V. S. Podshivalov's essays in the magazine ‘Pleasant and useful pastime’

The article discusses the essays written by V. S. Podshivalov, the editor of the Moscow University magazine Pleasant and Useful Pastime and a supporter of N. M. Karamzin. The aim of this paper is to study the poetics of the essays and to show their significance in the context of the magazine. Podshivalov’s essays serve as material for researching the problem of the formation of sentimental aesthetics on the Enlightenment basis. The structure and methodology of the article are determined by the task of complex analysis of the text in the aspects of composition, rhetorical devices, themes and literary connections. The essays can be viewed as manifestos of sentimentalism. In his writings, Podshivalov develops a sentimental personality concept. All the essays are shown to be similar in terms of composition, developing a cumulative model where homogeneous structures of motives are gradually added. These structures are usually grouped into triads based on the repetition of key words. Series of such structures are, in turn, compared with each other on the principle of antithesis. The subject matter of the essays is related to the didactic literature of the Enlightenment: they concern traditional themes such as kindness, charity or, conversely, miserliness, cruelty. Satirical types of a miser, a hypocrite or an unfair critic are exposed by contrasting them with sentimental values (a sensitive heart, privacy and a close circle of friends). Podshivalov combines two traditions: Enlightenment didacticism and sentimentalism, transferring didactic issues to the sentimental conceptual sphere. The essays contain reminiscences from the works of N. M. Karamzin published around the same time as the first parts of the magazine. References to Karamzin in the university publication strengthened his moral and literary authority. The aesthetic effect of the essays is achieved by combining two contrasting elements - simplicity of content and complexity of form.