“THE MANIFESTO OF SLAVOPHILE CRITICISM”: CONTROVERSY BETWEEN NIKITA GILYAROV-PLATONOV AND APOLLON GRIRORIEV ABOUT SERGEI AKSAKOV’S NOVEL “FAMILY CHRONICLE”

Abstract

Aim. To reconstruct the socio-political content of N. P. Gilyarov-Platonov and A. A. Grigoriev debate about S. T. Aksakov’s “Family Chronicle”. Methodology. Reconstruction of the polemic was carried out through the method of political textology. Results. According to contemporaries, N. P. Gilyarov-Platonov’s extensive review of S. T. Aksakov’s “Family Chronicle”, published in 1856, contained a manifesto of Slavophile criticism. Gilyarov-Platonov showed the outstanding value of Aksakov’s book as the first work of “positive” literature in the “modern history” of Russia, overcoming the “vicious legacy” of Peter the Great’s “revolution” in literature. The most substantive criticism of this approach was from A.A. Grigoriev, who was close to Slavophilism. Research implications. An analysis of the main differences between “positive” and “negative” literature, as Gilyarov-Platonov and Grigoriev understood them, makes it possible to better understand the difference in political views of these conservative thinkers who seem very close in their world outlook.