Mikhail Evgrafovich is a great Russian prose writer and satirist. The life of Saltykov-Shchedrin began in 1826, on January 27 (15) in the Tver province in the village of Spas-Ugol. He is a hereditary nobleman, and his family was wealthy.
Saltykov-Shchedrin: biography - a brief childhood story
The future writer had a tyrannical mother. Zabelina Olga Mikhailovna was completely deprived of humanity, and her image will later be embodied in “Golovlevs”. The family had six children, and despite the fact that Misha was known as a favorite, he saw the family showdown in full. But the boy, on the contrary, was tempered. The period up to ten years, the author subsequently almost autobiographically describes in "Poshekhonskaya antiquity." Saltykov always recalled his childhood with bitterness and, as a rule, did not like to talk about him. His childhood passed mostly alone, all the older children had already left to study. But he was not really engaged in his upbringing.
Duality
Interesting facts from the life of Saltykov-Shchedrin begin already with his last name. Of its two parts, the real one is the first - Saltykov, and the second - Shchedrin - appeared later as a pseudonym. His life seems to be divided into two parts: Saltykov - an official, and Shchedrin - a writer, satirist, writer.
Career Saltykov
Saltykov Mikhail Evgrafovich began his career with exile. In August 1844, he was enrolled in the St. Petersburg Chancellery, in 1846 the young man was already able to get the place of assistant secretary of the Minister of War. And at 22, in 1848, he was sent to Vyatka for his first literary research. However, he continued to serve, and his career was brilliant. He twice served as vice-governor: in the Ryazan province and in Tver.
Literary debut
In 1847, Saltykov-Shchedrin made his debut as a writer. First, reviews, and then two stories published in the journal "Domestic Notes". They came out under the pseudonyms M. Nepanov and M. S.
Real fame came to him in 1856, when he published his cycle “Provincial Essays”, from that moment the pseudonym Nikolai Shchedrin came into practice, which later became an integral part of his surname. And also there was a tradition to publish their works in cycles.
Essays
Shchedrin's essays are primarily about state orders, about those who must follow these orders, put into practice. Saltykov-Shchedrin Mikhail Evgrafovich specially devoted his work to the image of Russian officials of the mid-60s.
Shchedrin the writer begins to prevail over the Saltykov official. This is especially evident at the moment when N. A. Nekrasov enters the journal "Domestic Notes" and calls for Saltykov-Shchedrin as co-editor. In 1868, the Saltykov official forever gave way to the writer Shchedrin.
Since 1878, after the death of Nekrasov, Saltykov-Shchedrin became the sole editor of "Domestic Notes". It was a whole era in his life.
Interesting facts from the life of Saltykov-Shchedrin as a critic
Saltykov-Shchedrin himself perceives himself as a critic. Criticism of the foundations, orders, officials. Moreover, in the 60s, he himself was under the “shelling” of his fellow pen.
The fact is that the writer offers readers satire, but not from the point of view of an external observer, but a person who is his own for this environment. That's why Saltykov-Shchedrin was repeatedly reproached for this. And the most ardent critic was Dmitry Ivanovich Pisarev. He said that it’s not enough just to mock the existing regimes, and in general, it is reprehensible to mock the state bureaucratic machine, being a part of it. This is a moral paradox. Pisarev was generally convinced that literature should not give pleasure, but recipes for how readers should live. He said, for example, that Pushkin was useless. After all, what does Eugene Onegin teach?
Pisarev throws a stronger rebuke to Saltykov-Shchedrin. It is generally accepted that in the 60s two directions opposed each other in Russian literature: pure art, which serves eternal beauty, and civilian literature. It seems that the works of Saltykov-Shchedrin belong to the second of the indicated directions. But Pisarev says a terrible thing: that Saltykov-Shchedrin in literature represents a useless fashion for laughter, gibberish, mockery, which has nothing to do with a genuine change in reality.
Changes in creativity
At the turn of the 60s - 70s, Mikhail Evgrafovich offers his readers something completely new - this is not just a series of essays, but a whole work - “The History of a City”. It is a parody of the blissful historical chronicles. The city acts as a model of the world. The city of Fools is about Russia. In this work, criticism of the bureaucracy is of great importance.
In the mid-80s, the works of Saltykov-Shchedrin became completely new. He called them fairy tales. There are about thirty of them. They are filled with political satire and were published in the newspaper "Russian Vedomosti", which in itself is strange. After all, fairy tales are usually not printed in newspapers. But this is exactly what the author said he wanted: everything is not limited to a fairy tale. As in familiar tales, there are no happy endings in his works. They are full of irony and more like stories and tales.
In satirical Russian literature, it is Saltykov-Shchedrin who plays a large role. A short biography cannot convey the full mystery of such a phenomenon in Russian literature as Mikhail Evgrafovich. He was called the great diagnostician of evils and ailments.
Interesting facts from the life of Saltykov-Shchedrin were told by people who worked with him. It was said that his character was very nervous and irritable. And it affects creativity. Therefore, it is difficult to read. Works cannot be swallowed.
“Golovlev’s Lord” is one of the darkest things in Russian literature. Unless Dostoevsky approached her by writing The Karamazov Brothers.
Interesting facts from the life of Saltykov-Shchedrin include the fact that it was he who invented and introduced many of the words that we still use. For example, the word "softness." Mikhail Evgrafovich created and introduced into literature his own system of ironic allegories. The author also tried to write poetry, but after the first unsuccessful test of the pen, he abandoned poetry forever. Saltykov-Shchedrin studied at the same lyceum as Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin, and it was in him that they both began to write.
The writer lived for 63 years. He died in the spring of 1889.