Such writers as Derzhavin and Pushkin praised Bovas literary value; the latter used some elements of the Povest' in his fairy tales and attempted to write a fantasy poem based on the romance.
The titles of Pnin's best-known poems, Man (1804) and God (1805), mirror Derzhavin's on purpose, as he sought to refute the great poet's idealism by taking up the Deist stance of Radishchev, Volney, and d'Holbach.
The society began meeting as early as 1807, but its regular monthly meetings began in March 1811 in "a beautiful and luxuriously appointed hall in Derzhavin's large home on the banks of the Fontanka"; as many as 500 people might attend its meetings, and it published its own journal, the Chteniya v Besede lyubitelei russkogo slova (Readings at the Colloquy of Lovers of the Russian Word), whose nineteen issues consisted mainly of material presented at the meetings.
From 1797 to 1799, he issued another miscellany or poetical almanac, The Aonides, in conjunction with Derzhavin and Dmitriev.
The event was glorified by the court poet Derzhavin in his famous ode; he was later to comment bitterly on Zubov's inglorious return from the expedition in another remarkable poem.
In his lifetime he gained fame for his translations of German and Scandinavian poetry, his work on the theory of Russian orthography, lexicography, and grammar, and his approach to literary editing and criticism, exemplified in a full edition of the works of Derzhavin (1864–1883).