A Voltaire For Russia: A. P. Sumarokov's Journey From Poet-critic To Russian Philosophe (studies In Russian Literature And Theory)

In A Voltaire for Russia, Amanda Ewington examines the tumultuous literary career of Alexander Petrovich Sumarokov in relation to that of his slightly older French contemporary, Voltaire. Although largely unknown in the English-speaking world, Sumarokov was one of the founding fathers of modern Russian literature, renowned in his own time as a great playwright and prolific -- poet. A Voltaire for Russia polemicizes with long-accepted readings of Sumarokov as an imitator of French neoclassical poets, ultimately questioning the very notion of a Russian "classicism." Ewington uncovers Sumarokov's poignantly personal devotion to Voltaire as a new framework for understanding not only his works but also his literary allegiances and agenda, as he sets out to establish a Russian literature and cultivate a reading public In A Voltaire for Russia, Amanda Ewington examines the tumultuous literary career of Alexander Petrovich Sumarokov in relation to that of his slightly older French contemporary, Voltaire. Although largely unknown in the English-speaking world, Sumarokov was one of the founding fathers of modern Russian literature, renowned in his own time as a great playwright and prolific poet. A Voltaire for Russia polemicises with long-accepted readings of Sumarokov as an imitator of French neoclassical poets, ultimately questioning the very notion of a Russian "classicism." Ewington uncovers Sumarokov's poignantly personal devotion to Voltaire as a new framework for understanding not only his works but also his literary allegiances and agenda, as he sets out to establish a Russian literature and cultivate a reading public. Table of contents Contents Acknowledgments Author’s Note List of Abbreviations Introduction: Northern Racine or Russian Voltaire? Reconsidering Sumarokov’s Literary Models Chapter One: The Poet as Critic: Sumarokov and Voltairean Taste Chapter Two: The Poet as Philosophe Chapter Three: The Poet as Playwright-Philosophe Conclusion Appendix A: Voltaire’s Letter to Sumarokov Appendix B: Preface to the Tragedy Dimitry the Pretender Notes Selected Bibliography Index Amanda Ewington. Revision Of The Author's Thesis (ph.d.)--university Of Chicago, Dept. Of Slavic Languages And Literatures, 2001. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 227-247) And Index.