A message about the writer from the t aksaks. Aksakov, sergey timofeevich
The article presents the biography of Aksakov, a famous Russian writer. He is known to many as the author of a fairy tale and also as the creator of "Family Chronicle", "Notes of a Gun Hunter" and other works.
Aksakov's biography begins on September 20, 1791, when Sergei Timofeevich was born in a city in Ufa. In the family chronicle "Childhood of Bagrov the Grandson," the author told about his childhood, and also made a description of his relatives. If you want to get to know the first stage of the life of such a writer as Sergei Aksakov, the biography for children and adults described in this work will certainly interest you.
Years of study at the gymnasium
S. T. Aksakov was educated first at the Kazan gymnasium, and then at the Kazan University. He told about this in his memoirs. The separation from Sergei was very difficult for the mother, and it almost cost her life and the writer himself. In 1799 S. T. Aksakov entered the gymnasium. His biography is marked by the fact that soon his mother took him back, because in an impressionable and nervous child, from loneliness and melancholy, she began to develop, as Aksakov himself admitted.
The writer was in the village for a year. However, in 1801 he entered the gymnasium finally. Aksakov's further biography is associated with this educational institution. Sergei Timofeevich disapproved of the level of teaching in this gymnasium. However, he had great respect for several teachers. This is, for example, Kartashevsky. In 1817, this man married the writer's sister, Natalya Timofeevna. During his studies, Sergei Timofeevich was awarded certificates of merit and other awards.
Studying at Kazan University
In 1805, at the age of 14, Aksakov became a student at the Kazan University, which had just been founded. Part of the gymnasium, where Sergei Timofeevich studied, was set aside for a new educational institution. Some of her teachers became university professors. The students were selected from among the best students in the gymnasium.
Passing a course of university lectures, at the same time Aksakov continued his studies at the gymnasium in some subjects. At the beginning of the university's existence, there was no division into faculties, so all 35 first students studied many sciences: logic and higher mathematics, chemistry and anatomy, classical literature and history. In 1709, in March, Aksakov completed his studies. He received a certificate, which indicated, among other sciences, about which Sergei Timofeevich knew only by hearsay. These subjects were not taught at the university yet. During his studies, Aksakov developed a passion for hunting and theater. These hobbies remained for the rest of his life.
First works
The first works were written at the age of 14 by S. T. Aksakov. His biography is marked by early recognition of his work. The first poem by Sergei Timofeevich was published in a magazine called "Arcadian Shepherds". Its employees tried to imitate Karamzin's sentimentality and signed with shepherd's names: Amintas, Daphnisov, Irisov, Adonisov, etc. Sergei Timofeevich's poem "To the Nightingale" was appreciated by his contemporaries. Aksakov, encouraged by this, in 1806, together with Alexander Panaev and Perevozchikov, who later became a famous mathematician, founded the "Journal of Our Studies". In it, Aksakov was already an opponent of Karamzin. He became a follower of AS Shishkov. This man created Discourses on the Old and New Syllables and was the initiator of Slavophilism.
Student troupe, moving to Moscow and St. Petersburg
As we have already said, Aksakov was fond of theater. Passion for him prompted him to create a student troupe. In the performances arranged, Sergei Timofeevich performed himself, while showing his stage talent.
The Aksakov family received a decent inheritance in 1807, which they inherited from their aunt Kuroyedova. The Aksakovs moved to Moscow, and a year later to Petersburg, so that their daughter could be brought up in the best educational institutions of the capital. At this time, S. T. Aksakov was fully captured by the stage hobby. At the same time, Sergei Timofeevich Aksakov began to work as a translator in the commission dealing with the drafting of laws. His brief biography was noted at this time and new acquaintances.
New acquaintances
Aksakov wanted to improve his recitation. This desire led him to meet Shusherin, a famous actor of the late 19th - early 20th century. The young theater-goer spent a lot of his free time with this man talking about the stage and reciting.
S. T. Aksakov acquired, in addition to theatrical acquaintances, others. He became friends with Romanovsky, Labzin and A. Shishkov. With the latter, he became very close. This was facilitated by Shishkov's declamatory talent. Sergei Timofeevich staged performances in Shishkov's house.
1811-1812 years
In 1811, Sergei Timofeevich Aksakov decided to leave his job in the commission, whose short biography was marked by new attempts to find something to do for himself, because his previous service did not attract him. First, in 1812, Aksakov left for Moscow. After a while, he moved to the village. Here he spent the years of the invasion of Napoleon Bonaparte. Aksakov, together with his father, enrolled in the police.
Having visited Moscow for the last time, the writer met through Shusherin a number of writers who lived here - Kokoshkin, Ilyin, Shatrov and others. A little earlier, Aksakov began working on the translation of the tragedy "Philoctet" by Sophocles, made by Lagarpov. This translation was required for Shusherin's benefit performance. In 1812, the tragedy was released.
Years after the invasion of the French
In the period from 1814 to 1815, Sergei Timofeevich was in St. Petersburg and Moscow. At this time, he became friends with Derzhavin. Aksakov created the "Message to A. I. Kaznacheev" in 1816. It was first published in 1878 in the Russian Archive. In this work, the writer is indignant that the Gallomania of the society of that time did not diminish after the invasion of the French.
Personal life of Aksakov
A short biography of Aksakov continues with his marriage to O.S. Zaplatina, the daughter of a Suvorov general. Her mother was a Turkish woman, who at the age of 12 was taken prisoner during the siege of Ochakov. The Turkish woman was brought up and baptized in Kursk, in the Voinov family. In 1792 Olga Semyonovna, the wife of Aksakov, was born. At the age of 30, the woman died.
Immediately after the wedding, Sergei Timofeevich went to the patrimony of Timofei Stepanovich, his father. Here, the next year, the young couple had a son, Konstantin. Sergei Timofeevich lived without a break in his parents' house for 5 years. The addition to the family was annually.
Sergei Timofeevich in 1821 allocated to his son the village of Nadezhino in the Orenburg province. This place is found under the name Parashina in the family chronicle. Before moving there, Aksakov went to Moscow. Here he spent the winter of 1821.
Return to Moscow, renewal of acquaintances
A short biography of Aksakov continues in Moscow, where he renewed his acquaintance with the literary and theatrical world. Sergei Timofeevich struck up a friendship with Pisarev, Zagoskin, Shakhovsky, Kokoshkin and others. The writer published a translation of the tenth satire of Boileau. For this Sergey Timofeevich was honored to become a member of the famous "Society of Russian Literature Lovers".
In the summer of 1822, Aksakov again went with his family to the Orenburg province. Here he stayed without a break until 1826. Aksakov was not given the opportunity to farm. His children were growing up who needed to be taught. The way out for Aksakov was to return to Moscow to take up a post here.
Aksakov finally moves to Moscow
In 1826, in August, Sergei Timofeevich said goodbye to the village forever. From that time until his death, that is, about 30 years, he was only 3 times, and even then by collision, was in Nadezhin.
S. T. Aksakov, together with his six children, moved to Moscow. He renewed his friendship with Shakhovsky, Pisarev, etc. The biography of Sergei Timofeevich Aksakov was noted at this time with translation works. In 1828 he undertook a prosaic translation of Moliere's "The Miser". And even earlier, in 1819, he expounded in verse "The School of Husbands" by the same writer.
Work in the "Moskovsky Vestnik"
Aksakov actively defended his comrades from Polevoy's attacks. He persuaded Pogodin, who published Moskovsky Vestnik in the late 1820s, to include in the journal Dramaticheskoe Addition, which Aksakov was working on. Sergei Timofeevich was at enmity with Polevoy on the pages of "Galatea" Raich and "Atheneus" Pavlov. In 1829, Sergei Timofeevich read his translation of the eighth satire of Boileau in the Society of Lovers of Russian Literature.
Service as a censor
After some time, Aksakov transferred the feud with Polevoy to the soil of censorship. In 1827 he became one of the members of the Moscow censorship committee. Sergey Timofeevich took this position thanks to the patronage of his friend A.S. Shishkov, who at that time was the Minister of Public Education. Sergei Aksakov served as a censor for about 6 years. At the same time, several times he served as chairman of the committee.
Aksakov - inspector of the school, the death of his father
The biography of Sergei Timofeevich Aksakov (later years of his life) is represented by the following major events. Aksakov began working at the land survey school in 1834. Work here also continued for six years, until 1839. Aksakov was at first a school inspector. After a while, when it turned into the Konstantinovsky Survey Institute, he took over as its director. Sergei Timofeevich was disappointed in the service. It affected his health very badly. Therefore, in 1839 he decided to retire. In 1837, his father died, leaving a significant inheritance, on which Aksakov lived.
A new circle of acquaintances
The circle of acquaintances of Sergei Timofeevich changed in the early 1830s. Pisarev died, Shakhovskoy and Kokoshkin lost their former influence, Zagoskin maintained a purely personal friendship with Aksakov. Sergei Timofeevich began to fall under the influence of a young university circle, which included Pogodin, Pavlov, Nadezhdin, along with his son Konstantin. In addition, Sergei Aksakov became close friends with Gogol (his portrait is presented above). His biography was marked by his acquaintance with Nikolai Vasilyevich in 1832. Their friendship lasted 20 years, until the very (March 4, 1852).
Turn in creativity
In 1834, Aksakov published in the anthology "Dennitsa" a short story called "Buran". This work became a turning point in his work. Sergei Aksakov, whose biography until that time had not been marked by the creation of such works, decided to turn to reality, freeing himself completely from pseudo-classical tastes. Following the path of realism, the writer in 1840 began writing "Family Chronicle". The work was completed in 1846. Excerpts from the work were published in the Moscow Collection in 1846.
In the next, 1847, another work by Aksakov appeared - "Notes on the Eating of Fish". And a few years later, in 1852 - "Notes of a Rifle Hunter". These hunting scraps were a great success. The name of Sergei Timofeevich became known throughout the country. His style was recognized as exemplary, and the characteristics of fish, birds and animals - masterful images. Aksakov's works were recognized by I.S.Turgenev, Gogol and others.
Then Sergei Timofeevich began to create memories of a family and literary nature. In 1856, The Family Chronicle was published, which was a great success. Critics disagreed about this work, which is considered one of the best in the work of Sergei Timofeevich. For example, the Slavophiles (Khomyakov) believed that Aksakov was the first among Russian writers to find positive features in contemporary reality. Publicistic critics (for example, Dobrolyubov), on the contrary, found negative characteristics in the "Family Chronicle".
In 1858, a continuation of this work was published. It is called "Childhood of Bagrov the Grandson". This piece had less success.
Sickness and death
The biography of Sergei Timofeevich Aksakov for children and adults is marked by a serious illness, with which he had to fight in recent years. The writer's health deteriorated about 12 years before his death. Due to an eye disease, he was forced to stay in a dark room for a long time. The writer was not accustomed to a sedentary life, his body was in disorder. At the same time, Aksakov lost one eye. The writer's illness began to give him severe suffering in the spring of 1858. However, he endured them with patience and firmness. Sergei Timofeevich spent the last summer at his dacha, located near Moscow. When the illness receded, he dictated new works. This, for example, "Collecting butterflies". The work was published after the death of the writer, at the end of 1859.
A short biography of Sergei Aksakov was marked by moving to Moscow in the fall of 1858. He spent the next winter in great suffering. However, despite this, he was still sometimes engaged in literature. At this time Aksakov created "Winter Morning", "Natasha", "Meeting with Martinists". Aksakov's biography ends in 1859, when Sergei Timofeevich died.
They appeared in separate editions many times. In particular, "Family Chronicle" survived 4 editions, and "Notes of a Rifle Hunter" - as many as 6. And in our time, interest in the life and work of such a writer as S. Aksakov does not fade away. The biography for children and adults presented in this article only briefly introduces his creative legacy. Many of his works were included in the golden fund of Russian literature.
(1791-1859)
Famous Russian writer. A scion of an old noble family, Aksakov undoubtedly received in childhood vivid impressions of the proud family consciousness of this gentility. Grandfather Stepan Mikhailovich dreamed that his grandson would become precisely the successor of the “famous family of Shimon” - the legendary Varangian, nephew of the Norwegian king, who left for Russia in 1027.
Love for nature - completely alien to his mother, a true city dweller - the future writer inherited from his father. In the initial development of his personality, everything fades into the background before the influence of the steppe nature, with which the first awakening of his observation, his first sense of life, his early hobbies are inextricably linked. Along with nature, peasant life invaded the boy's awakening thought. Peasant labor engendered in him not only compassion, but also respect. The female half of the courtyard, as always, the keeper of folk poetry, introduced the boy to songs, fairy tales, Christmastide games. And "The Scarlet Flower", recorded many years later from memory from the story of the housekeeper Pelageya, is just a small fragment of that vast world of folk poetry, into which the boy was introduced to the courtyard, the maiden, the village. But earlier folk literature came to the city. With his characteristic rapture, he plunged into Kheraskov's Rossiada and Sumarokov's works; he was “driven crazy” by the fairy tales of The Thousand and One Nights, and along with them were read “My trinkets” by Karamzin and his “Aonids”.
Quite early, the influences of the state school joined the domestic and rural influences. And the Kazan gymnasium, where Aksakov entered in the tenth year of his life, and the new educator, the stern and intelligent Kartashevsky, and comrades, and new interests - all this boiled down to a whole world that had a beneficial effect on the soul open to impressions. The gymnasium was above the usual level; even according to the idea of the founders, it was supposed to be something like a lyceum. Aksakov spent only three and a half years at the gymnasium, the end of which was enriched with new literary interests. He stayed at the university for only a year and a half, continuing to take lessons at the gymnasium as well, but these one and a half years mean a lot in his development. It is even difficult to say what played a big role here: collecting butterflies or a comradely magazine, which he published together with I. Panaev, passion for the theater or literary disputes, the French lectures of the naturalist Fuchs, undoubtedly, played a major role in strengthening that innate observation of Aksakov, which later gave I.S. Turgenev has the right to place him in certain respects above Buffon. Here he understood his love for nature, here he consolidated his love for literature.
Having received a university certificate, Aksakov spent a year in the countryside and in Moscow, and then moved with his family to St. Petersburg. Kartashevsky has already prepared for his pet the position of a translator in the commission for drafting laws, where he himself was an assistant editor. In St. Petersburg, Aksakov became close to the artist Shusherin, visited Admiral Shishkov, met many actors and writers, was passionately fond of theater, talked a lot about literature, but it is not evident that any searches in one area or another occupied him. There is nothing to say about political thought; she passed him, and he completely joined Shishkov's tastes. Prince Shikhmatov seemed to him a great poet. Derzhavin and Dmitriev, Count Khvostov, Prince Shakhovskoy and others gathered at Shishkov's, who later composed the conservative Conversation of the Russian Word. During these years, Aksakov lived in St. Petersburg, then in Moscow, then in the countryside. After his marriage (1816) to Olga Semyonovna Zaplatina, he tried to settle in the village. He lived with his parents for five years, but in 1820 he received the same Nadezhdino (Orenburg province), which was once the field of villainy of Kuroyedov, who he portrayed.
In August 1826, Aksakov parted with the village - and forever. On occasion he visited here, lived for a long time in his Moscow region, but, in essence, remained a metropolitan until his death. In Moscow, he met with his old patron Shishkov, now the minister of public education, and easily got the post of censor from him. They say differently about Aksakov's censorship, but, in general, he was soft; formalism could not stand his nature. Closeness with Pogodin expanded the circle of literary acquaintances. Yuri Venelin became his “new and devoted friends”, professors P.S. Shchepkin, M.G. Pavlov, then N.I. Nadezhdin. Theatrical ties have also been renewed; M.S. was a frequent guest. Shchepkin; there were Mochalov and others. In 1832 Aksakov had to change his service; he was dismissed from the post of censor for having missed I.V. Kireevsky "European" article "The Nineteenth Century". With Aksakov's connections, it was not difficult to find a place, and the next year he received a job as an inspector of a land survey school, and then, when it was transformed into the Konstantinovsky Land Survey Institute, he was appointed its first director and organizer. In 1839, Aksakov, now provided with a large fortune, which he inherited after the death of his father, left the service and, after some hesitation, never returned to it. All this time he wrote little, and what he wrote is very insignificant: a number of theatrical reviews and several small articles. His translation of Moliere's "The Miser" was shown at the Moscow theater in Shchepkin's benefit performance. In 1830, his story “The Minister's Recommendation” was published in “Moskovsky Vestnik” (without signature). Finally, in 1834 in the anthology "Dennitsa" appeared, also without a signature, his essay "Buran". This is the first work that speaks of the real Aksakov.
Sons grew up, little like Aksakov in temperament, mental makeup, ideological interests. The ardent youth, with their high intellectual demands, with their extreme seriousness, with their new literary tastes, could not have an influence on a forty-year-old man who was by nature not inclined to change. Aksakov was born a little ahead of time. His talent was created for new forms of literary creation, but it was not in his power to create these forms. And when he found them - perhaps not only in Gogol, but also in The Captain's Daughter and Belkin's Tales - he was able to use the richness of expression that they provided to his natural observation. A writer was born in it. This was in the middle of the 30s, and since then Aksakov's work has developed smoothly and fruitfully. Following the "Buran" was launched "Family Chronicle".
Already in these years, a certain popularity surrounded Aksakov. His name was respected. The Academy of Sciences has chosen him more than once as a reviewer when awarding awards. He was considered a man of advice and reason; the liveliness of his mind, supported by closeness with young people, gave him the opportunity to move forward, if not in the socio-political or moral-religious worldview, the foundations of which, learned in childhood, he always remained faithful, then in the concrete manifestations of these general principles. He was tolerant and sensitive. Not being not only a scientist, but also not possessing sufficient education, alien to science, he nevertheless was a moral authority for his friends, many of whom were famous scientists. Old age approached, blooming, deceased, creative.
Temporarily leaving Family Chronicle, he turned to natural science and hunting memoirs, and his Notes on Eating Fish (1847) was his first widespread literary success. The author did not expect him, and he did not want to especially appreciate him: he simply “went away” to his notes for himself. The ideological struggle that captured everyone reached extreme tension, and the rapidly aging Aksakov could not survive its ups and downs. He was ill, his eyesight was weakening, and in the village of Abramtsevo near Moscow, in the evening on the idyllic Thief, he willingly forgot about all the spite of the day. “Notes of a rifle hunter of the Orenburg province” was published in 1852 and caused even more enthusiastic reviews. Among these reviews, the most interesting is the well-known article by I.S. Turgenev.
Simultaneously with the hunting memories and characteristics, the ideas of stories about childhood and closest ancestors matured. Soon after the release of "Notes of a Gun Hunter", new excerpts from "Family Chronicle" began to appear in magazines, and in 1856 it was published as a separate book. Everyone was in a hurry to pay tribute to the talent, and this noisy unanimity of criticism was only an echo of the book's tremendous success in society. Everyone noted the truthfulness of the story, the ability to combine historical truth with artistic treatment. The joys of literary success softened the hardships of these recent years for Aksakov. The family's material well-being was shaken; Aksakov's health became worse and worse. He was almost blind - both with stories and dictation of memories, he filled the time that not so long ago he devoted to fishing, hunting and active communication with nature.
A number of works marked the last years of his life. The "Family Chronicle" was continued in "The Childhood of Bagrov the Grandson." A long series of secondary literary works moved alongside family memories. Partly, as, for example, "Remarks and observations of a hunter to take mushrooms", they are adjacent to his natural-scientific observations, in a significant part they continue his autobiography. Published "Literary and theatrical memoirs", included in "Various works" (1858), "The history of my acquaintance with Gogol." These last works were written in the intervals of a serious illness from which Aksakov died in Moscow.
It was justly said about Aksakov that he grew up all his life, grew up with his time, and that his literary biography is, as it were, the embodiment of the history of Russian literature during his career. Russian literature honors in him the best of its memoirists, an irreplaceable cultural writer-historian of everyday life, an excellent landscape painter and observer of the life of nature, and, finally, a classic of the language.
The name of Sergei Timofeevich Aksakov, first of all, is inextricably linked with the "Childhood years of Bagrov the grandson" and "The Scarlet Flower". These works occupy a separate place not only in Russian, but also in world literature.
The creative "range" of Sergei Timofeevich Aksakov is much wider. Being an avid fisherman and hunter, he embodies all his collected rich experience in "Notes on the Eating of Fish", published in 1847, "Notes of a rifle hunter of the Orenburg province" (1852), "Stories and memoirs of a hunter about different hunts" (1855).
A talented literary and theater critic, Aksakov subtly notes the nuances of theatrical life, which he then expounds in "Literary and theatrical memoirs" (1858). According to many literary critics, Aksakov's Family Chronicle is filled with immense depth and breadth of narration, which gives significance to the small world of the “chronicle”. Unfortunately, due to illness, the "Story of my acquaintance with Gogol" remained unfinished, which, undoubtedly, could become the "pearl" of S.T. Aksakov.
In the works of S.T. Aksakov, the reader is exposed to an uncomplicated, simple and measured way of several generations of the family, picturesque pictures of nature. The language of Aksakov's works is pure, light and perfect.
Sergey Timofeevich Aksakov was born in 1791 in Ufa. His father, Timofey Stepanovich, served as a prosecutor, his mother, Maria Nikolaevna, a hereditary aristocrat, was very smart and well-read. Sergei not only loved, but rather idolized his mother, responding to her varnish, love and friendship. Under the influence of his mother, Sergei is fond of literature, tries to notice interesting facts in nature, develops a sense of beauty.
Sergei Aksakov's childhood was spent on his father's estate - Novo-Aksakovo, Orenburg province.
After home schooling, the boy enters the Kazan gymnasium, he continues his studies at the Kazan University. In the gymnasium, his poetic talent wakes up, and he begins to write poetry. As a student, he plunges headlong into the performances of the student theater, recites poetry. The fame of the young reader spreads throughout Russia, and even Gavriil Romanovich Derzhavin wished the young man's early arrival in Petersburg to hear his reading.
The life of 17-year-old Sergei Aksakov in St. Petersburg begins with joining the service as a government official. In the northern capital he is introduced to GR Derzhavin, AS Shishkov, he begins to attend Shishkov's "Conversation of lovers of the Russian word." Then, in 1811, Aksakov moved to Moscow, where he began to translate plays by Schiller, Moliere, Boileau, and entered the close circle of Moscow theaters, acting as a theater critic.
In 1812, Aksakov's first fable "Three Canaries" was published.
Moscow life is to Aksakov's liking, he becomes the center of the theatrical and literary life of the capital. Young wife, O.S. The patch, which Aksakov brought into the house in 1816, proves to be a hospitable hostess. For many years all of Moscow knew about Aksakov's “subbotniks”, where the whole “color” of culture and art gathered. Actors, historians, writers, university professors were frequent guests of the Aksakovs. Since the spring of 1832, N.V. Gogol, who will remain attached to this family throughout his life.
With the growing up of his sons, Konstantin and Ivan, another society begins to gather in the Aksakovs' house. The artists are replaced by Slavophiles. Sergey Timofeevich takes an active part in disputes with A.S. Khomyakov, brothers Kireevsky.
In 1837, Sergei Timofeevich moved to the Abramtsevo estate, which he recently bought, in order to begin work on the "Family Chronicle" in peace and quiet. Vision problems push Sergei Timofeevich to the decision to form his thoughts into works. He, Aksakov, in the epigraph to “Notes on the Eating of Fish,” writes that he is going to retire in the bosom of nature in peace and quiet. This is a clearly marked line for all his further work. Then, with an interval of three years, he published "Notes of a rifle hunter of the Orenburg province" and "Stories and memoirs of a hunter about different hunts." This trilogy is a unique collection of cases from the life of hunters, hunting and fishing tales, observations of nature.
In 1856, "Family Chronicles" were published, telling about the unhurried patriarchal life of three generations of the Bagrovs' nobles. Continuation of the Chronicle "is" Childhood years of Bagrov-grandson. " "Family Chronicle" "Childhood" is inferior in literary terms, but is a unique book about the life of a child from 1 to 9 years old. It was conceived as a book for Olenka's granddaughter, but in the process of creation it grew into a chronicle of a child's life in the bosom of Russian nature, in an 18th century estate.
An incredibly wonderful children's world, full of new everyday impressions and experiences, opens up to the reader. The reader sees the world through the eyes of a growing child, naive, vulnerable, finding a discovery in every leaflet. With childlike spontaneity, the reader begins to see the world through the eyes of a child: bright, endless, huge. Each event for Seryozha is an important moment in his life, be it his grandfather's death or the birth of his brother.
The protagonist of the story, Seryozha, is autobiographical. He loves and understands nature. Every moment of her birth and awakening is important for him. Moreover, nature itself is an independently acting hero of the story, filling the world with the lace of the spring forest and the fragrant smells of the river. Even now, in the 21st century, "The childhood years of" Bagrov - grandson "are one of the recognized standards of Russian literature.
The language of Aksakov's works is unique and multifaceted. Contemporaries, writers and literary critics spoke about him with delight.
Aksakov died of a serious illness on April 30, 1859 in Moscow.
Please note that the biography of Sergei Timofeevich Aksakov presents the most basic moments from life. Some minor life events may be overlooked in this biography.
For thrones in the world
Let them pour the abusive blood;
on a quiet lyre
I will sing love.
S. T. Aksakov
Sergei Timofeevich Aksakov, a subtle and deep painter of native nature and a great connoisseur of the human soul. His first literary experience was poetry - naive and sentimental in his youth. He occasionally returned to poetry in subsequent years, but his prose glorified him: the memoir-autobiographical trilogy "Family Chronicle", "Bagrov's grandson's childhood", "Memories". And also the famous fairy tale "The Scarlet Flower", according to which performances are still staged in theaters. The production of this fairy tale is even included in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest children's performance.
Sergei Timofeevich Aksakov was born on October 1, 1791 in Ufa into an old, poor noble family. He spent his childhood in Ufa and in the family estate in Novo-Aksakov. Without graduating from Kazan University, he moved to St. Petersburg, where he served as a translator in the Commission for the Drafting of Laws. State service in St. Petersburg began for Aksakov as a translator. In a certain period of time, Aksakov switched from writing to translation. He translates Sophocles' Philoctetes, Boileau's 10th Satire, Walter Scott's Peveril - and thanks to these works he gains fame in the literary circles of Moscow and St. Petersburg. Translations of Moliere's "The Miser" and "The School for Husbands" were performed on the stage of Moscow and St. Petersburg theaters.
Literary activity began in 1821Aksakova... But there was no time for creativity, he had to earn a living and he was forced to serve as an inspector of the Land Survey School, and later became its director.
In 1827-32 he served in Moscow as a censor, in 1833-38 - an inspector of a land survey school, then - director of the Constantine Survey Institute.
A prominent place in Russian memoir literature is occupied by Aksakov's memoirs "The Story of My Acquaintance with Gogol" (published in 1890). In the 1920s and 1930s, he was engaged in theatrical criticism, opposed the epigones of classicism and routine in the performing arts, urging actors to "simplicity" and "naturalness" of performance. Aksakov appreciated the innovative nature of the play of Mochalov and Shchepkin. In 1834 he published the essay "Buran".
In the first books: "Notes on the Eating" (1847), "Notes of a Gun Hunter of the Orenburg Province" (1852), "Stories and Memories of a Hunter about Different Hunt" (1855), designed for a narrow circle of fishing and hunting enthusiasts, Aksakov showed himself as a writer possessing the wealth of the folk word and keen observation, as a heartfelt poet of Russian nature. Turgenev wrote that Aksakov's hunting books enriched "our common literature." Aksakov's outstanding talent was revealed in the books "Family Chronicle" (1856) and "Childhood of Bagrov the Grandson" (1858).
The main place in the legacy of Aksakov is occupied by autobiographical fiction, entirely based on "memories of a previous life" and family legends. It was created under the deep influence on Aksakov of the creativity and personality of Gogol and in the atmosphere of "family" Slavophilism, which allowed him to clearly realize the dignity and root traditions of folk life, the living "natural sympathy" for which he did not know the value before. Aksakov the artist rejected all violence, arbitrariness and awakened love for life, for people, for nature in its traditional, eternal aspect, poeticized the manor house, the strength of family foundations. Aksakov himself had 14 children (6 sons and 8 daughters), and the family was extremely friendly; its existence rested on traditionally patriarchal principles, on the coordination of the inclinations of all its members, on the harmony of moods and views; the children idolized "gross" and deeply loved their mother (the inspirer of their Orthodox upbringing, who combined devotion to the family and social temperament, knowledge of spiritual and modern fiction and possessed a literary gift, which manifested itself in her letters). LN Tolstoy, who actively communicated with the Aksakovs in 1856-59, found "harmony" and unity with the morality of the whole people in their entire household way. In such a moral atmosphere, the main pathos of "memories" was formed and strengthened, about which I. Aksakov wrote: bad in life. "
Painting the "home" life of the Russian nobility, poeticizing the everyday events of local life, looking closely at their moral origins and consequences, Aksakov remains faithful to the nature of his talent and his creative attitude - to reproduce absolutely reliable material of life. Aksakov considered himself only a "transmitter" and "narrator" of actual events: "I can write only standing on the basis of reality, following the thread of a true event ... I do not possess the gift of pure fiction at all."... His prose is autobiographical, but with the utmost limitation of artistic fiction, his characters and situations are filled with undeniable typicality.
Aksakov occupies a special place in the history of Russian culture not only because of his remarkable literary creativity. For many decades, the Aksakovs' house has been a center of attraction for a large circle of writers, journalists, scientists, and theatrical figures.In the 1920s and 1930s, Schepkin, Zagoskin, Pogodin, Shakhovskoy, Verstovsky, Nadezhdin regularly gathered in his house on Saturdays.This circle was replenished by the friends of his children Konstantin and Ivan Slavophiles: Khomyakov, Kireevsky,Samarin. For decades, the house of the Aksakovs became one of the most important places where the Slavophile movement was born and developed.
After purchasingAksakovestate Abramtsevo, its frequent visitors were: Gogol, Turgenev, Shevyrev.Sergei Timofeevich Aksakov himself, his wife Olga Semyonovna and children Konstantin Sergeevich, Ivan Sergeevich, Vera Sergeevna Aksakovs created and maintained in their home both an atmosphere of hospitality and a high level of intellectual discussions.
Aksakov Sergei Timofeevich died on April 30, 1859 in Moscow.
"Russian literature honors in him the best of its memoirists, an irreplaceable cultural writer-historian of everyday life, an excellent landscape painter and observer of the life of nature, and finally, the classic of the language."(A. Gornfeld)
CHILDREN'S YEARS OF BAGROV-GRANDSON
We lived then in the provincial city of Ufa and occupied a huge Zubinsky wooden house, bought by my father, as I found out later, at an auction for three hundred rubles in banknotes. The house was lined with boards, but not painted; it was darkened by the rains, and the whole bulk looked very sad. The house stood on a slope, so that the windows to the garden were very low from the ground, and the windows from the dining room to the street, on the opposite side of the house, rose three arshins above the ground; the front porch had more than twenty-five steps, and from it the Belaya River was visible almost in its entire width. The two children's rooms in which I lived with my sister, painted blue on plaster, located near the bedroom, looked out into the garden, and the raspberries planted under them grew so high that they looked into our windows for a whole quarter, which made me very happy and my inseparable friend - my little sister. The garden, however, was rather large, but not beautiful: here and there berry bushes of currants, gooseberries and barberries, a dozen or so lean apple trees, round flower beds with marigolds, saffron and asters, and not a single large tree, no shadow; but this garden also gave us pleasure, especially my sister, who knew neither mountains, nor fields, nor forests; I traveled, as they said, more than five hundred miles: in spite of my morbid condition, the greatness of the beauties of God's world imperceptibly lay on the child's soul and lived without my knowledge in my imagination; I could not be content with our poor city garden and incessantly told my sister, like an experienced man, about the various miracles I had seen; she listened with curiosity, fixing on me, full of intense attention, her beautiful eyes, which at the same time clearly expressed: "Brother, I do not understand anything." And what a tricky one: the storyteller is only five years old, and the listener - the third.
I have already said that I was timid and even cowardly; Probably, a grave and prolonged illness weakened, thinned, brought to extreme susceptibility my nerves, and perhaps, by nature, I did not have courage. The first feelings of fear settled in me the stories of the nanny. Although she actually went after my sister, and only looked after me, and although her mother strictly forbade her even to talk to me, she sometimes managed to tell me some news about the beech, about brownies and the dead. I became afraid of the darkness of the night, and even during the day I was afraid of dark rooms. We had a huge hall in our house, from which two doors led into two small rooms, rather dark, because the windows from them looked out into a long passage that served as a corridor; one of them housed a sideboard, and the other was locked; she once served as a study for my mother's late father; all his belongings were collected there: a desk, an armchair, a bookcase, and so on. The nanny told me that they sometimes see my late grandfather Zubin there, sitting at the table and sorting out papers. I was so afraid of this room that when I passed it I always closed my eyes. Once, walking through the long hallway, forgetting myself, I looked out the window of the study, remembered the nurse’s story, and it seemed to me that some old man in a white dressing gown was sitting at the table. I screamed and fainted. My mother was not at home. When she came back and I told her about everything that had happened and about everything I had heard from the nanny, she was very angry: she ordered to open grandfather's office, took me there, trembling with fear, by force, and showed that there was no one there and that there was some underwear. She made every effort to explain to me that such stories are nonsense and inventions of stupid ignorance. She drove my nanny away and for several days did not allow her to enter our nursery. But the extreme made me call this woman and put her to us again; of course, they strictly forbade her to tell such nonsense and took from her an oath promise never to talk about popular prejudices and beliefs; but that did not cure my fear. Our nanny was a strange old woman, she was very attached to us, and my sister and I loved her very much. When she was exiled to the public room and she was not even allowed to enter the house, she sneaked up to us at night, kissed us sleepy and cried. I saw it myself, because once her caresses woke me up. She followed us very diligently, but, out of inveterate stubbornness and ignorance, she did not understand the requirements of my mother and slowly did everything in spite of her. A year later she was completely sent to the village. I longed for a long time: I could not understand why my mother was so often angry with the good nanny, and remained convinced that my mother simply did not love her.
Every day I read my only book, The Mirror of Virtue, to my little sister, not realizing that she still didn’t understand anything except the pleasure of looking at pictures. I knew all this children's book then by heart; but now only two stories and two pictures out of a hundred remain in my memory, although they, against others, have nothing special. These are The Grateful Lion and The Boy Dressing Himself. I even remember the physiognomy of a lion and a boy! Finally, The Mirror of Virtue ceased to absorb my attention and satisfy my childish curiosity, I wanted to read other books, but there was absolutely nowhere to take them; those books that my father and mother sometimes read were not allowed to me to read. I started to work on "Bukhan's Home Healing", but for some reason my mother found this reading too inconvenient for my age; however, she chose some places and, marking them with bookmarks, allowed me to read them; and it was a really interesting reading, because it described all the herbs, salts, roots and all the medicinal drugs that are only mentioned in the medical book. I reread these descriptions at a much later age and always with pleasure, because all this is stated and translated into Russian very sensibly and well.
Beneficial fate soon sent me an unexpected new pleasure, which made a strong impression on me and greatly expanded the range of my concepts at that time. Opposite our house, SI Anichkov, an old, rich bachelor, who was reputed to be a very intelligent and even learned man, lived in his own house; this opinion was confirmed by the fact that he was once sent by a deputy from the Orenburg region to a well-known commission assembled by Catherine II to consider existing laws. Anichkov was very proud, as I was told, of his deputy and boldly talked about his speeches and actions, which, however, by his own admission, did not bring any benefit. Anichkov was not loved, but only respected and even nailed down for his sharp language and inflexible disposition. He favored my father and mother and even lent money, which no one dared ask him. Once he heard from my parents that I am a diligent boy and really like to read books, but that there is nothing to read. The old deputy, being more enlightened than others, was naturally the patron saint of all curiosity. The next day he suddenly sends a man for me; I was led by my father himself. Anichkov, after asking thoroughly what I had read, how I understood what I had read, and what I remember, was very pleased; ordered to hand over a bunch of books and gave me ... about happiness! .. "Children's reading for the heart and mind", published penniless at the "Moskovskiye vedomosti" NI Novikov. I was so happy that I almost with tears threw myself on the old man's neck and, not remembering myself, jumped up and ran home, leaving my father to talk with Anichkov. I remember, however, the host's supportive and approving laughter, which rumbled in my ears and gradually died away as I moved away. Fearing that someone would not take my treasure, I ran straight through the vestibule into the nursery, lay down in my crib, closed the canopy, unfolded the first part - and forgot everything around me. When my father came back and with a laugh told my mother everything that had happened at Anichkov's, she was very alarmed, because she did not know about my return. They found me lying with a book. My mother told me later that I was exactly like a madman: I did not say anything, did not understand what they were saying to me, and did not want to go to dinner. They had to take the book away, despite my bitter tears. The threat that the books would be taken away completely forced me to refrain from crying, get up and even have lunch. After dinner I grabbed the book again and read until evening. Of course, my mother put an end to such frenzied reading: she locked the books in her chest of drawers and gave me one piece at a time, and then at the known hours appointed by her. There were twelve books in total, and they were not in order, but scattered. It turned out that this is not a complete collection of "Children's Reading", which consisted of twenty parts. I read my books with enthusiasm and, in spite of my mother's reasonable frugality, I read a little over a month. A complete revolution took place in my childish mind, and a new world opened up for me ... I learned in the "discourse on thunder" what lightning, air, clouds are; learned the formation of rain and the origin of snow. Many phenomena in nature, at which I looked senselessly, albeit with curiosity, acquired meaning and significance for me and became even more curious. Ants, bees and especially butterflies, with their transformations from testicles to worms, from worms to chrysalis and, finally, from chrysalis to beautiful butterfly, captured my attention and sympathy; I got an irresistible desire to observe all this with my own eyes. Actually moralizing articles made less impression, but how the “funny way of catching monkeys” and the fable “about the old wolf”, which all the shepherds chased away from themselves, amused me! How I admired the "goldfish"!
+ + +
Even before, I had heard in passing that my father was buying some Bashkir land, but at the present time this purchase was made legally. Excellent land, with over seven thousand dessiatines, thirty versts from Ufa, along the Belaya River, with many lakes, one of which was about three versts long, was bought for a small price. My father warmly and in detail told me how many birds and fish are found there, how many berries of all kinds will be born, how many lakes, what wonderful forests grow. His stories led me to admiration and so fired my imagination that even at night I raved about the beautiful new land! In addition to everything in the judicial act, she was given the name of "Sergeevskaya Wasteland", and the village, which they wanted to immediately settle there next spring, was named "Sergeevka" in advance. I liked that. The feeling of ownership, of exclusive belonging to anything, although not completely, is very much understood by the child and constitutes a special pleasure for him (at least it was so with me), and therefore, being not at all a mean boy, I very much cherished that, that Sergeevka is mine; without that possessive pronoun, I never called her. My mother was going there in the spring to drink kumis, prescribed to her by Deobolt. I counted the days and hours in anticipation of this happy event and tirelessly talked about Sergeevka with all the guests, with my father and mother, with my sister and with her new nanny, Parasha.
+ + +
Sergeevka exclusively possessed my imagination, which my father inflamed every day with his stories. The road to Bagrovo, nature, with all its wonderful beauties, were not forgotten by me, but only somewhat suppressed by the news of other impressions: life in Bagrovo and life in Ufa; but with the onset of spring, an ardent love for nature awoke in me; I so wanted to see green meadows and forests, waters and mountains, so I wanted to run with Marmot in the fields, so I wanted to throw a fishing rod, that everything around me lost its amusement and I woke up every day and fell asleep with the thought of Sergeevka. The holy week passed unnoticed for me. I, of course, could not understand its high value, but I paid little attention even to what is understandable for children: joyful faces, festive dresses, bell. ringing, incessant arrival of guests, red eggs and so on. and so on. Our parish church stood on a dais, and the snow around it had melted for a long time. It was my great pleasure to watch the muddy and noisy streams of spring water running along the slope past our high porch, and an even greater pleasure, which I was not often allowed to do, was to clear the spring streams with a stick. The Belaya River was visible from our porch, and I was looking forward to when it would open. To all my questions to my father and Evseich: "When are we going to Sergeevka?" - they usually answered: "Here is how the river will pass."
And finally this longed-for day and hour has come! Yevseich hastily glanced into my nursery and in an alarmingly joyful voice said: "White has started!" Mother allowed, and in one minute, warmly dressed, I was already standing on the porch and eagerly followed with my eyes as a huge strip of blue, dark, and sometimes yellow ice passed between the motionless banks. The transverse road had already drifted far away, and some unfortunate black cow was running along it, like a madman, from one bank to the other. The women and girls standing beside me accompanied with plaintive exclamations every unsuccessful movement of the running animal, whose roar reached my ears, and I felt very sorry for him. At a bend, the river bent behind a steep cliff - and the road and a black cow running along it disappeared behind it. Suddenly two dogs appeared on the ice; but their fussy jumps aroused not pity, but laughter in the people around me, for everyone was sure that the dogs would not drown, but jump over or swim to the shore. I willingly believed this, and having forgotten the poor cow, I myself laughed along with others. The dogs were quick to live up to the general expectation and soon moved ashore. The ice was still going strong, solid, indissoluble, endless block. Evseich, fearing a strong and cold wind, said to me: “Come, falcon, to the upper room; the river will not break soon, and you will vegetate. I'd better tell you when the ice starts to crack. " I very reluctantly obeyed, but my mother was very pleased and praised Yevseich and me. Indeed, not closer than an hour later, Yevseich came to tell me that the ice on the river was breaking. Mother again let me go for a short time, and dressing even warmer, I went out and saw a new picture, also not seen by me: the ice was cracking, breaking into separate blocks; water splashed between them; they ran into one another, the big and strong flooded the weakest, and if they met a strong emphasis, they would rise with one edge up, sometimes they swam for a long time in this position, sometimes both blocks collapsed into small pieces and sank into the water with a crash. A dull noise, similar at times to a creak or a distant groan, clearly reached our ears. After admiring this majestic and terrible sight for some time, I returned to my mother and for a long time, with ardor, told her everything that I had seen. My father arrived from the presence, and I began to describe to him with renewed ardor how Belaya had passed, and told him even longer, even hotter than my mother, because he listened to me somehow more willingly. From that day on, White became a constant subject of my observations. The river began to protrude from the banks and flood the meadow side. Every day the picture changed, and, finally, the flood of water, which stretched more than eight miles, merged with the clouds. To the left could be seen the boundless water surface, clean and smooth as glass, and right in front of our house all of it was as if dotted sometimes with tops of trees, and sometimes half-flooded with huge oaks, elms and sedge trees, the height of which only then became fully marked, they looked like small, as if floating islands. - The hollow water did not sell for a long time, and this slowness irritated my impatience. In vain did my mother assure me that she would not go to Sergeevka until the grass grew: I kept thinking that the river was in the way and that we were not going because she had not entered the banks. Warm, even hot weather has already begun. White entered the dry season, lay down in her sands; the fields have long been green and the urema across the river has turned green - and we still have not gone. My father argued that it was difficult to drive through those places that were flooded with spring water, that it was dirty, muddy, and that in the small holes either washed out the road, or put silt on it; but to me all such obstacles seemed completely irrelevant. The desire to move to Sergeevka as soon as possible became for me a painful aspiration of all thoughts and feelings to one subject; I could no longer do anything, I was bored and picky. One could have foreseen and had to take real measures to tame in me this passion, this ability to be carried away to self-forgetfulness and go to extremes. Subsequently, I heard my mother regret that she paid little attention to this side of my character, a great hindrance in life and the cause of many mistakes.
I thought that we would never go, when suddenly, oh happy day! Mother told me that we are going tomorrow. I almost went crazy with joy. My dear sister shared it with me, rejoicing, it seems, more than my joy. I slept poorly the night. Nobody got up yet when I was ready at all. But then we woke up in the house, there was a noise, running around, laying down, laid the horses, brought the carriage, and finally, at ten o'clock in the morning, we went down to the ferry across the Belaya River. On top of that, Groundhog was with us.
+ + +
Sergeevka occupies one of the brightest places in the earliest memories of my childhood. I felt nature then more strongly than during the trip to Bagrovo, but still not so strongly as I felt it a few years later. In Sergeevka I was only rejoicing in calm joy, without excitement, without sinking my heart. All the time I spent in Sergeevka this year seems to me to be a merry holiday.
We, just like last year, crossed the Belaya in an inert boat. The same pebbles and sands met me on the other side of the river, but I already paid little attention to them - Sergeevka, my Sergeevka, with its lake, the Belaya river and forests, was drawn in front of me. I was impatiently awaiting the crossing of our carriage and carriage, impatiently watched how they unloaded, how the horses were laid, and I was very bored by the white, loose sands, along which it was necessary to drag for more than a mile. Finally, we drove into an urem, a green, blooming and fragrant urem. The merry singing of birds was heard from all sides, but all voices were covered with whistles, rumbles and clicking of nightingales. Swarms of bees, wasps and bumblebees whirled and buzzed around the trees in bloom. My God, how fun it was! Traces of recently sold water were noticeable everywhere: dry twigs, straw, covered with silt and earth, already dried up from the sun, hung in shreds on the green bushes; the trunks of huge trees, high from the roots, were densely covered with dried mud and sand, which shone from the sun's rays. “You see, Seryozha, how high the hollow water stood,” my father said to me, “look, this elm over there is as if in a hat from various drifts; it can be seen that he was almost entirely under the water. " Much of this kind was explained to me by my father, and I, in turn, explained to my dear sister, although she immediately sat and also listened to my father. Soon, and more than once, the validity of his fears was confirmed; even now, in many places, the road was washed out, spoiled by spring water, and in some sections it was so viscous from wet mud that our strong horses could hardly pull the carriage out. Finally we got out into an open field, ran at a brisk trot, and about three o'clock arrived at the so-called Sergeevka. Approaching it, we again found ourselves in an uroma, that is, in a floodplain, overgrown with rare bushes and trees, beaten by many medium and small lakes, already overgrown with green reeds; it was the floodplain of the same Belaya River, which flowed a mile from Sergeevka and flooded this low-lying strip of land in the spring. Then we climbed a rather steep hillock, on the flat surface of which there were several new and old unfinished huts; to the left could be seen a long strip of water, Lake Kiishki and the opposite bank, quite elevated, and directly opposite us lay a scattered large Tatar village of the so-called "Meshcheryaks". To the right the floodplain of the Belaya River, which we have now moved across, was green and sparkled, like glass, with its lakes. We turned a little to the right and entered our estate, fenced off with a fresh green fence. The estate consisted of two huts: a new one and an old one, connected by a passage; not far from them was a human hut, not yet covered; the rest of the courtyard was occupied by a long straw story instead of a shed for a carriage and instead of a stable for horses; instead of a porch, two stones were laid to our entrance, one on top of the other; in the new hut there were no doors or window frames, and only holes were cut for them. Mother was not entirely happy and reprimanded my father, but I liked everything much more than our city house in Ufa. Father assured that the frames would be brought tomorrow and without jambs, which were not yet ready, they would be nailed outside, and as long as he advised to hang a carpet instead of doors. They began to unfold and arrange themselves: chairs, beds and tables were brought in in advance. We soon sat down to dinner. The food, also prepared in advance on the tagan in a hole dug near the fence, seemed to us very tasty. In this pit they wanted to knock down a summer kitchen stove out of clay. Mother calmed down, cheered up and let me and my father go to the lake, to which all my thoughts and desires were striving; Yevseich went with us, holding prepared fishing rods in his hands; Mother laughed, looking at us, and said cheerfully: "There are no windows or doors, but you have your fishing rods ready." For joy I could not hear my legs under me: I didn’t walk, but jumped, so I had to hold my hands. Here it is, finally, my long-awaited and awaited magnificent lake, really magnificent! Lake Kiishki stretched in different bends, backwaters and stretches for three versts; its width was very uneven: sometimes it was seventy fathoms, and sometimes half a mile. The opposite bank was a wooded upland, descending to the water with a gentle slope; to the left, the lake ended very close by a narrow sleeve, through which in spring the Belaya River flooded into the hollow water; to the right, behind the bend, one could not see the end of the lake, along which, half a verst from our estate, a very large Meshcheryatskaya village was settled, which I have already mentioned, which was also called Kiishki after the lake. Of course, the Russians called her, and the lake, and the newly settled Russian village of Sergeevka, simply "Kishki" - and this name was very suitable for the lake, which fully denoted its long, curved length. Clean clear water, very deep in places, white sandy bottom, varied black forest, reflected in the water as in a mirror and overgrown with green coastal grasses - everything together was so good that not only me, but my father and Yevseich were delighted. Our coast was especially beautiful and picturesque, covered with young grass and meadow flowers, that is, a part of the coast that was not inhabited and therefore not polluted by anything; along the bank there were about a dozen oak trees of extraordinary height and thickness. As we approached the water, we saw new wide walkways and a new boat tied to them: new reasons for new pleasure. My father had taken care of this in advance, because the water was shallow and it would have been impossible to fish without a walkway; and they turned out to be very suitable for washing clothes, but the boat was appointed for fishing with nets and seines. Behind the walkway stood a huge oak, several girths thick; beside him once grew another oak, of which only a rather high stump remained, much thicker than the standing oak; out of curiosity, all three of us climbed onto this huge stump, and, of course, occupied only a small edge. My father said that about twenty people could sit on it. He showed me the notches on the oak stump and on the growing oak and said that the Bashkirs, the real owners of the land, put such notes on large oak trees every hundred years, as many old people assured him of; There were only two such notches on the stump, and there were five on the growing oak, and as the stump was much thicker and, therefore, older than the growing oak, it was obvious that the rest of the notches were on the severed tree trunk. The father added that he saw an oak incomparably thicker and that there were twelve notes on it, therefore, it was 1200 years old. I do not know to what extent the stories of the Bashkir people were fair, but my father believed them, and they seemed to me then the truth, not subject to doubt.
The lake was full of all kinds of fish, and very large ones; during high water it came from the Belaya River, and when the water began to decrease, the Meshcheryaks blocked the narrow and shallow channel with a fence, which connected the lake with the river, and all the fish remained in the lake until next spring. Huge pikes and asps now and then jumped out of the water, chasing small fish, which rushed and melted incessantly. In places near the banks and grasses, the water rippled from fish schools, which ran aground and even jumped out onto the coastal grass: I was told that it was a fish spawning. Most of all, perches and especially bream were found in the lake. We unwound the rods and began to fish.
+ + +
The active structure of our semi-nomadic life began, and most importantly, the device for the special preparation and proper use of kumis. To do this, it was necessary to see the Bashkir cantonal foreman Mavlut Iseich (that was his name in the eyes, and behind the eyes - Mavlyutka), who was one of the patrimonials who sold us the Sergeevskaya wasteland. He lived, if not in the village of Kiishki, then somewhere very close, because his father sent him to call him, and the messenger returned very soon with the answer that Mavlyutka would be there now. Indeed, as soon as we had time to drink tea, a strange mass on horseback appeared in front of our gate. The group drove up to the fence, got off the horse quite freely, tied it to the fence and tumbled into our yard. We were sitting on our porch: my father went to meet the guest, held out his hand and said: "Salam malikum, Mavlut Iseich." I opened my mouth in amazement. Before me stood a giant of extraordinary thickness; it was twelve inches of height and twelve pounds of weight, as I later learned; he was dressed in a Kazakin and in the widest plisse shalvars; a stained skullcap, embroidered in gold, was barely held on top of the thick head; he had no neck; the head with a chimney lay tightly on broad shoulders; a huge saber dragged along the ground - and I felt an involuntary fear: it seemed to me that this should be the insidious Tissaphernes, the leader of the Persian troops who fought against the younger Cyrus. And he did not hesitate to communicate his guess in the ear of his sister and then to his mother, and she laughed very much, which is why my fear passed away. They brought Mavlyutka a bench, on which he sat down with difficulty; tea was served to him and he drank many cups. The case of preparing kumis for the mother, which she herself asked for, was arranged very conveniently and easily. One of Mavlyutka's seven wives was immediately appointed in absentia to this position: every day she had to come to us and bring a mare with her, so that, having milked the right amount of milk, ferment it in our dishes, in front of my mother, who had an irresistible aversion to uncleanness and untidiness in the preparation of kumis. We agreed on the price and gave some money in advance to Mavlyutka, which, as I noticed, he was very happy about. I could not help laughing, listening to how my mother tried to imitate Mavlyutka, distorting her words. After that, my father began a conversation with the canton foreman, which attracted all my attention: from this conversation I learned that my father had bought such land that other Bashkirians, and not those from whom we bought it, called theirs, that with It was necessary to drive two villages on this land, that when there was a land survey, everyone would declare a dispute, and that several of our peasants had to be relocated to it as soon as possible. "Zemmir, earthmir, soon bring the cistern Alexey Stepanich," Mavlyutka said in a shrill voice, "the whole earthmir has finished; white pillars need; I myself am walking on the wrong side. " Mavlut Iseich left, untied his horse, about which he said, by the way, that she was "dragging him to a whole herd," put on his sharp felt cap, very easily got on horseback, waved his terrible whip and rode home. It was not without reason that I drew attention to the conversation between the Bashkir foreman and my father. Left alone with his mother, he talked about this with a sad face and anxious look: then I learned that my mother did not like this purchase before, because the acquired land could not quickly and without great difficulty get us into our possession: it was inhabited by two the villages of the priest's people, "Kiishki" and "Old Timkin", who lived, it is true, under expired contracts, but which were very difficult to reduce to other, state-owned lands; of all, my mother disliked the fact that the Bashkir sellers were quarreling among themselves and everyone called himself a real master, and the other a deceiver. Now I have told about it as I learned later; then I could not understand the real case, but was only afraid that there would be arguing, quarreling, and maybe even fighting. My heart felt that my Sergeevka was not strong, and I was not mistaken.
Every day our semi-nomadic life became more and more comfortable. The window frames were brought in and, in the absence of jambs, they nailed on the outside rather tightly; but there were no doors, and they continued to be replaced with carpets, which seemed to me in no way worse than doors. A large new white Kalmyk wagon was set up in the yard; the side felt walls could be raised, and the lattice wagon then looked like a huge umbrella with a round opening at the top. We usually dined there so that there were fewer flies in our rooms, and we usually lifted one side of the wagon, the one that was in the shade. “Kumis was cooked perfectly well, and my mother did not find it as disgusting as before, but I felt for him irresistible disgust, at least I assured myself and others of this, and although my mother really wanted me to drink kumis, because I was thin and everyone thought that I would get fat from him, but I fought back. The sister could not bear it either; he was decisively harmful to her. In all honesty, I think that I could get used to kumis, but I was afraid that its use and morning walks, inseparable with it, would not take away the best time for me to eat. The hunt to fish more and more took possession of me from hour to hour; I was only out of fear that my mother would not forbid me to sit with a fishing rod on the lake, with forced diligence I studied reading, writing and the first two rules of arithmetic, which my father taught me. I remember that I pretended quite skillfully and often engaged in lengthy discussions with my mother, when all my mind was, as it were, as quickly as possible to escape with a fishing rod to the catwalk, when every minute of delay was an ordeal for me. The fish pecked wonderfully; there were no failures, or they consisted only in the fact that sometimes there were fewer large fish. My dear sister, who also sometimes went with her Parasha to the dinner, did not find any pleasure in this, and the mosquitoes soon chased her home. Finally, guests began to come to us. Once hunters for fishing came together: the kindest General Mansurov, a passionate hunter for all hunts, with his wife, and Ivan Nikolaich Bulgakov, also with his wife. Have started big net fishing; they got a net, it seems, from the Bashkirs, as well as a few more boats; two of the larger ones tied together, covered them across with boards, nailed the boards and thus made a small steam with a bench on which the ladies could sit.
+ + +
Our return journey to Ufa took place more quickly and more calmly: the frosts were moderate, the windows in our carriage were not completely covered with snow, and the carriage did not overturn.
All our friends in Ufa were very happy with us. The circle of our acquaintances, especially children familiar with us, has significantly decreased. My godfather, D. B. Mertvago, who, although he was never kind to me, but never teased me, left for St. Petersburg long ago. The princes with their children moved to Kazan; The Mansurovs also left somewhere with all the children ...
+ + +
From the very return to Ufa, I began to listen attentively and notice that my mother and father had arguments, even unpleasant ones. It was about the fact that the father wanted to exactly fulfill the promise he had given to his mother: to retire immediately, move to the village, relieve his mother of all the worries about the household and reassure her old age. He considered it necessary to move to the village and do the housekeeping even when grandmother would agree to live with us in the city, which she did not want to hear about. He said that "without a master, order soon deteriorates and that in a few years you will not recognize either Old or New Bagrov." To all these reasons, about which my father used to talk a lot, for a long time and quietly, my mother objected hotly that “village life is disgusting to her, Bagrovo especially does not like it and is unhealthy, that she is not loved in the family and that constant displeasure awaits her there. ". However, there was another important reason for moving to the village: a letter received from Praskovya Ivanovna Kurolesova. Having learned about the death of my grandfather, whom she called her second father and benefactor, Praskovya Ivanovna wrote to my father that “he has nothing to live on for nothing in Ufa, serve in some court of three hundred rubles of salary, which would be much more profitable to take care of his own household. , and she, the old woman, to help with her household. It is also by the way, because Old Bagrovo is only fifty miles from Churasov, where she constantly lives. " At the end of the letter, she wrote that "she wants to know Sophia Nikolavna in the face, with whom it would be high time to introduce her: and she wants to see her heirs as well."
+ + +
Spring came, and instead of a joyful feeling, I felt sad. What was it to me that streams ran from the mountains, that thawed patches appeared in the garden and near the church, that White again passed and again its waters spread wide! I will not see Sergeevka and her wonderful lake, her tall oaks, I will not fish from the footbridges with Yevseich, and I will not lie on the banks of the Surk, stretched out in the sun! - Suddenly I find out that my father is going to Sergeevka. It seems that this was decided long ago, and they only hid it from me so as not to tease the child in vain. Land surveyor Yartsev came to Sergeevka to demarcate our land. They promised to end the landmarks in two weeks, because my father had to be back by the time I had a new sister or brother. I did not dare to ask my father. The roads were not yet passable, Belaya was in full flood, and my father had to travel ten miles by boat, and then somehow get to Sergeevka in a cart. My mother was very worried about my father, which aroused anxiety in me too. Mother was also afraid that the land surveying would delay her father, and in order to calm her down, he gave her his word that if the land surveying was not finished in two weeks, he would give up everything, leave someone there as a confidant, although Fyodor, Parasha's husband, and he will come to us, in Ufa. My mother could not help crying as she said goodbye to my father, and I burst into tears. I was sad to part with him, and terrified for him, and bitter that I would not see Sergeevka and would not go to the lake. It was in vain that Yevseich consoled me that now it was impossible to walk, because it was dirty; you can't fish, because the water in the lake is muddy, - I didn't believe him well: I noticed more than once that they told a lie to calm me down. These two weeks dragged on slowly. Although, living in the city, I spent little time with my father, because in the morning he usually left for office, and in the evening - to visit or receive guests himself, I was bored and sad without him. My father did not have time to tell me well what it means to land a land survey, and to supplement the information, after asking my mother, and then Yevseich, what the land surveying consists of, and having learned almost nothing new from them (they themselves did not know anything), I made myself up, however , some idea about this matter, which seemed important and solemn to me. However, I knew the external setting of the landmarks: milestones, stakes, chain and witnesses. My imagination painted me different pictures, and I wandered mentally with my father through the fields and forests of Sergeevskaya dacha. It is very strange that the concept of land surveying that I had compiled was quite close to reality: later I became convinced of this by experience; even the thought of a child about the importance and some kind of solemnity of land surveying came to my mind every time I walked or drove behind an astrolabe, reverently carried by a peasant, while others pulled a chain and stuck stakes every ten fathoms; the real case, that is, measuring the land and shooting it on a plan, of course, I did not understand then, like everyone around me.
Father kept his word: exactly two weeks later he returned to Ufa. It was much more difficult to return than to go to the land survey. The water began to sell off strongly, in many places the land was bare, and all ten versts, which my father calmly rode there in a boat, had to ride back on horseback. There was still a lot of water in the hollows and hollows, and it sometimes reached up to the horse's belly. Father arrived, all spattered with mud from head to toe. Mother and my sister and I were very happy with him, but father was not happy; many Bashkirians and all the priestlynniki, that is, the inhabitants of Kiishek and Timkin, declared a dispute and bypassed the dacha with black (controversial) pillars: the bordering with white pillars meant the undisputed ownership. Having told everything in detail, the father added: “Well, Seryozha, Sergeevskaya dacha will go on the back burner and you won't get it soon; it was in vain that we hastened to transfer the peasants there. " I was upset because it was very pleasant for me to have property, and since then I have already ceased to say with pleasure at every opportunity: "My Sergeevka."
He said that in them "the truth is felt on every page." The original language of works, full of "gems of the folk dictionary", and the ability to portray nature and man in one indissoluble unity - these are the virtues thanks to which his works are still read by everyone - from preschoolers to scientists.
Childhood and youth
Sergey Timofeevich Aksakov was born in the Novo-Aksakovo estate of the Orenburg province in 1791. The family belonged to an old noble family, but was relatively poor. Seryozha had two brothers and 3 sisters. His father worked as a prosecutor at the Zemsky Court, and his mother was known as a very educated lady for that time, who loved books and learned conversations and even corresponded with famous educators.
A significant influence on the boy's upbringing was exerted by his grandfather Stepan Mikhailovich, "an uncouth and energetic pioneer landowner," as well as a society of servants, the female part of which introduced little Seryozha to folk tales, songs and games. The memory of that wonderful world of folklore, with which he came into contact in childhood, is the fairy tale "The Scarlet Flower", told by the housekeeper Pelageya and recorded many years later from memory.
In 1799, Sergei was sent to study at a local gymnasium, later he became a student at the new Kazan University. The first works of the young writer to see the light of day were poems written in a naive romantic style, which were placed in handwritten student magazines.
In 1807, at the age of 15, without completing his university course, Sergei Aksakov moved to Moscow, and from there to St. Petersburg. There he worked as a translator and was in the circle "Conversations of lovers of the Russian word" together with Alexander Shishkov and other adherents of his native language. Then he wrote poems that contradicted his youthful creations in style - by that time Aksakov had become disillusioned with the school of romantics and moved away from sentimentalism. His most famous poem is "This is my homeland."
Later, Sergei Timofeevich entered the theatrical environment and began to translate plays, as well as perform literary criticism in leading metropolitan magazines and newspapers. In 1827, Aksakov received a position as a censor in the Moscow Censorship Committee, but lost it a year later for letting the press of V. Protashinsky's humorous ballad, in which the Moscow police appeared in an unfavorable light.
Sergey Aksakov By that time, the writer had already acquired a huge number of useful contacts and acquaintances and was able to quickly find a new position as an inspector at the Konstantinovsky Land Survey School.
In the 1820s, Aksakov's house was a gathering place for literary figures of the capital, to which representatives of various trends had access: although the writer himself considered himself a Slavophile, he did not adhere to a categorical position and willingly communicated with opponents. Famous actors and composers also visited the hospitable house of Sergei Timofeevich on the famous "Saturdays", and in 1849 he celebrated his 40th birthday.
Literature
In 1826, the writer received a position as a censor. By that time, he had already married, and the family had to move to Moscow. The Aksakovs loved to spend time in nature, and Sergei Timofeevich himself was also a passionate hunter, so they left the city for the summer.
Estate-Museum of Sergei Aksakov in Abramtsevo In 1837, Aksakov's father died, leaving his son a large inheritance and thereby giving him the opportunity to focus on writing, family and household affairs. The writer bought Abramtsevo, an estate 50 miles from Moscow, which today has the status of a museum-reserve, and settled there.
At first, Sergei Aksakov wrote little, mainly short articles and reviews, but in 1834 the essay “Buran” appeared in the almanac “Dennitsa”, in which his unique style and syllable were first manifested. After receiving many accolades and gaining fame in literary circles, Aksakov set to work "Family Chronicles".
In 1847, he turned to natural science and impressions and wrote the famous "Notes on the Eating of Fish", and 5 years later - "Notes of a Gun Hunter", greeted by readers with enthusiasm.
"We have never had such a book before."
So he wrote with delight in a review of the recently published first volume. The writer himself attached little importance to the success of the books - he wrote for himself, leaving his life problems, including money and family troubles, which had accumulated by that time. In 1856, "Family Chronicle", previously published in magazines in the form of excerpts, came out as a separate book.
"The childhood years of Bagrov the grandson" refer to the late period of his creative biography. Critics note in them the unevenness of the narrative, less capacity and conciseness in comparison with what Aksakov wrote earlier. The book was supplemented with a fairy tale "The Scarlet Flower" - the writer dedicated it to his little granddaughter Olga.
At the same time, "Literary and theatrical memoirs" were published, full of interesting facts, quotes and pictures from the life of contemporaries, but having less literary significance in comparison with the fictional prose of Sergei Timofeevich. Peru Aksakov also owns stories about nature, designed for young readers - "Nest", "Sultry noon", "The beginning of summer", "Ice drift" and others.
They said about the writer that all his life he grew spiritually along with the century. In his works, Aksakov did not strive for an angry denunciation of serfdom: he simply truthfully showed all aspects of the life of the inhabitants of the Russian estate of that time, even the darkest and most unpleasant, but at the same time he was far from revolutionary thoughts, and even more so from putting them into the reader's head. ...
Some critics, for example, N.A.
Personal life
In June 1816, the aspiring writer married Olga Zaplatina, the daughter of a Suvorov general from the Turkish woman Igel-Syum. After the wedding, the couple lived for some time in their parents' house, and then the writer's father gave them a separate estate, Nadezhdino. Both spouses did not differ in their talents in housekeeping, so the family soon moved to Moscow.
Sergei Timofeevich was a touchingly caring father for numerous children (according to some sources, he had 10, according to others - 14) and was ready to take on all the worries about them, even those that were usually entrusted to nannies.
Personal life and communication with grown-up offspring, especially sons, played a significant role in the formation of the writer's views. They were little like him in temperament and temperament, but they inherited from their father a thirst for knowledge and tolerance for dissent. In the heirs, Aksakov saw the embodiment of modern youth with its high demands and complex tastes and strove to comprehend and develop them.
Later, the writer's three children joined the ranks of prominent scholars of the Slavophil trend: Ivan Aksakov became a famous publicist, Vera became a public figure and author of memoirs, Konstantin became a historian and linguist.
Death
Sergei Timofeevich suffered from epilepsy from his youth. In addition, from the mid-1840s, he developed vision problems, which in later years became especially painful. He could no longer work and dictated the last compositions to his daughter Vera.
In 1859, the writer died in Moscow, not having time to finish the story "Natasha", in which he was going to describe his sister Nadezhda as the main character. The cause of death was an aggravated illness, which had previously brought the writer to complete blindness.
Sergei Timofeevich was buried in the cemetery near the Simonov Monastery, and in Soviet times, the writer's ashes were transferred to Novodevichye.
- Sergei Aksakov collected butterflies and even tried to breed them on his own.
- The writer had more than 20 pseudonyms, under which his critical articles were most often published. The most famous of them are Istoma Romanov and P.Sh.
- The surname Aksakov has Turkic roots and goes back to the word meaning "lame".
Lithographic photo by Sergei Aksakov - The theatrical performance "The Scarlet Flower" entered the Guinness Book of Records as the longest running performance for children - in 2001 it was played for the 4000th time.
- In Soviet times, the Aksakovs' estate in different years housed a craft school, a children's colony, a post office, a hospital, a hostel for workers, and a seven-year general education school.
- The writer was fluent in three foreign languages - German, French and English.
Quotes
The hunt is, without a doubt, one hunt. You say this magic word, and everything becomes clear.
Old wineskins cannot stand young wine, and an old heart cannot stand young feelings.
There is a lot of selfishness hidden in the human being; he often acts without our knowledge, and no one is removed from him.
Yes, there is the moral strength of a just cause, before which the courage of an unjust person yields.
Bibliography
- 1821 - "Ural Cossack"
- 1847 - "Notes on the Fish Eating"
- 1852 - "Notes of a rifle hunter of the Orenburg province"
- 1852 - "The story of my acquaintance with Gogol"
- 1855 - "Stories and memories of a hunter about different hunts"
- 1856 - "Family Chronicle"
- 1856 - "Memories"
- 1858 - "Articles on the Hunt"
- 1858 - "The Scarlet Flower: The Tale of Pelageya's Housekeeper"
- 1858 - "The childhood of Bagrov the grandson"