Одесса в литературных заметках Константина Аполлоновича Скальковского

Abstract

This article focuses on memories of Konstantin Apollonovich Skalkovsky (1843–1906) – a prominent figure in the field of Russian industry of the second half of the 19th century, the author of publications in sphere of politics, economics and culture. He was born in Odessa in the family of a famous historian and an archaeologist Apollo Aleksandrovich Skalkovsky, who was called „Herodot of New Russia”. The Skalkovsky family in Russia dates back to the end of the 17th – beginning of the 18th century. The first from Great Poland came here Casimir Skalkowski. The aim of the article is to investigate the literary activity of Konstantin Skalkovsky, his books Essays and Fantasies (1903) and Recollections of Youth (on the Sea of Life) (1906), the picture of Odessa’s life in them, their genre features. Attention is drawn to the unusualness of Skalkovsky’s memories: they are close to feuilletons. They are combined with comic and philosophical, signs of journalism (reliance on facts, active dialogue with the reader), and fiction (convention, presence of subtext or allegory, widespread use of artistic expression). In the focus of attention of Skalkovsky-writer are not events, but his own or other people feelings in relation to these events, the characters and moods of people. He is not more interested in history, but in her experience by ordinary people. Skalkovsky’s books are an important source of information about the life of Odessa in the 19th century.