The Wanderer (Strannik, Стра́нник) is a poem by
Apollon Maykov
Apollon Nikolayevich Maykov (russian: Аполло́н Никола́евич Ма́йков, , Moscow – , Saint Petersburg) was a Russian poet, best known for his lyric verse showcasing images of Russian villages, nature, and history. His love ...
, first published in the No.1, January 1867 issue of ''
The Russian Messenger''. It was dedicated to
Fyodor Tyutchev and subtitled: "First part of the drama The Thirsty One".
History
In his commentaries to the first, magazine version of the poem, Maykov explained:
Beguny′ (The Runners) or The Wanderers, or the Sopelsky Agreement (Sopelkovskoye soglasiye), after the Sopelki village where they were based, are all the names for a priest-less sect, representing one of the raskol
The Schism of the Russian Church, also known as Raskol (russian: раскол, , meaning "split" or "schism"), was the splitting of the Russian Orthodox Church into an official church and the Old Believers movement in the mid-17th century. It ...
's extreme factions. The wanderer has to leave behind everything that he’s ever owned, sever all of his social and family ties so as to start living "as a Christ's man".
In the same commentaries the author mentioned several of the sources he used: ''The Historical Sketches of Russian Priesthood'' by
Pavel Melnikov (part 1, Moscow, 1864), ''Stories from the History of the Old Believers'' by S.Maksimov (Saint-Petersburg, 1861), ''Songs Collected by
P.V. Kireevsky'' (4th issue, Moscow, 1862), works by the raskol scholar N.I.Subbotin. Working upon the language, he studied
Avvakum
Avvakum Petrov (russian: link=no, Аввакум Петров; 20 November 1620/21 – 14 April 1682) (also spelled Awakum) was an Old Believer and Russian protopope of the Kazan Cathedral on Red Square who led the opposition to Patriarch N ...
's literary legacy and some old Russian Bible-based texts.
The plot of the poem (or the Scene, as Maykov has defined it) was based on Melnikov-Petchorsky's novel Grisha. Maykov omitted many trivial scenes as well as the episode of his ‘temptation by romantic passions' but strengthened the final, adding a scene of arson which was absent in Melnikov's novel.
The first reading of "The Wanderer" took place on December 3, 1866, at the Karamzin Party. The poem was praised by
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (, ; rus, Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский, Fyódor Mikháylovich Dostoyévskiy, p=ˈfʲɵdər mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪdʑ dəstɐˈjefskʲɪj, a=ru-Dostoevsky.ogg, links=yes; 11 November 18219 ...
who called it Maykov's masterpiece. "I've heard it on many occasions in different houses but still am never tired of hearing it each time discovering in it something new. Everybody's enraptured," he wrote.
[Literaturnoye Nasledstvo (Literary Inheritance). Book 86, Moscow, 1973, p.130]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wanderer, The
1867 poems
Russian poems
Works by Apollon Maykov
Works originally published in The Russian Messenger