Karamzin N. The first Russian historian
"History of the Russian State" is not only the creation of a great writer, but also the feat of an honest man.
A. S. Pushkin
It turns out that I have a Fatherland!
The first eight volumes of The History of the Russian State came out all at once in 1818. They say that, slamming the eighth, last volume, Fyodor Tolstoy, nicknamed the American, exclaimed: “It turns out that I have a Fatherland!” And he was not alone. Thousands of people thought, and most importantly, felt this very thing. Everyone read the "History" - students, officials, nobles, even secular ladies. They read it in Moscow and St. Petersburg, they read it in the provinces: distant Irkutsk alone bought 400 copies. After all, it is so important for everyone to know that he has it, the Fatherland. This confidence was given to the people of Russia by Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin.
Need a story
In those days, at the beginning of the 19th century, ancient, age-old Russia suddenly turned out to be young, a beginner. Here she entered the big world. Everything was born anew: the army and navy, factories and manufactories, science and literature. And it might seem that the country has no history - was there anything before Peter, except for the dark ages of backwardness and barbarism? Do we have history? “Yes,” answered Karamzin.
Who is he?
We know very little about Karamzin's childhood and youth - neither diaries, nor letters from relatives, nor youthful writings have been preserved. We know that Nikolai Mikhailovich was born on December 1, 1766, not far from Simbirsk. At that time it was an incredible backwoods, a real bearish corner. When the boy was 11 or 12 years old, his father, a retired captain, took his son to Moscow, to a boarding school at the university gymnasium. Here Karamzin stayed for some time, and then entered active military service - this is at the age of 15! The teachers prophesied for him not only the Moscow-Leipzig University, but somehow it didn’t work out.
The exceptional education of Karamzin is his personal merit.
Writer
The military service did not go - I wanted to write: compose, translate. And now, at the age of 17, Nikolai Mikhailovich is already a retired lieutenant. A whole life ahead. What to dedicate it to? Literature, exclusively literature - Karamzin decides.
And what was it like, Russian literature of the 18th century? Also young, a beginner. Karamzin writes to a friend: “I am deprived of the pleasure of reading a lot in my native language. We are still poor in writers. We have several poets who deserve to be read." Of course, there are already writers, and not just a few, but Lomonosov, Fonvizin, Derzhavin, but there are no more than a dozen significant names. Are there too few talents? No, they do exist, but it's up to the language: the Russian language has not adapted yet to convey new thoughts, new feelings, to describe new objects.
Karamzin focuses on the live conversational speech of educated people. He writes not scholarly treatises, but travel notes (“Notes of a Russian Traveler”), stories (“Bornholm Island”, “Poor Liza”), poems, articles, translates from French and German.
Journalist
Finally, he decides to publish a magazine. It was called simply: "Moscow Journal". The famous playwright and writer Ya. B. Knyaznin picked up the first issue and exclaimed: “We didn’t have such prose!”
The success of the "Moscow Journal" was grandiose - as many as 300 subscribers. At the time, a very large number. That's how small is not only writing, reading Russia!
Karamzin works incredibly hard. Collaborates in the first Russian children's magazine. It was called "Children's Reading for the Heart and Mind". Only FOR this magazine Karamzin wrote two dozen pages every week.
Karamzin for his time is the number one writer.
Historian
And suddenly Karamzin takes on a gigantic job - to compose his native Russian history. On October 31, 1803, Tsar Alexander I issued a decree appointing N. M. Karamzin as a historiographer with a salary of 2,000 rubles a year. Now he is a historian for the rest of his life. But, apparently, it was necessary.
Chronicles, decrees, lawsuits
Now - write. But for this you need to collect material. The search began. Karamzin literally combs through all the archives and book collections of the Synod, the Hermitage, the Academy of Sciences, the Public Library, Moscow University, the Alexander Nevsky and Trinity-Sergius Lavra. At his request, they search in monasteries, in the archives of Oxford, Paris, Venice, Prague and Copenhagen. And how much was found!
Ostromir Gospel of 1056 - 1057 (this is still the oldest dated Russian book), Ipatiev, Trinity chronicles. Sudebnik of Ivan the Terrible, a work of ancient Russian literature "The Prayer of Daniel the Sharpener" and much more.
They say, having discovered a new chronicle - Volyn, Karamzin did not sleep for several nights for joy. Friends laughed that he had become simply unbearable - only talk about history.
What will she be?
Materials are being collected, but how to take up the text, how to write a book that even the simplest person will read, but from which even an academician will not wince? How to make it interesting, artistic, and at the same time scientific? And here are the volumes. Each is divided into two parts: in the first - a detailed story written by a great master - this is for a simple reader; in the second - detailed notes, references to sources - this is for historians.
This is true patriotism
Karamzin writes to his brother: "History is not a novel: a lie can always be beautiful, and only some minds like the truth in its attire." So what to write about? To set out in detail the glorious pages of the past, and only turn over the dark pages? Perhaps this is exactly what a patriotic historian should do? No, Karamzin decides - patriotism is only not due to the distortion of history. He doesn't add anything, he doesn't invent anything, he doesn't exalt victories or downplay defeats.
Drafts of volume VII-ro were accidentally preserved: we see how Karamzin worked on every phrase of his History. Here he writes about Vasily III: “In relations with Lithuania, Vasily ... always ready for peacefulness ...” Everything is not right, it’s not true. The historian crosses out what was written and concludes: “In relations with Lithuania, Vasily expressed peacefulness in words, trying to harm her secretly or openly.” Such is the impartiality of the historian, such is true patriotism. Love for one's own, but not hatred for someone else's.
Ancient Russia seemed to be found by Karamzin, like America by Columbus
The ancient history of Russia is being written, and modern history is being made around it: Napoleonic stinks, the battle of Austerlitz, the Treaty of Tilsit, the Patriotic War of the 12th year, the fire of Moscow. In 1815, Russian troops enter Paris. In 1818, the first 8 volumes of The History of the Russian State were published. Circulation is a terrible thing! - 3 thousand copies. And they all sold out in 25 days. Unheard of! But the price is considerable: 50 rubles.
The last volume stopped in the middle of the reign of Ivan IV the Terrible.
Some said - Jacobin!
Even earlier, the trustee of Moscow University, Golenishchev-Kutuzov, submitted to the Minister of Public Education, to put it mildly, a document in which he argued in detail that “Karamzin’s writings are full of free-thinking and Jacobin poison.” “It’s not the order that he should be given, it’s time to lock him up.”
Why so? First of all - for independence of judgments. Not everyone likes it.
There is an opinion that Nikolai Mikhailovich never in his life lied.
Monarchist! - exclaimed others, young people, future Decembrists.
Yes, the main character of Karamzin's "History" is the Russian autocracy. The author condemns bad sovereigns, sets good ones as an example. And he sees prosperity for Russia in an enlightened, wise monarch. That is, a "good king" is needed. Karamzin does not believe in revolution, especially in an ambulance. So, we really have a monarchist.
And at the same time, the Decembrist Nikolai Turgenev will later recall how Karamzin “shed tears” upon learning of the death of Robespierre, the hero of the French Revolution. And here is what Nikolai Mikhailovich himself writes to a friend: “I do not demand either a constitution or representatives, but by feeling I will remain a republican, and, moreover, a faithful subject of the Russian tsar: this is a contradiction, but only an imaginary one.”
Why is he not with the Decembrists then? Karamzin believed that Russia's time had not yet come, the people were not ripe for a republic.
good king
The ninth volume has not yet been published, and rumors have already spread that it is banned. It began like this: “We proceed to describe the terrible change in the soul of the king and in the fate of the kingdom.” So, the story about Ivan the Terrible continues.
Earlier historians did not dare to openly describe this reign. Not surprising. For example, the conquest of free Novgorod by Moscow. True, Karamzin the historian reminds us that the unification of the Russian lands was necessary, but Karamzin the artist gives a vivid picture of exactly how the conquest of the free northern city took place:
“Ioann and his son judged in this way: every day they presented to them from five hundred to a thousand Novgorodians; they beat them, tortured them, burned them with some kind of fiery composition, tied them with their heads or feet to a sledge, dragged them to the banks of the Volkhov, where this river does not freeze in winter, and threw whole families from the bridge into the water, wives with husbands, mothers with babies. Moscow warriors rode in boats along the Volkhov with stakes, hooks and axes: who of those plunged into the water surfaced, that one was stabbed, cut into pieces. These murders lasted five weeks and consisted of general robbery.
And so on almost every page - executions, murders, burning of prisoners at the news of the death of the tsar's favorite villain Malyuta Skuratov, an order to destroy an elephant that refused to kneel before the tsar ... and so on.
Remember, this is written by a person who is convinced that autocracy is necessary in Russia.
Yes, Karamzin was a monarchist, but at the trial the Decembrists referred to the "History of the Russian State" as one of the sources of "harmful" thoughts.
He did not want his book to become a source of harmful thoughts. He wanted to tell the truth. It just so happened that the truth he wrote turned out to be "harmful" to the autocracy.
And here is December 14, 1825. Having received news of the uprising (for Karamzin, this, of course, is a rebellion), the historian goes out into the street. He was in Paris in 1790, was in Moscow in 1812, in 1825 he was walking towards the Senate Square. “I saw terrible faces, heard terrible words, five or six stones fell at my feet.”
Karamzin, of course, is against the uprising. But how many among the rebels are the Muravyov brothers, Nikolai Turgenev Bestuzhev, Kuchelbeker (he translated History into German).
A few days later, Karamzin would say this about the Decembrists: "The errors and crimes of these young people are the errors and crimes of our age."
After the uprising, Karamzin fell mortally ill - he caught a cold on December 14th. In the eyes of his contemporaries, he was another victim of that day. But he dies not only from a cold - the idea of \u200b\u200bthe world collapsed, faith in the future was lost, and a new king ascended the throne, very far from the ideal image of an enlightened monarch.
Karamzin could no longer write. The last thing he managed to do was, together with Zhukovsky, persuaded the tsar to return Pushkin from exile.
And volume XII froze at the interregnum of 1611-1612. And here are the last words of the last volume - about a small Russian fortress: "Nutlet did not give up."
Now
More than a century and a half has passed since then. Today's historians know much more about ancient Russia than Karamzin - how much has been found: documents, archaeological finds, birch bark, finally. But Karamzin's book - history-chronicle - is the only one of its kind and will not be like this again.
Why do we need it now? Bestuzhev-Ryumin said this well in his time: "A high moral sense makes this book still the most convenient for cultivating love for Russia and for good."
Bibliography
E. Perekhvalskaya. Karamzin N. M. The first Russian historian .
Municipal educational institution
Novoulyanovsk Secondary School No. 1
Ulyanovsk region Novoulyanovsk city
Methodical development
extracurricular activities in literature
"The feat of an honest man."
(in memory of N.M. Karamzin)
Teacher Faskhutdinova Natalya Vladimirovna
2015 – 2016 academic year
Topic of the lesson: "The feat of an honest man."
Lesson type: combined
Lesson objectives:
learning - to form students' knowledge, the ability to work independently with sources of information;
Development - to promote the development of students' analytical abilities, their vocabulary;
upbringing – to promote the development of a communicative culture among schoolchildren, interest in the cultural and historical heritage of their native land.
Content of knowledge and skills:
know: facts of the biography of N.M. Karamzin.
be able to: express their thoughts accurately and concisely, interact in a team.
Methods: independent work, conversation, problem-search, presentation, reflection.
Facilities: portrait of N.M. Karamzin, slides, information sheets, questions.
Forms of organization of students' activities: individual, group, frontal.
Form of organization of the training session: dialogue of generations.
Epigraph:
There are names and there are such dates, -
They are full of imperishable essence...
(A.T. Tvardovsky)
During the classes.
Introduction by the teacher.
Love for the Motherland is the main component of spirituality, and this love begins with a thorough study of the cultural and historical heritage left to us by previous generations.
The history of the Fatherland is the best teacher. Let us recall the words of the great poet A.S. Pushkin: “Respect for the past is the distinguishing feature that distinguishes education from savagery…”; “It is not only possible to be proud of the glory of your ancestors, but you should; not to respect it is shameful cowardice”; “I swear on my honor that for nothing in the world I would not want to change my fatherland or have a different history than the history of our ancestors, such as God gave it to us.”
What do you understand by cultural heritage?
“Every person must know among what beauty and moral values he lives. Otherwise, he becomes morally blind and deaf.”
“Memory is the basis of conscience and morality, memory is the basis of culture.Preserving memory, preserving memory is our moral duty to ourselves and to our descendants. Memory is our most important wealth.”
(D.S. Likhachev)
Before working with information sheets
Teacher's word:
This December marks the 249th anniversary of the birth of our great countryman, historian, journalist, writer N.M. Karamzin.
For every great writer or scientist, "his time" will come sometime. Today is the time for Karamzin.
“We love one thing, we desire one thing: we love the Fatherland; we wish him prosperity even more than glory; we wish that the firm foundation of our greatness never change; Yes, the rules of the wise Autocracy and the Holy Faith more and more strengthen the union of the parts; may Russia bloom... at least for a long, long time, if there is nothing immortal on earth except the human soul!
”
N.M. Karamzin. History of Russian Goverment.
Foreword
December 7, 1815
The modernity of Karamzin is beyond doubt. A wise philosopher, he came to a deep conviction that the greatness of the Russian state is based on the unity of three components: "wise Autocracy", "Holy Faith" and "nationality". Every postulate, every idea served and serves the cause of strengthening the power of the beloved Fatherland. It is also important that Karamzin teaches those in power to follow the “rule of state morality”, which consists in respect for ancestors and responsibility to descendants.
I . Challenge (questions).
1. Who is this?
2. When and where did you live?
3. What did you do?
II . Compilation of clusters.
1. Who or what influenced the formation of personality?
2. What was your hobby?
3. What problems did you care about?
III . Key expressions.
1. Volga - "the most sacred in the world."
2. Books from the "yellow cabinet".
3. Pride of the nobility.
4. Man was created for virtue.
5. Lessons of morality.
IV . Statements.
1. From his parents, Karamzin inherited licentiousness, laziness, and an indifferent attitude towards people.
2. Unfortunately, Nikolai Mikhailovich had no self-esteem.
3. Karamzin argued that a person is already a patriot from birth and it is not at all necessary to educate patriotism.
4. He transformed the Russian language, bringing it closer to living, natural colloquial speech.
V . Reflection.
1. Why is N.M. Karamzin interesting for a modern person?
2. What is the greatness of N.M. Karamzin?
3. How can a modern person prove his love for the Motherland?
4. What life situations can be compared with a feat?
5. Is it easy to be honest today?
Lesson plan.
Organizes goals.Organizes students to accept a challenge
Determine and accept the purpose of the lesson.
Assume:
1. Who is this?
2. When and where did you live?
3. What did you do?
Conversation
Lesson topic.
Epigraph.
Slide #1
"Portrait of N.M. Karamzin".
Questions.
frontal
2. Brainstorm. Knowledge update
Explains who it is
Checking their assumptions
Conversation
Slide #1
"Portrait of N.M. Karamzin".
"Monument to N.M. Karamzin".
frontal
3. Compilation of clusters (thought map)
Offers answers to questions
Express their guesses
Conversation
Question slides:
1. who or what influenced the formation of the personality of N.M. Karamzin
2. What was your hobby?
3. What problems did you care about?
frontal
4. Working with keywords
Offers oral storytelling
make up an oral story
Key expressions
group
5. stage of reflection
a) text analysis
Distributes information sheets (information from the biography and work of N.M. Karamzin
Read information
Independent work
Information Sheets
individual
6. Drawing up a marking table
Controls the understanding and systematization of knowledge
Analyze text
Independent work
Informative sheets, slide.
U - I know this;
! – is it interesting or important;
? - I don't know, I have a question
individual
7. Working with assertions
Invites comments on statements
Explain what is true and not true in these statements.
Problem-search
Statement slide.
frontal
8. Working with keywords
Offers to re-compose an oral story with previously proposed key expressions
make up an oral story
Independent work, conversation
Slide with keywords
group
III.Reflection
Suggests questions
Answer questions as required
Problem-search
question slide
individual
IV.Summarizing
Analyzes and evaluates the success of achieving the goal of the lesson
Express their opinion on the achievement of the goal of the lesson and its success
conversation
frontally,
individually
Lesson Objectives:
Educational :
To acquaint students with the biography and work of N.M. Karamzin, to give an idea of sentimentalism as a literary movement.
Developing:
To promote the development of critical thinking, interest in the work of N.M. Karamzin as a writer, historian, reformer of the Russian language.
To develop interest in the origins of Russian literature and art, in Russian history.
Educational:
To educate the culture of mental work on the basis of such mental operations as analysis, synthesis, grouping.
To instill and nurture a sense of beauty in students on the basis of fiction and works of art.
Contribute to the upbringing of a spiritually developed personality, the formation of a humanistic worldview.
Equipment: a portrait of the writer on a blackboard, an exhibition of the writer's books, a computer, a multimedia projector; presentation, handouts - reports, student projects about N.M. Karamzin.
Methods:
Verbal (lecture, explanation, description, conversation, reading);
Visual (demonstration, illustration);
Practical (comparison, search).
During the classes
Epigraph to the lesson:
The role of Karamzin in the history of Russian culture is not measured only by his literary and scientific work. Karamzin - the man himself was the greatest lesson. The embodiment of independence, honesty, respect for oneself and tolerance for another, not in words and teachings, but in a whole life unfolding before the eyes of generations of Russian people - this was a school without which a person of the Pushkin era, no doubt, would not have become what he became for the history of Russia.
Yu.M. Lotman
Teacher lecture (presentation):
Why Yu.M. Lotman called Karamzin “a man of the greatest lesson”?
Unfortunately, the work of N.M. Karamzin is practically not studied in modern schools. At best, you are familiar with his story "Poor Lisa", which is included in the literature program. In history lessons, you received only some information about Karamzin's fundamental work, The History of the Russian State. At the same time, this is an amazing person, poet, writer, reformer of the Russian language, journalist, historiographer. 2016 marks the 250th anniversary of the birth of N.M. Karamzin. Therefore, today in the lesson we will fill this gap, and throughout the entire jubilee year we will turn to the work of this great man more than once.
Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin was born on December 1 (according to the old style), 1766, in the family of a Simbirsk nobleman. He spent his childhood in a village on the banks of the Volga, where he mastered the basics of literacy. then - the Simbirsk boarding school, and soon he was assigned to the boarding school of Shaden, a professor at Moscow University, where he received a broad education in the humanities, close to university. Since 1783 - military service, which is interrupted due to the death of his father. Resignation. Meeting with IP Turgenev, which brings Karamzin to Moscow. The early period of the writer's work is associated with Novikov's circle. During the years when Novikov headed the Printing Company, he attracted Karamzin to cooperate and entrusted him with editing the first in Russia special magazine for children, Children's Reading (1785–1789). Man and his experiences will later become an integral part of Karamzin's work. His aesthetic and ideological views are formed under the influence of two polar "systems" - Freemasonry, which we have already talked about, and enlightenment. The influence of the philosophical and aesthetic ideas of the English, French and German Enlightenment experienced Karamzin from a young age. He believed in the "elegance of the laws of pure reason", he learned the lesson of the enlighteners about the extra-class value of the individual. The culture of enlightenment forever became in the eyes of Karamzin the "palladium of good manners."
A “republican” at heart, Karamzin translates Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar (1787) and Lessing’s tragedy Emilia Galotti (1788) into Russian, admires the orators of the French bourgeois revolution in his younger years, closely follows the unfolding of events in France right up to the era of the Jacobin dictatorship, which he experiences painfully and under the influence of which he experiences a deep internal crisis. In literary letters - "Melodor to Philalethus" and "Philaletus to Melodorus" (1793-1794) - one can hear the tragic disappointment of the writer in the ideals of the Enlightenment. "The Age of Enlightenment! I don't recognize you - I don't recognize you in blood and flames, I don't recognize you in the midst of murder and destruction! exclaims Melodor. In response to his lamentation, Philaletes woefully calls to seek "the source of bliss in our own breasts."
Arguing after Rousseau that a republic is the best form of government for small countries, Karamzin now firmly defends the beneficence for Russia and for large states in general of the monarchy as a guarantee of a stable social order. He recognizes as durable only those changes in the state and social order that are carried out peacefully, “through slow, but sure, safe successes of reason, enlightenment, education, good morals.”
Student reports:
Karamzin - writer and poet
In 1789, Karamzin published the first story "Eugenia and Julia". In the same year he goes abroad. In Europe, Karamzin was on the eve of the French Revolution. In Germany he met Kant, in France he listened to Mirabeau and Robospierre. This trip had a certain impact on his worldview and further work. After returning from abroad, Karamzin becomes close to G.R. Derzhavin, A.M. Kutuzov. Under the influence of A.M. Kutuzov, he gets acquainted with the literature of English pre-romanticism, is well versed in the literature of the French Enlightenment (Voltaire, J.J. Rousseau). Karamzin begins to publish the magazine "Moscow Bulletin". On the pages of this magazine, he publishes his works “Letters from a Russian Traveler” (1791-1792), the stories “Poor Lisa” (1792), “Natalia, the Boyar's Daughter” (1792), etc.
The result of a long stay abroad (from May 1789 to September 1790) was the "Letters of a Russian Traveler", which for a long time became a model for many later "traveler" writers of the era of Russian sentimentalism. Karamzin visited Germany, Switzerland, France, England. His "Letters ..." contain extensive information material about the social and cultural life of these countries. At the same time, the writer seeks to convey the feelings that arise in him under the influence of what he sees. The analysis of these feelings leads the author to self-deepening and self-observation. Saying goodbye to the reader in the last letter, Karamzin makes a significant confession: “Here is the mirror of my soul for eighteen months; in twenty years (if I live that long in the world) it will still be pleasant for me - let it be for me alone! I will look in and see what I was like, how I thought and dreamed; and what is a man (be it said between us) more entertaining than himself? "Letters from a Russian Traveler" were published in the "Moscow Journal" (1791-1792), the publication of which Karamzin undertook upon his return from abroad.
Karamzin - historian
N.M. Karamzin for this work was awarded the rank of State Councilor and the Order of St. Anna 1st degree. With great success, Karamzin read excerpts from the "History ..." in some private homes, in particular at S. P. Svechina. On January 28, 1818, The History of the Russian State was published with a dedication to Alexander I (St. Petersburg, 1818, vol. 1–8; 2nd ed. St. Petersburg, 1818–1820). This work aroused great interest of contemporaries. Immediately around Karamzin's "History ..." a wide controversy unfolded, reflected in the press, and also preserved in handwritten literature. The historical concept of Karamzin, his language (the speeches of M. T. Kachenovsky, I. Lelevel, N. S. Artsybashev and others), his political views (the statements of M. F. Orlov, N. M. Muravyov, N. I. Turgenev). Many greeted the "History ..." enthusiastically: K.N. Batyushkov, I.I. Dmitriev, Vyazemsky, Zhukovsky and others.
December 5, 1818 N.M. Karamzin delivered a "Speech delivered at a solemn meeting of the Imperial Russian Academy" in connection with his election as a member. Particular attention was paid here to the problems of the national identity of Russian literature, it was said about the "national property of Russians." In 1819, Karamzin again spoke at a meeting of the Russian Academy with reading excerpts from v. 9 of the "History ...", dedicated to the reign of Ivan the Terrible. In 1821 vol. 9 of his work came out of print, in 1824 - vols. 10 and 11; vol. 12, the last containing a description of events before the beginning of the 17th century. Karamzin did not have time to complete (published posthumously in 1829).
The appearance of new volumes, showing the despotism of Ivan the Terrible and telling about the crime of Boris Godunov, caused a revival of controversy around the work of Karamzin. The attitude of A.S. Pushkin to Karamzin and his activities. Having met the historiographer back in 1816 in Tsarskoye Selo, Pushkin retained respect and affection for him and his family, which did not prevent him from engaging in rather sharp disputes with Karamzin. Taking part in the controversy surrounding the "History ...", Pushkin ardently defended Karamzin, emphasizing the social significance of his work and calling him "the feat of an honest man." Pushkin dedicated his tragedy "Boris Godunov" to "precious memory for Russians" N.M. Karamzin.
Karamzin disapproved of the Decembrist uprising, but he was one of the few who made an attempt to intercede for the convicts before Nicholas I, telling him that “the errors and crimes of these young people are the errors and crimes of our age”3. Even during the life of Karamzin, his works, including "History ...", were translated into foreign languages. The activities of Karamzin, who headed a whole literary trend in Russia - sentimentalism, and for the first time brought historiography closer to artistic creativity, constantly attracted the attention of N.V. Gogol, M.Yu. Lermontov, I.S. Turgenev, F.M. Dostoevsky, L.N. Tolstoy. A special stage in the development of Russian culture is associated with the name of Karamzin.
In one of his last letters to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia, Karamzin wrote, “As I approach the end of my career, I thank God for my fate. I may be mistaken, but my conscience is at peace. My dear Fatherland cannot reproach me for anything. I was always ready to serve him without humiliating my personality, for which I am responsible to the same Russia. Yes, even if I only did what I described the history of the barbarian centuries, even if I was not seen either on the battlefield or in the council of statesmen. But since I am neither a coward nor a sloth, I say: “So it was Heaven’s will,” and, without ridiculous pride in my craft as a writer, I see myself without shame among our generals and ministers. According to Yu.M. Lotman, the main idea of this letter is “the affirmation of literature as a high patriotic cause”. The second, no less important thought is “... Russia needs human dignity...”5. Karamzin expressed the spiritual content of the era when one century replaced another. On the one hand, he acted as the finalist of the "head of the school" of Russian sentimentalism, on the other hand, he became the creator of a new area in literature - historical prose.
Reading excerpts from the "History of the Russian State":
1 volume 1 chapter. "About the peoples who have lived in Russia since ancient times, about the Slavs in general."
Volume 4, chapter 2. Grand Dukes Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich, Andrei Yaroslavich and Alexander Nevsky. G.1247-1263.
Volume 8 1 chapter. "Grand Duke and Tsar John IV Vasilievich 11. G. 1533-1538".
Volume 12 Chapter 5 "Interregnum. G.1611-1612.
Karamzin - reformer of the Russian literary language
The work of Karamzin had a significant impact on the development of the Russian literary language. He strove not to use Church Slavonic vocabulary and grammar, but to turn to the language of his era, the language of "ordinary" people, to use French grammar and syntax as an example. One of the first Karamzin began to use the letter Yo, introduced new words (neologisms) (charity, love, impression, refinement, humane, etc.), barbarisms (sidewalk, coachman, etc.).
Teacher:
Following the ideas of sentimentalism. Karamzin emphasizes the role of the author's personality in the work and the impact of his outlook on the world. The presence of the author sharply distinguished his works from the stories and novels of classicist writers. It should be noted the presence of artistic techniques that Karamzin most often uses to express his personal attitude to an object, phenomenon, event, fact. There are many paraphrases, comparisons, similes, epithets in his works. Researchers of Karamzin's work note the melodiousness of his prose due to the rhythmic organization and musicality (repetitions, inversions, exclamations, etc.). Reforms in poetry unfolded in the direction of romanticism - poems became conductors of the usual "average" emotions of an ordinary person, began to correspond to the level of his understanding of life. The conversation about life led to the psychologization of poetry (at the level of "small means", "quiet moves").
Expressive reading by heart of poems by Karamzin N.M. students.
TO THE HOMELAND
Blossom, holy fatherland,
Dear sons, dear!
We all adore you
And sacrifice yourself
Ready for your benefit.
Oh! death is nothing when fetters
And shame threaten your sons!
So anciently Codru died,
So the Leonids died
As an example to heroes and friends.
Union of kinship and ties of blood
Not so sacred to hearts
How holy is the law of your love.
Father will leave dear children,
And the son of the parent will forget
Hurrying to serve the fatherland;
He will die, but the offspring will be
To honor the hero as a demigod.
1793
sorry
Who could love so passionately
How did I love you?
But I sighed in vain
Tomil, crushed himself!
Painfully captivated
Be passionate alone!
Forced to fall in love
Nobody can.
I'm not famous, I'm not famous, -
Can I fool anyone?
Not funny, not funny -
Why love me?
Simple heart feeling
Nothing for the world.
There needs to be art
And I didn't know him!
(The art of being proud,
The art of being smart
Seems smarter than everyone
It's nice to talk.)
Didn't know - and, blinded
your love,
I wished, bold,
And your love itself!
I cried, you laughed
joked with me,
I was amused
Heartbreak!
The ray of hope is fading
Now in my heart...
Already another owns
Forever by your hand! ..
Be happy - be calm
cheerful heartily,
Fate is always happy
Wife - forever sweet!
In the darkness of dense forests
I will lead a life
Pouring currents of flammable tears,
Want the end - sorry!
Student project "Sentimentalism in the work of Karamzin N.M."
Sentimentalism(fr. sentimentalisme, from fr. sentiment - feeling) - the mood in Western European and Russian culture and the corresponding literary direction. In the 18th century, the definition of “sensitive” was understood as susceptibility, the ability for a spiritual response to all manifestations of life. For the first time, this word with a moral and aesthetic connotation of meaning appeared in the title of the novel by the English writer Laurence Sterne "Sentimental Journey".
The works written within the framework of this artistic direction focus on the reader's perception, that is, on the sensuality that arises when reading them. In Europe, sentimentalism existed from the 20s to the 80s of the 18th century, in Russia - from the end of the 18th to the beginning of the 19th century.
Without breaking with the ideas of the Enlightenment, sentimentalism remained true to the ideal of a normative personality, but the condition for its implementation was not a “reasonable” reorganization of the world, but the release and improvement of “natural” feelings. The hero of the literature of sentimentalism is an individual, he is sensitive to the "life of the soul", has a diverse psychological world and exaggerated abilities in the sphere of feelings. He focuses on the emotional sphere, which means that social and civic problems fade into the background in his mind.
By origin (or by conviction), the sentimentalist hero is a democrat; the rich spiritual world of the common man is one of the main discoveries and conquests of sentimentalism.
From the philosophy of the Enlightenment, sentimentalists adopted the idea of the extra-class value of the human person; the wealth of the inner world and the ability to feel were recognized for every person, regardless of his social status. A man unspoiled by social conventions and vices of society, "natural", guided only by the impulses of his natural good feeling - this is the ideal of sentimentalists. Such a person could rather be a person from the middle and lower social strata - a poor nobleman, tradesman, peasant. A person experienced in secular life, who has accepted the value system of a society where social inequality reigns, is a negative character, he has features that deserve indignation and censure of readers.
Sentimentalist writers in their works paid great attention to nature as a source of beauty and harmony, it was in the bosom of nature that a “natural” person could form. The sentimentalist landscape is conducive to reflection on the high, to the awakening of bright and noble feelings in a person.
The main genres in which sentimentalism manifested itself were elegy, message, diary, notes, epistolary novel. It was these genres that gave the writer the opportunity to turn to the inner world of a person, open the soul, imitate the sincerity of the characters in expressing their feelings.
The most famous representatives of sentimentalism are James Thomson, Edward Jung, Thomas Grey, Lawrence Stern (England), Jean Jacques Rousseau (France), Nikolai Karamzin (Russia).
Sentimentalism penetrated into Russia in the 1780s - early 1790s thanks to the translations of the novels "Werther" by I.V. Goethe, "Pamela", "Clarissa" and "Grandison" by S. Richardson, "New Eloise" by J.-J. Rousseau, "Paul and Virginie" J.-A. Bernardin de Saint-Pierre. The era of Russian sentimentalism was opened by Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin with Letters from a Russian Traveler (1791–1792).
His story "Poor Liza" (1792) is a masterpiece of Russian sentimental prose.
Works by N.M. Karamzin brought to life a huge number of imitations; at the beginning of the 19th century, "Poor Masha" by A.E. Izmailov (1801), "Journey to Midday Russia" (1802), "Henrietta, or the Triumph of Deception over Weakness or Delusion" by I. Svechinsky (1802), numerous stories by G.P. Kamenev ("The Story of Poor Marya"; "Unfortunate Margarita"; "Beautiful Tatyana"), etc.
Russian sentimentalism had exhausted itself by 1820. It was one of the stages of the all-European literary development, which completed the Enlightenment and opened the way to romanticism.
Literary and musical composition:
The staging of a fragment from the story "Poor Liza" is the scene of the farewell of Lisa and Erast. Performance of the romance "Don't leave, stay with me". Music by N. Zubov, lyrics by M. Poigin.
Summary of the lesson:
In our age of pragmatism and the substitution of criteria for the true significance of a person, rationalism comes to the fore. One of the problems of our society is the "unemployment" of the soul, which is replaced by the mind. Appeal to the work of N.M. Karamzin is due to the fact that the heroes of his works in their actions are guided by feelings, “think with feelings”. From Karamzin's point of view, the criterion for evaluating a person's life is his proximity to wildlife and the national spirit. The main value in life, according to Karamzin, is the inner world of a person - "the life of the heart." Analyzing, reflecting, empathizing, we learn to understand life and ourselves, learn to build our relationship with reality, and images lead to the solution of the question: “How should one live - with feelings or reason?”
Write an essay-essay (like the USE) “N.M. Karamzin in my life….».
"The feat of an honest man"
Nikolai Karamzin created an outstanding scientific work for the general public, and therefore his "History of the Russian State" does not lose its relevance to this day, says Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Professor, Doctor of Historical Sciences Vladimir KOZLOV.
At the beginning of the 19th century, Karamzin's "History" became a real bestseller: the educated public read it, circulations aroused the envy of the most sophisticated writers, and entire generations of future historians literally grew up "on Karamzin." Almost two centuries have passed. How to evaluate the work of a historiographer now?
Mister popularizer
– Is Karamzin relevant today, in your opinion?
- For me personally, Karamzin is most relevant as a person who for the first time clearly raised the question of the moral assessment of people and their deeds in the past. This is an assessment from the point of view of the ordinary, human understanding of good and evil. I think she's important.
- I think yes. And above all, because his "History of the Russian State" was written in easy language, almost the language of Pushkin's time. This is what attracted readers to the book. On the other hand, Karamzin's "History" itself is not a popular work in our understanding of this term. Yes, "History" was designed for the masses, but it was a capital work, created at the level of science of that time and at the same time clothed in an elegant literary and linguistic form.
Actually, Karamzin himself invented this form, which later became a model for Pushkin. I am deeply convinced that if Pushkin had a "teacher in the profession", then it was Karamzin in the first place. Not Derzhavin, not Kapnist, but Karamzin. And it is no coincidence that they developed a very touching and respectful relationship - a little condescending attitude on the part of Karamzin and a little enthusiastic attitude on the part of Pushkin. Although in political views they, of course, diverged significantly.
- What was the starting point for the creation of "History"? How did the writer Karamzin turn into the historian Karamzin?
– The need for a generalizing scientific work on the history of Russia was extraordinary. If you like, time itself was permeated with this need. It was an era of emerging national consciousness, and more or less generalizing works on national history have already appeared in European countries. At least in the Middle Ages.
Russia in these works, if mentioned, is fragmentary or very ambiguous. For example, the Polish historian Adam Narushevich by that time he had already written The History of the Polish People, and he turned it out, to put it mildly, not exactly anti-Russian, but with a very great critical fervor against Russia.
In addition, after the horrors of the French Revolution and with the coming to power Napoleon Western Europe has clearly ceased to be an ideal that could be imitated, and which, since the time of Peter the Great, the Russian educated public has imitated.
So the idea of finding some ideals and patterns in one's own history was a normal, natural desire. And Karamzin believed in the possibility of acquiring such ideals quite sincerely. He thought that since there were great upsurges in Russia's past (by the way, he included not only victories in wars and the conquest of territories, but also the development of culture, art, victories of the human spirit, and so on), you can try to find, as now it is customary to say, some braces that would help in the present.
And finally, Karamzin had a penchant for history. We see that the writer Karamzin, like the journalist Karamzin, is a man who thought very historically. I mean, in particular, his first historical essays, which he created just on the eve of his appointment as a historiographer - "Historical Memoirs and Notes on the Way to the Trinity" (on the Trinity-Sergius Lavra), "On Love for the Fatherland and the People's pride."
- Which of his predecessors Karamzin could focus on?
- Speaking on a large scale, then, of course, on Tacitus. This is beyond any doubt. Tacitus was for him a classic of the “genre”, he attracted him with descriptions of majestic and at the same time sensual paintings, where human passions raged. On the other hand, Karamzin knew German historiography very well: at that time Johann Gottfried Herder, Gottfried Achenwall, August Ludwig Schlözer- recognized leaders of German historiography - actively developed the idea that humanity is on the path to progress and the state should become an instrument of this progress. The state is like the demiurge of everything, like a creator, like a builder. It is no coincidence that Karamzin writes The History of the Russian State.
From Rurik to Alexander
– Was the creation of the “History” a private initiative of the writer, or can we say that Karamzin’s interest in history coincided with the state interest?
- I think it's both. Karamzin understood that without the sanction of the emperor he would not get access to the archives. And he certainly wouldn't get it. In addition, Karamzin knew that even if he wrote something, without the approval of the king, his work would forever remain on the table, because spiritual and secular censorship would not let it through. But if Alexander becomes the censor, everything will be fine. But what does the emperor-censor mean in this situation? He wouldn't proofread eight volumes in detail! It is required from him that he, having scrolled through, gave the go-ahead. So it turned out in the end.
Well, plus material support played a role. Karamzin, of course, had a certain number of peasants near Simbirsk and Nizhny Novgorod, but on the whole he was one of the first (perhaps after Nikolai Novikov) people in Russia who lived off literary earnings and journalistic creativity. So material support was extremely important for him, because during the entire period that was required to write the "History", he did not have the opportunity to engage in other literary work.
As for the state in the face Alexander I, then he was still an enlightened person, intelligent and liberal. And he, of course, knew that in the West there are works on history, and ours - Vasily Tatishchev, Mikhail Lomonosov, Mikhail Shcherbatov– it is simply impossible to read: they are written so heavily. Something lighter, more elegant was needed. As a result, the initiative of the people of the Karamzin circle to nominate the already well-known writer Karamzin for the position of historiographer met with a favorable reaction from the emperor.
Rurik, Sineus and Truvor receive Slavic ambassadors calling them to reign. 862 year. Illustration for the publication "Picturesque Karamzin, or Russian History in Pictures". Hood. B.A. Chorikov
- What were the stages of work on the "History"? How much time did it take to prepare and actually write it? Or were they parallel processes?
– The first three or four volumes were given to Karamzin with great difficulty. First, he had to learn to read ancient manuscripts. It is not simple.
Secondly, of course, it was hard for him, so to speak, the monotony of the initial Russian history before Ivan III: This era did not inspire him much. He himself admitted in letters: the princes are intriguing, fighting with each other, but there is no room here for the disclosure of creative potential. I got to Ivan III: and here is another matter! There is something to write about here! And only then Ivan the Terrible, Boris Godunov loomed - real finds for the writer and historian! And ahead were the Time of Troubles, the 17th century, Peter, Catherine! Karamzin was going to bring the "History" to 1812. And if he had not died, he would have brought ...
However, after the victory over Napoleon, in 1813, he had a desire to write the history of the Patriotic War, and he admits that for this he is ready to abandon the continuation of work on the History (and by that time seven volumes had already been created). For this, Karamzin also asked for access to the archives. But something didn’t work out, he didn’t get any access ...
Ermak, from the point of view of N.M. Karamzin, did a great deed for Russia - he annexed Siberia, conquered entire nations, but at the same time remained a robber. The conquest of Siberia by Yermak. Hood. IN AND. Surikov
- As a result, by 1818 he prepared eight volumes of "History" for printing ...
- He reached Ivan the Terrible. Although Karamzin was not a hardened bureaucrat, he understood something in life. In particular, that these first eight volumes cannot be published without the permission of the emperor, without his censor's approval. This was also the key to successful work on the ninth volume, where is the Terrible, where the trial of the autocratic tyrant promised to be cruel and unusual for its time, because before historiography was silent about who Ivan the Terrible was.
Karamzin moved to Petersburg. I do not think that he dreamed of staying there forever, because in his spiritual mood he was, of course, a Muscovite. But, as it turned out later, he moved forever.
However, it was not enough to move to St. Petersburg - you had to get to the emperor. And then Karamzin resorted to a technique already known before him, but not yet so widespread and popular. He arranged public readings of his History. Not in the squares, of course, but in high-society salons, but these were public readings attended by people, and many of them retained memories of this. It was an opening to the public! Despite the fact that Karamzin read the first eight volumes (not the most interesting, as he himself considered), the listeners were amazed.
How did he create public opinion?
- Yes. And the one who initially, apparently, prevented his visit to the king - Count Alexey Arakcheev- after all, he was forced to accept it, and then arrange a meeting with the emperor. Alexander, on the other hand, supported Karamzin's work and allocated money for the publication. Not a lot of money, of course, because the first edition of the History was published on newsprint and looked very unpresentable. But the very fact of publication was important.
And then an unprecedented thing happened: Karamzin's "History" began to be translated abroad. And if you can still assume about the French edition that it was a state order from the Russian government (the Frenchman who did the translation, Saint-Thomas, received money for work on the "History" from the imperial office), then other translations - Polish, German, Italian - cost without the participation of the Russian court. And then there was even Chinese!
Here is an instructive lesson for you
- It turns out that he opened Russian history not only to Russians, but also to the world?
– If Karamzin's "Letters of a Russian Traveler" is, by and large, the discovery of Europe for Russians, then the "History of the Russian State" became the discovery of Russia for Europe. There, for the first time, they learned that there was a country nearby with almost a thousand years of history, with a history as passionate, full of sacrifices and accomplishments as theirs. It seems to me that this was the international significance of what Karamzin did.
And another circumstance that makes the "History" an absolutely unique work is Karamzin's notes. Think about it: footnotes take up more than twice as much space as body text! There was no such volume of quotations given in them, factual material, sometimes a complete edition of sources before Karamzin and still is not. Thanks to the notes, he presented the readers with a de facto anthology of documentary sources on Russian history. Karamzin did this quite deliberately. Why? Because I understood that an ordinary person, even one who is interested in history, does not have the opportunity to get into the archive or find any foreign book. In the notes, the reader could refer to the original source.
And although now all the documents used by Karamzin have been published, these notes in some part have not lost their significance. Because there are many documents that were later lost. For example, the Trinity Chronicle burned down in a fire in 1812, and a dozen more disappeared monuments.
– What came first for Karamzin: sources or a concept, an idea, a finished model?
- He went from his own ideas and, undoubtedly, often selected evidence from sources for these ideas.
Here is just one classic example. Karamzin was the first to write about our advance to Siberia. And figure Yermak he was definitely worried. About how he died, Karamzin knew from two chronicles - Stroganov, first used by him, and Remezov. One says that Yermak heroically fell on the battlefield from the sword. And the other tells how Yermak, seeing that the enemy surpasses him in strength, rushed into the waters of the river and, since he had armor, drowned under their weight. Here is a purely source problem: where is the truth? It is one thing to die while running away from the enemy, and quite another is a heroic death in battle.
Karamzin chose the option of death in the river. Why? Very simple. When you read his story about the promotion of Yermak, you are surprised how wonderful it turns out: Yermak did a great thing for Russia - he annexed Siberia, conquered entire nations, and so on, but still he was a robber. Because he did it not at the will of the sovereign and, therefore, fell short of becoming a hero. Therefore, he had to die such a death. And Karamzin writes: this is the fate that all robbers can expect.
- The moral is clear.
Not only morality. He also had political reasons. Yes, in the form Boris Godunov he actually draws Mikhail Speransky. Karamzin finds amazing parallels in the sources of the late 16th - early 17th centuries. After all, Speransky was formally suspended and expelled for reading encrypted diplomatic correspondence without the knowledge of the sovereign - Alexander found fault with this. Karamzin found an example in the sources, when Boris Godunov, still under Fyodor Ioannovich, also began to read diplomatic correspondence. And he characterized this episode as follows: here is an instructive lesson for you; no one should know state secrets, except for those who are supposed to.
He also found a lot of other parallels: he was looking for similarities between contemporary liberal figures and the figures of the era of Boris Godunov and Fyodor Ioannovich. As a result, an image-horror story was created ...
Could it have been different at the time? I don't think so. That's what everyone did. You see, there were no generally accepted principles for writing a historical work. Yes, and today by and large there are none.
Karamzin's predecessors
Vasily Nikitich Tatishchev (1686–1750)
The main historical work of Tatishchev is “Russian History from the Most Ancient Times”. It was created over 30 years on the private initiative of the author, who was in the public service. It was published after his death, in 1768-1848, in five volumes. Brought to the reign of Ivan the Terrible.
Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov (1711–1765)
Natural scientist, encyclopedist, chemist in his official specialty at the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. He was engaged in the preparation of a historical essay, the reason for which was a stormy controversy at the Academy. Ancient Russian History was published after his death, in 1766. Brought to 1054.
Fedor Alexandrovich Emin (1735–1770)
Adventurer and prolific writer, including romance novels. In 1767-1769, under the auspices of Catherine II, he published three volumes of the Russian history of the life of all sovereigns ancient from the very beginning of Russia. Strived to create a coherent, rhetorical and moralizing historical narrative. The story was brought up to 1213.
Mikhail Mikhailovich Shcherbatov (1733–1790)
He was in the civil service, devoted his free time to writing the history of Russia. In 1768 he received from Catherine II the title of historiographer and the opportunity to work in the archives. "Russian History from Ancient Times" was published from 1770 to 1791, seven volumes were published. "History" brought to the reign of Vasily Shuisky.
Nicolas-Gabriel Leclerc (1726–1798)
French doctor and writer who lived in Russia for many years. In 1783-1792 he published in Paris in French "History of the physical, moral, civil and political Russia in ancient and modern times" in six volumes. She gained fame among Russian readers and caused a sharp controversy. Brought to death by Elizabeth Petrovna.
Ivan Perfilievich Elagin (1725–1794)
A writer who was part of the inner circle of Catherine II, a freemason, director of the Imperial Theaters. In his declining years, he began work on the “Experience of Narrative about Russia”, brought his story to 1389. The manuscript with a recommendation for its publication was presented to Alexander I in 1810, but after receiving a negative review, N.M. Karamzin's publication did not take place.
- The concept that underlay the entire "History" is spoken of in different ways. How would you phrase it?
- The concept that Karamzin had matured by the time he began work on the first volumes of History was as follows: the Russian historical process was determined by four forces.
The first is the people. Karamzin, who was scolded in Soviet historiography, arguing that he had forgotten about the people as the main subject of the historical process, actually speaks about the people on every page of the History. But the people in Karamzin's view are still not so much a creative force as anarchic. And so, ultimately, this force leads to the emergence of what we today call the oligarchy. And in Novgorod the Great, and in Pskov, and in ancient Kiev, after major popular riots, oligarchic forces come to power, whose actions often contradict the interests of both the people and the state as a whole.
However, the people are not only a rebellious force, but also a force that acts as a bearer of moral assessments, a kind of judge. The people either condemn, or approve, or remain indifferently silent ...
The second force (I have already mentioned it) is oligarchic or aristocratic. This force, from the point of view of Karamzin, is characterized by a complete lack of state interest and understanding of the state good: everything is only for oneself, only for oneself. Karamzin strongly condemns her.
The third force is the specific princely force, which is constantly tearing the country apart. It led to fragmentation, then constantly resisted the aspirations of the Moscow principality (and then the kingdom) to create a single state. The specific princely power is also occupied only with its own, regional interests.
These are the three forces, and they are all pulling the country in its own direction, like a swan, a crab and a pike. Who can balance them?
Only the fourth force is autocracy. Autocracy - as a force that is the resultant, as a strengthening force, as a punishing force. Therefore, according to Karamzin, autocracy is the engine of progress in the history of Russia. That, in fact, is his whole concept: everything else is strung on it. All this can be seen especially clearly and clearly in the last volumes - from the ninth to the unfinished twelfth.
Title page of the History of the Russian State. 1842 edition, Book I
– In Soviet times, on this occasion, they actively quoted an epigram attributed to Pushkin: “In his “History” elegance, simplicity // They prove to us, without any predilection, // The need for autocracy // And the charms of the whip” ...
- This, of course, is not Pushkin. There aren't even any questions. I cannot imagine that Pushkin was so hypocritical as to write such an epigram. It would really be hypocrisy, since he dedicates his "Boris Godunov" to Karamzin. After all, Pushkin's "Boris Godunov" is a poetic retelling of the text of Karamzin's "History" with fantastic accuracy.
This epigram came out of the circle of left-wing radical critics of the historian, to which the future Decembrists belonged - bright, pure people, but with bad intentions. Pushkin himself wrote about it this way: “The young Jacobins were indignant. They forgot that Karamzin published his History in Russia; that the sovereign, having freed him from censorship, by this sign of power of attorney in some way imposed on Karamzin the duty of all kinds of modesty and moderation. He spoke with all the fidelity of a historian, he always referred to sources - what more could be demanded of him? I repeat that "History of the Russian State" is not only the work of a great writer, but also the feat of an honest man.
So Pushkin could not compose such an epigram: after all, I wrote the book “History of the Russian State” by N.M. Karamzin in the assessments of contemporaries” and therefore I know where this could come from. The poet himself admitted: “I was credited with one of the best Russian epigrams; it's not the best part of my life."
Well, then Pushkin spoke very enthusiastically about Karamzin's "History" more than once. “Everyone, even secular women, rushed to read the history of their fatherland, hitherto unknown to them. She was a new discovery for them. Ancient Russia seemed to have been found by Karamzin, just as America was found by Colomb, he wrote. – In our country, no one is able to study the huge creation of Karamzin - but no one said thanks to the man who retired to the study at the time of the most flattering successes and devoted 12 whole years of his life to silent and tireless work. Notes [notes. - "Historian"] “Russian history” is evidenced by Karamzin’s extensive scholarship, acquired by him already in those years when for ordinary people the circle of education and knowledge was long over and chores in the service replace efforts for enlightenment. Better, perhaps, not to say.
Interviewed by Vladimir RUDAKOV, Alexander SAMARIN
EIDELMAN N.Ya. The last chronicler. M., 1983
KOZLOV V.P."History of the Russian State" N.M. Karamzin in the assessments of contemporaries. M., 1989
