P.P. Sumarokov and N.M. Karamzin: Two views on Siberia

The research deals with the central event in the life of P.P. Sumarokov and his Siberian exile in the context of N.M. Karamzin's literary work which allows to challenge the traditional exclusively biographic treatment of the poet's exile and facilitates a new understanding of the depth and sophistication of Sumarokov's personality and his involvement in the Siberian discourse. The research highlights the facts in the history of Sumarokov and Karamzin's relations which lasted for over two decades and were connected with Karamzin's support of the exiled poet: publication of his poems in the third book of The Aonides (1798-1799), participation in the publication of his first collection of works (1799), recommendation to appoint him editor of the magazine Vestnik Evropy [Herald of Europe] (1804), etc. Based on the memoir notes of the poet's son (Pyotr Pankratievich Sumarokov) the author reconstructs the main motifs of the Siberian exile as a text of Sumarokov's fate: fear of Siberia, perception of Siberia as a new motherland and home, outer and inner freedom in exile and the spirit of European culture in Siberia. Analysis of the poems "Kedr" [The Cedar] and "K cheloveku" [To Man] reveals the motive of ostracism as suffering, grief and misery playing a special role in Sumarokov's literary legacy. The poetic formula "The Irtysh becoming a Hippocrene" is interpreted as a life-transforming world-order myth about the river-book (myth about the Siberian Hippocrene) and regarded along with the local Siberian myths whose analysis is a starting point in the understanding of Siberia in The History of the Russian State (myths about Hyperboreans, Siberia as "the first homeland of Noah's successors, Ermak's tomb, etc.). Against the background of the ideas of colonization and exile in The History of the Russian State and in the publications in the magazine Vestnik Evropy (1802-1804), Sumarokov's Siberian exile presents itself as a contradictory and ambivalent phenomenon. Objectively, the exile was not only a punishment but also a form of forced exploration of the vast stretches of Siberian lands. Subjectively, for Sumarokov himself, those were the years of overcoming his personal moral disaster, searching for inner harmony and a most productive time in his creative life. In these years, Sumarokov earned recognition as a poet; the first magazine was issued in Siberia; the first literary book was published; book printing, which flourished under the aegis of the Siberian Hippocrene for over 225 years, began. The research establishes unity in the positions of Karamzin (1802-1803) and Sumarokov (1804) as the editors of Vesthik Evropy on the issue of the publication of materials on the colonial topic in twelve issues of the magazine. Among these materials the author also considers A. L. Schloezer's Brief Description of Siberian History, which is interpreted as an epilogue to Sumarokov's Siberian exile. The two views on Siberia presented in the article as a life's house, a place of exile and a colony from the inside (Sumarokov) and from the outside (Karamzin) coincide in general. The existential experience of the authors differs. At that, it is obvious that Sumarokov's life in Siberia was an experience of exile for Karamzin.

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