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Abstract:

The article seeks to identify literary sources of Denis Fonvizin’s novella “Callisthenes” (1786). Up until now, it has often been viewed as the original work of the Russian playwright. As our findings suggest, validity of this assumption appears to be rather doubtful. The in-depth analysis of the novella’s background makes it clear that Fonvizin’s “Callisthenes” owes its origin to Boccaccio’s “De Casibus Virorum Illustrium” (1355–1360), mainly to the chapter “De Callisthene phylosopho”. Fonvizin, however, was not familiar with the Latin text. He worked exclusively with the French translation of Boccaccio’s “De Callisthene phylosopho” which was published in “Mélanges tirés d’une grande bibliothèque”. This multi-volume edition came out in Paris in 1779–1788. Fifth volume of the “Mélanges” contains ‘Histoire du malheureux philosophe Callistène’, an amplified translation by Laurent de Premierfait (c. 1370–1418). The manuscript of the French translation was kept in the private collection of the Marquis d’Argenson, who published a fragment pertaining to Callisthenes in the fifth volume of the “Mélanges”.

Кeywords: D.I. Fonvizin, eighteenth-century Russian literature, literary translation, comparative studies.