Italian text on the pages of the Moskovsky Vestnik journal (1827-1830)

The Moskovsky Vestnik journal founded by the members of the former Lubomudres society (D.V. Venevitinov, V.F. Odoevsky, M.P. Pogodin, S.P. Shevyrev took part in its creation) has unique contents and history. Its publishers aimed at Russian mass readers' acquaintance with foremost thoughts of the epoch. Working out of Russian metaphysics language, popularization of philosophy (mainly German) and usage of philosophical methods in aesthetics and critique had already become the Lubomudres' mission. This search reflected in their publicism (articles of Shevyrev, Rozhalin, Kireevsky, Titov) and creativity (prose of Odoevsky, Pavlov, Pogodin; poetry of Venevitinov and Shevyrev, etc.). However, Moskovsky Vestnik became a way to pass new ideas towards public. The journal had a serious scientific orientation, so it lost the struggle for readers' demand for entertaining editions and did not exist for a long time. Nevertheless, its materials (according to texts themselves and to "The Context Index" created by N.A. Popkova) point at its important role in Russian culture. Particularly, Moskovsky Vestnik promoted cultural dialogue between Russia and Europe, not only with Germany and France, but also with the less "familiar" Italy. The interest to aesthetic problems (issues of art aims, art reception, connections between creativity and cognition) stimulated Lubomudres' appeal to Italian culture: in romanticists' opinion, Italy associated with beauty as a phenomenon and was the "homeland of arts". Russian culture of the first third of the 19th century discovered Raphael's and Botticelli's painting, Rossini's and Donizetti's music, Italian literature (Dante, Petrarch, Tasso, Goldoni, etc.). A lot of Russians translated from Italian (e.g. Batushkov, Raich), showed Italy in their texts (Odoevsky, Venevitinov) or traveled there for inspiration and new experience (Gogol, Shevyrev, Princess Volkonskaya, the "muse" of the Lubomudres). All of these actions helped to interpret Italy as a romanticism cultural myth and as a specific real space. Italian text appears in different sections of the journal ("Belles-lettres", "Critique", "Mixture", "Science", "Russian Theatre"). Translations are mainly from Ancient Rome poetry (Ovid, Horatio), because Italy was thought to be the heir of Rome, and from poetry of the Renaissance. However, modern prose is also included, e.g. fragments of the novel The Betrothed by A. Manzoni; Lubomudres paid particular attention to it. Historical and philological materials about Ancient Rome literature and Tasso refer to this block as well. Italian science is also mentioned (the review of M. Gioya's book), as well as foreign publications devoted to Italy (e.g. historical research about Caesar by M. Seltl). An important aspect of Italian text is musical theater, which is shown by S.T. Aksakov's review. Its analysis helps to see Russian ideas about Italian culture (its ri-sorial and carnival traits) and about commedia dell'arte. Another tendency is reflected by Russian travel notes (written by S.P. Shevyrev and Z.A. Volkonskaya). In their texts Italy is a space understood not only through theoretical conclusions and cultural cliches, but also through personal experience. Besides, the author's point of view decides much, as well as his or her style: objective and factual one of Shevyrev, subjective and poetic one of Volkon-skaya. Therefore, Moskovsky Vestnik is an important step in the Russian perception of Italy as a historical and cultural phenomenon.

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