Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin. Biography


In parallel with the Turgenev chronicle of spiritual strivings of the advanced intelligentsia of the second half of the XIX century. in Russian literature, a satirical chronicle of socio-historical life was created, bringing to the surface the flaws and ugliness of the state structure of the Russian Empire. Its author was ME Saltykov-Shchedrin, a writer who was a rare combination of an ill-conceived artist and a high-ranking official in the Russian literary environment, who knew firsthand the public flaws he exposed. For the philistine mind, this combination seems paradoxical, even enigmatic. Why, it is asked, an official who ascended to the post of vice-governor instead of continuing his career growth, preferred to conflict with the authorities and ridicule it in his works with such force as no one else? And vice versa:

Meanwhile, there is no contradiction here. And the ruthless criticism that filled Saltykov-Shchedrin’s works and the official zeal for which he differed

in all positions he held were dictated by the same feeling of protest against Russian autocratic reality and the same goal-to serve all his creative, intellectual, moral forces in the cause spiritual enlightenment and social improvement of society. These impulses and ensured the indestructible unity of the “artist” and “official” in the personality of the writer. It was reflected even in the title of “prosecutor of Russian real life”, which Saltykov-Shchedrin was awarded by his contemporaries, because in the difficult role of “prosecutor” Mikhail Evgrafovich acted not only in the writer’s, but also in the service and social spheres of his activity.

And yet the soul of the writer, who shared most of his life between official duties and artistic creativity, belonged to literature. This is evidenced by his own admission: “I owe literature the best moments of my life.”

Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov was born in a wealthy landlord family. His childhood years, which took place in his father’s family estate, were overshadowed by heavy impressions

from everyday pictures of serfdom. On this basis, the writer’s mind developed a sharp rejection of the feudal system, which later became one of the main directions of satirical-accusatory criticism in his works.

Saltykov received his education in the best educational institutions: the Moscow Nobility Institute and the famous Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum. Since the Pushkin issue in the Lyceum, it has been a tradition to find in every new student course a “successor” to the great Russian poet. In the thirteenth year Mikhail was awarded such an honor. The first fifteen-year-old lyceum was dedicated to the memory of GR Derzhavin and Alexander Pushkin. Among his favorite authors were also romantics – Byron, Heine, Lermontov. However, Gogol had a decisive influence on his creative development. Subsequently, Saltykov-Shchedrin became the most vivid continuer of Gogol’s tradition in nineteenth-century Russian literature.

At the end of the Lyceum, Mikhail Evgrafovich was appointed to the office of the Military Ministry, where he immediately felt the defects of the Russian bureaucratic system. “Everywhere duty, everywhere coercion, everywhere boredom and lies…” – such was his assessment of the ministerial atmosphere, which excluded the opportunities for realizing the abilities of a young man who sincerely aspired to serve the good of the fatherland. The search for alternative opportunities led Saltykov to a circle of democratically minded youth, led by MV Petrashevsky. Members of this organization were opponents of serfdom and supporters of the idea of ​​a future society built on the principles of equality, justice and universal prosperity. Their ideas, directly related to the belief in moral and social progress, were on the whole close to Saltykov, but his writer’s view was chained to a huge gap between the ideal that the advanced intelligentsia preached and the Russian reality entangled in the age-old chains of the autocratic serf system. From the point of view of this gap, he showed modern life in his early novellas – “Contradictions” and “Entangled Affair”. In the last of them, the writer portrayed a hero, who, pretty rustling around the metropolitan chancery, saw in his dream a giant pyramid consisting of people and pressing down on him – the “little man” at the bottom. Against the backdrop of the revolutionary unrest that swept across Europe in 1848, this story was perceived by the government as a seditious caricature, which subjected unacceptable criticism to the state foundations. Behind “

His seven-year stay there Saltykov called “Vyatka captivity.” After the shine of the capital with its cultural environment, life in a musty provincial town seemed to him vegetation in a quagmire of soullessness and boredom. However, the writer did not give up. Being a vigorous and active man, he quickly moved up the career ladder and took the place of an official of special assignments in the provincial administration. These instructions demanded constant trips, which allowed Mikhail Evgrafovich to get deeper acquainted with the way of life and thinking of bureaucracy, merchants, peasants. So “Vyatka captivity” turned for him a great school of life. Although the literary work of Saltykov in the Vyatka period actually stopped, the acquired life experience armed him with a rich material for new books, and most importantly – a thorough knowledge of Russian reality.

In 1855, after the death of Nicholas I, the writer was allowed to “live wherever he likes”. Taking advantage of the returned freedom, he moved to St. Petersburg, where he resumed active literary activity. Soon saw his satirical collection “Provincial Sketches”, published on behalf of the fictitious “retired court counselor” N. Shchedrin. The collection attracted the attention of the public. The Ukrainian poet TG Shevchenko wrote in his diary: “How good are the Provincial Sketches” … I revere before Saltykov: Oh, Gogol, our immortal Gogol! How joyfully your noble soul would rejoice, seeing such brilliant pupils around you. My friends, my sincere! Write, voice for this poor, dirty, dangerous black man! For this scorned, wordless smerd! “.

The collection of prose prepared by Saltykov-Shchedrin in the 1960s continued the tradition of “Provincial Sketches”: “Innocent stories”, “Satires in prose”, “Letters on provinces”. Intensive creative work writer combined with official duties. Considering that the government can and should implement progressive reforms, he sought to personally facilitate their approach by an efficient service on the posts of an official of special assignments to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, vice-governor in Ryazan and Tver, chairman of the state chamber in Penza, Tula and Ryazan. Because of his uncompromising attitude, Saltykov-Shchedrin constantly entered into conflicts with his superiors, forcing him to change places of service until the tsar, informed of him as an official, “imbued with ideas,

Released from the burden of official duties, Saltykov-Shchedrin went head to head with literary activity. Over the next sixteen years, he developed it in two ways: his own creativity and editing of the journal Otechestvennye Zapiski, which played an important role in the cultural and social life of Russia.

The creative work of the writer in this period reached its peak. Along with the new satirical cycles, Saltykov-Shchedrin made two major works – the story “The Story of a City” and the novel “The Lord of Golovlyov”, rising in line with the most significant achievements of Russian prose of the XIX century.

In the first of these works, the author, hiding under the guise of a publisher who publishes the 18th-century chronicles allegedly found in the archives, recreated a satirical panorama of Russia’s history and modernity, allegorically depicted in the image of the city with the spoken name of “Fools”. In the framework of this panorama, Russian rulers, presented in simultaneously comical and creepy images of “city governors”, and people passively undergoing the madness and villainy of their bosses were also laughed at. The generalized portrait of Russia, written by Saltykov-Shchedrin, seemed to be an accurate illustration of the diagnosis made by the autocratic serf-owner of Russia, critic Belinsky: “… it is a terrible sight of a country where people trade people… countries where people call themselves not names but country,

In contrast to the story “The Story of a City”, in which a fantastically grotesque world appeared, the second great work of Saltykov-Shchedrin, “The Lord of Holovlev,” was written in a realistic vein. In it, on the example of the history of the Golovlev family, the writer examined the process of moral degeneration of Russian landlords under the influence of two social factors-serfdom, which corrupted their souls with permissiveness, and the capitalistic thirst for accumulation that littered their minds with false values. The last representative of the family represented in the novel, Judas, in which the universal spiritual degeneracy has reached the point where the last signs of a living soul are lost, is experiencing something like insight at the threshold of death: looking at the father’s house, predatorily inherited by him along with a large fortune, he suddenly thinks: “Here, in this very Golovlyov, there was once a whole human nest – how did it happen that the pen did not remain from this nest?”. The novel about the spiritually and physically extinct family was read by contemporaries as a chronicle of the historical ruin of “noble nests”. And his main hero – the “bloodsucker” Judas – enlarged himself with the treasury of “eternal images” of world literature, taking his place in the gallery of the famous “miser”, next to Shakespeare’s Shylock, Moliere’s Mean, Balzac’s Goblet, Gogol’s Plyushkin. His name has become a common denominator of a man, mutilated by a thirst for property, ready for the sake of selfish ends to rob and destroy his loved ones, devastating everything around him and dying in the midst of the desert created by his efforts. Here, in this very Golovlyov, was once a whole human nest – how did it happen that the pen did not remain from this nest? “The novel about the spiritually and physically extinct family was read by contemporaries as a chronicle of the historical ruin of” noble nests. ” his main hero – the “bloodsucker” Judas – enlarged himself with the treasury of the “eternal images” of world literature, taking his place in the gallery of the famous “miser”, next to Shakespeare’s Shylock, Moliere’s Mean, Balzac’s Goblet, Gogol’s Plyushkin. th sign of a man, mutilated by a thirst for property, ready for the sake of selfish ends to rob and destroy his loved ones, devastating everything around him and perishing in the middle of the desert created by his efforts. Here, in this very Golovlyov, was once a whole human nest – how did it happen that the pen did not remain from this nest? “The novel about the spiritually and physically extinct family was read by contemporaries as a chronicle of the historical ruin of” noble nests. ” his main hero – the “bloodsucker” Judas – enlarged himself with the treasury of the “eternal images” of world literature, taking his place in the gallery of the famous “miser”, next to Shakespeare’s Shylock, Moliere’s Mean, Balzac’s Goblet, Gogol’s Plyushkin. th sign of a man, mutilated by a thirst for property, ready for the sake of selfish ends to rob and destroy his loved ones, devastating everything around him and perishing in the middle of the desert created by his efforts. there was once a whole human nest – how did it happen that the pen did not remain from this nest? “The novel about the spiritually and physically extinct family was read by contemporaries as a chronicle of the historical ruin of” noble nests. “And his main hero is the” bloodsucker “Judas – replenished the treasury of the “eternal images” of world literature, taking a place in the gallery of famous “miser”, next to Shakespeare’s Shylock, Moliere’s Mean, Balzac’s Goblet, Gogol’s Plyushkin. thirsty property, ready for the sake of selfish goals to pick and destroy their loved ones, devastating everything around them and dying in the midst of the desert created by his efforts. there was once a whole human nest – how did it happen that the pen did not remain from this nest? “The novel about the spiritually and physically extinct family was read by contemporaries as a chronicle of the historical ruin of” noble nests. “And his main hero is the” bloodsucker “Judas – replenished the treasury of the “eternal images” of world literature, taking a place in the gallery of famous “miser”, next to Shakespeare’s Shylock, Moliere’s Mean, Balzac’s Goblet, Gogol’s Plyushkin. thirsty property, ready for the sake of selfish goals to pick and destroy their loved ones, devastating everything around them and dying in the midst of the desert created by his efforts. that the pen is not left from this nest? “The novel about the spiritually and physically extinct family was read by contemporaries as a chronicle of the historical ruin of” noble nests. “And his main hero – the” bloodsucker “Judas – enlarged himself with the treasury of” eternal images “of world literature, a place in the gallery of the famous “miser”, next to Shakespeare’s Shylock, Moliere’s Miserly, Balzac’s Goblet, Gogol’s Plyushkin. His name became a common denominator of a man, mutilated by a thirst for property, ready for the sake of selfish goals about turn and destroy their loved ones, devastating everything around him and dying in the midst of the desert created by his efforts. that the pen is not left from this nest? “The novel about the spiritually and physically extinct family was read by contemporaries as a chronicle of the historical ruin of” noble nests. “And his main hero – the” bloodsucker “Judas – enlarged himself with the treasury of” eternal images “of world literature, a place in the gallery of the famous “miser”, next to Shakespeare’s Shylock, Moliere’s Miserly, Balzac’s Goblet, Gogol’s Plyushkin. His name became a common denominator of a man, mutilated by a thirst for property, ready for the sake of selfish goals about turn and destroy their loved ones, devastating everything around him and dying in the midst of the desert created by his efforts. And his main hero – the “bloodsucker” Judas – enlarged himself with the treasury of “eternal images” of world literature, taking his place in the gallery of the famous “miser”, next to Shakespeare’s Shylock, Moliere’s Mean, Balzac’s Goblet, Gogol’s Plyushkin. His name has become a common denominator of a man, mutilated by a thirst for property, ready for the sake of selfish ends to rob and destroy his loved ones, devastating everything around him and dying in the midst of the desert created by his efforts. And his main hero – the “bloodsucker” Judas – enlarged himself with the treasury of “eternal images” of world literature, taking his place in the gallery of the famous “miser”, next to Shakespeare’s Shylock, Moliere’s Mean, Balzac’s Goblet, Gogol’s Plyushkin. His name has become a common denominator of a man, mutilated by a thirst for property, ready for the sake of selfish ends to rob and destroy his loved ones, devastating everything around him and dying in the midst of the desert created by his efforts.

In the period from 1868 to 1884, as already noted, Saltykov-Shchedrin edited the journal Otechestvennye zapiski. First, the writer performed this work together with the poet Nekrasov, and then, after the death of his partner, took over the management of the publication. In 1884, the tsarist government, alarmed by another increase in revolutionary sentiments, closed the magazine. Mikhail Evgrafovich experienced this event as a heavy loss, which deprived him of his “language” and separated him from the “only beloved being” – the reader. The well-known critic NK Mikhailovsky said: “The mental state of Saltykov after the termination of the” Fatherland Notes “was extremely painful, however difficult it was for him with the magazine, however he grumbled at the burden, which became really uncomfortable, however much he wanted to throw it off and leave, – but when I had to do this reluctantly, he was tantalizing even more. An expensive, beloved child was lost, in which he laid his whole soul. The difficult, difficult questions even for the sixty-year-old sick man were raised: what is to be done now? where to go? The guiding thread of life was broken. “

Nevertheless, Saltykov-Shchedrin did not abandon his pen. For the remaining five years of his life he wrote the books “Little Tricks of Life” and “Poshekhonskaya Starina”, finished work on a collection of his fairy tales. A few days before his death, Mikhail Evgrafovich took up writing a book in which he intended to remind readers of such “forgotten words” as “conscience, fatherland, humanity.” In this plan, the desire to bring Russian reality closer to the standard of life-decent, morally civilized and human-was reflected throughout the work of the writer. For each of his works, which, like a crooked mirror, turned social and moral vices into grotesque monsters that evoked in the readers a mixture of laughter and fear, Saltykov-Shchedrin asserted the need for ideals and in activity, aimed at their implementation. “Do not get stuck in the details of the present…” he urged his contemporaries, “but cultivate the ideals of the future in yourselves, for it is a kind of sunrays, without the ossifying action of which the globe would have turned into stone.” Do not let your hearts be petrified, too. steadily in the glowing points that flicker in the future prospects. ” Belief in these ideals forms an invisible bright dimension, over seemingly sparing no one and nothing “satirical chronicle.”


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Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin. Biography