Konstantin Aksakov: biography, activities and interesting facts

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

This year marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of the outstanding Russian philosopher, playwright, linguist and poet. Konstantin Aksakov lived only 43 years.

He was a prominent figure in the Slavophile movement in Russia at the beginning - the middle of the 19th century. His views, involving the granting of rights to the rural community, were progressive for his time, overshadowed by serfdom. From his grandfather, a Suvorov general, Konstantin inherited personal qualities: patriotism and ardor.

Childhood, youth

The Aksakov family descended from a Varangian who served the princes of Kyiv. Even in pre-Petrine Russia, there were nobles, “sovereign people” in it. On March 29, 1817, Konstantin Aksakov was born in the village of Aksakovo, Orenburg province. The biography of his childhood years is connected with the estate of his father, Sergei Timofeevich, a writer and literary critic. From the pen of the parent came the wonderful fairy tales "The Town in the Snuffbox", "The Scarlet Flower". Konstantin had younger brother Ivan and sister Vera, they were friends with each other.

The Aksakov family in everyday lifeadhered to old Russian traditions. Konstantin was brought up in the spirit of hospitality and wide life. In 1826, the Aksakovs moved to Moscow.

Student years

Konstantin Aksakov received his secondary education at the Pogodin boarding house. Even in adolescence, his thirst for knowledge and literary talent manifested itself. The young man was an idealist, an impractical and non-mercantile person. At the age of fifteen, he entered the verbal department of Moscow University, the department of professors Pobedonostsev and Nadezhdin.

In his student years, the future publicist, together with Vissarion Belinsky, Ivan Turgenev, Vasily Bakunin, Vasily Botkin, participated in the circle of German philosophy of the writer Stankevich, then in the society of Slavophiles Samarin, Khomyakov. The atmosphere of these meetings Ivan Turgenev displayed in the novel "Rudin". Young people were disgusted by the atmosphere of bureaucratic pseudo-patriotism, they were looking for simplicity and sincerity in philosophy. Aksakov called himself a “Slavophile and Hegelian” from his student days until his last days.

Konstantin Sergeevich's master's work was a study of Lomonosov's place in Russian literature. The censorship committee did not accept it for a long time, forcing the student to make corrections. From a young age, the novice critic began to have problems with official censorship. Aksakov's inquisitive analytical mind was highly appreciated, he was offered a scientific career in Kyiv. However, the young man was not going to leave Moscow.

Poetry

Aksakov Konstantin published the first poems in magazines"Domestic Notes", "Telescope", "Moscow Observer". Aksakov's poetry cultivated the ideals of romanticism characteristic of Goethe, and his contemporaries liked it due to its lightness of sound and differences from sovereign odes.

His readers remembered the images of Russian nature, philosophical themes, the expression of human feelings.

After half a century, the poets Fet and Tyutchev will continue the theme of naturalistic poetry, the foundations of which were laid by Konstantin Aksakov. His poems - "Stream", "Elegy", "Thoughts", "Thunderstorm", "Winter is Coming" - are both sublime and simple. The poet knows how to write sincerely about his small homeland, and about love. In his poems, one can feel the comfort of a rural house, the charm of Russian nature. Sincere and simple are his poems “A. V. G.”, “Heavy at heart.”

Later, P. I. Tchaikovsky wrote music for one of his altered poems. The result was one of the most popular children's songs in the 19th century.

Prose Aksakov

The novels and stories of Konstantin Aksakov are written in the spirit of romanticism and with undeniable talent. Working on them, the Slavophile turned into a philosopher, then into a lyricist. For example, in the story "Hawk Moth" he created a picture of the Last Judgment over a deceased very worthy person, not a drunkard, but a hawker.

The story "The Cloud" is interesting for its artistic conception. In it, we first get acquainted with the spiritualized and dreamy youth Lothary Grunenfeld, who spends time contemplating nature. Then he appears before the reader as a young man, no longer so sinless. Lothar has forgotten how to see the good in people,indifference touched his feelings. But when a girl met in his life who fell in love with him, everything superficial seemed to be washed away with bright childhood memories of spiritualized nature, of a high clear sky with clouds.

Writing plays

In the 40s, Konstantin Aksakov created several works for the theater. Dramatic works Konstantin Sergeevich wrote under the pseudonym Evripidin, among them "Prince Lupovitsky", "Liberation of Moscow", "Mail Coach".

In the drama "Liberation of Moscow" Konstantin Sergeevich showed the main role of the people in the liberation of the capital from the Polish conquerors. This performance was banned immediately after the premiere at the Maly Theater. However, Aksakov was a mediocre playwright, his plays were distinguished by speculation, their ideological content prevailed over artistry. They were not particularly popular with the public.

Literary criticism

Field of literary criticism turned out to be more successful for Aksakov. Konstantin Sergeevich wrote about what worried his contemporaries - the educated people of Russia. He published a pamphlet on N. V. Gogol's poem "Dead Souls", where he wrote about the epic nature of the work, about the veracity of the depiction in it of the landowner psychotypes of Nozdrev, Manilov, Sobakevich. However, the most important thing in the poem of Nikolai Vasilyevich Aksakov considers "Russianness", "the spirit and image of the great, mighty space." He also mentions Gogol's image of the eternal Russian song, amazing in its artistic power and metaphor, which, without ceasing, forever flies over a hugepower, hearing now in one place, then in another.

Aksakov in the magazine "Moskovityanin" argued with Vissarion Belinsky on the same work of Nikolai Vasilyevich. His counterpart considered the weakness of the work "Gogol's attempts to appear as a national prophet", and called the lyricism of the poem inappropriate. Konstantin Sergeevich, for whom the people's idea was always the first and most important, could not remain silent in such a situation.

By the age of thirty, Konstantin Aksakov published a number of other literary articles in the Moscow Collection.

Historical journalism

In 1847-1852 from under his pen are published reviews of the "History of Russia" by Professor S. M. Solovyov. They feel a reverent attitude to the fate of the Motherland as a living memory, a herald of antiquity, a teacher of life. Aksakov's journalistic work comments on History so deeply that they were studied at the same time in gymnasiums. However, if with his article the hero of our story popularizes Professor Solovyov, then in poetic form he is already making fun of him in a friendly way:

Ideologist of the Slavophil movement

The Moscow house of Aksakovs in the late 40s was known as a literary salon, which was visited by Turgenev, Gogol, Pogodin, Belinsky, Zagoskin.

At the age of 38, Aksakov Konstantin Sergeevich wrote a memoir "Memories of students", as well as "On the internal state of Russia". In these works, the critic presented his views on the social and state structure of the Motherland. He believed that the primarythe social community for Russia is the peasant community. The Slavophile political platform was based on the concepts of "land" and "state", with the help of which Russia's special historical path was justified.

Aksakov saw antagonism between the state royal power and the zemstvo (public) principle. Imperial power Konstantin Aksakov defined only the function of "protection of people's life" and protection. According to Konstantin Sergeevich, the sovereign rights of the people should be the inalienable requisites of Russian society: presses, words, opinions. Moreover, they cannot be limited or regulated by the state.

History went the wrong way

In the views of the Slavophiles on the history of Russia, an opinion was expressed about its tragic break by Emperor Peter I, who artificially elevated the state above society. It was in this unnatural status of an idol power that Konstantin Aksakov saw the coming plagues of Russian society: bribery, serfdom, church schism.

Aksakov outlined his views in a letter to Alexander II, who subsequently issued a decree on the abolition of serfdom and thus earned the epithet "Liberator".

Criticism of Western democracy

The works of Konstantin Aksakov, in particular the article "Voice from Moscow" in 1848, deny the value of the revolutionary experience of Europe for Russia. He criticized the experience of Western democracies for "deification of the government", excessive politicization of public life. The fundamental interest of Russian society, according toAksakov, lay in the field of spiritual and religious.

Another of his works - "On the Russian View" - dots the I in the problem of "national - humanistic". The publicist substantiates the right of cultural and social sovereignty of the Russian people, which has the right not to copy Western democracy. It is noteworthy that the philosopher and writer applied his pro-Russian position in practice. He, a resident of the capital, wore a beard, dressed in a zipun and a yarmulke (peasant winter hat).

Last years of life

It would seem that life is good. Aksakov Konstantin Sergeevich enjoyed authority in scientific, political and literary circles. His biography testifies to the many like-minded people. The Aksakov House is still a fashionable Moscow literary salon. It includes Leo Tolstoy, Taras Shevchenko, Ivan Turgenev…

Everything collapsed in one day. In 1859, Aksakov's father, Sergei Timofeevich, died. The son suffered the loss extremely hard, being mentally attached to the parent. Having by nature good he alth, he simply emaciated, weakened and fell ill with tuberculosis. A year and a half after the death of the pope, Aksakov Konstantin Sergeevich died while undergoing treatment on the Mediterranean island of Zant.

He was buried in the cemetery of the Simonovsky Monastery, next to the grave of his father. In the 20th century, the Aksakovs were reburied at the Novodevichy Cemetery.

Conclusion

Konstantin Aksakov entered history as a staunch Slavophile. Biography (short in our presentation, but so rich in fact) of hiscontains information about many eccentricities. He refused in his life from the West, while wearing a peasant outfit, which in the 19th century had already practically fallen into disuse. Friends teased him, but they understood that this was very important for Konstantin Sergeevich. His reasoning and views were distinguished by communal morality. He advocated the return to the public life of Russia of the imperishable moral values destroyed by the imperial power.

At the same time, the philosopher and writer was not hypocritical, principled and honest. The Hegelian and Slavophile Aksakov did not recognize either the imperial ideology or the pro-Western one. People, and even opponents, respected and appreciated him. He did not write, like Leo Tolstoy, Nikolai Gogol, Ivan Turgenev, epoch-making works, but he was a faithful and reliable friend to all of them. Konstantin Aksakov sensitively and deeply understood the literary process, was a well-known linguist, one of the most prominent specialists in the field of Russian history.