N.M. Karamzin's correspondence with members of the Royal Family
N.M. Karamzin's private epistolary communication withroyal persons is a special phenomenon for Russian culture and literature. Communicating with members of the royal house by means ofletters, the writer, historiographer and thinker teaches them to think, feel, speak about the feelings, educates the souls of persons thedestiny of the country and its further historical development depends on. So, in letters to the Emperor Karamzin formulates thedominants of the behavioural text of a real monarch: fair, self-sacrificing, resistant, prioritizing the benefit of the state. Historiographicmessages to Alexander invite the monarchical addressee to frank conversation as equals. Karamzin tries to influence the interlocutor. Inthe letters of the historian addressed both to the Emperor, and other monarchical persons, key are the images of the Russian citizen and ahistoriographer. His letters are a special civil act, the manifesto of a civil liability before contemporaries and descendants. History andthe role of the existing power in it, thoughts on responsibility of the monarch before contemporaries and future generations are commontopics for Karamzin's correspondence with all monarchical addressees. In this context the problem of education of the personality, itsmental delicacy, which is a condition defining successful performance by Karamzin's addressees of state duties, is also important. Inletters to the females of the Royal Family specifics of style and depth of Karamzin epistolary is fully shown, connection with literaryactivity of the writer is felt, his belief is embodied in the high importance of the woman in teaching to feel. Correspondence with MariaFiodorovna, Ekaterina Pavlovna and Elizabeth Alekseevna represent special epistolary discourses with their own subjects, sets ofproblems, figurative systems, philosophical depth and educational pathos. There special philosophy of life is fixed, the direction ofmental searches of N.M. Karamzin and his royal addressees is defined. The dialogue of the writer with each of the monarchicaladdressees represents a surprising phenomenon for the time. In the course of rather intensive epistolary communication of the imperialfamily and Karamzin the special behavioural text of the monarch and the citizen is born. Besides, their letters become the space ofdevelopment of mental and moral qualities of the person, formation of special philosophy of life. In this context the importance ofKaramzin's letters to members of the Royal Family cannot be overestimated.
Keywords
эпистолярий, Н.М. Карамзин, царствующие особы, epistolary, N.M. Karamzin, royal personsAuthors
Name | Organization | |
Frik Tatiana B. | National Research Tomsk Polytechnic University | vfrik@list.ru |
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