The nineteenth century is called the Golden Age for Russian literature and the formation of art criticism, the founder and most prominent representative of which is Belinsky Vissarion Grigorievich. The world significance of this person is measured by the quality of his ideas. In this regard, according to contemporaries, Vissarion Belinsky - a critic and Western philosopher - outgrew the level of the then bourgeois thought. But unfortunately, a genuine assessment of his merits received quite late.
Relevance
The influence of this publicist and writer on Russian literature is still felt. Vissarion Belinsky was the first to establish the correct concepts of prose and poetry in general. It was he who pointed out the direction in which literature had to go in order to turn into a social force and become a teacher for the younger generation.
The writers' galaxy of the forties of the last century owes to him the ideological side of their own works. Belinsky, who always welcomed the emerging talent, almost unmistakably guessed the path of his future development, with his sincere and passionate nature irresistibly directing all young figures to literature. The theoretical provisions that he developed became public domain. Most of them have retained their significance to date. New literary generations today are based on his tireless search for truth, as well as on the views on the significance of literature in life that Vissarion Belinsky left for them.
Biography
The grandson of the priest and the son of a doctor, a future critic and publicist was born in the village of Belyni in the Penza province on May 30 (June 11), 1811. Having learned the reading and writing from a local teacher, Vissarion Belinsky was sent to study at the county school, which opened in Chembar. In 1825, he was transferred to the provincial gymnasium, in which he stayed for three and a half years, without completing a four-year course. According to Belinsky, his studies there did not satisfy him. His goal was Moscow University. It was not easy for the future Russian thinker to fulfill this plan. His father, due to limited funds, was not able to support his son in Moscow. However, the young man agreed to be poor, if only to be a student. In August 1829, he was enrolled in the Faculty of Literature and in the same year was accepted into the state account.
University life
In his student years (1829-1832), a circle of "Eleventh Number" formed around Belinsky. It constantly discussed many problems of philosophy, studied the works of Bachmann, Schelling, and contemporary issues. At one of the meetings, Vissarion Belinsky read his first drama titled “Dmitry Kalinin”, which was based on the author’s live impressions of serfdom. The future great critic and publicist in his work fervently attacked the "disastrous right" of the landlord class to control the fate of the peasants.
The censorship of Moscow University drama as "immoral" was banned. Belinsky was scared by a soldier and exile to Siberia, but in vain. During his student years, he found true friends who not only sympathized with him, but also completely shared his aspirations. These were Stankevich, Herzen, Ketcher, Ogarev, E. Korsh and others.
An exception
In September 1832, the Ministry of Education signed an order to dismiss Belinsky from the university. The wording was standard - "due to poor health and because of the limitations of his abilities." These are the works and photos of Vissarion Belinsky today by every student studying at the Faculty of Philology, and then the writer, still unknown to anyone, was suddenly left without funds and a roof over his head.
He began to give lessons and make translations, somehow interrupting with miserable fees. At this time, he became closely acquainted with Professor Nadezhdin. The latter, in 1831, who founded a new magazine called “Telescope”, suggested that Belinsky translate small articles for his publication. And already in September 1834, Vissarion Grigorievich appeared in the journal with his first critical article. It was with her, in fact, that his serious literary work began.
Stankevich’s circle
In 1833, Belinsky began to attend literary evenings of Aksakov and Selivansky. Here he draws closer to N. Stankevich, and after a while he enters his circle. Limited funds and the lack of normal conditions for literary work forced Belinsky to change his address very often: he lived in Rakhmanovsky Lane, in Nadezhdin’s apartment, in the house of Sukhovo-Kobylin, then in the building of Moscow University. In 1835, he began working as secretary of the famous writer A. Poltoratsky. The closing of the Telescope magazine in 1836, where Vissarion Belinsky led the criticism department, put him on the brink of poverty. According to contemporaries, until the beginning of 1838, the famous publicist and writer survived only thanks to the help of friends.
Work in the "Domestic Notes"
From March to October 1838, at the invitation of Aksakov, Belinsky taught at the Konstantinovsky land surveying institute, after which he became an unofficial editor in the journal Moscow Observer. At this time, he often began to be in the family of M. Shchepkin, whose daughter was then in love with him. Belinsky’s acquaintances in Moscow included T. Granovsky, P. Mochalov, N. and K. Polevye, A. Veltman and many others.
After the closure of the issue of The Moscow Observer in June 1839, the writer was again left without funds, but soon received an invitation from A. Kraevsky to take the position of head of the critical department of the journal Domestic Notes. In October of the same year, Vissarion Belinsky moved to St. Petersburg and in Moscow is only on short visits.
Political Views
In his youth, Belinsky Vissarion Grigorievich, for whom philosophy has always been a hobby, begins to study the aesthetics of romanticism, delves into the ideas of Schelling, Hegel and Fichte. Already in the early 1840s, he sharply criticized the rationalistic determinism of the concept of progress, came to the conclusion that "the fate of the individual and personality is more important than all the fate of the world." The evolution of Belinsky's views is accompanied by an increase in criticism of philosophical idealism. His religious convictions give way to clearly atheistic sentiments. In his letter to Gogol, to whom he deeply sympathizes, Vissarion Belinsky severely criticizes the church.
A well-known critic and publicist died in 1848 from consumption. Being married, he left behind a three-year-old daughter and a huge literary heritage.