Nikolai Karamzin is a Russian historian, writer, poet and prose writer. He is the author of “History of the Russian State” - one of the first generalizing works on the history of Russia, written in 12 volumes.
Karamzin is the largest Russian writer of the era of sentimentalism, nicknamed the “Russian Stern.”
In addition, he managed to carry out many important reforms in the Russian language, as well as introduce dozens of new words into use.
There are many interesting facts in Karamzin’s biography, which we will tell you about right now.
So, here is a short biography of Karamzin , in which we will briefly highlight all the most important things from his life.
Brief biography of Karamzin
Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin was born on December 1, 1766 near Simbirsk. He grew up and was brought up in the family of retired captain Mikhail Yegorovich.
The Karamzin family belonged to a noble family descended from the Tatar Kara-Murza.
Childhood and youth
The first educational institution in the biography of Nikolai Karamzin was a private boarding school, where he received his initial education.
Nikolai Karamzin in his youth
At the age of 12, he was sent to study at the boarding school of Moscow University professor I.M. Schaden.
In parallel with this, Karamzin attended a course of lectures by the Russian professor of aesthetics Ivan Schwartz.
His father insisted that Nikolai become a military man, as a result of which the young man began serving in the Preobrazhensky Guards Regiment.
However, the military sphere did not interest him much, so he soon resigned.
It is interesting that it was during this period of biography that Karamzin began to write his first works.
Having moved to Simbirsk, he became a member of the Golden Crown Masonic lodge. After this, he moves to Moscow, where he also joins the Masonic lodge of the Friendly Scientific Society.
short biography
Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin was born on December 1, 1766 in the Simbirsk province.
He received his primary education at home under the guidance of a village sexton. Thanks to his brilliant abilities, the boy learned the Church Slavonic alphabet in a few weeks. Reading became a favorite pastime.
Karamzin continued his education at the Fauvel boarding school in Simbirsk. At the age of thirteen he entered the Moscow boarding school of I. M. Shaden, who was a professor at Moscow University. This gave the teenager the opportunity to attend university lectures.
After graduating from boarding school, he goes into military service. Three years later he retired with the rank of lieutenant and left for Simbirsk. There he meets the director of Moscow University I.P. Turgenev. He invites him to Moscow.
In Moscow, Nikolai Mikhailovich meets the Freemasons. Communication with them helped him discover English classics and the works of French enlighteners.
In 1789, Karamzin travels around Europe, observing people's lives and government events. The result of the trip was “Letters of a Russian Traveler,” which he published in the “Moscow Journal” he published.
Karamzin stood at the origins of Russian sentimentalism. The most famous work of this direction is “Poor Lisa”.
In 1801, Nikolai Mikhailovich married Elizaveta Ivanovna Protasova. A year later she died in childbirth.
Then he finally decided to devote himself to writing the history of the state. The emperor appointed him to the post of historiographer.
A few years later, Karamzin married the illegitimate daughter of Andrei Ivanovich Vyazemsky, Ekaterina Andreevna Kolyvanova. In her person, fate gave him a muse and assistant.
“The History of the Russian State” is Karamzin’s life’s work. He worked on it for 23 years. Wrote a full 11 volumes, the 12th remained unfinished. The first 8 volumes were published in 1816.
Alexander I died on December 1, 1825. Nikolai Mikhailovich was shocked by his death. The Decembrist uprising that followed on December 25 made no less impression on him. Karamzin fell ill and died on May 22, 1826.
Karamzin's creativity
Having reached adulthood, Nikolai Karamzin visited several European countries. An interesting fact is that while in Germany he managed to communicate with Immanuel Kant, who made a strong impression on him. He also visited Paris at the height of the French Revolution.
During his travels, Karamzin was able to communicate with many foreigners and see with his own eyes how they live and what they do.
Soon he accumulated enough material to write the first book in his biography, “Letters of a Russian Traveler.”
Almost immediately, the book aroused great interest among readers and received many positive reviews from critics. According to philologists, it was this work that laid the foundation for modern Russian literature.
Feeling confident in his abilities and inspired by his first success, Nikolai Karamzin begins to actively engage in writing. From his pen come many interesting and instructive stories.
Soon Karamzin becomes the head of the Moscow Journal, which publishes the works of various writers and poets. Until that time, there was no such publication in the Russian Empire.
Works by Karamzin
It was in the Moscow Journal that Nikolai Karamzin published “Poor Liza,” which is considered one of the best works in his biography. After this, “Aonids”, “My trifles” and “Aglaya” came out from his pen.
Karamzin was an incredibly efficient and talented person. He managed to compose poetry, write reviews and articles, participate in theatrical life, and also study many historical documents.
Despite the fact that he liked the work of Lomonosov and Derzhavin, he looked at poetry from a different perspective.
Nikolai Karamzin wrote poetry in the style of European sentimentalism, thanks to which he became the best Russian poet working in this direction.
In his poems, he primarily paid attention to the spiritual state of a person, and not to his physical shell.
In 1803, a significant event occurred in Karamzin’s biography: by a personal decree, Emperor Alexander I granted Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin the title of historiographer; 2 thousand rubles of annual salary were then added to the rank.
From that time on, Karamzin began to move away from fiction, and began to study historical documents even more diligently, including the most ancient chronicles.
During this biographical period, he was constantly offered various government positions, but Karamzin was not interested in anything other than history.
At the same time, he wrote several historical books, which were only a prelude to the main work of his life.
"History of Russian Goverment"
In 1818, Karamzin published “The History of the Russian State,” written in 8 volumes. Later, 3 more volumes were added to this work.
His work was appreciated by all segments of society. Representatives of the elite tried to acquire the “History of the Russian State” in order to become familiar with the detailed history of Russia for the first time in their lives.
Many prominent people sought meetings with the writer, and the emperor openly admired him. It is worth noting here that as a historian, Nikolai Karamzin was a supporter of absolute monarchy.
Having received wide recognition and fame, Karamzin needed silence in order to continue to work fruitfully. For this purpose, he was allocated separate housing in Tsarskoe Selo, where the historian could carry out his activities in comfortable conditions.
Karamzin's books attracted the reader with the clarity and simplicity of the presentation of historical events. While describing certain facts, he did not forget about the beauty of the Russian language.
Important dates in Karamzin’s biography
- 1766 – birth
- 1768 - death of mother
- 1774 - enlisted by father in army regiments
- 1778 – study at the Schaden boarding school
- 1781 – active service
- 1784 – resignation
- 1787 – publishing of the first children's magazine
- 1789-1790 – travel through Europe
- 1791 – publishing house \"Moscow Magazine\"
- 1792 - the story "Poor Liza" was published
- 1801 - marriage to Protasova
- 1802 - death of his wife, publishing house \"Bulletin of Europe\"
- 1803 – title of historiographer, start of work on the “History of the Russian State”
- 1804 - marriage to Kolyvanova
- 1810 - awarded the Order of St. Vladimir, III degree
- 1816 - elevated to the rank of state councilor, awarded the Order of St. Anna, 1st degree
- 1818 - became an honorary member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, full member of the Imperial Russian Academy
- 1826 - death
Personal life
In Karamzin’s biography there were two women to whom he was married. His first wife was Elizaveta Protasova.
She was a very literate and flexible girl, but she was often sick. In 1802, a year after the wedding, their daughter Sophia was born.
Ekaterina Andreevna Kolyvanova, Karamzin’s second wife
After giving birth, Elizabeth began to develop a fever, from which she later died. A number of biographers believe that the story “Poor Liza” was written in honor of Protasova.
An interesting fact is that Karamzin’s daughter Sofia was friends with Pushkin and Lermontov.
Karamzin’s second wife was Ekaterina Kolyvanova, who was the illegitimate daughter of Prince Vyazemsky.
In this marriage they had 9 children, three of whom died in childhood.
Some of the children have reached certain heights in life.
For example, son Vladimir was a very witty and promising careerist. He later became a senator in the Justice Department.
Karamzin's youngest daughter, Elizaveta, never married, although she had a great mind and was an extremely kind girl.
Interestingly, Leo Tolstoy admired her and called Elizabeth “an example of self-sacrifice.”
Daughters of Nikolai Karamzin. From left to right: Ekaterina, Elizaveta, Sophia
Biography
Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin is a famous Russian writer and historian, famous for his reforms of the Russian language. He created the multi-volume “History of the Russian State” and wrote the story “Poor Liza.” Nikolai Karamzin was born near Simbirsk on December 12, 1766. My father was retired at that time. The man belonged to a noble family, which, in turn, came from the ancient Tatar dynasty of the Kara-Murza.
Portrait of Nikolai Karamzin
Nikolai Mikhailovich began studying in a private boarding school, but in 1778 his parents sent the boy to the boarding school of Moscow University professor I.M. Shadena. Karamzin had a desire to learn and develop, so for almost 2 years Nikolai Mikhailovich attended lectures by I.G. Schwartz in an educational institution in Moscow. Father wanted Karamzin Jr. to follow in his footsteps. The writer agreed with his parents' will and enlisted in the Preobrazhensky Guards Regiment.
Nikolai Karamzin in his youth
Nikolai was not a military man for long, he soon resigned, but he learned something positive from this period of his life - his first literary works appeared. After resignation, he chooses a new place of residence - Simbirsk. Karamzin at this time became a member of the Golden Crown Masonic lodge. Nikolai Mikhailovich did not stay long in Simbirsk - he returned to Moscow. For four years he was a member of the Friendly Scientific Society.
Death
Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin died on May 22, 1826 in St. Petersburg, at the age of 59.
According to legend, his death was the result of a cold contracted on December 14, 1825, when Karamzin personally observed the Decembrist uprising on Senate Square.
Karamzin was buried at the Tikhvin cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.
Nut didn't give up
Karamzin's letters after December 1825 are skimpy on details. He calls the events on Senate Street an “absurd tragedy,” condemns “crazy liberalists,” but expresses the hope that “there are not many true villains among them.” About Nikita Muravyova’s mother she writes with sorrow and empathy: “Ekaterina Fedorovna Muravyova is tearing her heart apart with her melancholy...”
Karamzin's last letters are permeated with sadness. From behind the scenes of the historical stage a monster of unrest, a senseless and merciless rebellion emerged.
“But God remained,” Karamzin wrote to his old friend Ivan Dmitriev on March 22, 1826, “and my faith in Him is the same: ... I humble myself in spirit and do not complain. I can’t speak with liveliness: I’m suffocating. I wander around the room; I read a lot; I often have sweet moments in my soul: there is some kind of silence in it that is inexplicable and unspeakably pleasant...”
Karamzin worked until the last day. “The History of the Russian State” ended with the phrase “Nut did not give up.”
The sailing ship, appointed by Nicholas I to transport Karamzin on the advice of doctors to the saving warmth of sunny Italy, remained in the roadstead.
Nikolai Mikhailovich died on May 22, 1826.
Friend's lines...
“Reading articles in magazines about Karamzin’s death makes me furious. How cold, stupid and low they are. Will not a single Russian soul bring a worthy tribute to his memory?
(Alexander Pushkin to Peter Vyazemsky, July 10, 1826).
...and an enemy
“His story is mean-spirited and pedantic, and all his other works are pitiful childhood...”
(Pavel Katenin to I.N. Bakhtin, January 9, 1828)
Will
