P.P. Yershov's literary biography in Tobol'skie Gubernskie Vedomosti

Tobol'skie Gubernskie Vedomosti (TobolskProvince Gazette) made a great impact on P.P. Yershov's biography, turning it into a myth in response to the needs of the province. The Tobolsk period of life and literary writing seems to be no less important in the biography of P.P. Yershov than his St. Petersburg one, as the creative potential of his personality in his native region was revealed through his social and educational activities. The literary fame of Yershov became the basis of his social success in his homeland that is why the literary biography of Yershov, partially developed by Tobol'skie Gubernskie Vedomosti activists, combined social and literary work which could not be understood separately. However, the creative line of Yershov's biography is considered to a lesser extent due to the widespread popularity of his artistic merits as of a storyteller. The staff of the provincial newspaper believed the local resident to be more interested in the facts of P. Yershov's Siberian biography. For the regional consciousness social and educational activities are more valuable than artistic merits. The beginning of development of the readers's attitude to Yershov as to the educator, to the literary symbol of Siberia, was marked by a memorable review in Tobol'skie Gubernskie Vedomosti published after the death of the poet in 1869. The year of 1894 in Tobolsk was the commemoration of P.P. Yershov. On the 25th anniversary of the poet's death, the local newspaper published a series of articles devoted to his life and work, in which the biography of Yershov was mythologically interpreted in the context of the cultural life of Tobolsk Province. The articles reflecting the memoirs of P.Yershov's contemporaries adhered the common view on the human nature and artistic merits of P. Yershov developing an idealised image of his personality and writing. Ignoring the official requirements the editors introduced poetic works by P.Yershov to the provincial reader publishing poems and epigrams on the pages of the newspaper. Due to the fact that the rigorous program of Tobol'skie Gubernskie Vedomosti did not assume the publishing of art works, the number of newspapers dedicated to P.P. Yershov was incomparably small in relation to the literary and educational merits of the famous poet. Vedomosti developed its own Siberian Pantheon, where the name of P.P. Yershov took a special place. In the context of provincial culture Yershov is perceived as a remarkable person, whose life deserves to be recorded as a biography. Thus, the interest of the local newspaper to the biography of P.P. Yershov is quite obvious due to the rise of the new ideas generated by Siberian regionalists, who insisted on the priority of their history and literature.

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