Russkii Puteshestvennik Epokhi Prosveshcheniia
2006; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 48; Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
2375-2475
Autores Tópico(s)Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices
ResumoS. A. Kozlov. Russkii puteshestvennik epokhi Prosveshcheniia. Volume 1. St. Petersburg: Istoricheskaia illiustratsiia, 2003. 496 pp.Sergei Kozlov's recent monograph examines travels and voyages of Russian noblemen across Europe and within the boundaries of the Russian Empire during the age of Enlightenment. The book may be classified as a study in social and literary history. It focuses on cultural issues and investigates the private life, interests and aspirations of Russian scientists, navy officers, aristocrats, and ordinary gentry who left a number of accounts regarding their personal experience acquired during long journeys in distant lands and the home country. The study is based on a wide range of primary sources including archival materials discovered in manuscript collections in Moscow and St Petersburg. Some of these papers are placed in the appendix to the book, which comprises almost half of the entire volume. Among them, for example, is the original journal of Alexei Bobrinsky, the illegitimate son of Catherine the Great, who undertook his grand voyage in Europe in 1782-1788.Kozlov subdivides all eighteenth-century Russian travels into two categories: those that were initiated by the state, and those that were private enterprises. The latter became possible after promulgation in 1762 the Charter to the Nobility. This legislative act abolished all restrictions related to freedom of movement and allowed the Russian gentry to travel abroad without special permission from the authorities. Diaries of private travelers, which contain the most interesting materials regarding the individual experience and mentality of their authors, are placed at the centre of the study.The book begins with a survey of scientific expeditions organized by the Russian Academy of Sciences for the purpose of gathering historical, ethnographical, scientific and geographical information on various territories of the Empire. Along with the well-known accounts of famous Russian scientists such as Stepan Krasheninnikov, the first European to travel to the Kamchatka peninsula, Doctor Ivan Lepekhin, who supervised the expedition to the Urals and the Russian North, or Nikolai Ozeretskovskii, who left a valuable description of Ladoga and Onega lakes, the author relies upon archival sources that have been previously unknown to most historians. He quotes, for example, the journal of Professor Nikolai Popov, a participant in an astronomical expedition to Siberia in 1761 to observe Venus travelling across the Sun's disk. Popov's manuscript bears little resemblance to a boring scientific report, but rather represents a fascinating story of his adventures which might be of interest to the general public. Kozlov suggests that by means of scientific expedition educated society became acquainted with the history and customs of the aboriginal population of the Russian Empire, especially during the reign of Catherine the Great, when a number of traveller's notes were published in St. Petersburg.A special chapter is devoted to the educational travels that became very popular at the end of the eighteenth century. In the Golden Age of Catherine the Great, many young aristocrats studied at European universities. Some of them were able to support themselves, while others relied upon their own diligence in order to get stipend from the state. …
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