The biography of Karamzin is briefly the most important. The main dates of life and work h

Karamzin Nikolai Mikhailovich is a famous Russian historian and writer. At the same time, he was engaged in publishing, reforming the Russian language and was the brightest representative of the era of sentimentalism.

Since the writer was born into a noble family, he received an excellent primary education at home. Later, he entered the noble boarding school, where he continued his own education. Also in the period from 1781 to 1782, Nikolai Mikhailovich attended important university lectures.

In 1781, Karamzin went to serve in the St. Petersburg Guards Regiment, where his work began. After the death of his own father, the writer put an end to military service.

Since 1785, Karamzin began to develop his creative abilities. He moves to Moscow, where he joins the "Friendly Scientific Society". After this significant event, Karamzin participates in the release of the magazine, and also collaborates with various publishing houses.

For several years, the writer traveled around Europe, where he met various prominent people. This is what served as the further development of his work. Such a work as "Letters of a Russian Traveler" was written.

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The future historian named Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin was born in the city of Simbirsk on December 12, 1766 in a family of hereditary nobles. His very first elementary foundations of education, Nikolai received at home. After receiving his primary education, his father sent him to the noble boarding school, which was located in Simbmrsk. And in 1778, he moved his son to a Moscow boarding school. In addition to basic education, young Karamzin was also very fond of foreign languages ​​and attended lectures at the same time.

After completing his education, in 1781, Nikolai, on the advice of his father, went into military service, in the elite at that time, the Preobrazhensky Regiment. Karamzin's debut as a writer took place in 1783 with a work called Wooden Leg. In 1784 Karamzin decided to end his military career and therefore retired with the rank of lieutenant.

In 1785, after the end of his military career, Karamzin made a strong-willed decision to move from Simbmrsk, where he was born and lived almost all his life, to Moscow. It was there that the writer met Novikov and the Pleshcheevs. Also, while in Moscow, he became interested in Freemasonry and for this reason he joined the Masonic circle, where he starts communication with Gamaleya and Kutuzov. In addition to his passion, he also publishes his first children's magazine.

In addition to writing his own works, Karamzin also translates various works. So in 1787 he translated Shakespeare's tragedy - "Julius Caesar". A year later he translated "Emilia Galotti" written by Lessing. The very first work entirely written by Karamzin was published in 1789 and it was called "Eugene and Yulia", it was published in a magazine called "Children's Reading"

In 1789-1790 Karamzin decides to diversify his life and therefore sets off on a journey throughout Europe. The writer visited such major countries as Germany, England, France, Switzerland. During his journey, Karamzin met many famous historical figures of that time, such as Herder and Bonnet. He even managed to attend the performances of Robespierre himself. During the trip, he did not easily admire the beauties of Europe, but he carefully described all this, after which he called this work "Letters from a Russian Traveler".

Detailed biography

Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin is the greatest Russian writer and historian, the founder of sentimentalism.

Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin was born on December 12, 1766 in the Simbirsk province. His father was a hereditary nobleman and owned his own estate. Like most representatives of high society, Nikolai was educated at home. As a teenager, he leaves his home and enters the Johann Schaden University of Moscow. He is making progress in learning foreign languages. In parallel with the main program, the guy attends lectures by famous educators and philosophers. It was there that his literary activity began.

In 1783 Karamzin became a soldier of the Preobrazhensky Regiment, where he served until the death of his father. After the announcement of his death, the future writer goes to his homeland, where he remains to live. There he meets the poet Ivan Turgenev, who is a member of the Masonic lodge. It is Ivan Sergeevich who invites Nikolai to join this organization. After joining the ranks of the Freemasons, the young poet is fond of the literature of Rousseau and Shakespeare. His outlook gradually begins to change. As a result, carried away by European culture, he breaks all ties with the lodge and goes on a journey. Visiting the leading countries of that period, Karamzin witnesses the revolution in France and makes new acquaintances, the most famous of which was the popular philosopher of that time, Immanuel Kant.

The above events greatly inspired Nicholas. Being under the impression, he creates a documentary prose "Letters of a Russian Traveler", which fully describes his feelings and attitude to everything that happens in the West. Readers liked the sentimental style. Noticing this, Nikolai begins work on a reference work of this genre, known as "Poor Lisa". It reveals the thoughts and experiences of different characters. This work was positively received in society, it actually shifted classicism to the lower plane.

In 1791, Karamzin was engaged in journalism, working in the newspaper "Moscow Journal". In it, he publishes his own almanacs and other works. In addition, the poet is working on reviews of theatrical productions. Until 1802, Nikolai was engaged in journalism. During this period, Nikolai became close to the royal court, actively communicated with Emperor Alexander 1st, they were often seen walking in gardens and parks, a publicist deserves the trust of the ruler, in fact, becomes his entourage. A year later, he changes his vector to historical notes. The idea of ​​creating a book about the history of Russia captured the writer. Having received the title of a historiographer, he writes his most valuable work, The History of the Russian State. 12 volumes were published, the last of which was completed by 1826 in Tsarskoye Selo. Here Nikolai Mikhailovich spent his last years of life, dying on May 22, 1826 due to a cold.

Childhood and youth of Karamzin

Karamzin the historian

Karamzin-journalist

Childhood and youth of Karamzin

Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin was born on December 1 (12), 1766 in the village of Mikhailovka, Buzuluk district, Simbirsk province, into a cultured and well-born, but poor noble family, descended on the paternal side from a Tatar root. He inherited his quiet disposition and penchant for daydreaming from his mother Ekaterina Petrovna (née Pazukhina), whom he lost at the age of three. Early orphanhood, loneliness in his father's house strengthened these qualities in the boy's soul: he fell in love with rural solitude, the beauty of the Volga nature, and early became addicted to reading books.

When Karamzin was 13 years old, his father took him to Moscow and sent him to the boarding school of Moscow University professor I.M. Shaden, where the boy received a secular education, studied European languages ​​to perfection and listened to lectures at the university. At the end of the boarding school in 1781, Karamzin left Moscow and decided in St. Petersburg to the Preobrazhensky Regiment, to which he was assigned from childhood. Friendship with I.I. Dmitriev, the future famous poet and fabulist, strengthened his interest in literature. For the first time Karamzin appeared in print with a translation of the idyll of the German poet S. Gessner in 1783.

After the death of his father, in January 1784, Karamzin retired with the rank of lieutenant and returned to his homeland in Simbirsk. Here he led a rather scattered lifestyle, typical of a young nobleman of those years. A decisive turn in his fate was made by an accidental acquaintance with I.P. Turgenev, an active Freemason, a writer, an associate of the famous writer and book publisher of the late 18th century N.I. Novikov. I.P. Turgenev takes Karamzin to Moscow, and for four years the novice writer rotates in Moscow Masonic circles, closely approaches N.I. Novikov, becomes a member of the "Friendly Scientific Society".

Moscow Rosicrucian Freemasons (knights of the gold-pink cross) were characterized by criticism of Voltairianism and the entire heritage of the French encyclopedists-enlighteners. Freemasons considered the human mind to be the lowest level of knowledge and put it in direct dependence on feelings and Divine revelation. The mind outside the control of feelings and faith is not able to correctly understand the world around it, it is a "dark", "demonic" mind, which is the source of all human delusions and troubles.

The book of the French mystic Saint-Martin "On Errors and Truth" was especially popular in the "Friendly Learned Society": it was not by chance that the Rosicrucians were called "Martinists" by their ill-wishers. Saint-Martin declared that the teaching of the Enlightenment about the social contract, based on an atheistic "faith" in the "good nature" of man, is a lie that tramples on the Christian truth about the "obscurity" of human nature by "original sin." It is naive to consider state power as the result of human "creativity". It is the subject of God's special care for sinful humanity and is sent by the Creator to tame and restrain sinful thoughts to which fallen man is subject on this earth.

The state power of Catherine II, who was under the influence of the French enlighteners, was considered by the Martinists to be a delusion, God's forgiveness for the sins of the entire Petrine period of our history. Russian Masons, among whom Karamzin moved in those years, created a utopia about a beautiful country of believers and happy people, ruled by elected Masons according to the laws of the Masonic religion, without bureaucracy, clerks, policemen, nobles, arbitrariness. In their books, they preached this utopia as a program: there would be no need in their state, there would be no mercenaries, no slaves, no taxes; all will learn and live peacefully and sublimely. For this, it is necessary that everyone become Freemasons and be cleansed of filth. In the future Masonic "paradise" there will be no church, no laws, but a free society of good people who believe in God as they wish.

Karamzin soon realized that, denying the "autocracy" of Catherine II, the Masons hatched plans for their "autocracy", opposing the Masonic heresy to everything else, sinful humanity. With external consonance with the truths of the Christian religion, in the process of their ingenious reasoning, one untruth and lie was replaced by another no less dangerous and insidious. Karamzin was also alarmed by the excessive mystical exaltation of his "brothers", so far from the "spiritual sobriety" bequeathed by Orthodoxy. I was embarrassed by the veil of secrecy and conspiracy associated with the activities of Masonic lodges.

And now Karamzin, like the hero of Tolstoy's epic novel "War and Peace" Pierre Bezukhov, is deeply disappointed in Freemasonry and leaves Moscow, setting off on a long journey through Western Europe. His fears are soon confirmed: the affairs of the entire Masonic organization, as the investigation found out, were run by some dark people who left Prussia and acted in her favor, hiding their goals from the sincerely mistaken, beautiful-hearted Russian "brothers". Karamzin's journey through Western Europe, which lasted a year and a half, marked the writer's final break with the Masonic hobbies of his youth.

"Letters from a Russian Traveler". In the autumn of 1790, Karamzin returned to Russia and from 1791 began to publish the Moscow Journal, which was published for two years and had great success with the Russian reading public. In it, he published two of his main works - "Letters from a Russian Traveler" and the story "Poor Liza".

In the "Letters of a Russian Traveler", summing up his travels abroad, Karamzin, following the tradition of Stern's "Sentimental Journey", rebuilds it from the inside in a Russian way. Stern pays almost no attention to the outside world, focusing on a meticulous analysis of his own experiences and feelings. Karamzin, on the contrary, is not closed within the limits of his "I", he is not too concerned with the subjective content of his emotions. The leading role in his narrative is played by the outside world, the author is sincerely interested in its true understanding and its objective assessment. In each country, he notices the most interesting and important: in Germany - mental life (he meets Kant in Koenigsberg and meets Herder and Wieland in Weimar), in Switzerland - nature, in England - political and public institutions, parliament, jury trials, family life of respectable Puritans. In the writer's responsiveness to the surrounding phenomena of life, in the desire to feel the spirit of different countries and peoples, Karamzin already anticipates the gift of V.A. Zhukovsky, and Pushkin's "proteism" with his "universal responsiveness".

Particular emphasis should be placed on the section of Karamzin's Letters concerning France. He visited this country at the moment when the first thunderous peals of the Great French Revolution were heard. He also saw with his own eyes the king and queen, whose days were already numbered, and attended the meetings of the National Assembly. The conclusions that Karamzin made when analyzing revolutionary upheavals in one of the most advanced countries of Western Europe already anticipated the problems of all Russian literature of the 19th century.

“Any civil society, established over the centuries,” says Karamzin, “is a shrine for good citizens, and in the most imperfect one one must be surprised at the wonderful harmony, improvement, order.“ Utopia ”will always be a dream of a kind heart or can be fulfilled by the inconspicuous action of time, through slow, but the sure, safe successes of reason, enlightenment, the education of good morals. When people are convinced that virtue is necessary for their own happiness, then the golden age will come, and in every government a person will enjoy the peaceful well-being of life. All violent upheavals are disastrous, and every rebel prepares let us betray ourselves, my friends, let us betray ourselves into the power of Providence: it, of course, has its own plan; the hearts of sovereigns are in its hands - and that's enough.

In the "Letters of a Russian Traveler" the thought is ripening, which formed the basis of the "Notes on Ancient and New Russia" compiled by Karamzin, which he handed over to Alexander I in 1811, on the eve of the Napoleonic invasion. In it, the writer inspired the sovereign that the main business of government is not in changing external forms and institutions, but in people, in the level of their moral self-awareness. A beneficent monarch and his skillfully selected governors will successfully replace any written constitution. And therefore, for the good of the fatherland, first of all, good priests are needed, and then public schools.

Letters from a Russian Traveler revealed the typical attitude of a thinking Russian to the historical experience of Western Europe and the lessons he learned from it. The West remained for us in the 19th century a school of life both in its best, bright and dark sides. The deeply personal, kinship attitude of an enlightened nobleman to the cultural and historical life of Western Europe, evident in Karamzin's Letters, was well expressed later by F.M. Dostoevsky through the mouth of Versilov, the hero of the novel "The Teenager": "For a Russian, Europe is as precious as Russia: every stone in it is sweet and dear."

Karamzin the historian

It is noteworthy that Karamzin himself did not take part in these disputes, but treated Shishkov with respect, not harboring any resentment towards his criticism. In 1803, he began the main work of his life - the creation of the "History of the Russian State". The idea of ​​this capital work arose from Karamzin long ago. Back in 1790, he wrote: "It hurts, but it must be fair to admit that we still do not have a good history, that is, written with a philosophical mind, with criticism, with noble eloquence. Tacitus, Hume, Robertson, Gibbon - these are examples They say that our history in itself is less entertaining than others: I don’t think, only mind, taste, talent are needed. Of course, Karamzin had all these abilities, but in order to master the capital work associated with the study of a huge number of historical documents, material freedom and independence were also required. When Karamzin began publishing Vestnik Evropy in 1802, he dreamed of the following: “Being not very rich, I published a magazine with the intention that by forced work of five or six years I would buy independence, the opportunity to work freely and ... compose Russian history which has occupied my whole soul for some time."

And then a close acquaintance of Karamzin, Comrade Minister of Education M.N. Muravyov, appealed to Alexander I with a request to help the writer in the implementation of his plan. In a personal decree of December 31, 1803, Karamzin was approved as a court historiographer with an annual pension of two thousand rubles. Thus began the twenty-two-year period of Karamzin's life, associated with the capital work of creating the History of the Russian State.

About how to write history, Karamzin said: “A historian should rejoice and grieve with his people. He should not, guided by predilection, distort facts, exaggerate happiness or belittle disaster in his presentation; he must, above all, be truthful; but he can, he must even convey everything unpleasant, everything shameful in the history of his people with sadness, and speak about what brings honor, about victories, about a flourishing state, with joy and enthusiasm.Only in this way will he become a national writer of everyday life, which, above all, he must be a historian."

"History of the Russian State" Karamzin began to write in Moscow and in the estate of Olsufyevo near Moscow. In 1816, he moved to St. Petersburg: efforts began to publish the completed eight volumes of "History ...". Karamzin became a person close to the court, personally communicated with Alexander I and members of the royal family. The Karamzins spent the summer months in Tsarskoye Selo, where they were visited by the young lyceum student Pushkin. In 1818, eight volumes of "History ..." were published, in 1821 the ninth, dedicated to the era of the reign of Ivan the Terrible, was published, in 1824 - the tenth and eleventh volumes.

"History ..." was created on the basis of the study of a huge amount of factual material, among which chronicles occupied a key place. Combining the talent of a scientist-historian with artistic talent, Karamzin skillfully conveyed the very spirit of chronicle sources by quoting them abundantly or skillfully retelling them. Not only the abundance of facts, but also the very attitude of the chronicler towards them was dear to the historian in the annals. Comprehension of the chronicler's point of view is the main task of Karamzin the artist, allowing him to convey the "spirit of the times", the popular opinion about certain events. And Karamzin the historian at the same time made comments. That is why Karamzin's "History ..." combined a description of the emergence and development of Russian statehood with the process of growth and formation of Russian national identity.

By his convictions, Karamzin was a monarchist. He believed that the autocratic form of government was the most organic for such a huge country as Russia. But at the same time, he showed the constant danger that lies in wait for autocracy in the course of history - the danger of its degeneration into "autocracy." Refuting the widespread view of peasant revolts and riots as a manifestation of the people's "savagery" and "ignorance", Karamzin showed that popular indignation is generated every time by the retreat of monarchical power from the principles of autocracy towards autocracy and tyranny. Popular indignation in Karamzin is a form of manifestation of the Heavenly Court, Divine punishment for the crimes committed by tyrants. It is through the life of the people that, according to Karamzin, the Divine will manifests itself in history, it is the people who most often turn out to be a powerful tool of Providence. Thus, Karamzin relieves the people of the blame for the rebellion in the event that this rebellion has a higher moral justification.

When Pushkin already at the end of the 1830s became acquainted with this "Note ..." in manuscript, he said: "Karamzin wrote his thoughts about Ancient and New Russia with all the sincerity of a beautiful soul, with all the courage of a strong and deep conviction." "Someday posterity will appreciate ... the nobility of a patriot."

But the "Note ..." caused irritation and displeasure of the conceited Alexander. For five years, with a cold attitude towards Karamzin, he emphasized his resentment. In 1816 there was a rapprochement, but not for long. In 1819, the sovereign, returning from Warsaw, where he opened the Polish Sejm, in one of his sincere conversations with Karamzin announced that he wanted to restore Poland within its ancient borders. This "strange" desire shocked Karamzin so much that he immediately compiled and personally read to the sovereign a new "Note ...":

"You think of restoring the ancient Kingdom of Poland, but is this restoration in accordance with the law of the state good of Russia? Is it in accordance with your sacred duties, with your love for Russia and for justice itself? Can you, with a peaceful conscience, take Belarus, Lithuania, Volhynia from us, Podolia, the approved property of Russia even before your reign? Do not sovereigns swear to preserve the integrity of their powers? These lands were already Russia when Metropolitan Platon presented you with the crown of Monomakh, Peter, Catherine, whom you called the Great ... nikolay karamzin pension historiographer

We would lose not only beautiful regions, but also love for the tsar, we would lose our soul to the fatherland, seeing it as a plaything of autocratic arbitrariness, we would not only be weakened by the reduction of the state, but we would also be humbled in spirit before others and before ourselves. Of course, the palace would not have been empty, and then you would have ministers, generals, but they would not serve the fatherland, but only their own personal benefits, like mercenaries, like true slaves ... "

At the end of a heated argument with Alexander 1 about his policy towards Poland, Karamzin said: “Your Majesty, you have a lot of pride ... I am not afraid of anything, we are both equal before God. What I told you, I would say to your father ... I despise premature liberals; I love only that freedom that no tyrant will take away from me ... I no longer need your favors.

Karamzin passed away on May 22 (June 3), 1826, while working on the twelfth volume of "History ...", where he was supposed to tell about the people's militia of Minin and Pozharsky, who liberated Moscow and stopped the "distemper" in our Fatherland. The manuscript of this volume broke off at the phrase: "Nutlet did not give up ..."

The significance of the "History of the Russian State" can hardly be overestimated: its appearance in the light was a major act of Russian national self-consciousness. According to Pushkin, Karamzin revealed to the Russians their past, just as Columbus discovered America. The writer in his "History ..." gave a sample of the national epic, forcing each Epoch to speak its own language. Karamzin's work had a great influence on Russian writers. Relying on Karamzin, Pushktn wrote his "Boris Godunov", Ryleev composed his "Dumas". The History of the Russian State had a direct influence on the development of the Russian historical novel from Zagoskin and Lazhechnikov to Leo Tolstoy. "The pure and high glory of Karamzin belongs to Russia," said Pushkin.

Karamzin-journalist

Beginning with the publication of the Moscow Journal, Karamzin appeared before Russian public opinion as the first professional writer and journalist. Before him, only writers of the third rank dared to live on literary earnings. A cultured nobleman considered literature to be more of a fun and certainly not a serious profession. Karamzin, with his work and constant success with readers, established the authority of writing in the eyes of society and turned literature into a profession, perhaps the most honorable and respected. There is an opinion that the enthusiastic youths of St. Petersburg dreamed of at least walking to Moscow, just to look at the famous Karamzin. In the "Moscow Journal" and subsequent editions, Karamzin not only expanded the circle of readers of a good Russian book, but also brought up an aesthetic taste, prepared a cultural society for the perception of V.A. Zhukovsky and A.S. Pushkin. His journal, his literary almanacs were no longer limited to Moscow and St. Petersburg, but penetrated into the Russian provinces. In 1802, Karamzin began publishing Vestnik Evropy, a magazine not only literary, but also socio-political, which gave a prototype to the so-called "thick" Russian magazines that existed throughout the 19th century and survived until the end of the 20th century.

A. Venetsianov "Portrait of N.M. Karamzin"

"I was looking for the path to the truth,
I wanted to know the reason for everything ... "(N.M. Karamzin)

"History of the Russian State" was the last and unfinished work of the outstanding Russian historian N.M. Karamzin: a total of 12 volumes of research were written, Russian history was presented until 1612.

Interest in history appeared in Karamzin in his youth, but there was a long way to his calling as a historian.

From the biography of N.M. Karamzin

Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin was born in 1766 in the family estate of Znamenskoye, Simbirsk district, Kazan province, in the family of a retired captain, a middle-class Simbirsk nobleman. Received home education. Studied at Moscow University. For a short time he served in the Preobrazhensky Guards Regiment of St. Petersburg, it was to this time that his first literary experiments date.

After retiring, he lived for some time in Simbirsk, and then moved to Moscow.

In 1789, Karamzin left for Europe, where in Koenigsberg he visited I. Kant, and in Paris he became a witness to the Great French Revolution. Returning to Russia, he publishes Letters from a Russian Traveler, which make him a famous writer.

Writer

"The influence of Karamzin on literature can be compared with the influence of Catherine on society: he made literature humane"(A.I. Herzen)

Creativity N.M. Karamzin developed in line with sentimentalism.

V. Tropinin "Portrait of N.M. Karamzin"

Literary direction sentimentalism(from fr.sentiment- feeling) was popular in Europe from the 20s to the 80s of the 18th century, and in Russia from the end of the 18th to the beginning of the 19th century. The ideologist of sentimentalism is J.-J. Ruso.

European sentimentalism entered Russia in the 1780s and early 1790s. thanks to translations of Goethe's Werther, novels by S. Richardson and J.-J. Rousseau, who were very popular in Russia:

She liked novels early on;

They replaced everything for her.

She fell in love with deceptions

And Richardson and Rousseau.

Pushkin is talking here about his heroine Tatyana, but all the girls of that time read sentimental novels.

The main feature of sentimentalism is that attention in them is primarily paid to the spiritual world of a person, in the first place are feelings, and not reason and great ideas. The heroes of the works of sentimentalism have an innate moral purity, integrity, they live in the bosom of nature, love it and are merged with it.

Such a heroine is Liza from Karamzin's story "Poor Lisa" (1792). This story was a huge success with readers, followed by numerous imitations, but the main significance of sentimentalism and in particular the story of Karamzin was that such works revealed the inner world of a simple person who evoked the ability to empathize in others.

In poetry, Karamzin was also an innovator: the former poetry, represented by the odes of Lomonosov and Derzhavin, spoke the language of reason, and Karamzin's poems spoke the language of the heart.

N.M. Karamzin is a reformer of the Russian language

He enriched the Russian language with many words: “impression”, “love”, “influence”, “entertaining”, “touching”. Introduced the words "epoch", "concentrate", "scene", "moral", "aesthetic", "harmony", "future", "catastrophe", "charity", "free-thinking", "attraction", "responsibility" ”, “suspicion”, “industry”, “refinement”, “first-class”, “human”.

His language reforms caused a heated controversy: members of the Conversation of Russian Word Lovers society, headed by G. R. Derzhavin and A. S. Shishkov, adhered to conservative views and opposed the reform of the Russian language. In response to their activities, in 1815 the literary society "Arzamas" was formed (it included Batyushkov, Vyazemsky, Zhukovsky, Pushkin), which sneered at the authors of "Conversations" and parodied their works. The literary victory of "Arzamas" over "Conversation" was won, which also strengthened the victory of Karamzin's language changes.

Karamzin also introduced the letter Y into the alphabet. Prior to this, the words “tree”, “hedgehog” were written like this: “іolka”, “іozh”.

Karamzin also introduced a dash, one of the punctuation marks, into Russian writing.

Historian

In 1802 N.M. Karamzin wrote the historical story “Martha the Posadnitsa, or the Conquest of Novgorod”, and in 1803 Alexander I appointed him to the post of historiographer, thus, Karamzin devoted the rest of his life to writing “The History of the Russian State”, in fact, finishing with fiction.

Exploring manuscripts of the 16th century, Karamzin discovered and published in 1821 Afanasy Nikitin's Journey Beyond the Three Seas. In this regard, he wrote: “... 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”(historical region in South India). In addition, Karamzin was the initiator of the installation of a monument to K. M. Minin and D. M. Pozharsky on Red Square and took the initiative to erect monuments to prominent figures in Russian history.

"History of Russian Goverment"

Historical work of N.M. Karamzin

This is a multi-volume work by N. M. Karamzin, describing Russian history from ancient times to the reign of Ivan IV the Terrible and the Time of Troubles. Karamzin's work was not the first in the description of the history of Russia, before him there were already historical works by V. N. Tatishchev and M. M. Shcherbatov.

But Karamzin's "History" had, in addition to historical, high literary merits, including due to the ease of writing, it attracted not only specialists, but also simply educated people to Russian history, which greatly contributed to the formation of national self-consciousness, interest in the past. A.S. Pushkin wrote that “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.

It is believed that in this work Karamzin nevertheless showed himself more not as a historian, but as a writer: "History" is written in a beautiful literary language (by the way, Karamzin did not use the letter Y in it), but the historical value of his work is unconditional, because . the author used manuscripts that were first published by him and many of which have not survived to this day.

Working on "History" until the end of his life, Karamzin did not have time to finish it. The text of the manuscript breaks off at the chapter "Interregnum 1611-1612".

The work of N.M. Karamzin over the "History of the Russian State"

In 1804, Karamzin retired to the Ostafyevo estate, where he devoted himself entirely to writing the History.

Manor Ostafyevo

Ostafyevo- the estate near Moscow of Prince P. A. Vyazemsky. It was built in 1800-07. the poet's father, Prince A. I. Vyazemsky. The estate remained in the possession of the Vyazemskys until 1898, after which it passed into the possession of the Sheremetevs.

In 1804, A.I. Vyazemsky invited his son-in-law, N.M. Karamzin, who worked here on the History of the Russian State. In April 1807, after the death of his father, Pyotr Andreevich Vyazemsky became the owner of the estate, under which Ostafyevo became one of the symbols of the cultural life of Russia: Pushkin, Zhukovsky, Batyushkov, Denis Davydov, Griboedov, Gogol, Adam Mickiewicz visited here many times.

The content of Karamzin's "History of the Russian State"

N. M. Karamzin "History of the Russian State"

In the course of his work, Karamzin found the Ipatiev Chronicle, it was from here that the historian drew many details and details, but did not clutter up the text of the narrative with them, but put them in a separate volume of notes that are of particular historical significance.

In his work, Karamzin describes the peoples who inhabited the territory of modern Russia, the origins of the Slavs, their conflict with the Varangians, talks about the origin of the first princes of Rus', their reign, describes in detail all the important events of Russian history until 1612.

The value of N.M. Karamzin

Already the first publications of the "History" shocked contemporaries. They read it excitedly, discovering the past of their country. Writers used many plots in the future for works of art. For example, Pushkin took material from History for his tragedy Boris Godunov, which he dedicated to Karamzin.

But, as always, there were critics. Basically, liberals contemporary to Karamzin objected to the etatist picture of the world expressed in the work of the historian, and his belief in the effectiveness of the autocracy.

Statism- this is a worldview and ideology that absolutizes the role of the state in society and promotes the maximum subordination of the interests of individuals and groups to the interests of the state; a policy of active state intervention in all spheres of public and private life.

Statism considers the state as the highest institution, standing above all other institutions, although its goal is to create real opportunities for the comprehensive development of the individual and the state.

The liberals reproached Karamzin for following in his work only the development of the supreme power, which gradually took on the forms of autocracy contemporary to him, but neglected the history of the Russian people themselves.

There is even an epigram attributed to Pushkin:

In his "History" elegance, simplicity
They prove to us without prejudice
The need for autocracy
And the charms of the whip.

Indeed, by the end of his life, Karamzin was a staunch supporter of absolute monarchy. He did not share the point of view of the majority of thinking people on serfdom, was not an ardent supporter of its abolition.

He died in 1826 in St. Petersburg and was buried at the Tikhvin cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.

Monument to N.M. Karamzin in Ostafyevo

Karamzin Nikolai Mikhailovich was born on December 12 (December 1), 1766 in Simbirsk (now Ulyanovsk) into a noble family. The future writer received his primary education at home. Soon his father gave him to the Simbirsk noble boarding school, and in 1778 to a private boarding school in Moscow. In parallel, Karamzin was actively studying languages, attending lectures at Moscow University.

Military service

In 1781, Nikolai Mikhailovich, at the insistence of his father, entered the military service in the Preobrazhensky Regiment. In 1783, the writer made his debut in print with the work "Wooden Leg". In 1784, Karamzin's brief biography as a military man ended, and he retired with the rank of lieutenant.

Early literary activity

In 1785, Karamzin, whose biography changed direction dramatically, moved from his native Simbirsk to Moscow. Here the writer meets N. I. Novikov and the Pleshcheev family. Carried away by Freemasonry, Nikolai Mikhailovich enters the Moscow Masonic circle, where he begins to communicate closely with I. S. Gamaleya, A. M. Kutuzov. At the same time, Karamzin participated in the publication of the first children's magazine in Russia - "Children's Reading for the Heart and Mind."

Travel to Europe

In 1789-1790 Karamzin traveled around Europe. The writer visited Germany, England, France, Switzerland, met many famous personalities of that era - C. Bonnet, I. Kant, J. F. Marmontel, J. G. Herder, I. K. Lavater, attended the performances of M. Robespierre , O. G. Mirabeau. During the trip, Nikolai Mikhailovich created the famous Letters of a Russian Traveler, which were published in 1791-1792 and brought the writer wide literary fame.

mature creativity. "History of Russian Goverment"

Upon returning to Moscow, Karamzin continues to engage in literary activities, writes works of art, critical articles and notes. In 1791, Nikolai Mikhailovich began publishing the literary Moscow Journal, in which he first published the stories Poor Lisa, Natalya, the Boyar's Daughter. Soon Karamzin published several sentimental almanacs - "Aglaya", "Aonides", "Pantheon of Foreign Literature", "My trinkets". In 1802, the story "Martha the Posadnitsa, or the Conquest of Novgorod" was published.

In 1803, Emperor Alexander I granted Karamzin the title of historiographer, all libraries and archives were opened to the writer.

Until the last day of his life, Nikolai Mikhailovich worked on his most important work - "The History of the Russian State." The book covers events from ancient times to the Time of Troubles and includes 12 volumes. The first eight volumes appeared in 1818, the next three were published in 1821-1824. The last part of the "History ..." saw the light after the death of Karamzin.

Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin died on May 22 (June 3), 1826 in St. Petersburg. The writer was buried at the Tikhvin cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.

Other biography options

• Prose and poetry of Karamzin largely influenced the development of the Russian literary language, the writer was the first to use neologisms, barbarisms, and moved away from church vocabulary.
• Karamzin was married twice. The first wife, E. I. Protasova, was the sister of A. I. Pleshcheeva. The second wife, E. A. Kolyvanova, was the illegitimate daughter of Prince A. I. Vyazemsky.
• The story "Poor Lisa" by Karamzin is the most striking example of Russian sentimentalism and is studied by schoolchildren in the 9th grade.
• Karamzin was the first to discover a well-known literary monument - the work of Afanasy Nikitin "Journey Beyond the Three Seas".
• Thanks to Karamzin, such words as “moral”, “industry”, “scene”, “catastrophe”, “concentrate”, “aesthetic”, “future”, “epoch”, “harmony”, “falling in love” appeared in the everyday life of the modern Russian language. ”, “entertaining”, “influence”, “impression”, “touching”.

MAIN DATES OF THE LIFE AND CREATIVITY OF N. M. KARAMZIN

1766 , December 1 (12) - Born in the village of Mikhailovka, Buzuluk district, Simbirsk province (according to other sources - in the village of Bogorodskoye, Simbirsk district, Simbirsk province).

1775–1781 - brought up in Moscow, in the boarding house of Professor I. M. Shaden.

1782 - is in the Preobrazhensky Guards Regiment in St. Petersburg.

1783 - the first printed work of Karamzin is published - a translation from the German idyll by S. Gesner "Wooden Leg".

1784 - retires with the rank of lieutenant and leaves for Simbirsk.

1788–1789 - participates in periodicals - "Reflections on the Affairs of God", N. I. Novikov's magazine "Children's Reading for the Heart and Mind" (here he publishes his first story "Eugene and Julia", 1789).

1789 - leaves the Masonic lodge.

1791 ,January - 1792 ,December - publishes the Moscow Journal. Publication from issue to issue of "Letters of a Russian Traveler" (the first four parts are published as a separate edition in 1797; in full (parts 1-6) - in 1801; in 1799-1804 - translations into German, Polish, English and others languages). The publication of "Poor Liza" (1792, a separate edition - 1796), "Natalia, the boyar daughter" (1792), etc.

1793–1796 - Karamzin lives intermittently at the Znamenskoye Pleshcheev estate (Oryol viceroy). He publishes in Moscow two volumes of the almanac "Aglaya" (1794-1795; republished in 1796), two parts of the stories entitled "My trinkets" (1794-1795; 3rd ed. - 1801), "Melodor to Philaletus" (1795 ) and etc.

1796 - "Ode on the occasion of the oath of Moscow residents ... to Paul I." Karamzin's hopes for easing censorship, limiting the despotism of power, patronizing enlightenment. Soon - disappointment in Paul.

1796–1799 - despite censorship obstacles, he publishes three books of the almanac "Aonides", the story "Julia" (1796), the prose philosophical dialogue "Conversation about Happiness" (1797), the first part of "Different Tales" (1798), the journal "Pantheon of Foreign Literature" ( 1798), etc.

1801 , March - accession to the throne of Alexander I. Resumption of active publishing activity of Karamzin: odes to Alexander I (“On the accession to the throne ...”, “On the solemn coronation ...”), a complete edition of “Letters of a Russian traveler” (1801), “Historical eulogy to Catherine II” (1802, written in 1801), etc.

April - marriage to Elizaveta Ivanovna Protasova, the younger sister of Karamzin's longtime friend Nastasya Ivanovna Pleshcheeva.

1802 ,January - 1803 ,December - publication of the literary and political journal Vestnik Evropy. On the pages of the magazine were published: "My confession" (1802), "Historical memories and remarks on the way to the Trinity" (1802), "Knight of our time" (1802-1803), "Marfa Posadnitsa, or the Conquest of Novgorod" (1803), “Sensitive and cold. Two Characters” (1803) and other works.

1802 , April- the death of his wife Elizabeth Ivanovna, hard experienced by Karamzin.

1803–1804 - publication of works in eight volumes (reprinted in 1814 and 1820).

1803 , September 28- H. M. Karamzin appeals to the Deputy Minister of Public Education, trustee of Moscow University M. N. Muravyov with a request to petition for his official appointment as a historiographer.

1803–1816 - hard work on the first eight volumes of the History of the Russian State. During these years, Karamzin spends the winter in Moscow, in the summer he lives in Ostafyev, the estate of the Vyazemskys near Moscow.

1804 , January - marriage to Ekaterina Andreevna Kolyvanova, the natural daughter of Prince Andrei Ivanovich Vyazemsky.

1805 - completed the first volume of "History ...".

1806 - work on the second volume.

1808 - completed the third volume.

Independently and with the help of employees and assistants (A.F. Malinovsky, K.F. Kalaidovich, P.M. Stroev, etc.), he opens the most valuable documentary materials: the Lavrentiev (Pushkin) and Trinity (burned down in 1812) annals, two lists Ipatiev Chronicle - Khlebnikov and Ipatiev, the manuscript of the Pilot's Book (XIII century), the oldest list of Russian Truth, the Sudebnik of Ivan the Terrible and many others. The discovery of the Ipatiev Chronicle forces Karamzin to completely revise the already almost finished fifth volume, which was completed only in 1811.

1810 - acquaintance in Moscow with the sister of Emperor Alexander I, Grand Duchess Ekaterina Pavlovna. At her invitation, Karamzin begins to visit her residence in Tver.

1811 , March - on the initiative of Grand Duchess Ekaterina Pavlovna, submits to the emperor a treatise “On ancient and new Russia in its political and civil relations” (“Note on ancient and new Russia”) (discovered in 1836, published abroad in 1861; in Russia for the first time in full - in 1900, a separate edition - in 1914).

18th of March- reads to the emperor (in the presence of Grand Duchess Ekaterina Pavlovna) the chapters of the History of the Russian State.

1812 , 12 June- the invasion of Napoleonic troops in Russia; the beginning of the Patriotic War.

July - early August- Karamzin interrupts work on "History ...", sends his family from Moscow to Yaroslavl, giving his wife "the best and complete copy" of "History".

August, 26th- Battle of Borodino. Karamzin is preparing to join the people's militia to fight the enemy under the walls of Moscow.

September 1 - leaves Moscow the day before the French troops enter it; goes to Yaroslavl, and then with his family - to Nizhny Novgorod.

1813 - Karamzin and his family are in Nizhny Novgorod. Resumption of work on the "History ...".

1814 - written the seventh volume.

1815 - eighth volume.

1816 - Karamzin goes to St. Petersburg to work on the publication of the first eight volumes of "History ...". The agonizing expectation of an audience with Emperor Alexander I; an audience with Count A. A. Arakcheev, and then with the emperor.

1818 , 28 January- publication of the first eight volumes of the "History of the Russian State" (on the cover of vols. 1–3: 1816; vols. 4–8: 1817). Three thousand copies were sold in one month, and a second edition was immediately required.

5th of December- Karamzin is elected to the Imperial Russian Academy of Sciences; "Speech delivered ... in the solemn meeting of the Imperial Russian Academy of Sciences."

1821 - publication of the ninth volume, dedicated to the era of executions in the reign of Ivan the Terrible.

1824 - the tenth and eleventh volumes of "History ..." (the last, twelfth volume was published posthumously in 1829).

December 14 - uprising on the Senate Square. Karamzin is present on the square and in the palace. Sharp rejection of Decembristism. Breakdown of moral and physical strength, aggravation of the disease.

1826 , March 22 - Karamzin's letter to Emperor Nicholas I with a request to appoint him to the post of Russian resident in Florence (to cure his illness).

April 6 - the emperor’s response: “... although the place in Florence is not yet vacant, the Russian Historiographer does not need such an excuse in order to have a way to live there freely and do his own thing, which, without flattery, seems to be worth diplomatic correspondence ..”

may 13- the rescript of Emperor Nicholas I on the appointment of "the historiographer of the Russian Empire, the Real State Councilor Karamzin, who is leaving to heal his abroad", a pension of 50 thousand rubles a year "so that this amount ... was after him produced in full to his wife, and according to her death is also full of their children - sons until all of them enter the service, and daughters until the marriage of the last of them.

The main dates of life and work 1883, April 30 - Yaroslav Gashek was born in Prague. 1893 - admitted to the gymnasium on Zhitnaya Street. 1898, February 12 - leaves the gymnasium. 1899 - enters the Prague Commercial School. 1900, summer - wandering around Slovakia. 1901 , January 26 - in the newspaper "Parody sheets"