“All Sorts of Things,” Trediakovsky and “Fenelon”

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of V. K. Trediakovsky’s translation of “The True Politics of Noble Persons.” This text, the authorship of which was often attributed to F. Fenelon, influenced the development of Russian literary journalism in 1760–1770s. We show that “All Sorts of Things” (“Vsiakaia Vsiachina”) and the other literary magazines used the key ideas of savoir vivre ideology. At the same time, it was Trediakovsky who was one of the first, back in 1730s, who understood their role in shaping the ideology of absolutism. The new facts and interpretations make it possible to reconsider Trediakovsky’s reputation as a pathetic “buffoon” or even a “fool” of Russian literature, whose works were on the sidelines of the main movement of Russian culture.