons had sent him abroad. In 1793-1795 he spent most of his time in the village.

In 1802, Karamzin’s first wife, Elizaveta Ivanovna Protasova, died. In 1802, he founded Russia's first private literary and political magazine, Vestnik Evropy, for whose editors he subscribed to the 12 best foreign magazines. Karamzin attracted G.R. to collaborate in the magazine. Derzhavin, Kheraskova, Dmitrieva, V.L. Pushkin, brothers A.I. and N.I. Turgenev, A.F. Voeykova, V.A. Zhukovsky. Despite the large number of authors, Karamzin has to work a lot on his own and, so that his name does not flash before the eyes of readers so often, he invents a lot of pseudonyms. At the same time, he became a popularizer of Benjamin Franklin in Russia. "Bulletin of Europe" existed until 1803.

October 31, 1803, through Comrade Minister of Public Education M.N. Muravyov, by decree of Emperor Alexander I, Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin was appointed official historiographer with a salary of 2000 rubles to write a complete history of Russia. In 1804 Karamzin married the illegitimate daughter of Prince A.I. Vyazemsky to Ekaterina Andreevna Kolyvanova and from that moment settled in the Moscow house of the Vyazemsky princes, where he lived until 1810. From 1804 he began work on the “History of the Russian State,” the compilation of which became his main occupation until the end of his life. In 1816 the first 8 volumes were published (the second edition was published in 1818-1819), in 1821 the 9th volume was published, in 1824 - 10 and 11. The 12th volume of “History...” was never completed (after Karamzin’s death it was published D.N. Bludov). Thanks to its literary form, “The History of the Russian State” became popular among readers and fans of Karamzin as a writer, but even then it was deprived of serious scientific significance. All 3,000 copies of the first edition were sold out in 25 days. For the science of that time, the extensive “Notes” to the text, which contained many extracts from manuscripts, were of much greater importance. for the most part first published by Karamzin. Some of these manuscripts no longer exist. Karamzin received almost unlimited access to the archives of government institutions of the Russian Empire: materials were taken from the Moscow archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (at that time a collegium), in the Synodal repository, in the library of monasteries (Trinity Lavra, Volokolamsk Monastery and others), in private collections of Musin-Musin manuscripts. Pushkin, Chancellor Rumyantsev and A.I. Turgenev, who compiled a collection of documents from the papal archives. The Trinity, Laurentian, Ipatiev Chronicles, Dvina Charters, Code of Laws were used. Thanks to the "History of the Russian State" the reading public became aware of "The Tale of Igor's Campaign", "The Teachings of Monomakh" and many other literary works ancient Rus'. Despite this, already during the writer’s lifetime, critical works appeared on his “History...”. The historical concept of Karamzin, who was a supporter of the Norman theory of the origin of the Russian state, became official and supported state power. At a later time, “History...” was assessed positively by A.S. Pushkin, N.V. Gogol, Slavophiles, negative - Decembrists, V.G. Belinsky, N.G. Chernyshevsky. Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin was the initiator of organizing memorials and erecting monuments to outstanding figures national history, one of which was the monument to K.M. Minin and D.M. Pozharsky on Red Square in Moscow.

Before the publication of the first eight volumes, Karamzin lived in Moscow, from where he traveled only in 1810 to Tver to Grand Duchess Ekaterina Pavlovna, in order through her to convey to the sovereign his note “On Ancient and New Russia,” and to Nizhny, when the French occupied Moscow. Karamzin usually spent his summers in Ostafyevo, the estate of his father-in-law, Prince Andrei Ivanovich Vyazemsky. In August 1812 Karamzin lived in the house of the commander-in-chief of Moscow, Count F.V. Rostopchin and left Moscow a few hours before the French entered. As a result of the Moscow fire, Karamzin’s personal library, which he had been collecting for a quarter of a century, was destroyed. In June 1813, after the family returned to Moscow, he settled in the house of the publisher S.A. Selivanovsky, and then in the house of the Moscow theatergoer F.F. Kokoshkina. In 1816, Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin moved to St. Petersburg, where he spent the last 10 years of his life and became close to the royal family, although Emperor Alexander I, who did not like criticism of his actions, treated the writer with restraint from the time the “Note” was submitted. Following the wishes of Empresses Maria Feodorovna and Elizaveta Alekseevna, Nikolai Mikhailovich spent the summer in Tsarskoe Selo. In 1818 Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin was elected an honorary member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. In 1824 Karamzin became a full-time state councilor. The death of Emperor Alexander I shocked Karamzin and undermined his health; Half-sick, he visited the palace every day, talking with Empress Maria Feodorovna. In the first months of 1826, Karamzin suffered from pneumonia and decided, on the advice of doctors, to go to Southern France and Italy in the spring, for which Emperor Nicholas gave him money and placed a frigate at his disposal. But Karamzin was already too weak to travel and on June 3 (May 22, old style), 1826, he died in St. Petersburg.

Among the works of Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin are critical articles, reviews on literary, theatrical, historical topics, letters, stories, odes, poems: “Eugene and Yulia” (1789; story), “Letters of a Russian Traveler” (1791-1795; separate publication - in 1801; letters written during a trip to Germany, Switzerland, France and England, and reflecting the life of Europe on the eve and during the French Revolution), “Liodor” (1791, story), “Poor Liza” (1792; story; published in "Moscow Journal"), "Natalia, the boyar's daughter" (1792; story; published in the "Moscow Journal"), "To Mercy" (ode), "Aglaya" (1794-1795; almanac), "My trifles" (1794 ; 2nd edition - in 1797, 3rd - in 1801; collection of articles previously published in the Moscow Journal), "Pantheon of Foreign Literature" (1798; anthology on foreign literature, which for a long time did not pass through the censorship, which prohibited the publication of Demosthenes , Cicero, Sallust, because they were republicans), “Historical words of praise to Empress Catherine II” (1802), “Martha the Posadnitsa, or the Conquest of Novgorod” (1803; published in "Bulletin of Europe; historical story"), "Note on ancient and new Russia in its political and civil relations" (1811; criticism of M.M. Speransky's projects of state reforms), "Note on Moscow monuments" (1818; first cultural -historical guide to Moscow and its environs), “A Knight of Our Time” (an autobiographical story published in “Bulletin of Europe”), “My Confession” (a story denouncing the secular education of the aristocracy), “History of the Russian State” (1816-1829: vol. 1-8 - in 1816-1817, vol. 9 - in 1821, vol. 10-11 - in 1824, vol. 12 - in 1829; the first generalizing work on the history of Russia), letters from Karamzin to A.F. Malinovsky" (published in 1860), to I.I. Dmitriev (published in 1866), to N.I. Krivtsov, to Prince P.A. Vyazemsky (1810-1826; published in 1897), to A.I. Turgenev (1806 -1826; published in 1899), correspondence with Emperor Nikolai Pavlovich (published in 1906), “Historical memories and notes on the way to the Trinity” (article), “On the Moscow earthquake of 1802” (article), “Notes of an old Moscow resident” (article), “Travel around Moscow” (article), “Russian antiquity” (article), “On the light clothing of fashionable beauties of the ninth to tenth centuries” (article).

Biography

Coming from a wealthy noble family, the son of a retired army officer.

In 1779-81 he studied at the Moscow boarding school Schaden.

In 1782-83 he served in the Preobrazhensky Guards Regiment.

In 1784/1785 he settled in Moscow, where, as an author and translator, he became closely associated with the Masonic circle of the satirist and publisher N.I. Novikov.

In 1785-89 - member of the Moscow circle of N.I. Novikov. Karamzin's Masonic mentors were I. S. Gamaleya and A. M. Kutuzov. After retiring and returning to Simbirsk, he met the freemason I. P. Turgenev.

In 1789-1790 traveled to Western Europe, where he met many prominent representatives of the Enlightenment (Kant, Herder, Wieland, Lavater, etc.). He was influenced by the ideas of the first two thinkers, as well as Voltaire and Shaftesbury.

Upon returning to his homeland, he published “Letters of a Russian Traveler” (1791-1795) with reflections on the fate of European culture and founded the “Moscow Journal” (1791-1792), a literary and artistic periodical, where he published works by modern Western European and Russian authors. After the accession to the throne in 1801, Emperor Alexander I undertook the publication of the journal "Bulletin of Europe" (1802-1803) (whose motto was "Russia is Europe"), the first of numerous Russian literary and political review magazines, where the tasks of forming national identity were set by assimilating by Russia the civilizational experience of the West and, in particular, the experience of modern European philosophy (from F. Bacon and R. Descartes to I. Kant and J.-J. Rousseau).

Karamzin associated social progress with the successes of education, the development of civilization, and human improvement. During this period, the writer, generally in the position of conservative Westernism, positively assessed the principles of the theory of the social contract and natural law. He was a supporter of freedom of conscience and utopian ideas in the spirit of Plato and T. More, and believed that in the name of harmony and equality, citizens can give up personal freedom. As skepticism towards utopian theories grew, Karamzin became more convinced of the enduring value of individual and intellectual freedom.

The story “Poor Liza” (1792), which affirms the intrinsic value of the human personality as such, regardless of class, brought Karamzin immediate recognition. In the 1790s, he was the head of Russian sentimentalism, as well as the inspirer of the movement for the emancipation of Russian prose, which was stylistically dependent on the Church Slavonic liturgical language. Gradually his interests moved from the field of literature to the field of history. In 1804, he resigned as editor of the magazine, accepted the position of imperial historiographer, and until his death he was occupied almost exclusively with the composition of “History of the Russian State,” the first volume of which appeared in print in 1816. In 1810–1811, Karamzin, on the personal order of Alexander I, compiled a “Note on Ancient and New Russia", where, from the conservative positions of the Moscow nobility, he sharply criticized domestic and foreign Russian policies. Karamzin died in St. Petersburg on May 22 (June 3), 1826.

K. called for the development of the European philosophical heritage in all its diversity - from R. Descartes to I. Kant and from F. Bacon to C. Helvetius.

In social philosophy, he was a fan of J. Locke and J. J. Rousseau. He adhered to the conviction that philosophy, having gotten rid of scholastic dogmatism and speculative metaphysics, is capable of being “the science of nature and man.” A supporter of experimental knowledge (experience is the “gatekeeper of wisdom”), he at the same time believed in the power of reason, in creative potential human genius. Speaking against philosophical pessimism and agnosticism, he believed that errors of science are possible, but they “are, so to speak, growths alien to it.” In general, he is characterized by religious and philosophical tolerance towards other views: “He is for me a true philosopher who can get along with everyone in peace; who loves those who disagree with his way of thinking.”

Man is a social being (“we are born for society”), capable of communicating with others (“our “I” sees itself only in another “you”), and therefore, of intellectual and moral improvement.

History, according to K., testifies that “the human race is rising to spiritual perfection.” The golden age of humanity is not behind, as Rousseau, who deified the ignorant savage, claimed, but ahead. T. More in his “Utopia” foresaw a lot, but still it is “the dream of a kind heart.”

Greater role in improvement human nature K. assigned art, which shows a person worthy ways and means of achieving happiness, as well as forms of rational enjoyment of life - through the elevation of the soul ("Something about the sciences, arts and enlightenment").

Observing the events of 1789 in Paris, listening to the speeches of O. Mirabeau at the Convention, talking with J. Condorcet and A. Lavoisier (it is possible that Karamzin visited M. Robespierre), plunging into the atmosphere of the revolution, he welcomed it as a “victory of reason.” However, he later condemned sansculottism and the Jacobin terror as the collapse of the ideas of the Enlightenment.

In the ideas of the Enlightenment, Karamzin saw the final overcoming of the dogmatism and scholasticism of the Middle Ages. Critically assessing the extremes of empiricism and rationalism, he, at the same time, emphasized the educational value of each of these directions and resolutely rejected agnosticism and skepticism.

Upon returning from Europe, K. rethinks his philosophical and historical credo and turns to the problems of historical knowledge and historical methodology. In “Letters of Melodorus and Philalethes” (1795) he discusses the fundamental solutions to two concepts of the philosophy of history - the theory of the historical cycle, coming from G. Vico, and the steady social ascent of humanity (progress) to the highest goal, to humanism, originating from I. G. Herder, valued for his interest in the language and history of the Slavs, questions the idea of ​​automatic progress and comes to the conclusion that the hope for the steady progress of mankind is more precarious than it seemed to him before.

History appears to him as “the eternal confusion of truths with errors and virtue with vice”, “the softening of morals, the progress of reason and feeling”, “the spread of the public spirit”, as only a distant prospect of humanity.

Initially, the writer was characterized by historical optimism and belief in the inevitability of social and spiritual progress, but from the late 1790s. Karamzin connects the development of society with the will of Providence. From that time on, he was characterized by philosophical skepticism. The writer is increasingly inclined towards rational providentialism, trying to reconcile it with the recognition of human free will.

From a humanistic position, developing the idea of ​​the unity of the historical path of Russia and Europe, Karamzin at the same time gradually became convinced of the existence of a special path of development for each nation, which led him to the idea of ​​substantiating this position using the example of the history of Russia.

At the very beginning XIX century (1804) he begins the work of his whole life - systematic work in Russian. history, collecting materials, examining archives, comparing chronicles.

Karamzin brought the historical narrative to the beginning of the 17th century, while he used many primary sources that had previously been ignored (some have not reached us), and he managed to create an interesting story about the past of Russia.

The methodology of historical research was developed by him in previous works, in particular in “The Discourse of a Philosopher, Historian and Citizen” (1795), as well as in “A Note on Ancient and New Russia” (1810-1811). A reasonable interpretation of history, he believed, is based on respect for sources (in Russian historiography - on a conscientious study, first of all, of chronicles), but does not come down to a simple translation of them.

"The historian is not a chronicler." It must stand on the basis of explaining the actions and psychology of historical subjects pursuing their own and class interests. The historian must strive to understand the internal logic of the events taking place, highlight the most essential and important in the events, describing them, “must rejoice and mourn with his people. He should not, guided by bias, distort the facts, exaggerate or belittle the disaster in his presentation; he should be truthful above all."

Karamzin's main ideas from "The History of the Russian State" (the book was published in 11 volumes in 1816 -1824, the last - 12 volumes - in 1829 after the author's death) can be called conservative - monarchical. They realized the conservative-monarchist beliefs of Karamzin as a historian, his providentialism and ethical determinism as a thinker, his traditional religious and moral consciousness. Karamzin is focused on national characteristics Russia, first of all, is an autocracy, free from despotic extremes, where the sovereign must be guided by the law of God and conscience.

He saw the historical purpose of the Russian autocracy in maintaining social order and stability. From a paternalistic position, the writer justified serfdom and social inequality in Russia.

Autocracy, according to Karamzin, being an extra-class power, is the “palladium” (guardian) of Russia,” the guarantor of the unity and well-being of the people. The strength of autocratic rule is not in formal law and legality according to the Western model, but in the conscience, in the “heart” of the monarch.

This is paternal rule. The autocracy must unswervingly follow the rules of such a government, the postulates of the government are as follows: “Any news in the state order is an evil, which should be resorted to only when necessary.” “We require more protective wisdom than creative wisdom.” “For the stability of the state’s existence, it is safer to enslave people than to give them freedom at the wrong time.”

True patriotism, K. believed, obliges a citizen to love his fatherland, despite its delusions and imperfections. A cosmopolitan, according to K., is a “metaphysical being.”

Karamzin took an important place in the history of Russian culture thanks to the fortunate circumstances that developed for him, as well as his personal charm and erudition. A true representative of the century of Catherine the Great, he combined Westernism and liberal aspirations with political conservatism. The historical self-awareness of the Russian people owes a lot to Karamzin. Pushkin noted this by saying that " Ancient Russia, it seemed, was found by Karamzin, like America by Colomb."

Among the works of Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin are critical articles and reviews on literary, theatrical, and historical topics;

Letters, stories, odes, poems:

* "Eugene and Yulia" (1789; story),
* "Letters of a Russian Traveler" (1791-1795; separate publication - in 1801;
* letters written during a trip to Germany, Switzerland, France and England, and reflecting the life of Europe on the eve and during the French Revolution),
* "Liodor" (1791, story),
* "Poor Liza" (1792; story; published in the "Moscow Journal"),
* "Natalia, the boyar's daughter" (1792; story; published in the "Moscow Journal"),
* "To Grace" (ode),
* "Aglaya" (1794-1795; almanac),
* “My trinkets” (1794; 2nd edition - in 1797, 3rd - in 1801; collection of articles previously published in the Moscow Journal),
* “Pantheon of Foreign Literature” (1798; an anthology on foreign literature, which for a long time did not pass through the censorship, which prohibited the publication of Demosthenes, Cicero, Sallust, since they were republicans).

Historical and literary works:

* “Historical eulogy to Empress Catherine II” (1802),
* “Martha the Posadnitsa, or the Conquest of Novgorod” (1803; published in “Bulletin of Europe; historical story”),
* “Note on ancient and new Russia in its political and civil relations” (1811; criticism of M.M. Speransky’s projects for state reforms),
* "Note on Moscow sights" (1818; the first cultural and historical guide to Moscow and its environs),
* “A Knight of Our Time” (autobiographical story published in “Bulletin of Europe”),
* “My Confession” (a story denouncing the secular education of the aristocracy),
* "History of the Russian State" (1816-1829: vol. 1-8 - in 1816-1817, vol. 9 - in 1821, vol. 10-11 - in 1824, vol. 12 - in 1829; the first generalizing work on history Russia).

Letters:

* Letters from Karamzin to A.F. Malinovsky" (published in 1860),
* to I.I. Dmitriev (published in 1866),
* to N.I. Krivtsov,
* to Prince P.A. Vyazemsky (1810-1826; published in 1897),
* to A.I. Turgenev (1806-1826; published in 1899),
* correspondence with Emperor Nikolai Pavlovich (published in 1906).

Articles:

* “Historical memories and remarks on the way to the Trinity” (article),
* “On the Moscow earthquake of 1802” (article),
* "Notes of an old Moscow resident" (article),
* "Travel around Moscow" (article),
* "Russian antiquity" (article),
* “On the light clothing of fashionable beauties of the ninth - tenth centuries” (article).

Sources:

* Ermakova T. Karamzin Nikolai Mikhailovich [Text] / T. Ermakova // Philosophical Encyclopedia: in 5 volumes. T.2.: Disjunction - Comic / Institute of Philosophy of the USSR Academy of Sciences; scientific advice: A. P. Aleksandrov [and others]. – M.: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1962. – P. 456;
* Malinin V. A. Karamzin Nikolai Mikhailovich [Text] / V. A. Malinin // Russian philosophy: dictionary / edited by. ed. M. A. Maslina - M.: Republic, 1995. - P. 217 - 218.
* Khudushina I.F. Karamzin Nikolai Mikhailovich [Text] / I.F. Khudushina // New philosophical encyclopedia: in 4 volumes. T.2.: E - M / Institute of Philosophy of Russia. acad. Sciences, National society - scientific fund; scientific-ed. advice: V. S. Stepin [and others]. – M.: Mysl, 2001. – P.217 – 218;

Bibliography

Essays:

* Essays. T.1-9. – 4th ed. – St. Petersburg, 1834-1835;
* Translations. T.1-9. – 3rd ed. – St. Petersburg, 1835;
* Letters from N. M. Karamzin to I. I. Dmitriev. – St. Petersburg, 1866;
* Something about sciences, arts and education. - Odessa, 1880;.
* Letters from a Russian traveler. - L., 1987;
* Note on ancient and new Russia. - M., 1991.
* History of the Russian State, vol. 1-4. - M, 1993;

Literature:

* Platonov S. F. N. M. Karamzin... - St. Petersburg, 1912;
* Essays on the history of historical science in the USSR. T. 1. - M., 1955. - P. 277 – 87;
* Essays on the history of Russian journalism and criticism. T. 1. Ch. 5. -L., 1950;
* Belinsky V.G. Works of Alexander Pushkin. Art. 2. // Complete works. T. 7. - M., 1955;
* Pogodin M.P. N.M. Karamzin, according to his writings, letters and reviews of contemporaries. Part 1-2. - M., 1866;
* [Gukovsky G.A.] Karamzin // History of Russian literature. T. 5. - M. - L., 1941. - P. 55-105;
* Medical critics of “History of the Russian State” N.M. Karamzin // Literary heritage. T. 59. - M., 1954;
* Lotman Yu. Evolution of Karamzin’s worldview // Scientific Notes of Tartu State University.” – 1957. - Issue. 51. – (Proceedings of the Faculty of History and Philology);
* Mordovchenko N.I. Russian criticism of the first quarter of the 19th century. - M. – L., 1959. – P.17-56;
* Storm G.P. New information about Pushkin and Karamzin // Izvestia of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Dept. literature and language. – 1960. - T. 19. - Issue. 2;
* Predtechensky A.V. Social and political views of N.M. Karamzin in the 1790s // Problems of Russian education in XVIII literature century - M.-L., 1961;
* Makogonenko G. Karamzin’s literary position in the 19th century, “Rus. literature", 1962, No. 1, p. 68-106;
* History of philosophy in the USSR. T. 2. - M., 1968. - P. 154-157;
* Kislyagina L.G. Formation of socio-political views of N.M. Karamzin (1785-1803). - M., 1976;
* Lotman Yu. M. Karamzin. - M., 1997.
* Wedel E. Radiśćev und Karamzin // Die Welt der Slaven. – 1959. - H. 1;
* Rothe H. Karamzin-studien // Z. slavische Philologie. – 1960. - Bd 29. - H. 1;
* Wissemann H. Wandlungen des Naturgefühls in der neuren russischen Literatur // ibid. - Bd 28. - H. 2.

Archives:

* RO IRLI, f. 93; RGALI, f. 248; RGIA, f. 951; OR RSL, f. 178; RORNB, f. 336.

Biography (Catholic Encyclopedia. EdwART. 2011, K. Yablokov)

He grew up in the village of his father, a Simbirsk landowner. He received his primary education at home. In 1773-76 he studied in Simbirsk at the Fauvel boarding school, then in 1780-83 - at the boarding school of prof. Moscow University of Schaden in Moscow. During his studies, he also attended lectures at Moscow University. In 1781 he entered service in the Preobrazhensky Regiment. In 1785, after his resignation, he became close to the Masonic circle of N.I. Novikova. During this period, the formation of worldview and literature. K.'s views were greatly influenced by the philosophy of the Enlightenment, as well as the work of English. and German sentimental writers. First lit. K.'s experience is associated with Novikov's magazine Children's reading for the heart and mind, where in 1787-90 he published his numerous works. translations, as well as the story Eugene and Yulia (1789).

In 1789 K. broke with the Freemasons. In 1789-90 he traveled around the West. Europe, visited Germany, Switzerland, France and England, met with I. Kant and I.G. Herder. Impressions from the trip became the basis of his opus. Letters of a Russian traveler (1791-92), in which, in particular, K. expressed his attitude towards the French Revolution, which he considered one of the key events of the 18th century. The period of the Jacobin dictatorship (1793-94) disappointed him, and in the republication of Letters... (1801) a story about the events of Franz. K. accompanied the revolution with a commentary on the disastrous nature of any violent upheaval for the state.

After returning to Russia, K. published the Moscow magazine, in which he published his own artists. works (the main part of the Letters of a Russian Traveler, the stories Liodor, Poor Liza, Natalya, the Boyar's Daughter, the poems Poetry, To Mercy, etc.), as well as critical works. articles and literature and theater reviews, promoting the aesthetic principles of Russian. sentimentalism.

After forced silence during the reign of the Emperor. Paul I K. again acted as a publicist, substantiating the program of moderate conservatism in the new magazine Vestnik Evropy. His story was published here. the story Marfa Posadnitsa, or the Conquest of Novgorod (1803), which asserted the inevitability of the victory of the autocracy over the free city.

Lit. K.'s activities played a big role in improving the artist. internal image means the human world, in the development of Russian. lit. language. In particular, K.’s early prose influenced the work of V.A. Zhukovsky, K.N. Batyushkov, young A.S. Pushkin.

From ser. In 1790, K.'s interest in the problems of historical methodology was determined. One of the main K.'s theses: “A historian is not a chronicler,” he must strive to understand the internal. logic of the events taking place, must be “truthful”, and no predilections or ideas can serve as an excuse for distorting the truth. facts.

In 1803, K. was appointed to the position of court historiographer, after which he began work on his chapter. work - History of the Russian State (vol. 1-8, 1816-17; vol. 9, 1821; vol. 10-11, 1824; vol. 12, 1829), which became not only a significant historical work. labor, but also a major Russian phenomenon. artist prose and the most important source for Russian. ist. dramaturgy starting with Pushkin's Boris Godunov.

When working on the History of the Russian State, K. used not only almost all the Russian lists available in his time. chronicles (more than 200) and ed. ancient Russian monuments rights and literature, but also numerous. handwritten and printed Western European. sources. A story about each period of Russian history. state is accompanied by many references and quotations from op. European authors, not only those who wrote about Russia itself (like Herberstein or Kozma of Prague), but also other historians, geographers, and chroniclers (from ancient to contemporary K.). In addition, History... contains many important for Russian. reader of information on the history of the Church (from the Fathers of the Church to the Church Annals of Baronius), as well as quotes from papal bulls and other documents of the Holy See. One of the main concepts of K.'s work were criticized by historians. sources in accordance with the methods of Enlightenment historians. History... K. contributed to increasing interest in Russian history in various layers of Russian. society. East. K.'s concept became official. concept supported by the state. power.

K.'s views, expressed in the History of the Russian State, are based on a rationalistic idea of ​​​​the course of societies. development: the history of mankind is the history of global progress, the basis of which is the struggle of reason against error, enlightenment against ignorance. Ch. driving force of history process K. considered power, the state, identifying the history of the country with the history of the state, and the history of the state with the history of autocracy.

The decisive role in history, according to K., is played by individuals (“History is the sacred book of kings and peoples”). Psychological analysis actions ist. personalities is for K. main. method of explanation of history. events. The purpose of history, according to K., is to regulate societies. and cult. activities of people. Ch. the institution for maintaining order in Russia is an autocracy, the strengthening of monarchical power in the state allows for the preservation of the cult. and ist. values. The Church must interact with the authorities, but not submit to them, because this leads to a weakening of the authority of the Church and faith in the state, and the devaluation of rel. values ​​- to the destruction of the monarchy. The spheres of activity of the state and the Church, in K.’s understanding, cannot intersect, but in order to preserve the unity of the state, their efforts must be combined.

K. was a supporter of rel. tolerance, however, in his opinion, each country must adhere to its chosen religion, therefore in Russia it is important to preserve and support the Orthodox Church. Church. K. viewed the Catholic Church as a constant enemy of Russia, striving to “plant” a new faith. In his opinion, contacts with the Catholic Church only harmed the cult. identity of Russia. K. subjected the Jesuits to the greatest criticism, in particular for their interference in internal affairs. Russian policy during the Time of Troubles beginning. XVII century

In 1810-11, K. compiled a Note on Ancient and New Russia, where he criticized the internal affairs from a conservative position. and ext. grew up politics, in particular government projects. transformations M.M. Speransky. In the Note... K. moved away from his initial views on history. development of humanity, arguing that there is a special path of development characteristic of each nation.

Works: Works. St. Petersburg, 1848. 3 vols.; Essays. L., 1984. 2 vols.; Complete collection of poems. M.-L., 1966; History of Russian Goverment. St. Petersburg, 1842-44. 4 books; Letters from a Russian traveler. L., 1984; History of Russian Goverment. M., 1989-98. 6 volumes (edition not completed); A note on ancient and new Russia in its political and civil relations. M., 1991.

Literature: Pogodin M.P. Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin according to his writings, letters and reviews of contemporaries. M., 1866. 2 hours; Eidelman N.Ya. The Last Chronicler. M., 1983; Osetrov E.I. Three lives of Karamzin. M., 1985; Vatsuro V.E., Gillelson M.I. Through “mental dams.” M., 1986; Kozlov V.P. “History of the Russian State” N.M. Karamzin in the assessments of his contemporaries. M., 1989; Lotman Yu.M. The Creation of Karamzin. M., 1997.

About some Pushkin references to journalism and prose of N.M. Karamzin (L.A. Mesenyashina (Chelyabinsk))

Speaking about the contribution of N.M. Karamzin into Russian culture, Yu.M. Lotman notes that, among other things, N.M. Karamzin created “two more important figures in the history of culture: the Russian Reader and the Russian Reader” [Lotman, Yu.M. The Creation of Karamzin [Text] / Yu.M. Lotman. – M.: Book, 1987. P. 316]. At the same time, when we turn to such textbook Russian reading as “Eugene Onegin,” sometimes it becomes noticeable that the modern Russian reader lacks precisely “reading qualifications.” It's about first of all, about the ability to see the intertextual connections of the novel. Almost all researchers of Pushkin’s work pointed out the importance of the role of “someone else’s word” in the novel “Eugene Onegin”. Yu.M. Lotman, who gave a detailed classification of the forms of presentation of “alien speech” in “Eugene Onegin,” notes, with reference to the works of Z.G. Mintz, G. Levinton and others that “quotes and reminiscences constitute one of the main structure-forming elements in the very fabric of the narrative of the novel in Pushkin’s poems” [Lotman, Yu.M. Roman A.S. Pushkin “Eugene Onegin” [Text] / Yu.M. Lotman // Lotman, Yu.M. Pushkin. – St. Petersburg: Art-SPB, 1995. P. 414]. Among the diverse functions of quotes from Yu.M. Lotman pays special attention to the so-called. “hidden quotes”, the identification of which “is achieved not through graphics and typographical signs, but by identifying some places in the text of Onegin with texts stored in the memory of readers” [Ibid.]. Such “hidden quotes,” in the language of modern advertising theory, carry out “audience segmentation,” with a “multi-stage system of bringing the reader closer to the text” [Ibid]. And further: “...Quotations, updating certain extra-textual connections, create a certain “image of the audience” of this text, which indirectly characterizes the text itself” [Ibid., p. 416]. The abundance of proper names (Yu.M. Lotman counts about 150 of them) of “poets, artists, cultural figures, politicians, historical characters, as well as names of works of art and names of literary heroes” (ibid.) turns the novel into in a certain sense, into small talk about mutual acquaintances (“Onegin – “my good friend”).

Special attention to Yu.M. Lotman pays attention to the overlap between Pushkin’s novel and the texts of N.M. Karamzin, pointing out, in particular, that the closest to the collision “Tatyana Larina’s Mother – “Grandison” (“Guard Sergeant”) – Dmitry Larin” is the situation from “A Knight of Our Time” by N.M. Karamzin [Lotman, Yu.M. Roman A.S. Pushkin “Eugene Onegin” [Text] / Yu.M. Lotman // Lotman, Yu.M. Pushkin. – St. Petersburg: Art-SPB, 1995. P. 391 – 762]. Moreover, in this context, it is surprising that researchers have not noticed yet another “hidden quote,” or rather an allusion in the XXX stanza of the second chapter of “Eugene Onegin.” Under the allusion, following A.S. Evseev, we will understand “a reference to a previously known fact, taken in its individuality (protosystem), accompanied by a paradigmatic increment of the metasystem” (semiotic system containing a representative of allusion) [Evseev, A. S. Fundamentals of the theory of allusion [Text]: abstract. dis. ...cand. Philol. Sciences: 10.02.01/ Evseev Alexander Sergeevich. – Moscow, 1990. P. 3].

Let us recall that, characterizing the well-known liberalism of Tatiana’s parents in relation to her reading circle, Pushkin motivated it, in particular, by the fact that Tatiana’s mother “was crazy about Richardson herself.” And then follows the textbook:

"She loved Richardson
Not because I read it
Not because Grandison
She preferred Lovelace..."

A.S. himself Pushkin in a note to these lines indicates: “Grandison and Lovelace, heroes of two glorious novels” [Pushkin, A.S. Selected works [Text]: in 2 volumes / A.S. Pushkin. – M.: Fiction, 1980. - T.2. P. 154]. In the no less textbook “Commentary to the novel “Eugene Onegin” by Yu. M. Lotman, in the notes to this stanza, in addition to the above Pushkin note, it is added: “The first is a hero of impeccable virtue, the second - of insidious but charming evil. Their names have become household names” [Lotman, Yu.M. Roman A.S. Pushkin “Eugene Onegin” [Text] / Yu.M. Lotman // Lotman, Yu.M. Pushkin. – St. Petersburg: Art-SPB, 1995. P. 605].

The stinginess of such a comment would be completely justified if one could forget about the “segmenting role” of allusions in this novel. According to the classification of Yu.M. Lotman, one of those readers who can “correlate a quotation contained in Pushkin’s text with a certain external text and extract the meanings arising from this comparison” [Ibid. P. 414], only the narrowest, most friendly circle knows the “home semantics” of this or that quote.

To correctly understand this quatrain, Pushkin’s contemporaries did not at all need to be part of the narrowest circle. It was enough to coincide with him in terms of reading, and for this it was enough to be familiar with the texts of “Richardson and Rousseau,” firstly, and N.M. Karamzin, secondly. Because anyone for whom these conditions are met will easily notice in this quatrain a polemical, but almost verbatim quotation of a fragment of “Letters of a Russian Traveler.” So, in a letter marked “London, July ... 1790” N.M. Karamzin describes a certain girl Jenny, a servant in the rooms where the hero of “Letters” stayed, who managed to tell him “ secret history her heart”: “At eight o’clock in the morning she brings me tea with crackers and talks to me about Fielding’s and Richardson’s novels. Her taste is strange: for example, Lovelace seems to her incomparably more amiable than Grandison”... That's what London maids are like!" [Karamzin, N.M. Knight of our time [Text]: Poetry, prose. Journalism / N.M. Karamzin. – M.: Parad, 2007. P. 520].

The fact that this is not a coincidence is indicated by another significant circumstance. Let us recall that this quatrain in Pushkin is preceded by the stanza

“She [Tatyana] liked novels early on;
They replaced everything for her...”

For our contemporaries, this characteristic only means the heroine’s quite commendable love of reading. Meanwhile, Pushkin emphasizes that this is not a love of reading in general, but specifically of reading novels, which is not the same thing. The fact that the love of reading novels on the part of a young noble maiden is by no means unambiguous positive characteristic, evidenced by a very characteristic passage from the article by N.M. Karamzin “On the book trade and the love of reading in Russia” (1802): “It is in vain to think that novels can be harmful to the heart...” [Ibid. P. 769], “In a word, it’s good that our public reads novels!” [Ibid. P. 770]. The very need for this kind of argumentation indicates the presence in public opinion the exact opposite belief, and it is not unfounded, given the themes and the very language of European novels of the Enlightenment. After all, even with the most ardent defense of N.M.’s novels. Karamzin nowhere claims that this reading is the most suitable for young girls, since the “Enlightenment” of the latter in some areas, at least in the eyes of Russian society of that time, bordered on outright corruption. And the fact that Pushkin calls the next volume of the novel located under Tatiana’s pillow “secret” is not accidental.

True, Pushkin emphasizes that there was no need for Tatyana to hide the “secret volume,” since her father, “a simple and kind gentleman,” “considered books an empty toy,” and his wife, despite all her previous complaints, and as a girl I read less than an English maid.

Thus, the discovery of Karamzin’s lines, to which Pushkin’s XXX stanza refers us, adds a new bright shade to the understanding of this novel as a whole. The image of the “enlightened Russian lady” in general and the author’s attitude towards him in particular becomes more clear to us. In this context, the image of Tatiana also receives new colors. If Tatyana grows up in such a family, then she is truly an extraordinary person. On the other hand, it is in such a family that an “enlightened” (overly enlightened?) young lady can remain a “Russian soul.” It immediately becomes clear to us that the lines from her letter: “Imagine: I’m here alone ...” are not only a romantic cliche, but also a harsh reality, and the letter itself is not only a willingness to follow romantic precedents, but also a desperate act aimed at finding a loved one OUTSIDE the circle outlined by a predetermined pattern.

So, we see that Pushkin’s novel is truly an integral artistic system, each element of it “works” for the final plan, the intertextuality of the novel is the most important component of this system, and that is why we must not lose sight of any of the intertextual connections of the novel. At the same time, the risk of losing understanding of these relationships increases as the time gap between the author and the reader increases, so restoring the intertextuality of Pushkin’s novel remains an urgent task.

Biography (K.V. Ryzhov)

Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin was born in December 1766 in the village of Mikhailovka, Simbirsk province, into the family of a nobleman mediocre. He received his education at home and in private boarding schools. In 1783, young Karamzin went to St. Petersburg, where for some time he served as an ensign in the Preobrazhensky Guards Regiment. Military service, however, did not interest him much. In 1784, upon learning of his father's death, he retired, settled in Moscow and plunged headlong into literary life. Its center at that time was the famous book publisher Novikov. Despite his youth, Karamzin soon became one of his most active collaborators and worked hard on translations.

Constantly reading and translating European classics, Karamzin passionately dreamed of visiting Europe himself. His wish came true in 1789. Having saved up money, he went abroad and traveled around for almost a year and a half. different countries. This pilgrimage to the cultural centers of Europe was of great importance in the formation of Karamzin as a writer. He returned to Moscow with many plans. First of all, he founded the “Moscow Journal”, with the help of which he intended to acquaint his compatriots with Russian and foreign literature, instilling a taste for the best examples of poetry and prose, present “critical reviews” of published books, report on theatrical premieres and everything else related to literary life in Russia and Europe. The first issue was published in January 1791. It contained the beginning of “Letters of a Russian Traveler,” written based on the impressions of a trip abroad and representing a most interesting travel diary in the form of messages to friends. This work was a huge success among the reading public, who admired not only the fascinating description of the life of European peoples, but also the light, pleasant style of the author. Before Karamzin, there was a strong belief in Russian society that books were written and published for “scientists” alone, and therefore their content should be as important and practical as possible. In fact, this led to the fact that the prose turned out to be heavy and boring, and its language - cumbersome and grandiloquent. Many Old Church Slavonic words that had long since fallen out of use continued to be used in fiction. Karamzin was the first of the Russian prose writers to change the tone of his works from solemn and instructive to sincerely inviting. He also completely abandoned the stilted, pretentious style and began to use a lively and natural language, close to colloquial speech. Instead of dense Slavicisms, he boldly introduced into literary circulation many new borrowed words, previously used only in the oral speech of Europeans. educated people. This was a reform of enormous importance - one might say that our modern literary language first emerged on the pages of Karamzin’s magazine. Comprehensively and interestingly written, it successfully instilled a taste for reading and became the publication around which the reading public united for the first time. "Moscow Journal" became a significant phenomenon for many other reasons. In addition to his own works and the works of famous Russian writers, in addition to a critical analysis of the works that were on everyone's lips, Karamzin included extensive and detailed articles about famous European classics: Shakespeare, Lessing, Boileau, Thomas More, Goldoni, Voltaire, Sterne, Richardson . He also became the founder of theater criticism. Analysis of plays, productions, actors' performances - all this was an unheard-of innovation in Russian periodicals. According to Belinsky, Karamzin was the first to give the Russian public true magazine reading. Moreover, everywhere and in everything he was not only a transformer, but also a creator.

In the following issues of the magazine, in addition to “Letters”, articles and translations, Karamzin published several of his poems, and in the July issue he published the story “Poor Liza”. This small work, which took only a few pages, became a real discovery for our young literature and was the first recognized work Russian sentimentalism. The life of the human heart, unfolding so vividly before readers for the first time, was a stunning revelation for many of them. The simple, and generally uncomplicated love story of a simple girl for a rich and frivolous nobleman, which ended in her tragic death, literally shocked her contemporaries, who read it to the point of oblivion. Looking from the heights of our current literary experience, after Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy and Turgenev, we, of course, cannot help but see the many shortcomings of this story - its pretentiousness, excessive exaltation, and tearfulness. However, it is important to note that it was here, for the first time in Russian literature, that the discovery of the human spiritual world took place. It was still a timid, foggy and naive world, but it arose, and the entire further course of our literature went in the direction of its comprehension. Karamzin’s innovation also manifested itself in another area: in 1792, he published one of the first Russian historical stories, “Natalia, the Boyar’s Daughter,” which serves as a bridge from “Letters of a Russian Traveler” and “Poor Liza” to Karamzin’s later works, “Marfa.” Posadnitsa" and "History of the Russian State". The plot of "Natalia", unfolding against the backdrop of the historical situation of the times of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, is distinguished by its romantic poignancy. It has everything - sudden love, secret wedding, escape, search, return and a happy life until death.

In 1792, Karamzin stopped publishing the magazine and left Moscow for the village. He returned to journalism again only in 1802, when he began publishing the Bulletin of Europe. From the very first issues, this magazine became the most popular periodical in Russia. The number of his subscribers in a few months exceeded 1000 people - a very impressive figure at that time. The range of issues addressed in the journal was very significant. In addition to literary and historical articles, Karamzin published in his “Bulletin” political reviews, various information, messages from the field of science, art and education, as well as entertaining works of fine literature. In 1803, he published his best historical story “Martha the Posadnitsa, or the Conquest of Novagorod,” which told about the great drama of the city humbled by the Russian autocracy, about freedom and rebellion, about a strong and powerful woman, whose greatness was revealed in the most difficult days of her life . In this piece, Karamzin’s creative style reached classical maturity. The style of “Marfa” is clear, restrained, and strict. There is not even a trace of the tearfulness and tenderness of “Poor Lisa.” The speeches of the heroes are full of dignity and simplicity, each word is weighty and meaningful. It is also important to emphasize that Russian antiquity was no longer just a background here, as in “Natalia”, - it itself was the object of comprehension and depiction. It was clear that the author had been thoughtfully studying history for many years and deeply felt its tragic, contradictory course.

In fact, from many letters and references to Karamzin, it is known that at the turn of the century, Russian antiquity increasingly drew him into its depths. He enthusiastically read chronicles and ancient acts, obtained and studied rare manuscripts. In the fall of 1803, Karamzin finally came to the decision to take on a great burden - to take up writing a work on Russian history. This task is long overdue. By the beginning of the 19th century. Russia was almost the only one European country, which until now has not had a complete printed and publicly available account of its history. Of course, there were chronicles, but only specialists could read them. In addition, most of the chronicles remained unpublished. In the same way, many historical documents scattered in archives and private collections remained outside the bounds of scientific circulation and were completely inaccessible not only to the reading public, but also to historians. Karamzin had to bring together all this complex and heterogeneous material, critically comprehend it and present it in an easy way. modern language. Understanding well that the planned business would require many years of research and complete concentration, he asked for financial support from the emperor. In October 1803, Alexander I appointed Karamzin to the position of historiographer specially created for him, which gave him free access to all Russian archives and libraries. By the same decree he was entitled to an annual pension of two thousand rubles. Although “Vestnik Evropy” gave Karamzin three times more, he said goodbye to it without hesitation and devoted himself entirely to working on his “History of the Russian State.” According to Prince Vyazemsky, from that time on he “took monastic vows as a historian.” Social interaction was over: Karamzin stopped appearing in living rooms and got rid of many not devoid of pleasant, but annoying acquaintances. His life now passed in libraries, among shelves and racks. Karamzin treated his work with the greatest conscientiousness. He compiled mountains of extracts, read catalogues, looked through books and sent letters of inquiry to all corners of the world. The volume of material he picked up and reviewed was enormous. It is safe to say that no one before Karamzin had ever plunged so deeply into the spirit and element of Russian history.

The goal that the historian set for himself was complex and largely contradictory. He did not just have to write an extensive scientific work, painstakingly researching each era under consideration, his goal was to create a national, socially significant work that would not require special preparation for its understanding. In other words, it should not have been a dry monograph, but a highly artistic literary work intended for the general public. Karamzin worked a lot on the style and style of “History”, on the artistic treatment of images. Without adding anything to the documents he transferred, he brightened up their dryness with his hot emotional comments. As a result, a bright and rich work came out of his pen, which could not leave any reader indifferent. Karamzin himself once called his work “ historical poem" And in fact, in terms of the strength of the style, the entertaining nature of the story, and the sonority of the language, this is undoubtedly the best creation of Russian prose of the first quarter of the 19th century.

But with all this, “History” remained in the full sense a “historical” work, although this was achieved to the detriment of its overall harmony. The desire to combine ease of presentation with its thoroughness forced Karamzin to provide almost every phrase with a special note. In these notes he “hid” a huge number of extensive extracts, quotes from sources, paraphrases of documents, and his polemics with the works of his predecessors. As a result, the “Notes” are actually equal in volume to the main text. The author himself was well aware of the abnormality of this. In the preface, he admitted: “The many notes and extracts I have made frighten me...” But he could not come up with any other way to introduce the reader to the mass of valuable historical material. Thus, Karamzin’s “History” is divided into two parts - “artistic”, intended for easy reading, and “scientific” - for a thoughtful and in-depth study of history.

Work on “The History of the Russian State” took up the last 23 years of Karamzin’s life. In 1816, he took the first eight volumes of his work to St. Petersburg. In the spring of 1817, “History” began to be printed in three printing houses at once - military, senate and medical. However, editing proofs took a lot of time. The first eight volumes appeared on sale only at the beginning of 1818 and created an unprecedented excitement. Not a single work by Karamzin had previously achieved such stunning success. At the end of February, the first edition was already sold out. “Everything,” Pushkin recalled, “even secular women, rushed to read the history of their fatherland, hitherto unknown to them. She was a new discovery for them. Ancient Russia seemed to be found by Karamzin, like America by Columbus. They didn't talk about anything else for a while..."

From now on every new volume“History” became a social and cultural event. The 9th volume, dedicated to a description of the era of Grozny, was published in 1821 and made a deafening impression on his contemporaries. The tyranny of the cruel king and the horrors of the oprichnina were described here with such epic power that readers simply could not find words to express their feelings. Famous poet and the future Decembrist Kondraty Ryleev wrote in one of his letters: “Well, Grozny! Well, Karamzin! I don’t know what to be more surprised at, the tyranny of John or the gift of our Tacitus.” The 10th and 11th volumes appeared in 1824. The era of unrest described in them, in connection with the recently experienced French invasion and the fire of Moscow, was extremely interesting to both Karamzin himself and his contemporaries. Many, not without reason, found this part of the “History” especially successful and powerful. The last 12th volume (the author was going to finish his “History” with the accession of Mikhail Romanov) Karamzin wrote when he was already seriously ill. He didn't have time to finish it.

The great writer and historian died in May 1826.

Biography (en.wikipedia.org)

Honorary member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences (1818), full member of the Imperial Russian Academy (1818). Creator of the “History of the Russian State” (volumes 1-12, 1803-1826) - one of the first generalizing works on the history of Russia. Editor of the Moscow Journal (1791-1792) and Vestnik Evropy (1802-1803).

Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin was born on December 1 (12), 1766 near Simbirsk. He grew up on the estate of his father, retired captain Mikhail Egorovich Karamzin (1724-1783), an average Simbirsk nobleman. Received home education. In 1778 he was sent to Moscow to the boarding school of Moscow University professor I.M. Schaden. At the same time, he attended lectures by I. G. Schwartz at the University in 1781-1782.

Carier start

In 1783, at the insistence of his father, he entered service in the St. Petersburg Guards Regiment, but soon retired. The first literary experiments date back to his military service. After retirement, he lived for some time in Simbirsk, and then in Moscow. During his stay in Simbirsk, he joined the Masonic lodge of the Golden Crown, and after arriving in Moscow, for four years (1785-1789) he was a member of the Friendly Scientific Society.

In Moscow, Karamzin met writers and writers: N.I. Novikov, A.M. Kutuzov, A.A. Petrov, and participated in the publication of the first Russian magazine for children - “Children’s Reading for the Heart and Mind.”

Trip to Europe In 1789-1790 he made a trip to Europe, during which he visited Immanuel Kant in Königsberg, and was in Paris during the great French Revolution. As a result of this trip, the famous “Letters of a Russian Traveler” were written, the publication of which immediately made Karamzin a famous writer. Some philologists believe that modern Russian literature dates back to this book. Since then he has been considered one of its main figures.

Return and life in Russia

Upon returning from a trip to Europe, Karamzin settled in Moscow and began working as a professional writer and journalist, starting the publication of the Moscow Journal 1791-1792 (the first Russian literary magazine, in which, among other works of Karamzin, the story “Poor” appeared, which strengthened his fame Liza"), then published a number of collections and almanacs: “Aglaya”, “Aonids”, “Pantheon of Foreign Literature”, “My Trinkets”, which made sentimentalism the main literary movement in Russia, and Karamzin its recognized leader.

Emperor Alexander I, by personal decree of October 31, 1803, granted the title of historiographer to Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin; 2 thousand rubles were added to the rank at the same time. annual salary. The title of historiographer in Russia was not renewed after Karamzin’s death.

From the beginning of the 19th century, Karamzin gradually moved away from fiction, and from 1804, having been appointed by Alexander I to the post of historiographer, he stopped all literary work, “taking monastic vows as a historian.” In 1811, he wrote “A Note on Ancient and New Russia in its Political and Civil Relations,” which reflected the views of conservative layers of society dissatisfied with the liberal reforms of the emperor. Karamzin’s goal was to prove that no reforms were needed in the country.

“A Note on Ancient and New Russia in its Political and Civil Relations” also played the role of an outline for Nikolai Mikhailovich’s subsequent enormous work on Russian history. In February 1818, Karamzin released the first eight volumes of “The History of the Russian State,” the three thousand copies of which sold out within a month. In subsequent years, three more volumes of “History” were published, and a number of translations of it into the main European languages ​​appeared. Covering the Russian historical process brought Karamzin closer to the court and the tsar, who settled him near him in Tsarskoye Selo. Karamzin's political views evolved gradually, and by the end of his life he was a staunch supporter of absolute monarchy.

Unfinished Volume XII was published after his death.

Karamzin died on May 22 (June 3), 1826 in St. Petersburg. His death was the result of a cold contracted on December 14, 1825. On this day Karamzin was on Senate Square [source not specified 70 days]

He was buried at the Tikhvin Cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.

Karamzin - writer

“Karamzin’s influence on literature can be compared with Catherine’s influence on society: he made literature humane,” wrote A. I. Herzen.

Sentimentalism

Karamzin’s publication of “Letters of a Russian Traveler” (1791-1792) and the story “Poor Liza” (1792; separate publication 1796) ushered in the era of sentimentalism in Russia.
Lisa was surprised and dared to look at young man, - she blushed even more and, looking down at the ground, told him that she would not take the ruble.
- For what?
- I don't need anything extra.
- I think that beautiful lilies of the valley, plucked by the hands of a beautiful girl, are worth a ruble. When you don’t take it, here’s your five kopecks. I would like to always buy flowers from you; I would like you to tear them just for me.

Sentimentalism declared feeling, not reason, to be the dominant of “human nature,” which distinguished it from classicism. Sentimentalism is an ideal human activity did not believe in a “reasonable” reorganization of the world, but in the release and improvement of “natural” feelings. His hero is more individualized, his inner world enriched by the ability to empathize and sensitively respond to what is happening around.

The publication of these works was a great success among readers of that time; “Poor Liza” caused many imitations. Karamzin's sentimentalism had a great influence on the development of Russian literature: it inspired [source not specified 78 days], including the romanticism of Zhukovsky and the work of Pushkin.

Karamzin's poetry

Karamzin's poetry, which developed in the mainstream of European sentimentalism, was radically different from the traditional poetry of his time, brought up on the odes of Lomonosov and Derzhavin. The most significant differences were the following:

Karamzin is not interested in the external, physical world, but in the internal, spiritual world of man. His poems speak “the language of the heart,” not the mind. The object of Karamzin’s poetry is “ simple life", and to describe it he uses simple poetic forms - poor rhymes, avoids the abundance of metaphors and other tropes so popular in the poems of his predecessors.
“Who is your dear?”
I'm ashamed; it really hurts me
The strangeness of my feelings is revealed
And be the butt of jokes.
The heart is not free to choose!..
What to say? She...she.
Oh! not important at all
And talents behind you
Has none;
…
(The Strangeness of Love, or Insomnia (1793))

Another difference between Karamzin’s poetics is that the world is fundamentally unknowable for him; the poet recognizes the existence of different points of view on the same subject:
One voice
It's scary in the grave, cold and dark!
The winds howl here, the coffins shake,
White bones are knocking.
Another voice
Quiet in the grave, soft, calm.
The winds blow here; sleepers are cool;
Herbs and flowers grow.
(Cemetery (1792))

Works by Karamzin

* “Eugene and Julia”, story (1789)
* “Letters of a Russian Traveler” (1791-1792)
* “Poor Liza”, story (1792)
* “Natalia, the boyar’s daughter”, story (1792)
* “The Beautiful Princess and the Happy Karla” (1792)
* "Sierra Morena", a story (1793)
* "The Island of Bornholm" (1793)
* "Julia" (1796)
* “Martha the Posadnitsa, or the Conquest of Novagorod”, story (1802)
* “My Confession,” letter to the magazine publisher (1802)
* "Sensitive and Cold" (1803)
* "A Knight of Our Time" (1803)
* "Autumn"

Karamzin's language reform

Karamzin's prose and poetry had a decisive influence on the development of the Russian literary language. Karamzin purposefully refused to use Church Slavonic vocabulary and grammar, bringing the language of his works to the everyday language of his era and using the grammar and syntax of the French language as a model.

Karamzin introduced many new words into the Russian language - as neologisms (“charity”, “love”, “freethinking”, “attraction”, “responsibility”, “suspiciousness”, “industry”, “refinement”, “first-class”, “humane” ") and barbarisms ("sidewalk", "coachman"). He was also one of the first to use the letter E.

The changes in language proposed by Karamzin caused heated controversy in the 1810s. The writer A. S. Shishkov, with the assistance of Derzhavin, founded in 1811 the society “Conversation of Lovers of the Russian Word”, the purpose of which was to promote the “old” language, as well as criticize Karamzin, Zhukovsky and their followers. In response, in 1815, the literary society “Arzamas” was formed, which ironized the authors of “Conversation” and parodied their works. Many poets of the new generation became members of the society, including Batyushkov, Vyazemsky, Davydov, Zhukovsky, Pushkin. Literary victory“Arzamas” over “Beseda” strengthened the victory of the language changes that Karamzin introduced.

Despite this, Karamzin later became closer to Shishkov, and, thanks to the latter’s assistance, Karamzin was elected a member of the Russian Academy in 1818.

Karamzin - historian

Karamzin developed an interest in history in the mid-1790s. He wrote a story on a historical theme - “Martha the Posadnitsa, or the Conquest of Novagorod” (published in 1803). In the same year, by decree of Alexander I, he was appointed to the position of historiographer, and until the end of his life he was engaged in writing “The History of the Russian State,” practically ceasing his activities as a journalist and writer.

Karamzin’s “History” was not the first description of the history of Russia; before him there were the works of V.N. Tatishchev and M.M. Shcherbatov. But it was Karamzin who opened the history of Russia to a wide educated public. According to A.S. Pushkin, “Everyone, even secular women, rushed to read the history of their fatherland, hitherto unknown to them. She was a new discovery for them. Ancient Russia seemed to be found by Karamzin, like America by Columbus.” This work also caused a wave of imitations and contrasts (for example, “The History of the Russian People” by N. A. Polevoy)

In his work, Karamzin acted more as a writer than a historian - when describing historical facts, he cared about the beauty of the language, least of all trying to draw any conclusions from the events he described. Nevertheless, his commentaries, which contain many extracts from manuscripts, mostly first published by Karamzin, are of high scientific value. Some of these manuscripts no longer exist.

In the famous epigram, whose authorship is attributed to A. S. Pushkin, Karamzin’s coverage of Russian history is subject to criticism:
In his “History” elegance, simplicity
They prove to us, without any bias,
The need for autocracy
And the delights of the whip.

Karamzin took the initiative to organize memorials and erect monuments to outstanding figures of Russian history, in particular, K. M. Minin and D. M. Pozharsky on Red Square (1818).

N. M. Karamzin discovered Afanasy Nikitin’s “Walking across Three Seas” in a 16th-century manuscript and published it in 1821. He wrote:
“Until now, geographers did not know that the honor of one of the oldest described European journeys to India belongs to Russia of the John century... It (the journey) proves that Russia in the 15th century had its own Taverniers and Chardiners (en: Jean Chardin), less enlightened, but equally brave and enterprising; that the Indians heard about it before they heard about Portugal, Holland, England. While Vasco da Gamma was only thinking about the possibility of finding a way from Africa to Hindustan, our Tverite was already a merchant on the banks of Malabar ... "

Karamzin - translator In 1792, N. M. Karamzin translated a wonderful monument Indian literature(from English) - the drama “Sakuntala” (“Shakuntala”), authored by Kalidasa. In the preface to the translation he wrote:
“The creative spirit does not live in Europe alone; he is a citizen of the universe. A person is a person everywhere; He has a sensitive heart everywhere, and in the mirror of his imagination he contains heaven and earth. Everywhere Nature is his mentor and the main source of his pleasures. I felt this very vividly while reading Sakontala, a drama composed in an Indian language, 1900 years before this, by the Asian poet Kalidas, and recently translated into English by William Jones, a Bengali judge ... "

Family

* Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin
* ? 1. Elizaveta Ivanovna Protasova (d. 1802)
* Sophia (1802-56)
* ? 2. Ekaterina Andreevna, born. Kolyvanova (1780-1851), paternal sister of P. A. Vyazemsky
* Catherine (1806-1867) ? Pyotr Ivanovich Meshchersky
* Vladimir (1839-1914)
* Andrey (1814-54) ? Aurora Karlovna Demidova. Extramarital affair: Evdokia Petrovna Sushkova (Rostopchina):
* Olga Andreevna Andreevskaya (Golokhvastova) (1840-1897)
* Alexander (1815-88) ? Natalia Vasilievna Obolenskaya
* Vladimir (1819-79) ? Alexandra Ilyinichna Duka
* Elizabeth (1821-91)

Memory

The following are named after the writer:
* Passage Karamzin in Moscow
* Regional Clinical Psychiatric Hospital in Ulyanovsk.

A monument to N. M. Karamzin was erected in Ulyanovsk.
In Veliky Novgorod, on the monument “1000th Anniversary of Russia”, among 129 figures of the most outstanding personalities in Russian history (as of 1862), there is the figure of N. M. Karamzin
The Karamzin Public Library in Simbirsk, created in honor of the famous fellow countryman, opened for readers on April 18, 1848.

Addresses in St. Petersburg

* Spring 1816 - house of E.F. Muravyova - embankment of the Fontanka River, 25;
* spring 1816-1822 - Tsarskoye Selo, Sadovaya street, 12;
* 1818 - autumn 1823 - house of E.F. Muravyova - embankment of the Fontanka River, 25;
* autumn 1823-1826 - Mizhuev apartment building - Mokhovaya street, 41;
* spring - 05/22/1826 - Tauride Palace - Voskresenskaya street, 47.

Introduced neologisms

industry, moral, aesthetic, era, scene, harmony, disaster, future, influence who or what, focus, touching, entertaining

Works of N. M. Karamzin

* History of the Russian State (12 volumes, until 1612, Maxim Moshkov’s library) Poems

* Karamzin, Nikolai Mikhailovich in the library of Maxim Moshkov
* Nikolai Karamzin in the Anthology of Russian Poetry
* Karamzin, Nikolai Mikhailovich “Complete collection of poems.” ImWerden Library. (See other works by N. M. Karamzin on this site.)
* Karamzin, Nikolai Mikhailovich “Letters to Ivan Ivanovich Dmitriev” 1866 - facsimile reprint of the book
* “Bulletin of Europe”, published by Karamzin, facsimile pdf reproduction of magazines.
* Nikolai Karamzin. Letters of a Russian Traveler, M. “Zakharov”, 2005, publication information ISBN 5-8159-0480-5
* N. M. Karamzin. A note on ancient and new Russia in its political and civil relations
* Letters from N. M. Karamzin. 1806-1825
* Karamzin N. M. Letters from N. M. Karamzin to Zhukovsky. (From Zhukovsky’s papers) / Note. P. A. Vyazemsky // Russian Archive, 1868. - Ed. 2nd. - M., 1869. - Stb. 1827-1836.

Notes

1. Vengerov S. A. A. B. V. // Critical-biographical dictionary of Russian writers and scientists (from the beginning of Russian education to the present day). - St. Petersburg: Semenovskaya Typo-Lithography (I. Efron), 1889. - T. I. Issue. 1-21. A. - P. 7.
2. Wonderful pets of Moscow University.
3. Karamzin Nikolai Mikhailovich
4. Eidelman N.Ya. The only example // The Last Chronicler. - M.: “Book”, 1983. - 176 p. - 200,000 copies.
5. http://smalt.karelia.ru/~filolog/herzen/texts/htm/herzen07.htm
6. V. V. Odintsov. Linguistic paradoxes. Moscow. "Enlightenment", 1982.
7. Pushkin’s authorship is often questioned; the epigram is not included in all full meetings essays. For more information about the attribution of the epigram, see here: B.V. Tomashevsky. Epigrams of Pushkin on Karamzin.
8. A. S. PUSHKIN AS A HISTORIAN | Great Russians | RUSSIAN HISTORY
9. N. M. Karamzin. History of the Russian State, vol. IV, ch. VII, 1842, pp. 226-228.
10. L. S. Gamayunov. From the history of the study of India in Russia / Essays on the history of Russian oriental studies (Collection of articles). M., Eastern Publishing House. Lit., 1956. P.83.
11. Karamzin Nikolai Mikhailovich

Literature

* Karamzin Nikolai Mikhailovich // encyclopedic Dictionary Brockhaus and Efron: In 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg, 1890-1907.
* Karamzin, Nikolai Mikhailovich - Biography. Bibliography. Statements
* Klyuchevsky V.O. Historical portraits(About Boltin, Karamzin, Solovyov). M., 1991.
* Yuri Mikhailovich Lotman. "The Poetry of Karamzin"
* Zakharov N.V. At the origins of Russian Shakespeareanism: A.P. Sumarokov, M.N. Muravyov, N.M. Karamzin (Shakespearean Studies XIII). - M.: Moscow University for the Humanities Publishing House, 2009.
* Eidelman N.Ya. The Last Chronicler. - M.: “Book”, 1983. - 176 p. - 200,000 copies.
* Pogodin M.P. My presentation to the historiographer. (Excerpt from notes). // Russian archive, 1866. - Issue. 11. - Stb. 1766-1770.
* Serbinovich K.S. Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin. Memoirs of K. S. Serbinovich // Russian antiquity, 1874. - T. 11. - No. 9. - P. 44-75; No. 10. - pp. 236-272.
* Sipovsky V.V. About the ancestors of N.M. Karamzin // Russian antiquity, 1898. - T. 93. - No. 2. - P. 431-435.
* Smirnov A.F. Book-monograph “Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin” (“ Russian newspaper, 2006")
* Smirnov A.F. introductory and final articles in the publication of the 4-volume edition of N. M. Karamzin “History of the Russian State” (1989)
* Sornikova M. Ya. “Genre model of the short story in “Letters of a Russian Traveler” by N. M. Karamzin”
* Serman I.Z. Where and when were “Letters of a Russian Traveler” by N.M. Karamzin created // XVIII century. St. Petersburg, 2004. Sat. 23. pp. 194-210. pdf