Abstract
Two important works preceded Karamzin’s historic contribution to the genre. Denis Fonvizin’s Letters from the Second and Third Journey Abroad (1777–78, 1784–85)1 and Alexander Radishchev’s Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow (1790) were unique and innovative within the limited context of eighteenth century Russian literature. Both writers took outspoken and controversial stands on extra-literary subjects. The former critically evaluated France and foreigners in general, while the latter excoriated Russia’s peculiar institution of serfdom. Their ideas were espoused and developed by future generations.
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Notes
The Slovar’ russkix svetskix pisatelej (1845) gives as the reason behind Fonvizin’s trip to France the author’s fear of the consequences of a gibe at Potëmkin. Also unlikely is the hypothesis advanced by Makogonenko (N. Novikov i russkoe prosveščenie XVIII veka, Moscow-Leningrad, 1952, p. 385) and others to the effect that F. was engaged in secret diplomatic negotiations against England after the outbreak of the American Revolution. Although he did meet Ben Franklin, the American ambassador to France, there is no direct evidence that he discharged any important diplomatic mission in Paris. For wishful thinking on this point see L. Kulakova, Denis I. Fonvizin, Moscow-Leningrad, 1966, p. 75.
According to K. Pigarev, all the letters, “or rather satirically colored travel sketches — were intended not merely for the addressees, but also for a broader circle of readers.” Tvorčestvo Fonvizina (Moscow: Izdatel’stvo Akademii Nauk SSSR, 1954), p. 130. The point is that Fonvizin knew that his letters would be read by friends, acquaintances, and other interested people.
Denis I. Fonvizin, Sobranie Sočinenij (2 vols., Moscow: Goslitizdat, 1959), II, 449.
This was in fact the opinion of Fonvizin’s first biographer Prince P. A. Vyazemsky. However Rogger judiciously points out that Fonvizin’s “patriotic scepticism” was primarily conditioned by a desire “to look at Europe discerningly” rather than submit to the indiscriminate xenomania of his countrymen. See Hans Rogger, National Consciousness in Eighteenth Century Russia, (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1960), pp. 78–79.
Fonvizin, p. 418.
Ibid., p. 460.
Ibid., pp. 485–486.
Ibid., p. 458.
Ibid., pp. 480–481.
Pigarev, Tvorčestvo Fonvizina, pp. 128–129.
In 1784, Fonvizin wrote his sister from Nuremberg: “Everything at home is better and we are bigger people [i.e., there is more humanity in us] than the Germans.” Rogger comments: “Perhaps the ‘broad Russian soul’ was here first unveiled to the world.” (Rogger, op. cit., p. 83). Certainly Fonvizin did see in Russia certain basic spiritual values that he felt had been lost in the “rational” and sophisticated materialism of Western Europe.
In 1784, Fonvizin wrote his sister from Nuremberg: “Everything at home is better and we are bigger people [i.e., there is more humanity in us] than the Germans.” Rogger comments: “Perhaps the ‘broad Russian soul’ was here first unveiled to the world.” (Rogger, op. cit., p. 83). Certainly Fonvizin did see in Russia certain basic spiritual values that he felt had been lost in the “rational” and sophisticated materialism of Western Europe.
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© 1973 Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, Netherlands
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Wilson, R.K. (1973). Fonvizin’s Letters from Abroad. In: The Literary Travelogue. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-1997-2_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-1997-2_5
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