Peter I and the Peter's Era in ‘Dialogues of the Dead’ (Based on Materials from the Manuscripts Department of The National Library of Russia)

Abstract

The personality of Peter I and the realities of the Peter's era were reflected in the original genre, which is on the verge of historical science and literature, — “Dialogues of the Dead.ˮ This genre became widespread in Europe at the end of the 17th – first half of the 18th century. It is generally accepted that “Dialoguesˮ appeared in Russia in the middle of the 18th century in journal publications — translations of satirical works of Lucian and Fontenelle, as well as imitations of them. However, archival materials testify that “Dialoguesˮ existed in the Russian manuscript tradition in the first half of the 18th century, and these are historical and biographical texts that provide information about the course of the Northern War, the European setting of Peter's time, and outstanding commanders of this era. These dialogues are translations from German of D. Fassmann's works. Peter I himself, as the protagonist of “Dialogues of the Dead,ˮ first appeared in a Russian manuscript book (and later in print) not in translated texts, but in an original work. Its author is considered to be one of the first biographers of Peter I, P. N. Krekshin. This “Dialoguesˮ became a real literary panegyric to the Russian emperor, also due to its special artistic form.