Where did Shchedrin study? Saltykov-Shchedrin Mikhail Evgrafovich
Biography
early years
Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov was born on January 15 (27), 1826 into an old noble family, on his parents’ estate, in the village of Spas-Ugol, Kalyazin district, Tver province. He was the sixth child of a hereditary nobleman and collegiate adviser Evgraf Vasilyevich Saltykov (1776-1851). The writer's mother, Olga Mikhailovna Zabelina (1801-1874), was the daughter of Moscow nobleman Mikhail Petrovich Zabelin (1765-1849) and Marfa Ivanovna (1770-1814). Although in the note to “Poshekhonskaya antiquity” Saltykov asked not to confuse him with the personality of Nikanor Zatrapezny, on whose behalf the story is told, the complete similarity of much of what is reported about Zatrapezny with the undoubted facts of the life of Mikhail Saltykov allows us to assume that “Poshekhonskaya antiquity” is partly autobiographical character.
M. E. Saltykov’s first teacher was a serf of his parents, the painter Pavel Sokolov; then his elder sister, the priest of a neighboring village, the governess and a student at the Moscow Theological Academy took care of him. At the age of ten, he entered the school, and two years later he was transferred, as one of the best students, as a state student to the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum. It was there that he began his career as a writer.
Beginning of literary activity
In 1844 he graduated from the Lyceum with the second category (that is, with the rank of X class), 17 out of 22 students were expelled because their behavior was certified as no more than “pretty good”: ordinary school offenses (rudeness, smoking, carelessness in clothing) Shchedrin added “writing poetry” with “disapproving” content. At the Lyceum, under the influence of Pushkin’s legends, which were still fresh at that time, each course had its own poet; in the 13th year, Saltykov played this role. Several of his poems were placed in the “Reading Library” in 1841 and 1842, when he was still a lyceum student; others, published in Sovremennik (ed. Pletnev) in 1844 and 1845, were also written by him while still at the Lyceum; all these poems are reprinted in “Materials for the biography of M. E. Saltykov”, attached to the complete collection of his works.
None of Mikhail Saltykov’s poems (some translated, some original) bear any traces of talent; the later ones are even inferior to the earlier ones. M. E. Saltykov soon realized that he had no vocation for poetry, stopped writing poetry and did not like it when he was reminded of them. However, in these student exercises one can sense a sincere mood, mostly sad and melancholy (at that time Saltykov was known among his acquaintances as a “gloomy lyceum student”).
In August 1845, Mikhail Saltykov was enlisted in the office of the Minister of War and only two years later he received his first full-time position there - assistant secretary. Literature even then occupied him much more than service: he not only read a lot, being particularly interested in George Sand and the French socialists (a brilliant picture of this hobby was drawn by him thirty years later in the fourth chapter of the collection “Abroad”), but also wrote - at first small bibliographic notes (in “Notes of the Fatherland”), then the stories “Contradictions” (ibid., November 1847) and “A Confused Affair” (March).
Already in the bibliographic notes, despite the unimportance of the books about which they were written, the author’s way of thinking is visible - his aversion to routine, to conventional morality, to serfdom; In some places there are also sparkles of mocking humor.
In M. E. Saltykov’s first story, “Contradictions,” which he never subsequently reprinted, the very theme on which J. Sand’s early novels were written sounds, muffled and muffled: recognition of the rights of life and passion. The hero of the story, Nagibin, is a man weakened by his hothouse upbringing and defenseless against environmental influences, against the “little things in life.” Fear of these little things both then and later (for example, in “The Road” in “Provincial Sketches”) was apparently familiar to Saltykov himself - but for him it was the fear that serves as a source of struggle, not despondency. Thus, only one small corner of the author’s inner life was reflected in Nagibin. Another character in the novel - the “woman-fist”, Kroshina - resembles Anna Pavlovna Zatrapeznaya from “Poshekhon Antiquity”, that is, it was probably inspired by the family memories of Mikhail Saltykov.
Much larger is “The Entangled Case” (reprinted in “Innocent Stories”), written under the strong influence of “The Overcoat”, perhaps and “Poor People”, but containing several remarkable pages (for example, an image of a pyramid of human bodies that is dreamed Michulin). “Russia,” the hero of the story reflects, “is a vast, abundant and rich state; Yes, the man is stupid, he is starving to death in an abundant state.” “Life is a lottery,” the familiar look bequeathed to him by his father tells him; “It is so,” replies some unkind voice, “but why is it a lottery, why shouldn’t it just be life?” A few months earlier, such reasoning might have gone unnoticed - but “Entangled Affair” appeared just when the February Revolution in France was reflected in Russia by the establishment of the so-called Buturlinsky committee (named after its chairman D.P. Buturlin), vested with special powers to curb the press.
Vyatka
Mikhail Evgrafovich’s health, shaken since the mid-1870s, was deeply undermined by the ban on Otechestvennye zapiski. The impression made on him by this event is depicted by him with great force in one of the fairy tales (“The Adventure with Kramolnikov,” who “one morning, waking up, quite clearly felt that he was not there”) and in the first “Motley Letter,” beginning words: “a few months ago I completely unexpectedly lost the use of language”...
M. E. Saltykov was engaged in editorial work tirelessly and passionately, keenly taking to heart everything concerning the magazine. Surrounded by people he liked and who were in solidarity with him, Saltykov felt, thanks to Otechestvennye Zapiski, in constant communication with readers, in constant, so to speak, service to literature, which he loved so dearly and to which he dedicated such a wonderful book in “All the Year Round.” a hymn of praise (a letter to his son, written shortly before his death, ends with the words: “love your native literature above all else and prefer the title of writer to any other”).
An irreplaceable loss for him was therefore the severance of the direct connection between him and the public. Mikhail Saltykov knew that the “reader-friend” still existed - but this reader “became shy, lost in the crowd, and it is quite difficult to find out exactly where he is.” The thought of loneliness, of “abandonment” depresses him more and more, aggravated by physical suffering and, in turn, aggravating it. “I’m sick,” he exclaims in the first chapter of “Little Things in Life.” The disease has dug its claws into me and is not letting go. The emaciated body cannot oppose anything to it.” His last years were a slow agony, but he did not stop writing as long as he could hold a pen, and his work remained strong and free to the end: “Poshekhon Antiquity” is in no way inferior to his best works. Shortly before his death, he began a new work, the main idea of which can be understood by its title: “Forgotten Words” (“There were, you know, words,” Saltykov told N.K. Mikhailovsky shortly before his death, “well, conscience, the fatherland, humanity, others are still out there... Now take the trouble to look for them!.. We need to remind you!..). He died on April 28 (May 10), 1889 and was buried on May 2 (May 14), according to his wishes, at the Volkovsky cemetery, next to I. S. Turgenev.
Basic motives of creativity
“The humiliated and insulted stood before me, illuminated by the light, and loudly cried out against the innate injustice that gave them nothing but chains.” In the “abused image of a slave” Saltykov recognized the image of a man. The protest against the “serf chains,” brought up by the impressions of childhood, over time turned from Mikhail Saltykov, like Nekrasov, into a protest against all sorts of “other” chains, “invented to replace the serfs”; intercession for a slave turned into intercession for a man and a citizen. Indignant against the “street” and the “crowd,” M. E. Saltykov never identified them with the masses of the people and always stood on the side of the “man who eats swan” and the “boy without pants.” Based on several misinterpreted passages from various works of Saltykov, his enemies tried to attribute to him an arrogant, contemptuous attitude towards the people; “Poshekhon antiquity” destroyed the possibility of such accusations. In general, there are few writers who would be hated so much and so persistently as Saltykov. This hatred outlived him; Even the obituaries dedicated to him in some press organs were imbued with it. The ally of anger was misunderstanding. Saltykov was called a “storyteller”; his works were called fantasies, sometimes degenerating into a “wonderful farce” and having nothing in common with reality. He was relegated to the level of a feuilletonist, a funnyman, a caricaturist; they saw in his satire “a certain kind of Nozdryovism and Khlestakovism with a big addition of Sobakevich.” M. E. Saltykov once called his writing style “slave-like”; this word was picked up by his opponents - and they assured that thanks to the “slave tongue” the satirist could chat as much as he wanted and about anything, arousing not indignation, but laughter, amusing even those against whom his blows were directed. Mikhail Saltykov, according to his opponents, had no ideals or positive aspirations: he was only engaged in “spitting,” “shuffling and chewing” a small number of topics that everyone was bored with. At best, such views are based on a number of obvious misunderstandings. The element of fantasy, often found in Saltykov, does not in the least destroy the reality of his satire. Through the exaggerations, the truth is clearly visible - and even the exaggerations themselves sometimes turn out to be nothing more than a prediction of the future. Much of what was dreamed about, for example, by the projectors in “The Diary of a Provincial,” turned into reality a few years later. Among the thousands of pages written by M. E. Saltykov, there are, of course, those to which the name feuilleton or caricature is applicable - but one cannot judge the huge whole by a small and relatively unimportant part. Saltykov also uses harsh, rude, even abusive expressions, sometimes, perhaps, going over the edge; but politeness and restraint cannot be demanded from satire. Slave language, in Mikhail Saltykov’s own words, “does not at all obscure his intentions”; they are perfectly clear to anyone who wishes to understand them. Its themes are endlessly varied, expanding and updating in accordance with the needs of the times. Of course, he also has repetitions, depending partly on what he wrote for magazines; but they are justified mainly by the importance of the questions to which he returned. The connecting link of all his works is the desire for an ideal, which he himself (in “Little Things in Life”) sums up in three words: “freedom, development, justice.” At the end of his life, this formula seems insufficient to him. “What is freedom,” he says, “without participation in the blessings of life? What is development without a clearly defined end goal? What is justice devoid of the fire of selflessness and love? In fact, love was never alien to M.E. Saltykov: he always preached it with the “hostile word of denial.” Ruthlessly pursuing evil, he inspires condescension towards people, in whom it finds expression, often against their consciousness and will. He protests in “Sick Place” against the cruel motto: “break with everything.” The speech about the fate of a Russian peasant woman, which he put into the mouth of a village teacher (“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in the “Collection”), can be ranked in terms of depth of lyricism along with the best pages of Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'.” “Who sees the tears of a peasant woman? Who can hear them pouring drop by drop? Only the little Russian peasant sees and hears them, but in him they revive his moral sense and plant the first seeds of goodness in his heart.” This thought, obviously, had long possessed Saltykov. In one of his earliest and best fairy tales (“Conscience Lost”), conscience, which everyone is burdened with and from which everyone is trying to get rid of, says to its last owner: “find me a little Russian child, dissolve his pure heart before me and bury it.” me in him: maybe he, an innocent baby, will shelter and nurture me, maybe he will make me according to the measure of his age and then come out to people with me - he won’t disdain... According to this word of hers, that’s what happened. A tradesman found a little Russian child, dissolved his pure heart and buried his conscience in him. A little child grows, and his conscience grows with him. And the little child will be a big man, and he will have a big conscience. And then all untruths, deceit and violence will disappear, because the conscience will not be timid and will want to manage everything itself.” These words, full of not only love, but also hope, are the testament left by Mikhail Saltykov to the Russian people. The syllable and language of M. E. Saltykov are highly original. Every face he portrays speaks exactly as befits his character and position. Derunov's words, for example, breathe self-confidence and importance, the consciousness of a force that is not accustomed to meeting either opposition or even objections. His speech is a mixture of unctuous phrases drawn from church everyday life, echoes of former respect for masters and unbearably harsh notes of home-grown political-economic doctrine. Razuvaev's language is related to Derunov's language, like the first calligraphic exercises of a schoolchild to the teacher's copybooks. In the words of Fedinka Neugodov one can discern high-flying clerical formalism, something salon-like, and something Offenbachian. When Saltykov speaks on his own behalf, the originality of his manner is felt in the arrangement and combination of words, in unexpected convergences, in quick transitions from one tone to another. Saltykov’s ability to find a suitable nickname for a type, for a social group, for a way of action (“Pillar”, “Candidate for Pillars”, “internal Tashkentians”, “Tashkentians of the preparatory class”, “Mon Repos Shelter”, “Waiting for Actions”, etc.) is remarkable. P.). The second of the mentioned approaches, going back to the ideas of V. B. Shklovsky and the formalists, M. M. Bakhtin, points out that behind the recognizable “realistic” plot lines and character system lies a collision of extremely abstract ideological concepts, including “life” and "death". Their struggle in the world, the outcome of which was not obvious to the writer, is presented through various means in most of Shchedrin’s texts. It should be noted that the writer paid special attention to the mimicry of death, clothed in externally vital forms. Hence the motif of dolls and puppetry (“Toy People”, Organ and Pimple in “The History of a City”), zoomorphic images with different types of transitions from man to beast (humanized animals in “Fairy Tales”, animal-like people in “The Tashkent Gentlemen”). The expansion of death forms the total dehumanization of living space, which Shchedrin reflects. It is not surprising how often the mortal theme appears in Shchedrin’s texts. An escalation of mortal images, reaching almost the level of phantasmagoria, is observed in “The Golovlev Gentlemen”: these are not only numerous repeated physical deaths, but also the depressed state of nature, the destruction and decay of things, various kinds of visions and dreams, Porfiry Vladimirych’s calculations when the “digits” are not only loses touch with reality, but turns into a kind of fantastic vision, ending with a shift in time layers. Death and lethality in social reality, where Shchedrin painfully acutely sees the alienation leading to a person’s loss of himself, turns out to be only one of the cases of the expansion of the deadly, which forces one to divert attention only from “social everyday life.” In this case, the realistic external forms of Mikhail Saltykov’s writing hide the deep existential orientation of Shchedrin’s creativity, making him comparable to E. T. A. Hoffman, F. M. Dostoevsky and F. Kafka. There are few such notes, few such colors that could not be found in M. E. Saltykov. The sparkling humor that fills the amazing conversation between a boy in pants and a boy without pants is as fresh and original as the soulful lyricism that permeates the last pages of “The Golovlevs” and “The Sore Spot.” Saltykov’s descriptions are few, but even among them one comes across such gems as the picture of rural autumn in “The Golovlevs” or a provincial town falling asleep in “Well-Intentioned Speeches.” The collected works of M. E. Saltykov with the appendix “Materials for his biography” were published for the first time (in 9 volumes) in the year of his death () and have gone through many editions since then. The works of Mikhail Saltykov also exist in translations into foreign languages, although Saltykov’s unique style poses extreme difficulties for the translator. “Little things in life” and “Lords Golovlyov” (in the Universal Library Advertising) have been translated into German, and “Lord Golovlyovs” and “Poshekhon antiquity” have been translated into French (in “Bibliothèque des auteurs étrangers”, published by “Nouvelle Parisienne”). MemoryThe following were named in honor of Mikhail Saltykov:
Addresses in St. Petersburg
BibliographyCreativity ResearchersPublication of texts
Scientific edition of “Fairy Tales”:
Notes
LiteratureMemoirs and memoirs
Saltykov-Shchedrin Mikhail Evgrafovich - (real name Saltykov; pseudonym N. Shchedrin; (1826-1889), Russian satirist writer, publicist. Born on January 15 (27) in the village of Spas-Ugol, Kalyazinsky district, Tver province. in an old noble family, from an early age he observed the savagery of serfdom. At the age of ten he entered the Moscow Noble Institute, then, as one of the best students, he was transferred to the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum and accepted into the government account. In 1844 he graduated from the course. At the Lyceum, under the influence of the still fresh legends of Pushkin's time, each course had its own poet - Saltykov played this role. Several of his poems, filled with youthful sadness and melancholy (among his then acquaintances he was known as a “gloomy lyceum student”), were published in the “Library for Reading” for 1841 and 1842 and in “Sovremennik” in 1844 and 1845. However, he soon realized that he had he has no vocation for poetry, and has stopped writing poetry. Every ugliness has its decency. Saltykov-Shchedrin Mikhail Evgrafovich In August 1844 he enlisted in the office of the Minister of War, but literature occupied him much more. He read a lot and became imbued with the latest ideas of the French socialists (Fourier, Saint-Simon) and supporters of all kinds of “emancipation” (George Sand and others) - a picture of this passion was drawn by him thirty years later in the fourth chapter of the collection Abroad. Such interests were largely due to his rapprochement with the circle of radical freethinkers under the leadership of M.V. Petrashevsky. He begins to write - first short book reviews in Otechestvennye Zapiski, then stories - Contradictions (1847) and Confused Affair (1848). Already in the reviews one can see the way of thinking of a mature author - aversion to routine, to conventional morality, indignation at the realities of serfdom; There are sparkles of sparkling humor. The first story captures the theme of J. Sand's early novels: recognition of the rights of “free life” and “passion.” An Entangled Affair is a more mature work, written under the strong influence of Gogol's The Overcoat and, probably, Dostoevsky's Poor People. “Russia,” the hero of the story reflects, “is a vast, abundant and rich state; Yes, the man is stupid, he is starving to death in an abundant state.” “Life is a lottery,” the familiar look bequeathed by his father tells him; - it is so.., but why is it a lottery, why shouldn’t it just be life?” These lines, to which probably no one would have paid much attention before, were published immediately after the French Revolution of 1848, which reverberated in Russia with the establishment of a secret committee vested with special powers to curb the press. As a result, on April 28, 1848, Saltykov was exiled to Vyatka. A Tsarskoye Selo graduate, a young nobleman, was not punished so severely: he was appointed a clerical official under the Vyatka provincial government, then holding a number of positions, and was also an adviser to the provincial government. He took his official duties to heart. He learned well about provincial life, in its darkest sides, thanks to numerous business trips around the Vyatka region - a rich supply of observations made found a place in the Provincial Essays (1856-1857). He dispelled the boredom of mental loneliness with extracurricular activities: excerpts of his translations of French scientific works have been preserved. For the Boltin sisters, one of whom became his wife in 1856, he compiled a Brief History of Russia. In November 1855 he was allowed to finally leave Vyatka. In February 1856 he was assigned to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, then appointed a ministerial official for special assignments and sent to the Tver and Vladimir provinces to review the paperwork of local militia committees. Following his return from exile, his literary activity resumed. The name of court councilor Shchedrin, who signed the Provincial Essays that appeared in the Russian Bulletin, became popular. Collected in one book, they opened a literary page in the historical chronicle of the era of liberal reforms of Alexander II, laying the foundation for the so-called accusatory literature, although they themselves only partly belonged to it. The external side of the world of slander, bribes, and abuses completely fills only a few of them; The psychology of bureaucratic life comes to the fore here. Satirical pathos has not yet received exclusive rights; in the spirit of the Gogol tradition, the humor on its pages is periodically replaced by outright lyricism. Russian society, which had just awakened to a new life and was watching with joyful surprise the first glimpses of freedom of speech, perceived the essays almost as a literary revelation. The circumstances of the “thaw” period of that time also explain the fact that the author of the Provincial Sketches could not only remain in the service, but also receive more responsible positions. In March 1858 he was appointed vice-governor of Ryazan, and in April 1860 he was transferred to the same position in Tver. At the same time, he wrote a lot, publishing first in various magazines (in addition to the Russian Messenger in the Athenaeum, Library for Reading, Moskovsky Messenger), and from 1860 almost exclusively in Sovremennik. From what was created at the dawn of reforms - between 1858 and 1862 - two collections were compiled - Innocent Stories and Satires in Prose. A collective image of the city of Foolov appears in them, a symbol of modern Russia, the “history” of which Saltykov created a few years later. Among other things, the process of liberal innovation is described, in which the sharp eye of the satirist catches hidden defects - attempts to preserve old content in new forms. One “embarrassment” is seen in Foolov’s present and future: “Going forward is difficult, going back is impossible.” In February 1862 he retired for the first time. I wanted to settle in Moscow and found a new magazine there; but when he failed, he moved to St. Petersburg and from the beginning of 1863 became in fact one of the editors of Sovremennik. Over the course of two years, he published works of fiction, social and theatrical chronicles, letters, book reviews, polemical notes, and journalistic articles. The embarrassment that the radical Sovremennik experienced at every step from the censorship prompted him to re-enter the service. At this time, he is least actively engaged in literary activities. As soon as Nekrasov became editor-in-chief of Otechestvennye Zapiski on January 1, 1868, he became one of their most diligent employees. Saltykov-Shchedrin (pseudonym N. Shchedrin) Mikhail Evgrafovich (1826 1889), prose writer. Born on January 15 (27 NS) in the village of Spas-Ugol, Tver province, into an old noble family. His childhood years were spent on his father's family estate in "... the years... of the very height of serfdom", in one of the remote corners of "Poshekhonye". Observations of this life will subsequently be reflected in the writer’s books. Having received a good education at home, Saltykov at the age of 10 was accepted as a boarder at the Moscow Noble Institute, where he spent two years, then in 1838 he was transferred to the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum. Here he began to write poetry, having been greatly influenced by the articles of Belinsky and Herzen, and the works of Gogol. In 1844, after graduating from the Lyceum, he served as an official in the office of the War Ministry. “...Everywhere there is duty, everywhere there is coercion, everywhere there is boredom and lies...” - this is the description he gave of bureaucratic Petersburg. Another life was more attractive to Saltykov: communication with writers, visiting Petrashevsky’s “Fridays,” where philosophers, scientists, writers, and military men gathered, united by anti-serfdom sentiments and the search for the ideals of a just society. Saltykov’s first stories, “Contradictions” (1847), “A Confused Affair” (1848), with their acute social problems, attracted the attention of the authorities, frightened by the French Revolution of 1848. The writer was exiled to Vyatka for “... a harmful way of thinking and a destructive desire to spread ideas that have already shaken the whole of Western Europe...". For eight years he lived in Vyatka, where in 1850 he was appointed to the position of adviser to the provincial government. This made it possible to often go on business trips and observe the bureaucratic world and peasant life. The impressions of these years will influence the satirical direction of the writer’s work. At the end of 1855, after the death of Nicholas I, having received the right to “live wherever he wishes,” he returned to St. Petersburg and resumed his literary work. In 1856 1857, “Provincial Sketches” were written, published on behalf of the “court adviser N. Shchedrin,” who became known throughout reading Russia, which named him Gogol’s heir. At this time, he married the 17-year-old daughter of the Vyatka vice-governor, E. Boltina. Saltykov sought to combine the work of a writer with public service. In 1856 1858 he was an official of special assignments in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, where work on preparing the peasant reform was concentrated. In 1858 1862 he served as vice-governor in Ryazan, then in Tver. I always tried to surround myself at my place of work with honest, young and educated people, firing bribe-takers and thieves. During these years, stories and essays appeared (“Innocent Stories”, 1857㬻 “Satires in Prose”, 1859 62), as well as articles on the peasant question. In 1862, the writer retired, moved to St. Petersburg and, at the invitation of Nekrasov, joined the editorial staff of the Sovremennik magazine, which at that time was experiencing enormous difficulties (Dobrolyubov died, Chernyshevsky was imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress). Saltykov took on a huge amount of writing and editing work. But he paid most attention to the monthly review “Our Social Life,” which became a monument to Russian journalism of the 1860s. In 1864 Saltykov left the editorial office of Sovremennik. The reason was internal disagreements on the tactics of social struggle in the new conditions. He returned to government service. In 1865 1868 he headed the State Chambers in Penza, Tula, Ryazan; observations of the life of these cities formed the basis of “Letters about the Province” (1869). The frequent change of duty stations is explained by conflicts with the heads of the provinces, at whom the writer “laughed” in grotesque pamphlets. After a complaint from the Ryazan governor, Saltykov was dismissed in 1868 with the rank of full state councilor. He moved to St. Petersburg and accepted N. Nekrasov’s invitation to become co-editor of the journal Otechestvennye zapiski, where he worked in 1868–1884. Saltykov now switched entirely to literary activity. In 1869 he wrote "The History of a City" - the pinnacle of his satirical art. In 1875 1876 he was treated abroad, visiting Western European countries in different years of his life. In Paris he met with Turgenev, Flaubert, Zola. In the 1880s, Saltykov's satire reached its climax in its anger and grotesquery: "Modern Idyll" (1877 83); "Messrs. Golovlevs" (1880); "Poshekhonsky stories" (1883㭐). In 1884, the journal Otechestvennye zapiski was closed, after which Saltykov was forced to publish in the journal Vestnik Evropy. In the last years of his life, the writer created his masterpieces: “Fairy Tales” (1882 86); "Little things in life" (1886 87); autobiographical novel "Poshekhon Antiquity" (1887 89). A few days before his death, he wrote the first pages of a new work, “Forgotten Words,” where he wanted to remind the “motley people” of the 1880s about the words they had lost: “conscience, fatherland, humanity... others are still out there...”. Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin is a famous Russian writer, journalist, editor, and government official. His works are included in the compulsory school curriculum. It’s not for nothing that the writer’s fairy tales are called that - they contain not only caricature ridicule and grotesquery, thereby the author emphasizes that man is the arbiter of his own destiny. Childhood and youthThe genius of Russian literature comes from a noble family. Father Evgraf Vasilyevich was a quarter of a century older than his wife Olga Mikhailovna. The daughter of a Moscow merchant got married at the age of 15 and followed her husband to the village of Spas-Ugol, which was then located in the Tver province. There, on January 15, 1826, according to the new style, the youngest of six children, Mikhail, was born. In total, three sons and three daughters grew up in the Saltykov family (Shchedrin is part of the pseudonym that followed over time). According to the descriptions of researchers of the writer's biography, the mother, who over time turned from a cheerful girl into an imperious mistress of the estate, divided the children into favorites and hateful ones. Little Misha was surrounded by love, but sometimes he also got whipped. There was constant screaming and crying at home. As Vladimir Obolensky wrote in his memoirs about the Saltykov-Shchedrin family, in conversations the writer described his childhood in gloomy colors, once saying that he hated “this terrible woman,” talking about his mother. Saltykov knew French and German and received an excellent primary education at home, which allowed him to enter the Moscow Noble Institute. From there, the boy, who showed remarkable diligence, ended up on full state support at the privileged Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, where education was equal to that of a university, and graduates were awarded ranks according to the Table of Ranks.  Both educational institutions were famous for producing the elite of Russian society. Among the graduates are Prince Mikhail Obolensky, Anton Delvig, Ivan Pushchin. However, unlike them, Saltykov turned from a wonderful, smart boy into an unkempt, foul-mouthed boy who often sat in a punishment cell and never made any close friends. It’s not for nothing that Mikhail’s classmates nicknamed him “The Gloomy Lyceum Student.” The atmosphere within the walls of the lyceum promoted creativity, and Mikhail, in imitation of his predecessors, began to write freethinking poetry. This behavior did not go unnoticed: a graduate of the lyceum, Mikhail Saltykov, received the rank of collegiate secretary, although for his academic success he was given a higher rank - titular adviser.  After graduating from the lyceum, Mikhail got a job in the office of the military department and continued composing. In addition, I became interested in the works of French socialists. The themes raised by the revolutionaries were reflected in the first stories, “Entangled Affair” and “Contradictions.” It’s just that the aspiring writer didn’t guess right with the source of publication. The magazine “Otechestvennye zapiski” at that time was under unspoken political censorship and was considered ideologically harmful.  By decision of the supervisory commission, Saltykov was sent into exile to Vyatka, to the office of the governor. In exile, in addition to official affairs, Mikhail studied the history of the country, translated the works of European classics, traveled a lot and communicated with the people. Saltykov almost remained to vegetate in the provinces forever, even though he had risen to the rank of adviser to the provincial government: in 1855 he was crowned on the imperial throne, and they simply forgot about the ordinary exile. Pyotr Lanskoy, a representative of a noble noble family and second husband, came to the rescue. With the assistance of his brother, the Minister of Internal Affairs, Mikhail was returned to St. Petersburg and given a position as an official of special assignments in this department. LiteratureMikhail Evgrafovich is considered one of the brightest satirists of Russian literature, masterfully speaking the Aesopian language, whose novels and stories have not lost their relevance. For historians, the works of Saltykov-Shchedrin are a source of knowledge of morals and customs common in the Russian Empire of the 19th century. The writer is the author of such terms as “bungling”, “soft-bodied” and “stupidity”.  Upon returning from exile, Saltykov reworked his experience of communicating with officials of the Russian hinterland and, under the pseudonym Nikolai Shchedrin, published a series of stories “Provincial Sketches,” recreating the characteristic types of Russian residents. The work was a great success; the name of the author, who subsequently wrote many books, will be primarily associated with the “Essays”; researchers of the writer’s work will call them a landmark stage in the development of Russian literature. The stories describe ordinary hard-working people with particular warmth. Creating images of nobles and officials, Mikhail Evgrafovich spoke not only about the foundations of serfdom, but also focused on the moral side of representatives of the upper class and the moral foundations of statehood.  The pinnacle of the Russian prose writer’s work is considered to be “The History of a City.” The satirical story, full of allegory and grotesquery, was not immediately appreciated by his contemporaries. Moreover, the author was initially accused of mocking society and trying to denigrate historical facts. The main characters, the mayors, show a rich palette of human characters and social principles - bribe takers, careerists, indifferent, obsessed with absurd goals, outright fools. The common people appear as a blindly submissive gray mass, ready to endure everything, which acts decisively only when it finds itself on the brink of death.  Saltykov-Shchedrin ridiculed such cowardice and cowardice in “The Wise Piskar.” The work, despite the fact that it is called a fairy tale, is not addressed to children at all. The philosophical meaning of the story about a fish endowed with human qualities lies in the fact that a lonely existence, focused only on one’s own well-being, is insignificant. Another fairy tale for adults is “The Wild Landowner,” a lively and cheerful work with a slight touch of cynicism, in which the simple working people are openly opposed to the tyrant landowner.  Saltykov-Shchedrin's literary creativity received additional support when the prose writer began working in the editorial office of the journal Otechestvennye zapiski. The general management of the publication since 1868 belonged to the poet and publicist. At the personal invitation of the latter, Mikhail Evgrafovich headed the first department dealing with the publication of fiction and translated works. The bulk of Saltykov-Shchedrin’s own works were also published on the pages of “Notes”.  Among them are “The Monrepos Refuge,” according to literary scholars, a tracing of the family life of the writer who became the vice-governor, “The Diary of a Provincial in St. Petersburg,” a book about adventurers that are not translated into Rus', “Pompadours and Pompadours,” and “Letters from the Province.” In 1880, the epoch-making highly social novel “The Golovlevs” was published as a separate book - a story about a family in which the main goal is enrichment and an idle lifestyle, children have long turned into a burden for the mother, in general the family does not live according to God’s law and, without noticing moreover, moving towards self-destruction. Personal lifeMikhail Saltykov met his wife Elizaveta in exile in Vyatka. The girl turned out to be the daughter of the writer’s immediate superior, Vice-Governor Apollo Petrovich Boltin. The official made a career in education, economic, military and police departments. At first, the experienced campaigner was wary of the freethinker Saltykov, but over time the men became friends.  Lisa's family name was Betsy; the girl called the writer, who was 14 years older than her, Michel. However, Boltin was soon transferred for service to Vladimir, and his family left for him. Saltykov was forbidden to leave the Vyatka province. But, according to legend, he twice violated the ban in order to see his beloved. The writer’s mother, Olga Mikhailovna, categorically opposed the marriage to Elizaveta Apollonovna: not only is the bride too young, but the dowry given for the girl is not substantial. The difference in years also raised doubts among the Vladimir vice-governor. Mikhail agreed to wait one year.  The young people got married in June 1856, but the groom’s mother did not come to the wedding. Relationships in the new family were difficult, the spouses often quarreled, the difference in character affected them: Mikhail was straightforward, quick-tempered, and people in the house were afraid of him. Elizabeth, on the contrary, is soft and patient, not burdened with knowledge of science. Saltykov did not like his wife’s affectation and coquetry; he called his wife’s ideals “not very demanding.” According to the memoirs of Prince Vladimir Obolensky, Elizaveta Apollonovna entered the conversation at random and made comments that were not relevant to the matter. The nonsense uttered by the woman baffled the interlocutor and angered Mikhail Evgrafovich.  Elizabeth loved a beautiful life and demanded appropriate financial support. The husband, who had risen to the rank of vice-governor, could still contribute to this, but he constantly got into debt and called the acquisition of property a careless act. From the works of Saltykov-Shchedrin and studies of the writer’s life, it is known that he played the piano, knew about wines and was known as an expert in profanity. However, Elizabeth and Mikhail lived together all their lives. The wife copied her husband’s works, turned out to be a good housewife, and after the writer’s death she wisely managed the inheritance, thanks to which the family did not experience need. The marriage produced a daughter, Elizabeth, and a son, Konstantin. The children did not show themselves in any way, which upset the famous father, who loved them boundlessly. Saltykov wrote: “My children will be unhappy, no poetry in their hearts, no bright memories.” DeathThe health of the middle-aged writer, who suffered from rheumatism, was greatly undermined by the closure of Otechestvennye Zapiski in 1884. In a joint decision of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Justice and Public Education, the publication was recognized as a disseminator of harmful ideas, and the editorial staff were recognized as members of a secret society.  Saltykov-Shchedrin spent the last months of his life in bed, asking his guests to tell them: “I’m very busy - I’m dying.” Mikhail Evgrafovich died in May 1889 from complications caused by a cold. According to his will, the writer was buried next to his grave at the Volkovskoye cemetery in St. Petersburg.
Bibliography
Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin (real name Saltykov, pseudonym Nikolai Shchedrin). Born January 15 (27), 1826 - died April 28 (May 10), 1889. Russian writer, journalist, editor of the magazine “Otechestvennye zapiski”, Ryazan and Tver vice-governor. Mikhail Saltykov was born into an old noble family, on his parents’ estate, in the village of Spas-Ugol, Kalyazinsky district, Tver province. He was the sixth child of a hereditary nobleman and collegiate adviser Evgraf Vasilyevich Saltykov (1776-1851). The writer's mother, Olga Mikhailovna Zabelina (1801-1874), was the daughter of the Moscow nobleman Mikhail Petrovich Zabelin (1765-1849) and Marfa Ivanovna (1770-1814). Although in the note to “Poshekhonskaya Antiquity” Saltykov-Shchedrin asked not to confuse him with the personality of Nikanor Zatrapezny, on whose behalf the story is told, the complete similarity of much of what is reported about Zatrapezny with the undoubted facts of Saltykov-Shchedrin’s life allows us to assume that “Poshekhonskaya Antiquity” is partly autobiographical in nature. Saltykov-Shchedrin's first teacher was a serf of his parents, the painter Pavel Sokolov; then his elder sister, the priest of a neighboring village, the governess and a student at the Moscow Theological Academy took care of him. Ten years old, he entered the Moscow Noble Institute, and two years later, as one of the best students, he was transferred as a state student to the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum. It was there that he began his career as a writer. In 1844, he graduated from the Lyceum with the second category (that is, with the rank of X class), 17 out of 22 students, because his behavior was certified as no more than “pretty good”: he had ordinary school offenses (rudeness, smoking, carelessness in clothing). “writing poetry” with “disapproving” content was added. At the Lyceum, under the influence of Pushkin’s legends, which were still fresh at that time, each course had its own poet; in the 13th year, Saltykov-Shchedrin played this role. Several of his poems were published in the Reading Library in 1841 and 1842, when he was still a lyceum student; others, published in Sovremennik (ed. Pletnev) in 1844 and 1845, were also written by him while still at the Lyceum; all these poems were reprinted in “Materials for the biography of I. E. Saltykov,” attached to the complete collection of his works. None of Saltykov-Shchedrin’s poems (some translated, some original) bear any traces of talent; the later ones are even inferior to the earlier ones. Saltykov-Shchedrin soon realized that he had no vocation for poetry, stopped writing poetry and did not like being reminded of them. However, in these student exercises one can sense a sincere mood, mostly sad and melancholy (at that time Saltykov-Shchedrin was known among his acquaintances as a “gloomy lyceum student”). In August 1844, Saltykov-Shchedrin was enlisted in the office of the Minister of War and only two years later received his first full-time position there - assistant secretary. Literature even then occupied him much more than service: he not only read a lot, being interested in the French socialists in particular (a brilliant picture of this hobby was drawn by him thirty years later in the fourth chapter of the collection “Abroad”), but also wrote - at first small bibliographical notes (in Otechestvennye zapiski 1847), then the stories “Contradictions” (ibid., November 1847) and “A Confused Affair” (March 1848). Already in the bibliographic notes, despite the unimportance of the books about which they were written, the author’s way of thinking is visible - his aversion to routine, to conventional morality, to serfdom; In some places there are also sparkles of mocking humor. In Saltykov-Shchedrin’s first story, “Contradictions,” which he never subsequently reprinted, the very theme on which J. Sand’s early novels were written sounds, muffled and muffled: recognition of the rights of life and passion. The hero of the story, Nagibin, is a man weakened by his hothouse upbringing and defenseless against environmental influences, against the “little things in life.” Fear of these little things both then and later (for example, in “The Road” in “Provincial Sketches”) was, apparently, familiar to Saltykov-Shchedrin himself - but for him it was the fear that serves as a source of struggle, and not despondency. Thus, only one small corner of the author’s inner life was reflected in Nagibin. Another character in the novel - the “woman-fist”, Kroshina - resembles Anna Pavlovna Zatrapeznaya from “Poshekhonskaya Antiquity”, that is, it was probably inspired by the family memories of Saltykov-Shchedrin. Much larger is “Entangled Affair” (reprinted in “Innocent Stories”), written under the strong influence of “The Overcoat,” perhaps also of “Poor People,” but containing several remarkable pages (for example, an image of a pyramid of human bodies that one dreams of Michulin). “Russia,” the hero of the story reflects, “is a vast, abundant and rich state; Yes, the man is stupid, he is starving to death in an abundant state.” “Life is a lottery,” the familiar look bequeathed to him by his father tells him; “It is so,” replies some unkind voice, “but why is it a lottery, why shouldn’t it just be life?” A few months earlier, such reasoning might have gone unnoticed - but “A Confused Affair” appeared just when the February Revolution in France was reflected in Russia by the establishment of the so-called Buturlin Committee (named after its chairman D. P. Buturlin), vested with special powers to curb the press. As punishment for freethinking, already on April 28, 1848, he was exiled to Vyatka and on July 3, he was assigned as a clerical official under the Vyatka provincial government. In November of the same year, he was appointed senior official of special assignments under the Vyatka governor, then twice served as ruler of the governor's office, and from August 1850 he was an adviser to the provincial government. Little information has been preserved about his service in Vyatka, but judging by the note about land unrest in Slobodsky district, found after the death of Saltykov-Shchedrin in his papers and detailed in the “Materials” for his biography, he ardently took his duties to heart when they brought him into direct contact with the masses of the people and gave him the opportunity to be useful to them. Saltykov-Shchedrin got to know provincial life in its darkest sides, which at that time easily eluded the eye, as well as possible, thanks to the business trips and investigations that were entrusted to him - and the rich stock of observations he made found a place in “Provincial Sketches.” He dispersed the severe boredom of mental loneliness with extracurricular activities: excerpts of his translations from Tocqueville, Vivien, Cheruel and notes written by him on the famous book of Beccaria have been preserved. For the Boltin sisters, daughters of the Vyatka vice-governor, one of whom (Elizaveta Apollonovna) became his wife in 1856, he compiled a “Brief History of Russia.” In November 1855, he was finally allowed to leave Vyatka (from where until then he had only once traveled to his Tver village); in February 1856 he was assigned to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in June of the same year he was appointed an official of special assignments under the minister and in August he was sent to the provinces of Tver and Vladimir to review the paperwork of the provincial militia committees (convened on the occasion of the Eastern War in 1855). In his papers there was a draft note drawn up by him in the execution of this assignment. It certifies that the so-called noble provinces appeared before Saltykov-Shchedrin in no better shape than the non-noble province, Vyatka; He discovered many abuses in equipping the militia. Somewhat later, he compiled a note on the structure of the city and zemstvo police, imbued with the idea of decentralization, which was still not widespread at that time, and very boldly emphasized the shortcomings of the existing order. Following Saltykov-Shchedrin's return from exile, his literary activity resumed with great brilliance. The name of the court councilor Shchedrin, who signed the “Provincial Sketches” that appeared in the “Russian Bulletin” since 1856, immediately became one of the most beloved and popular. Collected into one whole, “Provincial Sketches” went through two editions in 1857 (later many more). They laid the foundation for a whole literature called “accusatory”, but they themselves only partly belonged to it. The external side of the world of slander, bribes, and all sorts of abuses completely fills only some of the essays; The psychology of bureaucratic life comes to the fore, such major figures as Porfiry Petrovich appear as a “mischievous”, the prototype of the “pompadours”, or the “torn-up” prototype of the “Tashkent people”, like Peregorensky, whose indomitable sneaking even the administrative sovereignty must reckon with. |