Scenarios of change. Uvarovskaya award and evolution of Russian drama in the era of Alexander II

In 1856, the famous archaeologist and historian Alexei Sergeyevich Uvarov turned to members of the Academy of Sciences with an unusual proposal: he wanted to honor the memory of his recently dead father, former Minister of Education S.S. Uvarova, having established a special prize, which was supposed to be awarded annually on behalf of the Academy for the best play and for the best study on history. Uvarov promised to allocate considerable funds that were supposed to win. Academics gratefully accepted the proposal of the philanthropist and established the first literary prize in Russia. In the book of Cyril Zubkov, the Uvarov Prize becomes a kind of key that opens access to numerous problems of literary and social history. Its study allows the author to raise questions about the ratio of literature and theater, dramaturgy and society, professional and amateur literature, the influence of developing public institutions of the “great reforms” on the dramaturgy of that time, the connections of textbook dramatic works with the development of nationalism and historical thinking. The work is based on previously not introduced into the scientific circulation of archival material. Kirill Zubkov - candidate of philological sciences, associate professor of the Higher School of Economics, junior researcher at IRLI RAS (Pushkin House)