Critical reception of the first monographic edition of “Western influence in new Russian literature” (1883) by A.N. Veselovsky: disput between westerners, populists and slavophiles

This article is dedicated to analysis of the critical reception the first monographic edition of “Western influence in the new Russian literature”, which was published in 1883: Ilya Alexandrovich Shlyapkin published an article entitled “Western influence in the new Russian literature of A. Veselovsky” in the sixth issue of the Slavophile newspaper “Rus” on March 15, and the eleventh issue of the ultra-populist newspaper “Nedelya” featured the article appeared under the title “The struggle of Westernism against nationalism”. The article proves that these critical articles were written in the style of a feuilleton since they have the appropriate criteria: they are written on a current topic, they are evaluative, oppositional and expose the criticized book. The conflict between the last Westernizers, Slavophiles and populists took stage on the pages of (solid) magazines of the late 19th century is studied in modern literary criticism, however, a specific case of the emergence of a controversy around the above-mentioned monograph has not been yet analyzed. This is necessary, since new materials not only help restore the facts of the biography of prominent literary scholars of the late 19th century, but also complement the socio-political context of the era of the reign of Alexander III. The continuation of disputes that began in the 1810s between karamzinists and shishkovists is proven. The author of the article shows that the polemics was not carried out academically, but demonstrated the social and political views of each side, which led to the ineffectiveness of the discussion.