The Karamzin Debate: Anniversary Notes

The legacy of the great Russian historian and writer N.M. Karamzin, which in December 2016 marks 250 years, continues to be the subject of heated debate not so much literaryaesthetical as political-ideological. Russian Government has always been interested in the apology of Karamzin as a guardian of conservatism, while the opposition has sometimes been tempted to accentuate in his legacy the features of frondeurian nonconformity. Meanwhile, it is clear that the multifaceted oeuvre of N.M. Karamzin, close the very source of the "Golden Age" of Russian culture, contains a wealth of potential of national intellectionalism as such, fills the branches of the national tradition with nourishing cultural sap. It is this "Karamzin phenomenon" that has allowed to interpret the worldviews of Karamzin as "liberal-conservative", ie combining the belief in the potential of a free person, and simultaneously the values of enlightened Government; in European universalism and at the same time in the distinctive values of national culture.