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Abstract: The paper discusses the theme of male and female corporeality in Kharms''s work. Physical motifs are of great signficance, especially the (top of the) head and the heels as extremes, the “boundaries of the body”. These are symbolically linked with life and death, with rebirth and resurrection, in particular in connection with the motifs of physical deformation and dismemberment in Kharms''s work. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The author analyses Kharms''s 1937 “Self-portrait at the Window”. It is demonstrated by adducing the writer''s notes on Flemish painters that Jan van Eyck''s, and other fifteenth-century masters'', innovative work served as point of orientation for Kharms''s drawing. In the second part of the paper Kharms''s pseudonyms are discussed and linked with the Kabbala, the Jewish mystical and Biblical tradition. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The paper deals with the role of nineteenth- and twentieth-century anarchism, and in the wider sense, anarchy in the Russian Avantgarde. Anarchist ideas were a strong factor in Malevich''s ideas and work, culminating in the “Black Square”. The work of Kharms is closely connected with both anarchy and Malevich, as the element of the absurd favours principles such as non-selectiveness, de-hierarchization. Moreover, for Kharms basic “closed forms” such as square, point, circle and (straight) line are of great importance. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In the present paper an attempt is made to arrive at a systematic description of Kharms''s life-creating model of behaviour, which runs through the sense-generating aspects of his activity. A central place is taken by the topics of “play” (Johan Huizinga''s “Homo ludens”), “aesthetics of life”, and “masks”. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The article examines Kharms''s views on literary evolution and historical changes as expressed in The Comedy of the City of Petersburg. Kharms''s play presents a large number of different fragments: pre- and post-1917 historical events and personages, but also spiritual values, literary and mythological heroes. The city''s name represents a determining factor of its destiny. The paper demonstrates how Kharms turns his play into a “text about texts”. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The paper analyses the concept of “thing” (“veshch''”) as it is used in the poetics of Kharms and Oberiu, but also in the discourse on aesthetics in the first decades of the nineteenth century. Also discussed is Kharms''s use of “object” (“predmet”), which is connected with the phenomenological tradition (mediated by Ia.S. Druskin). In the final analysis the “thing” belongs to the plane of a “first reality”, whereas the “object” belongs to a “real reality”. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this paper the connectedness of (non-)eating and (non-)being is explored by an analysis of the occurrence of food in Kharms''s works. Attention is paid to the symbolism of various kinds of food and edible matter, along with a discussion of liquids, especially water, a highly significant theme in Kharms''s works. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper discusses Bitov''s lyrics, mainly with respect to versification and the connection between his prose and poetry. The unusual metrical-strophical and rhythmical organization of his poetry allows us to surmise that it is oriented neither towards contemporary nor towards obvious traditional models, which can be explained by viewing it in the cultural context of the second half of the twentieth century. The link between Bitov''s prose and poetry can be called “conceptual continuity”, since many of his poems have a counterpart in his prose. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper explores the organic as opposed to the artificial in Bitov''s works. The latter is often subjected to irony – in the case of the hero-narrator, to self-irony. Bitov''s skepticism often leads to the unmasking of seemingly attractive places and characters. Nevertheless in Bitov''s work we can detect a distinctly positive strain, a sincere striving towards organicity and authenticity. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this paper the author examines the meaning of (celebrating) holidays in the story ‘Gulia’ and other works by Liudmila Ulitskaia. The semantics of Russian prazdn- are discussed, along with the general social-cultural function of holidays. As these can be regarded as “empty time” (cf. É. Durkheim and M. Epshtein), the way it is “filled in” becomes highly relevant for the heroine of Ulitskaia''s story and her characterization. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this paper an analysis is presented of the 1920 poem “The Woollen Needles of Death...” by Riurik Ivnev, a poet who combines elements from the Symbolist tradition with Imagism, with which he was affiliated. The author demonstrates the tension between the literal and metaphorical significance of the poem''s imagery, in particular with respect to bodily and physical motifs. Special attention is given to the multifaceted roles of the addressee(s) within and without the poem, the blurring of which is characteristic of avant-garde poetics. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The article explores the representation of St. Petersburg in 18th-century Russian panegyric literature from the point of view of rhetorical topoi. The ancient and humanistic tradition of laus urbis provided established categories for the conceptualisation of the new capital that were first adapted by Gavriil Buzhinskii and Feofan Prokopovich. Following the development of specific St. Petersburg topoi in the 18th century the paper focuses on the perception of urban space both in panegyric literature and visual art. It shows how the point of view in the description of the city changes from Lomonosov''s encomiastic prose and Makhaev''s lithographies to Derzhavin''s odes and Quarenghi''s aquarelles. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this paper the author sketches the representation of concepts of time and number as constituents of calendars in ancient texts (the Babylonian epic Enuma Elish, the Bible, Hesiod''s Works and Days). In the second part the author explores the role of (calendar) units of time (dates, weeks, months, years) in the poetry of Khlebnikov, Pasternak, Kharms and Zabolotskii. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Maksim Shapir was preparing this paper for the present issue of Russian Literature at the time of his death. The text was fully conceived, but he did not finish writing it. Only his working materials were preserved, and are published here. Shapir''s approach is as follows. Bakhtin/Voloshinov''s book expresses totalitarian, anti-philological, postmodernist ideology. For them, the sign is social: there is no ideology without the sign, nor any sign without social ideology. Language is considered as superstructure and an arena of class struggle; thus, they are close to Marr. They envisage every word as ideologically charged and evaluative: just as, for Lenin, any literature expresses party affiliation. Consciousness is realized in semiotic, socially oriented form: personal space is suppressed by social space. For Bakhtin/Voloshinov, understanding is a dialogue, while philology is a monologue: dialogism (as adaptation of the text to new needs) is preferred to philologism (as understanding of the work in the context of its creation). Such anti-philologism makes this book the earliest expression of postmodernist ideology. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The Soviet epoch was the period of academician Viktor M. Zhirmunskii''s (1891–1971) most prolific creative activity. European literature (mostly German and English literature) became the main subject of his scholarly interests. The most prominent works by Zhirmunskii dealt with two great figures of those literatures: J.W. Goethe and Lord Byron. In 1922 a collection of Byron''s dramatic works was edited and prepared by the publishing house “Vsemirnaia Literatura” (“World Literature”) with an introductory article written by Zhirmunskii. (V.M. Zhirmunskii, Zhizn'' i tvorchestvo Bairona [Life and Works of G.G. Byron]). The same year Goethe''s Faust was also published, translated by N.A. Kholodkovskii, with an introductory article by Zhirmunskii. A distinctive peculiarity of these papers was a deep philosophical understanding of the works by Goethe and Byron. The main problem of Faust, as stressed in the article by Zhirmunskii, was an idea of “the perpetual urge of the human soul which reveals the divine nature of a human being”. In his article about Byron, Zhirmunskii deals with the problem of so-called “Byronism”, as well as the rebelliousness and individualism of Byron''s passionate characters. Zhirmunskii deals with the same problems in his later works on Goethe and Byron written in 1940 for two volumes: History of German Literature and History of English Literature. However, in the full swing of Stalin''s epoch a scholar had to censor his writings, to change definitions, and to somewhat soften certain descriptive statements remaining, altogether, faithful to his overall uncompromising scholarly credo. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper discusses the cult of Pushkin, which was officially developed in Stalin''s Russia. If many publications of that time are pure propaganda, some of them, due mainly to the “academical Pushkinists” (Tomashevskii, Bondi, Tsiavlovskii, Vinokur etc.), are worth reading. However, even the most serious works could not escape a touch of Marxism. As an example, ‘Pushkin''s Historicism’, which appeared precisely in the mid-1930s and supposed a sense of history as a result of laws and social antagonism (in the way of the new romantic historicism), could appear as the product of some ideological distortion, as Aleksandr Dolinin truly pointed it. Nevertheless, Pushkin as an historian was before largely misestimated, so the Stalin cult of Pushkin is not merely a comeback to the imperial past. In that sense, the article deals with the debate arising from David Hoffmann''s book, Stalinist values: The Cultural Norms of Soviet Modernity 1917–1941 (2003), about Nicholas Timasheff''s work, The Great Retreat: The Growth and Decline of Communism in Russia (1946). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The Latin epigraph to F.I. Tiutchev''s poem “Pеvuchеst'' еst'' v mоrskikh volnakh…” (1865) is known as a version of a poetic line which belongs to the Roman poet Decimus Magnus Ausonius (310–394). This paper proposes a hypothesis which explains why the name of Ausonius does not appear under the epigraph. It shows how certain words within the epigraph, and some poetic techniques associated with the name of its author, as well as his name as such, strongly influence the text of Tiutchev''s poem on various levels. Ausonius''s experiments, and the exploration of such compositional devices as anagram, acrostic, telestic, and mesostic happen to affect Tiutchev''s poetic technique, especially in the rhymes and in the final stanza. In the light of this study it becomes clear that the tradition of publishing just three out of the four stanzas may be harmful to both the poem''s composition and its meaning. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The paper explores two almost paradoxical aspects of Tiutchev''s work, which characterize Tiutchev on the one hand as a poet, on the other hand as a thinker. As a poet Tiutchev is interested in daily life: from events of great political importance to small, insignificant incidents. Hence his predilection for fragmentariness and improvisation, epigrams and bon mots. Tiutchev the thinker seems to be far removed from the present and proves himself to be a disciple of Greek philosophers. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this paper the author investigates Tiutchev''s ‘Pominki’, a translation of Schiller''s ‘Das Siegesfest’. The date of writing is uncertain and factors are considered that could narrow it down. The literary and political contexts of Tiutchev''s ‘Pominki’ are outlined. They comprise Zhukovskii''s earlier translation of Schiller''s poem, which, perhaps, Tiutchev sought to emulate, and also Zhukovskii''s translation of the Odyssey. All of this is considered against the background of the events in Europe in 1848–1849 and their repercussions in Russia. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: We analyze two Tiutchev poems of the same title ‘Bessonnitsa’ (‘Insomnia’) (further B1 and B2) written in 1829 and 1873, in comparison with each other, as well as in connection with their poetic prototype found by L.V. Pumpianskii in Derzhavin''s ode ‘On the Death of Prince Meshcherskii’. The main goal of this paper is to reevaluate Tiutchev''s poem (B2) entitled ‘Insomnia: The Night''s Passing Moment’. B2 is shown to be a variation on the most famous early poem B1, whose main theme, lexicon, rhyme vowel structure and a system of vowel sound repetition (assonance) are explored in B2. Many features of B2 prove the novelty of its genre and composition. Tiutchev''s poem B2 turns out to belong to so-called “suggestive” poetry. Within the synaesthetic composition of B2, there are four parallel lines of images (temporal, spacial, auditory, and visual). The three-part composition of B2 is built similarly to a musical form; its focus on the vowel repetition in the sound texture indicates the “musicality” of Tiutchev''s late poem (the most characteristic feature of suggestive lyrics). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this paper the author examines Ryzhii''s connections with a variety of poets-predecessors, primarily Blok and Georgii Ivanov, but also Nikolai Rubtsov and Sergei Esenin. Traces from these poets can be observed in much of Ryzhii''s poetry. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this paper the author discusses the role of music in Ryzhii''s poetry in various respects: as a motif that occurs frequently in his poems, in the form of songs, musical instruments, musicians, but also at the level of Ryzhii''s “philosophy of music” and as an equivalent of poetry itself. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this paper the author comments on a number of poems by Ryzhii, in particular on the “reality value” (and its irrelevance) of three poems on a single theme. The author, a friend of Ryzhii''s, can judge this aspect of Ryzhii''s poetry well and concludes that in some cases Ryzhii “distorted” reality for his poetic purposes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this paper the authors focus on connections of Ryzhii''s poetry with earlier poets (Pushkin, Lermontov, Pasternak, Samojlov) especially with respect to metapoetic statements within their poetry. A special role here is played by music, both as theme and as constructive principle. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper explores metaphorical and metonymical textual parallels between Tat''iana Tolstaia''s short story ‘A Poet and a Muse’ and Fedor Dostoevskii''s novella ‘Notes from Underground’. Tolstaia''s characters, events, and tropes reuse and reassemble Dostoevskii''s images. Psychoanalytic textual analysis explains these connections as censored text encoded in metaphors and metonymies. The idea of censorship, taken broadly as censorship of life on the basis of literary standards, is presented as the unifying theme of the two texts. The spiritual “underground” of Dostoevskii''s character and the “underground” artistic world of Tolstaia''s story are shown to be the reverse sides of the same phenomenon of literary censorship. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In this paper the author reminisces about his personal experiences with the Soviet attitude towards the historical Avant-Garde in the 1960s and 1970s. In addition he discusses aspects of samizdat, in particular some problems that arise in establishing the correct versions of samizdat literature, such as some poems by Galich and Okudzhava. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this paper the author draws a systematic comparison between Italian and Russian Futurism in order to answer the question if, and to which extent, the aesthetic categories are connected with the ideological orientation of either movement, and whether they differ or concur in this respect. The author juxtaposes the key concepts of both Italian and Russian Futurism and concludes that there exist correspondences but also significant differences between the two movements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this paper the role of “ideology” in the Russian Avant-Garde is examined in its historical development. Within this period two phases can be distinguished, running parallel to socio-political events. The author demonstrates the difference between the two by contrasting two key texts, Shklovskii''s ‘Art as Device’ and its central concept of “ostranenie”, and Eisenstein''s discussion of the principle of “montage of attractions”. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this paper the author sketches some basic principles of Transfurism, the later Avant-Garde movement led by Ry Nikonova and Sergei Sigei, the main platform of which became the samizdat journal Transponans. An important difference from the historical Avant-Garde, especially Futurism, is the absence in Transfurism of any orientation on the future and utopianism. To illustrate his argument the author provides some examples of both negative criticism of Transfurism and a defence, notably by the late Dmitrii Prigov. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper is devoted to two poets of the 1920s, Aleksandr Chachikov and Sergei Tret''iakov. An important theme in the work of both is the East, and especially anti-colonialism and liberation. This theme ranges from Egypt, via India, to China. In Chachikov''s poems the emphasis is on the exotic element, whereas Tret''iakov, perhaps not surprisingly, is straightforwardly political in his work about China. A remarkable aspect of both is that the abundant use of foreign words and names recalls the sound experiments of the Avant-Garde. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this paper Zdanevich''s “dra” Ianko krul'' albanskii, an Avant-Garde text par excellence, is examined with respect to its historical, ideological and political context. The Albanian question is connected with the problematic of the whole Balkans and the “Slavic question”, which led up to World War I. Special attention is paid to the attitude of the main Futurists with regard to these matters. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this paper the author gives a detailed analysis and interpretation of the Futurist Il''ia Zdanevich''s play “ianko krul'' albanskai”. This piece is actually a “double text” or a “text within text”, the second text consisting of single isolated syllables that provide clues for the interpretation of Zdanevich''s essentially multilingual play. It is largely based on real historical events: the invitation to the throne of Albania of the German Prince zu Wied (1914–1916). The play abounds in further historical and literary references. In an appendix the author provides a detailed interpretation of a number of word forms occurring in the play. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The article deals with the Russian Symbolist author and translator Liudmila Vil''kina (1873–1920). The paper discusses the theme of authority and subjectivity in her collection of sonnets Moi Sad (My Garden, 1906) in the context of West European women''s writing. Vil''kina''s poetry contains topics current in the feminist thought of the beginning of the 20th century. One of them is the question about the language which both enables and hinders the construction of subjectivity. Vil''kina''s poetry can be read as a part of the path-breaking fictional work which preceded the emergence of the postmodern (feminist) philosophy of (female) subjectivity. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this paper the author discusses L.V. Nikulin''s travelogue The Seven Seas, published in 1936 and describing his journey through Europe in 1933. In the article Nikulin''s manner of writing is analysed, the use of digressions, of actual and fictitious meetings with several characters in different countries, the use of newspapers and periodicals. Ultimately Nikulin''s goal is to demonstrate the decay and rise of fascism in the European countries, set against the superiority of the young Soviet Union. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The paper deals with the question how three dramatists of the late 19th and early 20th century, the Russian author Liudmila Petrushevskaia, the Polish author Janusz Głowacki, and the German author Rebekka von Kricheldorf, transformed Three Sisters by Chekhov and thus transferred certain elements of his drama to their present. Each of them chose traits of Chekhovʼs drama which transferred to a new historical and social context to demonstrate to which extent Chekhov is still actual. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this paper the author discusses Boris Akuninʼs novel Altyn-tolobas. The two plot lines in the novel (the seventeenth-century journey of Kornelius von Dorn and the journey to the “new Russia” by his descendant) are shown to run parallel, as they both appear to involve the transfer from “civilized” European cultural space to “uncivilized” Russia. However, it is demonstrated that this simple opposition of “Russia” and “The West” is much more ambiguous and complicated than it might seem at first glance. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this paper the author discusses two recent novels, Viktor Pelevinʼs T and Boris Akuninʼs F.M. These are concerned with the life and works of Tolstoi and Dostoevskii respectively. It is demonstrated in terms of “cultural transfer” and “mutation” how the nineteenth-century writers are reflected in these present-day novels. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this paper the author describes (with some illustrations) a number of instances of the often erotic nature of various acts performed in the circus in early Soviet times. It is pointed out that in a sense the circus had remained one of the least ideologized sectors of Soviet culture. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper takes a thematic approach to Belyiʼs Istoriia stanovleniia samosoznaiushchei dushi (ISSD) by focusing on selected fragments in order to uncover some fundamental motifs characteristic of the Silver Age, and thus shared by thinkers of very different orientations. More specifically, a parallel is drawn between Andrei Belyi and Lev Shestov in their concern with the concepts of idealism, love and reason as viewed through the prism of Nietzsche and Dostoevskii – the writers who were of utmost significance for both. In identifying these motifs, several continuities and breaks in Belyiʼs outlook, as well as the prophetic character of the philosophical premonitions of both Shestov and Belyi, come to light. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: S. Sokolovʼs Shkola dlia durakov takes us on a journey through the chaotic mind of a deranged adolescent. The mental condition of the narrator allows the author to undertake the most daring narrative and linguistic experiments. This paper explores the textual level of the novel: its language and various narrative strategies and techniques. The distinction is made between narrative (substantive) and binding (instrumental) elements. The resulting classified inventory enables me to outline the complex structure of the novel and describe the role of different types of elements within the stream of consciousness in their relation to the main subjects of the novel. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper is devoted to one of the semantic elements of “Finnish discourse” in Russian literature, so-called “Northern love”. This notion includes the paradoxical love for austere Northern nature and for the unfriendly but attractive Northern (Finnish) girl as well. Both components were prepared and well elaborated within the poetry of Russian Romanticism but kept their actuality during the Modernist era. After Vladimir Solovʼevʼs linking of the love for Lake Saimaa with his permanent seeking for the Eternal Feminine, Russian Symbolists of different sorts and generations made the “Northern love” an essential part of the image of Finland. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this paper the author discusses the occurrence and the (actual and potential) meanings of the non-prepositional instrumental in Pavel Filonovʼs poema ‘Propeven’ o prorosli mirovoiʼ. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The paper presents a survey of stable compositional models and basic components of Maiakovskiiʼs imagery system found by the poet as early as in his cycle book I! (Ia!). A new viewpoint is proposed on the problem of the subject of utterance in the notorious verse “I like to watch children die” (“Ia liubliu smotretʼ, kak umiraiut deti”); the original way of treating the “father and son” conflict in the culmination point of the cycle (‘Some words about myself’ – ‘Neskolʼko slov obo mne samom’) is accounted for. It is demonstrated that the search for an idealistic incarnation of “paternity” obtains a further development in the poem ‘Listen!’ (‘Poslushaite!’), inspired by Francis Jammeʼs lyric poetry, and further in the poems for children ‘What is good and what is bad?’ (‘Chto takoe khorosho i chto takoe plokho?’). The genre and stylistic conventionality of poetry for children makes it possible for the author to interpret the situation from the position of a wise father and solve all the contradictions in a space dominated by the artistʼs rational and humane will. ‘What is good and what is bad?’ is a rendering of the eternal problem of good and evil in childrenʼs language, the problem from which Maiakovskiiʼs development as a poet started. The authors of the paper arrive at the conclusion that the cycle I! is not a mere precursor of Maiakovskiiʼs further development but it appears to be the prototype of his artistic world. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The present paper reconstructs and examines a plot of friendship and split between two famous Russian philologists, Boris Eikhenbaum and Viktor Zhirmunskii. The starting point is that a quarrel itself is under implicit taboo within academic profession and has to be substituted by alternative forms, i.e. public and intimate text production (articles, reviews, letters, diaries). This multi-genre textual array could generate an independent story which demonstrates complicated reference to reality. The paper is devoted to the case of academic quarrel as a specific kind of narrative encoding psychological and worldview drama between closest friends. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In the present paper those of Sumarokov's psalm paraphrases are analyzed which he published in 1774, three years before his death. Special attention is devoted to a group of ten texts which he marked as “exactly as in Hebrew” and which he wrote in free non-rhymed verse. In these ten texts he shows an unexpected philological concern with closeness to the Hebrew original. Not knowing Hebrew himself, he mentions using a German translation of the Hebrew original. But which one did he use? The answer: he used the translation of the theologian Johann Michaelis (1612–1674). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Until recently, literary scholars paid very little attention to Vasilii Petrov, Catherine's II “pocket poet”, librarian and reader. For his contemporaries he was a poet of little merit, an adherent of obsolete poetics who owed his literary career exclusively to the empress's favour. One specific point of criticism was that Petrov addressed his panegyric works not only to Catherine II, but also to her dignitaries and to various noblemen. Among these dignitaries the most important was Catherine's lover, Prince Grigorii A. Potemkin, field marshal general of Russia. Potemkin remained Petrov's patron until Potemkin's death in 1791. The present paper analyses Petrov's odes and epistles in praise of Potemkin. What is the place of these works in the general framework of his poetic œuvre? How does Petrov use the actual facts of Potemkin's career in his panegyrics? Special attention is paid to the metapoetical passages of his poems and the light they shed on his poetic practice. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The present paper concerns Natal'ia Borisovna Dolgorukaia's Own Notes – the first female autobiography in the history of Russian literature. Contrary to a received notion of scholarship, the generic character of these Notes is not determined by the hagiographic tradition, but by the interaction of two secular genres – the memoir on one hand, and the novel on the other. With their generically complex structure, Dolgorukaia's Notes give a fascinating insight into how a female aristocrat viewed her own life in early eighteenth-century Russia. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper is about Derzhavin's ode ‘Khristos’, which he wrote in 1814, two years before his death and thirty years after his ode ‘Bog’. These two odes represent two stages of Derzhavin's religious thought. ‘Bog’ represents a time in his life when he was striving to reconcile Western European Enlightenment with the traditional Russian faith. An analysis of the later poem ‘Khristos’ indicates clearly that in his old age, Derzhavin renounced his version of the religious Enlightenment. He now put faith above reason and the Scripture above modern science, thus returning to his religious roots. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this paper, I attempt to analyze the idea of law as a concept of paramount importance in eighteenth-century Russia. This approach is meant to shed light not only on the mechanism and effects of social control exercised by the throne, but also on the self-identification of the authorities and the priorities governing the values and the daily life of the privileged classes. This project entails clear definitions of both the word law as it is used in official sources, and the social practices associated with it. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The present paper discusses M.M. Kheraskov's little known didactic poem ‘The Poet’ of 1805. It argues that the poetic form and theoretical content of this work are determined by the tradition of the didactic poem (Horace, Boileau, Sumarokov); Kheraskov's thoughts on literary aesthetics, as reflected in his earlier works, offer another relevant context. In general terms, his poem can be characterized as a syncretistic amalgam of classicist, sentimentalist and preromantic elements, based on a rich substratum of masonic motifs. The appendix contains a reprint of the original text. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]