Muravyov, Kniazhnin, Voltaire and Le Franc de Pompignan

The article is devoted to the study of literary contexts of M.N. Muravyovʼs tragedy “Dido”. It has not been published, the manuscript of this text is kept in the Department of Manuscripts of the Russian National Library (St. Petersburg). The work shows that Muravyov polemicized with a number of European authors, among whom the central place was occupied by J.J. Lefranc de Pompignan, who wrote his “Dido” in 1734, and Ja.B. Knyazhnin, who, creating the play of the same name presumably in 1769, relied on Lefranc. If the French writer criticized Virgil, did not understand his “naturalness” and tried to propose new principles for building characters in the drama, then Muravyov, on the contrary, idolized the author of the “Aeneid” and wanted to return to the ancient original. At the same time, the young poet could rely on the writings of Racine and the critical articles of Voltaire, who for several decades ridiculed Lefranc and his works. One of Voltaireʼs key texts in this context was “Le Russe à Paris” (1760), in which he opposed M.V. Lefranc to Lomonosov, who was one of the main literary models for Muravyov. Thus, the article hypothesizes that Muravyov, creating his “Dido”, found himself in the middle of literary disputes: rejecting the line “Lefranc – Knyazhnin – Sumarokov”, he chose the line “Virgil – Racine – Voltaire – Lomonosov”, claiming to be an intermediary between European and Russian cultures.