Pypin Aleksander

Pypin Aleksander (1833–1904) – historian of literature, ethnographer, folklorist.

In 1853, he graduated from the Historical Faculty of the St. Petersburg University. In 1857, he defended his thesis ‘An Essay on the Literary History of Old Russian Novelettes and Tales’ and got his Master degree in Russian Literature. In 1860, he became Professor of the Chair of the Wold History at the Historical and Philological Faculty of the St. Petersburg University. In 1861, he left the University together with some other professors, supporting students’ protests against changes of the University Rule by Minister E. V. Putiatin. Since 1863, he was a member of the Editorial Board of the magazine ‘Sovremennik’; in 1865-1866, he was Editor of tthat magazine together with N. A. Nekrasov. In 1867, he worked for the magazine ‘Vestnik Evropy’, where he published many articles on Russian culture. He also translated books and articles, edited various publications by foreign and Russian authors of the eighteenth century.

In 1891, he was elected for Correspondent Member of the Ac. of Sc., at the Department of Russian language and literature. In 1898, he became Academician, and in 1904 – Vice President of the Ac. of Sc.

He wrote about Russian writers (Griboedov, Belinsky, Gogol, Lermontov, Saltykov-Shchedrin et al.). He was the author of the multi-volumed history of Russian literature, and the history of Slavic literatures. For the religious studies he is of special interest thanks to his research of such matters as Old Russian apocrypha, publication texts from manuscripts of the seventeenth – eighteenth centuries from collections of the Imperial Public Library (St. Petersburg) and the Rumiantsev Museum (Moscow); his work ‘The History of Russian Ethnography’ and articles and books in Russian religious movements and particularly about Masons, are still useful.

Compositions

An Essay on the Literary History of Old Russian Novelettes and Tales. St. Petersburg Ac. of Sc., 1857. (in Rus.)
False and Rejected Books of Russian Antiquities / Monuments of Old Russian Literature / Edit. G. A. Kushelev-Bezborodko. Vol. 3, 1861. (in Rus.)
Social Movement in Russia under Aleksander I, in 3 vol. St. Petersburg, 1871; (2nd publ., 1885).
Characteristics of Literary Opinions from 1820 till 1850-s. St. Petersburg, 2nd publ., 1890. (in Rus.)
Chronological Index of Russian Lounges, from the First Introduction of Masonry till its Prohibition. St. Petersburg, 1873. (in Rus.)
Belinsky: His Life and Correspondenct, in 2 vol. St. Petersburg Vestnik Evropy, 1876. (in Rus.)
The History of Slavic Literatures, in 2 vol. (together with V. D. Stasiulevich). St. Petersburg, 1881-1882. (in Rus.)
Joint Synodic of old Believers: the Second Publication of the Synodic on Two Copies of the Eighteenth – Nineteenth Centuries. St. Petersburg, Society of Amateurs of Old Literature, 1883. (in Rus.)
The History of Russian Ethnography, in 4 vol. St. Petersburg, 1890-1892. (in Rus.)
Old Russian Pilgrimage. St. Petersburg, Imperial Orthodox Palestinian Society, 1896-1897. (in Rus.)
Forgery of Manuscripts and Folk Songs. St. Petersburg, Society of Amateurs of Old Literature, 1898. (in Rus.)
Compositions by Catherine the Great on the Base of Genuine Manuscripts with Explanatory Notes by Acad. А. N. Pypin, in 5 vol. St. Petersburg, 1901. (in Rus.)
The History of Russian Literature, in 4 vol. 2nd publ., add. St. Petersburg, 1902; republ. 1907, 1911. (in Rus.)
Research and Articles on the Epoch of Aleksander I, in 3 vol. Petrograd, Ogni Publishing House, 1916-1918. (Т. 1. Religious Movements under Aleksander I). (in Rus.)
Russian Masonry. Petrograd, Ogni Publishing House, 1916. (republ. under the title ‘Masonry in Russia: the Eighteenth and the First Quarter of the Nineteenth Centuries’. Moscow, Vek Publishing House, 1997). (in Rus.)

Bibliography

Barskov Ya. L. A List of Works by Acad. А. N. Pypin: 1859‒1903. St. Petersburg, 1903. (in Rus.)

About him

Vengerov S. Pypin Aleksander Nickolaevich // Russian Biographical Lexicon / Edit. A. A. Polovtsov; Russian Historical Society. St. Petersburg, Ac. of Sc., 1910, vol. 15. (in Rus.)
Arkhangelsky А. S. Works by Acad. А. N. Pypin in the Field of the History of Russian Literature // ZhMNP. 1904, No 2, pp. 73‒128. (in Rus.)
Melts М. Ya. А. N. Pypin and Russian Folkloristic of the Late Nineteenth – Early Twentieth Centuries // Essays in the History of Russian Ethnography, Folkloristic and Anthropology. Iss II / Edit. R. S. Lipets, V. C. Sokolov. Moscow, Nauka Publishing House, 1963. (in Rus.)
Tsamutali А. N. Introduction // Pypin А. N. Religious Movements under Aleksander I. St. Petersburg, Akademichesky proekt Publishing House, 2000. (in Rus.)
Aksionova Е. P. А. N. Pypin on Slavs. Moscow, Indrik Publishing House, 2006. (in Rus.)

M. Sh.