Nikolai Alekseevich Polevoy ( rus, Никола́й Алексе́евич Полево́й, r=Nikoláy Alekséevich Polevóy, ― ) was a controversial
Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
editor, writer, translator, and historian; his brother was the critic and journalist
Ksenofont Polevoy
Ksenofont Alexeyevich Polevoy (russian: Ксенофонт Алексеевич Полевой, 1 August 1801, Irkutsk, Imperial Russia, – 21 April 1867, Tyukhmenevo, Smolensk Governorate, Imperial Russia) was a Russian writer, literary crit ...
and his sister the writer and publisher of folktales
Ekaterina Avdeeva.
Biography
Polevoy was from an old merchant family from
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 ...
but was born in
Irkutsk
Irkutsk ( ; rus, Иркутск, p=ɪrˈkutsk; Buryat language, Buryat and mn, Эрхүү, ''Erhüü'', ) is the largest city and administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. With a population of 617,473 as of the 2010 Census, Irkutsk is ...
, where his father was director of a Russian-American company, and lived there until 1811, when the family moved first to Moscow and then to Kursk. His father, disappointed in his refusal to take up the family business and disapproving of his interest in literature and history, refused to pay for his education, so he taught himself. In February 1820 he moved to
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
, where he attended both the theater and lectures at
Moscow University
M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU; russian: Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова) is a public research university in Moscow, Russia and the most prestigious ...
; he visited
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 ...
and met
Alexander Griboyedov
Alexander Sergeyevich Griboyedov (russian: Александр Сергеевич Грибоедов, ''Aleksandr Sergeevich Griboedov'' or ''Sergeevich Griboyedov''; 15 January 179511 February 1829), formerly romanized as Alexander Sergueevich Gri ...
,
Vasily Zhukovsky
Vasily Andreyevich Zhukovsky (russian: Василий Андреевич Жуковский, Vasiliy Andreyevich Zhukovskiy; – ) was the foremost Russian poet of the 1810s and a leading figure in Russian literature in the first half of the 19 ...
,
Faddei Bulgarin
Thaddeus Venediktovich Bulgarin (russian: Фаддей Венедиктович Булгарин; Polish Jan Tadeusz Krzysztof Bułharyn, – ), was a Russian writer, journalist and publisher of Polish ancestry. In addition to his newspaper ...
, and other literary figures, and began a literary career, publishing articles, poems, and translations in the journals of the day.
In 1825 he started his own journal, ''Moskovskii telegraf'' (''The Moscow Telegraph''), hoping to attract the writers he admired, like
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, ...
, as well as emphasize the positive contributions of the merchant class to Russia. Unfortunately, the aristocrats of the Pushkin circle viewed him as a vulgar parvenu, and his attack on
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 ...
's reactionary ''History of the Russian State'' offended many influential people, notably
Pyotr Vyazemsky
Prince Pyotr Andreyevich Vyazemsky ( rus, Пëтр Андре́евич Вя́земский, p=ˈpʲɵtr ɐnˈdrʲejɪvʲɪt͡ɕ ˈvʲæzʲɪmskʲɪj; 23 July 1792 – 22 November 1878) was a Russian Imperial poet, a leading personality of t ...
, who had been Karamzin's ward and whose sister was married to the older historian. When Polevoy wrote his own six-volume ''History of the Russian People'' (1829–1833), it was savaged by almost everyone. The brilliant and idiosyncratic critic
Apollon Grigoryev
Apollon Aleksandrovich Grigoryev (russian: Аполло́н Алекса́ндрович Григо́рьев, p=ɐpɐˈlon ɐlʲɪkˈsandrəvʲɪdʑ ɡrʲɪˈɡorʲjɪf, a=Apollon Alyeksandrovich Grigor'yev.ru.vorb.oga; 20 July 1822 – 7 Octob ...
wrote in his memoirs, "From our present
864
__NOTOC__
Year 864 ( DCCCLXIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Europe
* Spring – Emperor Louis II (the Younger) marches with a Frankish army ag ...
point of view it would be impossible to conceive anything more indecent than the article that the editor of the ''Moscow Herald''
.e., Mikhail Pogodin">Mikhail_Pogodin.html" ;"title=".e., Mikhail Pogodin">.e., Mikhail Pogodinhurled against ''The History of the Russian People'', if the articles [by Nikolai Nadezhdin] against it in the old men's ''European Herald'' had not been even more indecent... The factions do not seem to have been in their right minds thirty years ago. What was the cause of their being so hostile that they foamed at the mouth?" Polevoy emphasized that history followed laws and did not depend on the actions of particular individuals; he also was one of the first to present Russian history as a confrontation between Europe and Asia.
Lauren G. Leighton says, summing up the contributions of Nikolai and his brother and collaborator Ksenofont:
No one should argue that the Polevoys were comparable in literary taste and talent to the aristocrats of the Pushkin pleiad; their self-educated, self-made characters are apparent in their journal. But neither should they be denied their great contribution in making leading European thinkers available to the Russian public in Russian, their eminently human liberalism, or their courage in constantly testing—and outwitting—the government censor. In 1834, after competition from both the aristocrats and the plebeians had laid waste to the Polevoys' finances, ''The Moscow Telegraph'' was closed down by the government. The Polevoys spent most of the rest of their lives editing the journals of Bulgarin and Grech.
The journal was closed down because of a bad review it gave a play by
Nestor Kukolnik
Nestor Vasilievich Kukolnik (russian: Не́стор Васи́льевич Ку́кольник) (1809–1868) was a Russian playwright and prose writer of Carpatho-Rusyn origin. Immensely popular during the early part of his career, his works wer ...
;
Bernard Pares
Sir Bernard Pares KBE (1 March 1867 – 17 April 1949) was an English historian and diplomat. During the First World War, he was seconded to the Foreign Ministry in Petrograd, Russia, where he reported political events back to London, and work ...
tells the story:
It must be understood that the vast distances and the thinness of population in Russia practically confined journalistic enterprise to St. Petersburg and Moscow. Even the Moscow journalists were hampered, in comparison with those of St. Petersburg, because it took them longer to guess in which direction the wind of the moment was blowing. Thus, in 1834 Polevóy, who had severely reviewed a patriotic play, found, on his arrival in St. Petersburg, that it had pleased the upper society. "What are you doing?" said his protector, the Administrator of Police; "you see how they take the play here; you will have to agree with this opinion, or else you will get yourself into terrible trouble."
D. S. Mirsky writes, "But his memory after his death was deservedly reverenced by the new intelligentsia as that of a pioneer and, in a sense, a martyr."
[Mirsky, ''History of Russian Literature'', p. 125.]
Cultural references
Nikolay Polevoy is the main hero of "Izlomanny Arshin" ("Broken
Arshin") novel by
Samuil Lurie
Samuil Aronovich Lurie (russian: Самуил Аронович Лурье; 12 May 1942 – 7 August 2015) was a Russian writer and literary historian. Many of his works were published under the pseudonym S Gedroitz (russian: С. Гедройц). ...
.
Notes
References
* Grigoryev, Apollon. ''My Literary and Moral Wanderings''. Dutton, 1962.
* Leighton, Lauren G. ''Russian Romantic Criticism: An Anthology''. Greenwood Press, 1987.
* Mirsky, D. S. ''A History of Russian Literature''. Northwestern University Press, 1999
epr. of 1958 ed.* Pares, Bernard. ''Russia and Reform''. London: Archibald Constable, 1907
Brockhaus and Efron biography(in Russian)
(in Russian)
RIN.ru article(in Russian)
(in Russian)
Vikiznanie article on ''Moskovskii telegraf''(in Russian)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Polevoy, Nikolai Alekseevich
1796 births
1846 deaths
19th-century historians from the Russian Empire
Russian writers
19th-century theatre
Corresponding members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences