Biography of S altykov-Shchedrin: life and work

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

On January 15, 1826, M. E. S altykov-Shchedrin was born in a small village in the Tver province. The biography of this man is thoroughly permeated with philanthropy and contempt for the reactionary state apparatus of his time. However, first things first.

S altykov-Shchedrin Mikhail Evgrafovich: biography of early years

The future famous writer was born into the family of a we althy nobleman. By the way, S altykov is his real name. Shchedrin is a creative pseudonym. The boy spent the first years of his life in his father's family estate. The most difficult years of serfdom fell on this period. When in most of the states of Western Europe the scientific and technological revolution had already taken place or was taking place, and capitalist relations were developing, the Russian Empire was increasingly mired in its own medieval way of life. And in order to somehow keep pace with the development of the great powers, the state machine worked more and more actively, squeezing all the juice out of the peasant class in an extensive way. Actually, the entire further biography of S altykov-Shchedrin eloquently indicates that he had a sufficient opportunity to observe the situation of the peasants in their youth.years.

This greatly impressed the young man and left an imprint on all his further work. Mikhail receives his primary education in his own home, and being ten years old, he enters the Moscow Institute of the Nobility. Here he studied for only two years, showing extraordinary abilities. And already in 1838 he was transferred to the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, receiving a state scholarship for education. Six years later, he graduates from this educational institution and enters the ministerial military office for service.

Biography of S altykov-Shchedrin: the beginning of creative activity

Here a young man is seriously interested in the literature of his time, avidly reads George Sand, French enlighteners and socialists. During this period, his first own stories were written: "Contradictions", "A Tangled Case", "Domestic Notes". However, the nature of these works, replete with free-thinking and satire on the tsarist autocracy, even then turned the government against the young official.

Biography of S altykov-Shchedrin: creative recognition and acceptance by the government

In 1848, Mikhail Evgrafovich went into exile in Vyatka. There he enters the service of a clerical official. This period ended in 1855, when the writer was finally allowed to leave this city. Returning from exile, he is appointed an official for special assignments under the state minister of the interior. In 1860 he became the vice-governor of Tver. At the same time, the writer resumes his creative activity again. Already in 1862, he retires from public office and focuses on literature. At the invitation of Sergei Nekrasov, S altykov-Shchedrin arrives in St. Petersburg and settles in the editorial office of Sovremennik. Here, and later in the journal "Domestic Notes", where he got under the patronage of the same Nekrasov, there are

the most fruitful years of his creative activity. Many stories, satirical articles and, of course, the famous grotesque novels: "The History of a City", "Modern Idyll" and others - were written in the second half of 1860-1870

Biography of S altykov-Shchedrin: the last years of his life

In the 1880s, the writer's satirical works were increasingly popular among the intelligentsia, but at the same time they were increasingly persecuted by the tsarist regime. Thus, the closure of the journal Otechestvennye Zapiski, where he was published, forced Mikhail Evgrafovich to look for publishing houses abroad. This ban on printing in his native country greatly undermined the he alth of an elderly man. And although he also wrote the famous "Tales" and "Poshekhonskaya antiquity", for several years he had aged a lot, his strength was rapidly leaving him. May 10, 1889 Mikhail S altykov-Shchedrin died. The writer, in accordance with his request in his will, was buried in St. Petersburg, next to the grave of I. S. Turgenev.