Abstract
Purpose. The article examines the problem of formation of V. A. Zhukovsky’s literary reputation in 1808–1815, based on the materials of the journals Vestnik Evropy and Rossiiskii Muzeum.
Results. Having started editing Vestnik Evropy in 1808, Zhukovsky announced the idyllic self-representational model of the “petit cercle” (“small circle”) which he had previously built in his lyrics, correspondence and diaries. This model was ignored by M.T. Kachenovsky, Zhukovsky’s comrade in publishing the magazine, guided by the raznochintsy model of “writer-worker”. V.V. Izmailov (the editor of Vestnik Evropy in 1814) in 1815 created a magazine called Russian Museum, where V.A. Zhukovsky’s autorepresentative model was adapted to the Karamzin context and transformed. The “small circle” of souls turned into a circle of selected talents, and the hostile force of fate – into the envy of their literary opponents. The most fruitful for the Karamzinist reception was Zhukovsky’s role of “Russian Tyrtaeus”.
Conclusion. Thus, the ensemble unity of the journals Vestnik Evropy and Rossiiski Muzeum may be considered as a space where Zhukovsky’s literary reputation was formed in a complex interaction of interpretations.