M. O. Menshikov about N. N. Strakhov: obituary as a manifestation of common views and the basis for bringing together the destinies of Russian critics

In the article, in a historical and literary context, the obituary of the famous publicist, critic, and journalist at the turn of the 19th – 20th centuries M. O. Menshikov, dedicated to the outstanding Russian critic N. N. Strakhov, is analyzed for the first time. The focus of the study is the interest of M.O. Menshikov to Nikolai Strakhov, which manifested itself at different stages of the publicist’s work, as well as the convergence of the creative and biographical traits of the two critics. The subject of the study is the attitude to the artistic and journalistic creativity of L. N. Tolstoy, Tolstoyism, critical realism and decadence. This work makes possible the determination of the degree of interest of the “Week” critic in Strakhov’s work, to identify the biographical and creative similarities between the two critics, to compare their perception of L. N. Tolstoy’s story “The Master and the Worker” and their attitude to the artistic and journalistic heritage of the Yasnaya Polyana genius. The study substantiates the idea of Menshikov’s deep interest in the national issue, which was formed even before moving to the newspaper “Novoe Vremya”. The author noted that the obituary reflected themes characteristic of the publicist’s work, laid the seeds of his negative attitude towards the revolutionary movement, and indicated the ideological inconsistency and ambiguity of the publicist’s position in the 1890s. Using text analysis, the author proved that Menshikov conducted an ideological search in the field of traditional values in the 1890s, closely related to his gradual internal spiritual growth. The methodology of this study is based on the key principles of scientific philological knowledge: the principle of historicism, consistency, objectivity and systematicity. The author used comparative typological and historical genetic methods, as well as an integrated approach to text analysis.

M.O.Menshikov, N. N. Strakhov, obituary, rapprochement, L. N. Tolstoy, literary criticism, Russian literature, national culture, creation, Tolstoyanism