Lomonosov's dream

[O.F. Boele]

Dear Seelangers,

During my work on my doctoral thesis I came across a peculiar story
about Lomonosov who reportedly had anticipated his father's death in
a dream on his journey back to Russia in 1741. It is a well-known
fact that when he arrived in St. Petersburg some merchants from his
native region did inform him that his father had drowned. Yet the
story of the prophetic dream is probably untrue and must have emerged
after Lomonosov had died (at least, that is what I think. The
"Letopis' zhizni i tvorcestva M.V. Lomonosova from 1961 does not
mention the dream). Jevgenij Lebedev's biography "Lomonosov" from
1990 (in the series Zhizni zamecatel'nyx ljudej) simply repeats the
story without giving any sources.
    As far as I know the theme of Lomonosov's dream occurs in the
work of Batjushkov ("O xaraktere Lomonosova") and his uncle and
teacher Murav'ev-Apostol. Furthermore, there is a poem, entitled "Son
Lomonosova", a some E...ev (somewhere around 1840).
    Does anybody know more about this story? How did it emerge? Who
else, apart from the aforementioned authors, treated it? Has it ever
been investigated before? Any clues, references, suggestions would be
highly appreciated.

Otto Boele
Slavic Department
University of Groningen