Polevoi Nikolai Alekseevich: biography, works

2024 Author: Sierra Becker | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-26 03:40

Nikolai Alekseevich Polevoy is a Russian writer and playwright. He was also known as a literary critic, journalist, translator and, of course, a historian. He was one of the ideologists of the "third estate". He was the brother of the critic Xenophon Polevoy and the writer Ekaterina Avdeeva, the father of the Soviet writer Pyotr Polevoy.

Writer's biography

Nikolai Alekseevich Polevoy was born in 1796. He was born in Irkutsk. He grew up in a we althy merchant family. It is interesting that he became one of the first Russian journalists who never forgot about his origin, constantly expressing the interests of this class in his publications.

He received his primary education from home teachers. He began to write for the Russky Vestnik magazine in 1817. By 1820 he finally moved to Moscow, where he lived until 1836. Only after that, Nikolai Alekseevich Polevoy moved to St. Petersburg. In his work, he always positioned himself as a representative of the people inliterature.

Journalism

In the early 20s of the 19th century, he published a lot in the "Northern Archive", "Notes of the Fatherland", "Son of the Fatherland", the almanac "Mnemosyne". Just at that time, the word "journalism" appeared, to which Nikolai Alekseevich Polevoy himself was at first wary.

It is worth noting that in those years it was believed that only nobles could deal with literature, and the appearance in print of works by representatives of other classes caused outright bewilderment and even ridicule.

Moscow Telegraph

From 1825, Polevoy began publishing the Moscow Telegraph magazine, which had huge circulation. In this edition, he also published his articles on history, literature and ethnography. Constantly in these publications, he emphasized the important role of the merchants, as well as industry and trade in the modern fate of Russia. Often he openly attacked the literary works of the nobility, criticizing them for being isolated from the people and unaware of their needs and problems.

An interesting fact from the life of Nikolai Alekseevich Polevoy is that his journal was closed in 1834 by personal order of Emperor Nicholas I. This happened after a critical review of the Puppeteer's play en titled "The hand of the Almighty Saved the Fatherland".

Career in St. Petersburg

After the scandal with the closure of the magazine, Nikolai Alekseevich Polevoy, whose biography is given in this article, left for St. Petersburg. Happened hererevision of personal views - as a result, the journalist changed his liberal beliefs to loyal ones. He begins to publish a yearbook en titled "Picturesque Review of Memorable Objects from the Sciences, Arts, Arts, Industry and Community". He writes for "Northern Bee" and edits "Son of the Fatherland" for several years.

His new project was the magazine "Russian Messenger", which since 1841 began to be published once a month. Already in 1845, he agreed with the editor Andrei Kraevsky on the leadership of the Literaturnaya Gazeta. He paid much attention to literary and critical articles, in particular, he was in opposition to Belinsky.

Polevoi himself has been criticized and even parodied more than once. He was ridiculed for his arrogance and his frequent use of stilted language.

Sickness and death

In 1846 Polevoy died. He was only 49 years old. He died of nervous fever, which was provoked by the imprisonment of his son in the Shlisselburg fortress. The student Nyctopolis was detained by the tsarist authorities while trying to cross the border without permission.

Polevoi was buried at the Wolf Cemetery. He was one of the first, whose grave is located in that part of the cemetery, which today is known as Literary bridges. Russian poet Pyotr Vyazemsky, who was present at the funeral, noted that a lot of people had gathered - Polevoy was very popular.

According to the stories, Polevoi was lying in a coffin with an unshaven beard and in a dressing gown. Casethat after the death of his family remained in a difficult financial situation, the hero of our article had a wife and nine children. He left about 60,000 rubles in debt and no savings. The family was granted a pension of 1,000 rubles.

Belinsky, who often argued with Polevoy, while recognizing his merits in literature. The younger generation appreciated him for being one of the first representatives of the Raznochinsk intelligentsia, which managed to take its special place in Russian literature. At the same time, shortly after the death of Polevoy's work, they forgot and stopped publishing it.

Literary activity

In his books, Nikolai Alekseevich Polevoy often promoted the aesthetics of romanticism, as evidenced by his stories "The Painter", "The Bliss of Madness", "Emma". Polevoi is a classic writer-fiction writer, the main theme of his works was class obstacles that arise when representatives of the nobility clash with gifted raznochintsy.

Standard Polevoy's hero is a morally pure representative of the bourgeoisie or philistinism, usually also a devout who will have to face the backwardness of his environment and narrowness of views. Aristocrats are usually depicted as immoral egotists with no convictions, trying to hide their inner emptiness behind a brilliant and pompous manner.

Plays and satire

In his works, Nikolai Alekseevich Polevoy often turned to historical themes. His pen belongs to40 plays. He often wrote about famous domestic figures and events, which was very popular in Russia during the reign of Nicholas I.

In the satirical supplement to the Moscow Telegraph, the hero of our article sought to continue the traditions of satire at the end of the last century. A distinctive feature of his satirical works is the deliberate rejection of hyperbole and exaggeration in favor of other striking artistic means.

Also Polevoy did a lot of translations. For example, thanks to him, Russian readers got acquainted with Gauf's tales. In 1837, he released a fairly free translation of Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet.

Historical works

The work of Nikolai Alekseevich Polevoy "History of the Russian people" was widely known. He wrote it in opposition to the concept of Karamzin, who presented the history of the country as a chronicle of the biographies of its supreme rulers. Polevoi led ordinary people to the first positions.

In this historical work, he tried to find a people's beginning in all the fundamental events of Russian history, moving away from the role of military leaders and rulers.

In Russia, Polevoy's "History" was perceived by many as a weak parody of Karamzin, it was criticized. It is interesting that initially the hero of our article sought to write 12 volumes, like Karamzin. However, due to various difficulties, including personal ones, he managed to publish only six volumes. The subscription wassold out, leading to fraud allegations and financial claims.

Besides, the last volumes turned out to be not as interesting as the first two - it was noticeable that the author was working in a hurry, often straying into a banal retelling of the official doctrine. In his volumes, he managed to outline the history of Russian statehood before the capture of Kazan by Ivan the Terrible.

Besides this series, Polevoy wrote a number of articles for a wide range of readers. For example, he spoke out with a denial of the historical and ethnic kinship of the Little Russians with the Great Russians, on this basis proposing to recognize that Little Russia is not part of Russia, as Karamzin insisted on this.