“Some of Zhukovsky’s poems still deserve flattering attention”: the poet’s literary reputation in 1797-1812

The subject of analysis in the article is the initial period in the formation of Vasily Zhukovsky's literary reputation (1797-1812). The first stage of the writer's establishment in the literary field (1797-1807) constituted an attempt to leverage the resources of two systems of literary communication: friendly circles and professional relations. On the one hand, during his time at the Moscow Noble Boarding School and the associated Friendly Literary Society, Zhukovsky found himself in a rich milieu of literary circles, the boundaries of which expanded in the early 1800s through his entry into the orbit of Nikolay Karamzin and Ivan Dmitriev, and consequently, most Moscow literati. On the other hand, financial necessity pushed him towards professional literary activity - namely, translation. Thus, Zhukovsky's initial literary reputation was formed primarily within a non-public, intimate circle of kin and friends, supplemented by reactions to his translations from publishers and critics (e.g., P.I. Makarov in 1803, M.T. Kachenovsky in 1806). Artistically, his rapid recognition was facilitated by the young poet's adherence to the authoritative Karamzinian canon in both his prose miniatures and his poetic experiments. A significant episode that underscored this symbolic recognition was the well-known publication of "A Rural Churchyard" in the December 1802 issue of Vestnik Evropy. His efforts were not in vain - the period of his "seclusion in Belev" culminated in an artistic breakthrough in 1806, which saw Zhukovsky produce several dozen new lyrical works across various genres. Artistically, these works demonstrated his complete mastery of the Karamzinist genre palette and his transformation into a regular participant in literary life. He also proved successful in critical writing, tackling various genres such as book reviews, critiques of plays and performances (in Moskovskie Zapiski), essays on aesthetics, and historical genre surveys - specimens he would later republish in collections of his prose. Finally, between 1808 and 1811, Zhukovsky produced more than a dozen new poems in various genres each year. Almost all of them quickly appeared in the pages of Vestnik Evropy, offering readers new versions of genres from the Karamzinian canon-the romance, song, amatory and friendly epistle, landscape lyric, elegy on death, epitaph, and, of course, the ballad. Thus, during his editorship of Vestnik Evropy, Zhukovsky's authorial reputation acquired genuine depth, a fact underscored by the success of his five-volume anthology, A Collection of Russian Poems (published in 1810-1811). With the invasion of Napoleon's troops, a new and pivotal chapter in Zhukovsky's reputation began: the most brilliant young poet of his generation, by fate and his own will, became an ordinary militiaman, marching with the Russian army from Borodino to Vilnius. Meanwhile, the humble worker in the mobile army printing press, having become a direct witness to historical events, transmuted them into lyrical documents of the highest order ("The Bard in the Camp of the Russian Warriors," "To the Leader of the Victors"). The energy inherent in this situation and electrifying these texts could not go unnoticed, and by early 1813, it had decisively altered the trajectory of Zhukovsky's literary career. The author declares no conflicts of interests.

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