OUTSIDE THE CANON: THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF PRINCE I. M. DOLGORUKOV (1764–1823)

The until recently marginal study of ego-texts has become a relevant scientific field, which constantly questions the traditional view of central and peripheral phenomena and authors in literature. This article aims to draw attention to an autobiographer and his autobiographical text, which have remained in the shadow of the traditional literary canon. The study focuses on the interpretation of the autobiography “Povest’ o rozhdenii moyem, proiskhozhdenii i vsey zhizni” of Prince I. M. Dolgorukov (1764–1823), an interesting figure of the Russian cultural scene of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Although I. M. Dolgorukov was a successful writer during his lifetime, today he is considered a “secondary” author. His voluminous autobiography had a similar not very happy fate, as it remained unpublished for a long time. However, the subject of this text is particularly interesting for understanding the evolutionary dynamics of Russian male autobiographical prose in that epoch. The analysis gives the opportunity to identify some typical characteristics of autobiographies in a period when the genre had not yet crystallized in Russia. At the same time, it highlights the many innovative features of the author’s autobiographical discourse. Therefore, the article also compares I. M. Dolgorukov’s text with the “canonical” autobiographies of A. T. Bolotov (1738–1833) and G. R. Derzhavin (1743–1816).