Poems in the Weekly “The Citizen” (1872–1874): Problem Statement

When V. P. Meshchersky founded his weekly “Grazhdanin” (“The Citizen”) in 1872, he conceived it as a “political and literary” publication. This became the program of the “newspapermagazine”. In an 1872 editorial, “citizen” is interpreted not as an impersonal French concept “citoyen”, but as a similar-in-meaning German word “Bürger” (a conscious hard worker and fighter for the honor of the Motherland). The article examines in detail the formation of the publication’s structure which finally took shape when Dostoevsky became a member of the editorial board. One of the sections of the publication was “Verses”. The poets’ circle of “Grazhdanin” included F. I. Tyutchev, A. N. Maykov, A. K. Tolstoy, Ya. P. Polonsky, A. N. Apukhtin, V. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko, Vs. S. Solovyov and others. Their works solved not only artistic tasks (creating a poetic world view, expressing aesthetic feelings), but also formulated the ideas of their time. The article analyzes F. I. Tyutchev’s poem “The Vatican’s Anniversary”, in which the poet expressed the philosophical and political ideas of “Grazhdanin”. They were later developed by V. P. Meshchersky in the article “The Struggle of the Church against the State in Europe”. The publication of original verses was accompanied by quotations from poets whose works were not published in “Grazhdanin”. For example, in “A Writer’s Diary”, Dostoevsky gave a critical analysis of N. A. Nekrasov’s poem “Vlas”. The writer’s polemics with the poet led to consequences. Dostoevsky expressed the ideas of “Grazhdanin”, Nekrasov accepted the enthusiastic criticism of the writer, but clarified and corrected some of his poems in a subsequent publication. A kind of creative dialogue took place between the writer and the poet. Verses in “Grazhdanin” complemented the philosophical, political and literary ideas of the publication, expressed lyrical experiences of poets, editors and readers. This article opens a series of works about the poetic repertory of “Grazhdanin”.