Lesson summary “The Life and Work of N. A. Nekrasov”

Nikolai Nekrasov - biography

Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov is a major representative of the Russian literary school, distinguished himself in the field of poetry, worked as a prose writer, and worked as a publicist.

The works of the famous writer are still on everyone’s lips. And this despite the fact that more than a century has passed since their creation.

Nekrasov had a difficult fate. He came from a noble family. However, due to his father’s despotism, at one point he was left without funds and was forced to eke out a homeless existence. There were difficulties in rising in the literary field. We had to overcome a lot of problems.

And when the situation more or less leveled off, a new threat loomed. For a long time, the writer raised the magazine Sovremennik, and overnight, after the assassination attempt on the Tsar, there was a threat of its closure as an unreliable publication.

Trying to maintain the status quo, Nekrasov made a fatal mistake, which literally buried him as a citizen and member of a free-thinking society.

Personal life was of considerable interest to contemporaries; it remains the subject of much controversy to this day.

Despite all the ambiguity of the writer’s personality, he was and remains a classic of Russian literature, who is studied in Russian schools and beyond.

Content

Childhood and youth

The future poet Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov was born on December 10, 1821 (according to the old style - November 28) in the city of Nemirov. Now it is located on the territory of modern Ukraine, in the Vinnitsa region.

The prose writer had a noble origin. Nekrasov's father's name was Alexey. He was a career military man; his unit was stationed in Nemirov.

The man had noble roots. However, he led an unbridled lifestyle. When he was not devoted to official affairs, his only interests were in hunting and playing cards.

It was because of his passion for gambling that he eventually found himself broke. Moreover, things were so bad that the man could hardly find a way out on his own.

Mother's name was Elena Zakrevskaya. She was from an equally noble aristocratic family, very rich and pretty. Nekrasov's father drew attention to the girl. He always knew how to look after women and knew perfectly well how to win the favor of even the most reserved person.

Very soon the girl fell madly in love with the charismatic military man. However, the parents were categorically against such a union. They understood that the man was trying to improve his financial situation in this way. The gambler was claiming money from a wealthy family.

As a result, the girl still married Nekrasov. However, this marriage did not bring happiness. Quite the contrary. The husband was distinguished by his harsh, violent temper and despotism. He was a real domestic tyrant.

After the wedding, the woman was at his complete disposal and began to lead the life of a forced recluse in the hands of her husband. Trying to somehow distract herself, she read a lot and played music.

The elder Nekrasov did not receive much money, although he really counted on it. The family welcomed 12 children. Only Nikolai and one other child survived; the rest died in infancy.

After his son was born, the father moved the whole family to the village of Greshnevo, not far from Yaroslavl. The man's family estate was located here. It was here that Nekrasov spent part of his childhood.

Nikolai Nekrasov in his youth

There was a catastrophic lack of money even for a small family. The man was forced to get a job. He became a police officer and performed police functions. His main task was to collect debts from peasants.

His father often took young Nekrasov with him, so the boy could see all the horrors of involuntary serf life. He repeatedly witnessed the suffering and death of ordinary Russian people.

It was these impressions that influenced him as a person and helped shape his public position. At least for the coming years.

As soon as the boy grew up enough, he was sent to study at the Yaroslavl gymnasium. Here he spent five years mastering subjects that would help him become literate.

When the young man turned 17, his father insisted that Nekrasov go to St. Petersburg and begin a military career. It was planned that he should go to the disposal of the noble regiment.

In 1838, a young man came to the city. However, this plan was not destined to be realized. Upon arrival, Nekrasov met with Andrei Glushitsky, whom he had known since his days at the gymnasium.

N. Nekrasov, photo

He insisted that the young man try his hand at St. Petersburg University. He praised the philological faculty.

His stories made a strong impression on Nekrasov. He decided to try his hand and set out to conquer the institute. However, nothing came of it. The young man failed the entrance exams.

Very soon my father also found out about freethinking. As a warning, he stopped helping his son financially. Nekrasov found himself at the very bottom. He had no money, not only for a room, but even for food. We had to sleep in basements and dirty doorways and eat whatever we could get our hands on. But these trials did not stop or break the young man, but, on the contrary, strengthened him.

Portrait of Nikolai Nekrasov

From 1838 to 41, the future prose writer and poet was a student at the university, which he could not get into. The knowledge that he gained during this period became an important milestone in his development as a writer.

Childhood and attempts to get an education

Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov was born on October 10, 1821 in the town of Nemirov, Podolsk province. Soon his family moved to the village of Greshnevo, where his father, a wealthy landowner, had a family estate. As a child, Nikolai Alekseevich repeatedly witnessed the cruel attitude of the head of the family towards the peasants, his wife and his own children. But his mother instilled in the boy a love of literature and his native language.

The elder Nekrasov wanted his son to follow in his footsteps and become a military man. But the future writer was against it; from adolescence, he was fond of writing stories and poems. After graduating from the Yaroslavl gymnasium, the young man went to St. Petersburg, where he wanted to enter the university at the Faculty of Philology, but failed the exams, after which he attended lectures for two years as a volunteer student.

Literary creativity

Nekrasov’s creative biography began at the dawn of the 40s. After several years of difficult trials, he began to look for himself in the literary field. Whatever the young man had to do.

He gave private lessons, published articles in local mediocre magazines, also composed stories, wrote vaudeville and tried his hand at drama.

It didn't bring in a lot of money. I had to do a variety of jobs. But there was no talk of begging anymore.

After some time, the hardworking Nikolai managed to afford himself a quite decent room. True, I filmed it with two other people.

From then on, the young man became deeply interested in literature. He worked hard. By the mid-40s, Nikolai Nekrasov managed to save enough money to publish a collection of poems of his own composition, with the feasible participation of his colleagues and acquaintances. It was called “Dreams and Sounds.”

This was the first creative experience of the future writer. However, he doubted his talent. After the collection was ready, Nekrasov took it to Zhukovsky so that he could evaluate the work of the aspiring poet.

He singled out several poems, but rejected the rest and advised him to publish under a pseudonym. However, he immediately encouraged Nekrasov, saying that in the future he would write better.

After the collection was published, critics' opinions were divided. Some praised the young poet, others scolded him. The book did not sell out. The disgruntled writer burned his own brainchild.

An unsuccessful debut pushed the writer to try his hand at prose. Over the next few years, the man has been working on stories and novellas.

The heroes of his stories are ordinary people in conditions of need and poverty. The prototypes were the peasants, whose lives he had the good fortune (or misfortune) to observe in his early years.

Gradually, the writer gained experience and became more and more confident in his own abilities. He published several humorous works. More or less decent creations began to emerge from the pen of the classic, which received high praise from his contemporaries.

Around the same years, the man met the famous critic Vissarion Belinsky. He had a high opinion of Nekrasov himself, but assessed most of his literary works as mediocrity. Not counting a few that received rave reviews.

Vissarion Belinsky, Russian literary critic

Nekrasov had not only great intelligence, but also innate commercial cunning. It was she who helped him improve his financial situation.

At some point, the writer began publishing other people's works without paying royalties to the authors in the form of almanacs. This is how many works were born that were compiled into collections.

Among the famous were “Physiology of St. Petersburg”, “April 1” and others. Both aspiring writers Fyodor Dostoevsky and Dmitry Grigorovich, as well as more famous colleagues in the workshop: Ivan Turgenev, Alexander Herzen and others, published here.

The driving force behind the process was Belinsky himself, who persuaded writers to give Nekrasov a work: a story or a story, so that he could improve his financial affairs.

Gymnasium

By the time the time came for the boy to enter the gymnasium, the elder Nekrasov was completely ruined.
There was no money for hired teachers. But there were no gaps in upbringing; my mother managed to fill everything. Kolya knew Russian literature, the names of the great Russian poets and Shakespeare, and geography. Well-read, cultured, mannered, and well-spoken, the landowner's son entered the gymnasium.

The years of the gymnasium in the life of the classic are rather sad; the gymnasium was not exemplary. The teachers were insufficiently trained and did not deserve even the minimum amount of positive characteristics in relation to what the child received at home from the mother. Relations with the teaching staff did not work out.

The teenager had particular complaints about his literature teacher. The unkempt, rumpled, unkempt teacher didn’t even know how to say hello. As the writer later described this would-be teacher, he came, said an unintelligible “Hello,” sat down at the table, gave an assignment, and quietly, peacefully fell asleep. The schoolchildren could do whatever they wanted - the teacher was asleep, and even snored in his sleep. Somehow, a minute before the bell rang, the teacher woke up, looked around the class and silently left.

☛

At the gymnasium, Nikolai began to write satirical poems.

But here, too, Nikolai’s mother played a big role. Sending her son to the gymnasium, she gave him important parting words. She prepared the teenager for the fact that the knowledge that she gives him and her sister may not be available in the educational institution. But the most important thing is to be able to study and gain knowledge through self-education. And the teenager remembered this instruction. He read very, very much.

And when examiners asked him, closer to the age of sixteen, where such knowledge of literature came from, he honestly answered: “I read.”

Publishing work and work at Sovremennik

Thanks to such an elegant move, Nikolai Nekrasov has enough funds. They are enough to rent the literary periodical Sovremennik.

This event took place in 1846-47. To the credit of the writer himself, it should be noted that he worked without sparing himself. He read thousands of pages of manuscripts, did proofreading and editing. I worked day and night to take the publication to a new level.

Among other things, Nekrasov himself published here. The pages of Sovremennik published the writer’s prose, poetry, his critical reviews, as well as journalistic materials.

Nikolai Nekrasov with his dog

The writer did not work alone. Belinsky still played an important role in the work of the magazine. It was these two who discovered a lot of talented writers to Russian society.

Authors of various levels were published on the pages of the publication. From beginners, like Fyodor Dostoevsky, to more famous ones. At different times, the authors included people from Chernyshevsky and Saltykov-Shchedrin to Turgenev and even Tolstoy.

The magazine was extremely popular. All thanks to the fact that it cost relatively little. In addition, buyers received free applications. Usually - small works or journalistic materials from authors.

Open lesson with Dmitry Bykov. "Misunderstood Nekrasov"

In the years 48-55, the authorities began an openly reactionary policy. Government officials, and especially the emperor, were afraid of freethinking. Waves of repression against freethinkers began.

At the cost of enormous efforts, Nikolai Nekrasov managed to save his brainchild. Although the content of the publication has become noticeably more modest in ideological terms.

In the early 60s, after serfdom was abolished, Nekrasov prepared the poem “Freedom.” After the aggravation of the political situation, the writer supported revolutionary ideas.

His thoughts about the situation of the Russian people and their fate were reflected in several famous poems. Including “Reflections at the Front Door”, “Railroad”, “Poet and Citizen”.

In the 60s, the era of student unrest, peasant uprisings and the Polish uprising began. These events could not leave free-thinking people aside. Veiled support for ideas of change also affects Sovremennik.

However, the authorities are categorically not satisfied with this state of affairs. The magazine was the first of its kind in the country. He had a colossal influence on the minds of the intelligentsia and beyond. Therefore, officials decide to close the publication.

Nekrasov, trying to save his brainchild, takes a fatal step. In 1866, during lunch at the English Club, the writer read out his ode to Muravyov.

It was addressed to one of the most odious officials of that time - Mikhail Nikolaevich Muravyov-Vilensky. Popular and liberal circles called him an executioner, a cannibal and a hangman. He dealt bloodily with the Polish uprising and no less brutally suppressed student protests.

In his work, Nekrasov called for cracking down on revolutionary students, although literally the day before he convinced young people to go to the barricades.

According to most biographers, Nekrasov was prompted to take this desperate step by the desire to preserve his magazine. However, the intelligentsia, as well as the simply thinking population, did not forgive the writer for such a betrayal.

For the rest of his life, Nekrasov was no longer called anything other than a scoundrel. People tore up his portraits or sent them to him with unflattering characteristics written over them.

Despite all efforts, in 1868 the magazine was still closed. After this, the writer moves to Otechestvennye zapiski, where he continues to develop revolutionary and democratic ideas.

Nikolai Nekrasov and the editorial board of Otechestvennye zapiski

But with his previous actions, Nekrasov alienated many liberal-minded people.

In those same years, the poem “Stuffy! Without happiness and will,” which is imbued with hope and a call for revolution.

Towards the end of his history, N. A. Nekrasov is working on the largest work of biography - “Who Lives Well in Rus'.” He devotes all his remaining strength to the poem.

Personal relationships

Nekrasov’s first woman is called Avdotya Yakovlevna Panaeva. The wife of his future partner in publishing and literary business, Ivan. She had an obstinate disposition and was distinguished by her strong-willed character.

The couple met in 1842. However, for a long time the woman did not pay attention to the writer. By the mid-40s, Panaeva finally gave in and they began to live together.

Avdotya Panaeva (portrait)

The public severely condemned Nekrasov for such an unworthy act. From the actual union two children were born. The first died within hours of birth. The second one did not live even six months.

Quarrels began between the spouses. The separation was not long in coming.

Portrait of A.Ya. Panaeva on a horse by N.E. Sverchkova

In 1863, Nekrasov's choice fell on the Frenchwoman Selina Lefren. The woman was frivolous and had a quarrelsome character. Their relationship was renewed and then terminated until it was put to an end.

Nikolai Nekrasov and Selina Lefren

The last woman in the life of 48-year-old Nikolai Nekrasov was Fekla Nikolaevna Viktorova. A simple village person of peasant origin, 19 years old.

Fyokla Viktorova, the last wife of Nikolai Nekrasov

This relationship lasted another 5 years. The man made a lot of efforts to benefit his chosen one, to help her with education and upbringing.

Personal life

The poet had several love affairs in his life: with the owner of the literary salon Avdotya Panaeva, the Frenchwoman Selina Lefren, and the village girl Fyokla Viktorova.

One of the most beautiful women in St. Petersburg and the wife of the writer Ivan Panaev, Avdotya Panaeva, was liked by many men, and the young Nekrasov had to make a lot of effort to win her attention. Finally, they confess their love to each other and begin to live together. After the early death of their common son, Avdotya leaves Nekrasov. And he leaves for Paris with the French theater actress Selina Lefren, whom he had known since 1863. She remains in Paris, and Nekrasov returns to Russia. However, their romance continues at a distance. Later, he meets a simple and uneducated girl from the village, Fyokla (Nekrasov gives her the name Zina), with whom they later got married.

Nekrasov had many affairs, but the main woman in Nikolai Nekrasov’s biography was not his legal wife, but Avdotya Yakovlevna Panaeva, whom he loved all his life.

Death of a writer

In 1875, the writer experienced his first strange symptoms. He suffered from abdominal pain. In 1876 he was examined by doctors. He was examined by Nikolai Sklifosovsky.

Doctors discovered the writer had intestinal cancer. Over the next period of time, the writer struggled with the disease and even resorted to the help of foreign surgeons, but everything was in vain.

The poet and prose writer Nekrasov died on January 8, 1878 (December 27, 1877 old style) at the age of 56 from numerous complications of oncology.

Funeral of Nikolai Nekrasov

Thousands of people came to say goodbye to the writer, and this was the first time that a Russian writer was given national honors.

Nekrasov was buried in the cemetery at the Novodevichy Convent in St. Petersburg.

The grave of Nikolai Nekrasov

Interesting Facts

• In his youth, the man was not very moral: he partied a lot, played cards, and took part in drunken fights.
• The writer could not stand his father. Apparently, it was mutual.
• Nekrasov’s first work was received very coolly by both readers and the professional community.
• The main business of the writer’s life was the magazine Sovremennik, which was unprofitable.
• He was an avid hunter, a superstitious person and could not resist gambling.
• He was known as a very controversial person. Many prominent figures of the time questioned his moral and ethical qualities. The writer was awarded all sorts of characteristics: from a scoundrel and a two-faced hypocrite to a literary money dealer. Disputes about his moral qualities are still going on.

Nikolay Nekrasov. Poetry of the heart. Prose of love. More than love

Bibliography

Works by N.A. Nekrasova:

Plays

• Actor
• A generous act
• Rejected
• Bear hunt
• Petersburg moneylender
• Morning at the editorial office
• Fedya and Volodya
• Theoklist Onufrich Bob, or the husband is out of his element
• Lomonosov's youth
• Autumn boredom

Stories, novels and short stories

• Dead Lake (novel)
• Three countries of the world (novel)
• “On the same day at eleven o’clock in the morning...”
• Missing Piita
• In Sardinia
• Twenty five rubles
• Life of Alexandra Ivanovna
• The life and adventures of Tikhon Trostnikov
• Captain Cook
• Coach. Suicide notes of a fool
• Makar Osipovich Random
• Extraordinary breakfast. An episode from the life of a newspaper employee, famous for the intricacy of the epigraph
• Unlucky in love, or Wonderful love affairs of a Russian
• Grazioso
• Newly invented preferred paint of Deerling Brothers and Co.
• Experienced woman
• Essays on literary life
• Singer
• Petersburg corners. (From the notes of one young man)
• The Tale of Poor Klim
• Landowner of twenty-three souls. Notes of a young man
• Psychological task. An old story
• Moneylender
• Surguchov
• The Thin Man, his adventures and observations

Poems

• The grief of old Nahum
• Grandfather
• Wax cabinet
• Who can live well in Rus'?
• Peddlers
• Peasant children
• Jack Frost
• On the Volga
• Recent time
• About the weather (Street impressions)
• Russian women
• Knight for an hour
• Contemporaries
• Sasha
• Court Silence

Poetry

• "...lonely, lost..."
• "Oh! like exile, imprisonment..."
• “Ah, those were happy years...”
• Baiushki bye
• "I am unknown..."
• “Blessed is the gentle poet...”
• Storm
• In the hospital
• In the village
• On the road
• "In the unknown wilderness..."
• “The village suffering is in full swing...”
• “There is noise in the capitals, the ornates are thundering...”
• Wine
• Vlas
• To the lover
• "Hearing the horrors of war..."
• Return
• “Yesterday, around six o’clock...”
• Fortune telling bride
• "Where is your dark face..."
• “Yes, our life flowed rebelliously...”
• “Long ago, rejected by you...”
• to the demon
• Friends
• Duma (“Our side is wretched…”)
• “My soul is gloomy, my dreams are dull...”
• “It’s stuffy! without happiness and will..."
• “I’m driving down a dark street at night...”
• “If, tormented by rebellious passion...”
• Railway
• In the country
• “Shut up, Muse of revenge and sadness!..”
• Shyness
• Green Noise
• Zina (“Two hundred days already...”)
• Zine (“You still have the right to life...”)
• Witch Doctor
• Cab
• How a coward is celebrated
• “How meek you are, how obedient you are...”
• Kalistrat
• Princess
• “When out of the darkness of error...”
• Lullaby
• Gossips
• “The enemy rejoices, remains silent in bewilderment...”
• “Literature with crackling phrases...”
• Mother
• Masha
• My disappointment
• Prayer service
• Muse (“No, the Muse tenderly singing and beautiful...”)
• “You and I are stupid people...”
• Thought
• N. F. Kruse (“On the sad side...”)
• At the kennel
• At home
• On the death of Shevchenko
• On the street
• “My heart breaks with agony...”
• “Don’t cry so madly over him...”
• Uncompressed strip
• "No shame, no compassion..."
• New Year
• "Night. We managed to enjoy everything..."
• Moral man
• “Oh Muse! I’m at the door of the coffin!..”
• “Oh letters from a woman dear to us...”
• Gardener
• Orina, soldier's mother
• “Let me go, dear...”
• “It’s nice to see what’s being found...”
• Excerpt (“I was born in the province...”)
• In memory of Belinsky
• Before the rain
• Song to Eremushka
• Children crying
• Conflagration
• “Struck by the irrevocable loss...”
• Funeral
• Poet and citizen
• “Celebration of life - years of youth...”
• Great party
• Sentence
• Confessions of a hard worker
• Prophet
• sorry
• Farewell
• “Let the dreamers be ridiculed long ago...”
• “The proud river is magnificent in its flood...”
• Drunkard
• Reflections at the front door
• Motherland
• Knight for an hour
• "Smug talkers..."
• Sasha
• Wedding
• Liberty
• Secret
• To the sowers
• “Soon I will become a prey to decay...”
• Tears and nerves
• “The honest ones, the valiantly fallen, have fallen silent...”
• Modern ode
• Old men
• “My poems! Living witnesses..."
• “So this is a joke? My darling…"
• “So, service! you yourself are in that war..."
• Silence
• Troika
• Turgenev (“Farewell!..”)
• "You are always incomparably good..."
• “It’s been a difficult year—my illness has broken me…”
• “She suffered a heavy cross…”
• Poor and elegant
• “I will die soon. A pathetic legacy..."
• Morning
• Philanthropist
• What does an old woman think when she can't sleep?
• “No matter what year, your strength decreases...”
• “What are you saying, my heart was breaking?..”
• “Without saying a little...”
• Schoolboy
• Elegy (“Let him tell us...”)
• “That’s why I deeply despise myself...”
• “I don’t like your irony...”
• "I visited your cemetery..."
• “I got up early, it didn’t take long to get ready...”
• “I’m so sad today...”

Chronological table of Nekrasov

Nekrasov’s chronological table is one of the best ways to briefly familiarize yourself with the periods of the great poet’s life. It is in it that all the most important events that influenced the author’s fate are concentrated. These significant stages of his biography will help both schoolchildren and graduates better understand the motives of the poet’s activities and the characteristics of his character.

In fact, you can trace the life and work of Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov by dates. This format is designed for those who want to quickly and clearly obtain basic information and facts. In addition to standard information about the poet’s birth and death, the memo will introduce you to the key periods of his creative activity. You will learn a lot about your favorite author and his works, and you will be able to quickly remember important dates. Our website presents a detailed biography of Nekrasov in the table.

1821, November 28 (December 10) - N.A. was born. Nekrasov in Ukraine in the town of Nemirov, Podolsk province, in the noble family of retired lieutenant Alexei Sergeevich and Elena Andreevna Nekrasov.

1824-1832 – Life in the village of Greshnevo, Yaroslavl province

1838 – Leaves his father’s estate Greshnevo in order to, by his will, enter the St. Petersburg noble regiment, but, contrary to his wishes, decides to enter the St. Petersburg University; his father deprives him of his livelihood.

1840 – The first imitative collection of poems “Dreams and Sounds”.

1843 – Acquaintance with V. G. Belinsky.

1845 – Poem “On the Road”; enthusiastic review by V.G. Belinsky.

1845-1846 – Publisher of two collections of writers of the natural school – “Physiology of St. Petersburg” and “Petersburg Collection”.

1847-1865 – Editor and publisher of the Sovremennik magazine.

1853 – Cycle “Last Elegies”.

1856 – The first collection of “Poems by N. Nekrasov.”

1861 – Poem “Peddlers”; publication of the second edition of “Poems by N. Nekrasov”.

1862 – Poem “Knight for an Hour”, poems “Green Noise”, “Village suffering is in full swing”; acquisition of the Karabikha estate near Yaroslavl.

1863-1864 – Poem “Frost, Red Nose”, poems “Orina, the Soldier’s Mother”, “In Memory of Dobrolyubov”, “Railroad”.

1865 – The first part of the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” has been published.

1868 – Publication of the first issue of N.A. Nekrasov’s new magazine “Notes of the Fatherland” with the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'.”

1868-1877 – Together with M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, he edits the journal “Domestic Notes.”

1870 - Poem “Grandfather”.

1871-1872 - Poems “Princess Trubetskaya” and “Princess Volkonskaya”.

1876 – Work on the fourth part of the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'.”

1877 – The book “Last Songs” is coming out of print.

1877, December 27 (1878, January 8) - Nekrasov died in St. Petersburg. He was buried in the cemetery of the Novodevichy Convent.

September's most popular resources for your classroom:

Summary of “The Day Before”

Summary of “The Tale of Boris and Gleb”

Quotes "Fathers and Sons"

Vladimir Dubrovsky

Summary of “The Tale of Peter and Fevronia of Murom”

Analysis of the poem “The Ascension of Elizabeth. Ode" by Lomonosov

Characteristics of Katerina

Analysis of the poem “Blessed is the embittered poet” by Polonsky

Analysis of the poem “I go out alone on the road” by Lermontov

The Problem of Fathers and Sons (The Cherry Orchard)