Неопубликованные письма И.С. Аксакова о Пушкинских торжествах 1880 г., участии в них Ф.М. Достоевского и М.Н. Каткова (вступительная статья, публикация и комментарии Д.А. Бадаляна)

Abstract

The events associated with the Pushkin Сelebrations that took place in Moscow on June 5–8, 1880, have repeatedly been the subject of researches conducted by literary critics and historians. However, a number of sources representing the circumstances of these celebrations and the struggle that arose around in Russian society have not yet been introduced into scientific discourse. To fix that issue, this scientifically prepared publication of four letters of I.S. Aksakov, covering the period from June 20 to mid-July 1880, is written. In these first published letters addressed to A.I. Koshelev, A.N. Bakhmeteva and G.P. Galagan, there are described the details of public speeches at the meetings of the Lovers of Russian Literature Society by F.M. Dostoevsky, I.S. Turgenev and I.S. Aksakov, public speeches at the Duma dinner on June 6 by Aksakov and M.N. Katkov, and the reaction of the environment, as well as details of other events related to the Pushkin Celebrations. The introductory article presents a general description of the published sources, the historical context of their creation, as well as other details of the celebrations known from other, yet unpublished letters of Aksakov. Published Pushkin Celebrations letters make it more obvious (than the descriptions of many other contemporaries), that this event had an enduring, even symbolic significance for Russian culture. To no lesser extent, the authors of the letters is distinguished by a clear vision that the Pushkin Celebrations acquired such significance as a result of the struggle between two opposite literary and socio-political parties. These features are given special attention in the course of the analysis done in the introductory article.