“The world of Shakespeare” in the stroganovs’ book collection: Literary and graphic works

Abstract

The Stroganovs’ personal library as an organic whole unit is housed in the Scientific Library at Tomsk State University and contains some Shakespeare’s literary works in English which are accompanied by numerous graphic illustrations to his tragedies, comedies and historical chronicles. This part of the personal multilingual book collection is analyzed in the present article in terms of the intermedia studies approach which allows to reveal how “the cult of Shakespeare” was being constructed in the British literature of the XVIII-XIX centuries. This task entails considering the role that Shakespeare’s works played in the development of the national self-awareness and national identity concept in the British society at that time as well as the construction of the Imperial myth in the British literature. Besides, a case study of the English editions of Shakespeare’s works kept in the Scientific library enables one to trace the evolution of Shakespeare studies in Europe. It can also give an insight into the reception of the Briton’s works in the Russian society in the XIX century. The article addresses the issue of the impact that the library owner’s personality has on the composition of the book collection and the ensuing interpretation of how the Western European and Russian literatures interact within the Stroganovs’ library.