(1.07.1813 – 20.03.1887)
Annenkov, Pavel Vasilyevich [19.VI (1.VII) .1813, according to other data 18 (30) .VI.1812, Moscow, – 8 (20) .III.1887, Dresden] – Russian literary critic and memoirist. Born in the family of the landowner of Simbirsk province. He studied at the Mining Institute, was a volunteer at the Philological Faculty of St. Petersburg University. In the 40s he was close to VG Belinsky, NV Gogol, AI Herzen, later with IS Turgenev, and others. He collaborated in Otechestvennye zapiski and Sovremennik, in which he published “Letters from Paris” (1847-1848). On political convictions, he was a Western liberal. Traveled a lot in Europe. He lived with Gogol in Rome, copied the first volume of “Dead Souls” under the dictation of the author, as described in the memoirs of Gogol in Rome in the summer of 1841 (1857). I personally knew K. Marx and corresponded with him in 1846-1847. When asked about the Proudhon philosophy set forth
in A.’s letter, Marx in his reply for the first time gave a detailed critical assessment of Proudhon’s “Philosophy of Poverty” in connection with the characterization of the main provisions of historical materialism (see: Correspondence of K. Marx and F. Engels with the Russians politicians, 2 ed., Moscow, 1951). In 1847 in Salzbrunn (Silesia), A. was the only witness to Belinsky’s work on the “Letter to Gogol,” as he also told in his memoirs. In the late 50’s, A., along with other writers, noble liberals broke with “Contemporary”. As a literary critic, A. appeared with articles: “On the Importance of Artistic Works for Society” (1856, later published under the title “Old and New Criticism”), Novels and short stories from the popular life in 1853 “(1854),” Literary type of the weak man “(1858),” Historical and aesthetic issues in the novel. L. N. Tolstoy “War and Peace” (1868). In them he asserted the idea of the necessity of the moral impact of literature on society; However, from the standpoint
of aesthetic criticism, A. fought against the circle of N. G. Chernyshevsky. The most significant part of the heritage of A. is his memoirs, including the book “A remarkable decade (1838-1848)” (1880) – one of the main sources of study of literary thought and social movement of the 30-40’s; here are depicted living images of outstanding contemporaries A.: Gogol, Belinsky, Turgenev, Herzen, NV Stankevich, T. Granovsky, MA Bakunin and others. A. prepared the first scientific edition of the works of A. S. Pushkin in seven volumes (1855-1857), published valuable “Materials for the biography of Alexander Pushkin” (1855) and the book “Alexander Pushkin in the Alexandrov era” (1847). A short literary encyclopedia in 9 volumes. State Scientific Publishing House “Soviet Encyclopedia”, v. 1, M., 1962.
