ANTOINE-LÉONARD THOMAS’ TSAR PETER: CONCEPTION AND THE EUROPEAN CONTEXT

The article deals with the unfinished epic poem Tsar Peter, published posthumously by Antoine-Léonard Thomas, a prominent litterateur and author of numerous eulogies. The first section examines press publications and testimonies of contemporaries, where the idea of the poem and the course of work on it are discussed. The second section describes the surviving songs (there are six of them — one each about Holland, England, and Germany, and three about France) and snippets. In the third section, a reconstruction of the design is made on the basis of the surviving testimonies and the pieces written. These materials allow us to conclude that the original version consisted of twelve songs; since the travels took up a considerable amount of space, the remaining volume was insufficient for a full disclosure of the subject matter. It was therefore decided to switch from Virgil’s number of songs to Homer’s (24). Nevertheless, the poem did not advance further, and the written parts reflect primarily Peter’s travels (with large chronological shifts compared to the real history: for example, Peter talks to Louis XIV, participates as a volunteer in the second battle of Höchstädt (August 13, 1704)). The section analyzes the pieces, allowing us to attribute them to an early or late stage of the plot. The fourth section focuses on the European context of Thomas’ work on the epic of Peter the Great, whose figure attracted the interest of more than one literary figure in France and Italy. By the time of publication, Thomas’ poem had already lost its relevance.