Pyotr Vyazemsky and Vasily Zhukovsky in 1830-1852: The History of Personal and Creative Relationships (Based on Correspondence)

The 45-year-long correspondence between Vyazemsky and Zhukovsky, which includes 437 surviving documents, is an indispensable part of the history of their personal relationships and of the epoch-making events of the time, of the development of Russian and European literature, of the context of social thought and ideological searches. Letters between Vyazemsky and Zhukovsky in 1830-1841 (before the latter left for Germany) are few (just over 60 letters) and rare, since they were mainly written during periods of the two correspondents' travels or separation. Despite the fact that the two writers continued to actively engage in literary activities and collaborated in periodicals, these topics in letters were covered much less than other life problems. Vyazemsky first found himself immersed in everyday bureaucratic service, the irony over which would not leave him even later, in the 1840s. Zhukovsky's home life was reflected in the correspondence rather sparingly. Vyazemsky's move to St. Petersburg contributed to the emergence of what became known as “literary aristocracy”. The equal interest of the friends in the development of “high” literature, in the propaganda of European enlightenment did not cancel the difference in their temperaments: Vyazemsky became an active participant in Literaturnaya Gazeta and then Sovremennik as the author of journalistic and polemical materials; Zhukovsky, focused on the upbringing of Grand Duke Alexander Nikolaevich and almost stopped participating in journalistic activities, yet he was the “home” organizer of the life of the Pushkin circle - through his “Saturdays”, which gathered St. Petersburg writers, through his ramified friendly contacts. Later correspondence included just under 70 surviving letters from 1842-1852. The correspondents found themselves at the periphery of the active social and literary life: Zhukovsky was geographically distant from Russia and Vyazemsky witnessed the gradual disintegration of the friendly circle that formed the basis of the alliance of “literary aristocracy”. The motifs of solitude or detachment constantly accompanied the writers' epistolary communication. Distance and solitude encouraged reflections. Zhukovsky's reflections were first concentrated in the aesthetic-philosophical and moral-religious sphere, and since 1848 in the sphere of politics and historiosophy, Vyazemsky's reflections did not have such a flagship character, but were distinguished by a quick and broad reaction to the contemporary events of state, public, and literary life. The position in the literary process brought the two friends closer together: the heirs of the culture of friendly societies, they did not accept the idea of grouping by ideological proximity, by a common direction that emerged in the 1840s. The circle of their literary communication was determined by personal ties, which often developed back in the 1820s and 1830s. Under these conditions, Vyazemsky perceived himself as a representative of the outgoing literary generation, interested in contemporary literature, but primarily engaged in memorial activities.

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