Slavic Scholar and Educator Pyotr Bezsonov (1827-1898): A Life and Legacy

Nowadays the name of Pyotr Bezsonov, the acknowledged in pre-revolutionary Russia scholar, is known to but a narrow circle of researchers as some myths and stereotypes about him have proved difficult to overwhelm. Yet, he traced in the history of Slavic studies as an assiduous collector of ancient Russian and Slavic literature works and explorer of Bulgarian, Belarusian and Serbian folklore, folk songs in particular, a scrutinizer of the Slavic languages and dialects, a talented pedagogue and editor. Based on the genuine sources, such as letters, documents and memoirs, as well as nineteenth century publications, which have become the bibliographic rarities, this article aims to present the revised biography of the scholar through revealing the hitherto unknown or underestimated facts of his life and research activity; also, to highlight his achievements in the field of Slavic history, literatures and linguistics; finally, to determine the place deserved by Bezsonov in Russian and European culture as a whole. The special attention is given to the Kharkiv period, related to the years of his professorship at Kharkiv University.