Happy Vergil Goes North: The Aeneid in Russian Letters

This essay addresses the reception of Vergil's Aeneid in Russian letters, specifically its optimistic point of view. Russian interest in Vergil is a belated one and complicated by the numerous European receptions, thus offering a peculiar rendition of the great Roman epic cast in imperial, spiritual, and deeply personal lights from the eighteenth century to the present day. Despite Vergil's relative lack of success in Russian translation, the importance of Vergil for the formation of Russian literary identity remained consistent as Russian writers participated in building their own national literary canon and drew from the Aeneid their hope and inspiration for nation building and national consciousness.