The article discusses how Pushkin studies emerged in 1851–1855, their Moscow and St. Petersburg schools, P. I. Bartenev and P. V. Annenkov’s work on the materials for A. S. Pushkin’s biography. The article reveals the underpinning of the two Pushkin scholars’ creative ‘competition’ (Bartenev was ahead of Annenkov in publishing his scientific work and making O. S. Pavlischeva’s information about the poet public) in writing an ‘exemplary biography’ of Pushkin.
