Talking of natural beauty on pages of the magazine “Childhood reading for the heart and mind”

This article discusses the magazine by N. I. Novikov "Childhood Reading for the Heart and Mind", which played an important role in the formation of the moral-religious and philosophical-aesthetic principles of a number of Russian writers. The magazine expressed and formed such a worldview, according to which everything that happened seemed justified and expedient. The magazine's materials represent a religious and moral unity that incorporates the entire composition of the universe: from an insect to the supreme creator. This philosophical attitude is revealed to the child in the world of the family, in the conversations of the father and mother with the children. The magazine also deals with the problems of epistemology, affirming the idea of the harmony of the world and in this respect drawing closer to the philosophy of optimism. "Natural History" on the pages of "Childhood Reading..." appeared as the basis of religious and philosophical knowledge. Special articles were devoted to the problems of philosophy and religion — excerpts from treatises, mainly by Charles Bonnet — "Contemplation of Nature", "On God and the Universe in General", etc. In Bonnet's writings one can see the principles of future Aksakov's poetics, especially the poetics of memoir genres. Aksakov's favorite magazine of N. I. Novikov also talked about the friendship of children and parental love, about compassion for the poor, about the diversity of natural phenomena. The problematics and poetics of the read works subsequently echoed in the original Aksakov's work.