Other biography options. Beginning of literary activity

The fate of the satirist at all times was thorny: on his way he constantly encountered obstacles in the form of omnipresent censorship, limiting creative possibilities, forcing you to express thoughts in roundabout terms, in Aesopian language. Satire caused discontent among ordinary people, not inclined to focus on the painful aspects of their existence. However main difficulty was different: the art of satire remained dramatic in nature.
In his early works, Saltykov-Shchedrin aimed arrows at denunciation provincial officials. In “The History of a City,” the satirist has already risen to the top of the government. At the center of this work satirical image relationship between people and government. The book covers the history of the fictional city of Foolov, even indicating exact dates her: from 1731 to 1828.
Any reader who is more or less familiar with Russian history will see echoes in the fantastic events and heroes of this book real events period named by the author. But, at the same time, the satirist consistently and methodically knocks down and destroys local historical parallels in the reader’s mind. In the book we're talking about not about any specific segment national history, but about that in it that resists the flow of time, that invariably remains at different stages of Russian historical experience. The satirist sets himself a dizzyingly bold goal - to create a generalized image of Russia, which synthesizes centuries-old weaknesses national history, worthy of satirical coverage, fundamental vices of state and public life.
The author resorts to mixing tenses. No less paradoxical are the socio-administrative characteristics unique city Foolov. Either it appears to readers in the form of a district town, or it takes on the appearance of a provincial or even capital city. Otherwise it will suddenly turn into a run-down Russian village or hamlet, which, as usual, has its own pasture for livestock, fenced with a typical village fence. But only the borders of Foolov’s pasture are adjacent to the borders of the Byzantine Empire.
The characteristics of Foolov's inhabitants are also fantastic: at times they look like capital and provincial townspeople, but sometimes these “townspeople” plow and sow, graze cattle and live in village huts. The characteristics of Foolov's authorities are equally incongruous: the mayors combine habits typical of Russian tsars and nobles with actions and deeds characteristic of a mayor or village elder.
When “The History of a City” was published, liberal criticism began to reproach Shchedrin for distorting life, for deviating from realism. But these reproaches were unfounded. The satirist's grotesque and fantasy do not distort reality; they only bring to the point of paradox the qualities that the bureaucratic regime conceals.
Artistic exaggeration acts like a magnifying glass. It makes the secret obvious, reveals the essence of things hidden from the naked eye, the really existing evil.
With the help of the grotesque and fantasy, the writer often diagnoses social diseases that exist in embryo and have not yet developed all the possibilities and “readiness” contained in them. Bringing these “readinesses” to their logical conclusion, to the extent of a public epidemic, the satirist acts as a seer, entering the realm of foresight and premonitions. It is precisely this prophetic meaning contained in the image of Gloomy-Burcheev, which enhances the biography of Foolov’s mayors.
Foolov in the book by M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin is a special order of things, constituent elements which is not only the administration, but also the people - the Foolovites. “The History of a City” gives an unprecedented satirical painting most weaknesses people's worldview. At the same time, the pictures folk life are illuminated in a different tone than the pictures of the mayor’s arbitrariness. The satirist's laughter here becomes bitter, contempt is replaced by secret sympathy.
Saltykov-Shchedrin’s turn to the fairy-tale genre was preceded by inner evolution his creativity. The basis of his fantasy and grotesquery is the folk view of things; many of his fantastic images are nothing more than expanded folklore metaphors.
Fairytale fantasy becomes a full-fledged mistress in the writer’s narrative. In addition, she turns out to be an ally of the grotesque that prevails in Shchedrin’s fairy-tale prose. Only thanks to this fantasy is the core grotesque metamorphosis realized. On the basis of fantasy, the main property of Shchedrin's grotesque was determined - the combination in one image of the incompatible.
The writer’s satirical fantasy is based on folk tales about animals. The writer uses the honed age-old folk wisdom content that frees the satirist from the need for detailed motivations and characteristics. In the fairy tale, each animal is endowed with a ready-made character: the wolf is greedy and gluttonous, the bear is simple-minded and clumsy. Satire in its own way artistic specificity shuns details, she depicts life in its most dramatic manifestations, which are exaggerated and enlarged. That's why fairy tale type thinking organically corresponds to the very nature of satirical typification.
Borrowing from the people ready-made fairy tales and images, the writer develops and deepens the satirical content contained in them. The afantastic form is for him a reliable method of Aesopian language. With the advent of fairy tales, Shchedrin's satire was directly addressed to the people.

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Other writings:

1. M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin occupies an honorable place in the brilliant galaxy of remarkable satirists who make up the glory of world culture (Rabelais, Swift, Voltaire). Great writer, publicist, critic, journalist, editor, Saltykov-Shchedrin played a huge role both in the history of Russian literature and in social development Russia. Saltykov Read More ......
2. Raised a fairy tale to the top of political journalism great satirist M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin. There lived a landowner, he says, whose body was “soft, white and crumbly”; He had enough of everything: peasants, grain, cattle, land, and gardens, and the landowner began to fear, Read More......
3. Grotesque is a term meaning a type artistic imagery(image, style, genre), based on fantasy, laughter, hyperbole, bizarre combination and contrast of something with something. In the grotesque genre, ideological and artistic features Shchedrin's satire: her political urgency and determination, Read More ......
4. The fairy tale is one of the most popular folklore genres. This type of oral storytelling with fantastic fiction has centuries-old history. Saltykov-Shchedrin's tales are associated not only with folklore tradition, but also with satirical literary fairy tale XVIII-XIX centuries. Already in his declining years, the author turns to Read More ......
5. Even appearance Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin amazes us with a dramatic combination of gloomy severity and hidden, restrained kindness. Life passed through him like a sharp incisor, dotting him with deep wrinkles. It is not for nothing that satire has been considered the most difficult form of art since ancient times. “Blessed is the gentle poet,” wrote Nekrasov. But another Read More......
6. Judushka Golovlev Characteristics literary hero JUDUSHKA GOLOVLEV is the hero of M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin’s novel “The Golovlev Lords” (1875-1880). Porfiry Vladimirovich Golovlev, nicknamed Judushka and Blood Drinker, is “the last representative of an ostracized family.” The prototype of the hero was the “evil demon” of the Saltykov family - Mikhail Evgrafovich’s older brother, Dmitry, Read More ......
7. Toy People Saltykov Shchedrin is one of those rare writers who benefit from cheap, abridged editions. Excerpts in textbooks are also suitable. Perhaps this is explained by the fact that a slave to periodicals, Shchedrin always wrote for the next issue of the magazine. All his books are collections of “feuilletons”, Read More ......
8. M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin is one of the most famous literary satirists XIX century. The novel “The History of a City” is the pinnacle of his artistic creativity. Despite the name, behind the image of the city of Foolov lies an entire country, namely Russia. So, in figurative form, Saltykov-Shchedrin Read More......

Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin was born on January 15 (27), 1826 in the village of Spas-Ugol, Tver province in the ancient noble family. Elementary education future writer received at home - a serf painter, a sister, a priest, and a governess worked with him. In 1836, Saltykov-Shchedrin studied at the Moscow Noble Institute, and from 1838 at the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum.

Military service. Link to Vyatka

In 1845, Mikhail Evgrafovich graduated from the lyceum and entered service in the military chancellery. At this time, the writer became interested in the French socialists and George Sand, and created a number of notes and stories (“Contradiction”, “An Entangled Affair”).

In 1848, in a short biography of Saltykov-Shchedrin, a long period of exile began - he was sent to Vyatka for freethinking. The writer lived there for eight years, first serving as a clerical official, and then was appointed adviser to the provincial government. Mikhail Evgrafovich often went on business trips, during which he collected information about provincial life for his works.

Government activities. Mature creativity

Returning from exile in 1855, Saltykov-Shchedrin entered service in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In 1856-1857 his “ Provincial essays" In 1858, Mikhail Evgrafovich was appointed vice-governor of Ryazan, and then Tver. At the same time, the writer was published in the magazines “Russian Bulletin”, “Sovremennik”, “Library for Reading”.

In 1862, Saltykov-Shchedrin, whose biography was previously associated more with career than with creativity, left public service. Stopping in St. Petersburg, the writer gets a job as an editor at the Sovremennik magazine. Soon his collections “Innocent Stories” and “Satires in Prose” will be published.

In 1864, Saltykov-Shchedrin returned to service, taking the position of manager of the treasury chamber in Penza, and then in Tula and Ryazan.

The last years of the writer's life

Since 1868, Mikhail Evgrafovich retired and was actively involved in literary activities. In the same year, the writer became one of the editors of Otechestvennye Zapiski, and after the death of Nikolai Nekrasov, he took the post of executive editor of the magazine. In 1869 - 1870, Saltykov-Shchedrin created one of his most famous works - “The History of a City” (summary), in which he raises the topic of relations between the people and the authorities. Soon the collections “Signs of the Times”, “Letters from the Province”, and the novel “The Golovlev Gentlemen” will be published.

In 1884 " Domestic notes” were closed, and the writer begins to publish in the magazine “Bulletin of Europe”.

IN last years Saltykov-Shchedrin's creativity reaches its climax in the grotesque. The writer publishes the collections “Fairy Tales” (1882 – 1886), “Little Things in Life” (1886 – 1887), “Peshekhonskaya Antiquity” (1887 – 1889).

Mikhail Evgrafovich died on May 10 (April 28), 1889 in St. Petersburg, and was buried at the Volkovsky cemetery.

Chronological table

Other biography options

• While studying at the Lyceum, Saltykov-Shchedrin published his first poems, but quickly became disillusioned with poetry and left this activity forever.
• Mikhail Evgrafovich made it popular literary genre a social-satirical tale aimed at exposing human vices.
• The link to Vyatka became turning point in the personal life of Saltykov-Shchedrin - there he met his future wife E. A. Boltina, with whom he lived for 33 years.
• While in exile in Vyatka, the writer translated the works of Tocqueville, Vivien, Cheruel, and took notes on Beccari’s book.
• In accordance with the request in his will, Saltykov-Shchedrin was buried next to the grave of Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev.

Biography test

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In Russia, every writer is truly and sharply individual.

Each of the great writers national literature occupies his own special place in her, only to him owned place. The main uniqueness of M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin in Russian literature is that he was and remains in it largest representative social criticism and denunciation. Ostrovsky called Shchedrin a “prophet” and felt in him “a terrible poetic power.”

Saltykov-Shchedrin chose, it seems to me, the most complex genre literature - satire. After all, satire is a type of comic that most mercilessly ridicules reality and, unlike humor, does not give a chance for correction.

The writer had the gift of sensitively capturing the most acute conflicts brewing in Russia and displaying them in front of the entire Russian society in his works.

It was difficult and thorny creative path satirical WITH early years vital contradictions entered his soul, from which the mighty tree of Shchedrin’s satire subsequently grew. And I think that Pushkin's lines"satires brave ruler”, said in “Eugene Onegin” about Fonvizin, can be safely redirected to Saltykov-Shchedrin.

Shchedrin studied most closely political life Russia: relationships between different classes, oppression of the peasantry by the “higher” strata of society.

The lawlessness of the tsarist administration, its reprisals inflicted on the people, are perfectly reflected in the novel “The History of a City.” In it, Saltykov-Shchedrin predicted the death of the Russian autocracy, tangibly conveying the increase in popular anger: “The North darkened and became covered with clouds; From these clouds something was rushing towards the city: either a downpour, or a tornado.”

The inevitable fall of the tsarist regime, the process of destruction of not only its political but also its moral foundations are clearly depicted in the novel “Lord of the Heads of the Left.” Here we see the history of three generations of nobles Golovlevs, as well as a bright picture decomposition and degeneration of the whole noble class. The image of Judushka Golovlev embodies all the ulcers and vices of both the family and the entire class of owners. I am especially struck by the speech of Judas the misanthrope and fornicator. It all consists of sighs, hypocritical appeals to God, continuous repetitions: “But God - here he is. And there, and here, and here with us, as long as we are talking - he is everywhere! And he sees everything, hears everything, he just pretends not to notice.”

Idle talk and hypocrisy helped him hide true essence his nature is the desire to “torture, ruin, dispossess, suck blood.” The name Judushka became a household name for every exploiter and parasite. With the power of his talent, Saltykov-Shchedrin created a bright, typical, unforgettable image, mercilessly exposing political betrayal, greed, and hypocrisy. It seems to me that it is appropriate here to quote the words of Mikhailovsky, who said about “The Golovlev Gentlemen” that it is “a critical encyclopedia of Russian life.”

The writer showed himself in many genres of literature. From his pen came novels, chronicles, stories, stories, essays, plays. But Saltykov-Shchedrin’s artistic talent is most clearly expressed in his famous “Fairy Tales”. The writer himself defined them as follows: “Fairy tales for children of a fair age.” They combine elements of folklore and original literature: fairy tales and fables. They most fully reflect life experience and the wisdom of the satirist. Despite the topical political motives, fairy tales still retain all their charm folk art: “In a certain kingdom, a hero was born. Baba Yaga gave birth to him, gave him water, fed him...” (“Bogatyr”).

Saltykov-Shchedrin created many fairy tales by using the technique of allegory. The author called this style of writing Aesopian language, named after the ancient Greek fabulist Aesop, who in ancient times used the same technique in his fables. was one of the means of protecting Shchedrin’s works from the tsarist censorship that tormented them.

In some of the satirist's tales, the characters are animals. Their images are endowed with ready-made characters: the wolf is greedy and angry, the bear is simple-minded, the fox is treacherous, the hare is cowardly and boastful, and the donkey is hopelessly stupid. For example, in the fairy tale " Selfless hare"The wolf enjoys the position of a ruler, a despot: "...Here is my decision for you [hare]: I sentence you to deprivation of your belly by being torn to pieces... Or maybe... ha ha... I will have mercy on you." However, the author does not at all evoke sympathy for the hare - after all, he also lives according to wolf laws, and resignedly goes into the wolf’s mouth! Shchedrinsky's hare is not just cowardly and helpless, he is cowardly, he gives up resistance in advance, making it easier for the wolf to solve the “food problem.” And here the author’s irony turns into caustic sarcasm, into deep contempt for the psychology of a slave.

In general, all of Saltykov-Shchedrin’s tales can be conditionally divided into three main groups: tales castigating the autocracy and the exploiting classes; fairy tales exposing cowardice contemporary writer liberal intelligentsia and, of course, fairy tales about the people.

The writer ridicules the stupidity and worthlessness of the generals, putting the following words into the mouth of one of them: “Who would have thought, Your Excellency, that human food in its original form flies, floats and grows on trees?”

The generals are saved from death by a man whom they force to work for them. The man - the “huge man” - is much stronger and smarter than the generals. However, due to slavish obedience and habit, he unquestioningly obeys the generals and fulfills all their demands. He only cares about “how he could please his generals because they favored him, a parasite, and did not disdain his peasant work.” The man’s submission goes so far that he himself made a rope, with which the generals tied him to a tree, “so as not to run away.”

An unprecedented satire on the Russian liberal intelligentsia was developed by Saltykov-Shchedrin in tales of fish and hares. This is the fairy tale The wise minnow" In the image of a “minnow,” the satirist showed a pitiful man in the street whose meaning of life was the idea of ​​self-preservation. Shchedrin showed how boring and useless the life of people who social struggle prefer their petty personal interests. The entire biography of such people comes down to one phrase: “When he lived, he trembled, and when he died, he trembled.”

“Horse” is adjacent to the tales about the people. The title of the fairy tale speaks for itself. A driven peasant nag is a symbol of folk life. “No end to work! The whole meaning of his existence is exhausted by work: for it he was conceived and born...”

The fairy tale asks the question: “Where is the way out?” And the answer is given: “The exit is in Konyaga itself.”

In my opinion, in Shchedrin’s tales about the people, irony and sarcasm are replaced by pity and bitterness.

The writer's language is deeply folk, close to Russian folklore. In fairy tales, Shchedrin widely uses proverbs, sayings, sayings: “Two deaths cannot happen, one cannot be avoided,” “My hut is on the edge,” “Once upon a time...”, “In a certain kingdom, in a certain state...” .

“Fairy tales” by Saltykov-Shchedrin awakened the political consciousness of the people, calling for struggle and protest. Despite the fact that since the satirist wrote his famous works, many years have passed, they are all still relevant today. Unfortunately, society has not gotten rid of the vices that the writer exposed in his work. It is no coincidence that many playwrights of our time turn to his works to show imperfection modern society. After all, the bureaucratic system that Saltykov-Shchedrin castigated, in my opinion, not only has not outlived its usefulness, but is also thriving. Are there not many Jewish women today who are ready to sell even my own mother? The topic of ordinary intellectuals who sit in their apartments, like in holes, and do not want to see anything beyond their own doors, is also very topical for our time.

Shchedrin's satire is a special phenomenon in Russian literature. His individuality lies in the fact that he sets himself a fundamental creative task: to track down, expose and destroy.

If humor in the works of N. V. Gogol, as V. G. Belinsky wrote, “... is calm in its indignation, good-natured in its slyness,” then in the works of Shchedrin it is “... menacing and open, bilious, poisonous, merciless".

I. S. Turgenev wrote: “I saw listeners writhing with laughter when reading some of Saltykov’s essays. There was something scary in that laughter. The audience, laughing at the same time, felt like a scourge was lashing itself.”

The writer's literary heritage belongs not only to the past, but also to the present and the future. Shchedrin must be known and read! It introduces an understanding of the social depths and patterns of life, highly exalts a person’s spirituality and morally purifies him. I think that the work of M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin is close to every modern person with its relevance.

Composition

The fate of the satirist at all times was thorny: on his path he constantly encountered obstacles in the form of omnipresent censorship, limiting creative possibilities, forcing him to express thoughts in roundabout terms, in Aesopian language. Satire also caused discontent among ordinary people who were not inclined to focus on the painful aspects of their existence. However, the main difficulty was different: the art of satire remained dramatic in nature.

In his early works, Saltykov-Shchedrin aimed his arrows at denouncing provincial officials. In “The History of a City,” the satirist has already risen to the top of the government. At the center of this work is a satirical depiction of the relationship between the people and the authorities. The book covers the history of the fictional city of Foolov, even indicating its exact dates: from 1731 to 1828.

Any reader who is more or less familiar with Russian history will see in the fantastic events and heroes of this book echoes of real events of the period named by the author. But, at the same time, the satirist consistently and methodically knocks down and destroys local historical parallels in the reader’s mind. The book is not about any specific segment of Russian history, but about that in it that resists the flow of time, that invariably holds at different stages of Russian historical experience. The satirist sets himself a dizzyingly bold goal - to create a generalized image of Russia, in which the centuries-old weaknesses of national history, worthy of satirical coverage, and the fundamental defects of state and public life are synthesized.

The author resorts to mixing tenses. No less paradoxical are the socio-administrative characteristics of the unique city of Flood. Either it appears to readers in the form of a district town, or it takes on the appearance of a provincial or even capital city. Otherwise it will suddenly turn into a run-down Russian village or hamlet, which, as usual, has its own pasture for livestock, fenced with a typical village fence. But only the borders of Foolov’s pasture are adjacent to the borders of the Byzantine Empire.

The characteristics of Foolov's inhabitants are also fantastic: at times they are similar to the capital and provincial townspeople, but sometimes these “city dwellers” plow and sow, graze cattle and live in village huts. The characteristics of Foolov's authorities are equally incongruous: the mayors combine habits typical of Russian tsars and nobles with actions and deeds characteristic of a mayor or village elder.

When “The History of a City” was published, liberal criticism began to reproach Shchedrin for distorting life, for deviating from realism. But these reproaches were unfounded. The satirist's grotesque and fantasy do not distort reality; they only bring to the point of paradox the qualities that the bureaucratic regime conceals.

Artistic exaggeration acts like a magnifying glass. It makes the secret obvious, reveals the essence of things hidden from the naked eye, the really existing evil.

With the help of the grotesque and fantasy, the writer often diagnoses social diseases that exist in embryo and have not yet developed all the possibilities and “readiness” contained in them. Bringing these “readinesses” to their logical conclusion, to the extent of a public epidemic, the satirist acts as a seer, entering the realm of foresight and premonitions. It is precisely this prophetic meaning contained in the image of Gloomy-Burcheev, which enhances the biography of Foolov’s mayors.

Foolov in the book by M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin is a special order of things, the constituent elements of which are not only the administration, but also the people - the Foolovites. “The History of a City” gives an unparalleled satirical picture of the weakest aspects of the people's worldview. At the same time, the pictures of people's life are illuminated in a different tone than the pictures of the mayor's arbitrariness. The satirist's laughter here becomes bitter, contempt is replaced by secret sympathy.

Saltykov-Shchedrin's turn to the fairy-tale genre preceded the internal evolution of his work. The basis of his fantasy and grotesquery is the folk view of things; many of his fantastic images are nothing more than expanded folklore metaphors.

Fairy-tale fiction becomes a full-fledged mistress in the writer’s narrative. In addition, she turns out to be an ally of the grotesque that prevails in Shchedrin’s fairy-tale prose. Only thanks to this fantasy is the core grotesque metamorphosis realized. On the basis of fantasy, the main property of Shchedrin's grotesque was determined - the combination in one image of the incompatible.

The writer's satirical fantasy is based on folk tales about animals. The writer uses content refined by age-old folk wisdom, freeing the satirist from the need for detailed motivations and characteristics. In the fairy tale, each animal is endowed with a ready-made character: the wolf is greedy and gluttonous, the bear is simple-minded and clumsy. Satire, by its artistic specificity, shuns details; it depicts life in its most dramatic manifestations, which are exaggerated and enlarged. Therefore, the fairy-tale type of thinking organically corresponds to the very nature of satirical typification.

Borrowing ready-made fairy-tale plots and images from the people, the writer develops and deepens the satirical content contained in them. The afantastic form is for him a reliable method of Aesopian language. With the advent of fairy tales, Shchedrin's satire was directly addressed to the people.