Ivan Vasilyevich Kireevsky (1806-1856) was one of a whole generation of Russian litterateurs who made it their business to develop new genres on the foundations laid by Russia's literary pioneers. In 1827 Kireevsky declared his intention of giving his own direction to Russian letters through criticism, a genre he helped create in Russia. The working out of the principal attributes of the narodnost' conceptual variable, key to his time, is a constant in all his articles. Also pervasive are his several professional deficiencies. These did not hinder his contemporaries' true and often stated appreciation of his contribution but for the modern student they seriously impede comprehension. Nevertheless, the Russia/West dynamic is a clearly discernible constant, constituting an integral part of his understanding of narodnost'. He persistently attempts to get around the West's cultural superiority but varies his tactical approach to the problem somewhat each time. It is the aim of the present study to follow and document the evolution of his thought on these related phenomena while concurrently dealing with the impact of his professional shortcomings.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.69564 |
| Date | January 1993 |
| Creators | Bonneville, Gérard Léo |
| Contributors | Austin, P. A. (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Arts (Department of Russian and Slavic Studies.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001340880, proquestno: AAIMM87888, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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