‘Arriving at moral Perfection’: Benjamin Franklin und seine russischen Nachfolger (Andrej Turgenev, Vasilij Žukovskij, Dmitrij Begičev)

Abstract

Summary The article examines how Benjamin Franklin’s ideas of self-improvement were adopted in Russia. The concept of the new creation of the self is one of Benjamin Franklin’s the most popular ideas. Since the first publication of Franklin’s Autobiography the idea of self-improvement became a genuine part of the very American ideology of the self-made man. After Andrej Turgenev published his translation of Franklin’s Autobiography in Moscow in 1799, Franklin’s method went on to enjoy a widespread triumph in imperial Russia. Andrey Turgenev’s and Vasilij Zhukovskij’s diaries, Alexander Griboedov’s comedy Gore ot uma (1825) and Dmitrij Begichev’s novel Semeystvo Kholmskikh (1832) can help us to trace this Russian history of Franklin’s method and show how Russian followers of Franklin modified and adapted his concept.