Biography and work of Karamzin N. M. List of Karamzin's works

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

Usual words like charity, attraction and even love are often used by us. But few people know that if it were not for Nikolai Karamzin, then perhaps they would never have appeared in the dictionary of a Russian person. The work of Karamzin was compared with the works of the outstanding sentimentalist Stern, and even writers were put on the same level. Possessing deep analytical thinking, he managed to write the first book, The History of the Russian State. Karamzin did this without describing a separate historical stage, of which he was a contemporary, but by giving a panoramic image of the historical picture of the state.

Childhood and youth of N. Karamzin

The future genius was born on December 12, 1766. He grew up and was brought up in the house of his father Mikhail Yegorovich, who was a retired captain. Nikolai lost his mother early, so his dad was fully involved in his upbringing.

As soon as he learned to read, the boy took books from his mother's library, among which were French novels, works by Emin, Rollin. Nikolai received his primary education at home, then studied at the Simbirsk noble boarding school, and then, in 1778year, he was sent to the boarding school of Professor Moskovsky.

Even as a child, he began to be interested in history. This was facilitated by a book on the history of Emin.

Nikolai's inquisitive mind did not allow him to sit still for a long time, he began to study languages, went to listen to lectures at Moscow University.

Career start

Karamzin's work dates back to the time when he served in the Preobrazhensky Guards Regiment of St. Petersburg. It was during this period that Nikolai Mikhailovich began to try himself as a writer.

Contributed to the formation of Karamzin as an artist words and acquaintances, which he made in Moscow. Among his friends were N. Novikov, A. Petrov, A. Kutuzov. In the same period, he joined social activities - he helped in the preparation and publication of the children's magazine "Children's Reading for the Heart and Mind".

The period of service was not only the beginning of the creative activity of Nikolai Karamzin, but also shaped him as a person, made it possible to make many acquaintances that were useful. After the death of his father, Nikolai decides to leave the service, never to return to it. In the world at that time, this was regarded as audacity and a challenge to society. But who knows, if he had not left the service, he would have been able to publish his first translations, as well as original works in which a keen interest in historical topics can be traced?

Trip to Europe

The life and work of Karamzin abruptly changed their usual way, when from 1789 to 1790. he travels in Europe. During the trip, the writervisits Immanuel Kant, which made a remarkable impression on him. Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin, whose chronological table is replenished with his presence in France during the Great French Revolution, subsequently writes his Letters from a Russian Traveler. It is this work that makes him famous.

There is an opinion that it is this book that opens the countdown of a new era of Russian literature. This is not unreasonable, since such travel notes were not only popular in Europe, but also found their followers in Russia. Among them are A. Griboyedov, F. Glinka, V. Izmailov and many others.

From here "legs grow" and the comparison of Karamzin with Stern. The "sentimental journey" of the latter is reminiscent of Karamzin's works.

Arriving in Russia

Returning to his homeland, Karamzin decides to settle in Moscow, where he continues his literary activities. In addition, he becomes a professional writer and journalist. But the apogee of this period is, of course, the publication of the Moscow Journal, the first Russian literary journal, which also published the works of Karamzin.

In parallel, he published collections and almanacs, which strengthened him as the father of sentimentalism in Russian literature. Among them are "Aglaya", "Pantheon of foreign literature", "My trinkets" and others.

Moreover, Emperor Alexander I established the title of court historiographer for Karamzin. It is noteworthy that after no one was awarded such a title. This not only strengthenedfinancial situation of Nikolai Mikhailovich, but also strengthened his status in society.

Karamzin as a writer

Karamzin joined the writing class already in the service, since attempts to try himself in this field at the university were not crowned with great success.

Karamzin's work can be conditionally divided into three main lines:

• fiction, which is an essential part of the heritage (in the list: stories, novels);
• poetry - much less of it;
• fiction, historical writings.

In general, the influence of his works on Russian literature can be compared with the influence of Catherine on society - there have been changes that have made the industry humane.

Karamzin is a writer who became the starting point of new Russian literature, the era of which continues to this day.

Sentimentalism in Karamzin's works

Karamzin Nikolai Mikhailovich turned the attention of writers, and, as a result, their readers, to feelings as the dominant of human essence. It is this feature that is fundamental to sentimentalism and separates it from classicism.

The basis of a normal, natural and correct existence of a person should not be a rational beginning, but the release of feelings and impulses, the improvement of the sensual side of a person as such, which is given by nature and is natural.

The hero is no longer typical. It was individualized, given it uniqueness. His experiences do not deprive himstrength, but enrich, teach to feel the world subtly, to respond to changes.

The programmatic work of sentimentalism in Russian literature is considered to be "Poor Lisa". This statement is not entirely true. Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin, whose work exploded literally after the publication of Letters from a Russian Traveler, introduced sentimentalism precisely with travel notes.

Karamzin's poetry

Karamzin's poems occupy much less space in his work. But do not underestimate their importance. As in prose, Karamzin the poet becomes a neophyte of sentimentalism.

The poetry of that time was oriented towards Lomonosov, Derzhavin, while Nikolai Mikhailovich changed course towards European sentimentalism. There is a reorientation of values in literature. Instead of the external, rational world, the author delves into the inner world of a person, is interested in his spiritual powers.

Unlike classicism, characters of simple life, everyday life become heroes, respectively, the object of Karamzin's poem is a simple life, as he himself claimed. Of course, when describing everyday life, the poet refrains from lush metaphors and comparisons, using standard and simple rhymes.

But this does not mean that poetry becomes poor and mediocre. On the contrary, to be able to choose available artistic means so that they produce the desired effect and at the same time convey the hero's feelings is the main goal pursued by Karamzin's poetic work.

Poems are notmonumental. They often show the duality of human nature, two views on things, unity and struggle of opposites.

Prose of Karamzin

The aesthetic principles of Karamzin displayed in prose are also found in his theoretical works. He insists on moving away from the classicist obsession with rationalism towards the sensitive side of man, his spiritual world.

The main task is to incline the reader to maximum empathy, to make them worry not only for the hero, but also with him. Thus, empathy should lead to an internal transformation of a person, make him develop his spiritual resources.

The artistic side of the work is built in the same way as that of poems: a minimum of complex speech turns, pomp and pretentiousness. But so that the same notes of a traveler would not be dry reports, they focus on displaying the mentality and characters comes to the fore.

Karamzin's stories describe in detail what is happening, focusing on the sensual nature of things. But since there were many impressions from the trip abroad, they passed on paper through the sieve of the author's "I". He does not become attached to associations fixed in the mind. For example, he remembered London not for the Thames, bridges and fog, but in the evenings, when the lanterns are lit and the city shines.

The characters find the writer themselves - these are his fellow travelers or interlocutors whom Karamzin meets during the journey. It is worth noting that these are not only noble persons. He does not hesitate to communicate with socialites, andwith poor students.

Karamzin is a historian

The 19th century brings Karamzin to history. When Alexander I appoints him a court historiographer, Karamzin's life and work again undergo dramatic changes: he completely abandons literary activity and plunges into writing historical works.

Oddly enough, Karamzin devoted his first historical work, “A Note on Ancient and New Russia in Its Political and Civil Relations,” to criticism of the emperor’s reforms. The purpose of the "Notes" was to show the conservative-minded sections of society, as well as their dissatisfaction with liberal reforms. He also tried to find evidence of the futility of such reforms.

Karamzin - translator

Karamzin, whose biography and work is very diverse, was also looking for himself in the field of translation. And the search was successful. Nikolai Mikhailovich became not only a major practitioner, but also a theorist of the translation of his time.

Languages from which he translated works:

• English;
• French;
• German.

The writer did not make literal translations, but tried to modify them stylistically, bring them closer, accommodate them to the “Russian ear”. He not only paid special attention to the style of writing the original, but also carefully worked to recreate the mood that was embodied in the original, so as not to lose the slightest particle to convey experiences.

Starting to work on the creation of a particular author, I studiedKaramzin's work, briefly introduced additional information to readers.

The writer identified three basic principles on which a quality translation should be based:

• Purity - concerns lexical material.
• Smoothness - we are talking about stylistic uniformity.
• Pleasant - the translation should be as accurate as possible, but by no means parallel. It should be easy to understand.

Karamzin language reform

Influencing literature, Karamzin's work could not but affect changes in speech. The main task of the writer was to approach a living, colloquial language. He sought to cleanse it of outdated vocabulary, pretentious explanations. But at the same time, Nikolai Mikhailovich was also an opponent of the abuse of common people's words, such that they do not fit into the understanding of high-quality speech, accessible, but beautiful.

Karamzin enriched the Russian language by inventing many new words, thanks to the addition of foundations, the transformation of phrases or bringing them from other languages. Among these words: industry, love, humanity and others.

History of the Russian State

The most famous historical work written by Karamzin is “The History of the Russian State”. The work was based on the “Note on ancient and new Russia in its political and civil relations”. It was while working on it that Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin, whose works always had historical digressions, notes from history, thinks about creating a large analytical work.

Swinging atthe global nature of the work, he drew information from the annals, many of which were first used in science in general. Karamzin not only recreated history bit by bit, but also found more and more new sources. So, it was he who discovered the Ipatiev Chronicle.

Stories structure:

• introduction - describes the role of history as a science;
• history before 1612 from the time of nomadic tribes.

Each story, story ends with conclusions of a moral and ethical nature.

Meaning of "History"

As soon as Karamzin completed the work, the "History of the Russian State" literally scattered like hot cakes. 3,000 copies were sold within a month. “History” was read by everyone: the reason for this was not only filled blank spots in the history of the state, but also simplicity, ease of presentation. Based on this book, there was then more than one work of art, since the "History" also became a source of plots.

"History of the Russian State" became the first analytical work on the history of Russia. It also became a template and example for the further development of interest in history in the country.

The author insisted on the effectiveness of autocracy as the only true way of the state. This caused a storm of indignation among the liberal-minded part of the population.