Works of Herzen. Alexander Herzen

Herzen was born on March 25 (April 6), 1812 in Moscow, in the family of a wealthy landowner Ivan Alekseevich Yakovlev (1767-1846); mother - 16-year-old German Henrietta-Wilhelmina-Louise Haag, the daughter of a minor official, a clerk in the state chamber in Stuttgart. The parents' marriage was not formalized, and Herzen bore the surname invented by his father: Herzen - “son of the heart” (from German Herz).

In 1833 Herzen graduated from the physics and mathematics department of Moscow University. A museum has been opened in the Moscow house where he lived from 1843 to 1847.

In his youth, Herzen received the usual noble education at home, based on reading works of foreign literature, mainly late XVIII century. French novels, comedies by Beaumarchais, Kotzebue, works by Goethe and Schiller from an early age set the boy in an enthusiastic, sentimental-romantic tone. There were no systematic classes, but the tutors - French and Germans - gave the boy a solid knowledge of foreign languages. Thanks to his acquaintance with Schiller, Herzen was imbued with freedom-loving aspirations, the development of which was greatly facilitated by the teacher of Russian literature I. E. Protopopov, who brought Herzen notebooks of Pushkin’s poems: “Odes to Freedom”, “Dagger”, “Dumas” by Ryleev, etc., as well as Busho , participant French Revolution, who left France when the “depraved and rogues” took over. Added to this was the influence of the young “Korchev cousin” Herzen (later Tatyana Passek), who supported the childish pride of the young dreamer, prophesying an extraordinary future for him.

Already in childhood, Herzen met and became friends with Ogarev. According to his recollections, strong impression The boys (Herzen was 13, Ogarev 12 years old) were affected by the news of the Decembrist uprising. Under his impression, their first, still vague dreams of revolutionary activities; During a walk on the Sparrow Hills, the boys vowed to fight for the overthrow of Nicholas I.

Already in 1829-1830. Herzen wrote a philosophical article about Schiller's Wallenstein. During this youthful period of Herzen's life, his ideal was first Karl Moor, and then Pose.

University

Herzen dreamed of friendship, dreamed of struggle and suffering for freedom. In this mood, Herzen entered Moscow University at the Department of Physics and Mathematics, and here this mood intensified even more. At the university, Herzen took part in the so-called “Malovsky story”, but got off relatively lightly - imprisonment, along with many of his comrades, in a punishment cell. University teaching was then poorly conducted and brought little benefit; only Kachenovsky with his skepticism and Pavlov, who managed to manage his lectures Agriculture to acquaint listeners with German philosophy, awakened young thought. The youth were, however, quite stormy; she welcomed the July Revolution (as can be seen from Lermontov's poems) and others popular movements(the cholera that appeared in Moscow greatly contributed to the revival and excitement of students, in the fight against which all university youth took an active and selfless part). This time dates back to Herzen’s meeting with Vadim Passek, which later turned into friendship, the establishment of friendly connections with Ogarev, Ketcher and others. The group of young friends grew, made noise, seethed; from time to time she allowed small revelries, of a completely innocent nature, however; I read diligently, being interested mainly in social issues, studying Russian history, assimilating the ideas of Saint-Simon and other socialists.

Philosophical quest

In 1834, all members of Herzen's circle and he himself were arrested. Herzen was exiled to Perm, and from there to Vyatka, where he was assigned to serve in the governor’s office. For organizing an exhibition of local works and the explanations given to the heir (the future Alexander II) during its inspection, Herzen, at the request of Zhukovsky, was transferred to serve as an adviser to the board in Vladimir, where he got married, having secretly taken his bride from Moscow, and where he spent the happiest and bright days own life. In 1840, Herzen was allowed to return to Moscow. Here he had to face the famous circle of Hegelians Stankevich and Belinsky, who defended the thesis of the complete rationality of all reality. The passion for Hegelianism reached its extreme limits; the understanding of Hegel’s philosophy was one-sided; with purely Russian straightforwardness, the disputing parties did not stop at any extreme conclusion (“Borodinsky Anniversary” by Belinsky). Herzen also set to work on Hegel, but from a thorough study of him the results were completely reverse topics what supporters of the idea of ​​rational reality did. Meanwhile, in Russian society, simultaneously with the ideas of German philosophy, they spread greatly socialist ideas Proudhon, Cabet, Fourier, Louis Blanc; they had influence on the grouping of literary circles of that time. Most of Stankevich’s friends became close to Herzen and Ogarev, forming a camp of Westerners; others joined the Slavophil camp, with Khomyakov and Kireevsky at their head (1844). Despite mutual bitterness and disputes, both sides had much in common in their views and, above all, according to Herzen himself, the common thing was “a feeling of boundless, all-existence love for the Russian people, for the Russian mentality.” The opponents, “like a two-faced Janus, looked in different directions, while the heart beat alone.” “With tears in our eyes”, hugging each other, recent friends, and now principled opponents, went in different directions. In 1842, Herzen, having served a year in Novgorod, where he ended up against his own will, received his resignation, moved to live in Moscow, and then, soon after the death of his father, went abroad forever (1847).

In exile

Herzen arrived in Europe more radically republican than socialist, although the publication he began in Otechestvennye Zapiski of a series of articles entitled “Letters from Avenue Marigny” (later published as a book entitled “Letters from France and Italy”) shocked his friends - Western liberals - with their anti-bourgeois pathos. February Revolution The year 1848 seemed to Herzen the fulfillment of all his hopes. The subsequent June workers' uprising, its bloody suppression and the ensuing reaction shocked Herzen, who decisively turned to socialism. He became close to Proudhon and other prominent figures of the revolution and European radicalism; Together with Proudhon, he published the newspaper “Friend of the People” (“Ami du peuple”), which he financed. His wife's sad infatuation dates back to the Parisian period. German poet Herwegh. In 1849, after the defeat of the radical opposition by President Louis Napoleon, Herzen was forced to leave France and moved to Switzerland, where he was naturalized; from Switzerland he moved to Nice, which then belonged to the Kingdom of Sardinia. During this period, Herzen moved among the circles of radical European emigration that gathered in Switzerland after the defeat of the revolution in Europe, and in particular became acquainted with Garibaldi. He became famous for his book of essays “From the Other Shore,” in which he reckoned with his past liberal convictions. Under the influence of the collapse of old ideals and the reaction that occurred throughout Europe, Herzen formed a specific system of views about doom, “dying” old Europe and about the prospects for Russia and the Slavic world, which are called upon to realize the socialist ideal. After the death of his wife, he went to London, where he lived for about 10 years, founding the Free Russian Printing House to print prohibited publications and since 1857 he has been publishing the weekly newspaper “The Bell”. It is noteworthy that in July 1849 Nicholas 1 arrested all the property of Herzen and his mother . The further existence of the fighter against the Russian government, his residence in Europe and propaganda activities are fully financed by the Rothschild Bank.

The peak of the influence of the Bell occurs in the years preceding the liberation of the peasants; at this time the newspaper was regularly read in the Winter Palace. After the peasant reform, the influence of the newspaper begins to decline; support Polish uprising 1863 sharply undermined the newspaper's circulation. At this time, for the liberal public, Herzen was already too revolutionary, for the radical one, too moderate. On March 15, 1865, under the persistent demand of the Russian government to the government of Her Majesty, the editorial board of Kolokol, headed by Herzen, left England forever and moved to Switzerland, of which Herzen was a citizen by that time. In April of the same 1865, the “Free Russian Printing House” was also transferred there. Soon people from Herzen’s entourage began to move to Switzerland, for example, in 1865 Nikolai Ogarev moved there.

On January 9 (21), 1870, Alexander Ivanovich Herzen died of pneumonia in Paris, where he had shortly before arrived on his own family matters.

Literary and journalistic activities

Literary activity G. began in the 30s. In the Athenaeum for the year 30 (II volume) his name is found under one translation from French. The first article, signed by the pseudonym Iskander, printed. in the Telescope for 1836 (“Hoffmann”). The “Speech delivered at the opening of the Vyatka” dates back to the same time. public library" and "Diary" (1842). In Vladimir it is written: “Zap. one young man" and "More from the notes of a young man" ("Department of the Zap.", 1840-41; in this story Chaadaev is depicted in the person of Trenzinsky). From 1842 to 1847 placed in “Ot. Zap." and Sovremennik articles: “Amateurism in Science”, “Romantic Amateurs”, “Workshop of Scientists”, “Buddhism in Science”, “Letters on the Study of Nature”. Here G. rebelled against learned pedants and formalists, against their scholastic science, alienated from life, against their quietism. In the article “On the Study of Nature” we find philosophical analysis various methods of knowledge. At the same time, G. wrote: “About one drama”, “On various occasions”, “New variations on old themes”, “A few comments about historical development honor”, ​​“From the notes of Doctor Krupov”, “Who is to blame”, “The Magpie Thief”, “Moscow and St. Petersburg”, “Novgorod and Vladimir”, “Edrovo Station”, “Interrupted Conversations”. Of all these works, amazingly brilliant, both in depth of thought, and in artistry and dignity of form, the ones that especially stand out are: the story “The Magpie Thief,” which depicts the terrible situation of the “serf intelligentsia,” and the novel “Who’s to Blame,” dedicated to the issue about freedom of feeling, family relationships, the position of a woman in marriage. The main idea of ​​the novel is that people who base their well-being solely on the basis family happiness and feelings alien to the interests of social and universal humanity cannot ensure lasting happiness for themselves, and in their lives it will always depend on chance.

Of the works written by Herzen abroad, the following are especially important: letters from “Avenue Marigny” (the first published in Sovremennik, all fourteen under the general title: “Letters from France and Italy”, published in 1855), representing a remarkable description and analysis of events and sentiments that worried Europe in 1847-1852. Here we encounter a completely negative attitude towards the Western European bourgeoisie, its morality and social principles, and the author’s ardent faith in the future significance of the fourth estate. A particularly strong impression both in Russia and in Europe was made by G.’s work: “From the Other Shore” (originally in German “Vom andern Ufer” Gamb., 1850; in Russian, London, 1855; in French, Geneva , 1870), in which G. expresses complete disappointment with the West and Western civilization- the result of the mental revolution that ended and determined G.’s mental development in 1848-1851. It should also be noted the letter to Michelet: “The Russian people and socialism” - a passionate and ardent defense of the Russian people against the attacks and prejudices that he expressed in one Michelet's article. “The Past and Thoughts” is a series of memories that are partly autobiographical in nature, but also give whole line highly artistic paintings, dazzlingly brilliant characteristics, and G.’s observations from what he experienced and saw in Russia and abroad.

All other works and articles of Herzen, such as, “ Old world and Russia”, “Le peuple Russe et le socialisme”, “Ends and Beginnings”, etc. represent a simple development of ideas and sentiments that were fully defined in the period 1847-1852. in the works cited above.

Philosophical views of Herzen during the years of emigration

About character social activities There are quite misleading views about G. and his worldview, mainly due to the role that G. played in the ranks of the emigration. By nature, G. was not suitable for the role of an agitator and propagandist or revolutionary. He was, first of all, a widely and diversified man, with an inquisitive and contemplative mind, passionate seekers of truth. Attraction to freedom of thought, “freethinking”, in best value This word was especially strongly developed in G. He did not understand fanatical intolerance and exclusivity and himself never belonged to any one party, either open or secret. The one-sidedness of “men of action” alienated him from many revolutionary and radical figures in Europe. His subtle and insightful mind quickly comprehended the imperfections and shortcomings of those forms of Western life to which G. was initially drawn from his unbeautiful, distant Russian reality of the 40s. With amazing consistency, Herzen abandoned his passions for the West when it turned out in his eyes to be lower than the previously drawn up ideal. This mental independence and open-mindedness of G., the ability to question and test the most cherished aspirations, even such an opponent general N. N. Strakhov calls G.’s activity a beautiful and useful phenomenon in many respects, since “it is not for nothing that real freedom is considered one of the necessary conditions for correct thinking.” As a consistent Hegelian, G. believed that the development of humanity proceeds in steps and each step is embodied in famous people. According to Hegel, such a people were the Prussians. G., who laughed at the fact that Hegel’s god lived in Berlin, essentially transferred this god to Moscow, sharing with the Slavophiles the belief in the coming replacement of the German period by the Slavic. At the same time, as a follower of Saint-Simon and Fourier, he combined this belief in the Slavic phase of progress with the doctrine of the upcoming replacement of the rule of the bourgeoisie with the triumph of the working class, which should come thanks to the Russian community, just discovered by the German Haxthausen. Together with the Slavophiles, G. despaired of Western culture. The West has rotted and new life cannot be injected into its dilapidated forms. Faith in the community and the Russian people saved G. from a hopeless view of the fate of humanity. However, G. did not deny the possibility that Russia would also go through the stage of bourgeois development. Defending the Russian future, G. argued that there is a lot of ugliness in Russian life, but there is no vulgarity that is rigid in its forms. Russian tribe- a fresh virgin tribe that has the “aspiration of the future century”, an immeasurable and endless supply of vitality and energy; " thinking man in Russia - the most independent and most open-minded person in the world.” G. was convinced that the Slavic world was striving for unity, and since “centralization is contrary to the Slavic spirit,” the Slavs would unite on the principles of federations. Having a free-thinking attitude towards all religions, G. recognized, however, that Orthodoxy had many advantages and merits in comparison with Catholicism and Protestantism. And on other issues G. expressed opinions that often contradicted Westernist views. So, he was rather indifferent to different forms board.

Social activities in exile

Herzen's influence in his time was enormous. The significance of G.’s activities in the peasant question has been fully clarified and established (V.I. Semevsky, Prof. Ivanyukov, Senate. Semenov, etc.). Disastrous for Hertzn's popularity was his passion for the Polish uprising. Herzen, not without hesitation, took the side of the Poles, being somewhat suspicious of their delegates for quite a long time (See cit., pp. 213-215); He finally yielded only thanks to persistent pressure from Bakunin. As a result, Kolokol lost its subscribers (instead of 3,000, there were no more than 500 left).

Herzen died on January 9 (January 21), 1870 in Paris. He was buried in Nice (the ashes were transferred from Parisian cemetery Père Lachaise).

Alexander Ivanovich Herzen(March 25 (April 6), Moscow - January 9 (21), Paris) - Russian publicist, writer, philosopher, teacher, one of the most prominent critics of the official ideology and policies of the Russian Empire in the 19th century, supporter of revolutionary bourgeois-democratic transformations .

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✪ Lecture I. Alexander Herzen. Childhood and youth. Prison and exile

✪ Lecture III. Herzen in the West. "Past and Thoughts"

✪ Herzen Alexander Ivanovich “Who is to blame? (ONLINE AUDIOBOOKS) Listen

✪ Herzen and the Rothschilds

✪ Lecture II. Westerners and Slavophiles. Short prose Herzen

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Biography

Childhood

Herzen was born into the family of a wealthy landowner Ivan Alekseevich Yakovlev (1767-1846), descended from Andrei Kobyla (like the Romanovs). Mother - 16-year-old German Henrietta-Wilhelmina-Louise Haag (German). Henriette Wilhelmina Luisa Haag), the daughter of a minor official, a clerk in the treasury chamber in. The parents' marriage was not formalized, and Herzen bore the surname invented by his father: Herzen - “son of the heart” (from German Herz).

In his youth, Herzen received the usual noble education at home, based on reading works of foreign literature, mainly from the late 18th century. French novels, comedies by Beaumarchais, Kotzebue, works by Goethe, Schiller from an early age set the boy in an enthusiastic, sentimental-romantic tone. There were no systematic classes, but the tutors - French and Germans - gave the boy a solid knowledge of foreign languages. Thanks to his acquaintance with Schiller’s work, Herzen was imbued with freedom-loving aspirations, the development of which was greatly facilitated by the teacher of Russian literature I. E. Protopopov, who brought Herzen notebooks of Pushkin’s poems: “Odes to Freedom”, “Dagger”, “Thoughts” by Ryleev, etc., as well as Bouchot, a participant in the Great French Revolution, who left France when the “depraved and rogues” took over. Added to this was the influence of Tanya Kuchina, Herzen’s young aunt, “Korchevskaya cousin” (married Tatyana Passek), who supported the childish pride of the young dreamer, prophesying an extraordinary future for him.

Already in childhood, Herzen met and became friends with Nikolai Ogarev. According to his memoirs, the news of the Decembrist uprising on December 14, 1825 made a strong impression on the boys (Herzen was 13, Ogarev was 12 years old). Under his impression, their first, still vague dreams of revolutionary activity arise; During a walk on Vorobyovy Gory, the boys vowed to fight for freedom.

University (1829−1833)

Herzen dreamed of friendship, dreamed of struggle and suffering for freedom. In this mood, Herzen entered Moscow University in the physics and mathematics department, and here this mood intensified even more. At the university, Herzen took part in the so-called “Malov story” (student protest against an unloved teacher), but got off relatively lightly - with a short imprisonment, along with many of his comrades, in a punishment cell. Of the teachers, only Kachenovsky, with his skepticism, and Pavlov, who managed to introduce listeners to German philosophy at agricultural lectures, awakened young thought. The youth were, however, quite stormy; she welcomed the July Revolution (as can be seen from Lermontov’s poems) and other popular movements (the cholera that appeared in Moscow greatly contributed to the revival and excitement of students, in the fight against which all university youth took an active and selfless part). The meeting of Herzen with Vadim Passek dates back to this time, which later turned into friendship, the establishment of a friendly connection with Ketcher and others. The group of young friends grew, made noise, seethed; from time to time she allowed small revelries, of a completely innocent nature, however; She read diligently, being carried away mainly by social issues, studying Russian history, assimilating the ideas of Saint-Simon (whose utopian socialism Herzen then considered the most outstanding achievement of contemporary Western philosophy) and other socialists.

Link

Despite mutual bitterness and disputes, both sides had much in common in their views and, above all, according to Herzen himself, the common thing was “a feeling of boundless, all-existence love for the Russian people, for the Russian mentality.” The opponents, “like a two-faced Janus, looked in different directions, while the heart beat alone.” “With tears in our eyes”, hugging each other, recent friends, and now principled opponents, went in different directions.

In the Moscow house where Herzen lived from 1847 to 1847, the A. I. Herzen House Museum has been operating since 1976.

In exile

Herzen arrived in Europe more radically republican than socialist, although the publication he began in Otechestvennye Zapiski of a series of articles entitled “Letters from Avenue Marigny” (subsequently published in revised form in “Letters from France and Italy”) shocked him friends - Western liberals - with their anti-bourgeois pathos. The February Revolution of 1848 seemed to Herzen the fulfillment of all his hopes. The subsequent June workers' uprising, its bloody suppression and the ensuing reaction shocked Herzen, who decisively turned to socialism. He became close to Proudhon and other prominent figures of the revolution and European radicalism; Together with Proudhon, he published the newspaper “The Voice of the People” (“La Voix du Peuple”), which he financed. The beginning of his wife's passion for the German poet Herwegh dates back to the Parisian period. In 1849, after the defeat of the radical opposition by President Louis Napoleon, Herzen was forced to leave France and moved to Switzerland, and from there to Nice, which then belonged to the Kingdom of Sardinia.

During this period, Herzen moved among the circles of radical European emigration that gathered in Switzerland after the defeat of the revolution in Europe, and, in particular, became acquainted with Giuseppe Garibaldi. He became famous for his book of essays “From the Other Shore,” in which he reckoned with his past liberal convictions. Under the influence of the collapse of old ideals and the reaction that occurred throughout Europe, Herzen formed a specific system of views about the doom, the “dying” of old Europe and the prospects for Russia and the Slavic world, which are called upon to realize the socialist ideal.

After a series family tragedies that befell Herzen in Nice (his wife’s betrayal with Herwegh, the death of a mother and son in a shipwreck, the death of his wife and newborn child), Herzen moved to London, where he founded the Free Russian Printing House to print prohibited publications and, from 1857, published the weekly newspaper “The Bell.”

The peak of the influence of the Bell occurs in the years preceding the liberation of the peasants; then the newspaper was regularly read in the Winter Palace. After the peasant reform, its influence begins to decline; support for the Polish uprising of 1863 sharply undermined circulation. At that time, Herzen was already too revolutionary for the liberal public, and too moderate for the radical one. On March 15, 1865, under the persistent demands of the Russian government to the British government, the editorial board of Kolokol, headed by Herzen, left London forever and moved to Switzerland, of which Herzen had by that time become a citizen. In April of the same 1865, the “Free Russian Printing House” was also transferred there. Soon people from Herzen’s entourage began to move to Switzerland, for example, in 1865 Nikolai Ogarev moved there.

On January 9 (21), 1870, Alexander Ivanovich Herzen died of pneumonia in Paris, where he had recently arrived on family business. He was buried in Nice (the ashes were transferred from the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris).

Literary and journalistic activities

Herzen's literary activity began in the 1830s. In the Athenaeum for 1831 (II volume) his name is found under one translation from French. The first article signed by a pseudonym Iskander, was published in the Telescope for 1836 (“Hoffmann”). The “Speech Delivered at the Opening of the Vyatka Public Library” and “Diary” (1842) date back to the same time. In Vladimir the following were written: “Notes of a young man” and “More from the notes of a young man” (“Otechestvennye zapiski”, 1840-1841; in this story Chaadaev is depicted in the person of Trenzinsky). From 1842 to 1847, he published articles in “Domestic Notes” and “Contemporary”: “Amateurism in Science”, “Romantic Amateurs”, “Workshop of Scientists”, “Buddhism in Science”, “Letters on the Study of Nature”. Here Herzen rebelled against learned pedants and formalists, against their scholastic science, alienated from life, against their quietism. In the article “On the Study of Nature” we find a philosophical analysis of various methods of knowledge. At the same time, Herzen wrote: “About one drama”, “On various occasions”, “New variations on old themes”, “A few notes on the historical development of honor”, ​​“From the notes of Dr. Krupov”, “Who is to blame? "", "The Thieving Magpie", "Moscow and St. Petersburg", "Novgorod and Vladimir", "Edrovo Station", "Interrupted Conversations". Of all these works, the most notable are the story “The Thieving Magpie,” which depicts the terrible situation of the “serf intelligentsia,” and the novel “Who is to Blame?”, which deals with the issue of freedom of feeling, family relationships, and the position of women in marriage. The main idea of ​​the novel is that people who base their well-being solely on the basis of family happiness and feelings, alien to the interests of social and universal humanity, cannot ensure lasting happiness for themselves, and in their lives it will always depend on chance.

Of the works written by Herzen abroad, the following are especially important: letters from “Avenue Marigny” (the first published in Sovremennik, all fourteen under the general title: “Letters from France and Italy”, edition of 1855), representing a remarkable description and analysis of events and the moods that worried Europe in 1847-1852. Here we encounter a completely negative attitude towards the Western European bourgeoisie, its morality and social principles, and the author’s ardent faith in the future significance of the fourth estate. A particularly strong impression both in Russia and in Europe was made by Herzen’s essay “From the Other Shore” (originally in German “Vom anderen Ufer”, Hamburg,; in Russian, London, 1855; in French, Geneva, 1870), in in which Herzen expresses complete disappointment with the West and Western civilization - the result of that mental revolution that determined Herzen’s worldview in 1848-1851. It is also worth noting the letter to Michelet: “The Russian people and socialism” - a passionate and ardent defense of the Russian people against the attacks and prejudices that Michelet expressed in one of his articles. “The Past and Thoughts” is a series of memoirs that are partly autobiographical in nature, but also provide a whole series of highly artistic pictures, dazzlingly brilliant characteristics, and observations of Herzen from what he experienced and saw in Russia and abroad.

All other works and articles of Herzen, such as: “The Old World and Russia”, “Russian People and Socialism”, “Ends and Beginnings”, etc., represent a simple development of ideas and sentiments that were fully defined in the period 1847-1852 in his writings mentioned above.

Philosophical views of Herzen during the years of emigration

The attraction to freedom of thought, “freethinking,” in the best sense of the word, was especially strongly developed in Herzen. He did not belong to any one party, either open or secret. The one-sidedness of “men of action” alienated him from many revolutionary and radical figures in Europe. His mind quickly comprehended the imperfections and shortcomings of those forms of Western life to which Herzen was initially drawn from his ugly, distant Russian reality of the 1840s. With amazing consistency, Herzen abandoned his passions for the West when it turned out in his eyes to be lower than the previously drawn up ideal.

Herzen's philosophical and historical concept emphasizes the active role of man in history. At the same time, it implies that reason cannot realize its ideals without taking into account existing facts history, that its results constitute the “necessary basis” for the operations of the mind.

Quotes

“Let’s not invent a God if he doesn’t exist, because this still won’t exist.”

Pedagogical ideas

There are no special theoretical works on education in Herzen's legacy. However, throughout his life Herzen was interested in pedagogical problems and was one of the first Russian thinkers and public figures mid-19th centuries, who touched upon the problems of education in their works. His statements on issues of upbringing and education indicate the presence thoughtful pedagogical concept.

Herzen's pedagogical views were determined by philosophical (atheism and materialism), ethical (humanism) and political (revolutionary democracy) convictions.

Criticism of the education system under Nicholas I

Herzen called the reign of Nicholas I a thirty-year persecution of schools and universities and showed how the Nicholas Ministry of Education stifled public education. The tsarist government, according to Herzen, “laid in wait for the child at the first step in life and corrupted the cadet-child, the schoolboy-adolescent, the student-boy. Mercilessly, systematically, it eradicated the human embryos in them, weaning them, as if from a vice, from all human feelings except obedience. It punished minors for violation of discipline in a way that hardened criminals are not punished in other countries.”

He resolutely opposed the introduction of religion into education, against the transformation of schools and universities into a tool for strengthening serfdom and autocracy.

Folk pedagogy

Herzen believed that the most positive influence children are influenced by the common people that it is the people who bear the best Russian national qualities. Young generations are learning from the people respect for work, selfless love to the homeland, aversion to idleness.

Upbringing

Herzen considered the main task of education to be the formation of a humane, free personality who lives in the interests of his people and strives to transform society on a reasonable basis. Children must be provided with conditions for free development. “Reasonable recognition of self-will is the highest and moral recognition of human dignity.” In everyday educational activities important role plays the “talent of patient love”, the teacher’s disposition towards the child, respect for him, knowledge of his needs. Healthy family environment and right relationship between children and teachers are a necessary condition moral education.

Education

Herzen passionately sought the spread of education and knowledge among the people, called on scientists to take science out of the classroom walls and make its achievements public domain. Emphasizing the enormous educational and educational value natural sciences, Herzen was at the same time in favor of a system of comprehensive general education. He wanted students secondary school along with natural science and mathematics, they studied literature (including the literature of ancient peoples), foreign languages, history. A. I. Herzen noted that without reading there is and cannot be either taste, style, or multifaceted breadth of understanding. Thanks to reading, a person survives centuries. Books influence the deepest areas of the human psyche. Herzen emphasized in every possible way that education should correspond to the development of independent thinking in students. Educators should, based on children’s innate inclinations to communicate, develop social aspirations and inclinations in them. This is achieved through communication with peers, collective children's games, and general activities. Herzen fought against the suppression of children's will, but at the same time gave great importance discipline, considered the establishment of discipline a necessary condition proper upbringing. “Without discipline,” he said, “there is no calm confidence, no obedience, no way to protect health and prevent danger.”

Herzen wrote two special works in which he explained natural phenomena to the younger generation: “The Experience of Conversations with Young People” and “Conversations with Children.” These works are wonderful examples of talented, popular presentation of complex ideological problems. The author simply and vividly explains to children the origin of the universe from a materialistic point of view. He convincingly proves the important role of science in the fight against incorrect views, prejudices and superstitions and refutes the idealistic fabrication that a soul also exists in a person, separate from his body.

Family

In 1838, in Vladimir, Herzen married his cousin Natalya Alexandrovna Zakharyina, before leaving Russia they had 6 children, two of whom lived to adulthood:

• Alexander(1839-1906), famous physiologist, lived in Switzerland.
• Natalya (b. and d. 1841), died 2 days after birth.
• Ivan (b. and d. 1842), died 5 days after birth.
• Nikolai (1843-1851), was deaf from birth, with the help of the Swiss teacher I. Shpilman learned to speak and write, died in a shipwreck (see below).
• Natalia(Tata, 1844-1936), family historiographer and keeper of the Herzen archive.
• Elizabeth (1845-1846), died 11 months after birth.

In exile in Paris, Herzen's wife fell in love with Herzen's friend Georg Herwegh. She admitted to Herzen that “dissatisfaction, something left unoccupied, abandoned, was looking for another sympathy and found it in friendship with Herwegh” and that she dreams of a “marriage of three,” and more spiritual than purely carnal. In Nice, Herzen and his wife and Herwegh and his wife Emma, ​​as well as their children, lived in the same house, forming a “commune” that did not involve intimate relationships outside par. Nevertheless, Natalya Herzen became Herwegh’s mistress, which she hid from her husband (although Herwegh revealed himself to his wife). Then Herzen, having learned the truth, demanded the Herwegs' departure from Nice, and Herwegh blackmailed Herzen with the threat of suicide. The Herwegs left anyway. In the international revolutionary community, Herzen was condemned for subjecting his wife to “moral coercion” and preventing her from uniting with her lover.

In 1850, Herzen's wife gave birth to a daughter Olga(1850-1953), who in 1873 married the French historian Gabriel Monot (1844-1912). According to some reports, Herzen doubted his paternity, but never stated this publicly and recognized the child as his own.

In the summer of 1851, the Herzen couple reconciled, but she was still waiting for a family new tragedy. On November 16, 1851, near the Giera archipelago, as a result of a collision with another ship, the steamship “City of Grasse” sank, on which Herzen’s mother Louise Ivanovna and his son Nikolai, deaf from birth, with their teacher Johann Spielmann sailed to Nice; they died and their bodies were never found.

In 1852, Herzen's wife gave birth to a son, Vladimir, and died two days later; the son also died soon after.

Since 1857, Herzen began to cohabit with Nikolai Ogarev’s wife, Natalya Alekseevna Ogareva-Tuchkova, she raised his children. They had a daughter Elizabeth(1858-1875) and twins Elena and Alexey (1861-1864, died of diphtheria). Officially, they were considered Ogarev’s children.

In 1869, Natalya Tuchkova received the surname Herzen, which she bore until her return to Russia in 1876, after Herzen’s death.

Elizaveta Ogareva-Herzen, the 17-year-old daughter of A.I. Herzen and N.A. Tuchkova-Ogareva, committed suicide because of unrequited love for a 44-year-old Frenchman in Florence in December 1875. The suicide had a resonance, he wrote about it

Herzen Alexander Ivanovich - writer, publicist and public figure 19th century. Widely known as the creator of the work “Who’s to Blame?” But few people know how difficult and interesting the writer’s life was. It is about Herzen’s biography that we will talk in this article.

Herzen Alexander Ivanovich: biography

Was born future writer in Moscow on March 25, 1812 in a wealthy landowner family. His father was Ivan Alekseevich Yakovlev, his mother was Louise Haag, the sixteen-year-old daughter of an official serving as a clerk in Stuttgart. Herzen's parents were not registered and later also did not legalize the marriage. As a result, the son received the surname invented by his father - Herzen, which was derived from the German herz, which translates as “son of the heart.”

Despite his origins, Alexander received a noble upbringing at home, which was mainly based on the study of foreign literature. He also studied several foreign languages.

The message about the Decembrist uprising had a great effect on Herzen, although he was still just a child. In those years, he was already friends with Ogarev, who shared these impressions with him. It was after this incident that dreams of a revolution in Russia arose in the boy’s mind. Walking on the Sparrow Hills, he swore an oath to do everything to overthrow Tsar Nicholas I.

University years

Biography of Herzen (its full version is presented in literary encyclopedias) is a description of the life of a man who tried to make his country better, but failed.

The young writer, full of dreams of the fight for freedom, enters the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Moscow University, where these sentiments only intensified. IN student years Herzen took part in the “Malov story”, fortunately, he got off very lightly - he spent several days in a punishment cell with his comrades.

As for university teaching, it left much to be desired and provided little benefit. Only a few teachers introduced students to modern trends and German philosophy. Nevertheless, the youth were very determined and greeted the July Revolution with joy and hope. Young people gathered in groups, vigorously discussed social issues, studied the history of Russia, and sang the ideas of Saint-Simon and other socialists.

In 1833, Herzen graduated from Moscow University without losing these student sentiments.

Arrest and exile

While still at the university, A. I. Herzen joined a circle, whose members, including the writer, were arrested in 1834. Alexander Ivanovich was sent into exile, first to Perm, and then to Vyatka, where he was assigned to serve in the provincial chancellery. Here he met the heir to the throne, who was destined to become Alexander II. Herzen was the organizer of an exhibition of local works and personally gave a tour for the royal person. After these events, thanks to the intercession of Zhukovsky, he was transferred to Vladimir and appointed advisor to the board.

Only in 1840 did the writer get the opportunity to return to Moscow. Here he immediately met representatives of the Hegelian circle, headed by Belinsky and Stankevich. However, he could not fully share their views. Soon a camp of Westerners formed around Herzen and Ogarev.

Emigration

In 1842, A.I. Herzen was forced to go to Novgorod, where he served for a year, and then returned to Moscow again. Due to tightening censorship in 1847, the writer decides to go abroad forever. However, he did not break ties with his homeland and continued to collaborate with domestic publications.

By this time, Herzen adhered to radical republican views rather than liberal ones. The author begins to publish a series of articles in Otechestvennye zapiski, which had a pronounced anti-bourgeois orientation.

Herzen received the February Revolution of 1848 with joy, considering it the fulfillment of all his hopes. But the workers' uprising, which occurred in June of the same year and ended in bloody suppression, shocked the writer, who decided to become a socialist. After these events, Herzen became friends with Proudhon and several other famous revolutionary figures of European radicalism.

In 1849, the writer left France and moved to Switzerland, and from there to Nice. Herzen moves in the circles of radical emigration that gathered after the defeat of the European revolution. Including meeting Garibaldi. After the death of his wife, he moved to London, where he lived for 10 years. During these years, Herzen founded the Free Russian Printing House, where books banned in his homeland were printed.

"Bell"

In 1857, Alexander Herzen began publishing the newspaper Kolokol. The author's biography indicates that in 1849 Nicholas I ordered the seizure of all the property of the writer and his mother. The existence of the printing house and the new publication became possible only thanks to funding from the Rothschild Bank.

The Bell was most popular in the years preceding the peasants' liberation. At this time, the publication was constantly delivered to the Winter Palace. However, after the peasant reform, the influence of the newspaper gradually declined, and support for the Polish uprising that occurred in 1863 greatly undermined the publication's circulation.

The conflict reached the point that on March 15, 1865, the Russian government made an insistent demand to Her Majesty England. And the editors of Kolokol, together with Herzen, were forced to leave the country and move to Switzerland. In 1865, the Free Russian Printing House and the writer’s supporters moved there. Including Nikolai Ogarev.

Literary activity

A. I. Herzen began writing in the 30s. His first article, published in Telescope in 1836, was signed with the name Iskander. In 1842, “Diary” and “Speech” were published. During his stay in Vladimir, Herzen wrote “Notes of a Young Man”, “More from the Notes of a Young Man”. From 1842 to 1847, the writer actively collaborated with " Domestic notes" and "Contemporary". In these writings he spoke out against formalists, learned pedants and quietism.

As for works of fiction, the most famous and outstanding are the novel “Who is to Blame?” and the story "The Thieving Magpie". The novel is of great value and, despite its modest size, has deep meaning. It raises issues such as feelings and happiness in family relationships, the position of women in modern society and her relationship with a man. the main idea The work is that people who base their well-being only on family relationships are far from social and universal interests and cannot ensure lasting happiness for themselves, because it will always depend on chance.

Public activity and death

A. I. Herzen had a huge influence on the minds of his contemporaries. Despite his stay abroad, he managed to stay informed about what was happening in his homeland and even influence events. However, his fascination with the uprising in Poland became disastrous for the writer’s popularity. Herzen sided with the Poles, although he hesitated for a long time and was suspicious of their activities. Bakurin's pressure was decisive. The result was not long in coming, and Kolokol lost most of its subscribers.

The writer died in Paris, where he came on business, from pneumonia. This happened on January 9, 1970. Initially, Herzen was buried there in the Père Lachaise cemetery, but later the ashes were transported to Nice.

Personal life

Was in love with his cousin Alexander Herzen. short biography usually does not contain such information, but the writer’s personal life allows us to get an idea of ​​his personality. So, exiled to Vladimir, he secretly married his beloved Natalya Aleksandrovna Zakharyina in 1838, taking the girl away from the capital. It was in Vladimir, despite the exile, that the writer was happiest in his entire life.

In 1839, the couple had a child, son Alexander. And 2 years later a daughter was born. In 1842, a boy was born who died 5 days later, and a year later - a son, Nikolai, who suffered from deafness. Two more girls were born in the family, one of whom lived only 11 months.

Already in exile, while in Paris, the writer’s wife fell in love with her husband’s friend Georg Herwegh. For some time, the families of Herzen and Herwegh lived together, but then the writer demanded his friend’s departure. Herwegh blackmailed him with threats of suicide, but eventually left Nice. Herzen's wife died in 1852, a few days after her last birth. The boy she gave birth to also soon died.

In 1857, Herzen began to live with Natalya Alekseevna Ogareva (whose photo can be seen above), the wife of his friend, who raised his children. In 1869, their daughter Elizabeth was born, who later committed suicide due to unrequited love.

Philosophical views

Herzen (a short biography confirms this) is associated primarily with revolutionary movement in Russia. However, by nature he was not an agitator or propagandist. Rather, he can simply be called a very person open-minded, well educated, with an inquisitive mind and contemplative inclinations. Throughout his life he tried to find the truth. Herzen was never a fanatic of any beliefs and did not tolerate this in others. That is why he never belonged to any one party. In Russia he was considered a Westerner, but when he got to Europe, he realized how many shortcomings there were in the life that he had praised for so long.

Herzen always changed his ideas about something if factors changed or new nuances appeared. I have never been completely devoted to anything.

Afterword

We got acquainted with the amazing life that Alexander Ivanovich Herzen lived. A short biography may include only some facts from life, but in order to fully understand this person, you need to read his journalism and fiction. Descendants should remember that Herzen dreamed of only one thing all his life - the well-being of Russia. He saw this in the overthrow of the tsar and therefore was forced to leave his dear homeland.

"Who is guilty?" and other stories by Herzen

Herzen lived amazing life, which took shape according to the laws of history. Important dates his biography was at the same time a chronology of the great events of the whole century. He was born in 1812 in Moscow, and his “cradle was illuminated by flames Patriotic War". The Decembrist uprising in 1825 in St. Petersburg "awakened the childish sleep" of his soul. Herzea participated in the 1848 revolution in Europe, contributed to the abolition of serfdom in 1861 in Russia and died in 1870, on the eve of the proclamation of the Paris Commune.

In 1912, on the centenary of Iskander’s birth, five years before the victory socialist revolution in Russia, V.I. Lenin published an article “In Memory of Herzen”, in which he said that the name of Herzen is inseparable from Russian history. “In serf Russia of the 40s of the 19th century, he managed to rise to such a height that he stood on a level with the greatest thinkers of his time” [V. I. Lenin. Full collection soch., vol. 21, p. 273].

Herzea made his debut in the early 40s as a philosopher and publicist. The following brought him fame: theoretical works, like "Amateurism in Science" (1842 - I8i3) and "Letters on the Study of Nature" (1844 - 1846), a brilliant essay on the history of European philosophy.

Then, in the 40s, Herzen began writing novellas and short stories: “Who is to blame?” (184I - 1846), "The Thieving Magpie" (1846), "Doctor Krupov" (1846), "Passing" (1846). He created a new genre of ideological, philosophical story, which, in addition to artistic interest, also has theoretical interest.

Herzen's debut as an artist was brilliant. Nekrasov was delighted with the skill and freedom of his stories!

“It seems like all he did all his life was write stories: such evenness and not a single false note"[N. A. Nekrasov. Complete collection of works in letters, vol. X. M., Goslitizdat, 1953, p. 49].

In the 50s and 60s, Herzen wrote a series of journalistic and historical works in which he examines the reasons for the failure and the lessons of the European revolution of 1848: “Letters from France and Italy” (1850), “From the Other Shore” (1850), - and again takes up the stories that he wrote with “Interrupted Stories”: “Duty First” (1847 - 5851), “Innate” (1851), “Tragedy over a Glass of Grog” (1863), “Aphorismata” (1863), "Doctor, the Dying and the Dead" (1869). Written during the years of emigration, their internal content is closely related to works of art the initial "brilliant period" of his life.

Herzen's stories and tales were a kind of "introduction" to his book "The Past and Thoughts", the most mature and complete work of Russian historical and philosophical thought second half of the 19th century century.

Herzen's merit lies in the fact that he was not only a great thinker, but also a great artist. “This is a writer, as an artistic writer,” said Leo Tolstoy, “if not higher, then certainly equal to your first writers” [“L.N. Tolstoy on Literature.” L., Goslitizdat, 1955, p. 228-229].

His book "Who's to Blame?" Herzen called it “a novel in two parts.” But he called this book and story: “Who is to blame?” was the first story that I wrote." This was a novel in several stories that had an internal connection, consistency and unity. “With Iskander,” Belinsky noted, “the thought is always ahead” [V. G. Belinsky. Collected works, vol. III. M, Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1948, p. 830]. Herzen “felt the need to translate, no, develop philosophy into life.” And “from this “necessity” I conceived the idea of ​​a topical novel with an unusually sharp and polemical title: "Who is to blame?"

However, Herzen was not a dry rationalist. His stories have a deep lyrical basis. And he owes his success to the lyricism of the narrative not in to a lesser extent than the original thought underlying the narrative.

The composition of the novel "Who is to Blame?" V highest degree original. Only the first chapter of the first part has the actual romantic form of exposition and the beginning of the action - " Retired General and a teacher who is determined to the place." This is followed by: "Biography of their excellencies" and "Biography of Dmitry Yakovlevich Krutsifersky." The chapter "Life and Being" is a chapter from the correct form of narration, and it is followed by "Biography of Vladimir Veltov."

Herzen wanted to compose a novel from this kind of individual biographies, where “in the footnotes one can say that so-and-so married so-and-so.” “For me a story is a frame,” said Herzen. Ov painted mostly portraits; he was most interested in “faces” and biographies. “A person is a track record in which everything is noted,” writes Herzen, a passport in which visas remain.

Despite the apparent fragmentation of the narrative, when the story from the author is replaced by letters from the characters, excerpts from the diary, and biographical digressions, Herzen’s novel was strictly consistent. "This story, despite the fact that it will consist of individual chapters and episodes, has such integrity that a torn sheet would ruin everything,” Herzen plows. He saw his task not in “resolving the issue,” but in correctly identifying it. Therefore, he chose a “protocol” epigraph: “ And this case, due to the failure to discover the perpetrators, will be handed over to the will of God, and the matter, having been considered resolved, will be handed over to the archives, the Protocol.”

But he wrote not a “protocol,” but a novel in which he explored not a “case,” but a law of modern reality. That is why the question posed in the title of his book resonated so deeply in the hearts of his contemporaries. The main idea of ​​the rem am critic A. A. Grigoriev saw that the problem of the century receives from Herzen not personal, but general meaning: “It is not we who are to blame, but the lies in whose networks we have been entangled since childhood” [A. A. Grigoriev. Materials for biography. Pg., 1917, p. 114.].

But Herzen was also interested in the problem of moral self-awareness of the individual. Among Herzen’s heroes there are no “villains” who would consciously and deliberately do evil to their neighbors. By her, the Gars are the child of the century, no better and no worse than others; rather, even better than many, and some of them contain the promise of amazing abilities and opportunities. Even General Negrov, the owner of the “white slaves”, was a serf owner and a despot due to circumstances