Karamzin N.M. Key dates of life and creativity

05/22/1826 (4.06). - Died writer, historian Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin, author of the 12-volume "History of the Russian State"

Karamzin: from freemasonry to monarchism
To the knowledge of Russia "from the opposite" - 8

A. Venetsianov. Portrait of Karamzin. 1828

Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin (December 1, 1766–May 22, 1826) was born in the Simbirsk province into the family of a poor landowner (from the ancient Crimean Tatar family of Kara-Murza). Having been educated in private boarding schools, Karamzin studied at, served for some time in the Preobrazhensky Regiment. After the death of his father, he retired in 1784 and became close to Novikov's "religious and educational" school, under whose influence his views and literary tastes were formed. He studied the literature of the French "enlightenment", German philosophers and romantic poets, was engaged in translations of religious and moral writings (he knew many ancient and new languages).

By 1788, Karamzin sensed a danger in Freemasonry disguised by vague religious piety, and broke off relations with the lodge. In the spring of 1789, he went on a long trip abroad, where he stayed until the autumn of 1790, visited Austria, Switzerland, France, England, met with I. Kant, I. Goethe, in Paris he witnessed the events of the French Revolution. As a result of personal acquaintance with the West, he became more critical of his "advanced" ideas. “The age of enlightenment! I don’t recognize you - I don’t recognize you in blood and flames - I don’t recognize you among murders and destruction!” Karamzin wrote at that time (“Melodor to Philaletus”). Karamzin outlined his impressions of the trip to Western European countries in Letters from a Russian Traveler (published in the Moscow Journal, 1791–1792, which he founded), which brought him all-Russian fame.

When the French Revolution developed into a bloody Jacobin dictatorship, this aroused in Karamzin doubts about the possibility for mankind to achieve earthly prosperity in general. But the conclusion from this was not yet Orthodox. The philosophy of despair and fatalism permeates his new works: the stories "Bornholm Island" (1793); "Sierra Morena" (1795); poems "Melancholy", "Message to A.A. Pleshcheev", etc.

At this time, Karamzin published the first Russian almanacs - "Aglaya" (parts 1-2, 1794-1795) and "Aonides" (parts 1-3, 1796-1799), "Pantheon of Foreign Literature" (1798), magazine " Children's reading for the heart and mind "(1799). As a writer, Karamzin creates a new direction in Russian literature - sentimentalism (" Poor Lisa"), which was highly appreciated, K. Batyushkov, young. At the same time, Karamzin introduces into literary circulation new form of the Russian language, freeing it from the Western pretentious imitation of the Petrine era, bringing it closer to live, colloquial speech.

In 1791, Karamzin wrote: “In our so-called good society, without the French language, you will be deaf and dumb. Aren't you ashamed? How not to have national pride? Why be parrots and monkeys together? And his story "Natalya, the Boyar's Daughter" (1792) began with the words: "Which of us does not love those times when Russians were Russians, when they dressed up in their own clothes, walked with their own gait, lived according to their custom, spoke their own language and to your heart..?"

For Karamzin's way of thinking during this period, it is significant that he is moving closer to a conservative-minded poet. In 1802, he published "Historical eulogy, which was a mandate to the new Sovereign, in which he expressed the program and significance of the Autocracy. During this period, Karamzin began to publish the journal Vestnik Evropy, from the pages of which he acted as political writer, publicist, commentator and international observer who defended Russian national interests. “The patriot is in a hurry to appropriate the beneficent and necessary for the fatherland, but rejects slave imitations in knick-knacks... It is good and should be studied: but woe... to the people who will always be a student,” Karamzin wrote about borrowing from the West.

In 1803, through M. Muravyov, Karamzin received the official title of court historiographer. From 1803 to 1811 he writes "The History of the Russian State" (until 1611, the 12th volume was published posthumously), for the first time using the sources kept under wraps. Each volume had extensive documentary appendices, not inferior in size to the main text. Karamzin, as a researcher, meticulously sought to comprehend events through the eyes of a contemporary, guided by the clarification of the truth of history, no matter how bitter it may be. This is what made his "History" very popular. Pushkin wrote: “Everyone, even secular women, rushed to read the history of their fatherland, hitherto unknown to them. She was a new discovery for them. Ancient Russia seemed to be found by Karamzin, like America by Colomb. They didn't talk about anything else for a while." (But unfortunately, the residual Westernism also affected this work: in particular, in recognition.)

It should be noted, however, that the idea runs through Karamzin's History: Russia's fate and greatness lie in the development of autocracy. With a strong monarchical power, Russia prospered, with a weak one, it fell into decline. So, under the influence of studies in Russian history, Karamzin becomes a convinced, ideological monarchist-statesman. Although it must be admitted that we do not find the proper coordinates of the Orthodox meaning of history in this period even among such outstanding representatives of Russian patriotic thought. History seemed to Karamzin a continuous movement towards progress, a struggle between enlightenment and ignorance; it is the activity of great men that directs this struggle.

Through his relative F.V. Rostopchina Karamzin meets the leader of the then "Russian Party" at the Court, Grand Duchess Ekaterina Pavlovna, and then with the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, who has since become one of his patronesses. On the initiative of Ekaterina Pavlovna, Karamzin wrote and submitted in March 1811 to Alexander I a treatise "On the ancient and new Russia in its political and civil relations"is a remarkable document of the resurgent Russian conservative thought, containing an integral and original concept of Autocracy as a typically Russian principle of power, closely connected with Orthodox Church. There is autocracy main reason the power and prosperity of Russia - such was the conclusion of the Notes.

IN last years of his life, Karamzin lived in St. Petersburg, communicating with such prominent conservative figures as V.A. Zhukovsky, and others. In 1818, Karamzin was accepted as a member of the Russian Imperial Academy for his "History" compiled by him. The meaning of his work was accurately expressed: "Karamzin's creation is the only book we have that is truly state, popular and monarchical."

Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin is a great Russian writer, the greatest writer of the era of sentimentalism. Wrote fiction, lyrics, plays, articles. Russian reformer literary language. The creator of the "History of the Russian State" - one of the first fundamental works on the history of Russia.

“He loved to be sad, not knowing what…”

Karamzin was born on December 1 (12), 1766 in the village of Mikhailovka, Buzuluk district, Simbirsk province. He grew up in the village of his father, a hereditary nobleman. It is interesting that the Karamzin family has Turkic roots and comes from the Tatar Kara-Murza (aristocratic class).

Little is known about the writer's childhood. At the age of 12, he was sent to Moscow to the boarding school of Moscow University professor Johann Schaden, where the young man received his first education, studied German and French. Three years later, he begins to attend lectures by the famous professor of aesthetics, educator Ivan Schwartz at Moscow University.

In 1783, at the insistence of his father, Karamzin entered the service of the Preobrazhensky Guards Regiment, but soon retired and left for his native Simbirsk. An important event for the young Karamzin takes place in Simbirsk - he enters the Masonic lodge of the Golden Crown. This decision will play its role a little later, when Karamzin returns to Moscow and meets with an old acquaintance of their home - a freemason Ivan Turgenev, as well as writers and writers Nikolai Novikov, Alexei Kutuzov, Alexander Petrov. At the same time, Karamzin's first attempts in literature begin - he participates in the publication of the first Russian magazine for children - "Children's Reading for the Heart and Mind." The four years he spent in the society of Moscow Freemasons had a serious impact on his creative development. At this time, Karamzin read a lot of the then popular Rousseau, Stern, Herder, Shakespeare, trying to translate.

“In Novikov’s circle, Karamzin’s education began, not only as an author, but also moral.”

Writer I.I. Dmitriev

Man of pen and thought

In 1789, a break with the Masons follows, and Karamzin sets off to travel around Europe. He traveled to Germany, Switzerland, France and England, stopping mainly in big cities centers of European education. Karamzin visits Immanuel Kant in Koenigsberg, becomes a witness of the Great french revolution in Paris.

It was on the basis of the results of this trip that he wrote the famous Letters of a Russian Traveler. These essays in the genre of documentary prose quickly gained popularity with the reader and made Karamzin a famous and fashionable writer. At the same time, in Moscow, from the pen of a writer, the story “Poor Lisa” was born - a recognized example of Russian sentimental literature. Many specialists in literary criticism believe that modern Russian literature begins with these first books.

"IN initial period his literary activity Karamzin was characterized by a broad and politically rather vague "cultural optimism", a belief in the salutary influence of the successes of culture on man and society. Karamzin relied on the progress of science, the peaceful improvement of morals. He believed in the painless realization of the ideals of brotherhood and humanity that permeated literature XVIII century as a whole.

Yu.M. Lotman

In contrast to classicism with its cult of reason, in the footsteps of French writers, Karamzin establishes in Russian literature the cult of feelings, sensitivity, compassion. New "sentimental" heroes are important, first of all, with the ability to love, to surrender to feelings. "Oh! I love those objects that touch my heart and make me shed tears of tender sorrow!”("Poor Lisa").

"Poor Lisa" is devoid of morality, didacticism, edification, the author does not teach, but tries to arouse the reader's empathy for the characters, which distinguishes the story from the old traditions of classicism.

“Poor Lisa” was received with such enthusiasm by the Russian public because in this work Karamzin was the first to express the “new word” that Goethe said to the Germans in his Werther.

Philologist, literary critic V.V. Sipovsky

Nikolai Karamzin at the Millennium of Russia monument in Veliky Novgorod. Sculptors Mikhail Mikeshin, Ivan Shroeder. Architect Viktor Hartman. 1862

Giovanni Battista Damon-Ortolani. Portrait of N.M. Karamzin. 1805. The Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin

Monument to Nikolai Karamzin in Ulyanovsk. Sculptor Samuil Galberg. 1845

At the same time, the reform of the literary language also begins - Karamzin refuses the Old Slavonicisms that inhabited the written language, Lomonosov's grandiloquence, and the use of Church Slavonic vocabulary and grammar. This made "Poor Lisa" an easy and enjoyable story to read. It was Karamzin's sentimentalism that became the foundation for the development of further Russian literature: the romanticism of Zhukovsky and early Pushkin repelled from it.

"Karamzin made literature humane."

A.I. Herzen

One of the most important merits of Karamzin is the enrichment of the literary language with new words: “charity”, “love”, “free-thinking”, “attraction”, “responsibility”, “suspicion”, “refinement”, “first-class”, “human”, “sidewalk ”, “coachman”, “impression” and “influence”, “touching” and “entertaining”. It was he who introduced the words "industry", "concentrate", "moral", "aesthetic", "epoch", "stage", "harmony", "catastrophe", "future" and others.

"A professional writer, one of the first in Russia who had the courage to make literary work a source of livelihood, who placed above all the independence of his own opinion."

Yu.M. Lotman

In 1791, Karamzin began his career as a journalist. It's getting milestone in the history of Russian literature - Karamzin founds the first Russian literary magazine, the founding father of the current "thick" magazines - "Moscow Journal". A number of collections and almanacs are published on its pages: "Aglaya", "Aonides", "Pantheon of foreign literature", "My trinkets". These publications made sentimentalism the main literary movement in Russia. late XIX century, and Karamzin - its recognized leader.

But Karamzin's deep disappointment in the former values ​​soon follows. A year after Novikov's arrest, the magazine was closed, after Karamzin's bold ode "To Mercy" mercy " the mighty of the world” loses Karamzin himself, almost falling under investigation.

“As long as a citizen can sleep peacefully, without fear, and freely dispose of life according to your thoughts to all your subjects; ... as long as you give freedom to everyone and do not darken the light in the minds; as long as the power of attorney to the people is visible in all your affairs: until then you will be sacredly revered ... nothing can disturb the tranquility of your state.

N.M. Karamzin. "To Mercy"

Most of the years 1793-1795 Karamzin spends in the countryside and publishes collections: "Aglaya", "Aonides" (1796). He plans to publish something like an anthology on foreign literature, "The Pantheon of Foreign Literature", but with great difficulty breaks through the censorship prohibitions that did not allow even Demosthenes and Cicero to be printed ...

Disappointment in the French Revolution Karamzin splashes out in verse:

But time, experience destroy
Castle in the air of youth...
... And I see clearly that with Plato
We shall not establish republics...

During these years, Karamzin increasingly moved from lyrics and prose to journalism and development philosophical ideas. Even the “Historical eulogy to Empress Catherine II”, compiled by Karamzin during the accession to the throne of Emperor Alexander I, is mainly journalism. In 1801-1802, Karamzin worked in the journal Vestnik Evropy, where he wrote mostly articles. In practice, his passion for education and philosophy is expressed in the writing of works on historical topics, increasingly creating the authority of a historian for the famous writer.

The first and last historiographer

By decree of October 31, 1803, Emperor Alexander I conferred on Nikolai Karamzin the title of historiographer. Interestingly, the title of historiographer in Russia was not renewed after Karamzin's death.

From this moment Karamzin stops all literary work and for 22 years he has been exclusively compiling a historical work, familiar to us as "The History of the Russian State".

Alexey Venetsianov. Portrait of N.M. Karamzin. 1828. The Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin

Karamzin sets himself the task of compiling a history for a wide educated public, not to be a researcher, but "choose, animate, color" All "attractive, strong, worthy" from Russian history. Important point- the work should also be designed for a foreign reader in order to open Russia to Europe.

In his work, Karamzin used the materials of the Moscow Collegium of Foreign Affairs (especially the spiritual and contractual letters of the princes, and acts of diplomatic relations), the Synodal Depository, the libraries of the Volokolamsk Monastery and the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, private collections of manuscripts of Musin-Pushkin, Rumyantsev and A.I. Turgenev, who compiled a collection of documents from the papal archive, as well as many other sources. An important part of the work was the study of ancient chronicles. In particular, Karamzin discovered earlier unknown to science chronicle, called Ipatievskaya.

During the years of work on the "History ..." Karamzin mainly lived in Moscow, from where he traveled only to Tver and Nizhny Novgorod, while Moscow was occupied by the French in 1812. He usually spent his summers at Ostafyev, the estate of Prince Andrei Ivanovich Vyazemsky. In 1804, Karamzin married the prince's daughter, Ekaterina Andreevna, who bore the writer nine children. She became the writer's second wife. For the first time, the writer married at the age of 35, in 1801, to Elizaveta Ivanovna Protasova, who died a year after the wedding from postpartum fever. From his first marriage, Karamzin left a daughter, Sophia, a future acquaintance of Pushkin and Lermontov.

The main social event in the life of the writer during these years was the Note on Ancient and New Russia in its Political and Civil Relations, written in 1811. The "Note..." reflected the views of the conservative strata of society, dissatisfied with the emperor's liberal reforms. "Note..." was handed over to the emperor. In it, once a liberal and a “Westernizer”, as they would say now, Karamzin appears as a conservative and tries to prove that no fundamental changes are needed in the country.

And in February 1818, Karamzin puts on sale the first eight volumes of his History of the Russian State. The circulation of 3000 copies (huge for that time) is sold out within a month.

A.S. Pushkin

"History of the Russian State" was the first work focused on the widest readership, thanks to the high literary merit and scientific scrupulousness of the author. Researchers agree that this work was one of the first to contribute to the formation national consciousness in Russia. The book has been translated into several European languages.

Despite the huge long-term work, Karamzin did not have time to finish the "History ..." before his time - early XIX century. After the first edition, three more volumes of "History ..." were released. The last one was the 12th volume, describing the events of the Time of Troubles in the chapter "Interregnum 1611-1612". The book was published after Karamzin's death.

Karamzin was entirely a man of his era. The approval of monarchical views in him towards the end of his life brought the writer closer to the family of Alexander I, he spent the last years next to them, living in Tsarskoye Selo. The death of Alexander I in November 1825 and the subsequent events of the uprising on Senate Square were a real blow to the writer. Nikolai Karamzin died on May 22 (June 3), 1826 in St. Petersburg, he was buried at the Tikhvin cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.

Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin as a historian and his methods of studying the past

Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin - the outstanding master of the minds of Russia late XVII early 19th century The role of N.M. Karamzin in Russian culture is great and what he did for the good of the Motherland would be enough for more than one life. He embodied many best features of his century, appearing before his contemporaries as a first-class master of literature (poet, critic, playwright, translator), a reformer who laid the foundations of the modern literary language, a major journalist, organizer of publishing, founder of remarkable magazines. The master merged into the personality of N.M. Karamzin artistic word and talented historian. In science, journalism, art, he left a noticeable mark. N.M. Karamzin largely prepared the success of younger contemporaries and followers - figures of the Pushkin period, the golden age of Russian literature. N.M. Karamzin was born on December 1, 1766. And in his fifty-nine years he lived an interesting and rich life full of dynamism and creativity. He received his education in a private boarding school in Simbirsk, then in the Moscow boarding school of Professor M.P. Shaden, then came to St. Petersburg for service and received the rank of non-commissioned officer. Then he works as a translator and editor in various magazines, closes with many famous people of that time (M.M. Novikov, M.T. Turgenev). Then for more than a year (from May 1789 to September 1790) he travels around Europe; while traveling, he makes notes, after processing which the famous "Letters of a Russian Traveler" appear.

Knowledge of the past and present led Karamzin to break with the Freemasons, who were quite influential in Russia at the end of the 18th century. He returns to his home broad program publishing and magazine activities, hoping to contribute to the education of the people. He created the "Moscow Journal" (1791-1792) and "Bulletin of Europe" (1802-1803), published two volumes of the almanac "Aglaya" (1794-1795) and the poetic almanac "Aonides". His creative way continues and completes the work "History of the Russian State", the work on which took many years, which became the main result of his work.

Karamzin approached the idea of ​​creating a large historical canvas for a long time. As evidence of the long-standing existence of such plans, Karamzin's message in "Letters from a Russian Traveler" about a meeting in 1790 in Paris with P.-Sh. Level, author of "Histoire de Russie, triee des chroniques originales, des pieces outertiques et des meillierus historiens de la nation" (only one volume was translated in Russia in 1797). Reflecting on the merits and demerits of this work, the writer came to a disappointing conclusion: "It hurts, but it must be fair to say that we still do not have a good Russian history". He understood that such a work could not be written without free access to manuscripts and documents in official repositories, so he turned to Emperor Alexander I through the mediation of M.M. Muravyov (trustee of the educational Moscow district). "The appeal was successful and on October 31, 1803, Karamzin was appointed historiographer and received an annual pension and access to the archives." Imperial decrees provided the historiographer with optimal conditions for working on "History ...".

Work on the "History of the Russian State" required self-denial, the rejection of the usual image and way of life. By figurative expression P.A. Vyazemsky, Karamzin "cut his hair as a historian". And by the spring of 1818, the first eight volumes of the story appeared on bookstores. Three thousand copies of "History ..." were sold in twenty-five days. The recognition of compatriots inspired and encouraged the writer, especially after the relations between the historiographer and Alexander I deteriorated (after the release of the note "On Ancient and New Russia", where Karamzin criticized Alexander I in a sense). The public and literary resonance of the first eight volumes of "History ..." in Russia and abroad turned out to be so great that even the Russian Academy, a longtime stronghold of Karamzin's opponents, was forced to recognize his merits.

The reader's success of the first eight volumes of "History ..." gave the writer new strength for further work. In 1821, the ninth volume of his work saw the light of day. The death of Alexander I and the uprising of the Decembrists pushed back the work on the "History ...". Having caught a cold in the street on the day of the uprising, the historiographer continued his work only in January 1826. But the doctors assured that only Italy could give a full recovery. Going to Italy and hoping to finish the last two chapters there last volume, Karamzin instructed D.N. Bludov all the cases on the future edition of the twelfth volume. But on May 22, 1826, without leaving Italy, Karamzin died. The twelfth volume was published only in 1828.

Picking up the work of N.M. Karamzin, we can only imagine how difficult the work of the historiographer was. The writer, the poet, the amateur historian, takes on a task of inconceivable complexity, requiring enormous special training. If he avoided serious, purely intelligent matter, but only spoke vividly about old days, "animating and coloring" - this would still be considered natural, but from the very beginning the volume is divided into two halves: in the first there is a living story, and those who have enough of this may not look into the second section, where there are hundreds of notes, references to chronicles, Latin, Swedish, German sources. History is a very harsh science, even if we assume that the historian knows many languages, but in addition there are sources from Arabic, Hungarian, Jewish, Caucasian ... And even by the beginning of the 19th century. the science of history did not stand out sharply from literature, anyway, Karamzin the writer had to delve into paleography, philosophy, geography, archeography ... Tatishchev and Shcherbatov, however, combined history with serious state activity, but professionalism is constantly increasing; from the West, serious works of German and English scientists come; the ancient naive chronicle methods of historical writing are clearly dying out, and the question itself arises: when does Karamzin, a forty-year-old writer, master all the old and new wisdom? The answer to this question is given to us by N. Eidelman, who reports that "only in the third year, Karamzin confesses to close friends that he ceases to be afraid of the Schlozer ferula, that is, the rod with which a venerable German academician could flog a negligent student."

One historian alone cannot find and process such a large number of materials on the basis of which the "History of the Russian State" was written. It follows from this that N.M. Karamzin was helped by many of his friends. Of course, he went to the archive, but not too often: they searched for, selected, delivered ancient manuscripts directly to the historiographer's desk by several special employees, headed by the head of the Moscow Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and an excellent connoisseur of antiquities Alexei Fedorovich Malinovsky. Archives and book collections of the foreign collegium of the Synod, the Hermitage, the Imperial public library, Moscow University, Trinity-Sergius and Alexander Nevsky Lavra, Volokolamsk, Resurrection monasteries; in addition, dozens of private collections, and finally, the archives and libraries of Oxford, Paris, Copenhagen and other foreign centers. Among those who worked for Karamzin (from the very beginning and later) were several scientists who would be remarkable in the future, for example, Stroev, Kalaidovich ... They sent comments on already published volumes more than others.

In some contemporary works Karamzin is reproached for the fact that he did not work alone. But otherwise it would take him to write the "History ..." not 25 years, but much more. Eidelman rightly objects to this: "It is dangerous for one to judge an era according to the rules of another."

Later, when the author's personality of Karamzin develops, such a combination of a historiographer and junior collaborators will stand out that might seem delicate ... However, in the first years of the XIX. in such a combination seemed quite normal, and the doors of the archive would hardly have opened for the younger ones if there had not been an imperial decree on the elder. Karamzin himself, disinterested, with a heightened sense of honor, would never allow himself to become famous at the expense of his employees. Besides, wasn't it only "the archival regiments worked for the Count of History"? It turns out that it doesn't. "Such great people as Derzhavin send him his thoughts on ancient Novgorod, young Alexander Turgenev brings the necessary books from Göttingen, D.I. Yazykov, A.R. Vorontsov promises to send old manuscripts. Even more important is the participation of the main collectors: A.N. Musina -Pushkin, N.P. Rumyantseva; one of the future presidents of the Academy of Sciences A.N. Olenin sent Karamzin on July 12, 1806 the Ostromir Gospel of 1057. But this does not mean that all the work of Karamzin was done for him by friends: he opened it himself and stimulated others to search for it with his work. Karamzin himself found the Ipatiev and Trinity Chronicles, the Sudebnik of Ivan the Terrible, "The Prayer of Daniil the Sharpener". For his "History ..." Karamzin used about forty chronicles (for comparison, let's say that Shcherbatov studied twenty-one chronicles). Also, the great merit of the historiographer is that he was not only able to bring all this material together, but also organize the de facto work of a real creative laboratory.

Work on "History ..." fell on a turning point in a sense, an era that influenced the worldview and methodology of the author. In the last quarter of the XVIII. in Russia, the features of the decomposition of the feudal-serf system of the economy became more and more noticeable. Changes in economic and social life Russia and the development of bourgeois relations in Europe influenced internal politics autocracy. Time put before the ruling class of Russia the need to develop socio-political reforms that would ensure the preservation of the dominant position for the class of landlords and the power of the autocracy.

"By this time can be attributed the end ideological searches Karamzin. He became the ideologist of the conservative part of the Russian nobility." The finalization of his socio-political program, the objective content of which was the preservation of the autocratic-serf system, falls on the second decade of the 19th century, that is, at the time of the creation of the Notes on Ancient and New Russia. the revolution in France and the post-revolutionary development of France played in the design of Karamzin's conservative political program. historically confirmed his theoretical conclusions about the ways of human development. He considered the only acceptable and correct path of gradual evolutionary development, without any revolutionary explosions and within the framework of those public relations, moreover state structure which is characteristic of this people. "Leaving in force the theory of the contractual origin of power, Karamzin now puts its forms in strict dependence on ancient traditions and the national character. Moreover, beliefs and customs are elevated to a kind of absolute that determines the historical fate of the people. "The institutions of antiquity, - he wrote in the article "Remarkable views, hopes, and desires of the present time," magical power which cannot be replaced by any power of the mind. "Thus, historical tradition was opposed to revolutionary transformations. The socio-political system became directly dependent on it: traditional ancient customs and institutions ultimately determined political form states. This was very clearly seen in Karamzin's attitude towards the republic. The ideologist of autocracy, Karamzin, nevertheless, declared his sympathies for the republican system. His letter to P.A. is known. Vyazemsky of 1820, in which he wrote: "I am a republican in my soul and will die like that." Theoretically, Karamzin believed that a republic is a more modern form of government than a monarchy. But it can exist only if there are a number of conditions, and in their absence, the republic loses all meaning and right to exist. Karamzin recognized the republics as human form organization of society, but made the possibility of the existence of the republic dependent on ancient customs and traditions, as well as on the moral state of society.

Karamzin Nikolai Mikhailovich (1766 - 1826)

He was born on December 1 (12 n.s.) in the village of Mikhailovka, Simbirsk province, in the family of a landowner. He received a good education at home.

At the age of 14, he began to study at the Moscow private boarding school of Professor Shaden. After graduating in 1783, he came to the Preobrazhensky Regiment in St. Petersburg, where he met the young poet and future employee of his "Moscow Journal" Dmitriev. Then he published his first translation of S. Gesner's idyll "Wooden Leg". After retiring with the rank of second lieutenant in 1784, he moved to Moscow, became one of the active participants in the magazine Children's Reading for the Heart and Mind, published by N. Novikov, and became close to the Masons. Engaged in translations of religious and moral writings. From 1787 he regularly published his translations of Thomson's The Seasons, Janlis's Village Evenings, W. Shakespeare's tragedy Julius Caesar, and Lessing's tragedy Emilia Galotti.

In 1789, Karamzin's first original story, Evgeny and Yulia, appeared in the magazine "Children's Reading ...". In the spring, he went on a trip to Europe: he visited Germany, Switzerland, France, where he observed the activities of the revolutionary government. In June 1790 he moved from France to England.

In the autumn he returned to Moscow and soon undertook the publication of the monthly "Moscow Journal", in which most of the "Letters of a Russian Traveler" were printed, the stories "Liodor", "Poor Liza", "Natalia, the Boyar's Daughter", "Flor Silin", essays, short stories, critical articles and poems. Karamzin attracted Dmitriev and Petrov, Kheraskov and Derzhavin, Lvov Neledinsky-Meletsky and others to cooperate in the journal. Karamzin's articles asserted a new literary direction- sentimentalism. In the 1790s, Karamzin published the first Russian almanacs - "Aglaya" (parts 1 - 2, 1794 - 95) and "Aonides" (parts 1 - 3, 1796 - 99). The year 1793 arrived, when the Jacobin dictatorship was established at the third stage of the French Revolution, shocking Karamzin with its cruelty. The dictatorship aroused in him doubts about the possibility for mankind to achieve prosperity. He condemned the revolution. The philosophy of despair and fatalism permeates his new works: the stories "Bornholm Island" (1793); "Sierra Morena" (1795); poems "Melancholy", "Message to A. A. Pleshcheev", etc.

By the mid-1790s, Karamzin had become the recognized head of Russian sentimentalism, which opened new page in Russian literature. He was an indisputable authority for Zhukovsky, Batyushkov, the young Pushkin.

In 1802 - 1803 Karamzin published the journal Vestnik Evropy, which was dominated by literature and politics. In the critical articles of Karamzin, a new aesthetic program, which contributed to the formation of Russian literature as a national identity. Karamzin saw the key to the identity of Russian culture in history. The most striking illustration of his views was the story "Marfa Posadnitsa". In his political articles, Karamzin made recommendations to the government, pointing out the role of education.

Trying to influence Tsar Alexander I, Karamzin gave him his Note on Ancient and New Russia (1811), irritating him. In 1819 he filed a new note - "The Opinion of a Russian Citizen", which caused even greater displeasure of the tsar. However, Karamzin did not abandon his faith in the salvation of the enlightened autocracy and later condemned the Decembrist uprising. However, Karamzin the artist was still highly appreciated by young writers who did not even share his political convictions.

In 1803, through M. Muravyov, Karamzin received the official title of court historiographer.

In 1804, he began to create the "History of the Russian State", on which he worked until the end of his days, but did not complete it. In 1818 the first eight volumes of History, Karamzin's greatest scientific and cultural achievement, were published. In 1821, the 9th volume was published, dedicated to the reign of Ivan the Terrible, in 1824 - the 10th and 11th, about Fyodor Ioannovich and Boris Godunov. Death interrupted work on the 12th volume. It happened on May 22 (June 3, NS) 1826 in St. Petersburg.

Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin(December 1, 1766, family estate Znamenskoye, Simbirsk district, Kazan province (according to other sources - the village of Mikhailovka (now Preobrazhenka), Buzuluk district, Kazan province) - May 22, 1826, St. Petersburg) - an outstanding historian, the largest Russian writer of the era of sentimentalism, nicknamed Russian Stern.

Honorary member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences (1818), full member of the Imperial Russian Academy(1818). The creator of the "History of the Russian State" (volumes 1-12, 1803-1826) - one of the first generalizing works on the history of Russia. Editor of the Moscow Journal (1791-1792) and Vestnik Evropy (1802-1803).

Karamzin went down in history as a great reformer of the Russian language. His style is light in the Gallic manner, but instead of direct borrowing, Karamzin enriched the language with tracing words, such as “impression” and “influence”, “love”, “touching” and “entertaining”. It was he who coined the words "industry", "concentrate", "moral", "aesthetic", "epoch", "stage", "harmony", "catastrophe", "future".

Biography

Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin was born on December 1 (12), 1766 near Simbirsk. He grew up in the estate of his father, retired captain Mikhail Yegorovich Karamzin (1724-1783), a middle-class Simbirsk nobleman, a descendant of the Tatar Murza Kara-Murza. Received home education. In 1778 he was sent to Moscow to the boarding house of Professor of Moscow University I. M. Shaden. At the same time, in 1781-1782, he attended lectures by I. G. Schwartz at the University.

Carier start

In 1783, at the insistence of his father, he entered the service of the Preobrazhensky Guards Regiment of St. Petersburg, but soon retired. At the time military service include the first literary experiments. After his resignation, he lived for some time in Simbirsk, and then in Moscow. During his stay in Simbirsk, he joined the Masonic Lodge of the Golden Crown, and after arriving in Moscow for four years (1785-1789) he was a member of the Friendly Learned Society.

In Moscow, Karamzin met writers and writers: N. I. Novikov, A. M. Kutuzov, A. A. Petrov, participated in the publication of the first Russian magazine for children - “Children's Reading for the Heart and Mind”.

Trip to Europe

In 1789-1790 he made a trip to Europe, during which he visited Immanuel Kant in Königsberg, was in Paris during the great French revolution. As a result of this trip, the famous Letters of a Russian Traveler were written, the publication of which immediately made Karamzin famous writer. Some philologists believe that modern Russian literature starts from this book. Be that as it may, in the literature of Russian "travels" Karamzin really became a pioneer - he quickly found both imitators and worthy successors (, N. A. Bestuzhev,). Since then, Karamzin has been considered one of the main literary figures in Russia.

Return and life in Russia

Upon his return from a trip to Europe, Karamzin settled in Moscow and began his career as a professional writer and journalist, starting to publish the Moscow Journal of 1791-1792 (the first Russian literary magazine in which, among other works by Karamzin, the story “Poor Liza"), then released a number of collections and almanacs: "Aglaya", "Aonides", "Pantheon of Foreign Literature", "My Trifles", which made sentimentalism the main literary trend in Russia, and Karamzin - its recognized leader.

Emperor Alexander I by personal decree of October 31, 1803 bestowed the title of historiographer Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin; 2 thousand rubles were added to the title at the same time. annual salary. The title of a historiographer in Russia was not renewed after Karamzin's death.

From the beginning of the 19th century, Karamzin gradually moved away from fiction, and since 1804, being appointed by Alexander I to the position of a historiographer, he stopped all literary work, "taking the veil of historians." In 1811, he wrote a "Note on Ancient and New Russia in its Political and Civil Relations", which reflected the views of the conservative strata of society, dissatisfied with the emperor's liberal reforms. Karamzin's task was to prove that there was no need to carry out any transformations in the country.

"A note on ancient and new Russia in its political and civil relations" also played the role of outlines for the subsequent enormous work of Nikolai Mikhailovich on Russian history. In February 1818, Karamzin put on sale the first eight volumes of The History of the Russian State, three thousand copies of which were sold out within a month. In subsequent years, three more volumes of the "History" were published, a number of translations of it into the main European languages. Russian lighting historical process brought Karamzin closer to the court and the tsar, who settled him near him in Tsarskoye Selo. Karamzin's political views evolved gradually, and by the end of his life he was a staunch supporter of absolute monarchy. The unfinished XII volume was published after his death.

Karamzin died on May 22 (June 3), 1826 in St. Petersburg. His death was the result of a cold he received on December 14, 1825. That day Karamzin was at the Senate Square.

He was buried at the Tikhvin cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.

Karamzin - writer

Collected works of N. M. Karamzin in 11 vols. in 1803-1815 was printed in the printing house of the Moscow book publisher Selivanovskiy.

“The influence of Karamzin on literature can be compared with the influence of Catherine on society: he made literature humane,” wrote A. I. Herzen.

Sentimentalism

The publication by Karamzin of Letters from a Russian Traveler (1791-1792) and the story Poor Lisa (1792; a separate edition in 1796) opened the era of sentimentalism in Russia.

Sentimentalism declared feeling, not reason, to be the dominant of "human nature", which distinguished it from classicism. Sentimentalism believed that the ideal of human activity was not the "reasonable" reorganization of the world, but the release and improvement of "natural" feelings. His character is more individualized, his inner world enriched with the ability to empathize, sensitively respond to what is happening around.

The publication of these works was a great success with the readers of that time, "Poor Lisa" caused many imitations. The sentimentalism of Karamzin had a great influence on the development of Russian literature: it was repelled, among other things, by the romanticism of Zhukovsky, the work of Pushkin.

Poetry Karamzin

The poetry of Karamzin, which developed in line with European sentimentalism, was radically different from the traditional poetry of his time, brought up on odes and. The most significant differences were:

Karamzin is not interested in the outer, physical world, but in the inner, spiritual world of man. His poems speak "the language of the heart", not the mind. The object of Karamzin's poetry is " simple life”, and to describe it he uses simple poetic forms - poor rhymes, avoids the abundance of metaphors and other tropes so popular in the poems of his predecessors.

Another difference between Karamzin's poetics is that the world is fundamentally unknowable for him, the poet recognizes the existence different points view of the same object.

Karamzin's language reform

Karamzin's prose and poetry had a decisive influence on the development of the Russian literary language. Karamzin deliberately refused to use Church Slavonic vocabulary and grammar, bringing the language of his works to the everyday language of his era and using French grammar and syntax as a model.

Karamzin introduced many new words into the Russian language - as neologisms ("charity", "love", "free-thinking", "attraction", "responsibility", "suspicion", "industry", "refinement", "first-class", "humane ”), and barbarisms (“sidewalk”, “coachman”). He was also one of the first to use the letter Y.

The language changes proposed by Karamzin caused a heated controversy in the 1810s. The writer A. S. Shishkov, with the assistance of Derzhavin, founded in 1811 the society “Conversation of the Lovers of the Russian Word”, the purpose of which was to promote the “old” language, as well as to criticize Karamzin, Zhukovsky and their followers. In response, in 1815, the literary society "Arzamas" was formed, which sneered at the authors of "Conversations" and parodied their works. Many poets of the new generation became members of the society, including Batyushkov, Vyazemsky, Davydov, Zhukovsky, Pushkin. The literary victory of "Arzamas" over "Conversation" strengthened the victory of the language changes introduced by Karamzin.

Despite this, Karamzin later became closer to Shishkov, and thanks to the assistance of the latter, Karamzin was elected a member of the Russian Academy in 1818.

Karamzin - historian

Karamzin's interest in history arose from the mid-1790s. He wrote a story in historical theme- "Martha the Posadnitsa, or the Conquest of Novgorod" (published in 1803). In the same year, by decree of Alexander I, he was appointed to the position of a historiographer, and until the end of his life he was engaged in writing the History of the Russian State, practically ceasing the activities of a journalist and writer.

Karamzin's "History" was not the first description of the history of Russia; before him were the works of V. N. Tatishchev and M. M. Shcherbatov. But it was Karamzin who opened the history of Russia to the general educated public. According to A. S. Pushkin, “Everyone, even secular women, rushed to read the history of their fatherland, hitherto unknown to them. She was a new discovery for them. Ancient Russia seemed to have been found by Karamzin, just as America was found by Columbus. This work also caused a wave of imitations and oppositions (for example, "History of the Russian people" by N. A. Polevoy)

In his work, Karamzin acted more as a writer than a historian - describing historical facts, he cared about the beauty of the language, least of all trying to draw any conclusions from the events he describes. Nevertheless, his commentaries, which contain many extracts from manuscripts, mostly first published by Karamzin, are of high scientific value. Some of these manuscripts no longer exist.

Karamzin took the initiative to organize memorials and erect monuments to prominent figures national history, in particular, K. M. Minin and D. M. Pozharsky on Red Square (1818).

N. M. Karamzin discovered Afanasy Nikitin's Journey Beyond Three Seas in a 16th-century manuscript and published it in 1821. He wrote: “Until now, geographers did not know that the honor of one of the oldest described European travels to India belongs to Russia of the Ioannian century ... It (the journey) proves that Russia in the 15th century had its Taverniers and Chardenis, less enlightened, but equally bold and enterprising ; that the Indians had heard of her before they had heard of Portugal, Holland, England. While Vasco da Gamma was only thinking about the possibility of finding a way from Africa to Hindustan, our Tverite was already a merchant on the coast of Malabar ... "

Karamzin - translator

In 1792-1793, N. M. Karamzin translated a remarkable monument of Indian literature (from English) - the drama "Sakuntala", authored by Kalidasa. In the preface to the translation, he wrote:

“The creative spirit does not live in Europe alone; he is a citizen of the universe. Man everywhere is man; everywhere he has a sensitive heart, and in the mirror of his imagination contains heaven and earth. Everywhere Natura is his teacher and chief source of his pleasures. I felt this very vividly when reading Sakontala, a drama composed in an Indian language, 1900 years before this, the Asiatic poet Kalidas, and recently translated into English by William Jones, a Bengali judge ... "