Elegiac motives in N.M. Karamzin's letters

The author of the article considers the elegiac motives in N.M. Karamzin's epistolary works. There is an expansion of the limits of actuality due to the use of the principles and devices of art interpretation of reality in Karamzin's letters. Elegiac motives in the writer's letters to different addressees are particularly important. These motives fill the factual level of the letter content and become a background of their peculiar elegiac world outlook. The central motive of Karamzin's letters is the ontological motive of death which defines the nature of ethical and philosophical reflections of the author in many cases, which, in its turn, is reflected in the special figurative system of the letters. This motive is inseparably connected with the motive of the fear of loss of the loved one, the motive of transience of life, dream life - death-awakening, etc. Motives of separation and meeting after death come along with motives of the invitation for a visit and hopes for a fast meeting in Karamzin's letters. A special place belongs to the motive of aging. The motive of withering is most often connected with the fading creative abilities of the author of the letters. The figurative system of Karamzin's letters to different addressees forms an image of a growing old and sick historiographer, a sad mentor tortured by diseases, hardened by experience early enough. The motive of corporal weakness, illness and care about health is steadily present in Karamzin's letters to all addressees; it is closely connected with the motive of death and is plot-forming for the analyzed letters. Thoughts of the finitude of life define Karamzin's life priorities, and a peculiar philosophy of death becomes a basis for Karamzin's understanding of life, its true sense. In his letters, the idea of real values becomes a motive of refusal from the vanity of the society which, in Karamzin's world-view, 168 _ does not mean comfort and is not a value for him. His values are living with his family, communication with friends, service to the fatherland. The motive of work, literary work is one of the major motives in Karamzin's letters. It is connected with the idea of overcoming illness and melancholy. By the end of Karamzin's life this motive transforms into the philosophical idea of self-improvement, about developing one's soul, which seems to be the true meaning of life. The poetics of Karamzin's letters is diverse and multi-layered. In the household letter, Karamzin develops a particular situation to the philosophy level; the means of its expression is a complex of elegiac motives representing one of the plot-forming elements of the considered epistolary texts, the tool of self-reflection and organization of a sensitive dialogue of Karamzin with his addressees.

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