V. Sosnora

The article is dedicated to the poetics of a historic work by V. Sosnora Derzhavin before Derzhavin. The main focus is on the potential of the genre foundation (a cycle of essays) and composition meaning. Those are viewed as ways of creating a subjective author’s image of a historic figure – a poet and a statesman.

The article analyzes the original concept of the Peter III personality in the essay by V. Sosnora «The Rescuer of the Country». Reminiscences from L. Stern novels, mainly from «The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy», create an interpretation code that corelates controversially with the established historic mythology based on memoire sources.

The article deals with the image of G.R. Derzhavin and the reminiscences from his works being researched in the songs, poems and books of recollections by the singer poet of the second half of the XXth century A. Gorodnitsky: the means and functions of their application, their relation to the pressing issues of today and to the images of the contemporary authors.