Elagin I.P. (1725-1793), writer

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ELAGIN Ivan Perfilievich (1725-1793, St. Petersburg), statesman, historian, writer, Chief Master of the Hunt (1782), Fellow of the Russian Academy (1783). Graduated from the Gentry Army Cadet Corps in 1743. Arrested in connection with the A.P. Bestuzhev-Ryumin case and banished to Kazan in 1759; during Empress Catherine II's reign, he rose to high Court offices. Elagin was one of the major figures of Russian freemasonry; in the early 1770s, he headed, united and reorganised the Russian Masonic lodges and developed the so-called Elagin Masonry System. In 1766-79, he was Director of Theatre and Music, and carried out important reforms in the theatre. Elagin's translations (the novel Life and Adventures of Marquis de G... by A.F. Prevost, 1756-58) had a strong impact on the style of Russian narrative. He also wrote various satires and a historical work called An Attempt at a Russian Narrative. In 1764-66, the so-called Elagin Circle formed around him (including D.I. Fonvizin, V.I. Lukin, and B.E. Elchaninov), which advocated the necessity to Russify the theatrical repertoire. In the mid-18th century, he owned a building at Bolshaya Neva Embankment (present-day 23 Lieutenant Schmidt Embankment). In the 1760s, he lived on the Petersburgskaya Side, at Krutitsky Court in the Engineering Cadet Corps Building; later he resided at Bolshaya Morskaya Street (part of building No. 26). From 1777, Elagin owned Melgunov Island (present-day Elagin Island), where a park was laid out, and a manor was built (architect G. Quarenghi, 1785; the house was rebuilt).

References: Лонгинов М. Н. Иван Перфильевич Елагин // Рус. старина. 1870. Т. 2, авг. С. 197-200; Берков П. Н. История русской комедии XVIII века. Л., 1977; Максимов К. С. Народовластие и монархия в историческом труде И. П. Елагина // Монархия и народовластие в культуре Просвещения. М., 1995. С. 49-58.

V. A. Kuznetsov, D.N. Cherdakov. Abaza Alexander Aggeevich
Bestuzhev-Ryumin Alexey Petrovich, Count
Catherine II, Empress
Elagin Ivan Perfilievich
Elchaninov Bogdan Evgenievich
Fonvizin Denis Ivanovich
Lukin Vladimir Ignatievich
Prevost d'Exiles, Antoine-Francois
Quarenghi Giacomo
Bolshaya Morskaya St./Saint Petersburg, city, house 26
Elagin Island/Saint Petersburg, city
Leitenanta Schmidta Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city, house 23
Лонгинов М. Н. Иван Перфильевич Елагин // Рус. старина, 1870
Берков П. Н. История русской комедии XVIII века. Л., 1977
Максимов К. С. Народовластие и монархия в историческом труде И. П. Елагина // Монархия и народовластие в культуре Просвещения. М., 1995