THE ATTEMPT OF THE RENEWAL OF THE “RUSSKOE OBOZRENIE” JOURNAL AS VIEWED BY LEV TIKHOMIROV AND THE MISS PIRAMIDOVA AFFAIR

Abstract

The articles devoted to Alexey Filippov’s attempt to continue the edition of the “RusskoeObozrenie” journal interrupted in 1898. Filippov’s efforts to form the content of the first issue of the renewed journal in 1899 – 1901 are reconstructed on the base of his own archive documents and the evidences of his contemporaries. Filippov’sattempts to attract the main liberal as well as conservative authors to the participation in the journal leaded by himself are analysed. Aspecial attention is drawn to the role of the so called “Miss Piramidova affair” in the failure of the mentioned efforts. The published sources on the affair are exclusively scarce, while the personal archive of Alexey Filippov does not even exist. The letters from Filippov to different persons are often not trustworthy at all. In these circumstances, the role of Lev Tikhomirov’s diary including his notes about “the Miss Piramidova affair” and the subtle analysis of the documents that Filippov had sent to Tikhomirovare incredibly important. It is demonstrated in the article that the affair was not a personal mistake of Filippov but was deeply connected with the political struggle in Russia ca. 1900. Finally,Filippov’s attempts to seek the justice from the Emperor Nicholas II are discussed in the article. The author concludes that “the Miss Piramidova affair” inevitably affected the interests of the main Russian journalists and editors, such as Vladimir Gringmut, VasiliyRozanov and Lev Tikhomirov, and undermined the reputation of the socalled Russian “journal Conservatism” at all.