Nikolay Nekrasov
In January 1823 Alexey Nekrasov retired from the army and moved his family to an estate in Greshnevo, Yaroslavl province. The young Nikolai spent his childhood years there with five siblings, including brothers Andrey born in 1820 and Konstantin born in 1824. His father became a provincial inspector after leaving military service. This career change caused Aleksey Sergeyevich much frustration resulting in drunken rages against both peasants and his wife. Such experiences traumatized Nikolai and later determined the subject matter of his major poems that portrayed the plight of Russian peasants and women. His mother loved literature and imparted this passion to her son. It was her love and support that helped the young poet survive the traumatic experiences of his childhood which were aggravated by images of social injustice similar to Fyodor Dostoyevsky's childhood recollections. A biographer wrote decades later that his was a wounded heart, and this wound never healed served as a source for his passionate suffering verse for the rest of his life.
By July 1837 he took two of his elder sons back home citing health problems as a reason. Nikolai had to spend a year in Greshnevo doing nothing besides accompanying his father on expeditions. Outraged by his son's refusal to join the Cadet Corps the father stopped supporting him financially. The three-year period of his Petersburg tribulations followed when the young man had to live in extreme conditions and once even found himself in a homeless shelter. Things turned for the better when he started to give private lessons and contribute to the Literary Supplement to Russky Invalid. He compiled ABC-books and versified fairytales for children under the pseudonym Perepelsky. In October 1838 Nekrasov debuted as a published poet with Thought appearing in Syn Otechestva. By the age of fifteen the whole notebook of verses has taken shape which was the reason why I was itching to flee to the capital according to his own memory. For eight years from 1838 to 1846 this man lived on the verge of starvation should he have backstepped made peace with his father he'd have found himself again in total comfort.
In October 1841 Nekrasov started contributing to Andrey Krayevsky's Otechestvennye Zapiski writing anonymously until 1846. In 1843 Nekrasov met Vissarion Belinsky and entered his circle of friends including Ivan Turgenev Ivan Panayev and Pavel Annenkov. Belinsky obsessed with ideas of French Socialists found great sympathizer in Nekrasov for whom horrors of serfdom in his father's estate were still fresh memories. On the Road written in 1845 and Motherland written in 1846 two early realistic poems delighted Belinsky. Before his death in 1848 Belinsky granted Nekrasov rights to publish various articles originally planned for an almanac called the Leviathan. The poet claimed later that those early conversations with Belinsky changed his life and commemorated the critic in several poems including In the Memory of Belinsky published in 1853 and Scenes from The Bear Hunt published in 1867. In the mid-1840s Nekrasov compiled edited and published two influential almanacs The Physiology of Saint Petersburg in 1845 and Saint Petersburg Collection in 1846 featuring Fyodor Dostoyevsky's first novel Poor Folk.
In November 1846 Panayev and Nekrasov acquired the popular magazine Sovremennich which had been founded by Alexander Pushkin but lost momentum under Pyotr Pletnyov. Much of the staff of the old Otechestvennye Zapiski including Belinsky abandoned Andrey Krayevsky's magazine and joined Sovremennik to work with Nekrasov Panayev and Alexander Nikitenko the nominal editor-in-chief. In the course of just several months Nekrasov managed to draw to the invigorated magazine the best literary forces of Russia. Among works published were Ivan Turgenev's A Sportsman's Sketches Dmitry Grigorovich's Anton Goremyka and Ivan Goncharov's A Common Story. One young author discovered by Nekrasov was Leo Tolstoy who debuted in Sovremennik with his trilogy Childhood Boyhood and Youth. Nekrasov managed to save the magazine during the period known as the Seven years of darkness from 1848 to 1855 when it teetered on verge of closure and he himself was under surveillance of secret police. In order to fill gaps caused by censorial interference he started producing lengthy picturesque novels Three Countries of the World written between 1848 and 1849 and The Dead Lake published in 1851 co-authored by Avdotya Panayeva his common-law wife.
In October 1856 The Poems by N. Nekrasov came out to great public and critical acclaim. Hardly Pushkin's first poems or Revizor or Dead Souls could be said to have enjoyed such success as your book wrote Chernyshevsky on November 5 to Nekrasov who was receiving medical treatment abroad at the time. Divided into four parts and opening with manifest-like The Poet and the Citizen it was organized into elaborate tapestry parts interweaved to form vast poetic narratives like On the Street cycle. Part one dealt with real people's life part two satirized enemies of people part three revealed friends of people real and false and part four was collection of lyric verses on love and friendship. Part 3's centerpiece was Sasha an ode to new generation of politically minded Russians which critics see as closely linked to Turgenev's Rudin. In 1861 second edition of The Poems came out now in two volumes. In Nekrasov's lifetime this ever-growing collection has been re-issued several times. Academic version of Nekrasov's complete works ready by late 1930s had to be shelved due outbreak of World War II; published in 12 volumes by Soviet Goslitizdat in 1948, 1953.
In 1869 Otechestvennye Zapiski started publishing what turned out to be Nekrasov's most famous poem Who Is Happy in Russia? written between 1863 and 1876. It tells story of seven peasants who set out to ask various elements of rural population if they are happy to which answer is never satisfactory. Noted for its rhyme scheme resembling traditional Russian folk song it is regarded Nekrasov's masterpiece. Several unrhymed iambic tetrameters ending in Pyrrhic succeeded by clausule in iambic trimeter. Full of extraordinary verbal expressiveness energy and many discoveries it's one of most original Russian poems of 19th century. In 1873 group of Narodniks in Geneva printed misleadingly titled unauthorized Collection of New Poems and Songs by Nekrasov featuring all protest poems banned in Russia clear sign of what inspiration now poet has become for revolutionary underground. Banned by censors final part The Feast for All the World soon started spreading in hand-written copies all over Russia after he arrived at Yalta in September 1876 where he continued working on it.
Nikolai Alekseyevich Nekrasov died on the 8th of January 1878. Four thousand people came to funeral and procession leading to Novodevichy Cemetery turned into political rally. Fyodor Dostoyevsky delivered keynote eulogy calling Nekrasov greatest Russian poet since Alexander Pushkin and Mikhail Lermontov. One section crowd followers of Chernyshevsky with Georgy Plekhanov as leader chanted No he was greater! Members of Narodnik group Land and Liberty alongside other radical groups with wreaths From Socialists were also present. His funeral was one of most striking demonstrations of popularity ever accorded to Russian writer according to Mirsky. Vladimir Lenin considered him great Russian Socialist and habitually treated his legacy as quotation book which he used to flay enemies left and right. In Soviet times scholars tended promote same idea glorifying Nekrasov as social democrat poet fighting for oppressed and hating rich. Modern Russian scholars consider Nekrasov trailblazer in Russian 19th-century poetry who explored new ways its development in such daring way that before him was plain unthinkable.
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Common questions
When was Nikolay Nekrasov born and where did he spend his childhood?
Nikolay Nekrasov spent his childhood years in Greshnevo, Yaroslavl province after his father retired from the army in January 1823. He lived there with five siblings including brothers Andrey born in 1820 and Konstantin born in 1824.
What major poems did Nikolay Nekrasov write to portray the plight of Russian peasants?
Nekrasov wrote On the Road in 1845 and Motherland in 1846 as early realistic poems that delighted Vissarion Belinsky. His most famous poem Who Is Happy in Russia? written between 1863 and 1876 tells a story of seven peasants asking rural population if they are happy.
Which magazine did Nikolay Nekrasov acquire in November 1846 and what notable works were published there?
In November 1846 Panayev and Nekrasov acquired the popular magazine Sovremennich which had been founded by Alexander Pushkin. Works published included Ivan Turgenev's A Sportsman's Sketches Dmitry Grigorovich's Anton Goremyka and Ivan Goncharov's A Common Story.
When was The Poems by N. Nekrasov first published and how many volumes did it contain?
The Poems by N. Nekrasov came out in October 1856 divided into four parts with Part 3 featuring Sasha an ode to new generation of politically minded Russians. A second edition appeared in 1861 now in two volumes and academic versions were later published in 12 volumes by Soviet Goslitizdat in 1948 and 1953.
How did Nikolay Nekrasov die and where is he buried?
Nikolai Alekseyevich Nekrasov died on the 8th of January 1878 at Yalta after continuing work on The Feast for All the World since September 1876. Four thousand people attended his funeral procession leading to Novodevichy Cemetery where Fyodor Dostoyevsky delivered a keynote eulogy.