''Tambov Treasurer's Wife'' (Tambovskaya kaznacheysha, Тамбо′вская казначе′йша) is a poem by

Mikhail Lermontov Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov ( , ; rus, Михаи́л Ю́рьевич Ле́рмонтов, , mʲɪxɐˈil ˈjʉrʲjɪvʲɪtɕ ˈlʲerməntəf, links=yes; – ) was a Russian Romanticism, Romantic writer, poet and painter, sometimes called ...

, written and published by ''

Sovremennik ''Sovremennik'' ( rus, «Современник», p=səvrʲɪˈmʲenʲːɪk, a=Ru-современник.ogg, "The Contemporary") was a Russian literary, social and political magazine, published in Saint Petersburg in 1836–1866. It came out f ...

'' in

1838 Events January–March * January 10 – A fire destroys Lloyd's Coffee House and the Royal Exchange in London. * January 11 – At Morristown, New Jersey, Samuel Morse, Alfred Vail and Leonard Gale give the first public demonstration ...

.Commentaries to Tambov Treasurer's Wife. The Works of M.Yu.Lermontov in 4 volumes. Khudozhestvennaya Literatura Publishers. Moscow, 1958. Vol. 2. Pp. 495-497.

Summary

A visiting

uhlan Uhlan (; ; ; ; ) is a type of light cavalry, primarily armed with a lance. The uhlans started as Grand Ducal Lithuanian Army, Lithuanian irregular cavalry, that were later also adopted by other countries during the 18th century, including Polis ...

falls in love with the 18-year-old wife of the old

Tambov Tambov ( , ; rus, Тамбов, p=tɐmˈbof) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Tambov Oblast, Central Federal District, central Russia, at the confluence of the Tsna River (Moksha basin), Tsna ...

treasurer A treasurer is a person responsible for the financial operations of a government, business, or other organization. Government The treasury of a country is the department responsible for the country's economy, finance and revenue. The treasure ...

and, after several attempts to woo her, 'wins' her from her husband in the game of cards.

History

On February 15, 1838, Lermontov informed M.A.Lopukhina (writing in French): "I've been to Zhukovsky and, following his request, brought him ''Tambov Teasurer's Wife''. He took it to Vyazemsky, they read it together and liked it a lot. It will be printed in the next ''Sovremennik'' issue." Since Lermontov speaks of the poem as if it had already been read by Lopukhina, it must have been finished by mid-January, when he left

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

. The poem (signed "-v") was published in No.3 issue of ''Sovremennik'', with both editorial (by Zhukovsky) and censorial cuts. The title was curtailed to just ''Kaznatcheysha'' (A Treasurer's Wife). The manuscript of the poem has been lost. None of the omitted lines has been restored since. The way the poem was treated outraged Lermontov. Ivan Panayev remembered: "...I found Lermontov at Krayevsky's greatly agitated. He ermontovheld a thin pink book of ''Sovremennik'' in his hands showing the intention to tear it apart, but Krayevsky wouldn't let him. "It's Devil knows what! - Lermontov was shouting, shaking the journal. - Is it permissible at all to do such things? That's unbelievable!" Then he sat at the table, took a large red pencil and on the sleeve of the journal where his Treasurer's Wife was published, drew some sort of caricature."Panayev, I.I., Literature Memoirs. Goslitizdat, Leningrad, 1950, p.135

References

{{Mikhail Lermontov 1838 poems Poetry by Mikhail Lermontov