Письмо-жалоба/просьба/оправдание как разновидность жанра «письма царю»

The article is dedicated to the phenomenon of “letters to tsar” – the written adresses of Russian writers to high officials of Russia under the power of monarchy. Now only the Epoch of XIX century is described. At first we will make an attempt to substantiate the allocation of this genre. Then we list its distinctive features and genre versions. The groups of «letters to tsar» are followed: “letterinvective,” “letter-declaration,” “letter-complaint/petition/excuse,” “letterpamphlet,” “letter-panegiric/letter expressing joy/report on the work done,” “letterdenunciation.” In the present article the “letter-complaint/petition/excuse” is in detail analyzed. We consider the letters by N.V. Gogol to S.S. Uvarov, M.A. Dondukov-Kosrakov, emperor Nikolay I, L.A. Perovsky / P.A. Shirinsky-Shihmatov / A.F. Orlov, successor Alexander Nikolaevich, V.D. Olsufev; by A.S. Pushkin to emperors, Alexander I and Nikolay I; by F.M. Dostoevsky to emperor Alexander II; by L.N. Tolstoj to E.P. Kovalevsky, D.A. Tolstoj, D.N. Nabokov, K.P. Pobedonostsev, I.L. Goremykin, N.V. Muravev, A.G. Bulygin, P.A. Stolypin, emperors Alexander II, Alexander III and Nikolay II; by A. Grin to A.G. Bulygin. At the end of article we formulate the further prospects of working out of our theme: work continuation over the genre of “letter-complaint/petition/excuse” analysed in this article; the detailed analysis of other versions of the genre “letters to tsar”; consideration of social and cultural situations of a XIX-th century and an image of the addressee of letters. The analysis of the “letters to tsar” throws new light on the difficult problem of “the artist and the power” as well as the analysis of the “letters to chiefs” – the written adresses of Russian writers to high officials of the Soviet State (this aspect of the problem is studied by the author of this article).