Jepisztoljárnoszty «Piszem russzkogo putesesztvennika» N. M. Karamzina

The aim of the article is to define the genre of Karamzin's epistle and to point out its characteristics. The Karamzinian "mirror-metaphor" becomes distinct in the epistle. This metaphor depicts the peculiarities of relationship between European and Russian cul-tures. This is the metaphor of the so-called "empathic understanding" (Bakhtin) and watching yourself through someone else's eyes. Letters describe the homogeneous European culture through various aspects: duality of space and time (the interrelated chronotopoi of "home" and "way"); the synthesis of public and personal (addressing not only friends, but readers also); the everyday life and the histori-cal aspect; the simultaneity of the constructive elements of written and spoken language. Furthermore, it reflects the combination of the the conversation of the highly educated Russians of the late 18th century and extreme richness of the Russian language. This is a result of an orientation towards the contemporary Western European linguistic situation, which creates a new style of literary writing. Those ideas and tendencies appear for the first time in the epistle. Later it becomes the essence of Karamzin's art, and influences the future literature and culture