N.M. Karamzin’s “Herald of Europe” and S.N. Glinka’s “Russian Herald” about Peter the Great – Consonance and Dissonance

Abstract

The article provides a comparative analysis of the views on the reforms and historical role of Peter the Great, expressed in N.M. Karamzin’s “Herald of Europe” (1802–1803) and S.N. Glinka’s “Russian Herald” ­(1808–1824). Since the foreign policy context of the era of Napoleonic Wars had fundamental impact on Russian journalism of that period, historical publications should be considered in their correlation with current processes in the information space of the early 19th century. In the article the author shows that given the ideological continuity, the world outlook and historical views of the journals of Karamzin and Glinka were characterized by fundamental differences. The primary task for Karamzin was to substantiate the equal status of Russia in the cultural space of Europe, and his apologetic attitude towards Peter I during that period was determined by the role of the first emperor in the Europeanization of Russia. Glinka, in the conditions of information confrontation on the eve of the war of 1812, needed to emphasize the moral and cultural superiority of Russians over Europeans, so he made an attempt to create a reconciling historical narrative, paradoxically combining both the praise of pre-Petrine Russia and the praise of the reforms of Peter the Great.