faux pierre

[Sander Brouwer]

Dear colleagues,

can anyone tell me more about the author of the novel "Le faux Pierre III
ou la vie et les avantures du rebelle Jemeljan Pugatschew." D'après
l'original russe de Mr. F.S.G.W.D.B. (Avec le portrait de l'imposteur et
des notes historiques et politiques. A Londres : chez C.H. Seyffert. 1775.
296 p.)? It was translated into Russian in 1809: "Lozhnyi Petr III, ili
Zhizn, kharakter i zlodeianiia buntovshchika Emel'ki Pugacheva", and was
prohibited by the emperor himself. Pushkin had several copies of it (and
also one of its short version, Anekdoty o buntovshchike i samozvantse
Emelke Pugacheve, also 1809), and although he called it a "stupid novel",
he seems to have taken quite some interest in it and at least knew it very
well. It was suggested by Volodymyr Sichynsky in his 1953 "Ukraine in
Foreign Comments and Descriptions From the VIth to XXth Century" that the
author of the French original was "in all probability the French Minister
to the Russian government, Duran" (this must be F.-M. Durand de Distroff -
SB), but with no sources. (By the way, the internet-text of this book has
disappeared from www.sabre.org/ukrlib/books/sichynsky/sicchap7.htm, where
it still was about a month ago. What has happened?)

Pushkin in the margins of his copy of A.I.Bibikovs "Zapiski" seems to refer
to the author as "Ferrand", but he might confuse Durand with Ferrand, the
author of the "Histoire des 3 demembrements de la Pologne", which he read
while preparing his book on Peter the Great.

I would greatly appreciate any help in establishing the author of Le faux
Pierre. I know three articles on it, one by W.Guenzerodt in
the "Zeitschrift fuer Slawistik" (1958), another by N. Smirnov-Sokolskij
from his "Rasskazy o prizhiznennykh izdaniiakh etc" (1962), and one by
V.Aristov in his "Podarok dekabrista" (1970). None of these authors mention
Durand, however.

The book was translated into German already in 1776 (Leben und Abentheuer
des beruechtigtsten Rebellen Jemeljan Pugatschewa etc.). Can anyone affirm
that the following is a Swedish translation of the French or perhaps of the
German translation: Upprorsmannen Jemelien Pugatschews lefverne, ifrån
Ryska originalet öfversatt på Fransyska, och sedermera försvenskadt af Carl
Leonard Stålhammar. Stockholm, 1786.

Thanks in advance for any help
Sander Brouwer

Dr S. Brouwer
University of Groningen, Fac. of Arts, Slavic Dept.
Oude Kijk in 't Jatstraat 26
9712 EK Groningen,   The Netherlands
tel: +31 50 3636062   home: +31 50 3119769
fax: +31 50 3635821   http://odur.let.rug.nl/~sbrouwer
******************************************************************
Izuchenie russkoi istorii mozhet portit' samye luchshie umy
                                              T.Granovskii
                           * * *
Sebe ia svoi li sam?
             A.Sumarokov [Georgii, "Dimitrii Samozvanets"]
******************************************************************

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                http://members.home.net/lists/seelangs/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------