Andrei M. Ranchin, DSc in Philology, Leading Researcher, Institute of Scientific Information for Social Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Nakhimovsky Avenue, 51/21, 117418, Moscow, Russia. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0414-5106
The article is a retort in the polemic with D.I. Cherashnya and D.P. Ivinsky, who consider (although not in the same way) the tale by A.S. Pushkin Count Nulin as a work, the plot of which is correlated with the events of December 14, 1825. The focus is on the arguments of D.P. Ivinsky, who believes that Pushkin correlated Natalya Pavlovna’s flirting with Nulin with Alexander I’s “flirting” with the liberals, which provoked the rebels’ uprising, which the author associates with the count’s attempt to seize the mistress; the rebuff given by the young landowner is supposed to remind us of the dispersal of the rebels by Nicholas I. These arguments are assessed critically, and it is proven that such a correlation does not exist. It is also proven that the derogatory and mocking attitude towards the Decembrists, which is implied by this interpretation, is impossible for Pushkin. In this regard, the assessment of the rebels contained in other Pushkin texts is analyzed – in the poem “Stanzas” and in the note “On Public Education”. It is shown that this assessment, although it is unflattering for the rebels, is devoid of contemptuous mockery: the Decembrists do not appear petty and insignificant.
A.S. Pushkin; “Count Nulin”; “Stanzas”; article “On public education”; Decembrists; interpretation.
11.07.2025
12.08.2025
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