Chaadaev against nationalism

Peter Chaadaev - “criminal” or “madman”? Catholic or Orthodox? “Righty” or “revolutionary”? Slavophile or Westerner? The scandalous first “philosophical letter”, published in 1836 and cost the author of the diagnosis of crazy, still causes hot disputes. Mikhail Velizhev, a professor of the school of philology, HSE, analyzes the mythology that has developed around Chaadaev’s figure, and offers a new reading of the famous text. In this perspective, Chaadaev appears as an opponent of Russian state nationalism-ideology that was formed in the 1830s. In addition to the Chaadaevsky article, the book included the most vivid materials of the official press of the Nikolaev time published in 1829 (in the year of the creation of the first “philosophical letter”) and in 1836 (in the year of its publication) The polemic context clarifies the meaning of the political gesture of the publishers of “Letters”: this is a criticism of official nationalism in his own language