Russian philology
More often, however, Kantemir
indirectly praised Peter's influence through his satiric criticism of Russia's "superficiality and
obscurantism," which he saw as manifestations of the backwardness Peter attempted to
correct through his reforms. Kantemir honored this tradition of reform not only through his
support for Peter, but by initiating a decade-long debate on the proper syllabic versification
using the Russian language.
Vasily Kirillovich Trediakovsky, a poet, playwright, essayist, translator and contemporary to
Antiokh Kantemir, also found himself deeply entrenched in Enlightenment conventions in his
work with the Russian Academy of Sciences and his groundbreaking translations of French
and classical works to the Russian language. A turning point in the course of Russian
literature, his translation of Paul Tallemant's work Voyage to the Isle of Love, was the first to
annaabi.ee 
