Kukolnik Nestor Vasilyevich - a popular domestic writer and poet. He is also known as a playwright and translator. He worked in the first half of the XIX century.
At the beginning of the journey
Kukolnik Nestor Vasilievich was born in St. Petersburg. He was born in 1809. In 1821, the hero of our article entered the Nizhyn gymnasium, where he studied for 8 years. According to the results of training, he did not receive a certificate, as he was charged in the case of freethinking. It began shortly after the Decembrist uprising in 1825.
Kukolnik Nestor Vasilievich began to engage in literature even when he was in high school. But his very first works, unfortunately, have not been preserved. They were seized during the investigation of the case of freethinking. He continued to write after he moved to Vilna. There he settled with his brother Paul, who worked as a professor at the university. Kukolnik Nestor Vasilyevich himself got a job in a local gymnasium, where he taught teenagers of Russian literature. In Polish, he published a course on Russian grammar.
Significant in his fate was the move to St. Petersburg. The hero of our article moved to the capital in 1831. Here the heyday of his literary activity came. Popularity came to Nestor Puppeteer in 1834. Then in the Alexandrinsky Theater, his play was staged entitled "The Hand of the Most High Fatherland saved." The drama was approved by critics and even liked Emperor Nicholas I.
Puppeteer creativity
The creations of Nestor Puppeteer still captivate readers. It is interesting that he wrote in various genres. These are dramatic plays, and adventurous novels, and historical novels, and poems, and art criticism. The hero of our article tried himself even as a composer.
In 1838, several of his works of art history were published. His dramatic works are considered by modern critics as a transitional stage from the domestic historical drama of the beginning of the 19th century to the second half of the century. At the same time, Puppeteer is considered one of the founders of the dramatic poem. He was the first among Russian writers to use motives and techniques that were later reflected in the work of many of his colleagues in the workshop: Marina Tsvetaeva, Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy.
Connoisseurs of his work argue that it is possible to trace the obvious parallels between some of Nestor Kukolnik’s works and Tsvetaeva’s famous dramatic cycle “Romance”. The author is also considered the founder of the historical novel genre in Russia. His experience was later used in his works by Alexander Dumas and many other contemporaries. Puppeteer’s innovation also lies in the fact that he was one of the first to develop a loving and adventurous genre in the spirit of the Frenchman Eugène Sue, the founder of the criminal sensational genre in mass literature, and Paul de Coca, whose name has been associated with frivolous literature for many years.
At the same time, in his books Nestor Kukolnik often refers to subjects from foreign history. This can be considered as the first historical and biographical works, which were developed in the novels-studies of Dmitry Merezhkovsky, Yuri Tynyanov, Olga Forsh.
Collaboration with composers
At the peak of fame and popularity, Kukolnik was close to the famous domestic composer Mikhail Glinka, as well as the painter Karl Bryullov. Almost all researchers of creative biography recognized his influence on such writers as Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, Taras Shevchenko and Ivan Nikitin. The puppeteer was one of the co-authors of the libretto for several operas at once. This is Life for the Tsar and Ruslan and Lyudmila. Composers put many of his poems to music, and they turned out well-known romances. He wrote music to the texts of Kukolnik and Mikhail Glinka. Well-known and loved by many are the romances "Lark" and "Associated Song". Nestor Puppeteer in total collaborated with 27 composers.
At the service
At the same time, Kukolnik earned not only literary work. In 1843, he began to serve under the Ministry of War. At this work, he regularly went on business trips, visited many Russian provinces. Especially in those located in the European part of the country. On working visits, he visited dozens of cities from Astrakhan to Chisinau.
Kukolnik did not throw literature at all, but the service took a lot of time and effort, so he began to write much less than before. In particular, the hero of our article was studying the prospects of the mining industry in the Donbass region. His work had a significant impact on the economic development of the entire region.
Personal life
In 1843, the hero of our article left literary activity and went to the service. An important event occurred in the biography of Nestor Kukolnik - he married Sofia Amalia von Friesen. She was a German Lutheran religion. The woman remained with him until the very end of her life, sharing all the worries and difficulties, went on long business trips.
Before meeting his future wife, Kukolnik suffered two love tragedies, according to biographers. His first serious relationship was with Catherine Fan der Fleet. For lovers, it all ended very unexpectedly. The girl’s father simply ordered her to marry Admiral Mikhail Lazarev. After this relationship, Nestor Kukolnik began to write lyric poems. In them, his beloved is hiding under the name of Lenore. Because of this fact, many critics began to accuse him of excessive far-fetched and artificial images. The poet was especially criticized by Panaev, whose literary remarks still serve as an assessment of the entire work of the hero of our article.
His next lover was Maria Tolstaya. Details of this romantic story are unknown. Judging by the poetry of Kukolnik, this relationship also inflicted a deep emotional wound on him.
During the Crimean War
In 1853, the Crimean War caught the hero of our article in Novocherkassk. He was seconded to the headquarters of the Don Army. The puppeteer was engaged in supplying the army. He achieved some success in this. In 1857, he completed his career. He resigned as a full-time state adviser. He did not return to the capital; he settled in Taganrog. Here he served for another ten years. The puppeteer began to actively engage in social activities. He carried out the instructions of the Taganrog City Society. His work was of great importance in the fate of the whole Taganrog.
What did the Puppeteer in Taganrog do?
This person substantiated the need for university education in the Don. He proposed to open a university in Taganrog itself. True, he failed to implement this project, but his efforts influenced the opening of the university in Novorossiysk in 1865.
It was Kukolnik who lobbied for the appearance of a city newspaper in Taganrog. After that, their own media appeared in Rostov-on-Don and Odessa. In 1865, the hero of our article began to lead a working group that was engaged in the selection of a railway line to Taganrog from Kharkov. This work was successful - in 1868, Emperor Alexander II approved the relevant agreements for the construction of the highway.
Confrontation with the Cossacks
Kukolnik also repeatedly raised the issue of the need for environmental protection measures for the Taganrog Bay, which belongs to the Sea of Azov. At the same time, he worked hard to achieve changes in the administrative-territorial structure of the Priazovsk Territory through the creation of the Taganrog Province. In this matter, he met fierce resistance from the local Cossacks, so he could not solve this problem.
Among the merits of Kukolnik, it is worth noting the conduct of judicial reform, as a result of which the District Court appeared in Taganrog. This happened shortly after his death, in 1869. Many of his initiatives caused a storm of discontent among the local nobility. Especially after he made fun of them in his drama entitled "Hoff Junker." The work was banned by personal order of Emperor Alexander II.
Death of the Puppeteer
Nestor Kukolnik died at the end of 1868 during the training camp in the theater. He was 59 years old. The poet was buried in Taganrog. The grave of the hero of our article has a sad story. In 1931, the ashes of Nestor and his wife were desecrated. The robbers, trying to find jewelry in the coffins, opened them and threw the remains to the ground. In 1966, the Taganrog City Executive Committee issued a decree on the allotment of the land to the Krasny Kotelshchik factory, on this territory Dubka grove was located. Kukolnik’s house was destroyed by bulldozers. The remains of the writer were actually mixed with mud. After the work was done, they were mixed with construction waste.