Lermontov’s Caucasian theme in the context of the manuscript heritage of his contemporaries

The article attempts to reconstruct the historical thinking of M. Yu. Lermontov and his contemporaries. Political, religious, and socio-psychological aspects of the relationship between the socio-cultural systems of Russia and the North Caucasus are revealed through the comparison of the poet's notebooks and notes from the Journal of Military Operations, historical journalism, official documents of the 1830s. The article presents rare materials from the archives of the Russian National Library, the Russian State Library, the Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkin House) of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The manuscripts directly related to Lermontov's military service in the Caucasus, official documents prepared on special instructions of the General Staff of the Russian Imperial Army, diaries and reflections of Lermontov's contemporaries containing records of his stay in Caucasian expeditions are considered. Based on the figurative and stylistic analysis of individual entries of the Journal of Military Operations, their belonging to Lermontov is postulated. The emphasis is placed on the integration of the knowledge of a professional military man, a participant in the Caucasian events and the artist's exploration of the world with his special perception of reality in Lermontov's style. The systematization of archival sources and the analysis of the opinions expressed in them about the relationship between Russia and the Caucasus made it possible to recreate the context in which Lermontov's historiosophy was formed, to determine the influence of public sentiment on the formation of the poet's historical thinking. As a result, the leading ideological constants in the assessment of historical events correlating with Lermontov's Caucasian historiosophy are revealed in handwritten essays of the 1830s.