An Epistolary Dialogue Between a Historian and a Writer: N. A. Troitsky and V. I. Savchenko on the Problems of Revolutionary Populism

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study and comparison of the views of historian N. A. Troitsky and writer V. I. Savchenko on the problems of the revolutionary movement of Russia in the XIX century, as well as the characteristics of some of its key figures. The authors, using ego sources (correspondence and memoirs), most of them introduced into scientific circulation for the first time, consider issues related to the interpretation of complex and contradictory aspects of revolutionary populism both in scientific literature and in fiction using the example of the works of Troitsky and Savchenko. Summing up the research, the authors state the features and nature of the epistolary communication between the historian and the writer of the 1970s — 1980s, emphasizing their impartial, open and thoughtful discussion of key moments and bright personalities from the history of the liberation movement of Russia of the nineteenth century. The analysis of the correspondence between the scientist and the novelist allowed the authors to identify their conceptual views on the problems of revolutionary populism, and to illustrate the coincidence or closeness of the views of Troitsky and Savchenko on most of the historical subjects they consider.