The great Russian poet Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov was born on November 28 (December 10), 1821, in the town of Nemirov, Vinnitsa district, Podolsk province. Now it is the territory of Ukraine.
His works are familiar to us from childhood and loved, Nekrasov’s poems become folk songs.
It is also known that Nekrasov is the editor of Sovremennik.
The biography of the poet
Nekrasov's mother, Elena Andreevna Zakrevskaya, was one of the most enviable brides - a beautiful and well-educated girl, a Warsaw woman, from a wealthy family.
My father is a young officer of a regiment that was lodging in this town, a reveling player and a gambler, Lieutenant Alexei Sergeyevich Nekrasov, unrestrained, rude, cruel, and also uneducated.
Love for cards, a family trait of the Nekrasovs, led the officer to financial difficulties. By the time he met his future wife, he already had many debts. But, despite the flaws in character, the lieutenant was a female favorite. The beautiful Polish girl fell in love with him, and he decided to take the chance to marry by calculation.
The girl’s parents, of course, were against this marriage, but Elena secretly married her lover. But, alas, the marriage was unhappy for her, because her husband did not love her.
In this union 13 children were born, only three of them survived.
Childhood and adolescence N. A. Nekrasov
The poet’s childhood passed in the Yaroslavl province, in the village of Greshnevo, in the estate of the Nekrasovs.
A large family moved there after the resignation of his father from the army, Alexei Sergeyevich Nekrasov (1788-1862). My son Nikolai was 3 years old at that time.
The neglected estate did not make it possible to adequately support the family, and the father got a job as a police officer, that is, the chief of police.
His duties included "obedience to the disobedient, the prosecution of thieves, robbers, military deserters and the fugitive in general, the collection of taxes." The father often took his son with him on his journeys. Impressive and vulnerable Kolya saw a lot of human grief, which influenced his subsequent perception of the world.
In 1832, Nikolai and his older brother Andrei were sent to study in Yaroslavl, to the gymnasium. The brothers were not particularly zealous in studying, skipping classes. In the lessons, Nikolai frankly missed, having fun writing satirical epigrams for teachers and gymnasium authorities, thereby ruining relations with them. Somehow having finished the 5th grade, the schoolboy was at home in the village, as his father stopped paying for his studies, not seeing any special meaning in it.
Life in St. Petersburg
The father wanted his son to follow in his footsteps and become a soldier, so when Nikolai reached 16 years old, in 1838, sent him to St. Petersburg to be assigned to the noble regiment.
But Nikolai turned out to be a wayward son, with his views on his own future. Having met his gymnasium friend in St. Petersburg and meeting other students, the young poet made a firm decision to study at St. Petersburg University.
The father did not like the decision of his son, and he stopped providing any financial support to the 16-year-old boy, leaving him without a livelihood.
Nikolay began to prepare for admission to the university, but, unfortunately, did not pass the entrance exams. He could only become a volunteer at the Faculty of Philology.
From 1839 to 1841, Nekrasov studied at the university, and all this time he was very keenly faced with the question of finding daily bread, since he simply had nowhere to live and nothing to eat.
“Exactly three years,” he later said, “I felt constantly, hungry every day. More than once it came to the point that I went to a restaurant on Morskaya, where they allowed me to read newspapers, at least I asked myself nothing. You’ve taken, for the present, a newspaper, and you yourself will slide a plate of bread and eat it. ”
Terrible poverty tempered the character of the poet, forcing him to find earnings on his own, but adversely affected his health. She also adversely affected his character: he became a "practitioner", but, unfortunately, not in the best sense of the word.
The beginning of the literary path
Slowly, his affairs began to improve: he began to print small articles in the Literary Addition to the Russian Disabled, to publish in the Literary Newspaper, to write vaudeville for the Alexandrinsky Theater (under the pseudonym N. A. Perepelsky), to compose tales in verse.
When the poet had his first savings, he decided to print his poems in a collection entitled "Dreams and Sounds", signed by N. N.'s initials. This happened in 1840.
A flurry of criticism that brought down the young poet, in particular, V.G. Belinsky, made Nekrasov buy up and destroy almost the entire circulation.
Nowadays, this collection is a bibliographic rarity, although the poet’s first works collected in it are very immature.
Meeting with Belinsky
The role played in the fate of the poet V. G. Belinsky cannot be overestimated. This acquaintance grew into a friendship that lasted until the death of the critic.
In the early 1840s, Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov became an employee of the bibliographic department of "Domestic Notes".
V. G. Belinsky, who led the critical department in this literary magazine of the 19th century, got the opportunity to get to know Nekrasov better. The critic who had once criticized the first poems of the young poet now changed his mind about him, loving him and appreciating the virtues of his mind.
He understood, however, that Nekrasov’s prose was not of literary interest, but enthusiastically accepted his poetry.
His almanacs were published: in 1843, “Articles in verses without pictures,” in 1845, “Physiology of St. Petersburg,” in 1846, “April 1,” “Petersburg Collection”.
Publications Nekrasov began to appear more often.
N. A. Nekrasov - creator of the new "Contemporary"
Success accompanies Nekrasov, his financial situation straightens out, and at the end of 1846 he became the owner of the literary and socio-political journal Sovremennik, founded by A. S. Pushkin.
Literary youth who worked in the journal "Domestic Notes" and is its main backbone, left after Nekrasov in a new journal.
As the editor of the journal Sovremennik, N. A. Nekrasov showed in his entirety a remarkable organizational talent.
The best literary forces gathered in this leading journal of the time, and besides, they were united by hatred of serfdom.
"Contemporary" by N. A. Nekrasov and his associates became a bright event in the literary world of that time.
Sovremennik is an organ of revolutionary democracy
For almost twenty years, from 1847 to 1866, N. A. Nekrasov was headed by a publication that turned into an organ of revolutionary democracy.
As the publisher of Sovremennik, N. A. Nekrasov propagated the ideology of the revolutionary raznochintsy, acting as the defender of the peasants.
The journal published the program of the peasant socialist revolution, which was developed by Chernyshevsky, Dobrolyubov and their associates.
Prominent writers of the time worked in the journal - Saltykov-Shchedrin, Grigorovich, Turgenev, Goncharov, Herzen, Tolstoy, Panaev.
The "Contemporary" of Nekrasov and Panayev became a magazine that had never been before.
Discoverer of talent
Belinsky also went to Sovremennik, passing for publication his materials that he collected for his collection Leviathan.
In the journal Sovremennik, Nekrasov first published his works by writers and poets, who themselves later became widely known, and their creations were included in the golden fund of literature of the 19th century.
All this happened thanks to Nekrasov’s extraordinary flair for great works and gifted people.
Thus, Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov - the organizer and creator of the new "Contemporary" - became a successful pioneer in the world of literature of talented poets and writers.
In addition, he published here his poems, adventure novels, written by him in collaboration with his beloved woman A. Ya. Panayeva, who was also the wife of his friend and colleague I. I. Panayev.
The activity of N. A. Nekrasov, of course, was not limited to his own creativity: in his journal, the poet showed himself as a revolutionary democrat with an active life position.
As the publisher of Sovremennik, N.A. Nekrasov helped Russian society explore and observe real life, instilled the habit of thinking and not being afraid to say what you think.
In 1859-1861, during the period of revolutionary fermentation in society, differences of opinion began among the authors of Sovremennik. L. N. Tolstoy and I. S. Turgenev understood that changes were needed in society, deeply sympathizing with the people.
But they did not agree with Chernyshevsky and Dobrolyubov, who called for a peasant uprising.
Ban "Contemporary"
Naturally, the authorities could not ignore the revolutionary appeals.
Between 1848-1855, Nekrasov, editor of the Sovremennik magazine, had a very difficult time: tsarist censorship began to pursue advanced journalism and literature. The poet needed to show remarkable resourcefulness in order to save the reputation of the publication.
As an editor and one of the authors of Sovremennik, Nekrasov did a great job. In order to publish one issue of the journal, he had to read more than 12 thousand pages of various manuscripts (you still need to understand someone else's handwriting), edit about 60 printed proofreading sheets, which is almost 1000 pages, of which more than half were then destroyed by censorship. He was engaged in all correspondence with censors, employees - just hellish work.
It is not surprising that Nekrasov was seriously ill, but, fortunately, in Italy he managed to improve his health.
After recovery, the poet begins a happy and fruitful period in life. Thanks to his remarkably sensitive nature and ability to quickly grasp the mood and looks of his surroundings, he becomes a popularly beloved poet, an expression of the aspirations and sufferings of ordinary people.
In 1866, Nekrasov’s journal Sovremennik was nevertheless closed, and two years later the poet rented Fatherland Notes from his foe Kraevsky, raising the journal to the same level as Sovremennik occupied.
The poem "Contemporaries" by Nikolai Nekrasov
When the magazine was banned, the poet completely surrendered to creativity, having written many works on topical topics. One of these works is the poem "Contemporaries".
The poem turned out to be multifaceted, satirically revealing, where, with the help of irony, grotesque, even farce, the whole truth about the then Russian bourgeoisie was reflected, the revelry of embezzlers, financial magnates who took over the power and economy of Russia was shown.
Readers contemporary to the poet easily recognized real officials in each character. The poem impressed readers with its power and truth.
Poetry
By 1856, Nekrasov, after seventeen years of hard work, was publishing his second collection of works.
This time, critics accepted the fruits of the poet’s many years of work very favorably - the collection was a huge success.
The collection was deeply thought out, had 4 sections, each of which was devoted to a certain topic: here there were serious reflections on the fate of the people, and satirical works, and lyrics.
In 1861, the poem "The Chapters" was published about the life of a simple peasant. The song “Box” from it became an independent work, turning into a folk song.
In parallel, "Peasant Children" are being created, continuing the theme of the peasant share.
Next come “Knight for an Hour” (1862), “Frost - Red Nose” (1863), “Grandfather” (1870), “Russian Women” (1871-1872), “Contemporaries” (1875), “Who Should Live in Russia?” good ”(1866-1877).
In the last years of his life, Nekrasov was seriously ill, at which time he created The Last Songs (1877). Nekrasov dedicated the best poems of this cycle to his wife, Zinaida Nikolaevna Nekrasova (Z. N. Viktorova).
Memoirs of Contemporaries
In the memoirs of his contemporaries, Nekrasov appears as a living, dynamic, charming person, a talented, creative person.
N. Chernyshevsky had infinite love for Nekrasov, considered him a great folk poet and was a convinced follower of him, trusting him infinitely.
But, for example, I. S. Turgenev spoke unflattering about him. Nekrasov, like his father, was an avid gambler, did not give mercy on the cards to anyone, he was always lucky.
He was a very controversial person, far from ideal. Sometimes he did not do very good things, many were offended by him.
But, despite all his personal shortcomings, he still remains one of the most famous and popularly beloved poets. His works are taken for the soul, read easily and written simply and beautifully, everyone can understand them. This is truly a folk poet.