SOURCE: Moser, Charles A. Fonvizin, Russia, and Europe. Washington, D.C.: Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies, 1978, 27 p.

In the following essay, Moser examines Fonvizin's Travel Letters, which not only document the contrast between Russia and Europe in the eighteenth century but reveal a great deal about the author, his style, and his attitudes toward European and Russian culture.

The works usually referred to as the Travel Letters are those which Fonvizin composed during his journey to Germany and France in 1777-78 and his visit in Germany and Italy in 1784-85. The letters from the first journey are approximately evenly divided between those addressed to his family in Moscow and those sent to Count Peter Panin, also in Moscow. The letters from the second journey consist almost entirely of missives to his family, with only two surviving letters addressed to Peter Panin. The letters to his relatives are...