SOURCE: “Solov'ev's Evaluation of Mickiewicz as Man and Artist,” in Slavic and Eastern European Journal, Vol. 29, No. 1, Spring, 1985, pp. 63-72.

In the following essay, Matual explores the Russian poet Solov'ev's fascination with Mickiewicz and his work. Among Mickiewicz's Russian contemporaries, Matual explains, the Polish poet's verse was held in high regard, while his philosophical thinking was viewed as contemptible. Matual states that Solov'ev was the exception to this rule, and that he was interested particularly in the patriotic and religious nature of Mickiewicz's poetry.

Since the period of his Russian exile in the 1820s, Adam Mickiewicz has enjoyed a generally favorable reputation as a poet among the Russian reading public. No less a figure than Puškin himself, whom Mickiewicz met in 1826, praised his artistry and humanity in the poem “On meždu nami žil.” Yet the same poem ends on a note of disappointment and resentment. In...