N. M. Karamzin

In the article a program poem by N. M. Karamzin, «A Message to Women» is analyzed. This poem reveals the views of the writer on different perspectives of the ‘woman question’ and represents a typology of female images traditional for the Russian poetry of the XVIII century.

The article regards poems published in N. M. Karamzin’s Almanac
Aonides that were written by women: N. I. Starova (A. P. Svinyina),
A. M. Magnitskaya, E. P. Svinyina, E. V. Kheraskova, E. S. Yrusova.
Problem matter and poetics of these works are analyzed against the
background of historic, literary and cultural processes of the turn
of the XVIII–IXth centuries: the interaction of movements, genres,
formation of the authorship category, formation of a unique image of

In two articles we propose to consider Karamzin’s reminiscences (predominantly from the novel Poor Liza) in the novel by B. Sh. Okudzhava A Date with Bonaparte. The first article is dedicated to the plot lines of the novel related to the image of the serf Arina. One of the most important historic problems of the novel is actualized in them (serfdom); they also contain links to the up-to-date issues of the relationships between the intelligentsia and the people, inner and outer freedom.

The article considers the aesthetic value of the Almanacs Aglaya and The Aonides predetermined by the worldview core linking the publications – the personality of Karamzin emerging in different externalizations: as a publisher, an author of novels, a poet, a critic and an opinion journalist. The ‘many faces’ of N. M. Karamzin under consideration allow to draw the conclusion on the almanac’s being multitargeted, as well as to reveal the mechanisms of readers’ reception.