The Usage of Correspondence in the Construction of Biography (by the Example of the Epistolary Materials of the Nikolay Stankevich's Circle)

The present research is about the process of selection and usage of epistolary materials in the preparation of Russian biographies in the XIX century. It will be proved that the development of the biographical genre is associated with the development of the epistolary genre. Materials of correspondence are necessary for each biographer because they should not just describe the life of a particular person with the listing of all the events of his life in chronological order, but also to recreate on paper his image, with an individual character, inner world and behavior. The main materials for the analysis will be the biographies of two people who were the members of the literary circle of Nikolai Stankevich - Timothy Granovsky and Nikolai Stankevich himself - and their letters. It will be noted how their biographers Pavel Annenkov and Alexander Stankevich use the materials of correspondence in their texts, how significant and useful they are for them.