N. M. Karamzin: the thoughts about true freedom

The concept of “freedom” in Karamzin’s literature heritage has multiple meanings. In the novel “Letters of a Russian Traveler” the reader gets an unrestricted opportunity “to wander here and there at your slightest whim.” In poetry “freedom” appears as a lyrical experience of peace, blissful solitude and natural beauty; as an essential prerequisite for spiritual fulfillment, reflection, work and love. In short novels Karamzin defends the “autonomy of a sensitive heart” in contrast to religion and morality that restrict the human right to love and be happy. “Freedom” for the historiographer is an essential prerequisite for creative work, truthfulness and moral responsibility. According to Karamzin true freedom as independence of judgment and inherent dignity of a person involves the need for self-restraint in the name of peace and “order”. In this context understanding of freedom as a change of the political system appears to be a pernicious delusion.