[A Survey of Russian Literature, with Selections by Isabel Florence Hapgood]@TWC D-Link book
A Survey of Russian Literature, with Selections

CHAPTER VII
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SIXTH PERIOD, THE REIGN OF KATHERINE II.

(1762-1796).
Under the brilliant sway of Katherine II.

(1762-1796) literature and literary men in Russia first began to acquire legitimate respect and consideration in the highest circles--the educated minority, which ruled tastes and fashions.

Wealthy patrons of literature had existed even in the Empress Elizabeth's day it is true; and a taste for the theater had been implanted or engendered, partly by force, as we have seen.

Western ideas had made much progress in a normal way, through the close contact with western European nations, brought about by Elizabeth's great political genius, which had made St.Petersburg the diplomatic center and law-giver; and Katherine's own interest in literature before her accession to the throne had also had much to do with raising the standard and the respect in which literature and writers were held, and in preparing the ground for the new era.


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