One of the most famous philologists of the 20th century is Alexander Panchenko. His publications and books are currently actively cited in scientific works. The scientist left behind a rich heritage that has yet to be comprehended by new generations. Alexander Panchenko is a philologist whose main area of interest was the 17th century. However, he did not limit himself to studying this era. Academician Alexander Panchenko was interested in Russian culture and history as a whole, its development. This is reflected in his works.
Alexander Panchenko was born in Leningrad in 1937. His parents were literary scholars who worked at the Pushkin House. Therefore, from childhood, Alexander Panchenko was familiar with the traditions and atmosphere of Petersburg philology. Moscow is a city rich in renowned scientists, but St. Petersburg has also given us many talented researchers. One of them subsequently became Alexander Mikhailovich.
Period of study
The future scientist in 1953 was enrolled as a student at Leningrad University. In this educational institution, he simultaneously studied Russian studies and bohemian studies. Alexander Mikhailovich was lucky with tutors and professors at the Faculty of Philology. He happened to listen to lectures by such outstanding scientists as I.P. Eremin, V. Ya. Propp, B.V. Tomashevsky, P.N. Berkov. In 1954, Dmitry Sergeyevich Likhachev, who at that time worked in the Pushkin House (headed the Old Russian Literature Sector), suggested that Alexander Mikhailovich take up media studies. This determined his further professional fate.
In 1958, Alexander Panchenko graduated from Charles University in Prague, where he continued his studies of bohemistry. At the same time, he became a graduate of Leningrad University. After that, Alexander Mikhailovich continued his studies at the graduate school of the Pushkin House. Here, Alexander Panchenko worked until his death. A photo of the Pushkin House is presented above.
PhD thesis defense
In 1964, Alexander Mikhailovich defended his thesis. Her theme is "Czech-Russian literary relations of the 17th century." The peculiarity of this work is that Alexander Panchenko turned to the 17th century to solve academic problems. Since that time, Russian literature of the 17th century - a turning point, crisis, transition period - became the main scientific interest of Alexander Mikhailovich. This century is indeed interesting, since it largely determined the development of Russian culture and history in subsequent years.
Doctoral dissertation
In 1972, Panchenko defended his doctoral dissertation, the theme of which was "17th-century Russian syllabic poetry." This monograph has become a major event in Russian science. This is due not only to the novelty of the material involved and the academic thoroughness of the approach used by Panchenko, but also to the scientist’s methodological innovation.
In domestic literary criticism at that time, a discussion about the Slavic Baroque, including Russian, continued for a long time. Monograph Panchenko made a significant contribution to solving this problem. The scientist did not use Western European standards in the analysis of aesthetic thought and poetry of Russian poets.
The concept of development of Russian literature of the 17th century
Panchenko tried to find another formula for determining the first domestic trend in literature. For this, Alexander Panchenko developed the concept of the development of literature in Russia in the 17th century. His scientific views were subsequently expounded by him in the corresponding chapters of the History of Russian Literature, published in 1980. This concept has gained great fame thanks to the publication in the same year of the textbook "History of Russian literature of the 10-17 centuries." edited by Likhachev D.S.
Works on Old Russian Foolishness
Other important works of Alexander Mikhailovich, on which he worked in the 1970s, are his works devoted to Old Russian foolishness. They were included in the book "The Laughter World of Ancient Russia", published by Panchenko in collaboration with Likhachev in 1976. Alexander Mikhailovich emphasized that he was studying phenomenology, not the history of foolishness. The approach that he applied is a synthesis of methods for studying the poetics of literature of Ancient Russia and methods for studying various non-traditional genres and forms. Panchenko productively used both of these directions in the study of foolishness, writing one of the most striking cultural studies in Russian history.
The task pursued by Alexander Mikhailovich was to make out the essence of the phenomenon, and then the essence of the cultural movement in the history of our country, for supposedly understandable and well-established ideas. Hence Panchenko’s attention to such things as inertness in the view of Old Russian people or to the phraseological units “Potemkin villages”. Uncovering their original meaning, the scientist pointed out that the later liberal historical interpretation of such words and phrases obscured their true meaning, as well as the meaning of the historical phenomenon to which these expressions belonged.
"Russian culture on the eve of Peter's reforms"
The result of the scientist’s searches, carried out by him in the early 80s of the last century, was his book entitled “Russian Culture on the Eve of the Petrine Reforms”, published in 1984. This work is probably Panchenko's most important work on the 17th century in Russia. Although his material was not limited to the "rebel age" chronologically, it was precisely this time and the beginning of the next century that were in the focus of attention of Alexander Mikhailovich.
Leo Tolstoy called the era of the reign of Peter I "the knot of Russian culture." Panchenko showed how this knot was tied before. He noted that the origins of the contradictions in domestic life that Peter had to face should be sought in the 17th century. Studying outwardly dissimilar and diverse material (eternity and history in the system of cultural values, a writer and a book, the ancient Russian concept of laughter and fun, etc.), the scientist used new methods of analysis, determined new cultural constants, in particular, the innovation of Protopope Avvakum. Alexander Mikhailovich convincingly showed that in the 17th century, in the presence of its own traditions, Russia had several cultural landmarks. Indeed, it was a knot of various cultural traditions. Under Peter I, one of them won, but this did not mean the non-viability of others, for example, the Old Believers. Panchenko believed that all these cultures, although not the same, are equal. It should be noted that in many works, Alexander Mikhailovich emphasized the equality of cultures. In the 17th century, the specificity of Russian culture was that at that time various layers coexisted in it.
The cycle of historiosophical works
In the late 80s - early 90s of the last century Panchenko wrote a series of historiosophical works. The reflections of the famous scientist on the ways and sources of Russia were of great importance. Together with L. N. Gumilyov in 1990, Panchenko wrote the book "So that the candle does not go out." It should be noted that Alexander Mikhailovich was always interested in the bearers of the former Russian culture, which were reciprocating. Not necessarily this mutual interest testified to a common position. The dialogues presented in the book about statehood and important issues of the historical development of the culture of our country revealed primarily the community of concerns and topics.
Proceedings of the last decade of Panchenko’s life
In 1992, an article by Alexander Mikhailovich "On the specifics of Slavic civilization" was published. She could name the cycle of works of the last years of the scientist's life. This article talks about Russian civilization. Panchenko was interested not only in professional problems. He examined Russian civilization in different eras, from the beginning to the modern state. Alexander Panchenko wrote about such important points as the adoption of Christianity, the Petersburg period of Russian history, the 1917 revolution. Many of his speeches and articles were not accidentally printed at that time in newspapers and magazines. Society needed an authoritative figure capable of judging the underlying processes of culture, as well as their origins.
Teaching, transmission cycles
For many years, Alexander Mikhailovich presented his views on Russian culture and history to students at lectures. The scientist was a professor at the Russian State Pedagogical University. Herzen. His audience in the last years of his life has grown significantly thanks to television. Independence of judgments, originality of thought, and the scientist’s interest in understanding the logic of historical events have earned well-deserved success for these programs. Television cycles on the nature and meaning of Russian history in 1996 were awarded the State Prize.
It is no coincidence that the specialist in literature of Ancient Russia became the interpreter of Russian culture and history as a whole. Panchenko Alexander Mikhailovich throughout his professional career emphasized in his works, of which there are more than 300, that the Russian cultural process is characterized by unity. Thanks to his knowledge, Alexander Mikhailovich was able to look at a new angle on modern history, which was opened to him by some other, previously unknown faces.
