The Poetic Legacy of P.A. Vyazemsky: Alphabetical and Bibliographic Description of Published, Handwritten (Archived) and Controversial (Dubielzig) Writer’s Texts

About the authors:

Nikolay L. Vasilyev — DSc in Philology, Professor, Professor of the Mordovia State University, 68 Bolshevistskaya str., 430005 Saransk, Russia.

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Dmitry N. Zhatkin — DSc in Philology, Professor, Нead of the Department of Penza State Technological University, 1а/11 Bajdukov thoroughfare / Gagarin str., 440039 Penza, Russia.

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Abstract:

The article summarizes the results of a long-term study of the poetic activity of P.A. Vyazemsky (1792–1878), reflected in his lifetime publications, autobiographical, memoir and epistolary materials preserved in the writer’s archive. The works of the poet were published many times, including “Complete works” in 12 volumes (1878–1896). However, none of these publications, including Soviet ones, fully reflect Vyazemsky’s poetic legacy (even if we sum up such publications). In addition, the 12-volume collection contains some works of other authors mistakenly placed there. The existing bibliographies of the poet’s texts published by M.N. Longinov (1862), S.I. Ponomarev (1879), and D.D. Yazykov (1904) are also full of lacunae, inaccuracies, and contradictions. System accounting and textual interpretation of manuscripts (autographs, lists) of Vyazemsky’s poems and his poetic sketches in the Ostafyevsky archive (RSALA) and other archives make it possible to significantly supplement the idea of the writer’s late work and literary and social position, to clarify his authorship in relation to a number of controversial texts in this regard (“For the current war”, “Who needs whom more?”, “Rampant life in carlsbad we are...” etc.). It is necessary to take into account the poetic inserts in translated and original dramatic works written by Vyazemsky alone or in collaboration with V.L. Pushkin and A.S. Griboyedov. The result of a comprehensive study of the totality of direct and indirect evidences on Vyazemsky’s work was the authors “alphabetical index of P.A. Vyazemsky works,” which includes about 1350 bibliogrammes that demonstrate variations of names and the first lines of particular poems, information about their first publications or archival sources, and the necessary historical and literary commentary on them.