Brief biography: Saltykov-Shchedrin Mikhail Evgrafovich. Saltykov Shchedrin short biography A new stage of creativity
Literary pseudonym - Shchedrin (1826-1889) - prose writer, publicist, critic.
The great Russian satirist Saltykov-Shchedrin was born and raised in a wealthy landowner family, but in the house there was an atmosphere of stinginess, mutual hostility, hypocrisy and inhumanity.
Saltykov first studied at the Moscow Noble Institute and, as an excellent student, was sent to St. Petersburg, to the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum. In 1844, Saltykov graduated from the Lyceum and entered service in the War Ministry.
In his first works, the writer spoke out against social inequality. The hero of his story “A Confused Affair” (1848) saw the Russian social system as a huge pyramid of people, at the base of which are the poor, persecuted by the unbearable hardships of life. Nicholas I found in the story “a desire to spread revolutionary ideas,” so in 1848 the young writer was exiled to Vyatka, where he spent 8 years. Only after the death of the Tsar, in 1855, was the writer able to return to St. Petersburg.
In 1857, the writer’s new book, “Provincial Sketches,” was published. The work was directed against landlord oppression and bureaucratic arbitrariness.
In the 60s, the great satirist decisively opposed the autocracy in his remarkable book “The History of a City” (1869-1870), in which he sought to destroy the people’s faith in the “good king.” In this work, Shchedrin painted a terrifying picture of popular lawlessness, grief and poverty (see "The History of a City").
From 1868 to 1884, he published all his works only on the pages of Otechestvennye Zapiski. Readers of the magazine get acquainted with the cycles of satirical stories and essays by Saltykov: “Pompadours and pompadours” (1863-1874), “Letters about the province” (1868), “Signs of the times” (1868), “Gentlemen of Tashkent” (1869-1872), “ Well-Intentioned Speeches" (1872-1876), "In an Environment of Moderation and Accuracy" (1874-1877), "The Monrepos Shelter" (1878-1879), "Letters to Auntie" (1881-1882), the novels "The Lord Golovlevs" (1875 -1880) and “Modern Idyll” (1877-1883). Saltykov creates a kind of satirical encyclopedia of Russian life.
The most popular are the tales of Saltykov-Shchedrin. His first tales were published in 1869: " Wild landowner", "How one man fed two generals."
Fairy tales are the result of many years of life observations of the writer. In them he acts as a defender of people's interests, an exponent of people's ideals, advanced ideas of his time (see "Tales of M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin").
Among the works of the great satirist, a special place is occupied by his novels “The Golovlevs” (1875-1880) and “Poshekhon Antiquity” (1887-1889). The novel "The Golovlev Gentlemen" shows three generations of the Golovlev family. The people of this family, unfit for work, spiritually empty, hate and fear each other. It goes unceasingly family war. The Golovlev gentlemen are destroyed by their very way of life with well-fed idleness and parasitism. Here they do not spare the sick, the weak, or the dying. (See "Messrs. Golovlevs").
In the novel “Poshekhon Antiquity,” the writer painted terrible pictures of serf life, and in the book “Little Things in Life” (1886) Shchedrin showed the tragedy of the lives of “little”, ordinary people.
Many of Shchedrin's satirical types outlived both their era and their creator. They have become household names, denoting new and at the same time social phenomena of Russian and world life that have their own long-standing pedigree.
Throughout his life, Saltykov-Shchedrin retained faith in his people and his history. “I love Russia to the point of heartache and I can’t even imagine myself anywhere other than Russia.”
Name: Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin
Date of Birth: 27.01.1826
Age: 192 years
Date of death: 10.05.1889.
Place of Birth: Spas-Ugol city, Russia
Activity: Russian writer, journalist
Family status: married
One can talk endlessly about the biography of Saltykov-Shchedrin, given his status as the founder of Russian satirical literature with fairy tale elements. Therefore, in quick facts about the most important events in the writer’s life, the attitude of the degenerate noble class to the state of affairs in the serf state is clearly visible.
Childhood
Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin in his youthThe parents of the future satirist were Evgraf Vasilyevich Saltykov and Olga Mikhailovna Zabelina. Dad served as a collegiate adviser and had no weight either in society or in the family, due to his origins from a poor noble family. Everything was run by the mother, a strict woman with primitive ideas about raising children and enormous greed for her own wealth.
She was married off as a very young girl, which is why she brought the principles of landowner life into her own family and adhered to them with strict strictness.
The writer was born as the sixth child of 9 living brothers and sisters on January 15, 1826 in the village of Spas-Ugol, Kalyazin district, Tver province. Until the age of 10, he was considered the most beloved child in the family, which was reflected in the somewhat strange attitude of his greedy and domineering mother towards him - the remains of the festive dinner were the first to be given to Mikhail.
The education of the master's children was carried out by teachers and tutors from their own serfs, as well as the writer's elder sister Nadezhda, together with her colleague at the Catherine Institute, Avdotya Vasilevskaya. A little later, a priest from a neighboring village and a theological seminary student joined in educating the teenagers.
For his excellent knowledge of basic subjects, Mikhail Saltykov was admitted to the Moscow Noble Institute in 1836 straight into the third grade. Based on the results of his studies, he was enrolled in the capital's lyceum in 1838 on state support, as a successful student.
Famous writer Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin
It is noteworthy that the writer’s craving for creativity developed within the walls of the lyceum under the influence of Pushkin’s creativity and his sudden death. Initially, Mikhail Saltykov tried to study poetry, which he quickly got tired of due to the need to “squeeze good thoughts into the framework of rhymed lines.”
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Career and exile
After graduation, Mikhail Evgrafovich received a low rank in the table of ranks for freethinking and a craving for Protestant sentiments, which prevented him from taking a high position in the public service. At the same time, he continued to improve his writing, for which he was exiled to the provinces.
His further activities are inextricably linked with his residence in various provinces of the Russian Empire and his activities as an official in authoritative positions:
Elizaveta is the writer's daughter
In April 1948, Saltykova was sent to Vyatka by his immediate superior, Count Chernyshov, who was frightened by the writer’s thoughts expressed in the story “A Confused Affair.” By this time, Europe was frightened by the French Revolution and the German uprisings, which led to tightening censorship and the exile of all educated people sympathetic to the problems of the lower strata of the population.
In 1951, the disgraced satirist was able to avoid bloodshed between tenants and peasants in the surrounding villages.
Before the end of his exile in 1955, the writer did a lot of translations of French educators, and also compiled “The History of the Russian State” to teach this subject to the daughters of his friend, the vice-governor of Vyatka and nearby villages. He had a warm welcome in the Boltin family and constantly spent free time with the younger daughters of the mayor, which later played an important role in the biography of Saltykov-Shchedrin - the St. Petersburg state councilor fell in love with his wife, Elena Appolonievna Boltina, when she was barely 12 years old.
In 1856, having become an actual state councilor from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, he married his chosen one, who was barely 14 years old. Only the writer’s elder brother came to the wedding - Mikhail Evgrafovich’s mother did not like her daughter-in-law because of her youth and the lack of a rich dowry.
From 1858 to 1862 he served as the chief police chief in the Tver and Ryazan provinces. During this time, he was able to organize several areas to manage order in the areas adjacent to these cities and showed himself as a progressive fighter for justice in relation to disenfranchised sections of the population - officials of the lower categories, serfs and farmers.
In the essays of contemporaries, telling about the most important facts from the life of the first satirist, Saltykov-Shchedrin’s time of service in government positions was not in vain. Observations of the life and foundations of provincial settlements and cities served as a rich basis for the future works of the classic.
Saltykov-Shchedrin: photo
Success in literary work
Mikhail Evgrafovich did not give up hope of creating a name for himself as a progressive writer modernity and therefore, throughout the entire period of public service, he worked a lot on his own written observations and reflections. The fruitfulness of his efforts was determined by the undoubted popularity of individual works that saw the light of day. different stages his creativity:
1856 - the beginning of a series of publications under the general title “Provincial Notes” in the magazine “Russian Bulletin”.
From June 1868, after the second and final resignation, Saltykov became the de facto editor of the journal Otechestvennye zapiski together with Nekrasov. By this time, a collection of his essays and stories, compiled from many years of publications in Moskovskiye Vedomosti and Sovremennik, had been published.
Between 1868 and 1884 the publication published most famous works Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, which allowed him and his loved ones to live with dignity and travel around Europe.
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Saltykov-Shchedrin founder of Russian satirical literature with fairy tale elements
The writer died in 1989, leaving behind not only a young widow, but also a son and daughter. Despite a huge number of sources who claimed that Saltykov-Shchedrin did not love his family, there are many reasons to say the opposite - the writer’s suicide notes to his son have been preserved. In them, the dying person, with great tenderness and love, asks the heir to take care of his sister and mother after his death.
On January 15, 1826, M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin was born in a small village in the Tver province. The biography of this man is thoroughly permeated with philanthropy and contempt for the reactionary state apparatus of his time. However, first things first.
Saltykov-Shchedrin Mikhail Evgrafovich: biography of his early years
Future famous writer was born into the family of a wealthy nobleman. By the way, Saltykov is his real name. Shchedrin is a creative pseudonym. The boy spent the first years of his life on his father's family estate. The most difficult years of serfdom occurred during this period. When in most states the scientific and technological revolution had already occurred or was taking place, and capitalist relations were developing, Russian empire became more and more mired in its own medieval way of life. And in order to somehow keep up with the development of the great powers, the state machine worked more and more actively, extensively squeezing all the juices out of the peasant class. Actually, the entire subsequent biography of Saltykov-Shchedrin eloquently testifies to the fact that he had sufficient opportunity to observe the situation of the peasants in his youth.
This greatly impressed the young man and left an imprint on all his further work. Mikhail received his primary education in his home, and when he was ten years old, he entered the Moscow Institute of Nobility. Here he studied for only two years, showing extraordinary abilities. And already in 1838 he was transferred to receive a state scholarship for his studies. Six years later he ends it educational institution and enters the ministerial military office for service.
Biography of Saltykov-Shchedrin: the beginning creative activity
Here the young man is seriously interested in the literature of his time, voraciously reading French educators and socialists. During this period, his first own stories were written: “Contradictions”, “An Entangled Affair”, “Notes of the Fatherland”. However, the nature of these works, full of freethinking and satire on the tsarist autocracy, even then set state power against a young official.
Biography of Saltykov-Shchedrin: creative recognition and acceptance by state authorities
In 1848, Mikhail Evgrafovich went into exile in Vyatka. There he enters the service as a clerical official. This period ended in 1855, when the writer was finally allowed to leave this city. Returning from exile, he is appointed as an official for special assignments under the State Minister of Internal Affairs. In 1860 he became the Tver vice-governor. At the same time, the writer resumes his creative activity. Already in 1862, he retired from public office and focused on literature. At the invitation of Sergei Nekrasov, Saltykov-Shchedrin comes to St. Petersburg and gets a job in the editorial office of Sovremennik. Here, and later in the journal Otechestvennye zapiski, where he ended up under the patronage of the same Nekrasov, they are held
the most fruitful years of his creative activity. Many stories, satirical articles and, of course, the famous grotesque novels: “The History of a City”, “A Modern Idyll” and others - were written in the second half of 1860-1870.
Biography of Saltykov-Shchedrin: last years life
In the 1880s satirical works The writers are increasingly enjoying fame among the intelligentsia, but at the same time they are increasingly persecuted by the tsarist regime. Thus, the closure of the journal Otechestvennye Zapiski, where he was published, forced Mikhail Evgrafovich to look for publishing houses abroad. This ban on printing in his native country greatly undermined the health of an already middle-aged man. And although he also wrote the famous “Fairy Tales” and “Poshekhon Antiquity,” over the course of several years he grew very old, his strength was rapidly leaving him. On May 10, 1889, Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin died. The writer, in accordance with his request in his will, was buried in St. Petersburg, next to the grave of I.S. Turgenev.
There are few writers in the history of Russian literature who would be hated so persistently and strongly as Saltykov-Shchedrin. Contemporaries called him a “storyteller” and his works “strange fantasies” that had nothing to do with reality. Meanwhile, today the work of the famous satirist and caricaturist remains fresh and relevant. The biography of Saltykov-Shchedrin tells how difficult the writer’s path to literary Olympus was. summary which we will look at in this article.
Youth
Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov is a Russian writer, a nobleman who was born in 1826 in the small village of Spas-Ugol (Tver province). His first teacher was the simple serf Pavel, and then he was taught by a priest and a student at the theological academy. At the age of ten, the boy was sent to Moscow, to a noble institute, and two years later - to This is where his creative biography begins.
Saltykov-Shchedrin at the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum
Here, under the influence of the creativity of young poets, Mikhail Evgrafovich begins to write poetry. His certificate at the end of the lyceum will record, along with such school offenses as smoking and rudeness, writing works of disapproving content. Meanwhile, a number of his poems were already published in the Sovremennik magazine. However, Mikhail himself does not see the talent of a poet in himself, but he became seriously interested in literature. His writing biography began from this period. Saltykov-Shchedrin becomes famous.
Popularity
Upon graduation from the lyceum, the future writer enlists in the military chancellery. He is interested in French literature and begins to write bibliographic notes, which are published in Otechestvennye zapiski. 4 years after graduating from the Lyceum, in 1848, he wrote the story “A Confused Affair.” In this work, the author’s attitude towards and aversion to routine is clearly visible. These discussions about the fate of Russia might have gone unnoticed if they had not coincided with the French Revolution. In the same year, the writer was exiled to Vyatka, where his provincial biography would last for 7 long years.
Saltykov-Shchedrin in Vyatka
Not much is known for certain about the writer’s service in Vyatka. He served as a clerical official in various government institutions. Meanwhile provincial life during this period, it opened up the opportunity for Saltykov to better know all the dark sides of the existence of ordinary people. During his stay in Vyatka, Mikhail Evgrafovich wrote “Provincial Sketches”, and also compiled “ Brief history Russia." Here he finds a wife, and in 1855 he is allowed to leave Vyatka.
Literary activity in the last years of his life
In 1856, Saltykov was sent to the Tver province, and in 1860 he was appointed to the post of vice-governor of Tver. It continues literary biography. Saltykov-Shchedrin wrote a lot at this time and published in famous magazines. And in 1863, after his resignation, he moved to St. Petersburg and became one of the editors of Sovremennik. In the last years of his life, he wrote short stories and fairy tales, trying to convey to his readers the spirit of freedom and independence through humor and satire. In 1889, Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, whose biography is closely intertwined with the fate of the people, dies after a serious illness.
Saltykov-Shchedrin (pseudonym - N. Shchedrin) Mikhail Evgrafovich- Russian satirist writer.
Born 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 how he described 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), "Confused Affair" (1848) with their acute social issues 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 had 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 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 the main attention was paid to the monthly review "Nasha" public 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, accepted N. Nekrasov’s invitation to become co-editor of the journal Otechestvennye zapiski, where he worked in 1868 - 1884. Saltykov now completely switched 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, visited countries Western Europe V different years 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...”.
M. Saltykov-Shchedrin died in St. Petersburg.