Where was Fet born in what city. Short biography of feta

The future poet was born on November 23 (December 5, according to the new style), 1820 in the village. Novoselki of the Mtsensk district of the Oryol province (Russian Empire).

As the son of Charlotte-Elizabeth Becker, who left Germany in 1820, Athanasius was adopted by the nobleman Shenshin. After 14 years, an unpleasant event occurred in the biography of Afanasy Fet: an error was discovered in the birth record, which deprived him of his title.

Education

In 1837, Fet graduated from the private boarding school of Krimmer in the city of Verro (now Estonia). In 1838 he entered the Faculty of Philosophy at Moscow University, continuing to take a great interest in literature. He graduated from the university in 1844.

Creativity of the poet

In a brief biography of Fet, it is worth noting that the first poems were written by him in his youth. Fet's poetry was first published in the collection "Lyrical Pantheon" in 1840. Since then, Fet's poems have been constantly published in magazines.

In an effort to regain his title of nobility by all possible means, Afanasy Fet went to serve as a non-commissioned officer. Then, in 1853, in Fet's life, there is a transition to the Guards Regiment. Creativity Fet even in those days does not stand still. In 1850, his second collection was published, in 1856 - the third.

In 1857 the poet marries Maria Botkina. Having retired in 1858, without having achieved the return of the title, he acquires land, devotes himself to housekeeping.

Fet's new works, published from 1862 to 1871, make up the cycles "From the Village", "Notes on Freelance Labor". They include novels, short stories, essays. Afanasy Afanasievich Fet strictly distinguishes between his prose and poetry. Poetry is romantic for him, and prose is realistic.

In memory of Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet (1820-1892)

Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet is a famous Russian poet with German roots,lyricist,translator, author of memoirs. Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg

In the Oryol province, not far from the city of Mtsensk, in the 19th century, the Novoselki estate was located, where on December 5, 1820, in the house of a wealthy landowner Shenshin, a young woman, Charlotte-Elizabeth Bekker Fet, gave birth to a boy, Athanasius.

Charlotte Elisabeth was a Lutheran, lived in Germany and was married to Johann-Peter-Karl-Wilhelm Feth, an assessor at the Darmstadt city court. They got married in 1818, the girl Caroline-Charlotte-Dahlia-Ernestine was born in the family. And in 1820, Charlotte-Elizabeth Becker Fet left her little daughter and husband and left for Russia with Afanasy Neofitovich Shenshin, being seven months pregnant.

In the pastures of the dumb I love in the crackling frost
In the light of the sun, the brilliance of the sun is prickly,
Forests under hats or in gray hoarfrost
Yes, the river is sonorous under dark blue ice.
How they like to find thoughtful eyes
Winded ditches, winded mountains,
Sleepy blades of grass among the bare fields,
Where the hill is bizarre, like some kind of mausoleum,
Sculpted at midnight - or clouds of distant whirlwinds
On white shores and mirror polynyas.

Afanasy Neofitovich was a retired captain. During a trip abroad, he fell in love with the Lutheran Charlotte Elizabeth and married her. But since the Orthodox wedding ceremony was not performed, this marriage was considered legal only in Germany, and in Russia it was declared invalid. In 1822, the woman converted to Orthodoxy, becoming known as Elizaveta Petrovna Fet, and soon they married the landowner Shenshin.

When the boy was 14 years old, the Oryol provincial authorities discovered that Athanasius was registered with the surname Shenshin earlier than his mother.
I got married to my stepfather. In this regard, the guy was deprived of his surname and title of nobility. This hurt the teenager so deeply, because in an instant he turned from a rich heir into a nameless person, and then he suffered all his life because of his dual position.

From that time on, he bore the surname Fet, as the son of a foreigner unknown to him. Athanasius took this as a shame, and he had an obsession,which became decisive in his life path - to return the lost surname.

Athanasius received an excellent education. A capable boy was easy to study. In 1837 he graduated from a private German boarding school in Verro, Estonia. Even then, Fet began to write poetry, showed interest in literature and classical philology. After school, in order to prepare for entering the university, he studied at the boarding house of Professor Pogodin, a writer, historian and journalist. In 1838, Afanasy Fet entered the law department, and then - the philosophical faculty of Moscow University, where he studied at the historical and philological (verbal) department.

wonderful picture,
How are you related to me?
white plain,
Full moon,

the light of the heavens above,
And shining snow
And distant sleigh
Lonely run.

At the university, Athanasius became close to the student Apollon Grigoriev, who was also fond of poetry. Together they began to attend a circle of students who were intensively engaged in philosophy and literature. With the participation of Grigoriev, Fet released his first collection of poems "Lyrical Pantheon". The creativity of the young student earned Belinsky's approval. And Gogol spoke of him as "an undoubted talent." This became a kind of "blessing" and inspired Afanasy Fet to further work. In 1842, his poems were published in many publications, including the popular journals Otechestvennye Zapiski and Moskvityanin. In 1844, Fet graduated from the university.

Spruce covered the path with my sleeve.
Wind. In the forest alone
Noisy, and creepy, and sad, and fun -
I do not understand anything.

Wind. All around is buzzing and swaying,
Leaves swirl at your feet.
Chu, there is suddenly heard in the distance
Subtly calling horn.

Sweet call to me herald copper!
Dead sheets to me!
It seems that the poor wanderer came from afar
You warmly greet.

After graduating from the university, Fet entered the army, he needed this in order to regain his title of nobility. He ended up in one of the southern regiments, from there he was sent to the Lancers Guards Regiment. And in 1854 he was transferred to the Baltic regiment (he later described this period of service in his memoirs "My Memoirs").

In 1858, Fet finished his service as a captain and settled in Moscow.

In 1850, the second book of poems was published.Feta, which was already positively criticized in the Sovremennik magazine, some even admired his work. After this collection, the author was received among famous Russian writers, which included Druzhinin, Nekrasov, Botkin, Turgenev. Literary earnings improved the financial situation of Fet, and he went to travel abroad.

In the poems of Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet, three main lines were clearly traced - love, art, nature. The following collections of his poems were published in 1856 (under the editorship of I. S. Turgenev) and in 1863 (immediately a two-volume collected works).

Despite the fact that Fet was a refined lyricist, he managed to perfectly manage economic affairs, buy and sell estates, making a fortune.

In 1860, Afanasy Fet bought the Stepanovka farm, became the owner, lived there all the time, only briefly appearing in Moscow in winter.

In 1877, Fet bought the Vorobyovka estate in the Kursk province. At 18
8 1 he bought a house in Moscow, he came to Vorobyovka only for summer vacations. He again took up creativity, wrote memoirs, translated, released another lyrical collection of poems "Evening Lights".

Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet left a significant mark on Russian literature. In the first verses, Fet sang the beauty of nature, wrote a lot about love. Even then, a characteristic feature appeared in his work - Fet spoke about important and eternal concepts in hints, knew how to convey the subtlest shades of mood, awakening pure and bright emotions in readers.

After the tragic deathsweetheartMaria Lazich Fet dedicated the poem "Talisman" to her. It is assumed that all subsequent poems by Fet about love are dedicated to her. In 1850 a second collection of his poems was published. It aroused the interest of critics, who did not skimp on positive reviews. Then Fet was recognized as one of the best contemporary poets.

The night shone. The garden was full of moonlight. lay
Beams at our feet in a living room with no lights.
The piano was all open, and the strings in it were trembling,
Like our hearts for your song.
You sang until dawn, exhausted in tears,
That you are alone - love, that there is no other love,
And so I wanted to live, so that, without dropping a sound,
Love you, hug and cry over you.
And many years have passed, languid and boring,
And in the silence of the night I hear your voice again,
And blows, as then, in these sonorous sighs,
That you are alone - all life, that you are alone - love.
That there are no insults of fate and hearts of burning flour,
And life has no end, and there is no other goal,
As soon as you believe in sobbing sounds,
Love you, hug and cry over you!

Afanasy Fet remained a staunch conservative and monarchist until the end of his life. In 1856 he published a third collection of poems. Fet sang beauty, considering it the only goal of creativity.

In 1863the poet published a two-volume collection of poems, and then a twenty-year break came in his work.

Only after the surname of his stepfather and the privileges of a hereditary nobleman was returned to the poet, he took up creativity with renewed vigor.

Towards the end of his life, Afanasy Fet's poems became more philosophical. The poet wrote about the unity of man and the universe, about the highest reality, about eternity. In the period from 1883 to 1891 Fet wrote more than three hundred poems, they were included in the collection "Evening Lights". The poet published four editions of the collection, and the fifth came out after his death. With a thoughtful smile on his forehead.

About once upon a question of the questionnaire of the daughter of Leo Tolstoy Tatyana “How long would you like to live?” Fet replied: "The least long." And yet the writer had a long and very eventful life - he not only wrote many lyrical works, critical articles and memoirs, but also devoted whole years to agriculture, and apple marshmallow from his estate was even supplied to the imperial table.

Non-hereditary nobleman: childhood and youth of Athanasius Fet

Afanasy Fet in childhood. Photo: pitzmann.ru

Afanasy Fet was born in 1820 in the village of Novoselki near the city of Mtsensk, Oryol province. Until the age of 14, he bore the surname of his father, the wealthy landowner Afanasy Shenshin. As it turned out later, Shenshin's marriage to Charlotte Fet was illegal in Russia, since they got married only after the birth of their son, which the Orthodox Church categorically did not accept. Because of this, the young man was deprived of the privileges of a hereditary nobleman. He began to bear the name of his mother's first husband, Johann Fet.

Athanasius was educated at home. Basically, he was taught literacy and the alphabet not by professional teachers, but by valets, cooks, courtyards, and seminarians. But Fet absorbed most of his knowledge from the surrounding nature, the peasant way of life and rural life. He liked to communicate for a long time with the maids, who shared news, told tales and legends.

At the age of 14, the boy was sent to the German boarding school Krummer in the Estonian city of Vyru. It was there that he fell in love with the poetry of Alexander Pushkin. In 1837, young Fet arrived in Moscow, where he continued his studies at the boarding school of professor of world history Mikhail Pogodin.

In quiet moments of complete carelessness, I seemed to feel the underwater rotation of flower spirals, trying to bring the flower to the surface; but in the end it turned out that only spirals of stems were striving outward, on which there were no flowers. I drew some verses on my slate board and erased them again, finding them meaningless.
From the memoirs of Afanasy Fet

In 1838, Fet entered the law faculty of Moscow University, but soon switched to the historical and philological department. From the first year he wrote poems that interested classmates. The young man decided to show them to Professor Pogodin, and he to the writer Nikolai Gogol. Soon Pogodin gave a review of the famous classic: "Gogol said this is an undoubted talent". The works of Fet and his friends were approved - the translator Irinarkh Vvedensky and the poet Apollon Grigoriev, to whom Fet moved from Pogodin's house. He recalled that "the house of the Grigorievs was the true cradle of my mental self." The two poets supported each other in their work and life.

In 1840, Fet's first collection of poems, Lyrical Pantheon, was published. It was published under the initials "A. F." It included ballads and elegies, idylls and epitaphs. The collection was liked by critics: Vissarion Belinsky, Pyotr Kudryavtsev and the poet Yevgeny Baratynsky. A year later, Fet's poems were already regularly published by Pogodin's magazine "Moskvityanin", and later by the magazine "Domestic Notes". In the last year, 85 Fetov's poems were published.

The idea to return the title of nobility did not leave Afanasy Fet, and he decided to enter the military service: the officer rank gave the right to hereditary nobility. In 1845, he was accepted as a non-commissioned officer in the Order's cuirassier regiment in the Chersonese province. A year later, Fet was promoted to cornet.

Well-known metropolitan author and "agronomist-master to the point of desperation"

Friedrich Mobius. Portrait of Maria Fet (detail). 1858. State Literary Museum, Moscow

In 1850, bypassing all the censorship committees, Fet released a second collection of poems, which was praised on the pages of major Russian magazines. By this time, he was transferred to the rank of lieutenant and quartered closer to the capital. In the Baltic port, Afanasy Fet participated in the Crimean campaign, whose troops guarded the Estonian coast.

In the last years of his life, Fet received public recognition. In 1884, for the translation of Horace's works, he became the first recipient of the full Pushkin Prize of the Imperial Academy of Sciences. Two years later, the poet was elected its corresponding member. In 1888, Athanasius Fet was personally introduced to Emperor Alexander III and awarded the court title of chamberlain.

While still in Stepanovka, Fet began to write the book “My Memoirs”, where he talked about his life as a landowner. The memoirs cover the period from 1848 to 1889. The book was published in two volumes in 1890.

On December 3, 1892, Fet asked his wife to call a doctor, and in the meantime he dictated to his secretary: “I don’t understand the conscious increase in inevitable suffering. Volunteering towards the inevitable" and signed "Fet (Shenshin)". The writer died of a heart attack, but it is known that at first he tried to commit suicide by rushing after a steel stiletto. Afanasy Fet was buried in the village of Kleymenovo, the Shenshin family estate.

I was offended to see how indifferently the sad news was received even by those whom it most of all should have touched. How selfish we are! He was a strong man, fought all his life and achieved everything he wanted: he won a name, wealth, literary celebrity and a place in high society, even at court. He appreciated all this and enjoyed everything, but I am sure that his poems were dearest to him in the world and that he knew that their charm is incomparable, the very heights of poetry. The further, the more others will understand it.
From a letter from Nikolai Strakhov to Sofya Tolstoy, 1892

Already after the death of the writer, in 1893, the last volume of memoirs "The Early Years of My Life" was published. Fet also did not have time to release the volume that completes the cycle of poems “Evening Lights”. The works for this poetic book were included in the two-volume "Lyric Poems", which was published in 1894 by Nikolai Strakhov and Grand Duke Konstantin Romanov.

Born into the family of a landowner Afanasy Neofitovich Shenshin and a mother who left her husband Johann-Peter Fet for him. After fourteen years, the Oryol spiritual consistory returned to Athanasius the surname of his mother's previous husband, because of which he lost all the privileges of the nobility. Fet studied first at home, then was sent to a German boarding school in the city of Verro and brilliantly graduated from it in 1837.

In 1837, Afanasy Fet arrived in Moscow, studied at the boarding school of Professor M.P. Pogodin, and in 1838 he first entered the Faculty of Law, then the Historical and Philological Department of the Faculty of Philosophy of Moscow University.

In 1840, at his own expense, he published a collection of poems, Lyrical Pantheon A.F., which was praised in the Notes of the Fatherland and scolded in the Library for Reading.

In 1842-1843, his eighty-five poems were published in Fatherland Notes.

In 1845, Afanasy Fet entered as a non-commissioned officer in a cuirassier regiment stationed in the Kherson province, wanting to acquire hereditary Russian nobility. In 1846 he was awarded the first officer rank.

In 1847 permission was obtained from the censorship to publish the book and a book of poems was published in 1850. The poems were positively reviewed in the magazines Sovremennik, Moskvityanin, Otechestvennye Zapiski.

In 1853, Afanasy Fet moved to the Guards Lancers stationed near Volkhov, and began to visit St. Petersburg more often. Here he began to communicate with the new edition of Sovremennik N. Nekrasov, I. Turgenev, V. Botkin, A. Druzhinin.

In 1854, his poems began to be published in Sovremennik.

In 1856, Afanasy Fet left military service, with the rank of guards headquarters captain, without serving the nobility, and settled in Moscow. In 1857 he married M.P. Botkina.

In 1860 he bought an estate in the Mtsensk district and, in the words of I. Turgenev, "became an agronomist-owner to the point of desperation."

Since 1862, he began to regularly publish essays in the editorial "Russian Bulletin" that denounced the order in the countryside.

In 1867 - 1877 Afanasy Fet was elected a justice of the peace.

In 1873, the surname Shenshin was recognized as his surname and hereditary nobility was granted. During this period, he did little literary activity.

In 1881, Afanasy Fet bought a mansion in Moscow, and in the same year his translation of The World as Will and Representation by A. Schopenhauer was published.

In 1882, he published his translation of the first part of Faust by I.V. Goethe.

In 1883, Afanasy Fet began to publish his poems again in the form of collections "Evening Lights".

In 1888, the second part of "Faust" by I.V. Goethe in the translation of Athanasius Fet and the third collection of poems "Evening Lights".

Afanasy Fet died of a presumed heart attack on November 21 (December 3), 1892 in Moscow. He was buried in the village of Kleymenovo, the Shenshin family estate.