The Writers as Popularizers of the Knowledge About the Slavic Peoples. The Case of Multivolume 'Picturesque Russia' in the Last Quarter of the XIX Century

Abstract

The multi-volume edition “Picturesque Russia. Our Fatherland in its spatial, historic, ethnographic, economic and everyday life sense” (1879-1901, in 12 volumes and 19 books) contains a lot of data about the Slavic peoples – Russians, Ukrainians, Belorussians and Poles. Most of the essays on different regions were prepared by the men of letters often simultaneously known as novelists, journalists, literary critics, historians and ethnographers. The study analyses their choice by the publishers, literary reputations in the mid-1880s, national and political affiliations. A special attention is paid to the holders of various ethnic and regional identities among the authors, as well as to some specific roots and consequences of the unique large-scale project under review.