Ride to the Island of Love

This edition publishes the complete text of the literary «project» by Vasily Trediakovsky (1703–1768), which has not been reissued since the 19th century, under the general title «Ride to the Island of Love». This is a translation from the French of the eponymous salon and allegorical novel by Paul Talman (1642–1712) about the joys of adultery and the rules of the game of love, supplemented by a selection of Trediakovsky's own poems. In Trediakovsky's literary experiment, as Yuri Lotman showed, large-scale cultural shifts initiated by Peter's reforms were reflected. In addition to «Ride to the Island of Love», the book includes Trediakovsky's speech «Panegyric, or A Word of Praise to Anna Ioannovna» (1732), which is being reissued for the first time. The publication is accompanied by an article by philologist Kirill Ospovat, outlining approaches to the novel from historical-cultural, political, and feminist perspectives. The edition also includes well-known translations of French poems by Trediakovsky from «Ride to the Island of Love», done by Mikhail Kuzmin.