Pavel V. Annenkov, a "superfluous man"

The article investigates the biography and heritage of Pavel Annenkov who represented the "second-line" early Russian liberalism of the mid-XIX century. Kavelin and Chicherin were recognized leaders and founders of the na­tional liberal tradition and therefore are well known in the national and foreign historiography. However, early Rus­sian liberalism is unthinkable without those who created liberal environment at that time and directly participated in the formation of the concept of early liberalism. Among them there were Annenkov, Babst, Botkin, Druzhinin, 122 «Лишний человек». Korsch, who do not occupy a prominent place in academic research. The study of the literary heritage and biography of Annenkov gives a possibility to understand the nuances of social and cultural dynamics of the early Russian liber­alism's formation and to distinguish the peculiarities of national perception of European values. In particular, due to the efforts of Annenkov, Botkin and Druzhinin and under the influence of the "aesthetic" debates between the De­mocrats and the Liberals the concept of "pure art" got the important place in the theoretical system of national liber­alism. Annenkov was the chronicler of a "remarkable decade" (1838-1848) and left very valuable comments on the history of the famous debates between the Westerners and the Slavophiles, and complex and contradictory world of Russian Westernism. Annenkov's life is an example of a difficult search of liberal identity in adverse conditions of Russian reality.