P.P. Pertsov and gazeta «Novoye vremya» (1898–1901) (New aspect of creative biography)

Abstract

The article examines the early stage of cooperation between the writer and philosopher P.P. Pertsov and the conservative newspaper Novoe Vremya (1868–1917). Fragments of Pertsov's archival correspondence with the philosophical writer V.V. Rozanov, Pertsov's father and the critic of the liberal magazine «Russian wealth» A.G. Gornfeld are partially introduced into scientific circulation. The author analyzes the reasons for Pertsov's difficult attitude to the publisher and editor of Novoye Vremya, the playwright and founder of the Maly theater in St. Petersburg, A.S. Suvorin. The author substantiates the conclusion about Pertsov's fundamental differences related to the position of Novoye Vremya in the case of the French officer A. Dreyfus. An overview of Pertsov's publications in the newspaper related to the beginning of his collaboration with the newspaper is given. The author traces the evolution of the attitude of a young critic, a liberal in the recent past, to the «New time». Russian Russian theater and drama is the first time that Pertsov's correspondence with A. Suvorin is introduced into scientific circulation, filled with reflections on Russian theater and Russian dramaturgy. The letters discuss Pertsov's theatrical articles: «About the new theater» (about the production of a play by the German playwright G. Gauptmana «Lonely») and «a Satire or a drama» (about productions of new plays by A.P. Chekhov). Pertsov and Suvorin discuss performances of the Art public theater (Moscow art theater), which opened in Moscow in 1898. In a polemic with a young critic, Suvorin defended the national theater, represented by plays by Russian playwrights, primarily A.N. Ostrovsky. Pertsov advocated a new theater, focused primarily on the production of plays by modern playwrights regardless of their nationality.