Ways to Form a Literary Reputation: F.G. Klopstock in Russia in the 19th Century

Abstract

The given article is devoted to the reconstruction of the apologetic literary reputation of F.G. Klopstock. Klopstock is a canonical author in the history of literature; his work has not received due attention in Russia. Literary reputation is a multidimensional phenomenon. It develops under the influence of various factors and can be the result of random circumstances. Klopstock is a great sentimentalist and epicist; his work is included in the curriculum of educational institutions of the 19th century. But there are almost no translations into Russian. Serious studies of the works of the German poet in Russia were created only in the 20th century. This article is based on the fundamental works of N.I. Rozanov and I.A. Reitblat and analyzes the paradoxical nature of Klopstock’s literary reputation. The image of the poet, discreetly outlined by N.M. Karamzin acquires the features of a saint under the pen of subsequent critics. A review of translated critical reviews of Klopstock shows ways of distorting the original. Klopstock is deliberately described as an ideal pious poet. The article describes the beginning of the formation of Klopstock's literary reputation: the most important stage that influenced the German poet's entry into the reading circle of a cultured person in Russia in the 19th century. Consistent attempts to place Klopstock within the convenient framework of great epics lead to peculiar results: Klopstock enters the circle of compulsory educational reading and at the same time disappears from the field of view of literary scholars. Until the mid-twentieth century, Klopstock remained a canonical literary name without due attention from researchers.