From his days as a student at the Imperial Lycée, Pushkin remained passionately concerned with Russian history. In 1831 he was appointed Russia’s official historian laureate (
istoriograf). He was only the second person – after the poet and historian Nikolay Karamzin – to be given this title, and he saw it as a great honour; he was well aware that Voltaire, whom he admired, had been granted a similar title by Louis XV. Pushkin made use of this position to do detailed archival research, both for his completed
Istoriia Pugacheva[
History of Pugachov] and for his never-completed study of Peter the Great.
One of Pushkin’s most eloquent statements about Russian history was in a letter he wrote to the philosopher Pyotr Chaadaev, expressing his strong disagreement with Chaadaev’s
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Citation: Chandler, Robert. "Arap Petra Velikogo". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 08 June 2019 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=38954, accessed 21 November 2024.]
