New data about V. P. Petrov as author of “The tale of Igor's campaign”

The article reviews the message "To the Great Empress Catherine II, the autocrat of All-Russia" by V. P. Petrov (second half of the 1770s). It sets forth in detail and figuratively the author's creative principles, which are also characteristic of "The Tale of Igor's Campaign". This piece by the court poet reveals a latent polemic with his longtime opponentV. I. Maikov. The caricature and obsessive image of a bed in V. I. Maikov's poem "Elisha, or the Irritated Bacchus" is in sharp contrast with the tragic image-symbol of a bed as a coffin by V. P. Petrov who is allegedly the author of "The Tale of Igor's Campaign". A complete introduction of "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" into the literary context of the late 18th century allows either to confirm the hypothesis of the late origin of this Russian literature monument and authorship of V. P. Petrov, or to clarify ideas about the literary process of the pre-Pushkin era, including "The Tale of Igor's Campaign".