Vladimir Odoevsky: works by genre, their poetics. Children's literature

VF Odoevsky (1804-1869) is a famous writer, musician, philosopher and teacher. “A perfectly developed person”, “a living encyclopedia” - those who knew him spoke of him like that.

Publisher of the almanac "Mnemosyne" and the magazine "Moscow Bulletin", co-editor of Pushkin's "Contemporary". As an assistant to the director of the public library in St. Petersburg, director of the Rumyantsev Museum (whose book depository became the basis of the Russian state library- "Lenin"), he contributed to the development of book business in Russia.

He was a writer, scientist, philosopher, music theorist, and in all these worlds of human thought he brought something of his own, original - magical and real at the same time.

In music, he heard the second language of mankind, which is destined to become equal in meaning to the language of words, understandable to all people, all peoples, it will unite and make them friends.

Even the word "philosophy" - dry and abstract, he and his friends will find a replacement - wisdom, here, in this sound, love is combined with wisdom.

For a long time, Odoevsky was a member of the Scientific Committee of the Ministry of State Property, organized the educational process in various educational institutions- from educational houses, parish rural schools to the Mariinsky Institute for Noble Maidens. He wrote a series teaching aids for students, guides for teachers.

In 1834-1835, he published an unusual manual for orphanages where orphans lived - "Children's Books for Sunday Children." Pedagogical instructions for educators were placed here, didactic materials, as well as stories and fairy tales to read to children.

One of the first in Russia, Odoevsky became interested in pedagogy as a science. He conceived big essay on issues of pedagogy under the title "Science before Science". During the life of the writer, only a small part of it was published.

Odoevsky writes: “Three ways to act on a child: reasonable persuasion, moral influence, aesthetic harmonization ... whoever is inaccessible to persuasion (the most difficult task), he can be influenced by moral influence; the child will yield to you because you desire it, out of love for you; if you have not achieved love from a child, try to develop it by aesthetic harmonization - music, paintings, poems ... "

While organizing orphanages and rural schools, V.F. Odoevsky discovered the poverty of literature for children. He writes an article “About children's books. On the reasons for the child’s lack of interest in the book ... ”, creates famous fairy tales and stories for children under the pseudonym “grandfather Iriney”, publishes informative articles in the magazine “Rural Reading”, etc.

How interesting is it writer's fate! Beloved and revered by his contemporaries, he was then forgotten for a long time, only now his books are waking up after a hundred years of sleep, come to life, becoming more and more modern and necessary every year.

“Children were my best teachers ... For a fresh, childish mind not spoiled by any scholasticism, there is no separate physics, chemistry, or anthropology ...”

Odoevsky's works for children were influenced by his pedagogical views. Considering that a child is “awakened” and “unawakened”, he attached great importance children's literature that can awaken the mind and heart of the child. “The unawakened are more than asleep,” such children are not interested in anything, they do nothing. They can be awakened, for example, by the tales of Hoffmann. In general, Odoevsky sees the task of literature in awakening the "unawakened" child's mind, in promoting the spiritual growth of the child. At the same time, the writer sets the task of developing "fertile" feelings in the child's soul.

He sought to set in motion the thought of the child, relying on the love of children for fiction, fantasy. His books skillfully combine real and fantastic events. The works of Odoevsky are characterized by the naturalness and scientific nature of the content, the fascination and drama of the narration, and the conviction in the power of the human mind.

During the life of Odoevsky, his books for children were published 6 times: "The Town in a Snuffbox" (1834, 1847), "Tales and Stories for Children of Grandpa Iriney" (1838 and 1840), "Collection of Children's Songs of Grandpa Iriney" (1847).

In terms of genre, his works are diverse: fairy tales, short stories, essays, poems. Odoevsky also wrote several colorful plays for the puppet theater: The Tsar Maiden, The Pharisee Boy, Sunday, The Carrier, or Cunning Against Cunning. According to the recollections of friends, Odoevsky with great pleasure came up with plots and staged home performances with children. He was an enthusiastic person, inexhaustible invention and fun. Such people, according to Belinsky, in Russia are called "children's holiday." Odoevsky ideally combined in himself the qualities necessary for a children's writer: "both talent, and a living soul, and poetic fantasy, knowledge of children." This predetermined his success.

Having studied the fairy tales and stories of Odoevsky, the following aspects of his works can be distinguished:

Informational. Fairy tales and stories (“Two Trees”, “Worm”, “Town in a Snuffbox”) contain scientific information from various fields of knowledge: chemistry, botany, zoology, physics, mathematics, etc. Therefore, they are a means of mental development and education of children.

Materials for the storyteller, according to the writer, are "everywhere: on the street, in the air." The material for his first fairy tale (“Town in a Snuffbox”) was a music box, a thing in everyday life of the last century, quite common and at the same time arousing the curiosity of a child. It is no coincidence that the author-musician himself is interested in it, who, by the way, created a musical instrument called "Se6astyanon".

Little Misha is enchanted appearance a snuffbox with a gate, a turret, golden houses, golden trees with silver leaves, a sun with diverging rays on the lid. But the boy is more interested in the internal structure of a wonderful toy - the origin of music. The natural desire of an inquisitive boy to enter a toy town and see everything for himself is fulfilled in a dream. Accompanied by a companion, "a bell with a golden head and a steel skirt," the author introduces young readers to the winding mechanism musical toy. The inquisitive stranger sees many bell boys, they are constantly tapped by evil uncle hammers, who are supervised by a thick roller, turning from side to side on the sofa. And the graceful princess spring “in a golden tent with pearl 6-chrome” commands everyone. It is she who explains to Misha the well-coordinated work of the musical mechanism. With surprise, Misha discovers the similarity of the principles of the music box with the laws of the social structure: everything is interconnected and a violation in one link disables the entire system, violates the wonderful harmony. As soon as Misha pressed the spring, everything fell silent, the roller stopped, the hammers fell, the bells turned to the side, the sun hung down, the houses broke ... ". A town in a ta6akerka turns out to be a kind of micromodel of the world.

Traveling through the fabulous town, Misha, and therefore the little reader, along the way discovers the laws of perspective in painting, musical theory counterpoint. And all this simply and naturally fits into the story.

The story is also educational. The idea that everything in the world is driven by labor passes latently, idleness seems attractive only from the outside. At the same time, morality is unobtrusive, it follows from action.

In "Town in a Snuffbox" Odoevsky fully demonstrated the art of talking with children about difficult things clear, simple and persuasive language.

Similar artistic techniques used by Odoevsky in a fairy tale "Worm" , turning this time to the field of natural science. The tale in an entertaining, poetic form acquaints readers with the transformation of a larva-worm into a chrysalis, then into a butterfly. About this tale, A. A. Kraevsky wrote the following: “Is not a mysterious idea obvious in this whole story of the life of a worm, a deep allegory, dressed in the simplest, most charming, most understandable expression for children? Here is ... an example of how to make the most abstract, even metaphysical, truths accessible to children's understanding. A child, after reading this story, not only may want to study natural history, but will also take into his soul a great, fruitful thought that will never be forgotten, give rise to many other sublime thoughts and lay the foundation for moral perfection.

Cultural. With the help of Odoevsky's fairy tales ("Moroz Ivanovich", "Silver Ruble", etc.), the child gets acquainted with the elements folk life, traditions, holidays. The basis of personal culture is being formed.

The most popular fairy tale is Moroz Ivanovich. It resonates in plot with the folk tale "Morozko", includes traditional fairy tale motifs (an oven with pies, an apple tree with golden apples). Creating his work, Odoevsky supplemented it with details of everyday life, a description of the decoration of Moroz Ivanovich's dwelling, and described in detail the characters of the main characters - the girls of the Needlewoman and Lenivitsa. B literary tale they are sisters, they live with a nanny, so the motive of unfair persecution by the stepmother is absent, the moral side of the relationship is accentuated.

Odoevsky's tale is built on the opposition of labor
share and laziness, which emphasizes the epigraph: “For nothing,
without labor, nothing is given - it is not for nothing that the proverb has been kept from time immemorial.

The needlewoman, both in her home and visiting Moroz Ivanovich, is hardworking, diligent, kind-hearted, for which she was rewarded. The sloth, who only knew how to count flies, could neither fluff up the snowy feather bed, nor make food, nor mend the dress.

The writer softens the end of the tale. Sloth receives gifts from Moroz Ivanovich that melt before our eyes. What is the work, such is the reward. And the afterword is addressed to the reader: “And you, kids, think, guess what is true here, what is not true; what is said really, what is said by the side; either for fun or for instruction.

A wise storyteller does not miss the opportunity in the course of a fairy tale to tell children about how winter replaces summer, how winter crops grow, why the water in the well is cold in summer, how to filter water with sand and coal so that it becomes “clean, like crystal”, to give a lot other useful information.

Personal. The works of Odoevsky (“Silver Ruble”, “Orphan”, “Poor Gnedko”) help the child to think about the motives of his actions, to understand his inner world.

The story "Poor Gnedko" sounds most modern - about the fate of a cab horse driven by its owner.

... Once Gnedko was a cheerful foal, he lived in the village, the children of Vanyusha and Dasha were friends with him. Then he was sold to the city. And now poor Gnedko lies on the pavement, "cannot move, buried his head in the snow, breathes heavily and rolls his eyes." The author's direct appeal sounds relevant: “My friends... It is a sin to torture animals... Whoever tortures animals bad man. Whoever torments a horse, a dog, is able to torment a person ... "

Social."The Indian Tale of the Four Deaf", "The Organ Grinder", "The Joiner" teach children the ability to build and regulate their relationships with peers and adults, which contributes to the sociologization of children.

The witty Indian tale "About the Four Deaf People" is interesting and meaningful. Four deaf people (a village shepherd, a watchman, a rider and a brahmin) forced to communicate cannot hear each other. Everyone interprets the behavior of the others in his own way, which is why a lot of absurd and absurd things follow. The tale warns against moral deafness. The writer addresses the readers: “Do a little, friends, don't be deaf. We have been given ears to listen. One wise man noticed that we have two ears and one tongue, and that, therefore, we need to listen more than speak.

The tale "The Joiner" tells the story of the life of the famous French architect Andrei Roubaud, who went from poverty to national recognition, a path that could only be possible for a boy who had amazing perseverance, magical curiosity, and extraordinary diligence.

Thus, we can talk about the crucial importance of Odoevsky's works in introducing young readers to universal human values ​​that are relevant for any era.

VF Odoevsky (1803-1869) was one of the rulers of the thoughts of his time. Philosopher, storyteller, author of mystical novels and short stories, talented musician- this is not yet a complete list of his talents and areas of activity. We emphasize in particular that Odoevsky is the founder of the rural elementary school in Russia.

Creativity Odoevsky as a writer belongs to the Russian romantic prose 30s of the XIX century. In this sense, his novels "Beethoven's Last Quartet", "Sebastian Bach", "The Improviser", "Elladius", "Princess Zizi", "Princess Mimi" and others are characteristic. His artistic manner is marked by a complex interaction of abstract philosophical thought with deep penetration into life characters and feelings. Odoevsky entered children's literature as the creator of the magnificent "Tales of Grandpa Iriney" (grandfather Iriney - "childish" writer's pseudonym), which have earned wide popularity among young readers.

Odoevsky's contribution to children's literature is significant. His works for children, which compiled two collections: "Children's tales of grandfather Iriney" (1840) and "Children's songs of grandfather Iriney" (1847) - highly appreciated by Belinsky. The critic wrote that such an educator, which Russian children have in the person of grandfather Iriney, can be envied by children of all nations: “What a wonderful old man, what a young, fertile soul he has, what warmth and life emanates from his stories, and what extraordinary art he has - to lure the imagination, irritate curiosity, arouse attention sometimes with the most seemingly simple story.

VF Odoevsky belonged to the princely family of Rurikovich. He graduated from the Moscow University Noble Boarding School, where many Russian writers and Decembrists studied. One of the famous Decembrists - Alexander Ivanovich Odoevsky - was a cousin of Vladimir Fedorovich and a person close to him in convictions.

Already in his youth (in 1823), V.F. Odoevsky organized and headed the "Society of Philosophy" - a philosophical circle that brought together many talented and noble people who were concerned about the fate of the Fatherland and the search for truth. In his literary and musical drawing room (already in St. Petersburg, where he moved from Moscow in 1826), the best representatives of the Russian intelligentsia gathered: Pushkin, Vyazemsky, Gogol. Lermontov... Having become the director of the Public Library and in charge of the Rumyantsev Museum, Odoevsky communicates with many scientists, as well as with many people from the most diverse social and cultural strata of Russian society of that period. These were courtiers, and diplomats, and officials of various ranks, and sometimes inhabitants of the capital's "bottom". At the same time, Odoevsky collaborated in the journal Domestic Notes. His extensive activities aimed at educating the people were of a practical nature and were so fruitful that his contemporaries called him a democrat prince.

Odoevsky was very seriously involved in the upbringing of children. He sought to create his own theory here, based on a "pedagogical idea" with a humanistic tendency. The writer expressed his thoughts on this matter in the great work “Science before Sciences”, which he created for many years. Following Belinsky, the writer called for a moral person as a result of raising a child, and what children are taught should have a connection with real life.

Odoevsky was especially concerned about "unawakened" children - little people who are in the grip of an instinctive desire to do nothing, i.e. "think nothing." It is imperative to awaken thoughts and feelings in a growing person. The writer believed that a fairy tale plays an important role in this. In the draft “On Child Psychology,” he addressed educators with a recommendation: “Your business is to find something that could turn his mind away from dreams to any subject of the real world; for this, sometimes it is necessary to start with his own dreams, in order to transfer his mind insensitively to something else. And here, Odoevsky continues further, fantastic tales are needed, against which inexperienced teachers so revolt. "Hoffmann in The Nutcracker" excellently captured one of the sides of a childish dream; if you have reached the point that the child read this tale with interest himself, you have already taken a great step. He has read; the process of reading is already something independent of a dream: he woke up child."

And one more observation of Odoevsky deserves attention. In the same sketch, he writes: “Children's books proper also belong to the means of awakening or directing the child's mind. It is rare that you will meet children who would be interested in a book for an adult. Such children are found only in families where the environment, conversations, pleasures, and objects on the way have already fulfilled the purpose of children's books: to set in motion the instrument of thinking. However, no less important and necessary was the need for the formation of good feelings in adults. He set himself the task of "understanding the lost, re-feeling their feelings, rethinking their thoughts - and speaking their language."

In 1833 they saw the light of his "Colorful tales with a red word." In them, the narrator Iriney Modestovich Gomozeika (with such a pseudonym Odoevsky signed this work of his) presented readers in allegorical form with one or another moral teaching. The figure of Gomozeika is complex and multifaceted. On the one hand, he calls for a romantic vision of the world and constantly talks about human virtues, about comprehending the root causes of the world - in a word, about high matters. And at the same time, he reproaches his contemporaries for a lack of imagination: “Isn't this our trouble? Is it not because our ancestors gave more freedom to their imagination, or because their thoughts were wider than ours and embraced more space in the desert of infinity, revealing what we will never discover in our mouse horizon.

However, on the other hand, in the course of the narration, the author's irony towards his hero, the storyteller Homozeika, is clearly felt. This is especially noticeable when he forces the characters, such as a spider, to express thoughts that are not at all characteristic of their character. The spider loftily talks about love, fidelity, nobility and immediately greedily eats his wife, and then his children. Often in these tales there is a situation of ironic overcoming of a romantic conflict.

Standing apart in "Colorful Tales" is "Igosha", perhaps the most poetic and most fantastic work in the book. This is connected with the figure of the hero-boy - the story is being told on his behalf. He made friends with a mysterious creature, with a brownie, which, according to popular belief, every unbaptized baby becomes. Probably, such a plan was connected with Odoevsky's conviction that the world of children's fantastic ideas and folk beliefs contain special poetic wisdom and latent knowledge that a person has not yet mastered consciously.

The boy heard his father's story about how cabbies at the inn, having lunch, put a piece of cake and a spoon on the table - "for Igosha." And the child wholeheartedly perceives this as a reality. Since then, they have not parted - Igosha and the little storyteller. Igosha incites him to pranks that are incomprehensible to adults and make them angry. And at the end of the tale, the fantastic creature disappears. Apparently, this marks the growing up of the hero, his departure from the world of fairy tales to real life. In any case, sad intonations here are quite natural for the period of transition from childhood to adolescence and youth.

For the next publication of the tale, in 1844, Odoevsky added the end, explaining the meaning of his work: “Since then, Igosha has not appeared to me anymore. Little by little, study, service, everyday events removed from me even the memory of that half-asleep state of my infant soul, where the play of imagination so wonderfully merged with reality. And only sometimes, at the moment of "awakening of the soul", when it joins the knowledge, strange creature"renewed in memory and its appearance seems understandable and natural."

Odoevsky's regret about the loss by an adult of the ability to see and feel what children see and feel permeates his entire other cycle of similar works - "Tales of Grandfather Iriney." The first of these stories - "The Town in the Snuffbox" - appeared in 1834, the rest were published as a separate book much later, in 1844. The figure of the narrator in them, in comparison with the "Colorful Tales", which the author addressed to the adult reader, has been changed. If Gomozeyka is ironic and sometimes mysterious, then grandfather Iriney is a model of a mentor - a strict, but kind and understanding child.

Odoevsky's appeal to children's literature is closely related to his penchant for enlightenment, but he also had a natural talent. children's writer. Already in the early 30s, his stories and fairy tales appeared in the Children's Library magazine. In 1833, Odoevsky undertook the publication of the almanac "Children's Book for Sundays", where his thoughts on education sound: he places here not only works of art, but also a large section of an educational nature, which includes popular science articles and descriptions of various experiments, crafts , games.

"Town in a Snuffbox" (1834) - the first perfect example of an artistic and educational fairy tale for children. In it, scientific material (in essence, teaching mechanics, optics and other sciences) was presented in such an entertaining form, close to child psychology, that it evoked an enthusiastic response from critics of the time. Belinsky said: the plot is "so cleverly adapted to childish fantasy, the story is so captivating, and the language is so correct... children will understand the life of the machine as some kind of living individual face.”

It all starts with the fact that the boy Misha receives a musical box as a gift from his father. The boy is amazed by its beauty: on the lid of the box there are turrets, houses, the windows of which shine when the sun rises and cheerful music is heard. Children always rejoice at the perception of beauty, it gives rise to a lively enthusiasm in them, a desire to create. Aesthetic experience causes the active work of the imagination, prompting creativity. Misha, falling asleep, creates a whole world in his sleep - and all of the objects familiar to him, but in purely fantastic combinations. The roller, wheels, hammers, bells that make up the mechanism of the music box turn out to be residents of a small beautiful town. The roles of the characters and their actions depend on the impression they made on the boy. Roller - thick, in a dressing gown; he lies on the sofa; this is the chief warden, commanding uncles-hammers. Those, having received a command, beat the poor bell boys with a golden head and steel skirts. But there is also power over the roller: it is a princess-spring. She, like a snake, now curls up, then turns around - "and constantly pushes the warden in the side." The awakened Misha already understands how the music box works, and he really perceives the car "as some kind of living individual person."

Learning from concrete experience, the connection of learning with reality is one of Odoevsky's pedagogical principles, and he found expression in this work. Even in the fantastic world of animated details, the author leads Misha through a dream - a very real state of the child. He put the same principle at the basis of many other fairy tales and stories, skillfully combining real events with fantasy 1 .

1 Researcher of Russian children's literature from Finland, Ben Hellman, proposed an interpretation of the work as a complex allegory of the state structure and social relations. Cm.: Hellman b. The terrible world of the snuffbox. Social discourse of the story of VF Odoevsky // Children's collection: Articles on children's literature and anthropology of childhood / Comp. E.Kuleshov, I.Antipova. - M., 2003.-S. 201-209.

Fairy tale "Worm" (1838) draws the attention of the child to the wonderful diversity of the natural world and the continuity of the life cycle; in a story accessible to children about the life and death of a little worm, the writer touches on a deep philosophical topic. A very real hero - the French architect Roubaud in the story "Joiner" (1838) - reaches the heights of mastery; so the author seeks to evoke in the young reader "a noble thirst for knowledge, an irresistible desire to learn." And in the story "Poor Gnedko" (1838) another educational task is to awaken love for animals in the child's heart; concluding a humane thought in the framework of a story about the fate of an exhausted horse, which was once a cheerful foal, the writer directly addresses the children: "Whoever tortures a horse, a dog, is able to torture a person."

Despite the didactic tendencies and elements of natural science enlightenment that are strongly manifested in the Tales of Grandfather Iriney, they are filled with genuine poetry. This is a special world that is captivating and fascinating for a child, however, according to Belinsky, “having recognized it, adults will not part with it either.” According to researchers (V. Grekov, E. Zvantsev), it is very difficult to establish the origins of these tales by Odoevsky. They combine and supplement traditional fairy tale plots, introduce new motifs and exclude the usual ones in such works. Moreover, the writer translates any event of a folk tale from a social plane into a purely moral one.

The work of V. F. Odoevsky is still highly appreciated by both adults and children. Creativity is diverse, deep in philosophical and moral orientation.

Creativity VF Odoevsky for children.

Prince Vladimir Fedorovich Odoevsky - Russian writer, philosopher, musicologist and musical critic, public figure. Founding member of the Russian Geographical Society.

The last representative of the princely family of Odoevsky - one of the older branches of the Rurikovich. Mother came from serfs. Left an orphan in early age, was brought up in the house of a guardian, paternal cousin, General Dmitry Andreevich Zakrevsky

The heyday of Odoevsky's literary fame came in the 30s and 40s. His collection "Colorful tales with a red word" is published. The genre of the works included in this collection, Odoevsky defines as "fairy tales".

He expressed his idea of ​​the future of Russia in the unfinished science fiction novel Year 4338. Vladimir Odoevsky in the novel was the first to predict the emergence of modern blogs and the Internet: among other predictions, the text of the novel contains the lines “magnetic telegraphs are arranged between familiar houses, through which people living at a great distance communicate with each other.” Russia stretches over two hemispheres connected by an internal tunnel. The writer-seer foresees flights to the moon, the opportunity to influence the climate.

On his initiative, two hospitals, a number of orphanages were founded in St. Petersburg, and a Society for Visiting the Poor was created.

For a long time, Odoevsky was engaged in the organization of the educational process in various educational institutions. Publishes an unusual manual for orphanages where orphans stayed - "Children's Books for Sundays." Pedagogical instructions for teachers, didactic materials, as well as stories and fairy tales for reading to children were placed here.

Odoevsky saw the main task of education in "accustoming the student, first of all, to be a man." He understood general education as universal, preceding any special education. His thoughts sound modern about a child’s holistic perception of the world (“a child is a notorious encyclopedist; give him everything without artificially splitting objects”), about ways of educational influence on a person, about the art of talking with children.

Many of Odoevsky's pedagogical ideas were embodied in his works for children's reading. In his work, addressed to children, Odoevsky primarily set the task of developing the mental abilities of the child, "strengthening his mental strength." The writer divides all children into “awakened” and “unawakened”. “The unawakened are more than asleep,” such children are not interested in anything, they do nothing. They can be awakened, for example, by the tales of Hoffmann. In general, Odoevsky sees the task of literature in awakening the "unawakened" child's mind, in promoting the spiritual growth of the child. At the same time, the writer sets the task of developing "fertile" feelings in the child's soul.

Odoevsky with great pleasure came up with plots and staged home performances with children. He was an enthusiastic person, inexhaustible in inventions and fun. Such people, according to Belinsky, in Russia are called "children's holiday."

"The Town in the Snuffbox" is the first science fiction tale in Russian children's literature. In this tale, Odoevsky demonstrated the art of talking with children about complex things in a clear, simple and convincing language, which he called on educators to do.

In other tales, Odoevsky used folk traditions, both Russians and other peoples. The most popular is his fairy tale "Moroz Ivanovich".

In addition to fairy tales, Odoevsky's stories were very popular with readers of the last century: "The Silver Ruble", "Poor Gnedko", "The Organ Grinder", "The Joiner", "The Sirotinka". The content of most of them was connected with children's life, reflecting the daily interests of children. Odoevsky's stories, like all his works, developed the ideas of kindness, humanity, spiritual nobility, responsibility, hard work.

Odoevsky approved in the literature for children the genres of a scientific and artistic fairy tale, a scientific and educational story, and an essay.

Vladimir Fedorovich Odoevsky (08/01/1803, Moscow - 02/27/1869, Moscow) - writer, philosopher, teacher, musicologist and music theorist.

Odoevsky, Vladimir Fedorovich, prince - a famous Russian writer and public figure. Born in Moscow, July 30, 1803. After graduating from a course at a noble boarding school at Moscow University, he collaborated in Vestnik Evropy; having become close to Griboyedov and Kuchelbeker, he published the almanac "Mnemosyne" in 1824 - 1825; later he served in the department of foreign confessions and edited the Journal of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In 1846 he was appointed assistant director of the Imperial Public Library and director of the Rumyantsev Museum. With the transfer of the museum to Moscow in 1861, he was appointed senator of the Moscow departments of the Senate and was the first present of the 8th department. He died on February 27, 1869 and was buried in the cemetery of the Donskoy Monastery. A man of the most versatile and deep education, a thoughtful and receptive thinker, a talented and original writer, Odoevsky sensitively responded to all the phenomena of contemporary scientific and social life.

The search for truth in everything and above all ("Lies in art, lies in science and lies in life," he wrote in his old age, - were always both my enemies and my tormentors: everywhere I pursued them, and everywhere they pursued me "), respect for human dignity and spiritual freedom, preaching indulgence and active love for people, enthusiastic devotion to science, the desire to fully understand the body spiritual and physical nature of the individual and the whole society are the characteristic features of his works and his mode of action.They are already manifested in the polemic with Bulgarin, in the letters to the Luzhnitsky Elder, in The Old Men, where pitiful and negative aspects of official and social life - and run like a red thread through everything he wrote.

Odoevsky is not only an entertaining narrator or, in his own words, a storyteller, but also a scientific thinker, a popularizer of moral-philosophical, economic and natural-historical teachings. Vigilantly following discoveries in science and new theories, he acquaints his readers with them in one form or another. His language - lively and figurative, sometimes too rich in comparisons and metaphors - in the transfer of complex and abstract concepts is very definitive and clear. In it, one almost constantly hears the "restless and passionate humor" noticed by Belinsky, and some pages resemble brilliant oratorical techniques. The main place among the works of Odoevsky belongs to the "Russian Nights" - a philosophical conversation between several young people, in which, to illustrate the positions expressed by them, stories and novels are woven, reflecting the sincere thoughts, hopes, sympathies and antipathies of the author. Thus, for example, the stories: "The Last Suicide" and "The City Without a Name" represent, on a fantastic lining, strictly and consistently brought to the end the law of Malthus on the increase in population in geometric progression, and the works of nature - in arithmetic, with all the conclusions derived from it, and Bentham's theory, which puts at the basis of all human actions exclusively the beginning of the useful, as an end and as driving force. Deprived of inner content, closed in hypocritical conventionality, secular life found a lively and vivid assessment in "The Mock of a Dead Man" and in the pathetic pages of "The Ball", which describes the fear of death that seized the audience gathered at the ball.
The cruelly condemned desire for excessive specialization of knowledge, with the loss of consciousness of the common connection and harmony between them, serves as a plot for The Improviser and a number of other stories. In Russian Nights, two stories stand out especially, "The Brigadier" and "Sebastian Bach": the first - because in it the author, fifty years before the appearance of "The Death of Ivan Ilyich", touches on the same one - both in terms of the main idea, and in the course of the story - a theme that later, of course, with immeasurably great talent, was developed by L.N. Tolstoy; the second - because here (and also in Beethoven's Last Quartet) the author expressed his enthusiastic love for music, "the greatest of the arts." He devoted much of his life to a serious study of its history and theory. Back in 1833, he wrote "Experiment about musical language", then dealt a lot with the question of the best arrangement of his favorite instrument - the organ, and even invented a special instrument, which he called the enharmonic harpsichord. Having surrendered, after moving to Moscow, to the study of ancient Russian music, Odoevsky lectured about it at home, in 1868 he published "Musical literacy or the foundations of music for non-musicians" and opened the Moscow Conservatory with a speech "On the study of Russian music not only as an art, but also as a science." Death caught Odoevsky intensified work on organizing a congress of archaeologists in Moscow (he was one of the founders society, as well as the Imperial Geographical Society), during which the students of the conservatory, under his leadership, were to perform ancient Russian church tunes.

Among the novels and short stories that were not included in the "Russian Nights", the following stand out: the big story "Salamander" - a semi-historical, semi-fantastic plot of which was inspired by the author's study of the history of alchemy and the research of Ya.K. Grotto about Finnish legends and beliefs - and a series of stories full of evil irony from secular life ("New Year", "Princess Mimi", "Princess Zizi"). Satirical tales ("About a dead body that belongs to no one knows", "About Mr. Kovakol" and others), of which some are distinguished by a gloomy color and, in view of the views then prevailing in the ruling spheres, with great courage, constitute a transition from fantastic stories, where one feels the strong influence of Hoffmann, to a series of charming and witty, moralizing ("The Soul of a Woman", "Igosha", "The Unpassed House") children's fairy tales, equally alien to both artificial sentimentality and too early, ruthless familiarization of children with the horrors of life and its sorrows. Substantial part latest fairy tales was published as a separate book called "Fairy tales of grandfather Iriney". One of the outstanding aspects of Odoevsky's literary activity was concern for the enlightenment of the people, which at that time was extremely rare and considered by many as a strange eccentricity. For many years Odoevsky was the editor of the Rural Review, published by the Ministry of the Interior, together with his friend, A.P. Zabolotsky-Desyatovsky, he published the books "Rural Reading", under the titles: "What the peasant Naum told the children about potatoes", "What is the drawing of the land and what is it suitable for" (history, meaning and methods of land surveying); wrote for popular reading a series of "Letters of Grandfather Iriney" - about gas, railways, gunpowder, epidemic diseases, about "what is around a person and what is in him"; finally, he published "The Variegated Tales of Iriney Gamozeika", the language of which was admired by the connoisseur of Russian speech Dal, who found that some of the sayings and proverbs invented by Odoevsky could be attributed to a purely folk origin.
Odoevsky valued the title of a writer and was proud of him. A friend of Pushkin and Prince Vyazemsky, he cordially opened his doors to all his comrades in writing, disdainfully treating only Bulgarin and Senkovsky, who could not stand him, and put his studies in literature above everything that was given to him by his noble birth and social position. "Honest literature," he wrote, "is like a fire guard, an outpost service in the midst of public treachery." He always stood guard against any ambiguous and unclean literary devices, warned writers about the dangers that threatened them, in troubled times he passionately stood up for them wherever he could, persistently took care of expanding the range of publications. Otechestvennye Zapiski owed their permission to his efforts. Welcoming the relaxation of censorship rules in 1865 (which he had previously written about in his detailed notes on censorship and its history in our country), Odoevsky spoke out against the system of warnings taken from Napoleonic France and advocated the abolition of the unconditional ban on the import of books hostile to it into Russia . Until the fifties, in his views on Russia's attitude to the West, Odoevsky was in many respects close to the Slavophiles, although he never systematically joined them; but already in the early 1840s, he highly regarded Peter, and personal acquaintance with the "rotten West" during trips abroad, starting in 1856 (in 1859 he was a member of the Imperial Public Library at the anniversary of Schiller in Weimar), forced him to change his view of the meaning of European civilization. This was expressed with particular force in his notes and papers, which constitute a most interesting collection of remarks on various issues (it is kept in the public library).

Odoevsky sees the signs of "our innate illness" in "the general laziness of the mind, inconsistency and lack of endurance" and is indignant at our property, which he calls "hands-on". Idealism among the people - he writes - is mostly in the form of tolerance towards other peoples and understanding them. At the same time, he believed to the end in the Russian man and his rich inclinations: "but nevertheless, the Russian man is the first in Europe, not only in the abilities that nature gave him for free, but also in the feeling of love, which miraculously survived in him , despite the lack of education, despite the perverse teaching of religious principles, directed only to ritualism, and not to internal improvement... If a Russian person has gone through such a remake and has not forgotten Christian love, then there will be good in him - but this is still ahead not back." The transformations of Alexander II, which renewed Russian life, met with enthusiastic sympathy in Odoevsky. He suggested counting in Russia New Year from February 19 and always, in the circle of friends, solemnly celebrated the "great first day of free labor," as he put it in a poem written after reading the manifesto on the abolition of serfdom. When, in 1865, the newspaper Vest, under the pretext of streamlining our state system, carried out a project to give the nobility such advantages that, in essence, would be the restoration of serfdom, only in a different form, Odoevsky wrote a heated protest in which, from on behalf of many who signed it, he defined the tasks of the nobility as follows: "1) to apply all the strength of the mind and soul to eliminate the remaining consequences of serfdom, now destroyed with God's help, but which was a constant source of disaster for Russia and a shame for all its nobility; 2) accept conscientious and zealous participation in the activities of new zemstvo institutions and new legal proceedings, and in this activity to draw that experience and knowledge of zemstvo and judicial affairs, without which any institution would remain fruitless, due to a lack of executors; interests, not to look for strife with other estates before the court and the law, but together and together with all loyal subjects to work for the glory of the Sovereign and the benefit of the entire fatherland and 4) using higher education and great prosperity, use the available means to disseminate useful knowledge in all strata of the people, in order to assimilate to him the successes of the sciences and arts, as far as possible for the nobility. "This protest aroused fierce indignation against Odoevsky in some circles of Moscow; he was accused of betraying his time , in betraying the interests of the nobility, in assisting in the termination of Vesti.” Odoevsky, indignantly refuting these accusations, said: “My convictions are not from yesterday; from an early age, I expressed them in all the ways available to me: with a pen - as far as it was allowed then in the press, as well as in government relations, orally - not only in private conversations, but also in official committees; everywhere and always I affirmed the need to abolish serfdom and pointed out the disastrous influence of the oligarchy in Russia; More than 30 years of my public life have brought me only new arguments to reinforce my convictions.

Having learned logic from a young age and having grown old, I do not consider it necessary to change my convictions for the sake of any party whatsoever. I have never walked under anyone's signboard, I have never imposed my opinions on anyone, but on the other hand I have always pronounced them out loud very definitely and eloquently, and now it is too late for me to relearn. The title of a Russian nobleman, my long, honest, laboring life, not tainted by intrigues, intrigues, or even ambitious plans, and finally, if you like, and my historical name - not only give me the right, but impose on me the duty not to remain timid. silence, which could be taken as a sign of consent, in a matter that I consider the highest human principle and which I put into practice every day in my judicial office, namely: unconditional equality before the court and the law, without distinction of rank and status! Odoevsky closely followed the prison reform begun in 1866 and the introduction of work in places of detention.Even in Russian Nights, he pointed out the harmful side of penal systems based on unconditional solitude and silence.The renewed court found in him an ardent champion. "A jury trial," he wrote, "is important in that it leads to the implementation of the idea of ​​​​justice of such people who did not even suspect the need for such an implementation. and I; he cultivates a conscience. Everything that is beautiful and lofty in English laws, courts, police, morals - all this has been worked out by a jury, that is, the possibility for everyone to ever be an uncontrolled judge of his neighbor, but a judge in public, under the criticism of public opinion. Public truthfulness will never be developed where a judge-official who can expect a reward or punishment from the ministerial office for a decision.
Embarrassed by rumors about the possibility, under the influence of signs of political ferment, changes in the fundamental principles invested in the transformation of Alexander II, Odoevsky, shortly before his death, compiled a most obedient note for the sovereign, in which, pointing out the harmful effect on the moral development of young people of what she had to see and hear in private and public life in the pre-reform period, under the rule of serfdom and lawlessness, begged for the preservation and strengthening of the principles underlying the reforms. The note was presented to the emperor after the death of Odoevsky, and Alexander II wrote on it: "I ask you to thank the widow from me for sending a letter to my husband, whom I sincerely loved and respected." Prince Odoevsky belongs to the initiative in the organization of orphanages; according to his idea, a hospital for visitors was founded in Petrograd, which later received the name Maximilianovskaya; he was also the founder of the Elizabethan Children's Hospital in Petrograd. In the implementation of the ways he conceived to come to the aid of the suffering and "small sim" Odoevsky met with support from Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna, to whose close circle he belonged. His main work and merit in this regard was the formation in 1846 of the Society for Visiting the Poor in St. Petersburg. The wide and reasonably set task of this society, the organization of its activities on a living, practical basis, an extensive circle of its members attracted by Odoevsky, immediately nominated this society from a number of other charitable institutions and created unprecedented popularity for it among all segments of the population of the capital. Visiting the poor, obligatory for each member at least once a month, three women's needleworks, children's "lodging" and school for him, common apartments for elderly women, family apartments for the indigent, a hospital for visitors, a cheap consumer goods store, timely, reasonable personal help in money and things - such are the means by which the society acted, helping, at the height of its activity, no less than 15 thousand poor families.

Thanks to the tireless and energetic activity of Odoevsky, who completely abandoned all literary pursuits for the entire time of the society's existence, the society's funds reached 60,000 annual income. The unusual activities of the society, which came into direct contact with the mass of the poor, began, however, under the influence of the events of 1848, to arouse suspicion - and it was attached to the Imperial philanthropic society, which significantly constrained its actions, depriving them of freedom from clerical correspondence, and the reports of the society , compiled by Odoevsky himself, - timely publicity, which maintained interest and sympathy for society. The ensuing prohibition of the military to participate in it deprived it of many active members. Despite Odoevsky's efforts to save his beloved offspring from death, the Society had to stop its activities in 1855, providing, if possible, its pensioners and pupils. New Honorary Trustee, Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich, wishing to honor "the selfless activity of Prince Odoevsky," entered into a correspondence asking him for a prominent award, but Odoevsky, who learned about it in time, rejected it with a letter full of dignity. “I can’t,” he wrote, “free myself from the thought that, with a special reward for me, in my face there will be a seductive example of a person who set about under the guise of disinterestedness and mercy akin to every Christian, and then, one way or another, nevertheless, he achieved a reward ... To be such an example is contrary to the rules that I kept throughout my life; let me, having entered my sixth decade, not change them ... ".
Odoevsky also gave a share of participation in city affairs, acting as a vowel of the general Duma in St. Petersburg and taking a keen interest in the progress of the city economy. When the Duma, supplying householders with philistine letters, received one back from one of them with an arrogant statement that, coming from an old Moscow noble family and "not classifying himself as a middle class of people," he does not consider it possible to accept the document sent by the Duma, Odoevsky - direct a descendant of the first Varangian prince - immediately turned to the Duma with a written request for the issuance of a philistine letter to him. Last years his in Moscow flowed among the attentive and diligent studies of a new court case for him. Three years before his death, he again took up the pen, so that in the hot lines of the article: "Unsatisfied!", Full of unshakable faith in science and the moral development of mankind and a broad view of the tasks of poetry, to respond to Turgenev's "Enough" filled with mournful despondency. - Odoevsky's works were published in 1844, in 3 volumes - See A.P. Pyatkovsky, "Prince V.F. Odoevsky" (St. Petersburg, 1870; 3rd edition, 1901), "In memory of Prince V.F. Odoevsky" (M., 1869); N.F. Sumtsov, "Prince V.F. Odoevsky" (Kharkov, 1884); "Russian Archive" (1869 and 1874); V.V. Stasov, "Rumyantsev Museum" (1882); Belinsky's "Works" (Volume IX); A.M. Skabichevsky, "Works"; Panaev, "Literary Memoirs" (1862); Nekrasov, "Tales of Odoevsky"; B. Lezin, "Essays from the life and correspondence of V. Odoevsky" ("Kharkov University Izvestia", 1905 - 1906), A.F. Koni, "Essays and Memoirs"; Sakulin, "From the history of Russian idealism. Prince Odoevsky" (M., 1913). A.F. Horses.

Odoevsky is one of our outstanding musical figures. He owns a number of musical-critical and musical-historical articles, notes and brochures, as well as several musical works (romances, piano and organ pieces, etc.) "Ruslana and Lyudmila" by Glinka ("Northern Bee", 1836, and "Library for Reading", 1842). A number of articles are devoted to Russian folk singing and music ("On the primordial Great Russian song" in Bessonov's "Kaliki Perehozhih", issue 5; "An Old Song" in the "Russian Archive" in 1863; church singing ("On Singing in Parish Churches" in "The Day" in 1864; "On the question of ancient Russian singing", "The difference between modes and voices" in the "Proceedings of the First Archaeological Congress in Moscow" in 1871, etc.) Being engaged in the theory and history of our church singing, Odoevsky collected a lot old church music manuscripts. organ music in general and the music of Johann-Sebastian Bach in particular, Odoevsky built for himself a compact organ of a pure (not temperamental) system, which he named in honor of Bach "Sebastianon" and subsequently donated by him to the Moscow Conservatory. He also built such a piano of "natural", that is, pure tuning. Odoevsky was not deprived of his talent as a composer: "Tatar Song" from Pushkin's "Fountain of Bakhchisaray" in "Mnemosyne" in 1824; "Le clocheteur des Trepasses", ballad, in a lyric album for 1832 by Laskovsky and Norovy, "Lullaby" for piano (published in 1851 in " Music album with caricatures" by Stepanov and then republished with minor corrections by M.A. Balakirev). A number of pieces for organ and other musical manuscripts of Odoevsky are in the library of the Moscow Conservatory. - See "The Musical Activity of Prince Odoevsky" speech about. D.V. Razumovsky ( "Proceedings of the First Archaeological Congress in Moscow", 1871). S. Bulich. See also: *History of Russian literature. XVIII century and the first half of the XIX century, *Russian art. Music. XIX century. Church music, *Russian art. Music Prehistoric and ancient period Church music, Alexandra Dormidontovna Alexandrova-Kochetova, Nikolai Yakovlevich Afanasiev, Petr Alekseevich Bezsonov, Vissarion Grigoryevich Belinsky, Vielgorskys (Counts Matvei and Mikhail Yurievich), Nikolay Vasilyevich Gogol, Ivan Fedorovich Gorbunov, Vladimir Ivanovich Dal, Alexander Dargomyzhsky Sergeevich, Elena Pavlovna (Frederick-Charlotte-Maria), Zablotsky-Desyatovsky Andrey Parfenovich, Koltsov Alexey Vasilyevich, Kolyubakin Nikolay Petrovich, Kotlyarevsky Nestor Alexander Rovich, Koshelev Alexander Ivanovich, Kraevsky Andrey Alexandrovich, Kyuchelbeker Wilhelm Karlovich, Nadezhdin Nikolai Ivanovich, Odoevsky, Pogossky Alexander Fomich, Potebnya Alexander Afanasyevich, Raden Edita Fedorovna, Stasov Vladimir Vasilyevich, Sumtsov Nikolay Fedorovich, Filimonov Georgy Dmitrievich, Khomyakov Alexey Stepanovich.

Few people know about Vladimir Fedorovich Odoevsky. But if we carefully study the life and work of this man, we will recognize him as an excellent teacher, writer and specialist in the theory of musical art.

Originally from Moscow and a native of a princely family, the writer studied well at the Moscow boarding school, where such famous writers as N. Turgenev and N. Muravyov used to study, who had a great influence on the development of his future work.

At the beginning of the 18th century, Vladimir went to meetings of the Society of Lovers of Russian Literature, where he made friends with V. Kuchelbeker and I. Kireevsky.

A little later, in 1824-1825, the writer, together with V. Küchelbecker, organized and published the almanac "Mnemosyne", where their works were published famous writers that time. After the release of several issues of his almanac, Vladimir Fedorovich began to be more attracted to questions of morality and freedom.

Having served in St. Petersburg in 1826, Odoevsky devotes more time journalistic activity. To educate the majority of the peasants, he publishes the journal Rural Reading, which was very popular with readers.

During the peasant reform, Odoevsky practically ceased to engage in literary activity, but all the works he had previously created found a wide response from people. Belinsky respected the writer for the fact that in his works he wrote about life close to reality.

Especially attracted everyone was the story "Princess Zizi", which appeared in 1834, where it was said that a liar and a loafer robbed a chaste and noble girl who could not find happiness among the depraved circle of people like this scoundrel.

Except social problems the author has works presented in a fantastic form. In 1833, he created "Motley Tales", where everyday events come into contact with fictional phenomena. This is the image of a girl who loved to dress up beautifully, gradually turning into a stupid doll, and a greedy official who manages to take bribes from both living and dead people.

Vladimir Fedorovich begins to create a collection of stories "Russian Nights", where in his creations he combines romanticism with realism. He was especially attracted by the narrative “Year 4338”, which was published only in our time, where the author described the near future that is expected in Russia.

Odoevsky was considered an excellent teacher, and therefore wrote his works for children. The fairy tale "The Town in the Snuffbox", written by him in 1834, is one of the most famous and original works. The author showed how to communicate with children, which is very important for educators.

The death of a talented writer overtook already in Moscow in 1869.