Nikolay Alekseevich Nekrasov Born October 10 (November 28), 1821 in Ukraine, not far from Vinnitsa, in the town of Nemirov. The boy was not even three years old when his father, a Yaroslavl landowner and retired officer, moved his family to the Greshnevo family estate. Childhood passed here - among the apple trees of a vast garden, near the Volga, which Nekrasov called the cradle, and next to the famous Sibirka, or Vladimirka, which he recalled: "Everything that walked and rode along it and was led, starting with postal troikas and ending with prisoners chained, escorted by escorts, was the constant food of our childish curiosity."
1832 - 1837 - studying at the Yaroslavl gymnasium. Nekrasov studies averagely, periodically conflicting with his superiors because of his satirical poems.
In 1838 his literary life began, which lasted for forty years.
1838 - 1840 - Nikolai Nekrasov volunteer student of the philological faculty of St. Petersburg University. Upon learning of this, the father deprives him of material support. According to Nekrasov's own recollections, he lived in poverty for about three years, surviving on small odd jobs. At the same time, the poet enters the literary and journalistic circles of St. Petersburg.
Also in 1838, the first publication of Nekrasov took place. The poem "Thought" is published in the magazine "Son of the Fatherland". Later, several poems appear in the Library for Reading, then in the Literary Supplements to the Russian Invalid.
Nekrasov's poems appeared in print in 1838, and in 1840 the first collection of poems, Dreams and Sounds, signed N.N., was published at his own expense. The collection was not successful even after criticism by V.G. Belinsky in "Notes of the Fatherland" was destroyed by Nekrasov and became a bibliographic rarity.
For the first time, his attitude to the living conditions of the poorest sections of the Russian population and outright slavery was expressed in the poem "Govorun" (1843). From this period, Nekrasov began to write poems of a virtually social orientation, which censorship became interested in a little later. Such anti-serfdom poems appeared as "The Coachman's Tale", "Motherland", "Before the Rain", "Troika", "Gardener". The poem "Motherland" was immediately banned by censors, but was distributed in manuscripts and became especially popular among revolutionaries. Belinsky appreciated this poem so highly that he was completely delighted.
With the borrowed money, the poet, together with the writer Ivan Panaev, rented the Sovremennik magazine in the winter of 1846. Young progressive writers and all those who hated serfdom flock to the journal. The first issue of the new Sovremennik took place in January 1847. It was the first magazine in Russia expressing revolutionary democratic ideas and, most importantly, having a coherent and clear program of action. In the very first issues, "The Thieving Magpie" and "Who is to blame?" Herzen, stories from Turgenev's Notes of a Hunter, Belinsky's articles and many other works of the same kind. Nekrasov published "Hound Hunting" from his works.
The influence of the magazine grew every year, until in 1862 the government suspended its publication, and then completely banned the magazine.
In 1866 Sovremennik was closed. Nekrasov in 1868 acquired the right to publish the journal Otechestvennye Zapiski, with which the last years of his life were associated. ), "Russian Women" (1871-1872), wrote a series of satirical works, the top of which was the poem "Contemporaries" (1878).
The last years of the poet's life were covered by elegiac motifs associated with the loss of friends, the realization of loneliness, and a serious illness. During this period, works appear: "Three Elegies" (1873), "Morning", "Despondency", "Elegy" (1874), "Prophet" (1874), "To the Sowers" (1876). In 1877, a cycle of poems "Last Songs" was created.
The funeral of Nekrasov at the Novodevichy Cemetery in St. Petersburg acquired the character of a socio-political manifestation. Dostoevsky, P. V. Zasodimsky, G. V. Plekhanov, and others delivered speeches at the funeral service. In 1881, a monument was erected on the grave (sculptor M. A. Chizhov).
Streets were named after Nekrasov: in St. Petersburg in 1918 (former Basseynaya, see Nekrasov Street), in Rybatsky, Pargolovo. His name was given to Library No. 9 of the Smolninsky District and Pedagogical School No. 1. In 1971, a monument to Nekrasov was unveiled at the corner of Nekrasov Street and Grechesky Prospekt (sculptor L. Yu. Eidlin, architect V. S. Vasilkovsky).
Name: Nikolay Nekrasov
Age: 56 years old
Activity: poet, publicist
Family status: was married
Nikolai Nekrasov: biography
Nikolai Nekrasov is the progenitor of a new literary speech, which contemporaries successfully recreated and improved at the beginning of the 20th century.
The revolution of Nikolai Alekseevich went in two directions at once: meaningful (the writer touched on topics in his works that were not customary to talk about even in prose) and metric (poetry, squeezed into iambic and trochee, thanks to him received the richest arsenal of tripartite meters).
Russian literature, like Russian social life, developed within the framework of a dichotomy until the end of the 1960s. Nekrasov in his work pushed the boundaries of consciousness, explaining to people that there are at least three points of view on the same question.
Childhood and youth
Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov was born on November 28, 1821 in the Podolsk province, where he quartered the 36th Jaeger Infantry Regiment, in which his father served as a captain.
The head of the family, Alexei Sergeevich, was a despot who was proud of his noble origin. The inveterate gambler was not interested in either poetry or prose. The mentally unbalanced man was only good at two things - hunting and assault. Despite the fact that intellectual requests were alien to Alexei, it was in his father’s library that young Nekrasov read the ode “Liberty”, which was forbidden at that time.
Mother Elena Alekseevna was the complete opposite of her husband. A gentle young lady with a fine mental organization played music and read all the time. In the illusory world of books, she escaped from the harsh everyday realities. Subsequently, Nekrasov will dedicate the poem "Mother" and "Knight for an Hour" to this "holy" woman.
Nekrasov was not the only child. In the difficult situation of the father's brutal reprisals against the peasants, the stormy orgies of Alexei Sergeevich with serf mistresses and the cruel attitude towards the "recluse" wife, another 13 children grew up.
In 1832, Nekrasov entered the Yaroslavl gymnasium, where he only reached the 5th grade. The father always wanted his son to follow in his footsteps and become a military man. In 1838, 17-year-old Nikolai went to St. Petersburg to be assigned to a noble regiment.
In the cultural capital, the young man met his countryman - Andrei Glushitsky, who told the poet about the delights of studying at a higher educational institution. Inspired by Nekrasov, contrary to his father's instructions, he decides to enter the philological faculty of St. Petersburg University. However, the ambitious guy flunks the entrance exam and earns the status of a volunteer (1831-1841).
As a student, Nikolai Nekrasov endured a terrible need. Left without material support, he spent the night in doorways and cellars, and saw a full meal only in his dreams. Terrible hardships not only prepared the future writer for adulthood, but also tempered his character.
Literature
The first collection of poems by young Nekrasov was Dreams and Sounds. The book was prepared in 1839, but Nekrasov was in no hurry to publish his "brainchild". The writer doubted the poetic maturity of his poems and was looking for a strict adviser.
Having proofreading in hand, the novice writer asked the founder of romanticism to familiarize himself with it. Vasily Andreevich advised not to publish the book under his own name, explaining that in the future Nekrasov would write great works, and Nikolai Alekseevich would be ashamed of this "unprofessionalism".
As a result, the collection was published under the pseudonym N.N. This collection was not successful with the public, and after criticism by Vissarion Grigorievich Belinsky in the literary magazine Otechestvennye Zapiski, it was personally destroyed by Nekrasov.
Together with the writer Ivan Ivanovich Panaev, in the winter of 1846, the poet rented the Sovremennik with borrowed money. The publication published progressive writers and all those who hated serfdom. In January 1847, the first issue of the updated Sovremennik took place. In 1862, the government suspended the work of the journal, which was objectionable to the highest ranks, and in 1866 closed it altogether.
In 1868, Nikolai Alekseevich bought the rights to the Notes of the Fatherland. There the classic was published all subsequent years of his short life.
Among the great variety of works of the writer, the poems “Russian Women” (1873), “Frost, Red Nose” (1863), “Peasant Children” (1861), “On the Volga” (1860) and the poem “Grandfather Mazai and Hares" (1870), "A Peasant with a Marigold" (1861), "Green Noise" (1862-1863), "Listening to the Horrors of War" (1855).
Personal life
Despite the successful literary policy and the fantastic amount of information that the writer issued every month (more than 40 printed sheets of proofs) and processed, Nekrasov was an extremely unhappy person.
Sudden bouts of apathy, when the poet had not contacted anyone for weeks, and night-long "cart battles" made arranging his personal life almost impossible.
In 1842, at a poetry evening, Nikolai Alekseevich met the wife of the writer Ivan Panaev, Avdotya. The woman was pretty, had an extraordinary mind and excellent oratorical skills. Being the mistress of a literary salon, she constantly “gathered” eminent literary figures (Chernyshevsky, Belinsky) around her.
Despite the fact that Ivan Panaev was an avid rake, and any woman would be glad to get rid of such a would-be husband, Nekrasov had to make considerable efforts in order to earn the favor of a charming young lady. It is authentically known that he was in love with the beauty and, however, he failed to achieve reciprocity.
At first, the wayward woman rejected the courtship of 26-year-old Nekrasov, which is why he almost committed suicide. But during a joint trip to the Kazan province, the charming brunette and the budding writer nevertheless confessed their feelings to each other. Upon their return, they, together with Avdotya's legal husband, began to live in a civil marriage in the Panaevs' apartment.
The triple alliance lasted 16 years. All this action caused censure from the public - they said about Nekrasov that he lives in a strange house, loves a strange wife, and at the same time rolls scenes of jealousy to his lawful husband.
Despite the slander and misunderstanding, Nekrasov and Panaeva were happy. In tandem, the lovers write a poetic cycle, calling it "Panaevsky". Biographical elements and a dialogue now with the heart, now with the mind, contrary to popular belief, make the works in this collection absolutely unlike The Denisiev Cycle.
In 1849, the eminent poet's muse bore him a son. However, the “heir of the talents” of the writer lived only a couple of hours. Six years later, the young lady again gives birth to a boy. The child was extremely weak and died after four months. On the basis of the impossibility of having children in a pair of Nekrasov and Panaeva, quarrels begin. The once harmonious couple can no longer find "common points of contact."
In 1862, Avdotya's legal husband, Ivan Panaev, dies. Soon the woman realizes that Nikolai Alekseevich is not the hero of her novel, and leaves the poet. It is reliably known that in the writer's will there is a mention of "the love of his life."
On a trip abroad in 1864, Nekrasov lived for 3 months in apartments with his companions - his sister Anna Alekseevna and the Frenchwoman Selina Lefren, whom he met back in St. Petersburg in 1863.
Selina was an actress of the French troupe who performed at the Mikhailovsky Theater, and because of her easy temper did not take her relationship with the poet seriously. In the summer of 1866, Lefren spent in Karabikha, and in the spring of 1867 she again went abroad with Nekrasov. However, this time the fatal beauty never returned to Russia. This did not interrupt their relationship - in 1869 the couple met in Paris and spent the whole of August by the sea in Dieppe. In his dying will, the writer mentioned her.
At the age of 48, Nekrasov met the simple-minded 19-year-old village girl Fekla Anisimovna Viktorova. And although the young lady did not have outstanding external data and was extremely modest, she immediately liked the master of the literary word. For Thekla, the poet became the man of her life. He not only revealed to the woman the vicissitudes of love, but also showed the world.
Nekrasov and his young girlfriend lived together for five happy years. Their love story was reminiscent of the plot of the play Pygmalion. The lessons of French, Russian grammar, vocals and playing the piano transformed the civil wife of the writer so much that instead of an overly common name, the poet began to call her Zinaida Nikolaevna, giving her patronymic from his own name.
The poet had the most tender feelings for Fekla, but throughout his life he yearned both for the carefree Frenchwoman Selina Lefren, with whom he had an affair abroad, and for the obstinate Avdotya Yakovlevna.
Death
The last years of the life of the great writer were filled with agony. The publicist acquired the "one-way ticket" in early 1875, when he fell seriously ill.
The classic, who did not particularly care about his health, went to the doctor only in December 1876, after his affairs became very thin. The examination was carried out by Professor Nikolai Sklifosovsky, who was then working at the Medical-Surgical Academy. With a digital examination of the rectum, he clearly identified a neoplasm the size of an apple. The eminent surgeon immediately informed both Nekrasov and his assistants about the tumor in order to collectively decide what to do next.
Although Nikolai Alekseevich understood that he was seriously ill, he refused to increase the dose of opium to the last. Already a middle-aged writer was afraid of losing his ability to work and becoming a burden on his family. It is authentically known that during the days of remission, Nekrasov continued to write poems and completed the fourth part of the poem “Who Lives Well in Russia”. On the Internet, to this day, you can find photographs where the “enslaved by the disease” classic lies on the bed with a piece of paper and looks thoughtfully into the distance.
The treatment used was losing effectiveness, and in 1877 the desperate poet turned to the surgeon E.I. Bogdanovsky. The writer's sister, having learned about the surgical intervention, wrote a letter to Vienna. In it, a woman tearfully asked the eminent professor Theodor Billroth to come to St. Petersburg and operate on her beloved brother. On April 5, consent came. For the work, a close friend of Johann Brahms requested 15 thousand Prussian marks. Preparing for the arrival of the surgeon, N.A. Nekrasov borrowed the necessary amount of money from his brother Fedor.
The attending physicians had to agree with the decision and wait for the arrival of a colleague. Professor T. Billroth arrived in St. Petersburg on April 11, 1877. The luminary of medicine was immediately acquainted with the medical history of the classic. On April 12, Theodore examined Nekrasov and scheduled the operation for the evening of the same day. The hopes of family and friends did not come true: the painful operation did not lead to anything.
The news of the poet's fatal illness spread throughout the country in the blink of an eye. People from all over Russia sent letters and telegrams to Nikolai Alekseevich. Despite the terrible torment, the eminent literary figure continued to correspond with not indifferent citizens until he was completely paralyzed.
In the book “Last Songs” written during this time, the literary figure summed up the results, drawing an invisible line between life and work. The works included in the collection are the literary confession of a man who foresees his imminent death.
In December, the publicist's condition deteriorated sharply: along with an increase in general weakness and emaciation, there were constantly growing pains in the gluteal area, chills, swelling on the back of the thigh and swelling in the legs. Among other things, fetid pus began to stand out from the rectum.
Before his death, Nekrasov decided to legalize relations with Zinaida. The patient did not have the strength to go to church, and the wedding took place at home. On December 14, N.A., who observed the patient, The white-headed man determined complete paralysis of the right half of the body and warned his relatives that the condition would progressively worsen with each passing day.
On December 26, Nikolai Alekseevich called his wife, sister and nurse in turn. To each of them he said a barely perceptible goodbye. Soon his consciousness left him, and on the evening of December 27 (January 8, 1878 according to the new style), the eminent publicist died.
On December 30, despite the severe frost, a crowd of thousands accompanied the poet "on the last let" from his house on Liteiny Prospekt to the place of his eternal rest - the cemetery of the Novodevichy Convent.
In his farewell speech, Dostoevsky awarded Nekrasov the third place in Russian poetry after Pushkin and. The crowd interrupted the writer with shouts of "Yes, higher, higher than Pushkin!"
Immediately after the funeral, Zinaida Nikolaevna turned to the abbess of the monastery with a request to sell her a place next to her husband's grave for her future burial.
Bibliography
- "Actor" (play, 1841)
- "Rejected" (play, 1859)
- The Official (play, 1844)
- "Theoklistos Onufrich Bob, or the Husband is out of his element" (play, 1841)
- "Youth of Lomonosov" (dramatic fantasy in verse in one act with an epilogue, 1840)
- "Contemporaries" (poem, 1875)
- "Silence" (poem, 1857)
- "Grandfather" (poem, 1870)
- "Cabinet of Wax Figures" (poem, 1956)
- “Who in Russia should live well” (poem, 1863-1876)
- Peddlers (poem, 1861)
- "Recent Times" (poem, 1871)
It was Nekrasov who expanded the range of the poetic genre with colloquial speech and folklore. Before him, no one practiced such combinations. This innovation had a great influence on the further development of literature.
Nekrasov was the first to decide on a combination of sadness, satire and lyrics within one work.
Biographers like to divide the history of the development of Nikolai Alekseevich as a poet into three periods:
✪ The moment of the release of the collection "Dreams and Sounds". This is the image of the poet, which was created in the lyrics of Pushkin, Lermontov, Baratynsky. The young man still wants to be like this image, but he is already looking for himself in his own, personal work. The writer has not yet decided on his direction, and is trying to imitate the recognized writers.
✪ Since 1845. Now the poet depicts street scenes in his verses, and he likes it, it is welcome. Before us is a poet of a new format, who already knows what he wants to say.
✪
Late 40s - Nekrasov is a famous poet and successful writer. He edits the most influential literary world at that time.
At the beginning of the creative path
Very young, with great difficulty, eighteen-year-old Nekrasov reached St. Petersburg. With him he kept a notebook of youthful poems. The young man believed in his abilities. It seemed to him that the glory of the poet would happen as soon as people began to read his poems.
Indeed, a year later he was able to publish his first book - poetry. The book was called Dreams and Sounds. The success that the author had hoped for did not follow. This did not break the poet.
The young man aspired to education. He decided to attend lectures at St. Petersburg University as a volunteer, but this was also a very short-lived project of his, which ended in failure. His father deprived him of all help, there was nothing to live on. The young man put aside his high nickname for several years and began to write in various magazines, newspapers, while becoming a literary day laborer. Vaudeville, prose, satirical stories - this is what Nikolai earned in his early years.
Fortunately, in 1845 everything changed. Together with the poet Ivan Panaev, the young authors published an almanac with the attractive title "Physiology of St. Petersburg". The collection was a success. Absolutely new heroes appeared to the Russian reader. These were not romantic characters, not duelists. These were ordinary residents of St. Petersburg: janitors, organ grinders, in general, those who need sympathy.
Contemporary
A year later, at the end of 1846, young writers go even further. They are a well-known magazine "Contemporary" arrange for rent. This is the same magazine that was founded in 1836 by Pushkin.Already in January 1847, the first issues of Sovremennik were published.
Contemporary is also a resounding success. New Russian literature begins with this journal. Nikolai Alekseevich is a new type of editor.
He assembled an excellent team of literary professionals. All Russian literature seems to have narrowed down to a narrow circle of like-minded people. For a writer to make himself known, it was enough to show his manuscript to Nekrasov, Panaev or Belinsky, like it and get it published in Sovremennik.
The journal began to educate the public in an anti-serfdom and democratic spirit.
When Dobrolyubov and Chernyshevsky began to publish in the publication, the old employees began to resent. But Nikolai Alekseevich was sure that due to the diversity of the magazine, its circulation would increase. The bet worked. The magazine, designed for diverse youth, attracted more and more readers.
But in 1862, a warning was issued to the writing team, and the government decided to suspend the publication. It was reopened in 1863.
After the assassination attempt on Emperor Alexander II, in 1866, the magazine was closed forever.
creative flourishing
In the middle of the 1940s, while working at Sovremennik, Nikolai Alekseevich became famous as a poet. This fame was undeniable. Many did not like the poems, they seemed strange, shocking. For many, there were few beautiful paintings, landscapes.
With his lyrics, the writer sings of simple everyday situations. Many people think that the position of the people's intercessor is just a mask, but in life the poet is a completely different person.
The writer himself worked a lot on his own biography, creating the image of a poor man and, therefore, well understanding the soul of the poor. At the beginning of his creative career, he really ate bread in public canteens, covering himself with shame with a newspaper, for some period he slept in an overnight shelter. All this, of course, tempered his character.
When, finally, the writer began to live the life of a wealthy writer, this life ceased to fit in with the legend, and contemporaries formed a counter myth about the voluptuary, the player, the spender.
Nekrasov himself understands the duality of his position and reputation. And he repents in his poetry.
I deeply despise myself for this.
That I live - day after day uselessly ruining;
That I, not torturing my strength on anything,
He condemned himself with a merciless judgment ...
The brightest works
There were different periods in the author's work. They all found their reflection: classical prose, poetry, dramaturgy.The debut of literary talent can be considered a poem "On the road" , written in 1945, where the conversation between the master and the serf reveals the attitude of the nobility towards the common people. The gentlemen wanted it - they took a girl into the house for education, and after the audit of the serfs, the grown up, well-bred girl was taken and put out of the manor house. She is not adapted to rural life, but no one cares about that.
For about ten years, Nekrasov has been published on the pages of a magazine, of which he himself is the editor. Not only poems occupy the writer. Having become close to the writer Avdotya Panaeva, falling in love with her, appreciating her talent, Nikolai creates a kind of tandem.
One after another, novels written in collaboration are published. Panaeva published under the pseudonym Stanitsky. Most notable "Dead Lake", "Three Countries of the World" .
Early significant works include poems: "Troika", "Drunkard", "Hound Hunting", "Motherland" .
In 1856, his new collection of poems was published. Each verse was saturated with pain about the people, their heavy lot in conditions of complete lack of rights, poverty and hopelessness: "Schoolboy", "Lullaby", "To the temporary worker" .
A poem born in agony "Reflections at the Front Door" in 1858. It was the usual material of life, only seen from the window, and then, decomposed into the themes of evil, judgment and retribution.
In mature work, the poet did not change himself. He described the difficulties that all sectors of society faced after the abolition of serfdom.
A special textbook place is occupied by such nicknames:
✪ A large verse dedicated to the poet's sister, Anna Alekseevna "Jack Frost" .
✪ "Railway" , where the author, without embellishment, shows the reverse side of the construction medal. And he does not hesitate to say that nothing changes in the life of serfs who have received freedom. They are also exploited for a penny, and the masters of life fraudulently use illiterate people.
✪ poet "Russian women" , was originally supposed to be called "Decembrists". But the author changed the title, trying to emphasize that any Russian woman is ready for sacrifice, and she has enough mental strength to overcome all obstacles.
✪
Even though the poem "Who in Russia to live well"
was conceived as a voluminous work, only four parts saw the light. Nikolai Alekseevich did not have time to finish his work, but he tried to give the work a finished look.
Idioms
The extent to which Nekrasov's work remains relevant to this day can be judged by the most famous phrases. Here are just a few of them.
✪ The poem "The Poet and the Citizen" opened the collection of 1856. In this poem, the poet is inactive, does not write. And then a citizen comes to him and urges him to start working.
You may not be a poet
But you have to be a citizen.
There is such a philosophy in these two lines that writers still interpret them differently.
✪ The author constantly used gospel motifs. The poem "To the Sowers", written in 1876, was based on a parable about a sower who sowed grain. Some grain sprouted and brought forth good fruit, while others fell on the stone and perished. Here the poet exclaims:
Sower of knowledge to the people's field!
Do you find the soil barren,
Are your seeds bad?
Sow reasonable, good, eternal,
Sow! Thank you heartily
Russian people…
The conclusion suggests itself. Not always and not everyone says thank you, but the sower sows, choosing fertile soil.
✪ And this fragment, known to everyone, from the poem “Who Lives Well in Russia” can be considered the culminating last chord of Nekrasov’s work:
You are poor
You are abundant
You are powerful
You are powerless
Mother Russia!
Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov is a Russian poet-democrat, the author of brilliant samples of civil lyrics, who made poetry a "folk lyre" and a tool in the struggle for the rights of the oppressed people. His poetic muse is the muse of "revenge and sorrow", pain, the struggle against injustice towards the peasantry.
The poet was born on November 28, 1821 in the city of Nemirov (Vinnitsa district of the Podolsk province, now the territory of Ukraine). His parents met in Nemirov - his father served in a regiment stationed in this city, his mother, Elena Zakrevskaya, was one of the best - the most beautiful and educated - brides of the town. Zakrevskaya's parents were not going to give their daughter to an officer Nekrasov, who obviously married for convenience (by the time he met Zakrevskaya, he had gambling debts and a desire to solve the financial issue through a profitable marriage). As a result, Elena marries against the will of her parents, and, of course, the marriage turns out to be unhappy - her unloving husband made her an eternal recluse. The image of the mother, bright and tender, entered Nekrasov's lyrics as an ideal of femininity and kindness (the poem "Mother" 1877, "Knight for an Hour" 1860-62), and the image of the father was transformed into the image of a wild, unbridled and stupid despot.
The literary formation of Nekrasov cannot be separated from the facts of his difficult biography. Soon after the birth of the poet, the family moved to the father's family estate, in Greshnev, Yaroslavl region. The poet had 12 brothers and sisters, most of whom died at an early age. The father was forced to work - the local income for the needs of a large family was not enough - and he began to serve as a police officer in the police. He often took his son with him to work, so from an early age the child witnessed the beating of debts, suffering and prayers, deaths.
1831 - Nikolai Nekrasov was sent to study at a gymnasium in Yaroslavl. The boy was capable, but he managed to ruin relations with the team - he was sharp, sharp on the tongue, composed ironic poems about classmates. After the 5th grade, he stopped studying (it is believed that the father stopped paying for education, not seeing the need for education for a not too diligent son).
1837 - 16-year-old Nekrasov begins an independent life in St. Petersburg. Against the will of his father, who saw him as a modest official, Nikolai tries to enter the university at the Faculty of Philology. I did not pass the exams, but with persistence for 3 years I stormed the faculty, attending classes as a volunteer. At this time, his father refused to support him financially, so he had to live in terrible poverty, sometimes with overnight stays in homeless shelters, in constant hunger.
The first money was earned as a tutor - Nekrasov serves as a teacher in a wealthy family, while writing fairy tales and editing alphabets for children's publications.
1840 - Nekrasov earns as a playwright and critic - the St. Petersburg theater puts on several of his plays, and the Literary Gazette publishes several articles. Having saved up money, Nekrasov in the same year published at his own expense a collection of poems “Dreams and Sounds”, which fell under such a barrage of criticism that the poet bought almost the entire print run and burned it.
1840s: Nekrasov meets Vissarion Belinsky (who shortly before that mercilessly criticized his first poems) and begins a fruitful collaboration with the Otechestvennye Zapiski magazine.
1846: the improved financial situation allowed Nekrasov to become a publisher himself - their Zapiski leaves and buys the Sovremennik magazine, in which young and talented writers and critics who left Zapiski after Nekrasov begin to publish. Tsarist censorship closely monitors the content of the magazine, which has gained high popularity, so in 1866 it was closed.
1866: Nekrasov buys out the Otechestvennye Zapiski magazine, where he previously worked, and intends to bring it to the same level of popularity that he managed to bring Sovremennik to. Since that time, he has published more actively himself.
The following works come out:
- "Sasha" (1855. A poem about a thinking woman. Sasha is close to the people and loves them. She is at a crossroads in life, thinks a lot about life when she meets a young socialist. Agarin tells Sasha about the social world order, inequality and struggle, he positively A few years pass and Agarin lost faith that the people can be controlled and given freedom, he can only philosophize on how to give the peasants freedom and what they will do with it. at this time she is engaged in albeit small, but real things - she provides medical assistance to the peasants).
- “Who should live well in Russia” (1860 - 1877. An epic peasant poem denouncing the inability of the autocracy to provide the people with true freedom, despite the abolition of serfdom. The poem paints pictures of people's life and is vividly filled with people's speech).
- "Pedlars" (1861).
- "Frost, Red Nose" (1863. A poem praising the fortitude of a Russian peasant woman capable of hard work, loyalty, selflessness, fulfillment of duty).
- "Russian Women" (1871-71. A poem dedicated to the courage of the Decembrists who followed their husbands into exile. Contains 2 parts "Princess Volkonskaya" and "Princess Trubetskaya". Two heroines decide to follow the exiled husbands. Princesses who are unknown hungry impoverished existence, hard work, give up their former life... They demonstrate not only the love and mutual assistance inherent in all the guardians of the hearth by default, but also open opposition to power).
Poems:
- "Railway"
- "Knight for an Hour"
- "Uncompressed Band"
- "Prophet",
- cycles of poems about peasant children,
- cycles of poems about urban beggars,
- "Panaevsky cycle" - poems dedicated to the common-law wife
1875 - the poet falls seriously ill, but, struggling with pain, finds the strength to write.
1877: the last works are the satirical poem "Contemporaries" and the cycle of poems "Last Songs".
The poet died on December 27, 1877 in St. Petersburg and was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery. Despite the terrible frost, thousands of admirers came to see the poet on his last journey.
Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov (1821-1877) - an outstanding Russian poet, writer and publicist, who became a classic of Russian literature. The most famous were his works “To whom it is good to live in Russia”, “Troika”, “Poet and citizen”, “Grandfather Mazai and hares”. For a long time he was engaged in active social work, managing the journals Sovremennik and Otechestvennye Zapiski.
Nikolai Alekseevich became famous as an apologist for people's suffering, trying to show through his works the true tragedy of the peasantry. He is also known as an innovative poet who actively introduced folk prose and speech patterns into Russian poetry.
Childhood and youth
Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov was born on November 22, 1821 in the Vinnitsa district of the Podolsk province in the family of a large Yaroslavl landowner Alexei Nekrasov. At this time, the regiment in which he served was stationed in these places. The mother of the great poet was the Polish Elena Zakrevskaya. Shortly after the birth of his son, his father quit military service, and the family moved near Yaroslavl to the family estate of Greshnevo.
The future poet got acquainted early with the realities of the serf Russian village and the difficult peasant life. All this made a depressing impression and left a deep imprint on his soul. The gloomy and dull life in these places will respond in the future poems of the poet "Motherland", "Unfortunate", "In the unknown wilderness".
The harsh realities were complicated by the bad relationship between mother and father, which adversely affected the life of a large family (Nekrasov had 13 sisters and brothers). There, in his native land, Nekrasov first fell ill with poetry. Instilled a love for art by his beloved mother, who was well educated. After her death, the poet found many books in Polish, in the margins of which she left notes. Little Kolya also dedicated his first poems, written at the age of seven, to his mother:
Dear mother, please accept
This weak work
And consider
Does it fit anywhere?
After entering the gymnasium, Nekrasov left his native hearth and enjoyed freedom. He lived in the city in a private apartment with his younger brother and was left to himself. This is probably why he did not study well, and he often entered into verbal skirmishes with teachers and wrote satirical poems about them.
At the age of 16, Nikolai moved to St. Petersburg. The change of circumstances turned out to be forced, since after being expelled from the gymnasium he was threatened with a military career with a barracks spirit unbearable for the freedom-loving Kolya. In 1838, he arrives in the capital with a letter of recommendation for admission to the cadet corps, but instead begins preparations for entering the university. Emphasizing his desire to break with the hated past, in which the only bright spot was the memories of his mother, the poet writes the poem "Thought".
Nekrasov's first collection of poetry entitled "Dreams and Sounds" was not accepted by critics or by the author himself. After that, he moved away from the lyrics for a long time, and immediately destroyed all copies of the book that fell into his hands. Until his death, Nikolai Alekseevich did not like to think about these plays and poems.
In the field of literature
After such a turn, his father refused material support, so Nekrasov was forced to survive by odd jobs and even risked dying of starvation. Nevertheless, he firmly believed in literature as the most perfect form of free and rational activity. Even the most severe need did not make him leave this field. In memory of this period, he began to write, but never finished the novel The Life and Adventures of Tikhon Trostnikov.
In the period from 1840 to 1843, Nikolai Alekseevich took up writing prose, while simultaneously collaborating with the journal Otechestvennye Zapiski. Many stories came out from his pen - “Morning in the Editorial Office”, “Carriage”, “Landowner 23”, “Experienced Woman” and many others. Under the pseudonym of Perepelsky, he writes the dramas “Husband is not at ease”, “Feokfist Onufrievich Bob”, Grandfather's parrots”, “Actor”. Along with this, he became known as the author of numerous reviews and feuilletons.
In 1842, the long-awaited reconciliation with his father took place, which opened the way for him home. "With a tired head, neither alive nor dead," - this is how he describes the return to Greshnevo. By that time, the already elderly father had forgiven him and was even proud of his son's ability to overcome difficulties.
The following year, Nekrasov met V. Belinsky, who at first did not take his literary gift very seriously. Everything changed after the appearance of the poem "On the Road", which made the famous critic call him "a true poet." Even more Belinsky admired the famous "Motherland". Nekrasov did not remain in debt and called the meeting with him his salvation. As it turned out, the poet, with his great talent, really needed a person who would illuminate him with his ideas.
Singer of the soul of the people
After writing the poem "On the Road", which exposed the soul of an intelligent person who was no stranger to people's suffering, he created about a dozen more works. In them, the author accumulates all his hatred for the senseless opinion of the crowd, ready to stigmatize any victim of a difficult life with false and empty chatter. His poems “When from the darkness of delusion” became one of the first attempts by Russian authors to show a bright image of a woman who was dying from poverty and misfortune.
In the period from 1845 to 1854, the poet did not write so much, creating immortal poems "In Memory of Belinsky", "Muse", "Masha", "Uncompressed Strip", "Wedding". It is difficult not to notice in them the vocation that the great poet found in his fate. True, he still followed this path with extreme caution, which was also facilitated by the not-so-best years for literature, connected with the strengthening of the reactionary Nikolaev regime.
Social activity
Beginning in 1847, the poet took the helm of the Sovremennik magazine, becoming its publisher and editor. Under his leadership, the publication turned into a full-fledged organ of the revolutionary-democratic camp, the most advanced literary minds of Russia collaborated with him. Despite desperate attempts to save the magazine, when Nekrasov recited his poems at a dinner in honor of the famous Count N. Muravyov (“the hanger”), in 1866 Sovremennik was closed. The reason for such a decisive step by the authorities was the shots of Karakozov in the Summer Garden, which nearly cost the emperor his life. Until the last days, the poet regretted his act, calling it "the sound is wrong."
Two years later, Nekrasov nevertheless returned to publishing, acquiring the right to publish Otechestvennye Zapiski. This magazine will be the last brainchild of Nikolai Alekseevich. On its pages, he published chapters of the famous poem "Who Lives Well in Russia", as well as "Russian Women", "Grandfather" and a number of satirical works.
Late period
Much more fruitful was the period from 1855 to 1864, which began with the accession of the new Emperor Alexander II. During these years, Nekrasov appears as a true creator of poetic pictures of folk and social life. The first work in this series was the poem "Sasha". It so happened that at this time there was a social upsurge, including the birth of the populist movement. The response to this of a caring poet and citizen was the writing of the poem "Peddlers", "Songs to Eremushka", "Reflections at the front door" and, of course, "The Poet and the Citizen". In an effort to support the impulse of the revolutionary intelligentsia, he calls for feat and self-sacrifice for the sake of people's happiness in the poem "To the Sowers".
The late creative period is characterized by the presence of elegiac motifs in the poems. They found expression in such poems as "Morning", "Elegy", "Three Elegies", "Despondency". Standing apart is the most famous work of the poet "To whom it is good to live in Russia", which became the crown of his creative activity. It can be called a real guide to folk life, where there was a place for folk ideals of freedom, the spokesman for which was the hero of the work Grisha Dobrosklonov. The poem contains a large layer of peasant culture, conveyed to the reader in the form of beliefs, sayings, colloquial folk language.
In 1862, after reprisals against many radical friends, Nekrasov returned to his native places in the Yaroslavl region. Staying in his small homeland inspired the poet to write the poem "Knight for an Hour", which the author especially loved. Soon he bought his own estate Karabikha, where he came every summer.
Poet and citizen
In Russian literature, Nikolai Nekrasov took his own, very special place. He became a real folk poet, the spokesman of his aspirations and suffering. Exposing the vices of those in power, he, as best he could, stood up for the interests of the village oppressed by serfdom. Close contact with colleagues in Sovremennik helped develop deep moral convictions associated with his active citizenship. In his works “About the Weather”, “The Cry of Children”, “Reflections at the Front Door”, he shares with readers his revolutionary ideas, born in the name of people's happiness.
In 1856, the literary collection "Poems" was published, which became a kind of manifesto for progressive literature, which dreamed of forever removing the shackles of serfdom. All this contributed to the growth of the authority of Nikolai Alekseevich, who became a moral guide for many representatives of the then youth. And it is no coincidence that he was proudly called the most Russian poet. In the 1860s, the concept of the “Nekrasov school” was established, into which poets of a real and civic direction were “enrolled”, who wrote about the people and spoke with their reader in its language. Among the most famous authors of this trend, D. Minaev and N. Dobrolyubov stand out.
A distinctive feature of Nekrasov's work was his satirical orientation. In his poems "Lullaby", "Modern Ode" he ridicules noble hypocrites and bourgeois philanthropists. And in the "Court" and "The Song of the Free Speech" one can see a bright sharply satirical political subtext. The poet denounces censorship, feudal landlords and the illusory freedom given by the emperor.
In the last years of his life, Nekrasov suffered from a severe oncological disease of the stomach. He agreed to an operation by the famous Dr. Billroth, but it was unsuccessful. A trip to the Crimea did not save him from a serious illness - on December 27, 1877, Nikolai Alekseevich died. His funeral turned into an unprecedented expression of the popular sympathies of thousands of people who came on a frosty winter day to honor the memory of the great poet.
Personal life
In the most difficult times of lack of money, Ivan Panaev, a well-known holder of a literary salon in St. Petersburg, helped Nekrasov. In his house, the poet met many prominent literary figures - Dostoevsky, Turgenev, Saltykov-Shchedrin. Acquaintance with the beautiful Avdotya Panaeva, Ivan's wife, stood apart. Despite her firm disposition, Nekrasov managed to achieve the location of a woman. After the successes that came, Nikolai Alekseevich acquired a large apartment on Liteiny, where the Panaev family also moved in. True, the husband had long lost interest in Avdotya and did not have any feelings for her. After the death of Panaev, the long-awaited marriage with Avdotya did not take place. She quickly married the secretary of Sovremennik A. Golovachev and moved out of the apartment.
Tormented by unrequited love, Nekrasov, together with his sister Anna, goes abroad, where he meets a new passion - the Frenchwoman Sedina Lefren. For five years they will maintain a relationship at a distance, however, having received a lot of money from a successful publisher, she disappeared from his life forever.
At the end of his life, Nekrasov became close to Fekla Viktorova, whom, according to legend, he won at cards. She was a girl of humble origin and was often embarrassed by her presence in educated society. Experiencing rather paternal feelings for her, the poet awarded the girl with his patronymic and contributed to the acquisition of a new name ─ Zinochka. An indirect proof of this is the fact that he dedicated all his later poems to A. Panaeva.
Nevertheless, shortly before his death, already greatly weakened and exhausted, the poet decided to marry Thekla, which took place in a temporary church built right in the dining room of his house.
