Nikolay Karamzin
gigatos | February 19, 2022
Summary
Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin (December 1, 1766, Znamenskoye, Simbirsk Province (or the village of Mikhailovka (Preobrazhenka), Orenburg Province), Russian Empire – May 22 , St. Petersburg, Russian Empire) was a Russian historian, Russian writer of the sentimental era, nicknamed “the Russian Stern. Creator of “History of the Russian State” (volumes 1-12, 1803-1826) – one of the first summarizing works on Russian history. He was the editor of “Moscow Journal” (1791-1792) and “Herald of Europe” (1802-1803). Full State Councilor.
Karamzin went down in history as a reformer of the Russian literary language. He enriched the language with some words-calics (e.g., “entertaining”) and popularized earlier ones (e.g., “touching,” “influence”); it was he who gave a modern interpretation to the term “industry.
Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin was born on December 1 (12), 1766 near Simbirsk in the ancestral village of Karamzinke (under another version – born in the village Karazikha (Mikhailovka), Orenburg province). He grew up in the estate of his father, a retired captain Mikhail Yegorovich Karamzin (1724-1783), a middle-aged nobleman of the Simbirsk family of Karamzins, descended from the Tatar Kara-murza, and his mother Catherine Petrovna Pazuhina.
He received his primary education in a private boarding school in Simbirsk. In 1778 he was sent to Moscow to a boarding school of professor of Moscow University I.M. Shaden. At the same time he attended in 1781-1782 the lectures of I. G. Schwarz at the Moscow University.
From April 1781 to January 1784 Karamzin served in the Life Guards Preobrazhensky Regiment, from which he retired on petition with the rank of lieutenant and never served again, preferring the life of a layman and writer. His first literary experiments are dated the time of his military service. After his retirement he lived for some time in Simbirsk and then in Moscow. In Simbirsk he joined the Masonic lodge “Golden Crown”, and after coming to Moscow for four years (1785-1789) was a member of the “Friendly Learned Society.
In Moscow Karamzin met with writers and literary figures: N.I. Novikov, A.M. Kutuzov, A.A. Petrov, participated in the publication of the first Russian magazine for children – “Children”s Reading for Heart and Mind”.
In 1789-1790, while traveling in Europe, he visited Immanuel Kant in Königsberg, admired Berlin, and visited Paris during the Great French Revolution. On the impressions of this trip he wrote the famous “Letters of a Russian Traveler,” the publication of which immediately made Karamzin a famous literary figure.Some philologists believe that it was from this book that modern Russian literature began its countdown. In any case, in the literature of Russian “journeys” Karamzin really became a pioneer – who quickly found both imitators (V. V. Izmailov, P. I. Sumarokov, P. I. Shalikov) and worthy successors (A. A. Bestuzhev, N. A. Bestuzhev, F. N. Glinka, A. S. Griboyedov). It is since then that Karamzin has been considered one of the main literary figures of Russia.
After returning from his trip to Europe, Karamzin settled in Moscow and began his professional writing and journalistic activities, starting to publish the “Moscow Journal” (1791-1792) – the first Russian literary journal, in which among other works of Karamzin appeared the story “Poor Liza” that consolidated his fame. Then he published a number of collections and almanacs: “Aglaya”, “Aonides”, “Pantheon of Foreign Literature”, “My Idle Things”, which made sentimentalism the main literary movement in Russia, and Karamzin its recognized leader.
In addition to prose and poetry, the Moskovsky Zhurnal systematically published reviews, critical articles, and theatrical analyses. In May 1792 the magazine published Karamzin”s review of Nikolai Petrovich Osipov”s heroicomic poem “Virgil”s Aeneid, turned inside out”, which Emperor Alexander I by nominal decree of October 31, 1803 granted Karamzin the title of historiographer; to the title he also received 2 thousand rubles yearly salary. After Karamzin”s death the title of historiographer was not renewed in Russia. From the beginning of the 19th century Karamzin gradually withdrew from fiction, and from 1804, after his appointment as historiographer, he gave up all literary work and “took the veil of the historian”. In this connection he refused from the state posts offered to him, in particular, from the post of Tver governor.From 1804 to 1815 the historian works in the Ostafyevo estate.
Since 1806 – honorary member of the Moscow University. On July 1, 1810 he was conferred the knighthood of the Order of Saint Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir, 3rd class.
In 1811 Karamzin wrote “Notes on ancient and new Russia in its political and civil relations”, which reflected the views of the conservative strata of society dissatisfied with the liberal reforms of the emperor. He set as his task to prove that there was no need to carry out any reforms in the country. “Notes on ancient and new Russia in its political and civil relations” also played the role of an outline for the subsequent huge work of Karamzin on Russian history.
In February 1818 Karamzin published the first eight volumes of “The History of the Russian State”, which three thousand copies were sold within a month. In subsequent years three more volumes of “History” were published, a number of its translations in major European languages appeared. The coverage of the Russian historical process brought Karamzin closer to the court and the tsar, who settled him in Tsarskoye Selo. Karamzin”s political views gradually evolved and by the end of his life he became a staunch supporter of absolute monarchy. The unfinished 12th volume of the “History” was published after the author”s death.
Karamzin died of consumption on May 22 (June 3), 1826, in St. Petersburg. According to a legend, his death was the result of a cold, which he caught on December 14, 1825, when Karamzin was observing the events at the Senate Square with his own eyes. He is buried in the Tikhvin Cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.
The Collected Works of N. M. Karamzin in 11 volumes in 1803-1815 were printed in the printing house of the Moscow book publisher Selivanovsky.
Also read, biographies – Jean-Michel Basquiat
Sentimentalism
Karamzin”s publication of Letters of the Russian Traveler (separate edition of 1796) inaugurated the era of sentimentalism in Russia.
Lisa was surprised, dared to look at the young man, – blushed even more, and, shushing her eyes to the ground, told him that she would not take a ruble. When you do not take it, here”s five kopecks. I wish I could always buy flowers from you; I wish you would pick them just for me.
Sentimentalism declared feeling rather than reason to be the dominant “human nature,” which distinguished it from Classicism. Sentimentalism considered the ideal of human activity not the “reasonable” reorganization of the world, but the release and improvement of “natural” feelings. His hero is more individualized, his inner world is enriched by the ability to empathize, responsive to what is happening around him.
The publication of these works was a great success with the readers of the time, “Poor Liza” caused many imitations. Karamzin”s sentimentalism had a great influence on the development of Russian literature: Zhukovsky”s romanticism and Pushkin”s work, among others, were derived from it.
Also read, biographies – Abbas the Great
Karamzin”s Poetry
Karamzin”s poetry, which developed in the vein of European sentimentalism, differed radically from the traditional poetry of his time, which was brought up on the odes of Lomonosov and Derzhavin. The most significant differences were as follows:
Karamzin is not interested in the outer, physical world, but in the inner, spiritual world of man. His poems speak “in the language of the heart” rather than the mind. The object of Karamzin”s poetry is “simple life”, and to describe it he uses simple poetic forms – poor rhymes, avoids the abundance of metaphors and other tropes, so popular in the poems of his predecessors.
Another difference in Karamzin”s poetics is that for him the world is fundamentally unknowable; the poet acknowledges the existence of different points of view on the same subject:
Also read, biographies – Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher
Karamzin”s Language Reform
Karamzin”s prose and poetry had a decisive influence on the development of the Russian literary language. Karamzin purposefully refused to use the Church Slavonic vocabulary and grammar, bringing the language of his works to the everyday language of his era and using the grammar and syntax of French as a model.
Karamzin introduced many new words into the Russian language – both neologisms (“charity”, “love”, “freethinking”, “attraction”, “responsibility”, “suspicion”, “industry” in its modern meaning, “refinement”, “human”) and barbarisms (“sidewalk”). He also, according to recent scientific research, invented the letter Yo (another version says he was only one of the first to use it).
The changes in language proposed by Karamzin caused a heated controversy in the 1810s. The writer A. S. Shishkov, with the assistance of Derzhavin, founded in 1811 the society “Conversation of Lovers of the Russian Word”, whose aim was to promote the “old” language and to criticize Karamzin, Zhukovsky and their followers. In response, in 1815, the literary society “Arzamas” was formed, which ironized the authors of the “Conversation” and parodied their works. Many poets of the new generation became members of the society, including Batiushkov, Vyazemsky, Davydov, Zhukovsky, and Pushkin. The literary victory of “Arzamas” over “The Conversation” consolidated the victory of the linguistic changes introduced by Karamzin.
Later there was a rapprochement with Shishkov, who contributed to Karamzin”s election in 1818 as a member of the Russian Academy. In the same year he became a member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences.
Karamzin”s interest in history began in the mid-1790s. He wrote a story on a historical theme – “Martha the Posadnitsa, or the Conquest of Novgorod” (published in 1803). In the same year by the decree of Alexander I Karamzin was appointed historiographer and until the end of his life he was engaged in writing “The History of the Russian State”, practically ceasing his activity as a journalist and writer.
“Karamzin”s History of the Russian State was not the first description of Russian history; it was preceded by the works of V. N. Tatishchev and M. M. Scherbatov. However, it was Karamzin who opened the history of Russia to a wide educated public. According to A. S. Pushkin, “Everyone, even secular women, rushed to read the history of their fatherland, hitherto unknown to them. It was a new discovery for them. Ancient Russia, it seemed, was found by Karamzin, as America – by Columbus. This work also sparked a wave of imitations and oppositions (e.g., N.A. Polevoy”s History of the Russian People).
In his work Karamzin acted more as a writer than as a historian – describing historical facts, he cared about the beauty of language, least of all trying to draw any conclusions from the events he described. Nevertheless, of high scholarly value are his commentaries, which contain many extracts from manuscripts, most of which were first published by Karamzin. Some of these manuscripts have been lost.
In a famous epigram attributed to Pushkin, Karamzin”s coverage of Russian history is criticized:
Karamzin advocated the organization of memorials and the installation of monuments to prominent figures of national history, in particular, K. M. Sukhorukov (Minin) and Prince D. M. Pozharsky on Red Square (1818).
Н. M. Karamzin discovered Athanasius Nikitin”s “Journey Beyond Three Seas” in a 16th-century manuscript and published it in 1821. He wrote:
“Hitherto geographers did not know that the honor of one of the oldest, described European voyages to India belongs to Russia of John”s century … It (the journey) proves that Russia in the XV century had its Taverniers and Chardiniers, less enlightened, but equally bold and enterprising; that Indians heard of it before Portugal, Holland, England. While Vasco da Gama was only thinking about the possibility of finding a way from Africa to the Hindustan, our Tverian was already merchanting on the coast of Malabar …”
In 1787, fascinated by the works of Shakespeare, Karamzin published his translation of the original text of the tragedy “Julius Caesar. Karamzin evaluated the work and his own translation work in the preface:
“The tragedy I have translated is one of his excellent works… If reading the translation will give Russian lovers of literature a sufficient understanding of Shakespeare; if it will bring them pleasure, then the translator will be rewarded for his work. However, he has also prepared for the contrary.
In the early 1790s this edition, one of Shakespeare”s first works in Russian, was included by the censorship among the books to be withdrawn and burned.
In 1792-1793 N. M. Karamzin translated (from English) a monument of Indian literature – a drama of Kalidasa “Shakuntala”.In the preface to the translation he wrote:
“The creative spirit does not dwell in Europe alone; it is a citizen of the universe. Man is everywhere a man; everywhere he has a sensitive heart, and in the mirror of his imagination he contains heaven and earth. Everywhere Nature is his mentor and the main source of his pleasures.
The beginning of Karamzin”s publishing activity belongs to the period when he returned to Russia. In 1791-1792 Karamzin publishes the “Moscow Journal”, where he simultaneously acts as an editor. In 1794 he publishes the almanac “Aglaia” (reprint, 1796). This type of publication was new for Russia and thanks to Karamzin established in its cultural life. Karamzin was also the creator of the first Russian poetry anthology called Aonidas (1796-1799). In these collections he placed not only his own poems, but also the poems of his contemporaries – G. R. Derzhavin, I. I. Dmitriev, M. M. Kheraskov and many young poets. And in 1798 he published the collection Pantheon of Foreign Literature, in which Karamzin included some of his prose translations.
Н. M. Karamzin was married twice and had 10 children:
The writer is named after him:
Also read, biographies – Jacques de Molay
In philately
Sources
