Local History: Images and Plots in Historians’ Works of the First Half of the XIX Century (V.D. Suhorukov, P.A. Slovtsov)

Abstract. Works by Russian historians of the first half of the XIX century had some similarity to works of fiction that in general corresponded to the culture of an era of romanticism and reflected the influence of the culture on the historiography of the subsequent time. The main similarity concerned the plot similar to fiction one. Works on local history, including the Don history by V.D. Suhorukov and Siberian history by P.A. Slovtsov, had similar plots. Nevertheless, these works had some distinctions. Two culminations concerning the fight of the Don Cossacks for Azov and the final submission of the Don Cossack Host to Russia after the suppression of Bulavinsky revolt are traced in Suhorukov’s work. As for Siberian history by Slovtsov, there is no the culmination, but the intenseness of the narration reflecting the difficulties of annexation, the subsequent economic development of Siberia and its cultural development is obvious. Treating Siberia as the source of income, bad governing and some cultural features got in the way of its development. Witticism is the distinctive feature of these historical narrations which makes it particularly intriguing for the reader.

Keywords: historical science, Romanticism, local history, fiction, plot, tie, culmination, outcome, history of the Don Cossacks, history of Siberia.