Correspondence between Vyazemsky and Pushkin - “a treasure trove of wit, subtle criticism and good Russian language”

July 23, 2019 marks the 227th anniversary of the birth of Pyotr Vyazemsky (1792–1878), one of the closest friends of Alexander Pushkin, Nikolai Karamzin and Vasily Zhukovsky; we know him more as a poet, memoirist, historian, translator, first chairman of the Russian Historical Society, and less as an authoritative critic, master of the epistolary genre and... a hero of the Patriotic War of 1812. Electronic copies of unique editions from the Presidential Library’s collection, such as “Letters by N. M. Karamzin to Prince P. Vyazemsky” introduce them to these aspects of his life. 1810–1826”, “Letters of Prince Pyotr Vyazemsky: the papers of Pyotr Chaadayev”, count’s lifetime memories of participation in the Battle of Borodino, “Wake of the Battle of Borodino, and Memories of 1812” (1869) and other sources.

The digitized book of P. Petrov “Count Pyotr Vyazemsky” (1881), dedicated to the son of Vyazemsky, a well-known diplomat, government official, founder of the Society of lovers of ancient writing, tells about the noble old Vyazemsky family.

Being the son of such a military level, Pyotr Vyazemsky did not consider possible to evade participation in the war with Napoleon, although he soberly assessed his fighting qualities, admitting in his memoirs “Commemoration of the Battle of Borodino and Memoirs of 1812”: “I have already said once that never trained for military service. Neither my health, nor upbringing, nor my inclinations placed me in this rank. I was a mediocre rider on a horse, never took a firearm in my hands. In a word, nothing was warlike in me”.

When the war of 1812 broke out, Pyotr Vyazemsky was 20 years old, and it was difficult for him to understand the reasons for the collision of two warring states. But philosophically-minded, well-educated young man tried to understand the very essence of the issue. Alexander I’s meeting with the highest nobility is described in his memoirs: “With the arrival of the sovereign in Moscow, the war took on the character of a people's war. All hesitation, all perplexity disappeared; everything hardened and animated in one holy feeling that it was necessary to defend Russia and save it from the invasion of the enemy. <...> The sovereign was stately calm, but apparently concerned... In brief and clear words, the sovereign determined the position of Russia, the danger threatening it, and the hope of assistance and courage of the people themselves”.  

By the time of the Battle of Borodino, Pyotr Andreevich was in the thick of things, joining M. Dmitriev-Mamonov's Cossack regiment and becoming the adjutant of General Miloradovich (he would later devote his poem about the fateful battle for the outcome of the war).

“My first military impressions met me in Mozhaisk, - writes Vyazemsky. - There I was a witness to the sad spectacle and completely new to me. I found here many of my acquaintances from Moscow balls and meetings, and all of them were more or less mutilated after the battle that preceded Borodino”.   

“I was so inexperienced in military matters and such a peaceful military baric”, - he continues, “that the whistle of the first bullet that flew over me was taken by me as a whip. I turned back and, seeing that no one was following me, I guessed about the true meaning of this whistle. Soon afterwards, the nucleus fell at the feet of the Miloradovich horse. He said: “My God! The enemy gives us the honor". I cannot help but notice that the habit of speaking French did not prevent our generals from fighting completely Russian”.

The prince’s inexperience and inability to fully appreciate the danger brought him among the first brave men: during the Battle of Borodino, one horse was wounded and another was killed under him; he saved General Bakhmetev and was awarded Order of St. Vladimir of the 4th degree. According to some historians, the stories of Vyazemsky about the realities of the Battle of Borodino were used by Leo Tolstoy in writing the novel War and Peace, and the image of Pierre Bezukhov, who was in the center of the theater of military operations, received separate personality traits of Prince Vyazemsky. What did not prevent the latter in the future, becoming a famous writer, to criticize the great writer for inaccuracies in the image of what was happening on the battlefield.

Vyazemsky's extensive correspondence with Pushkin is invaluable. A former literary associate of the poet in the Arzamas society, and then an employee of the Literary Gazette of Delvig and Pushkin and Pushkin’s Sovremennik, Pyotr Vyazemsky left a vast legacy of epistolary communication with the poet. "Their correspondence, according to literary critic D. P. Mirsky, is a treasure trove of wit, subtle criticism and good Russian language".

Critical speeches of Vyazemsky included often disputes - they were so extraordinary and sharp, sometimes Pyotr Andreevich was even at the center of the literary process. Having written several articles about the works of Pushkin, he extremely exposed his ideological and aesthetic position in the essay “Conversation of a Classic with a Romantic, instead of a Preface to the “The Fountain of Bakhchisaray””, where, as a critic-romantic, he brought himself. Vissarion Belinsky appreciated the author’s two major merits: that “his prosaic articles contributed a lot to the liberation of Russian literature from the prejudices of French pseudo-classicalism” and that for the first time it was Vyazemsky who formulated the concept of nationality.

However, sometimes literary differences spread these two worthy critics on opposite sides of the barricades. So, for example, after the article of the count “Yazykov and Gogol” he called Vyazemsky “the count in aristocracy and the serf in literature”. At the same time, Pushkin was always on the side of his friend’s and believed in the arguments of “a man with intelligence, talent and education”, according to Belinsky.