18th century — ‘Modern Times' or ‘our Middle Ages'? Artistic Archeology of Kokhanovskaya (N. S. Sokhanskaya) (To the 200th Anniversary of Her Birth)

Abstract

The article is devoted to the creative heritage of Kokhanovskaya (Nadezhda Stepanovna Sokhanskaya; 1823-1884), an outstanding writer, a brilliant publicist, collaborator of all editions of I. S. Aksakov, the first female folklorist in Russia, and timed to coincide with her 200^th anniversary. One of the main tasks, that she set for herself was the preservation of Russian “old times”, including the recent by historical standards — Catherin's reign. The pictures of Russian life in the 18^th century and individual portraits of people of that time, which she recreated according to family traditions and documents from home archives, show that her ideas about this period in the life of Russia differed significantly from those that are usually attributed to the Slavophiles. For example, she spoke with reverence about Peter the Great. The Catherine's era was interpreted by Kokhanovskaya, on the one hand, as “Middle Ages”, on the other hand, as “modern times” (with a positive connotation). The writer was interested in the issue of European grafting to the tree of traditional Russian culture. Kochanovskaya's “positive outlook” on life determined her conciliatory approach to the era of historical fractures and cultural crossroads.