A “chronicler of Grand Duke’s travels”: Konstantin Sluchevsky the essayist (based on the materials of the newspaper Moskovskie Vedomosti)

The article analyzes the travel essays of the writer Konstantin Sluchevsky, published in the authoritative conservative newspaper Moskovskie Vedomosti in 1885-1886. As an official of the Ministry of State Property, in the 1880s, Sluchevsky accompanied the commander of the St. Petersburg Military District, Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, on his inspection trips to the European north of Russia, its western and Baltic provinces. Sluchevsky's duties included the compilation of reports on the Grand Duke's journey, recording in them of almost every step of the high-ranking traveler and their further publication in periodicals. Despite the official nature of the publications, the materials prepared by Sluchevsky were artistic and documentary essays reflecting the life, customs and traditions of the local population, the development of industry and crafts, climatic and geographical features, history, hydrography and geology of the northwest of Russia. The article analyzes the thematic, genre and structural features of Sluchevsky's essays. The features of his texts are: dynamic storytelling, entertaining presentation, emotionality, a pronounced “presence effect”, a problematic approach to what was seen. Sluchevsky raised the issue of an inefficient use of the vast natural resources of the Russian northwest, pointed to the lack of support for national industry and local crafts from the state, paid considerable attention to the national question in the Baltic provinces, cited facts of discrimination of the local Orthodox Russian-speaking population by the German administration of the region. Sluchevsky's views on the problems of the Russian northwest were close to those of the influential conservative journalist Mikhail Katkov, the publisher-editor of Moscovskie Vedomosti, which contributed to Sluchevsky's publishing his essays in the newspaper. In conclusion, the article emphasizes that these essays are still of undoubted interest from a geographical, ethnographic and cultural point of view, and can serve as a valuable source of information for researchers of the history of the northwestern region.