The First “Thick” Journal in Russia: To the 220th Anniversary of Nikolay Karamzin’s “Vestnik Evropy”

Abstract

The article analyzes the content of Nikolay Karamzin’s “Vestnik Evropy.” Two sections — “Politics” and “Literature and Miscellanea” — contained a variety of material that Karamzin drew from foreign periodicals from different countries. Translations, which he did for 20 years, and a good knowledge of journals and newspapers in Europe, helped him create an example of a socio-political and literary periodical. The article examines the content of political articles devoted to the events of European life during the difficult socio-political situation of the early 19th century. Turning to various primary sources and serious foreign analysts, Karamzin deliberately set a polemical discourse in the journal, in which he himself took part as a commentator. The article traces evolution of Karamzin’s attitude towards Napoleon and notes that admiration for the deeds of the commander and statesman is replaced by disappointment and skepticism after the proclamation of his “eternal consulate.” Throughout 1803, the “Vestnik Evropy” published many materials on the successes of education and charity in Russia. The author of the article notes that Karamzin managed to lay the foundations for future “thick” Russian journals of the 19th century.