On January 15, 1826, M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin was born in a small village in the Tver province. The biography of this man is thoroughly penetrated by philanthropy and contempt for the reactionary state apparatus of his time. However, first things first.
Saltykov-Shchedrin Mikhail Evgrafovich: biography of early years
The future famous writer was born in the family of a wealthy nobleman. By the way, Saltykov is his real last name. Shchedrin is a creative pseudonym. The boy spent the first years of his life in his father's family estate. The most difficult years of serfdom fell on this period. When in most countries of Western Europe a scientific and technological revolution has already taken place or was taking place, as well as capitalist relations have developed, the Russian Empire has plunged more and more into its own medieval structure. And in order to somehow keep pace with the development of the great powers, the state machine was working more and more actively, extensively squeezing all the juices from the peasant class. Actually, the entire subsequent biography of Saltykov-Shchedrin eloquently testifies to the fact that he sufficiently had the opportunity to observe the situation of peasants in his youth.
This greatly impressed the young man and left an imprint on all his further work. Michael receives primary education in his native home, and being ten years old, enters the Moscow Institute of Nobility. Here he studied for only two years, showing extraordinary abilities. And already in 1838 he was transferred to
Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, receiving a state scholarship to study. Six years later, he graduates from this educational institution and enters the ministerial military office in the service.
Saltykov-Shchedrin biography: the beginning of creative activity
Here, a young man is seriously interested in the literature of his time, he reads hard drinking Georges Sand, French enlighteners and socialists. During this period, his first own stories were written: "Contradictions", "Tangled Case", "Domestic Notes". However, the nature of these works, full of freedom of thought and satire on the tsarist autocracy, even then set the state power against the young official.
Saltykov-Shchedrin biography: creative recognition and acceptance by state authorities
In 1848, Mikhail Evgrafovich was sent into exile in Vyatka. There he enters the service of a clerical officer. This period ended in 1855, when the writer was finally allowed to leave this city. Returning from exile, he is appointed an official for special assignments under the State Minister of the Interior. In 1860, he became the Tver Vice Governor. At the same time, the writer resumes his creative activity again. Already in 1862, he resigned from public office and focuses on literature. At the invitation of Sergei Nekrasov, Saltykov-Shchedrin arrives in St. Petersburg and settles in the editorial office of Sovremennik. Here, and later in the journal "Domestic Notes", where he got under the patronage of the same Nekrasov, pass
the most fruitful years of his creative activity. Many stories, satirical articles and, of course, the famous grotesque novels: "The History of a City", "Modern Idyll" and others - were written in the second half of 1860-1870.
Saltykov-Shchedrin biography: the last years of life
In the 1880s, the satirical works of the writer increasingly enjoyed fame among the intelligentsia, but at the same time they were increasingly persecuted by the tsarist regime. Thus, the closing of the journal "Patriotic Notes", where it was published, forced Mikhail Evgrafovich to look for publishers abroad. This ban on printing in his native country greatly undermined the health of an elderly person. And although he still wrote the famous “Tales” and “Poshekhonskaya olden time”, for several years he was very old, his strength quickly left him. May 10, 1889 Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin died. The writer, in accordance with his request in the will, was buried in St. Petersburg, next to the grave of I.S. Turgenev.