2016 Vol. 7 №3

There are virtually no specialized studies into the creation of poetic image of N. Karamzin in late 18th — early 19th centuries in Russian literature; though it is the expressiveness and imagery of poetry which can have a great impact on the myths in public consciousness. The present study is based on the texts published in the following collections of poems: “Epigrams and Satire: from the history of literary feud of the 19th century” (Epigramma i satira: iz istorii literaturnoy bor’by XIX veka. Moscow, 1931. Vol.1); “Russian epigrams of the second half of the 17th — early 20th centuries” (Russkaya epigramma vtoroy poloviny ХVII — nachala ХХ vv. Moscow, 1975); “A wreath to Karamzin” (“Venok Karamzinu”. Moscow, 1992). These are collections of epigrams and poems by N. Karamzin’s opponents (N. P. Nikolev, D. P. Gorchakov, P. I. Golenischev-Kutuzov, N. M. Shatrov, S. N. Marin) and his multiple idolaters and followers (G. R. Derzhavin, P. A. Vyazemskiy, I. I. Dmitriev, P. I. Shalikov, K. N. Batyushkov, V. A. Zhukovskiy, A. S. Pushkin, V. L. Pushkin, N. M. Yazykov, A. N. Maykov, F. I. Tyutchev). N. Karamzin is depicted in poetry as a Russian language reformer; the one who brought harmony into the ‘nature’ of Russian language; a discoverer, ‘Columbus’ of Russian history, in disregard for famous Russian historians before N. Karamzin; and a true Russian citizen. Ultimately, the history of image of N. Karamzin in Russian poetry shows his relevance at hard and critical times of country’s history when fundamental values and value orientations were strained, but human worth which N. Karamzin presented to the world the full took on particular significance.

The paper is analyzing the novel "The Journey Erastus Krutolobov..." (1929) by the Soviet and Russian philologist V. V. Sipovsky as a tool for explaining Sipovsky’s literary concepts. Emphasis is placed on Karamzin, who Sipovsky considered a key-figure for the Russian literature of the XVIII and XIX centuries. According to Sipovsky, Karamzin managed to combine different, sometimes opposing, literary trends. Sipovsky’s parodical novel illustrates the impact of literary struggle of idealism and realism of early XIXth century onto the public life and the role of Karamzin’s sentimentalism in the history of Russian literature.

Y. Lotman’s defined his own book " The Creation of Karamzin” as a " novel-reconstruction”. This is an attempt to create a new genre — the ideal historical description, organized as a polylogue between the historian, novelist and semiotician. For this, Lotman relied on Karamzin’s experience. The structural and semiotic characteristics of the novel-reconstruction allow revealing some new features of Karamzin’s "History".

The article presents an overview of the anniversary texts about N. M. Karamzin, and analyses semiotics and pragmatics of his image. The author assumes that the jubilee event and constructing N. M. Karamzin’s image depends on the socio-cultural context and identifies forms of "revival" and “modernizing” the celebrant.