Nekrasov complete biography. Biography of Nekrasov: life and work of the great national poet

The article provides a brief biography of Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov.

The great classic of Russian poetry, writer and publicist Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov, years of life 1821 - 1877 (78).

Thanks to his views, Nekrasov is considered one of the “revolutionary democrats.” Nikolai Alekseevich was the editor of two magazines: Sovremennik and Otechestvennye zapiski.

One of the most significant and famous works is the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'.”

early years

Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov was born on November 28 (December 10), 1821 in the Podolsk province in the city of Nemirov into a wealthy large family of a landowner; the great poet had 13 sisters and brothers. The writer lived his early years on his family estate in the village of Greshnevo, Yaroslavl province. At the age of 11, Nekrasov entered the gymnasium, where he studied until the 5th grade, but the future poet did not have success with his studies. At the same time, Nikolai begins to try to write his first humorous poems.

Education and the beginning of a creative path

The poet's father had a very difficult character; upon learning that his son had decided to enlist in military service, he refused him financial assistance. In 1838, Nekrasov moved to St. Petersburg, where he entered the university at the Faculty of Philology and became a volunteer student. To support himself, Nikolai finds work, also writes poetry to order and gives paid lessons.

This year Nekrasov met the literary critic Belinsky; in the future he would have a tremendous influence on the young writer. At the age of 26, Nekrasov, together with the writer Ivan Panaev, leased the magazine “Contemporary” from P. A. Pletnev, and Belinsky soon joined it. He gave Nekrasov part of his material, which he had collected for the collection “Leviathan” he had planned.

The magazine very quickly became famous and began to have a great influence in society. In 1862, the government banned the publication of the magazine.

Literary activity

In 1840, Nekrasov published his first collection of poems, “Dreams and Sounds,” the collection was unsuccessful, and Vasily Zhukovsky recommended publishing most of all the poems from this collection without indicating the author’s name. After such events in his life, Nikolai Nekrasov decided to stop writing poetry and took up prose.

Nikolai writes novels and stories, is engaged in selective publication of almanacs, in one of which the debut of writers took place: D. V. Grigorovich, F. M. Dostoevsky, I. S. Turgenev, A. I. Herzen, A. N. Maikov spoke. The most famous almanac was the “Petersburg Collection”, published in 1846.

From 1847 to 1866, he was the publisher and editor of the Sovremennik magazine, which employed the best representatives of Russian writers of their time. Nekrasov publishes several collections of his poems in the magazine.

His works “Peasant Children” and “Peddlers” brought him great fame. The magazine was the center of revolutionary democracy.

Thanks to the Sovremennik magazine, the following talents shone: Ivan Turgenev, Alexander Herzen, Ivan Goncharov, Dmitry Grigorovich and many others. It published the well-known Alexander Ostrovsky, Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, and Gleb Uspensky for a long time. Thanks to the magazine and Nikolai Nekrasov personally, Russian literature learned such great names as Fyodor Dostoevsky and Leo Tolstoy.

Nekrasov collaborated in the 1840s with the magazine Otechestvennye zapiski, and after the closure of the Sovremennik magazine in 1868, he rented it from Kraevsky.
Nekrasov devoted ten years of his life to the journal Otechestvennye Zapiski.

Nekrasov in his works talked about all the suffering that the Russian people experience, showing how difficult life is for the peasantry. As a writer, Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov made an invaluable contribution to the development of Russian classical poetry and literature in general. In his works he used simple Russian colloquial speech, thanks to this the author brilliantly showed all the beauty of the Russian language. Nekrasov was the first to use satire, lyricism and elegiac motifs together. Nekrasov did not always like his own works, and often he asked not to include them in collections. But his publishers and friends persuaded Nekrasov not to remove a single work.

Personal life and hobbies

The poet had several love experiences in his life: In 1842, at a poetry evening, he met the owner of the literary salon, Avdotya Panaeva. Then in St. Petersburg in 1863 he met the Frenchwoman Selina Lefren. Nekrasov’s wife was a village girl, Fyokla Viktorovna, a simple and uneducated girl, at that time she was 23 years old, and Nekrasov was already 48.

Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov was born into the family of an officer on November 28 (December 10), 1821. Two years after the birth of his son, the father retired and settled on his estate in the village of Greshnevo. Childhood years left difficult memories in the poet’s soul. And this was connected primarily with the despotic character of his father, Alexei Sergeevich. Nekrasov studied at the Yaroslavl gymnasium for several years. In 1838, following the will of his father, he left for St. Petersburg to join the Noble Regiment: the retired major wanted to see his son as an officer. But, once in St. Petersburg, Nekrasov violates his father’s will and tries to enter the university. The punishment followed was very severe: the father refused to provide financial assistance to his son, and Nekrasov had to earn his own living. The difficulty was that Nekrasov’s preparation turned out to be insufficient for entering the university. The future poet's dream of becoming a student never came true.

Nekrasov became a literary day laborer: he wrote articles for newspapers and magazines, occasional poetry, vaudeville for the theater, feuilletons - everything that was in great demand. This gave me little money, clearly not enough to live on. Much later, in their memoirs, his contemporaries would draw a memorable portrait of young Nekrasov, “trembling in deep autumn in a light coat and unreliable boots, even in a straw hat from the flea market.” The difficult years of his youth later affected the writer’s health. But the need to earn my own living turned out to be the strongest impulse towards the writing field. Much later, in autobiographical notes, he recalled the first years of his life in the capital: “It is incomprehensible to the mind how much I worked, I believe I will not exaggerate if I say that in a few years I completed up to two hundred printed sheets of magazine work.” Nekrasov writes mainly prose: novellas, short stories, feuilletons. His dramatic experiments, primarily vaudeville, date back to the same years.

The romantic soul of the young man, all his romantic impulses were echoed in a poetry collection with the characteristic title “Dreams and Sounds.” It was published in 1840, but did not bring the young author the expected fame. Belinsky wrote a negative review of it, and this was a death sentence for the young author. “You see from his poems,” Belinsky asserted, “that he has both soul and feeling, but at the same time you see that they remained in the author, and only abstract thoughts, commonplaces, correctness, smoothness passed into poetry , and - boredom." Nekrasov bought most of the publication and destroyed it.

Two more years passed, and the poet and critic met. Over these two years, Nekrasov has changed. I.I. Panaev, the future co-editor of Sovremennik magazine, believed that Belinsky was attracted to Nekrasov by his “sharp, somewhat bitter mind.” He fell in love with the poet “for the suffering that he experienced so early, seeking a piece of daily bread, and for that bold practical look beyond his years that he brought out of his toiling and suffering life - and which Belinsky was always painfully envious of.” Belinsky's influence was enormous. One of the poet’s contemporaries, P.V. Annenkov wrote: “In 1843, I saw how Belinsky set to work on him, revealing to him the essence of his own nature and its strength, and how the poet obediently listened to him, saying: “Belinsky is turning me from a literary vagabond into a nobleman.”

But it’s not just about the writer’s own quest, his own development. Beginning in 1843, Nekrasov also acted as a publisher; he played a very important role in uniting writers of the Gogol school. Nekrasov initiated the publication of several almanacs, the most famous of which is “Physiology of St. Petersburg” (1844-1845), “almost the best of all the almanacs that have ever been published,” according to Belinsky. In two parts of the almanac, four articles by Belinsky, an essay and a poem by Nekrasov, works by Grigorovich, Panaev, Grebenka, Dahl (Lugansky) and others were published. But Nekrasov achieves even greater success both as a publisher and as the author of another almanac he published - “The Petersburg Collection "(1846). Belinsky and Herzen, Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Odoevsky took part in the collection. Nekrasov included a number of poems in it, including the immediately famous “On the Road.”

The “unprecedented success” (to use Belinsky’s words) of the publications undertaken by Nekrasov inspired the writer to implement a new idea - to publish a magazine. From 1847 to 1866, Nekrasov edited the Sovremennik magazine, the importance of which in the history of Russian literature is difficult to overestimate. On its pages appeared works by Herzen (“Who is to Blame?”, “The Thieving Magpie”), I. Goncharov (“Ordinary History”), stories from the series “Notes of a Hunter” by I. Turgenev, stories by L. Tolstoy, and articles by Belinsky. Under the auspices of Sovremennik, the first collection of Tyutchev's poems is published, first as a supplement to the magazine, then as a separate publication. During these years, Nekrasov also acted as a prose writer, novelist, author of the novels “Three Countries of the World” and “Dead Lake” (written in collaboration with A.Ya. Panaeva), “The Thin Man”, and a number of stories.

In 1856, Nekrasov’s health deteriorated sharply, and he was forced to hand over the editing of the magazine to Chernyshevsky and go abroad. In the same year, the second collection of poems by Nekrasov was published, which was a tremendous success.

1860s belong to the most intense and intense years of Nekrasov’s creative and editorial activity. New co-editors come to Sovremennik - M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, M.A. Antonovich and others. The magazine conducts a fierce debate with the reactionary and liberal “Russian Messenger” and “Otechestvennye Zapiski”. During these years, Nekrasov wrote the poems “Peddlers” (1861), “Railway” (1864), “Frost, Red Nose” (1863), and began work on the epic poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'.”

The banning of Sovremennik in 1866 forced Nekrasov to temporarily abandon his editorial work. But after a year and a half, he managed to come to an agreement with the owner of the magazine “Otechestvennye zapiski” A.A. Kraevsky about transferring the editorial office of this magazine into his hands. During the years of editing Otechestvennye Zapiski, Nekrasov attracted talented critics and prose writers to the magazine. In the 70s he creates the poems “Russian Women” (1871-1872), “Contemporaries” (1875), chapters from the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” (“The Last One,” “The Peasant Woman,” “A Feast for the Whole World”).

In 1877, the last lifetime collection of poems by Nekrasov was published. At the end of this year Nekrasov died.

In his heartfelt words about Nekrasov, Dostoevsky accurately and succinctly defined the pathos of his poetry: “It was a wounded heart, once for the rest of his life, and this wound that did not close was the source of all his poetry, all of this man’s passionate to the point of tormenting love for everything that suffers.” from violence, from the cruelty of unbridled will that oppresses our Russian woman, our child in a Russian family, our commoner in his bitter, so often, lot...,” F.M. said about Nekrasov. Dostoevsky. These words, indeed, contain a kind of key to understanding the artistic world of Nekrasov’s poetry, to the sound of its most intimate themes - the theme of the people’s fate, the future of the people, the theme of the purpose of poetry and the role of the artist.

Nikolai Nekrasov is known to modern readers as the “most peasant” poet of Russia: he was one of the first to talk about the tragedy of serfdom and explore the spiritual world of the Russian peasantry. Nikolai Nekrasov was also a successful publicist and publisher: his Sovremennik became a legendary magazine of its time.

“Everything that has entangled my life since childhood has become an irresistible curse on me...”

Nikolai Nekrasov was born on December 10 (according to the old style - November 28), 1821 in the small town of Nemirov, Vinnitsa district, Podolsk province. His father Alexey Nekrasov came from a family of once wealthy Yaroslavl nobles, was an army officer, and his mother Elena Zakrevskaya was the daughter of a possessor from the Kherson province. The parents were against the marriage of a beautiful and educated girl to a military man who was not rich at that time, so the young couple got married in 1817 without their blessing.

However, the couple’s family life was not happy: the future poet’s father turned out to be a stern and despotic man, including in relation to his soft and shy wife, whom he called a “recluse.” The difficult atmosphere that reigned in the family influenced Nekrasov’s work: metaphorical images of parents often appeared in his works. Fyodor Dostoevsky said: “It was a wounded heart at the very beginning of life; and it was this wound that never healed that was the beginning and source of all his passionate, suffering poetry for the rest of his life.”.

Konstantin Makovsky. Portrait of Nikolai Nekrasov. 1856. State Tretyakov Gallery

Nikolay Ge. Portrait of Nikolai Nekrasov. 1872. State Russian Museum

Nikolai's early childhood was spent on his father's family estate - the village of Greshnevo, Yaroslavl province, where the family moved after Alexei Nekrasov retired from the army. The boy developed a particularly close relationship with his mother: she was his best friend and first teacher, and instilled in him a love of the Russian language and the literary word.

Things were seriously neglected on the family estate, it even came to the point of litigation, and Nekrasov’s father took on the duties of a police officer. When leaving on business, he often took his son with him, so from an early age the boy saw pictures that were not intended for children’s eyes: extorting debts and arrears from peasants, cruel reprisals, all kinds of manifestations of grief and poverty. In his own poems, Nekrasov recalled the early years of his life:

First years in St. Petersburg

In 1832, Nekrasov turned 11 years old and entered the gymnasium, where he studied until the fifth grade. Studying was difficult for him, relations with the gymnasium authorities did not go well - in particular, because of the caustic satirical poems that he began to compose at the age of 16. Therefore, in 1837, Nekrasov went to St. Petersburg, where, according to his father’s wishes, he was supposed to enter military service.

In St. Petersburg, young Nekrasov, through his friend at the gymnasium, met several students, after which he realized that education interested him more than military affairs. Contrary to his father’s demands and threats to leave him without financial support, Nekrasov began to prepare for the entrance exams to the university, but failed them, after which he became a volunteer student at the Faculty of Philology.

Nekrasov Sr. fulfilled his ultimatum and left his rebellious son without financial help. Nekrasov spent all his free time from studying looking for work and a roof over his head: it got to the point that he could not afford lunch. For some time he rented a room, but in the end he was unable to pay for it and ended up on the street, and then ended up in a shelter for beggars. It was there that Nekrasov discovered a new opportunity to earn money - he wrote petitions and complaints for a small fee.

Over time, Nekrasov’s affairs began to improve, and the stage of dire need was passed. By the early 1840s, he made a living by writing poems and fairy tales, which were later published in popular prints, published small articles in the Literary Gazette and the Literary Supplement to the Russian Invalid, gave private lessons and composed plays for Alexandrinsky Theater under the pseudonym Perepelsky.

In 1840, using his own savings, Nekrasov published his first poetry collection, “Dreams and Sounds,” which consisted of romantic ballads, which were influenced by the poetry of Vasily Zhukovsky and Vladimir Benediktov. Zhukovsky himself, having familiarized himself with the collection, called only two poems quite good, but recommended publishing the rest under a pseudonym and argued it this way: “Later you will write better, and you will be ashamed of these poems.” Nekrasov heeded the advice and published a collection under the initials N.N.

The book “Dreams and Sounds” was not particularly successful with either readers or critics, although Nikolai Polevoy spoke very favorably of the aspiring poet, and Vissarion Belinsky called his poems “coming from the soul.” Nekrasov himself was upset by his first poetic experience and decided to try his hand at prose. He wrote his early stories and novellas in a realistic manner: the plots were based on events and phenomena in which the author himself was a participant or witness, and some characters had prototypes in reality. Later, Nekrasov turned to satirical genres: he created the vaudeville “This is what it means to fall in love with an actress” and “Feoktist Onufrievich Bob”, the story “Makar Osipovich Random” and other works.

Nekrasov’s publishing activities: “Sovremennik” and “Whistle”

Ivan Kramskoy. Portrait of Nikolai Nekrasov. 1877. State Tretyakov Gallery

Nikolai Nekrasov and Ivan Panaev. Caricature by Nikolai Stepanov, “Illustrated Almanac”. 1848. Photo: vm.ru

Alexey Naumov. Nikolai Nekrasov and Ivan Panaev visiting the sick Vissarion Belinsky. 1881

From the mid-1840s, Nekrasov began to actively engage in publishing activities. With his participation, the almanacs “Physiology of St. Petersburg”, “Articles in Poems without Pictures”, “April 1”, “Petersburg Collection” were published, and the latter was a particularly great success: Dostoevsky’s novel “Poor People” was published for the first time in it.

At the end of 1846, Nekrasov, together with his friend, journalist and writer Ivan Panaev, rented the Sovremennik magazine from the publisher Pyotr Pletnev.

Young authors, who had previously published mainly in Otechestvennye zapiski, willingly moved to Nekrasov’s publication. It was Sovremennik that made it possible to reveal the talent of such writers as Ivan Goncharov, Ivan Turgenev, Alexander Herzen, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin. Nekrasov himself was not only the editor of the magazine, but also one of its regular authors. His poems, prose, literary criticism, and journalistic articles were published on the pages of Sovremennik.

The period from 1848 to 1855 became a difficult time for Russian journalism and literature due to the sharp tightening of censorship. To fill the gaps that arose in the content of the magazine due to censorship bans, Nekrasov began publishing in it chapters from the adventure novels “Dead Lake” and “Three Countries of the World,” which he co-wrote with his common-law wife Avdotya Panayeva (she was hiding under the pseudonym N N. Stanitsky).

In the mid-1850s, censorship requirements relaxed, but Sovremennik faced a new problem: class contradictions split the authors into two groups with opposing beliefs. Representatives of the liberal nobility advocated realism and aesthetic principles in literature, while supporters of democracy adhered to the satirical direction. The confrontation, of course, spilled onto the pages of the magazine, so Nekrasov, together with Nikolai Dobrolyubov, founded a supplement to Sovremennik - the satirical publication “Whistle”. It published humorous stories and short stories, satirical poems, pamphlets and caricatures.

At different times, Ivan Panaev, Nikolai Chernyshevsky, Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, Alexey Tolstoy published their works on the pages of “Whistle”. The supplement was first published in January 1859, and its last issue was released in April 1863, a year and a half after Dobrolyubov’s death. In 1866, after the assassination of Emperor Alexander II, the Sovremennik magazine itself was closed. “Who Lives Well in Rus'.”

Nekrasov came up with the idea for the poem back in the late 1850s, but he wrote the first part after the abolition of serfdom - around 1863. The basis of the work was not only the literary experiences of the poet’s predecessors, but also his own impressions and memories. According to the author's idea, the poem was supposed to become a kind of epic, demonstrating the life of the Russian people from different points of view. At the same time, Nekrasov purposefully used to write it not in “high style,” but in simple colloquial language, close to folk songs and tales, replete with colloquial expressions and sayings.

Work on the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” took Nekrasov almost 14 years. But even during this period, he did not have time to fully realize his plan: a serious illness prevented him, which confined the writer to his bed. Originally the work was supposed to consist of seven or eight parts. The travel route of the heroes, looking for “who lives cheerfully and freely in Rus',” lay across the entire country, all the way to St. Petersburg, where they had a meeting with an official, a merchant, a minister and a tsar. However, Nekrasov understood that he would not have time to complete the work, so he reduced the fourth part of the story - “A Feast for the Whole World” - to an open ending.

During Nekrasov’s lifetime, only three fragments of the poem were published in the journal Otechestvennye zapiski - the first part with a prologue, which does not have its own title, “The Last One” and “The Peasant Woman”. “A Feast for the Whole World” was published only three years after the author’s death, and even then with significant censorship cuts.

Nekrasov died on January 8, 1878 (December 27, 1877, old style). Several thousand people came to say goodbye to him and escorted the writer’s coffin from his home to the Novodevichy cemetery in St. Petersburg. This was the first time that a Russian writer was given national honors.

Biography of Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov

The talented Russian writer Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov was born on November 28, 1821 in the small town of Nemirovo, Podolsk province, into the large family of the impoverished nobleman Alexei Sergeevich Nekrasov. My father was a lieutenant in the Jaeger regiment in Nemirov. His mother is Alexandra Andreevna Zakrevskaya, who fell in love with him against the will of her wealthy parents. The marriage took place without their blessing. But contrary to the expectations of Nekrasov’s wife, the couple’s family life was unhappy. The poet's father was distinguished by his despotism towards his wife and thirteen children. He had many addictions, which led to the impoverishment of the family and the need to move to the village of Greshneva, his father’s family estate, in 1824, where the future prose writer and publicist spent his unhappy childhood.

At the age of ten, Nikolai Alekseevich entered the Yaroslavl gymnasium. During this period, he was just beginning to write his first works. However, due to low academic performance, conflicts with the leadership of the gymnasium, who did not like the poet’s satirical poems, and also because of the father’s desire to send his son to a military school, the boy studied for only five years.

By the will of his father, in 1838 Nekrasov came to St. Petersburg to join the local regiment. But under the influence of his gymnasium comrade Glushitsky, he goes against his father’s will and applies for admission to St. Petersburg University. However, due to his constant search for sources of income, Nekrasov does not successfully pass the entrance exams. As a result, he began to attend classes at the Faculty of Philology, where he studied from 1839 to 1841.

All this time, Nekrasov was in search of at least some kind of income, since his father stopped giving him money. The aspiring poet took on the task of writing poorly paid fairy tales in verse and articles for various publications.

In the early 40s, Nekrasov managed to write short notes for the theater magazine "Pantheon..." and became an employee of the magazine "Otechestvennye Zapiski".

In 1843, Nekrasov became close to Belinsky, who highly appreciated his work and contributed to the discovery of his talent.

In 1845-1846, Nekrasov published two almanacs, “Petersburg Collection” and “Physiology of Petersburg”.

In 1847, thanks to his gift for writing excellent works, Nekrasov managed to become the editor and publisher of the Sovremennik magazine. Being a talented organizer, he managed to attract such writers as Herzen, Turgenev, Belinsky, Goncharov and others to the magazine.

At this time, Nekrasov’s work is imbued with compassion for the common people, most of his works are dedicated to the hard working life of people: “Peasant Children”, “Railway”, “Frost, Red Nose”, “Poet and Citizen”, “Peddlers”, “Reflections of "front entrance" and others. Analyzing the writer’s work, we can come to the conclusion that Nekrasov touched upon acute social problems in his poems. Also, the poet devoted a significant place in his works to the role of a woman, her difficult lot.

After the closure of Sovremennik in 1866, Nekrasov managed to rent Domestic Notes from Kraevsky, occupying a level no less high than Sovremennik.

The poet died on January 8, 1878 in St. Petersburg, having not overcome a long-term serious illness. Evidence of the great loss of such a talented person was the manifesto of several thousand people who came to say goodbye to Nekrasov.

In addition to Nekrasov’s biography, also check out other materials:

• “It’s stuffy! Without happiness and will...", analysis of Nekrasov’s poem
• “Farewell”, analysis of Nekrasov’s poem
• “The heart breaks from torment,” analysis of Nekrasov’s poem

Brief biography of Nikolai Nekrasov

Nikolai Nekrasov is a Russian poet, writer, publicist and classic of Russian literature. In addition, Nekrasov was a democratic revolutionary, head of the Sovremennik magazine and editor of the Otechestvennye Zapiski magazine. The writer’s most famous work is the poem-novel “Who Lives Well in Rus'.”

Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov was born on December 10, 1821 in Nemirov into a noble family. The writer spent his childhood years in the Yaroslavl province. At the age of 11, he entered the Yaroslavl gymnasium, where he studied for 5 years.

The writer's father was a rather despotic man. When Nikolai refused to become a military man at the insistence of his father, he was deprived of financial support.

At the age of 17, the writer moved to St. Petersburg, where, in order to survive, he wrote poetry to order. During this period he met Belinsky. When Nekrasov was 26 years old, together with the literary critic Panaev, he bought the magazine Sovremennik. The magazine quickly gained momentum and had great influence in society. However, in 1862 the government banned its publication.

While working at Sovremennik, several collections of Nekrasov’s poems were published. Among them are those who brought him fame in wide circles. For example, “Peasant Children” and “Peddlers”. In the 1840s, Nekrasov also began to collaborate with the journal Otechestvennye zapiski, and in 1868 he rented it from Kraevsky.

During the same period, he wrote the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus',” as well as “Russian Women,” “Grandfather,” and a number of other satirical works, including the popular poem “Contemporaries.”

In 1875, the poet became terminally ill. In recent years, he worked on a cycle of poems, “Last Songs,” which he dedicated to his wife and last love, Zinaida Nikolaevna Nekrasova. The writer died on January 8, 1878 and was buried at the St. Petersburg Novodevichy cemetery.