Viktor Burenin as Literary Critic: to the Question of Literary Reputation

Abstract

The paper presents the study of the main trends that determine the reputation of Burenin as a literary critic. An emphasis is placed on the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries as a period when Burenin’s core devices in his critical works in the context of his own literary reputation have already acquired the character of cliché. I consider ego-documents, and Critical Essays by Burenin, published in Suvorin’s newspaper Novoe Vremya and critical responses to these essays. In analyzing the assessments, given by contemporaries and researchers, I prove the need to take into account a more subtle gradation of research positions and statements, formed partly under the influence of the Burenin’s contradictory, shockingly reactionist strategy. Keywords: Burenin, literary reputation, polemics, literary scandal.