“The Right to Biography” and Literary Memories of the 19th Century

The article bears on the classic articles by Lotman, Bakhtin, and Tomashevsky and contemporary works by Mestergazi, Kalugin, Djachuk and others. It focuses on the study of two categories: “the right to biography in history” and “the right to biography in the history of literature.” Dialogue among wr...

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Main Author: Alexey E. Kozlov
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Russian Academy of Sciences, A.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature 2020-06-01
Series:Studia Litterarum
Subjects:
Online Access:http://studlit.ru/images/2020-5-2/Kozlov.pdf
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author Alexey E. Kozlov
author_facet Alexey E. Kozlov
author_sort Alexey E. Kozlov
collection DOAJ
description The article bears on the classic articles by Lotman, Bakhtin, and Tomashevsky and contemporary works by Mestergazi, Kalugin, Djachuk and others. It focuses on the study of two categories: “the right to biography in history” and “the right to biography in the history of literature.” Dialogue among writers, journalists, and scholars in the 19th century demonstrates that these categories were understood differently, especially this concerns the limits of the mentioned “rights.” At the beginning of the article, I examine several interrelated stories that line up around the journal Otechestvennye zapiski. The essay analyzes methods of local and global influence on the history of literature in articles (articles about Feodor Rastopchin and Osip Senkovsky) and critical reviews (about Ivan Panaev). These materials actualize the opposition between “the right to immortality” (Turgenev) and “the right to oblivion” (Panaev). The main part of the article focuses on the phenomenon of literary memories and the principles of selection of historical figures. Considering the specific ways of organizing a biographical narrative, one can identify basic models of literary life, from adventure (Bulgarin, Panayev, Antonovich, Uspensky) to memory and being (Turgenev, Annenkov) and literature as memory (Annenkov). In conclusion, I argue that the corpus of literary memories is aimed at building a certain hierarchy, or a system of names. In other words, not being themselves part of the literary canon, these texts play a role in its formation contributing to the “legend about literature that it invents about itself” (Lotman).
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spelling doaj-art-cbc1b78c002147d8afe27606aa9700122025-08-20T03:04:43ZengRussian Academy of Sciences, A.M. Gorky Institute of World LiteratureStudia Litterarum2500-42472541-85642020-06-0152345510.22455/2500-4247-2020-5-2-34-55“The Right to Biography” and Literary Memories of the 19th CenturyAlexey E. Kozlov0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0016-9546 University of Tartu, 3 Lossi St., 51003 Tartu, EstoniaThe article bears on the classic articles by Lotman, Bakhtin, and Tomashevsky and contemporary works by Mestergazi, Kalugin, Djachuk and others. It focuses on the study of two categories: “the right to biography in history” and “the right to biography in the history of literature.” Dialogue among writers, journalists, and scholars in the 19th century demonstrates that these categories were understood differently, especially this concerns the limits of the mentioned “rights.” At the beginning of the article, I examine several interrelated stories that line up around the journal Otechestvennye zapiski. The essay analyzes methods of local and global influence on the history of literature in articles (articles about Feodor Rastopchin and Osip Senkovsky) and critical reviews (about Ivan Panaev). These materials actualize the opposition between “the right to immortality” (Turgenev) and “the right to oblivion” (Panaev). The main part of the article focuses on the phenomenon of literary memories and the principles of selection of historical figures. Considering the specific ways of organizing a biographical narrative, one can identify basic models of literary life, from adventure (Bulgarin, Panayev, Antonovich, Uspensky) to memory and being (Turgenev, Annenkov) and literature as memory (Annenkov). In conclusion, I argue that the corpus of literary memories is aimed at building a certain hierarchy, or a system of names. In other words, not being themselves part of the literary canon, these texts play a role in its formation contributing to the “legend about literature that it invents about itself” (Lotman).http://studlit.ru/images/2020-5-2/Kozlov.pdfliterary memorieswriter’s biographyreflection and narrativeauto-commentarycanonization.
spellingShingle Alexey E. Kozlov
“The Right to Biography” and Literary Memories of the 19th Century
Studia Litterarum
literary memories
writer’s biography
reflection and narrative
auto-commentary
canonization.
title “The Right to Biography” and Literary Memories of the 19th Century
title_full “The Right to Biography” and Literary Memories of the 19th Century
title_fullStr “The Right to Biography” and Literary Memories of the 19th Century
title_full_unstemmed “The Right to Biography” and Literary Memories of the 19th Century
title_short “The Right to Biography” and Literary Memories of the 19th Century
title_sort the right to biography and literary memories of the 19th century
topic literary memories
writer’s biography
reflection and narrative
auto-commentary
canonization.
url http://studlit.ru/images/2020-5-2/Kozlov.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT alexeyekozlov therighttobiographyandliterarymemoriesofthe19thcentury