Saratov

In 1917–1921, being the first Professor of World Literature at the recently (1914) opened Saratov University, young Victor M. Zhirmunsky taught general courses in World literature – and seminar “Byron’s Contemporaries in Literature”, which concentrated on literary sources for Byron’s poems and their influence on Russian poetry. Zhirmunsky’s letter to B. Eichenbaum of July 29, 1918 contains an outline of his idea for a doctoral thesis on Byron’s poetics with “a long excursion” based on the seminar’s work – a research into “Byronic” Pushkin’s poems.

Based on the material published in newspapers Saratovskiy Listok (Saratov Leaflet) and Saratovskiy Vestnik (Saratov Herald) the article analyzes the dispute in Saratov community over a provocative drama about a “wife killer” Jealousy – the first play written by a fashionable and scandalous author, M. P. Artsybashev. The reasons for the popularity of the play’s simplified interpretation of F. Nietzsche’s ideas that influenced the development of gender issues and shaped the shocking libertine image of a “new” female predator in public consciousness are revealed.

The work deals with the questions of the biography of the outstanding Russian scientist-humanitarian, academician of the Imperial Academy of Sciences A. N. Pypin (1833–1904). The purpose of the study is to identify and summarize materials about the Saratov period of the scientist’s life, to present the history of his family, to reveal the role of his father and mother in intellectual and spiritual development.

The article discusses the important episodes of the history of Saratov philological school associated with the names of Yu. N. Chumakov, A. P. Skaftymov, E. I. Pokusaev.