“His Works Are a Living Chronicle of That Epoch” (Belinsky): On the 280th Anniversary of the Birth of Denis Ivanovich Fonvizin

Aim. To study the assessment of prose and drama, as well as the significance of the personality of D. I. Fonvizin by writers and poets – his contemporaries – and literary scholars of the 20th–21st centuries in the aspect of the writer’s artistic ontology. This approach makes it possible to update ideas about the significance of statements by creative individuals about their fellow writer both for characterizing the characters in the work of the playwright and educator Denis Ivanovich Fonvizin, and for assessing his artistic principles in general. The article evaluates the variety of perspectives of memories of Fonvizin’s activities, examines the uniqueness and cultural and historical value of his legacy. Methodology. The author offers an analysis of the works of Prince Pyotr Andreevich Vyazemsky (1792– 1878), dedicated to the work of D. I. Fonvizin. The approach to the disclosure of the problem is based on the testimony of authors from different eras and times, which allows us to judge the obvious similarity of the authors’ views on the literary and artistic process in general and on the legacy of D. I. Fonvizin in particular. Results. In the course of the work, the features of the critical approach of the writer Prince Pyotr Vyazemsky to the legacy of Fonvizin were identified. A conclusion is made about the need to master the basics of the skill of a critic on the material used. Research implications. The author managed to offer a new approach to assessing Fonvizin’s work in the critical potential of writers-critics.