Childhood and youth
Alexander Nikolaevich spends his childhood and early youth in Zamoskvorechye - an amazing corner of Moscow, where the peculiarities of merchant and bourgeois life are manifested.
When Ostrovsky was not yet 9 years old, his mother died (1831). In 1836, Alexander’s father married for the second time. His new wife was Baroness von Tessin. Emil Andreevna, the daughter of a Russified Swedish nobleman, raised her husband’s children as her own.
All this time, my father served in court. He rose to the rank of collegiate assessor, and in 1839 became a nobleman.
The family lived in prosperity, the parents paid a lot of attention to the education of their children. Home education was encouraged. Therefore, Alexander has had access to his father’s library since childhood. There he gets acquainted with Russian literature and its authors.
“The proletarian himself, the son of a worker...”
In the film, as in the novel, Pavka Korchagin appears to us as a native of the lower classes of society, who initially engages in the most menial, hard work. When the writer’s autobiography was found in the Rostov archives in the sixties, the question of its authenticity immediately arose. After all, it is this autobiography that radically diverges from Pavka’s biography and what was written about Ostrovsky himself. However, a handwriting examination confirmed that the signature on it belongs to Ostrovsky.
So this is a genuine document. Judging by the content, it was written no later than 1924. There is not a word in his autobiography about his participation in revolutionary affairs and the Civil War. He was born in 1904 in the village of Viliya, which now belongs to the Rivne region of Ukraine.
The ashes of his ancestors rest in the village cemetery. Several tombstones made of luxurious Italian marble. Only such rich burials could survive to this day. They talk not just about wealth, but about the prosperity and well-being of the family over several generations. These were not the lower classes of society at all. Ostrovsky speaks extremely sparingly about his parents and childhood. But it had its own interesting story.
Alexey Ivanovich, Kolya’s dad, was a career military man. Participated in the liberation of Bulgaria from the Turkish yoke. He became a Knight of St. George and was rewarded with a land allotment. He was an adventurous man who loved cheerful companies and card games. This lifestyle required a lot of money. The first time Alexey Ivanovich married for convenience, and when his wife Iulita Prokofievna Bondarchuk dies of cholera, he gets a rich inheritance.
The second wife, Olga Osipovna Zayats, was from a family of poor migrants. She is twenty and will bear him six children, including Nikolai. Alexey Ivanovich will open two taverns in his village, and a teahouse in his house. He will also start a mill. The family lives richly.
Little Nikolai studies diligently at the parochial school, and his certificate of completion shows only straight A’s. He follows the example of his older brother Dmitry in everything. He is distinguished by his prudence and calm character. But when Nikolai turns ten years old, the family goes bankrupt. And then German troops are approaching Vilia. You need to change your place of residence and look for a job.
The mother and children leave the father and move to the large junction railway station Shepetovka. Here, the older brother Dmitry goes to work at the railway depot, and the very young Nikolai goes to the station canteen. The family is constantly short of money. And although Nikolai’s mother sends him to a two-year public school, he attends it only sporadically - he has to work all the time. And this continues for more than four years.
The future writer recalls one act committed during these years, after which those around him began to doubt his mental health, and the young man was taken to a doctor. What kind of act this was, Ostrovsky does not specify. But in the novel, memories of him are transformed into mixing shag into the dough in the priest’s kitchen, for which Pavka Korchagin is expelled from school.
And here, too, there is a mystery: after all, they would not take a student to a doctor for hooliganism. In real life, Ostrovsky did something more daring. But what exactly is anyone's guess. Maybe it was a boy's suicide attempt? The ruin of the family and the onset of poverty probably turned out to be a real mental trauma for young Nikolai.
Ostrovsky will carry warm feelings towards his father throughout the rest of his life, and will write letters to him. But he would see him again only in 1935, when he arrived in Sochi, stricken with a fatal disease.
In 1919, Nikolai turns fifteen years old. The Civil War is in full swing in Ukraine. At this moment, the Baltic sailor Fyodor Peredreychuk arrives in the city illegally. He meets Ostrovsky's brother Dmitry and involves him in underground work - first against the Germans, and then against the Petliurists.
The very first joint action of Peredreychuk and Dmitry Ostrovsky was that they killed a German sentry, captured a locomotive and organized its crash on long-distance tracks. Surely Nikolai, who also worked at the station, knew something about this. Later, he and Dmitry will remove weapons for the partisans from artillery depots.
Civil service
In the early autumn of 1843, Alexander entered the office of the Moscow Conscientious Court as a first-class employee with an initial salary of 4 rubles. This court, organized under Catherine II, tried civil cases. Criminal cases that were subject to consideration in this court arose primarily from claims of parents against children. They affected crimes committed by deaf-mute people or minors. Cases caused by particularly unfavorable conditions were also subject to consideration. Alexander was forced to familiarize himself with numerous cases related to parental claims and lawsuits; disputes in trade and/or financial matters. It even happened to listen to repentance. In all cases, decisions had to be made fairly. So Ostrovsky, in a relatively short time, gained extensive knowledge about the family and social structure of the people and merchants, and discovered for himself the mystery of the life of the Old Russian family (in feudal Russia).
At the beginning of the winter of 1845, Ostrovsky took up the position of a clerical official at the desk “for cases of verbal violence” in the Moscow Commercial Court. Here his salary increased to 16 rubles. Alexander Nikolaevich had to work with cases of commercial insolvency, understand all sorts of sophisticated bankruptcy techniques, analyze to the subtleties the tricks of merchants trying to find a loophole in the laws, as well as tricks with creditors. Whomever did he meet when he sat at the table of a minor office official and carried out “verbal reprisals”. Among the traders there were city dwellers, peasants, merchants, and occasionally nobles. Thus, Ostrovsky listened to both sincere confessions and vague answers to questions, saw a wide variety of appearances, body movements, facial expressions, and heard non-standard turns of speech.
Subsequently, this provided the future playwright with a great service, providing him with an endless supply of information and types for literary creativity, which occupied a significant part of Alexander’s life, and also found its place in the creative biography of A. N. Ostrovsky.
Ostrovsky Alexander Nikolaevich
Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky was born on March 31 (April 12), 1823 in Moscow.
His father, a graduate of the Moscow Theological Seminary, served in the Moscow City Court. He was engaged in private litigation practice in property and commercial matters. The mother from a family of the clergy, the daughter of a sexton and a malt baker, died when the future playwright was eight years old. Ostrovsky spends his childhood and early youth in Zamoskvorechye - a special corner of Moscow with its established merchant and middle-class life. It was easier for him to follow Pushkin’s advice: “It’s not bad for us sometimes to listen to the Moscow malts. They speak an amazingly clear and correct language.” Grandmother Natalya Ivanovna lived with the Ostrovsky family and served as a bread maker in the parish. Nanny Avdotya Ivanovna Kutuzova was famous as a great master of telling fairy tales. His godfather is a titular councilor, his godmother is a court councilor. From them and from his father’s colleagues who were in the house, the future author of “A Profitable Place” could hear plenty of bureaucratic conversations. And since my father left the service and became a private attorney for trading companies, there have been no merchants in the house. Alexander became addicted to reading as a child, receives a good education at home, knows Greek, Latin, French, German, and later English, Italian, and Spanish. When Alexander was thirteen years old, his father married a second time to the daughter of a Russified Swedish baron, who was not very involved in raising the children from her husband’s first marriage. With her arrival, the household way of life changes noticeably, official life is reshaped in a noble manner, the environment changes, new speeches are heard in the house. By this time, the future playwright had re-read almost his entire father’s library. Here you can find the first editions of “Ruslan and Lyudmila”, “Gypsies”, “Woe from Wit” and many other exemplary works of Russian literature. From 1835-1840 – Ostrovsky studies at the First Moscow Gymnasium. In 1840, after graduating from high school, he was enrolled in the law faculty of Moscow University. At the university, law student Ostrovsky was lucky enough to listen to lectures by such experts in history, law and literature as T.N. Granovsky, N.I. Krylov, M.P. Pogodin. Here, for the first time, the future author of “Minin” and “Voevoda” discovers the riches of Russian chronicles, the language appears before him in a historical perspective. But in 1843, Ostrovsky left the university, not wanting to retake the exam. At the same time he entered the office of the Moscow Conscientious Court, and later served in the Commercial Court (1845-1851). This experience played a significant role in Ostrovsky's work. The second university is the Maly Theater. Having become addicted to the stage even in his high school years, Ostrovsky became a regular at the oldest Russian theater. 1847 - in the “Moscow City List” Ostrovsky publishes the first draft of the future comedy “Our People – We Will Be Numbered” under the title “The Insolvent Debtor”, then the comedy “Picture of Family Happiness” (later “Family Picture”) and the prose essay “Notes of a Zamoskvoretsky Resident” . “The most memorable day for me in my life,” Ostrovsky recalled, “February 14, 1847... From that day on, I began to consider myself a Russian writer and, without doubt or hesitation, believed in my calling.” Ostrovsky received recognition from the comedy “Our People – We Will Be Numbered” (original title: “Bankrupt”, completed at the end of 1849). Even before publication, it became popular (in the reading of the author and P.M. Sadovsky), caused approving responses from N.V. Gogol, I.A. Goncharova, T.H. Granovsky and others. “He began in an extraordinary way...” testifies I.S. Turgenev. His first big play, “We Are Our Own People,” made a huge impression. She was called the Russian “Tartuffe”, the “Brigadier” of the 19th century, the merchant’s “Woe from Wit”, and was compared to the “Inspector General”; yesterday, the still unknown name of Ostrovsky was placed next to the names of the greatest comedy writers - Moliere, Fonvizin, Griboyedov, Gogol. In government spheres, this comedy caused a stir. Dramatic censorship immediately banned her from performing on stage. “All the characters...are notorious scoundrels,” wrote the censor. Talk is dirty; the whole play is an insult to the Russian merchants.” And yet, due to an oversight of the Moscow censorship, the play was published in the March issue of the Moskovityanin magazine for 1850. It was then that complaints began to pour in against the young playwright from the offended merchants, and it was then that high-ranking dignitaries and even the Emperor himself took up his comedy. The Tsar re-read the report, hesitated a little and wrote in his small handwriting in the corner: “Exactly fair, it was printed in vain...”. He paused some more and added: “...it’s forbidden to play.” And he signed his name in a sweeping manner: “Nikolai.” The “unreliable” author was under secret police surveillance. The brilliant comedy was staged in 1861, twelve years after it was written. After the comedy “We Will Be Numbered”, Ostrovsky releases one, and sometimes two or three plays every year, thus writing 47 plays of various genres - from tragedy to dramatic episodes. In addition, there are also plays written together with other playwrights - S.A. Gedeonov, N.Ya. Solovyov, P.M. Nevezhin, as well as over 20 translated plays (C. Goldoni, N. Macchiaveli, M. Cervantes, Terence, etc.). In 1859, Ostrovsky translated “Getsira” by the ancient Roman playwright Terence, in which the theme of daughter-in-law and mother-in-law is important (compare with the play “The Thunderstorm”). Possessing an extraordinary social temperament, Ostrovsky spent his whole life actively fighting for the creation of a new type of realistic theater, for a truly artistic national repertoire, and for a new ethics of the actor. He created the Moscow artistic circle in 1865, founded and headed the society of Russian dramatic writers (1870), wrote numerous “Notes”, “Projects”, “Considerations” to various departments, proposing to take urgent measures to stop the decline of theatrical art. Ostrovsky's work had a decisive influence on the development of Russian drama and Russian theater. As a playwright and director, Ostrovsky contributed to the formation of a new school of realistic acting, the promotion of a galaxy of actors (especially in the Moscow Maly Theater: the Sadovsky family, S.V. Vasiliev, L.P. Kositskaya, later G.N. Fedotova, M.N. Ermolova and etc.). Ostrovsky's theatrical biography did not coincide with his literary biography at all. The audience became acquainted with his plays in a completely different order from the order in which they were written and published. Only six years after Ostrovsky began publishing, on January 14, 1853, the curtain rose on the first performance of the comedy “Don’t Get in Your Own Sleigh” at the Maly Theater. The play shown to the audience first was Ostrovsky's sixth completed play. At the same time, the playwright entered into a civil marriage with the girl Agafya Ivanovna Ivanova (who had four children from him), which led to a break in relations with his father. According to eyewitnesses, she was a kind, warm-hearted woman, to whom Ostrovsky owed much of his knowledge of Moscow life. In 1869, after the death of Agafya Ivanovna from tuberculosis, Ostrovsky entered into a new marriage with the Maly Theater actress Maria Vasilyeva. From his second marriage the writer had five children. Corresponding Member of the Imperial St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1863) Ostrovsky’s literary views were formed under the influence of the aesthetics of V.G. Belinsky. For Ostrovsky, as for other writers who began in the 40s, an artist is a kind of researcher-“physiologist” who subjects various parts of the social organism to special study, opening up yet unexplored areas of life for his contemporaries. In the open field, these tendencies found expression in the genre of the so-called “physiological essay,” widespread in the literature of the 40s and 50s. Ostrovsky was one of the most convinced exponents of this trend. Many of his early works were written in the manner of a “physiological sketch” (sketches of Zamoskvoretsky life; dramatic sketches and “paintings”: “Family Picture”, “Morning of a Young Man”, “An Unexpected Incident”; later, in 1857, “The characters did not agree” ). In a more complex refraction, the features of this style were reflected in most of Ostrovsky’s other works: he studied the life of his era, observing it as if under a microscope, like an attentive researcher and experimenter. This is clearly shown by the diaries of his trips around Russia and especially the materials of a many-month trip (1865) along the upper Volga for the purpose of a comprehensive examination of the region. Ostrovsky's published report on this trip and draft notes represent a kind of encyclopedia of information on the economy, population composition, customs, and morals of this region. At the same time, Ostrovsky does not cease to be an artist - after this trip, the Volga landscape, as a poetic leitmotif, is included in many of his plays, starting with “The Thunderstorm” and ending with “The Dowry” and “The Voevoda (Dream on the Volga).” In addition, the idea of a cycle of plays called “Nights on the Volga” arises (partially realized). “Guilty Without Guilt” is the last of Ostrovsky’s masterpieces. In August 1883, just at the time of working on this play, the playwright wrote to his brother: “The writer’s concern: there is a lot that has been started, there are good plots, but ... they are inconvenient, you need to choose something smaller. I am already living out my life; When will I have time to speak out? Should I go to my grave without doing everything I could have done? At the end of his life, Ostrovsky finally achieved material wealth (he received a lifetime pension of 3 thousand rubles), and in 1884 he took the position of head of the repertory department of Moscow theaters (the playwright dreamed of serving the theater all his life). But his health was undermined, his strength was exhausted. Ostrovsky not only taught, he also studied. Ostrovsky’s numerous experiments in the field of translation of ancient, English, Spanish, Italian and French dramatic literature not only testified to his excellent acquaintance with the dramatic literature of all times and peoples, but were also rightly considered by researchers of his work as a kind of school of dramatic skill, which Ostrovsky studied throughout his life (he began in 1850 with a translation of Shakespeare's comedy The Taming of the Shrew). Death found him translating Shakespeare's tragedy "Antony and Cleopatra") on June 2 (14), 1886 in the Shchelykovo estate, Kostroma region, from a hereditary disease - angina pectoris. He went to his grave without having done everything he could have done, but he did an extraordinary amount. After the death of the writer, the Moscow Duma established a reading room named after A.N. in Moscow. Ostrovsky. On May 27, 1929, in Moscow, on Teatralnaya Square in front of the Maly Theater, where his plays were staged, a monument to Ostrovsky was unveiled (sculptor N.A. Andreev, architect I.P. Mashkov). A.N. Ostrovsky is listed in the Russian Divo Book of Records as “the most prolific playwright” (1993). Ostrovsky's work can be divided into three periods: 1st - (1847-1860), 2nd - (1850-1875), 3rd - (1875-1886). ——————————————————————————— FIRST PERIOD (1847-1860) This includes plays reflecting the life of pre-reform Russia. At the beginning of this period, Ostrovsky actively collaborated as an editor and as a critic with the Moskvityanin magazine, publishing his plays in it. Starting as a continuer of Gogol’s accusatory tradition (“We’re our own people, we’ll be numbered,” “Poor Bride,” “We didn’t get along”), then, partly under the influence of the main ideologist of the magazine “Moskvityanin” A.A. Grigoriev, in Ostrovsky’s plays the motifs of idealization of Russian patriarchy and the customs of antiquity begin to sound (“Don’t sit in your own sleigh” (1852), “Poverty is not a vice” (1853), “Don’t live the way you want” (1854). These sentiments muffle Ostrovsky's critical pathos. Since 1856, Ostrovsky, a regular contributor to the Sovremennik magazine, has become closer to the leaders of democratic Russian journalism. During the years of social upsurge before the peasant reform of 1861, social criticism in his work intensifies again, the drama of conflicts becomes more acute (“In someone else’s feast hangover" (1855), "Profitable Place" (1856), "Thunderstorm", (1859). ———————————————————————————— SECOND PERIOD (1860-1875) This includes plays reflecting the life of Russia after the reform. Ostrovsky continues to write everyday comedies and dramas ("Hard Days", 1863, "Jokers", 1864, "The Deep", 1865) , - still highly talented, but rather consolidating already found motives than mastering new ones.At this time, Ostrovsky also turned to the problems of national history, to the patriotic theme. Based on the study of a wide range of sources, he creates a cycle of historical plays: “Kozma Zakharyich Minin - Sukhoruk” (1861; 2nd edition 1866), “Voevoda” (1864; 2nd edition 1885), “Dmitry the Pretender and Vasily Shuisky" (1866), "Tushino" (1866). In addition, a series of satirical comedies was created (“Simplicity is enough for every wise man” (1868), “Warm Heart” (1868), “Mad Money” (1869), “Forest” (1870), “Wolves and Sheep "(1875). Standing apart among the plays of the second period is the dramatic poem in verse "The Snow Maiden" (1873) - a "spring fairy tale", according to the author's definition, created on the basis of folk tales, beliefs, customs. ————— —————————————————————— THIRD PERIOD (1875 - 1886) Almost all of Ostrovsky’s dramatic works of the 70s and early 80s are published in the journal Otechestvennye Zapiski ". " During this period, Ostrovsky created significant socio-psychological dramas and comedies about the tragic destinies of richly gifted, sensitive women in the world of cynicism and self-interest ("Dowry", 1878, "The Last Victim", 1878, "Talents and Admirers ", 1882, etc.). Here the writer also develops new forms of stage expression, in some respects anticipating the plays of A.P. Chekhov: while maintaining the characteristic features of his dramaturgy, Ostrovsky strives to embody the “internal struggle” in “an intelligent, subtle comedy " (cm. "A.N. Ostrovsky in the memoirs of his contemporaries", 1966, p. 294). The playwright remained in the history of Russian literature not just “Columbus of Zamoskvorechye,” as literary criticism called him, but the creator of the Russian democratic theater, who applied the achievements of Russian psychological prose of the 19th century to theatrical practice. Ostrovsky is a rare example of stage longevity; his plays do not leave the stage - this is the sign of a truly popular writer. Ostrovsky's drama included all of Russia - its way of life, its customs, its history, its fairy tales, its poetry. It is even difficult for us to imagine how much poorer our idea of Russia, of Russian people, of Russian nature, and even of ourselves would be, if the world of Ostrovsky’s creations did not exist for us. Not with cold curiosity, but with pity and anger, we look at the life embodied in Ostrovsky’s plays. Sympathy for the disadvantaged and indignation against the “dark kingdom” - these are the feelings that the playwright experienced and which he invariably evokes in us. But especially close to us is the hope and faith that always lived in this wonderful artist. And we know that this hope is for us, this is faith in us. Childhood and youth Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky was born in the old merchant and bureaucratic district of Zamoskvorechye. In Moscow, on Malaya Ordynka, there is still a two-story house in which the future great playwright was born on April 12 (March 31), 1823. Here, in Zamoskvorechye - on Malaya Ordynka, Pyatnitskaya, Zhitnaya streets - he spent his childhood and youth. The writer's father, Nikolai Fedorovich Ostrovsky, was the son of a priest, but after graduating from the theological academy he chose a secular profession - he became a judicial official. The mother of the future writer, Lyubov Ivanovna, also came from among the clergy. She died when the boy was 8 years old. After 5 years, the father married again, this time to a noblewoman. Successfully advancing in his career, Nikolai Fedorovich received the title of nobility in 1839, and in 1842 he retired and began to engage in private legal practice. With income from clients - mostly wealthy merchants - he acquired several estates and in 1848, having retired from business, he moved to the village of Shchelykovo in the Kostroma province and became a landowner. In 1835, Alexander Nikolaevich entered the 1st Moscow Gymnasium and graduated in 1840. Even during his gymnasium years, Ostrovsky was attracted to literature and theater. By the will of his father, the young man entered the Faculty of Law of Moscow University, but the Maly Theater, in which the great Russian actors Shchepkin and Mochalov played, attracts him to itself like a magnet. This was not the empty desire of a rich scoundrel who saw pleasant entertainment in the theater: for Ostrovsky the stage became life. These interests forced him to leave the university in the spring of 1843. “From a young age, I gave up everything and devoted myself entirely to art,” he later recalled. His father still hoped that his son would become an official, and appointed him as a scribe to the Moscow Conscientious Court, which dealt mainly with family property disputes. In 1845, Alexander Nikolaevich transferred to the office of the Moscow Commercial Court as an official at the “verbal table”, i.e. upon receipt of oral requests from applicants. Father's lawyer practice, life in Zamoskvorechye and service in court, which lasted almost eight years, gave Ostrovsky a lot of plots for his works. 1847-1851 - The early period of Ostrovsky began to write in his student years. His literary views developed under the influence of Belinsky and Gogol: a young man from the very beginning of the literary path declared himself an adherent of a realistic school. The first essays and dramatic sketches of Ostrovsky were written in the Gogol manner. In 1847, two scenes from the comedy “Insolvent debtor” were printed in the Moscow City City Leaflet - the first version of the comedy “Your People - Count!” - the comedy “Picture of Family Happiness” and the essay “Notes of the Zamosvoretsky Resident”. In 1849, Ostrovsky finished work on the first large comedy “His people - we will count!”. In the comedy, a rude and greedy merchant-Samodur Samson Siluch Bolshov is ridiculed. His tyranny knows no boundaries while he feels solid ground under him - wealth. But greed destroys him. Wanting to get rich even more, Bolshov on the advice of the clever and cunning clerk of Prokhalyuzin, transfers to his name all his property and declares himself to be an insolvent debtor. Prokhalyuzin, having married the daughter of Bolshov, assigns to himself the property of the father -in -law and, refusing to pay even a small part of the debts, leaves Bolshov in a debt prison. Lipochka, the daughter of Bolshov, who became the wife of the subhalyuzin, does not feel any pity for his father. In the play “Your People-Count, the main features of Ostrovsky’s dramaturgy have already appeared: the ability to show important general Russian problems through a family-household conflict, to create vivid and recognizable characters of not only the main, but also secondary characters. In his plays, juicy, lively, folk speech sounds. And each of them is not easy, forcing the end to think. Then nothing of the found in the first experiments will disappear, but only new features will grow. The play was published in the magazine Moskvityan and was a great success. But its production and repeated publications were prohibited by the censorship committee. The position of the "unreliable" writer complicated the already difficult living conditions of Ostrovsky. In the summer of 1849, he, contrary to the will of his father and without a wedding in the church, married a simple bourgeois Agafe Ivanovna. The angry father refused his son to further material support. The young family felt a difficult need. Despite the unsecured position, Ostrovsky in January 1851 refuses the service and is completely given to literary activity. 1852-1855 - “Moskvityan period” by the first plays permitted on the stage were “not in their sled do not sit down” and “poverty is not a vice”. Their appearance was the beginning of the coup in all theatrical art. For the first time on stage, the viewer saw a simple everyday life. This also required a new style of acting: life truth began to supplant the pompous recitation and the “theatricality” of gestures. In 1850, Ostrovsky became a member of the so -called “Young editorial office” of the Slavophil magazine Moskvityan. But relations with the editor -in -chief of Pogodin are not easy. Despite the enormous work performed, Ostrovsky all the time remained in debt to the magazine. Pogodin paid sparingly. writer
The beginning of creative activity
Based on his observations from childhood and his service in the courts, Ostrovsky gravitated towards literature and creativity. By 1846, Alexander had already written many episodes from the life of a merchant. The playwright also came up with the idea for the comedy play “The Insolvent Debtor” (later “Our People – Let’s Be Numbered!”).
The strong influence of the natural school is noted in the playwright’s first experiments (essay “Notes of a Zamoskvoretsky Resident,” 1847). At the same time, the Moscow City Leaflet published his first drama, “The Picture of Family Happiness,” in one of its issues.
Real popularity came to the playwright only in 1850, after his comedy “Our People - Let’s Be Numbered!” was published in Moskvityanin. (formerly "Bankrupt"). She aroused great interest among the public. It received the approval of N.V. Gogol, I.A. Goncharov and others. However, it met with indignation among the merchant class, which is why its production in the theater was banned until 1861, and supervision was established over the author by order of Nicholas I.
At the same time, the future playwright was fired from service at the court (1851). Thus ended his legal career. From that moment on, Ostrovsky's biography made a sharp turn towards the literary field.
Ostrovsky's plays
By 1846, Ostrovsky wrote many poignant scenes from the life of merchants and conceived the comedy “Our People - Let’s Be Numbered!” In 1847 prof. S.P. Shevyrev, after the author read this play, congratulated everyone on the “birth of a new luminary in Russian literature.”
After the publication of the comedy in zh. “The Moskvitian” brought fame to the playwright. The play was enthusiastically received by the writer Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol and the critic Ivan Aleksandrovich Goncharov. But the Moscow merchants were extremely dissatisfied and drew up a plaintive petition to the “boss.”
By order of Emperor Nicholas I, the play was banned, the author was fired and placed under police supervision. Police surveillance was lifted only when a new emperor, Alexander II, ascended the Russian throne. A performance of this play was staged in 1861.
The first performance based on Ostrovsky’s play on the stage of the Maly Theater was “Don’t Get in Your Own Sleigh” in 1853. After this significant event for the theatrical life of Russia, for the next 30 years, new plays by the writer annually updated the opening of the season in theaters in St. Petersburg and Moscow.
In 1856 A.N. Ostrovsky became a full-time employee of the most popular Russian railway. "Contemporary".
Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich organized a trip for writers to describe in detail different regions of Russia. The playwright chose the settlements of the Volga region.
Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky in 1856
In 1859, a two-volume collected works of A. N. Ostrovsky was published. The famous critic and publicist Nikolai Aleksandrovich Dobrolyubov spoke very warmly about the writer’s literary activity. In 1860, “The Thunderstorm” was published in some magazines. Dobrolyubov wrote a famous article about the play, “A Ray of Light in a Dark Kingdom.”
Fascinated by the history of Russia from his youth, the playwright began studying the Time of Troubles and wrote five “chronicles.” In 1863, the playwright was awarded the prestigious literary prize of Count A. S. Uvarov for historical works. In 1864 he was elected corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences.
On June 2, 1886, Alexander Nikolaevich died from an acute attack of angina. The unfinished translation of “Antony and Cleopatra” remained lonely on the desk.
Ostrovsky and Russian Theater
Alexander Nikolaevich’s first play staged at the theater was “Don’t Get in Your Own Sleigh,” which the public saw in 1853. Further, for more than 30 years, his plays have been staged in the Moscow and St. Petersburg theaters.
Ostrovsky's plays laid the foundation for modern theater with their appearance. After all, he advocated realism on stage (without extreme situations), for the specificity of his characters’ phrases, revealing them to the maximum, and not relying on just one actor.
Because of his revolutionary vision of the theater, Ostrovsky had to found his own troupe, in which outstanding actors and supporters of the ideas of stage realism played. It is worth noting that the ideas of Alexander Nikolaevich’s theater were continued by Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov and Konstantin Sergeevich Stanislavsky.
Biography and creativity of Ostrovsky A.N.
Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky is a playwright and theater figure. He was born on March 31 (April 12), 1823 in the merchant district of Moscow - Zamoskvorechye. His father was the son of a priest, who, after graduating from the theological academy, was in public service, for which he later received nobility. The writer's mother, a beautiful woman with a wonderful soul, was from the family of a poor priest. She died early (1831), and Alexander's father married a second time. The stepmother belonged to an old noble family of Russified Swedes. She changed the patriarchal Zamoskvoretsky family way of life to a noble one, and strove to give her children (her own and her stepchildren) a good education. Prosperity reigned in the family, because the writer’s father was successfully engaged in private practice. Since 1841, he was a successful jury attorney at the Moscow Commercial Court. The writer received a good education. He studied at one of the best secondary educational institutions in the humanities - the first Moscow gymnasium, from which he graduated in 1840. From 1840 to 1843, Ostrovsky studied at the Faculty of Law of Moscow University. Here at that time anti-serfdom sentiments prevailed, and there were excellent teachers.
Ostrovsky began writing while still in high school. During his student years, he continued to study literature and spent a lot of time in the theater. The great actors of that time P. S. Mochalov and M. S. Shchepkin were idols of youth. Soon, his passion for literature and the stage led to Ostrovsky deciding to leave the university. Yielding to his father’s insistence, he enters the service of the Moscow Conscientious Court. Property disputes and juvenile crimes were dealt with here. In 1845, Ostrovsky went to work at the Moscow Commercial Court, but he served there only until 1851. Young Ostrovsky leaves this occupation to devote himself to literature. He composes poetry, writes essays, and tries his hand at drama. On February 14, 1847, Ostrovsky successfully read his play “Family Picture” in the house of the writer S.P. Shevyrev. The writer considered this event the beginning of his professional activity. In 1849, the playwright wrote the play “Our People - Let’s Be Numbered!”, which was published in the magazine “Moskvityanin”. This play brought fame to Ostrovsky, but censorship banned its production. The author found himself under secret police surveillance.
In the 50s, he actively collaborated with the Moskvityanin magazine, edited by M. N. Pogodin. Together with L. L. Grigoriev, E. N. Edelson, B. N. Almazov, Ostrovsky is part of the “young editorial team”, advocating realistic art, addressed to folk life and folklore. It was a circle of like-minded people and friends; it included actors, musicians, artists and sculptors. Thanks to friendship with folk song performers, the writer could expand his knowledge in the field of folklore and the living speech of the urban common people.
In the forties, Ostrovsky entered into a civil marriage with the bourgeois Agafya Ivanova. She was an intelligent and tactful woman who played a big role in the life of the playwright. In 1867, Ivanova died, and two years later Ostrovsky married the Maly Theater actress Maria Vasilyevna Vasilyeva. By this time they already had children. Vasilyeva led a secular lifestyle, and this complicated her relationship with her husband. Ostrovsky's financial situation was very difficult. Being the recognized leader among Russian playwrights, working hard all the time, he was in great need. But this did not prevent Ostrovsky from becoming one of the founders and an active member of the “Literary Fund” (1859), designed to help the working intelligentsia. He created the “Artistic Circle” (1865) to help aspiring actors, the “Society of Russian Dramatic Writers and Opera Composers” (1874), which protected their copyrights. The “Society” promoted the works of Russian playwrights, publishing lithographed plays, and organizing public performances. Ostrovsky worked all the time with actors and aspiring playwrights, trying to compensate for the lack of government support for the Russian theater.
The writer lived permanently in Moscow. He loved this city, considered it the heart of Russia.
Ostrovsky often lived on the Shchelykovo estate in Kostroma, which his father bought in 1847. The writer went there for the first time in 1848. Along the way, he visited the ancient Russian cities of Pereslavl-Zalessky, Rostov, Yaroslavl, and Kostroma. After the death of his father, the estate came into the possession of Ostrovsky and his brother. The writer loved to visit this estate and wrote many plays here. In Shchelykovo he died while working on a translation of Shakespeare's play Antony and Cleopatra on June 2 (14), 1886.
Ostrovsky's creative path can be divided into the following periods: early, 1847-1851 - the search for his own path, which ended with the triumph of the comedy “Our People - Let's Be Numbered!”, the works of this period can be attributed to the “natural school”; Muscovite period, 1852-1854 - collaboration in the magazine “Moskvityanin”, participation in its “young” editorial staff, which was influenced by the views of Slavophiles (plays “Don’t get on your own sleigh”, “Poverty is not a vice”, “Don’t live like that” , as you want"); pre-reform period, 1855-1860 - rapprochement with the revolutionary-democratic camp (plays “At Someone Else’s Feast There’s a Hangover”, “A Profitable Place”, “The Kindergarten”, “The Thunderstorm”); the last, post-reform period began in 1861.
Until 1861, Ostrovsky was in search: he was looking for his own path in creativity. By the time of the creation of “The Thunderstorm” (1859), Ostrovsky’s worldview and basic creative principles had already been determined. This play became the pinnacle of the playwright's creativity. In it, the writer showed the people's heroic character. So Dobrolyubov calls the main character of “The Thunderstorm” “a ray of light in a dark kingdom” (“Ray of Light in a Dark Kingdom” [1860]).
Dobrolyubov emphasizes the importance of the fact that Katerina grew up in the same patriarchal Kalinov, which shaped the other heroes of the drama. In the character of this woman, despite her outward subordination to the patriarchal way of life, there lives an ineradicable love for “will,” which is evident even from her story about her girlhood. Katerina feels like an individual, her love is far from the desire for forbidden pleasures. This is a spiritual and strong feeling. However, Katerina was brought up in such a way that she considers her love a terrible sin. Katerina is very lonely. Everything in which she tries to find support collapses and turns out to be an empty shell without content. The world of the patriarchal family structure is dying, there is no place for humanity in it, hypocrisy and hypocrisy reign there. So the social and everyday drama from the life of the merchants in Ostrovsky becomes a tragedy. Katerina lives in an era of historical turning point, and therefore her “personal” tragedy becomes so large-scale and symbolic. In the article “A Ray of Light in a Dark Kingdom,” Dobrolyubov gives a revolutionary-democratic interpretation of this drama.
The significance of Ostrovsky's work for Russian literature is enormous. It was he who created the Russian national theater. The problem of creating such a theater became especially acute in the middle of the 19th century. The public wanted to see their lives on stage. Ostrovsky created a theater for the new democratic strata of the theater public. His theater preached humane ideals that were close to all spectators in the theater. Ostrovsky's plays responded surprisingly accurately and sensitively to the phenomena of the social life of his contemporaries. He stood for democratic enlightenment and was opposed to the revolutionary path of transforming society. His plays always convey the author’s attitude to what is depicted; life in them is seen through the eyes of those who work. Their moral criteria serve as a standard for the playwright.
Ostrovsky created works of different genres, but most of all he wrote comedies. This is explained by the tradition of Russian comedy, which allows one to criticize social shortcomings and carries elements of drama.
Ostrovsky's innovation lies in the fact that in his plays the action develops slowly, reminiscent of a novel. On the other hand, they contain elements of ancient theater - spectacle, ritual performance. His dramaturgy clearly expresses his desire to preserve the genre, role and type of characters. He showed the influence of pressing problems of our time on the life of a “man of simple consciousness.” Just as Shakespeare's theater in England or Moliere's theater in France are rooted in folk culture, so Ostrovsky's theater in Russia has become a national version of European drama.
Source: Student's Quick Guide. Russian literature / Author-comp. I.N. Agekyan. — Mn.: Modern writer, 2002
Personal life of A. N. Ostrovsky
After his father received a noble title, Alexander Nikolaevich could not marry the commoner girl he loved. His chosen one was Agafya Ivanovna (surname unknown). He lived with her for 20 years in a civil marriage, without a wedding or legal marriage. They allegedly met in 1847. During their marriage, they had 4 children, 3 of whom died while their mother was still alive. Only the eldest son, Alexey Alexandrovich, survived his mother, but died at 27 years old. Ostrovsky did not leave his last name to him. The son was Alexandrov. Agafya Ivanovna died in March 1867.
In 1869, Alexander Nikolaevich married Maria Vasilievna Bakhmetyeva, a former actress. She gave birth to her husband 4 sons and 2 daughters. It was Maria Vasilievna who became the last wife of the playwright.
Ostrovsky's creativity
In 1849, Ostrovsky’s work “Our People – Let’s Be Numbered!” was written, which brought him literary fame; he was highly appreciated by Nikolai Gogol and Ivan Goncharov. Then, despite censorship, many of his plays and books were published. For Ostrovsky, writings are a way to truthfully depict the life of the people. The plays “The Thunderstorm”, “Dowry”, “Forest” are among his most important works. Ostrovsky's play "Dowry", like other psychological dramas, non-standardly describes the characters, the inner world, and the torment of the heroes.
Since 1856, the writer has been participating in the publication of the Sovremennik magazine.
