Free Society of Amateurs of Literature, Sciences, and the Arts

Free Society of Amateurs of Literature, Sciences, and the Arts

 

a literary and social organization in St. Petersburg during the years 1801-25.

The society’s members included I. M. Born, A. Kh. Vostokov, I. P. Pnin, A. E. Izmailov, A. N. Radishchev’s sons N. and V. Radishchev, and K. N. Batiushkov. During the early period (1801-07) a freedom-loving spirit prevailed; Radishchev’s ideas, as well as those of the French Enlightenment, were influential. Pnin’s treatise An Essay on the Enlightenment With Regard to Russia (1804) contained a bold exposure of slavery. After 1807 a conservative faction began to dominate the society. With lengthy hiatuses the society’s activity continued until 1825.

PUBLICATIONS

Poety-radishchevtsy. Edited with commentary by V. Orlov. Leningrad, 1935.
Poety-radishchevtsy, 2nd ed. Leningrad, 1952.

REFERENCE

Orlov, V. N. Russkie prosvetiteli 1790-1800-kh godov, 2nd ed. Moscow, 1953.