Two centuries of Russian classics

Abstract: The personality of Peter I and the realities of the Peter's era were reflected in the original genre, which is on the verge of historical science and literature, — “Dialogues of the Dead.ˮ This genre became widespread in Europe at the end of the 17^th – first half of the 18^th century. It is generally accepted that “Dialoguesˮ appeared in Russia in the middle of the 18^th century in journal publications — translations of satirical works of Lucian and Fontenelle, as well as imitations of them. However, archival materials testify that “Dialoguesˮ existed in the Russian manuscript tradition in the first half of the 18th century, and these are historical and biographical texts that provide information about the course of the Northern War, the European setting of Peter's time, and outstanding commanders of this era. These dialogues are translations from German of D. Fassmann's works. Peter I himself, as the protagonist of “Dialogues of the Dead,ˮ first appeared in a Russian manuscript book (and later in print) not in translated texts, but in an original work. Its author is considered to be one of the first biographers of Peter I, P. N. Krekshin. This “Dialoguesˮ became a real literary panegyric to the Russian emperor, also due to its special artistic form.

References

Bazarova, T. A., Voznesenskaia, I. A. “Rukopisnye sborniki o Petre Velikom: problema kodikologicheskogo izucheniia” [“Handwritten Collections about Peter the Great: the Issue of Codicological Study”]. Vestnik Volgogradskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Seriia 4: Istoriia. Regionovedenie. Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniia, 2017, vol. 22, no. 3, pp. 75–84. (In Russ.)

Voznesenskaia, I. A., Bazarova, T. A. “Petrovskoe vremia v rukopisnoi traditsii” [“Peter's Time in the Handwritten Tradition”]. Vestnik Rossiiskogo fonda fundamental'nykh issledovanii. Gumanitarnye i obshchestvennye nauki, 2019, no. 4 (97), pp. 9–19. (In Russ.)

Gotovtseva, A. G. “ʽRazgovory po podobiiu Lukianovykh’: zhanr ‘razgovorov’ v zhurnale Akademii nauk ‘Ezhemesiachnye sochineniia’.” [“ʽConversations in the Manner of the Lucian’: the Genre of ‘Conversations’ in the Journal of the Academy of Sciences ‘Monthly Compositions’.”] Vestnik RGGU. Seriia “Literaturovedenie. Iazykoznanie. Kul'turologiia”, 2018, no. 1, pp. 9–16. https://doi.org/10.28995/2073-6355-2018-1-9-16 (In Russ.)

Zueva, E. V. Vliianie pereskazannykh dialogov Platona na literaturnuiu formu ʽDialoga s Trifonom Iudeemʼ Sv. Iustina Filosofa: avtoref. dis. … kand. filol. nauk [Influence of the Retold Dialogues of Plato on the Literary Form of “Dialogue with Tryphon the Jew” by St. Justin the Philosopher: PhD Thesis, Summary]. Moscow, 2011. 26 p. (In Russ.)

Zueva, E. V. “Kompozitsionnaia struktura ‘Dialoga s Trifonom iudeemʼ sv. Iustina filosofa (II v.) na fone pereskazannykh dialogov Platona” [“The Compositional Structure of ‘Dialogue with Tryphon the Jewʼ by St. Justin the Philosopher (2^nd Century) Against the Retold Dialogues of Plato”]. Indoevropeiskoe iazykoznanie i klassicheskaia filologiia – XV. Chteniia pamiati I.M. Tronskogo [Indo-European Linguistics and Classical Philology – XV. Proceedings in Memory of I. M. Tronsky]. St. Petersburg, Nauka SPb. Publ., 2011, pp. 194–205. (In Russ.)

Gasparov, M. L. “Vtoraia sofistika. Zhanry i predstaviteli” [“Second Sophistry. Genres and Representatives”]. Istoriia vsemirnoi literatury: v 8 t. [History of World Literature: in 8 vols.], vol. 1. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1983–1994, pp. 493–500. (In Russ.)

Isachenko, E. G. “ʽRazgovory v tsarstve mertvykhʼ A. P. Sumarokova” [“ʽConversations in the Kingdom of the Deadʼ by A. P. Sumarokov”]. Bukharkin, P. E., Matveev, E. M., editors. Literaturnaia kul'tura Rossii XVIII veka [Literary Culture of Russia in the 18^th Century]. St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg State University Publ., 2014, pp. 100–118. (In Russ.)

Krotov, P. A. “Shvedskii korol' Karl XII i formirovanie Rossii kak velikoi derzhavy” [“Swedish King Carl XII and the Formation of Russia as a Great Power”]. Nauchnyi dialog, 2019, no. 10, pp. 396–411. (In Russ.)

Likhachev, D. S. Smekhovoi mir Drevnei Rusi [The Laughing World of Ancient Russia]. Leningrad, Nauka Publ., 1976. 204 p. (In Russ.)

Marchalis, N. “Razgovory v tsarstve mertvykh v russkoi literature XVIII veka” [“Conversations in the Kingdom of the Dead in Russian Literature of the 18^th Century”]. Europa Orientalis, 1988, no. 7, pp. 285–305. (In Russ.)

Mezin, S. A. “O pervykh istorikakh Petra Velikogo (Zametki na poliakh sovremennykh izdanii)” [“On the First Historians of Peter the Great (Notes on the Margins of Modern Editions)”]. Istoriia Peterburga, 2009, no. 1(47), pp. 89–94. (In Russ.)

Momdzhian, Kh. N. Frantsuzskoe prosveshchenie XVIII veka: ocherki [French Enlightenment of the 18^th Century: Essays]. Moscow, Mysl' Publ., 1983. 447 p. (In Russ.)

Nikanorova, E. K. Istoricheskii anekdot v russkoi literature XVIII veka: Anekdoty o Petre Velikom [Historical Anecdote in Russian Literature of the 18^th Century: Anecdotes about Peter the Great]. Novosibirsk, Sibirskii khronograf Publ., 2001. 464 p. (In Russ.)

Pliukhanova, M. B. “Istoriia iunosti Petra I u P. N. Krekshina” [“The Story of the Youth of Peter I in P. N. Krekshin’s Works”]. Uchenye zapiski Tartuskogo universiteta, 1981, issue 513, pp. 17–39. (In Russ.)

Sinel'nikova, G. P. “Satiricheskie dialogi (razgovory) kak original'nyi zhanr zhurnal'noi publitsistiki XVIII veka” [“Satirical Dialogues (Conversations) as the Original Genre of Journalism in the 18^th Century”]. Kul'tura i tekst, 1998, no. 4, pp. 41–46. (In Russ.)

Skvortsova, E. A. “Illiustratsii k ‘Razgovoru v tsarstve mertvykh zamechatel'nogo russkogo tsaria Petra Velikogo i uzhasnogo tirana Ivana Vasil'evicha IIʼ (Ivana Groznogo) D. Fassmana (1725) kak instrument konstruirovaniia predstavlenii o Rossii v Evrope” [“Illustrations to ‘Gespräche in dem Reiche derer Todten zwischen dem vortreflichen Moscowitischen Czaar Petro Magno und dem grossen Tyrannen Ivan Basilowiz IIʼ (Peter the Great and Ivan the Terrible) by David Fassmann (1725) as an Instrument of Constructing a Picture of Russia]. Slovene, no. 2, 2017, pp. 276–309. (In Russ.)

Correard, Nicolas. Les dialogues des morts: forme, genre ou module générique? Available at: http://sflgc.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Correard-Nicolas.pdf (accessed 08 January 2021). (In French)

Granderoute, Robert. Entretiens des Ombres aux Champs Elisées. Dictionnaire des journaux. 1600–1789. Available at: http://dictionnaire-journaux.gazettes18e.fr/journal/0368-entretiens-des-ombres-aux-champs-elysees (accessed 18 January 2021). (In French)

Sammons, Christa. David Fassmann’s Gespräche in dem reiche derer todten. The Yale University Library Gazette, vol. 46, no. 3 (January 1972). S. 176–178. (In German)