Vasily Petrovich Avenarius (russian: Василий Петрович Авенариус, born ''Wilhelm Heinrich Appolonius Avenarius'' 10 October 1839 - 9 November 1923) was a Russian writer and memoirist.
Born in
Tsarskoye Selo
Tsarskoye Selo ( rus, Ца́рское Село́, p=ˈtsarskəɪ sʲɪˈlo, a=Ru_Tsarskoye_Selo.ogg, "Tsar's Village") was the town containing a former residence of the Russian imperial family and visiting nobility, located south from the cen ...
to a
Lutheran
Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...
pastor
A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...
, he graduated from the
Saint Petersburg University
Saint Petersburg State University (SPBU; russian: Санкт-Петербургский государственный университет) is a public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Founded in 1724 by a decree of Peter the G ...
to join first the Russian Interior Ministry and later the
Office of the Institutions of Empress Maria
The Office of the Institutions of Empress Maria (russian: Ведомство учреждений императрицы Марии) was the name of the Imperial government office of charity in Imperial Russia, and the 4th branch of His Imperial ...
. His first two novels, the anti-nihilist ''The Modern Idyll'' (Современная идиллия, 1865), and ''The Passing Craze'' (Поветрие, 1867), were deemed and 'reactionary' by the influential democratic press. Shocked by the almost unanimous negative response, Avenarius turned away from political issues and from then on have been publishing only books for children, as well as biographies (also adapted for the young readership), notably of
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, ...
and
Gogol
Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol; uk, link=no, Мико́ла Васи́льович Го́голь, translit=Mykola Vasyliovych Hohol; (russian: Яновский; uk, Яновський, translit=Yanovskyi) ( – ) was a Russian novelist, ...
. Several of his books (including ''The Book of the Kiev Bogatyrs'', 1875, ''The Tale of a Bumble-Bee'', 1879, ''What the Room Tells'', 1880, and ''Fairytales for Children'', 1885), enjoyed steady success and numerous re-issues. Avenarius also published several historical novels and, later in his life, memoirs ("Bits of Memories from Childhood", "Before Dawn", "For Thirty Years"). He died in
Petrograd
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 ...
in 1923 and is interred in the
Smolensky Lutheran Cemetery
The Smolenskoye Cemetery (in German ''Smolensker Friedhof'') is a Lutheran cemetery on Dekabristov Island in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is one of the largest and oldest non-orthodox cemeteries in the city. Until the early 20th century it was one ...
.
Biography
at the 1962 Brief Literary enc. // Краткая литературная энциклопедия в 9-ти томах. Государственное научное издательство "Советская энциклопедия", т.1, М., 1962.
References
External links
The Works by Vasily Avenarius
at the Lib.ru
Lib.ru, also known as Maksim Moshkow's Library (russian: link=no, библиотека Максима Мошкова, started to operate in November 1994) is the oldest electronic library in the Russian Internet segment.
Founded and supported ...
, the on-line Moshkov Library (Russian)
19th-century writers from the Russian Empire
Writers from Saint Petersburg
Russian children's writers
Russian historical novelists
Burials at Smolensky Lutheran Cemetery
1839 births
1923 deaths
Privy Councillor (Russian Empire)
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