From “aesthetic humanism” to “Russian worldview”: literary-critical works of S. P. Shevyrev in the 1820s-1830s

For the first time S. P. Shevyryov’s fundamental concept “aesthetic humanism” (V. Zenkovsky) has been considered in connection with his biography and in correspondence with his literary criticism at the end of the 1820-1830s. Peter the Great played a very influential role in his outlook at that period, as well as the idea of “the Russian Christ” who introduced Russia to European philosophy and aesthetics, education and enlightenment, literature and culture. Thus, he formed ideology and the subject matter of his Russian idea that will be based on secular German philosophy and aesthetics, the marking components for the project of Russian enlightenment, that combined the best achievements of European science: “German philosophy”, “Italian art”, “French legislation”, “English life practices”. The research aims at the first two volumes of Complete Literary Criticism by Shevyryov published in 2019 and 2020. His research works (“The History of Poetry”, “The Theory of Poetry”) and critical reviews showing his contribution as a leading critic in such journals as “The Moscow Herald” (1827-1830) and “The Moscow Observer” (1835-1837) are published.