In what year was Saltykov Shchedrin born? "Domestic Notes"

Saltykov-Shchedrin (pseudonym N. Shchedrin) Mikhail Evgrafovich (1826 1889), prose writer.

Born on January 15 (27 NS) in the village of Spas-Ugol, Tver province, into an old noble family. Childhood years passed in family estate father in "... the years... of the very height of serfdom", in one of the remote corners of "Poshekhonye". Observations of this life will subsequently be reflected in the writer’s books.

Having received good home education At the age of 10, Saltykov was accepted as a boarder into the Moscow Noble Institute, where he spent two years, then in 1838 he was transferred to the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum. Here he began to write poetry, having experienced big influence articles by Belinsky and Herzen, works by Gogol.

In 1844, after graduating from the Lyceum, he served as an official in the office of the War Ministry. “...Everywhere there is duty, everywhere there is coercion, everywhere there is boredom and lies...” - this is the description he gave of bureaucratic Petersburg. Another life was more attractive to Saltykov: communication with writers, visiting Petrashevsky’s “Fridays,” where philosophers, scientists, writers, and military men gathered, united by anti-serfdom sentiments and the search for the ideals of a just society.

Saltykov's first stories "Contradictions" (1847), "Confused Affair" (1848) with their acute social issues attracted the attention of the authorities, frightened French revolution 1848. The writer was exiled to Vyatka for “... a harmful way of thinking and a destructive desire to spread ideas that had already shaken up the whole Western Europe...". For eight years he lived in Vyatka, where in 1850 he was appointed to the position of adviser in the provincial government. This made it possible to often go on business trips and observe the bureaucratic world and peasant life. The impressions of these years will influence the satirical direction of the writer’s work.

At the end of 1855, after the death of Nicholas I, having received the right to “live wherever he wishes,” he returned to St. Petersburg and resumed literary work. In 1856 1857 were written " Provincial essays", published on behalf of the "court adviser N. Shchedrin", who became known throughout reading Russia, who named him Gogol's heir.

At this time, he married the 17-year-old daughter of the Vyatka vice-governor, E. Boltina. Saltykov sought to combine the work of a writer with public service. In 1856 1858 he was an official special assignments in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, where work on preparing the peasant reform was concentrated.

In 1858 1862 he served as vice-governor in Ryazan, then in Tver. I always tried to surround myself at my place of work with honest, young and educated people, firing bribe-takers and thieves.

During these years, stories and essays appeared (" Innocent stories", 1857㬻 "Satires in prose", 1859 62), as well as articles on the peasant question.

In 1862, the writer retired, moved to St. Petersburg and, at the invitation of Nekrasov, joined the editorial staff of the Sovremennik magazine, which at that time was experiencing enormous difficulties (Dobrolyubov died, Chernyshevsky was imprisoned Peter and Paul Fortress). Saltykov took on a huge amount of writing and editing work. But he paid most attention to the monthly review “Our Social Life,” which became a monument to Russian journalism of the 1860s.

In 1864 Saltykov left the editorial office of Sovremennik. The reason was internal disagreements on the tactics of social struggle in the new conditions. He returned to government service.

In 1865 1868 he headed the State Chambers in Penza, Tula, Ryazan; observations of the life of these cities formed the basis of “Letters about the Province” (1869). The frequent change of duty stations is explained by conflicts with the heads of the provinces, at whom the writer “laughed” in grotesque pamphlets. After a complaint from the Ryazan governor, Saltykov was dismissed in 1868 with the rank of full state councilor. Moved to St. Petersburg, accepted N. Nekrasov's invitation to become co-editor of the magazine " Domestic notes", where he worked in 1868 1884. Saltykov now completely switched to literary activity. In 1869 he wrote "The History of a City" - the pinnacle of his satirical art.

In 1875 1876 he was treated abroad, visited Western European countries in different years life. In Paris he met with Turgenev, Flaubert, Zola.

In the 1880s, Saltykov's satire reached its climax in its anger and grotesquery: "Modern Idyll" (1877 83); "Messrs. Golovlevs" (1880); "Poshekhonsky stories" (1883㭐).

In 1884, the journal Otechestvennye zapiski was closed, after which Saltykov was forced to publish in the journal Vestnik Evropy.

IN last years In his lifetime, the writer created his masterpieces: “Fairy Tales” (1882 86); "Little things in life" (1886 87); autobiographical novel"Poshekhon Antiquity" (1887 89).

A few days before his death, he wrote the first pages of a new work." Forgotten words", where he wanted to remind the "motley people" of the 1880s about the words they had lost: "conscience, fatherland, humanity... others are still there...".

Biography and episodes of life Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin. When born and died Saltykov-Shchedrin, memorable places and dates important events his life. Writer quotes, images and videos.

Years of life of Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin:

born January 15, 1826, died April 28, 1889

Epitaph

“In our strange age, everything strikes with sadness
No wonder: we are used to meeting
Work every day; everything imposes
We have a special stamp on our soul.
We are in a hurry to live. Without purpose, without meaning
Life drags on, passes day after day -
Where, to what? We don’t know about that.”
From the poem “Our Century” by M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin

"Yes! It’s hard for us to part with life...
But it is close, our terrible hour of death;
Heavy doubts weigh on our souls
God knows what awaits us beyond the grave..."
From the poem “Winter Elegy” by M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin

Biography

Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin became one of the most famous exposer writers who depicted the provincial order in Russia, mocked the inertia and reactionary nature, predation and sycophancy, the desire to talk more and do less. Saltykov-Shchedrin also became a prominent figure because, despite the harsh tone and sometimes very unpleasant frankness, he was allowed to publish, was not deported to the ends of the world, but only to Vyatka and for a short time, and later was even allowed to occupy significant positions in the public service. Saltykov-Shchedrin’s critical statements about Russian reality are still more than relevant today: it seems that many of them directly relate to our days.

The writer's real name was Saltykov; "Shchedrin" was initially taken by him as a pseudonym. Mikhail Saltykov was from noble family and at the age of ten he entered the Moscow Noble Institute. Two years later he was recognized as one of the best students and transferred to the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum. There future writer and began to try his hand at literature.

His “Provincial Sketches” became fair and detailed picture provincial structure of life. Moreover, the picture was so unseemly that it was incredible how no penalties were applied to the author. On the contrary, Saltykov is promoted: he becomes vice-governor of Ryazan, subsequently moves to the same position in Tver, and later becomes manager treasury chamber- first Penza, and later Tula and Ryazan.

But Mikhail Saltykov still considers literature to be his true calling. Moreover, he needs not just writing, as such, but an active two-way dialogue with the reader. After Nekrasov became editor-in-chief of the Otechestvennye Zapiski magazine, Saltykov-Shchedrin directed all his energy to work in the magazine. After Nekrasov’s death, he took over his post, where he spent 6 years - until the magazine was banned. The latter had a serious impact on the writer’s mood and health.

In the last years of his life, Saltykov-Shchedrin suffered from rheumatism and frequent colds, and went abroad for treatment. The writer died at the age of 63.

Life line

January 15 (January 27, old style) 1826 Date of birth of Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin.
1836 Admission to the Moscow Noble Institute.
1838 Transfer to Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum.
1844 Enlistment in the office of the War Ministry.
1847 Writing the first story “Contradictions” and publishing it in Otechestvennye zapiski.
1848 Deportation to Vyatka.
1850 Appointment as an adviser to the provincial government.
1856 Marriage to Elizaveta Appolonovna Boltina, return from exile, beginning of publication of “Provincial Sketches”.
1858 Appointment as vice-governor of Ryazan.
1860 Appointment as vice-governor of Tver.
1862 Start of work at the Sovremennik magazine.
1863 The first edition of the collections “Innocent Stories” and “Satires in Prose”.
1864 Leaving Sovremennik.
1865 Appointment as head of the Penza treasury chamber, then transfer to Tula and Ryazan.
1868 Leaving service to work at the journal Otechestvennye zapiski.
1869 Creation of "The History of a City".
1875-1876 Travel abroad, including to Paris.
1878 Appointment as editor of Otechestvennye Zapiski.
1880 Creation of "Mister Golovlevs".
1889 Partial creation biographical novel"Poshekhonskaya antiquity."
April 28 (May 10, old style) 1889 Date of death of Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin.
May 2 (May 14, old style) 1889 Funeral of Saltykov-Shchedrin at the Volkovskoye cemetery.
1936 Transfer of the remains of Saltykov-Shchedrin to Literary bridges at the Volkovsky cemetery.

Memorable places

1. The village of Spas-Ugol, Moscow region (formerly Tver province), where Saltykov-Shchedrin was born.
2. Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum in Pushkin, where the writer studied.
3. House No. 19 on Dekabristov Street (formerly Officers Street) in St. Petersburg, where the writer lived in 1844.
4. House No. 8 on the Moika embankment (Zhadimirovsky’s house) in St. Petersburg, where the writer lived in 1845-1848.
5. House No. 93 on the street. Lenin in Kirov (formerly Soznesenskaya Street in Vyatka), where Saltykov-Shchedrin lived during his exile in 1848-1855.
6. House No. 42 on the street. Lenin (house number 24 on Nikolodvoryanskaya street) in Ryazan, where Saltykov-Shchedrin lived in 1858-1860.
7. House No. 49 on the street. Freedom in Ryazan, where Saltykov-Shchedrin lived in 1867-1868.
8. House No. 41 on Furshtatskaya Street (Strakhov’s house) in St. Petersburg, where the writer lived in 1968-1873.
9. House No. 60 on Liteiny Prospect (Skrebitskaya House) in St. Petersburg, where the writer lived in 1876-1889.
10. Volkovskoe cemetery in St. Petersburg, where Saltykov-Shchedrin is buried.

Episodes of life

Saltykov-Shchedrin's literary activity began with poetry; the future writer was considered the poet of his course at the lyceum. But soon Saltykov himself realized that he did not have poetic talent and subsequently did not like to remember his youthful poetic experiences.

A special place in creative heritage Saltykov-Shchedrin is interested in fairy tales. One can hardly call them intended for children: rather, they are satirical parables with “talking” titles - “The Ram of the Unremembered”, “ Sane Hare", "Crucian idealist."

For his “Provincial Sketches,” Saltykov-Shchedrin was called the second Gogol. At the same time, the writer’s merciless satire aroused violent indignation among those in power, and he was finally recalled from public service following a complaint from the governor of Ryazan.

Testaments

“The Russian government must keep its people in a constant state of amazement.”

“It’s scary when a person speaks and you don’t know why he’s talking, what he’s saying and whether he’ll ever finish.”

“If I fall asleep and wake up in a hundred years and they ask me what is happening in Russia now, I will answer: they drink and steal.”

“What is freedom without participation in the blessings of life? What is development without a clearly defined end goal? What is justice devoid of the fire of selflessness and love?

“Saltykov-Shchedrin. Biography and creativity", lecture by Dmitry Bak as part of the Russian Literature project

Condolences

“I feel sorry for Saltykov. It was a strong strong head. That bastard spirit that lives in a petty, mentally defrauded middle-class Russian intellectual has lost in him his most stubborn and annoying enemy.”
Anton Chekhov, writer

“In every decent person of the Russian land, Shchedrin has deep admirer. Honorable is his name among the best, most useful, and most gifted children of our homeland. He will find many panegyrists, and he is worthy of all panegyrics.”
Nikolai Chernyshevsky, philosopher, literary critic

“With the advent of each new thing by Shchedrin, a whole corner of old life. Anyone who remembers the impression of his “Pompadours and Pompadours,” his “Foolov Men” and his “Balalaikin” knows this. The phenomenon he took on could not survive his blow. It became funny and shameful. No one could treat him with respect. And all he could do was die.”
Poet and translator Mikhail Solovyov

“He is a tremendous writer, much more instructive and valuable than he is said to be.”
Maxim Gorky, writer

• Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov was born on January 27 (15), 1826 in the village of Spas-Ugol, Kalyazinsky district, Tver province (now Taldomsky district, Moscow region).
• Saltykov's father, Evgraf Vasilyevich, a pillar nobleman, served as a collegiate adviser. He came from an old noble family.
• Mother, Olga Mikhailovna, nee Zabelina, Muscovite, merchant daughter. Mikhail was the sixth of her nine children.
• For the first 10 years of his life, Saltykov lives on his father’s family estate, where he receives his primary education at home. The future writer's first teachers were his elder sister and the serf painter Pavel.
• 1836 – 1838 – studied at the Moscow Noble Institute.
• 1838 - for excellent academic achievements, Mikhail Saltykov was transferred to the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum as a state-funded student, that is, trained at the expense of the state treasury.
• 1841 – Saltykov’s first poetic experiments. The poem “Lyra” was even published in the magazine “Library for Reading,” but Saltykov quickly understands that poetry is not for him, since he does not have the necessary abilities. He leaves poetry.
• 1844 – graduation from the lyceum in the second category, with the rank of X class. Saltykov enters service in the office of the Military Department, but serves all states. He manages to get his first full-time position only after two years, this is the position of assistant secretary.
• 1847 – Mikhail Saltykov’s first story “Contradictions” is published.
• Beginning of 1848 - the story “A Confused Affair” was published in Otechestvennye zapiski.
• April of the same year - the tsarist government was too shocked by the revolution that took place in France, and Saltykov was arrested for the story “A Confused Affair”, more precisely for “... a harmful way of thinking and a harmful desire to spread ideas that have already shaken the whole of Western Europe...”. He was exiled to Vyatka.
• 1848 - 1855 - service in Vyatka, under the provincial government, first as a clerical official, then as a senior official for special assignments under the governor and ruler of the governor's office. Saltykov ends his exile in the position of adviser to the provincial government.
• 1855 - with the death of Emperor Nicholas I, Shchedrin gets the opportunity to “live wherever he wishes” and returns to St. Petersburg. Here he entered the service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and a year later he was appointed an official of special assignments under the minister. Sent on a business trip to the Tver and Vladimir provinces.
• June 1856 - Saltykov marries the daughter of the vice-governor of Vyatka, Elizaveta Apollonovna Boltina.
• 1856 - 1857 - the satirical cycle “Provincial Sketches” is published in the magazine “Russian Messenger” with the signature “Government Councilor N. Shchedrin”. The writer becomes famous, he is called the successor of N.V.’s work. Gogol.
• 1858 - appointment as vice-governor in Ryazan.
• 1860 - 1862 - Saltykov served as vice-governor in Tver for two years, after which he retired and returned to St. Petersburg.
• December 1862 - 1864 - collaboration of Mikhail Saltykov with the Sovremennik magazine at the invitation of N.A. Nekrasova. After leaving the editorial board of the magazine, the writer returned to public service. Appointed chairman of the Penza Treasury Chamber.
• 1866 - moved to Tula to the position of manager of the Tula Treasury Chamber.
• 1867 - Saltykov is transferred to Ryazan to the same position. The fact that Saltykov-Shchedrin could not last long in one place of service is explained by the fact that he did not hesitate to ridicule his superiors in grotesque “fairy tales.” In addition, the writer behaved too atypically for an official: he fought against bribery, embezzlement and simply theft, and defended the interests of the lower strata of the population.
• 1868 - the complaint of the Ryazan governor becomes the last in the writer’s career. He was dismissed with the rank of active state councilor.
• September of the same year - Saltykov became a member of the editorial board of the journal Otechestvennye Zapiski, headed by N.A. Nekrasov.
• 1869 - 1870 - the fairy tales “The Tale of How One Man Fed Two Generals”, “ Wild landowner", novel "The History of a City".
• 1872 - the Saltykovs’ son Konstantin is born.
• 1873 – birth of daughter Elizabeth.
• 1876 ​​- Nekrasov becomes seriously ill, and Saltykov-Shchedrin replaces him as editor-in-chief of Otechestvennye zapiski. He worked unofficially for two years and was approved for this position in 1878.
• 1880 – publication of the novel “Gentlemen Golovlevs”.
• 1884 - “Domestic Notes” are banned.
• 1887 - 1889 - the novel “Poshekhon Antiquity” is published in “Bulletin of Europe”.
• March 1889 – sharp deterioration writer's health.
• May 10 (April 28), 1889 - Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin dies. According to his own will, he was buried at the Volkov cemetery in St. Petersburg next to

A brilliant and inquisitive mind, a lively language filled with sharp satire. His works are transferred to Russian reality of the mid-19th century. With the help of pen and paper, he was able to create accurate and succinct images of the official of that time, to expose the main vices - bribery, bureaucracy, fear of the slightest changes.

Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin is one of the brightest writers of his time. His “History of a City” and “The Tale of How a Man Fed Two Generals” are classics and are still relevant today.

Childhood

Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov (Shchedrin is a pseudonym) was born on January 15, 1826 in the village of Spas-Ugol, Tver province. Now this is the Taldomsky district of the Moscow region. He was the sixth child in a large noble family. Father Evgraf Vasilyevich Saltykov had the rank of collegiate adviser, and mother Olga Mikhailovna was from a wealthy family merchant family Zabelins. The age difference between the parents was 25 years.

My father, after retiring, did nothing special. He rarely traveled outside the boundaries of the estate; he mostly stayed at home and read books of mystical content. The mother was in charge of all affairs - a strict, domineering and calculating woman. Over the course of several years, she was able to significantly increase her husband’s fortune.

Raising children fell on the shoulders of governesses, numerous nannies, and invited teachers. The younger generation of Saltykovs were kept in strictness; their mother often personally punished them with rods for misdeeds. “I remember being whipped, for what, by whom exactly, I don’t remember, but they whipped me very painfully with a rod. The governess of my older brothers and sisters is trying to intercede, because I am still too young. I was two years old."

Members of a large family will later become the prototypes of heroes various works. The novel “Poshekhon Antiquity” completely describes the way of life of a noble family and is largely considered autobiographical.

Best on the course

At age 10, home education is finally completed. Mikhail goes to Moscow to enter the Noble Institute. After entrance exams The boy is immediately enrolled in third grade. And after two years, a talented student, the best in the class, is transferred to the prestigious Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum.

Here Saltykov also demonstrates extraordinary abilities. For which he receives the nickname “smart guy.” He is also called “Pushkin of his course.” The young man tries himself in poetry, his first poems “Lyrics” and “Our Century” are published in major Moscow magazines. But Mikhail is very strict with himself and after a few years, re-reading his works, he realizes that poetry is not his thing and he doesn’t write any more poems.

At the Lyceum, Saltykov meets Mikhail Petrashevsky, he is studying several years older. They are united by the ideas of democratic reforms in Russia, the abolition of serfdom and universal equality. Strong influence on young man influences the work of Herzen and Belinsky, also imbued with the spirit of change.

Mikhail graduated from the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum in 1844 and was awarded the rank of 10th grade - collegiate secretary.

In the same 1844, 18-year-old Mikhail Saltykov entered the public service. He is accepted into the office of the War Ministry. At the same time, they take a receipt that he is not and will not be a member of any secret societies. The young official does not like his job.

Salvation is meeting with like-minded people on Fridays at Petrashevsky, theater and literature. The young author writes a lot, his stories - “Entangled Affair” and “Contradictions” - reflect idealistic views on life. The works are published in the journal Otechestvennye zapiski.

It coincides that at the same time the publication was closely monitored by a special commission created by order of the emperor. The magazine will be considered harmful, and the young official and writer will first be sent to St. Petersburg to a guardhouse, and then into exile in Vyatka (now Kirov). Mikhail Saltykov will spend 7 years there, from 1848 to 1855. Numerous petitions from parents, influential relatives and friends will not help. Nicholas I will remain categorical.

In Vyatka, Saltykov first works as an ordinary scribe. Then he is appointed senior official for special assignments under the governor, and later an adviser to the provincial government. Mikhail Evgrafovich travels a lot around the province, organizes a large agricultural exhibition, conducts an inventory of real estate, and writes his thoughts on the topic “Improving public and economic affairs.”

Writer and Lieutenant Governor

Mikhail Evgrafovich goes to St. Petersburg, where he works in the Ministry of Internal Affairs as an official for special assignments under the minister. He is sent to the Tver and Vladimir provinces to check the work of several committees. What he saw would form the basis of the famous “Provincial Sketches”; they were published in 1857 in the “Russian Bulletin” under the pseudonym Nikolai Shchedrin.

The work will bring fame to the author, and the essays will be published in enormous quantities. The created images are so subtle and truthful, they show the psychology of a Russian official so accurately that they will begin to talk about the author as the founder of accusatory literature.

For a long time, Mikhail Evgrafovich managed to combine two types of occupations: public service and writing activity. Mikhail Saltykov is building a career, holding the position of vice-governor in the Ryazan and Tver provinces, fighting bribery and bureaucracy. Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin is a successful author who writes a lot and is published in all famous magazines Moscow and St. Petersburg. He is faithful to his chosen path - to expose the shortcomings of Russian reality. The most famous work – satirical novel“The History of a City,” which tells about the structure of the fictional Foolov and its inhabitants, the Foolovites.

Also among the author’s popular books are a cycle of fairy tales, the novel “Poshekhon Antiquity”, “The Golovlev Lords”. In addition, Saltykov-Shchedrin was a successful publisher; under his leadership, Otechestvennye zapiski and Sovremennik significantly increased their circulation.

Personal life

During his exile, Saltykov-Shchedrin falls in love with a 12-year-old girl, Elizaveta Boltin, the daughter of the Vyatka vice-governor. The writer waits 4 years before proposing. The young couple got married in the summer of 1856. The marriage produces two children: daughter Lisa and son Konstantin.

Mikhail Evgrafovich considered his wife very flighty and eccentric, but admitted that he could not live without her even a day. “My wife is not too smart and demanding. He will spend half a day in the store, then he will bring guests home and treat them with raisins, wine berries, sweets with tea and coffee. And he changes clothes endlessly.”

This classic of Russian literature is quoted most of all and read least of all. Few can boast that they have read it in full. But it is even more difficult to imagine a person who, when asked who his favorite writer is, will answer: “Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin.”
And yet, the mere mention of his name invariably evokes a mixed feeling of joy and some shame. This eternal writer. Eternal because you can’t deceive him, you can’t escape him. He “undresses” each and every one - naked, to shame. But this is not based on a bilious desire to criticize, but on absolute honesty and knowledge human nature.
Saltykov-Shchedrin's contemporaries did not notice his death in 1889. Everything turned out to be extremely everyday and natural in its own way. He lived and was, wrote something, said something, some liked it, some didn’t. Then it seemed to many that life had stopped and there was no point in waiting for changes. But, as Mikhail Evgrafovich himself wrote about that time, the time became motley. Motley because there was not a single color in sight and was not visible in the near future. Everything was fragmented, atomized, everyone was against everyone and against everyone at once. But Saltykov-Shchedrin still concluded that there was nothing new. However, human nature is unchangeable, and nothing good or new can be expected.

Alexander Kuprin was the first to return to Saltykov-Shchedrin. He returned 22 years after the writer’s death in 1911 in his story “Giants.” The story of the story is simple and uncomplicated. A drunken gymnasium teacher (and a drunken gymnasium teacher is the hero of Saltykov-Shchedrin’s “Provincial Sketches”) puts portraits of Pushkin, Gogol, Nekrasov in front of him and begins to grade them. Suddenly he notices a piercing and terrible look directed at him from the corner. And it seemed to him that the lips in the portrait opened and uttered words that he could not imagine from any of the Russian classics. Waking up in the morning in a cold sweat, the teacher takes the portrait of Saltykov-Shchedrin and takes it from the classroom to the pantry. He is afraid of this look; the portrait cannot be destroyed - state property. It seems that in this story Kuprin expressed his attitude towards Saltykov-Shchedrin, which was based primarily on respect. No matter how cruel and bilious his late colleague was, he still left to all his heirs a sick conscience for Russia. Precisely the sick one, not the calm one. And thus he left his successors that impulse of indifference that made them great writers.
Shortly before his death, Saltykov-Shchedrin told one and a few of his close friends Unkovsky: “It’s not a pity that you die, but that after death you will remember only jokes.” Like looking into the water. His words, like almost all works, turned out to be prophetic.

Of all the Russian writers of the 19th century, Saltykov-Shchedrin seems to me one of the most sentimental. His sentimentalism was taken to the absolute, and it was for this reason that the most cynical Russian pamphlets, satire written on the verge of what was permitted, came from his pen. This is an internal experience when he suffered for everyone and let everything pass through himself. It is impossible to imagine that after what he wrote, this extremely private person sobbed bitterly at the life around him. This feeling is difficult to explain, but it is understandable. If we remember his “Conscience Lost” or “Truth”, placed in a strange fairy tale about how a boy dies from an overflow of emotions from a divine service, because his heart is overwhelmed with delight, and he cannot bear it, then this will be the real Shchedrin. The one we didn't notice. And the basis of his attitude to the world was the highest religious feeling - absolute faith in God.
He was neither a Westerner nor a Slavophile. And his view of the surrounding Russian reality was not at all a manifestation of rejection of the regime. And he was never a fighter with him. Moreover, he himself was part of the power system of that time, for a long time served as vice-governor in the Ryazan and Tver provinces.

This is the cliche of a fighter against the tsarist regime, firmly glued to Saltykov in Soviet time, by inertia is still alive today. His formation began in the Moscow boarding school, and, as one of the best students, he was transferred to the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum. And according to the rules of the lyceum good manners writing poetry was a must. It’s hard to believe, but in his lyceum years Mikhail Saltykov passionately dreamed of becoming a poet on a par with Pushkin. And in that very thirteenth lyceum graduation, the devil’s dozen, Saltykov writes poems about the Russian plains, about coachmen, about love for the homeland.

As one of best graduates Lyceum, he receives an appointment directly to the War Ministry. And from the first day of service, with all his soul he harbors a fierce hatred for this work. As he himself later asserted, “writing two hundred petitions from insignificant people to insignificant people does not mean being in public service. Nevertheless civil service was this." Here two points converged in young Saltykov, which would later be regarded by many as the writer’s eternal nihilism towards the entire social order. But I think that this was not quite the case. Saltykov’s internal discomfort consisted of the cosmic distance between his brilliant education and real everyday life. An abundance of education is not always a luxury, but most often a heavy burden that not everyone can bear. When you have “specialists in holes and cracks” under your command, it’s easier to say - a company of binders, and in your head is Fourier with his ideal ideas social structure, internal discomfort is guaranteed. Petrashevsky and his circle were close in spirit to him. But fate favored Mikhail Evgrafovich. At the peak of the Nikolaev repressions of 1848, for two stories “Contradiction” and “Confused Affair” published in Otechestvennye Zapiski, he was sent to Vyatka not as a successful official, but as a compiler of meaningless annual reports. This city, which we know as Kirov, became Saltykov’s place of life for seven whole years. It was a kind of exile, it was indefinite. But he was not forbidden to write. This is where he will take his literary pseudonym Nikolai Shchedrin, who would later become part of his family name. In "Provincial Sketches" main character- it’s himself, Shchedrin, who travels around for twelve months a year provincial cities and everyone. He drives around and cries all the time. He doesn't cry literally, he constantly whines from internal discomfort.

The Vyatka exile ended not thanks to his constant letters to St. Petersburg, but according to the law of nature. The death of Nicholas I gave Russia hope and a thaw. This definition does not belong to Ilya Ehrenburg, as we still believe, but to Fyodor Tyutchev. Saltykov was immediately forgiven in 1855. And moreover, his “Provincial Sketches” is far from his masterpiece literary creativity, were immediately printed.
Today there is no consensus on which work of Saltykov-Shchedrin should be considered the main one. The inertia of the Soviet era and, above all, the fact that “The Golovlev Gentlemen” were included in the compulsory school curriculum, leave first place to this novel. The main argument for this was the personal opinion of the leader of the world proletariat, Vladimir Lenin, that this particular work is the best panorama of Russian life from business to secular, from peasant to bureaucratic. But this is just one opinion. There is another thing, the most popular today, that the main work of Saltykov-Shchedrin is still his novel “The History of a City.”

Saltykov lived at the turn of two eras. In the Russian social, I emphasize, social and not political tradition, there has always been a certain predetermination - a sinusoidal cycle of development - either “freeze” or “thaw”. Either a turn to the West, or a return to the East. And the eternal search for an ideal social structure.
The idea for this novel with very strange content came to Saltykov after meeting Nekrasov. They met in 1857 and really disliked each other. Strictly speaking, all outstanding Russian writers in real life they were far from angels. Their works and themselves are two different things. And that's putting it mildly. Nikolai Nekrasov is an extraordinary and contradictory personality. With us, he was always almost a revolutionary, a defender of the people. But what about Nekrasov, who comes out to Panaev and says: “We are refreshing a newbie here.” Refreshing means plucking. A merchant arrived, lost ten thousand rubles at cards and ran away. That's Nekrasov's trouble! But the question is different - it is extremely difficult to imagine a graduate of the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, Mikhail Saltykov, as Nekrasov’s closest literary associate. But two human extremes amazingly got along professionally.
Journal work requires accuracy in submitting texts on time, and Nekrasov was forced to agree to accept reviews from Saltykov. The editor-in-chief of Sovremennik liked his accuracy and commitment.

Reviews titled "Our modern life” in “Notes of the Fatherland” soon bored Saltykov, and he decided to write them in a metaphorical style. This is why the city of Foolov was invented. The plot of the novel was simple - first the pre-reform and then the post-reform city of Foolov was depicted. It's about about the reforms of Alexander II after the abolition of serfdom.
There is a huge gap between the first chapter of “The History of a City” - ironic, extremely ironic, containing the entire list of mayors - and the terrible finale, which ends with the cry of Gloomy-Burcheev: “It has come! History has stopped flowing. The last destruction has come to Russia.” And how charming it all began.

Daughter Elizabeth.

Writing a novel for Saltykov-Shchedrin at that moment was not the main meaning of his life. New Emperor as compensation for forced exile, he offered a good and decent position as vice-governor of the Tver region. And Saltykov began transformations there. It should be noted that almost the entire intellectual elite of that time was convinced that they needed to go into practical farming and direct all their knowledge and experience (which did not exist) to the development of capitalism in the country. An inspired Saltykov wrote: “Five years later, as soon as the man is released, the farm will flourish.” But it was not there. Saltykov-Shchedrin himself, with the Vitenevo estate he bought, went bankrupt in a matter of months. He sincerely believed that he must personally set an example of free housekeeping. But I just couldn’t understand that it was one thing to fight on the pages of a magazine and in bureaucratic life for the freedom of a peasant, and another thing to teach him this freedom. Find out for yourself and teach others to become an owner. It was a revelation to him how freedom immediately became will.
The brilliant poet Afanasy Fet was just as romantic at that time. But the peasants quickly robbed him. After which he became the cruelest serf owner, and was doomed by Soviet literary criticism to oblivion. But during his lifetime he became a successful landowner, by our standards a decent business executive, constantly scolding Leo Tolstoy for excessive liberalism. But until the 70s of the 19th century, he was a sincere liberal who did not understand what a downtrodden, corrupt and treacherous people he was dealing with.

For Shchedrin this was a personal disappointment. He could not understand and internally agree with the fact that given to the people freedom will be used primarily for deception. After all, he conceived “The History of a City” as an innocent joke, but it turned out to be a very terrible and gloomy prophecy. His disappointment was all the more painful because he could not come to terms with the fact that he spoke to men in different languages. And the whole paradox of Russian intellectual elite of that time was that Nikolai Nekrasov alone understood the essence of what was happening. It was the same Nekrasov who wrote “Who Lives Well in Rus'.”
Today from the screens Russian television you can hear the idea, quite wildly, that the abolition of serfdom was a political mistake of Alexander II. I think this is stupidity and a substitution of concepts. In my opinion, the bottom line is that freedom and democracy are worth something. And every member of society cannot receive it by decree or order from above. You have to earn it, including with your head. And it was this disappointment that hurt Saltykov-Shchedrin the most.
He guessed the path of Russia's development for at least a century in advance. With intuition, with all your passion and intransigence. We consider Vsevolod Garshin to be the founder of Russian modernism. Based on his published stories, this is true. But modern, how artistic phenomenon, rests on two foundations - merger creativity both real life and, sadly (and Garshin has this), on the aestheticization of vulgarity. According to the second basis, Garshin is the ancestor. What about the first one? I think that the championship here belongs to Saltykov-Shchedrin. Of course, he was not a modernist writer; Shchedrin belonged to the last of the Mohicans of the Russian “golden” literary age. But he clearly guessed Russia's path of movement.
We are often misled by calls for immediate modernization of all public life along Western lines. Modernity is not a Western phenomenon. It is alien to the West due to its gradual pace of development. Modernity is a phenomenon characteristic of countries of the catching-up type of evolution. It originated in the Russian, Austro-Hungarian, German Empires and Sweden. Literary and artistic modernity always precedes political modernity. He is a constant companion of socialism or the collapse of the state. Extremely painful and tragic. The German and Austro-Hungarian empires did not stand the test and did not survive the 20th century. Russian empire transformed into Soviet Union, which collapsed at the end of the twentieth century. The Swedish socialism that is commonly talked about today, in pure form a product of modernity. But the Swedes got sick of it - saved national tradition and mononationality. Great culture « silver age“In its greatness, it also brought something that many cannot come to terms with in the 21st century - the loss of Christian guidelines - mass culture, same-sex marriage, etc.

Saltykov-Shchedrin felt the future and understood a lot. His works are perceived by many as encrypted texts. But this is not encryption, but a generalization, a search for the matrix of that history, the maximum typification in which we live today. All these generalizations are framed in the form of dialogues.
He died early, at only 63 years old. This self-eating took its toll. From everything he experienced, Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin wanted to write his main work, “Forgotten Words.” He explained his desire simply: “Now there are many words that no one remembers. No one remembers what conscience is, no one remembers what sacrifice is, and they certainly don’t remember God at all.”
Saltykov-Shchedrin as a writer is a mystery to us all. In ours not very read time Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin remains the most popular Russian classicist. Our time is his second literary birth. And he is far from school and not children's writer, let’s not be mistaken in this, saying “the tales of Saltykov-Shchedrin.” The first satirist of Russia, and in fact - a mirror of everything Russian and Russian society, not crooked, although sometimes unpleasant, has survived its time and entered the minds of everyone, regardless of our desire, regardless of whether we know about it or not.