Society of the Lovers of the Russian Word

Society of the Lovers of the Russian Word 

a literary society in St. Petersburg (1811–16) that was led by G. R. Derzhavin and A. S. Shishkov. The members of the Society of the Lovers of the Russian Word (S. A. Shirinskii-Shikhmatov, A. S. Khvostov, A. A. Shakhovskoi, and others) were imitators of classicism. They attacked the reform of literary language that was being carried out by the supporters of N. M. Karamzin. The literary society Arzamas, which was founded to counterbalance the Society of the Lovers of the Russian Word, opposed the society’s conservative views.

REFERENCES

Tynianov, Iu. N. Arkhaisty i novatory. Leningrad, 1929.
Lotman, Iu. M. “Problema narodnosti i puti razvitiia literatury preddekabristskogo perioda.” In the collection O russkom realizme XIX v. i voprosakh narodnosti literatury. Moscow-Leningrad, 1960.