The book of Yuri Mikhailovich Lotman (1922-1993) is dedicated to the great Russian writer and historian Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin (1766-1826), the author of "Letters of the Russian Traveler" and "Poor Lisa," the creator of the brilliant "History of the Russian State," the publisher of the "Moscow Journal" and "Bulletin of Europe." Published in its first edition in 1987, this book became a cultural phenomenon in itself. Its genre is defined as a biography of the soul: in the center of the author's story are not just the external facts of his hero's life, not a simple analysis of his multifaceted work, but above all the formation of the personality of a great writer and citizen who truly created himself.