Ippolit Fyodorovich Bogdanovich ( rus, Ипполи́т Фёдорович Богдано́вич, p=ɪpɐˈlʲit ˈfʲɵdərəvʲɪtɕ bəɡdɐˈnovʲɪtɕ, a=Ippolit Fyodorovich Bogdanovich.ru.vorb.oga; ,
Perevolochna – ,
Kursk
Kursk ( rus, Курск, p=ˈkursk) is a city and the administrative center of Kursk Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Kur, Tuskar, and Seym rivers. The area around Kursk was the site of a turning point in the Soviet–German stru ...
) was a Russian
classicist
Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...
author of
light poetry
Light poetry or light verse is poetry that attempts to be humorous. Light poems are usually brief, can be on a frivolous or serious subject, and often feature word play including puns, adventurous rhyme, and heavy alliteration. Typically, light ...
, best known for his long poem ''Dushenka'' (1778).
Biography
Coming from a noble Ukrainian family, Bogdanovich studied in the
Moscow University until 1761. His literary career started two years later with editing a literary journal. In 1766, he joined the Russian embassy in
Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...
as a secretary. Three years later, he was back in
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
, where he edited the only regular official newspaper, the ''
Vedomosti
''Vedomosti'' ( rus, Ведомости, p=ˈvʲedəməsʲtʲɪ, ) is a Russian-language business daily newspaper published in Moscow.
History
''Vedomosti'' was founded in 1999 as a joint venture between Dow Jones, who publishes ''The Wall ...
'', between 1775 and 1782. In 1788, Bogdanovich was appointed Director of State Archives, a post which he treated as a
sinecure, translating
Voltaire
François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his ''nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his criticism of Christianity—es ...
,
Diderot, and
Rousseau
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolu ...
at loose hours.
It was in 1778 that Bogdanovich brought out his only work of lasting fame, ''Dushenka''. This long poem, resembling a
mock epic
Mock-heroic, mock-epic or heroi-comic works are typically satires or parodies that mock common Classical stereotypes of heroes and heroic literature. Typically, mock-heroic works either put a fool in the role of the hero or exaggerate the heroic ...
, was a reworking of
La Fontaine
Jean de La Fontaine (, , ; 8 July 162113 April 1695) was a French fabulist and one of the most widely read French poets of the 17th century. He is known above all for his '' Fables'', which provided a model for subsequent fabulists across Eu ...
's ''Psyche'', a subject originating from
Apuleius
Apuleius (; also called Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis; c. 124 – after 170) was a Numidian Latin-language prose writer, Platonist philosopher and rhetorician. He lived in the Roman province of Numidia, in the Berber city of Madauros, modern- ...
but ingeniously stylized by Bogdanovich as a Russian folk tale. The definitive edition followed in 1783 and instantly became popular for its mildly scurrilous passages. La Fontaine's conventional heroine was presented by Bogdanovich as "a living, modern girl from a gentry family of the middling sort". Following the publication, Bogdanovich was recognized as the foremost Russian practitioner of
light poetry
Light poetry or light verse is poetry that attempts to be humorous. Light poems are usually brief, can be on a frivolous or serious subject, and often feature word play including puns, adventurous rhyme, and heavy alliteration. Typically, light ...
and gained admission into the literary circle of
Princess Dashkova
Yekaterina Romanovna Vorontsova (russian: Екатери́на Рома́новна Воронцо́ва) (28 March, 1743 – 15 January, 1810) This source reports that Prince Dashkov died in 1761. was an influential noblewoman, a major figure o ...
, while
Catherine II of Russia engaged him to write several comedies for her
Hermitage Theatre
The Hermitage Theatre ( rus, Эрмитажный Театр, Èrmitážnyj Teátr, ɪrʲmʲɪˈtaʐnɨj tʲɪˈatər) in Saint Petersburg, Russia is one of five Hermitage buildings lining the Palace Embankment of the Neva River.
The Hermitag ...
. An English translation can be found in the anthology ''The Literature of Eighteenth-Century Russia''.
Assessment
By 1841, Bogdanovich's ''chef d'oeuvre'' went through 15 editions. Today, it is remembered primarily for
Fyodor Tolstoy's Neoclassical illustrations and citations in
Pushkin
Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (; rus, links=no, Александр Сергеевич ПушкинIn pre-Revolutionary script, his name was written ., r=Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈpuʂkʲɪn, ...
's works such as ''
Eugene Onegin
''Eugene Onegin, A Novel in Verse'' (Reforms of Russian orthography, pre-reform Russian: ; post-reform rus, Евгений Оне́гин, ромáн в стихáх, p=jɪvˈɡʲenʲɪj ɐˈnʲeɡʲɪn, r=Yevgeniy Onegin, roman v stikhakh) is ...
''. Indeed, ''Dushenka'' was a major influence on young
Pushkin
Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (; rus, links=no, Александр Сергеевич ПушкинIn pre-Revolutionary script, his name was written ., r=Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈpuʂkʲɪn, ...
, who avidly read the poem during his
Lyceum
The lyceum is a category of educational institution defined within the education system of many countries, mainly in Europe. The definition varies among countries; usually it is a type of secondary school. Generally in that type of school the t ...
years but later discarded Bogdanovich's verse as immature.
Nabokov
Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov (russian: link=no, Владимир Владимирович Набоков ; 2 July 1977), also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin (), was a Russian-American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist. Bo ...
summed up contemporary opinion about ''Dushenka'' in the following dictum: "The airiness of its tetrametric passages and its glancing mother-of-pearl wit are foregleams of young Pushkin's art; it is a significant stage in the development of Russian poetry; its naive colloquial melodies also influenced Pushkin's direct predecessors,
Karamzin Karamzin (russian: Карамзин) is a Russian masculine surname, its feminine counterpart is Karamzina. It originates from the Tatar surname Kara-Murza, meaning ''black lord'', and may refer to
*Aurora Karamzin (1808–1902), Finnish-Swede phil ...
,
Batyushkov, and
Zhukovsky''.
Vladimir Nabokov
Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov (russian: link=no, Владимир Владимирович Набоков ; 2 July 1977), also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin (), was a Russian-American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist. Bor ...
. ''Eugene Onegin: A Novel in Verse: Commentary''. Princeton University Press, 1991. . Page 137.
References
Bibliography
*
External links
Russian text of ''Dushenka''Russian text of ''Dushenka''(pdf)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bogdanovich, Ippolit Fedorovich
1743 births
1803 deaths
People from Poltava Oblast
People from Kiev Governorate (1708–1764)
People from the Cossack Hetmanate
Russian people of Ukrainian descent
Russian male poets
Imperial Moscow University alumni
Members of the Russian Academy
Moscow State University alumni