International Scientific Conference "Epistolary Heritage as a Phenomenon of Intellectual Culture of the Russian Enlightenment"

On December 8-9, 2023, the HSE hosted a scientific conference organized by the International Laboratory for the Study of Russian and European Intellectual Dialogue

For discussion there was proposed the topic of epistolary heritage as a communicative intellectual phenomenon, which promoted many innovations in the culture of the Russian Empire. The epistolary heritage of the Peter the Great era set the tone for this phenomenon. Empress Catherine II was called the true epistolary genius of that century. Her correspondence with European courts and intellectuals, as well as with her close subjects (e.g., with Count N. I. Panin, a statesman, diplomat, honorary member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences) not only expanded the subject of the epistolary of the empire's ruling elites, but under her pen made it both an intellectual and a literary phenomenon, which naturally was included in the development of journalistic and literary activities in Russia of the 2nd half of the XVIII century. The Empress, of course, became a participant in this process both in positive and quite overbearing censorship and punitive reactions. The literary issues in the letters of the Enlightenment age got their space in the personal and business correspondence of writers, rich in events, ideas, and projects. Thus, the publisher of the letters by V. K. Trediakovsky, G. R. Derzhavin, D. I. Fonvizin, N. I. Novikov, Ya. B. Knyazhnina, A. N. Radishchev defined the content of the letters by A. P. Sumarokov, as the "chronicle of theaters" of St. Petersburg and Moscow, and called them "literary and theatrical encyclopedia". It contained information about actors, prompters and "caretakers" (spectators); the role of the playwright in the preparation of the play and the censorship of his plays by the Academy and the Empress and other plots. 
It is important to mention travelogues of the XVIII century. – a literary and intellectual genre new to the Russian culture of that time. Traveler's Letters by N. M. Karamzin became a worthy completion of the development of the epistolary genre of the XVIII century.

The conference was attended by historians, philosophers, literary critics and philologists from Russia and other countries.

You can watch the videos of the conference on the YouTube.