18th century

A. P. Skaftymov’s article «On the style of “The Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow” by A. N. Radischev» is regarded as one of the most significant works about the book of this author. The methodological basis of the research and the specific character of A. P. Skaftymov’s attitude to the formal method in literary criticism are observed. The conclusions are drawn on how up-to-date the ideas of the scientist are for contemporary science.

The paper examines the creative history of the play Psisha by Yuri Belyaev – a theatre critic, fi ction writer and dramatist of the Silver Age. While working on the article cycle A night at “The Opera House” about theatre history of the times of Catherine II, the critic researched historical sources: periodical, fi ction, documents of the second half of the 18th – early 19th centuries. There Belyaev must have found the material for his early fi ctional experience – the historical short story Psisha.

The article studies the diversity of ideas on the role of childhood in human fate in the work On man, his death and immortality (1792-1796) by A. N. Radishchev. The author pays particular attention to the main features of the moral ideal of a human being which, from the point of view of the Enlightenment writer, should be achieved through upbringing. In connection with this set of issues, A. N.