Two centuries of the Russian classics Two centuries of the Russian classics 2686-7494 IWL RAS https://doi.org/10.22455/2686-7494-2026-8-2-208-233 Research Article Articles “Where the Paradise Bird Gamayun Sings in the Trees”: Professor F. I. Buslaev’s Collaboration in M. N. Katkov’s Publications Perevalova Elena V. red@rusklassika.ru 25 06 2026 8 2 208 233 F. I. Buslaev M. N. Katkov “Moskovskie Vedomosti ” “Russkiy Vestnik ” “Sovremennaya Letopis ” Italy Rome journalism Copyright © 2026, IWL RAS 2026 The article examines the participation of the famous literary historian and art critic Professor F. I. Buslaev in the publications of the authoritative conservative journalist M. N. Katkov, and explores his little-known journalistic writings in the newspaper “Moskovskie Vedomosti,” the weekly “Sovremennaya Letopis,” and the magazine “Russkiy Vestnik.” The article reveals that the basis of their long-term collaboration was the affinity of their socio-political and aesthetic views, their shared commitment to European culture and science and to the classical heritage, as well as their rejection of a utilitarian and pragmatic approach to art. The article provides a detailed analysis of Buslaev’s journalistic texts from the 1860s and 1870s, which focused on the cultural and social life of European countries, as well as the traditions, customs, and daily lives of Europeans. Of particular interest are Buslaev’s Italian essays and correspondences, where he uses Roman history and architecture to explore the idea of “the rebirth of an ever-renewing life from the collapse and ruins of the past.” The article suggests that Buslaev’s correspondences from Italy, published in “Moskovskie Vedomosti”, became one of the sources of the “Italian theme” in Leo Tolstoy’s novel “Anna Karenina.” 1. Avidzba, R. L. “K voprosu o literaturnykh istochnikakh ʽKavkazskogo plennika’ L. N. Tolstogo” [“On the Literary Sources of Leo Tolstoy’s ʽPrisoner of the Caucasus’.”]. Vestnik Moskovskogo gosudarstvennogo gumanitarnogo universiteta im. M. A. Sholokhova. Filologicheskie nauki, no. 3, 2013, pp. 5–13. (In Russ.) 2. Andreeva, V. G. “ʽKatkov… kak raz goditsia dlia publiki’: perepiska L. N. Tolstogo I M. N. Katkova 1850–1860-kh gg.” [“ʽKatkov... Is Just Right for the Public’: Correspondence Between L. N. Tolstoy and M. N. Katkov in the 1850s–1860s”]. 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Tornau and his Caucasian Materials]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1976. 130 p. (In Russ.) 7. Kantor, V. K. “Imperskii evropeizm, ili Pravda Mikhaila Katkova versus russkoe obshchestvo” [“Imperial Europeanism, or Mikhail Katkov’s Truth Versus Russian Society”]. Voprosy literatury, no. 2, 2019, pp. 13–41. (In Russ.) 8. Mironov, A. S. “Russkie byliny v otechestvennoi pedagogike XIX veka: rol’ khrestomatii F. I. Buslaeva” [“Russian Epics in 19th Century Russian Pedagogy: The Role of F. I. Buslaev’s Anthologies”]. Kul’tura i obrazovanie: nauchno-informatsionnyi zhurnal kul’tury i iskusstv, no. 3 (27), 2017, pp. 5–11. (In Russ.) 9. Nikitin, O. V. “ʽOpyt istoricheskoi grammatiki russkogo iazyka’ F. I. Buslaeva v lingvisticheskoi traditsii ego vremeni (k 200-letiiu so dnia rozhdeniia uchenogo)” [“F. I. Buslaev’s ʽExperience in the Historical Grammar of the Russian Language’ in the Linguistic Tradition of His Time (On the 200th Anniversary of the Scientist’s Birth)”]. Vestnik Tomskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta, no. 439, 2019, pp. 44–56. (In Russ.) 10. Novikov, M. V., and T. B. Perfilova. “F. I. Buslaev: ideino-politicheskie aspekty issledovaniia problemy narodnosti” [“F. I. Buslaev: Ideological and Political Aspects of the Study of the Problem of Nationality]. Iaroslavskii pedagogicheskii vestnik, no. 3, 2016, pp. 302–307. (In Russ.) 11. Perevalova, E. V. “Russkaia Times”: gazeta “Moskovskie vedomosti” pod redaktsiei M. N. Katkova (1863–1887) [“The Russian Times”: the “Moskovskie Vedomosti” Newspaper Edited by M. N. Katkov (1863–1887)]. Moscow, Izdatel’stvo Moskovskogo Politekha Publ., 2020. 407 p. (In Russ.) 12. Rarenko, M. B. “Fedor Ivanovich Buslaev: k 200-letiiu so dnia rozhdeniia” [“Fyodor Ivanovich Buslaev: On the 200th Anniversary of His Birth”]. Literaturovedcheskii zhurnal, no. 45, 2019, pp. 116–154. (In Russ.) 13. Churmaeva, N. V. F. I. Buslaev [F. I. Buslaev]. Moscow, Prosveshchenie Publ., 1984. 112 p. (In Russ.)