Literary Enlightenment in the Russian Province in the second half of the 19th century (the Examples of the Don Cossack Host and the Kamishin Region)

The Russian Empire was a complex socio-political phenomenon in the second half of the 19th century, thus the study of the history of the period should include a wide spectrum of subjects. The problem of the attitude of russian intelligentsia and different state agencies towards the cultural development and public education of the population of the country deserves special scientific investigation. Rapid cultural progress of the russian society of the time provoked the emergence of different self-defence forms of traditional society. One of them was a strict state control of education. Almost all cultural changes were hindered by rules and regulation imposed by state officials. New books were often immediately banned. The paper studies various ways of comprehension of several literary texts, which were considered illegal by the Russian state institutions of the time. The questions raised in the paper may contribute not only to scientific research but also into solving social problems. The study of the history of the educational sphere allows us to expand knowledge about the Volgograd region and Russia in general and outlines guidelines for the development of modern teaching and educational projects, since many of the tasks facing education today were relevant in the Russian province already in the pre-revolutionary period.