Background
Fedor Ivanovich Buslaevwas born on the 13th of April 1818 at Kerensk, Penza Governorate, Russian Empire (now Wadinsk, Penza Oblast, Russian Federation), where his father was secretary of the district tribunal.
Fedor Ivanovich Buslaevwas born on the 13th of April 1818 at Kerensk, Penza Governorate, Russian Empire (now Wadinsk, Penza Oblast, Russian Federation), where his father was secretary of the district tribunal.
Fedor Ivanovich was educated at Penza and Moscow University. At the end of his academical course, 1838, he accompanied the family of Count S.G. Stroganov on a tour through Italy, Germany, and France, occupying himself principally with the study of classical antiquities. On his return, he was appointed assistant professor of Russian literature at the University of Moscow.
In 1848 Fedor Ivanovich produced his work On the Influence of Christianity on the Slavonic Language, which was considered a milestone in the study of the development of the Slavonic languages. This work proves that long before the age of Cyril and Methodius the Slavonic languages had been subject to Christian influences. In 1855 Fedor Ivanovich published Palaeographical and Philological Materials for the History of the Slavonic Alphabets, and in 1858 Essay Towards a Historical Grammar of the Russian Tongue, abounding with rich material for students, carefully collected from an immense quantity of ancient records and monuments. He was elected a member of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences in 1860.
Fedor Ivanovich also interested himself in Russian popular poetry and old Russian art, and the result of his labors is enshrined in Historical Sketches of Russian Folk Literature and Art (1861). His Folk Poetry (1887) is a valuable supplement to the Sketches. In 1881 he was appointed professor of Russian literature at Moscow, and three years later published his Annotated Apocalypse with an atlas of 400 plates, illustrative of ancient Russian art.
In his advanced age, Fedor Ivanovich was to a large degree incapacitated by blindness and passed his time in dictating his memoirs to a secretary. Buslaev's work in the field of comparative literature was continued by his numerous students, notably Alexander Veselovsky.
(Russian edition)
(Russian Edition)