THE CREATIVE HISTORY OF V.A. ZHUKOVSKY'S ARTICLE "LETTER TO PRINCE P.A. VYAZEMSKY ABOUT HIS POEM HOLY RUSSIA": PUBLICATION AND COMMENTARY

The original intent of articles about the uniqueness of cultural practices and historical path of Russia came to Zhukovsky in the first half of 1848 as a response to the events of the March revolution in Germany. It was implemented in a notebook with draft autograph notes of a number of articles and letters to Grand Duke Alexander Nikolaevich and Emperor Nicholas I (PH. No. 27.806. L. 69. Side 83). In May 1848 No. 100 of Sankt-Peterburgskie Vedomosti (Saint Petersburg News) published P.A. Vyazemsky's poem "Holy Russia" that has made a profound impression on Zhukovsky. The writer originally expressed his feelings and reflections caused by the poem in the notebook (PH. No. 27.806. L. 78. Side 83). Two fragments soon merged into a single article structured as a letter to Vyazemsky of July 23 (August 5), 1848. The fate of the text was connected with the royal censors. Grand Duke Alexander approved the letter for publication with corrections made at the initiative of Emperor Nicholas I, as Vyazemsky notified the author in a letter dated October 18, 1848. The most significant of the corrections was the ban of a fragment about the Reformation: the Emperor did not like the undiplomatic harshness of characteristics in it. Other reductions concerned tpersonal circumstances of Zhukovsky, not very interesting to a wider audience. As such, the article was published in the metropolitan newspaper Russian Invalid on September 21, 1848. The historical background of the article are the events of the March Revolution of 1848 in Germany which Zhukovsky detailed in the articles "What will be?" and "Letter to Count Sh. on the Incidents of 1848". Categorical rejection of the revolution, understanding it as the fall of European civilization expressed in these articles inspired the writer to search for historical and philosophical origins of what was happening and to express the antithesis of it. Revolutionary Europe is opposed to the ideal of "Holy Russia" which preserved the true faith and autocratic principles; or rather their confidence in the divine nature, as Zhukovsky detailed in the article "Self-denial of power". At this point, the writer develops the original concept of nation building based on the idea of " family monarchy", on the paternalistic closeness of the sacralized state power (Russia) and the people, guardians of the faith and patriarchal foundations (Holy Russia). The article includes a publication of the scientifically prepared text of "Letter" previously unpublished in its complete and adequate textual representation.