Russian Proverbs in the Letters and in the Unpublished Album of N. M. Karamzin

The article considers the degree of Karamzin's proximity to the folk speech. The observations on the use of proverbs and sayings in Karamzin’s letters help the author to gain insight into this issue. The author of the article notes that the “Collection of 4291 ancient Russian proverbs ...” prepared by A. A. Barsov was well known to Karamzin. The writer highly appreciated the genres in which “the precious remnants of the minds of our ancestors, their true notions of good and the wise rules of life were preserved.”

The desire for expressive simplicity and brevity of the language grew with him. Referring “to the live sources of the popular word” Karamzin achieved, what Pushkin called the first merits of the prose - accuracy and brevity. In the article the author uses Karamzin’s unreleased album, compiled in 1821 for Empress Elizaveta Alekseevna, with whom he had sincerely correspondence and mutual understanding.

The album contains excerpts and aphorisms from European thinkers, but it also has a large collection of Russian proverbs. Many of them were especially close to the worldview of Karamzin, and he used them in his letters and notes. Proverbs and sayings are often found in Karamzin epistles to P. A. Vyazemsky, who was very interested in the folk genres. Karamzin understood that the proverbs reflected life experience, the age-old wisdom of the people and their moral ideas. Proverbs became the language equivalent of the real life patterns, comprehended in difficult life trials, and a source of spiritual courage and writing skills.

Keywords

N. M. Karamzin, unpublished handwritten album, Russian proverbs and sayings

Acknowledgment

The study is financially supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research and the Administration of Ulyanovsk Region as a part of the research project No. 17 14 73002 «Chronicle of N. M. Karamzin’s Life and Work in the Petersburg Period. Part 2. 1821–1826».

Received

25.06.2019

Publication date

25.06.2019

Number of characters

19604

Cite

GOST	Sapchenko L. Russian Proverbs in the Letters and in the Unpublished Album of N. M. Karamzin // Russkaya Rech’ – 2019. – Issue 3 C. 83-95 [Electronic resource]. URL: http://ras.jes.su/rusrech/s013161170005213-3-1-en (circulation date: 20.04.2024). DOI: 10.31857/S013161170005213-3
MLA	Sapchenko, Lyubov’ A "Russian Proverbs in the Letters and in the Unpublished Album of N. M. Karamzin." Russkaya Rech’ 3 (2019):83-95. DOI: 10.31857/S013161170005213-3
APA	Sapchenko L. (2019). Russian Proverbs in the Letters and in the Unpublished Album of N. M. Karamzin. Russkaya Rech’ (3), pp.83-95 DOI: 10.31857/S013161170005213-3

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