Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich

In Pushkin's time, children were taught to dance from a very young age, with great responsibility they prepared for a culture of communication at balls, because there was a center of social life.

Pushkin's parents took him and his sister to dance lessons with Trubetskoy, Buturlin and Sushkov, and on Thursdays - to children's balls with dance master P.A. Yogel.

1811

Moving to St. Petersburg

In the summer of 1811, Alexander Pushkin, at the age of 12, with his uncle Vasily Lvovich Pushkin, first went from Moscow to St. Petersburg to enter a new educational institution - the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum. Thanks to the existing connections, Pushkin was ensured inclusion in the list of candidates.

When Vasily Lvovich Pushkin, together with his nephew Alexander, entered St. Petersburg along the Tsarskoye Selo tract, it was extremely hot, sunny weather... In anticipation of the entrance exams at the Lyceum, which were scheduled for August, Vasily Lvovich showed his nephew the city. We walked along the embankments, entered the Summer Garden - a favorite place for walks and entertainment of the capital's public.

On the eve of admission to the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, Pushkin spent a couple of months in the house of the merchant Kuvshinnikov (modern address - nab. Moika River, 13), where his uncle, V. L. Pushkin, lived.

Admission to the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum and acquaintance with Ivan Pushchin

Main article: Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum

In August 1811, a medical examination was held in the house of the Minister of Education A.K. Razumovsky and entrance exams began. Minister A.K. Razumovsky himself, director of the department of the ministry I.I. Martynov and director of the Lyceum V.F. Malinovsky were appointed members of the selection committee. Alexander Pushkin was examined on August 12, he received grades: "In grammatical knowledge of languages: Russian -" very good, "French -" good, "German -" did not study. " In arithmetic - "knows to the triple rule," in knowledge of the general properties of bodies - "good," in the initial foundations of geography - "has information."

I. I. Pushchin recalled how their first meeting with Pushkin took place in the reception of Minister A.K. Razumovsky during the entrance tests: "We... remained in the hall, which almost everything was filled with our future classmates with their escorts who had come again... Some official entered with paper in his hand and began to shout out by last names. - I hear: Al. Pushkin! - the live boy is curly, fast-eyed, also somewhat confused. By the similarity of surnames or by what else, unconsciously bringing him closer, only I noticed him at first sight... I don't remember who, just about V. L. Pushkin, who brought Alexander, called me and introduced me to his nephew. I learned from him that he lives with his uncle on the Moika, not far from us. We laid down to see each other a lot... Since then, our friendship has been established and gradually grew, based on a feeling of some kind of unaccountable sympathy. "

The Pushchins' house (Moika embankment, 14) was not far from the Demuta hotel in which the Pushkins stayed (Moika embankment, 40), and very close to the Summer Garden.

The list of pupils of the Lyceum, which included 30 young men, was highly approved by Emperor Alexander I.

1817

Love message to Karamzin's wife

Pushkin in childhood in the house of his parents more than once met Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin. Sergei Lvovich later recalled how during one of Karamzin's visits, young Pushkin "listened to his conversations and kept his eyes on him."

Pushkin's acquaintance with Karamzin resumed in 1816, after March 25, when Karamzin with S.L. and V.L. Pushkin, A.I. Turgenev, V.A. Zhukovsky and P.A. Vyazemsky visited the Lyceum. Pushkin's close communication with the Karamzin family took place in the summer of 1816, when Nikolai Mikhailovich lived in Tsarskoye Selo and worked on preparing for the publication of the "History of the Russian State." "Heartfelt commitment" is how the poet later defined his feelings for Karamzin during those meetings.

In the spring of 1817, Vasily Lvovich, notifying his nephew about the imminent arrival of Karamzin, advised him: "Love him, obey and read. The advice of such a person will serve your good and may be beneficial to our literature. " In May, the historiographer attended the final lyceum exam in general history; the statement on the state of the Lyceum also records that on Pushkin's birthday, May 26, 1817, guests visited him, among whom was Nikolai Mikhailovich.

In May - June 1817, young Pushkin wrote a love message to the historian's wife Ekaterina Andreevna Karamzina. According to P. I. Bartenev, "Ekaterina Andreevna, of course, showed him to her husband. Both laughed and, calling Pushkin, began to make serious instructions to him. All this was so funny and gave Pushkin such a convenient opportunity to get to know the Karamzins closer that since then he has fallen in love with them, and they have become close. "

Immediately after graduating from the Lyceum, Pushkin left Tsarskoye Selo, and his meetings with the historiographer resumed after the Karamzins moved to St. Petersburg, from September 16, 1817, the poet constantly visited their St. Petersburg apartment.

At the beginning of 1818, Pushkin fell seriously ill. Recovering, he "in bed, with greed and attention" read the published eight volumes of "History of the Russian State." However, Pushkin's rather caustic epigram on Karamzin and his work may have caused the cooling of their relationship:

In his "History," gracefulness, simplicity They prove to us without any addiction The need for self-power And the delights of the whip.

Despite the discrepancy, Karamzin "out of pity for talent and youth" took an active part in mitigating the fate of Pushkin, who in 1820 was threatened with exile in Solovki or Siberia.

Later A.S. Pushkin recognized the enormous importance of the "History of the Russian State." He wrote: "In our country, no one is able to explore the huge creation of Karamzin - but no one said thanks to the man who retired to the scientific office during the most flattering successes and devoted as much as 12 years of his life to silent and tireless work. The notes of "Russian History" testify to Karamzin's extensive scholarship, acquired by him already in those years when for ordinary people the circle of education and knowledge has long been over and the troubles of service replace efforts to enlighten.... I repeat that "The History of the Russian State" is not only the creation of a great writer, but also the feat of an honest person. "

Graduate of the Lyceum in Academic Performance 24th out of 29 graduates

In 1817, Alexander Pushkin graduated from the Lyceum. He was 24th out of 29 graduates in academic performance.

Many years after Pushkin's death, his lithographed portrait in a lyceum uniform was discovered, which was attached to the publication "In memory of the fiftieth anniversary of the death of A.S. Pushkin. January 29, 1887. "

The preface gave a certificate of the Pushkin portrait: "This portrait, until now almost completely unknown, was made before Pushkin left the Lyceum and originally belonged to the former director of the Lyceum E.A. Engelhardt. After the death of Engelhardt, he went to Pushkin's friend and friend F.F. Matyushkin and they were presented to Ekaterina Dmitrievna Kulomzina (nee Zamyatina), who still has him. Thanks to her obligatory consent, N.I. Kondoyanaki took a picture from the portrait through photography and thus it is now made a common property. "

The location of the original portrait remains unknown.

Unknown artist. A.S. Pushkin in a lyceum uniform. Paper; the lithography is tinted. 1887

Pushkin was sent to the College of Foreign Affairs - chinovnikom of the X class. But there he was only listed: the civil service attracted little to the young man. After six years of study, Pushkin plunged headlong into the social life of the capital and, as a famous and honored author, fell into the society of St. Petersburg writers. While still at the Lyceum, he became a member of the literary circle "Arzamas," which struggled with archaic linguistic traditions.

1819: Joining the Green Lamp Society under the dekabristskom Welfare Union

In 1819, Pushkin joined the Green Lamp literary and theater society under the dekabristskom Union of Welfare. Its participants promoted freedom-loving ideas. At meetings they read poetry, discussed theatrical premieres, criticized journalistic articles. Here there were not only secular disputes, but also political conversations. All this was reflected in Pushkin's work: he wrote several epigrams on statesmen of that time, ode to "Volnost", poems" To the Chaadayevu" and ". Derevnya"

1820

Notes "My comments about the Russian theater"

Pushkin joined the theater as a child: early finding a "hunt for reading," in the home library he got acquainted with the plays of Moliere, Cornel, Racine, Voltaire. Father and uncle were lovers of theater, amateur performances were often held in their parents' house. Interest in the theater grew and grew during the years of study at the Lyceum. Already at the age of 16, Pushkin wrote an essay "My Thoughts about Shakhovsky," in which he gave a negative characterization of the literary work of the playwright and theater director Alexander Shakhovsky.

Even in the youthful notes "My Comments on the Russian Theater" (1820), yesterday's lyceum student, who actively entered the environment of playwrights and stage figures, gave a detailed panorama of dramatic talents, analyzed their art from the point of view of prospects and national originality. Pushkin thoroughly studied almost all genres of theater - drama, ballet, opera - and derived patterns.

The end of the poem "Ruslan and Lyudmila" and departure into exile in the South

Pushkin's sharp political works angered Alexander I, and the emperor decided to exiled the poet to Siberia or the Solovetsky monastyr. However, Nikolai Karamzin stood up for him: in the service of Pushkin, he was transferred from the capital to the South.

Before leaving, in 1820, Alexander Pushkin completed the poem "Ruslan and. Lyudmila" Vasily Zhukovsky praised this work very highly and presented the poet with his portrait with the signature "To the winner, a student from a defeated teacher."

Trip to the Caucasus and Crimea with the family of General N.N. Rayevsky

Pushkin was allowed to travel to the Caucasus and with the Crimea family of General N.N. Rayevsky. With his son Nikolai Pushkin made friends while studying at. Tsarskoye Selo

In Crimea, with the Raevsky, Pushkin visited Kerch, Feodosia, Gurzuf, Simferopol, Balaklava and the ruins of the St. George Monastery.

The image of Crimea was part of Pushkin's dream of happiness. He once wrote: "Amid my grim regrets, I am seduced and enlivened by the mere thought that someday I will have a piece of land in the Crimea."

Visit to Gurzuf

After a two-month trip to the Caucasus in mid-August 1820, travelers ended up in the Crimea.

Tavrida at the beginning of the 19th century is a land that few people saw, but knew about it from ancient authors. Until the 1830s, there were no guidebooks, and travelers went to Taurida, armed with the ancient "Geography" of Strabo or the extensive work of P.S. Pallas from the time of Catherine II. It was a place covered with legends.

Pushkin's trip began in August 1820, when he and the family of General N.N. Rayevsky crossed from Taman to Kerch. The next day they arrived in Feodosia, from there on a military brig - in Gurzuf.

The Crimean shores seen from the sea had such an indelible impression on Pushkin that the first Crimean elegy "The Day Shining Went Out" came out from under the pen. The inspiration that left the poet more than four months ago returned again:

During this trip, Alexander Sergeevich wrote a number of lyric poems.

For three weeks in late August - early September 1820, Pushkin and Raevsky lived in Gurzuf. According to the poet, these were one of the happiest days in his life. "In Gurzuf," Pushkin noted, "I lived sitting, swimming in the sea and eating grapes... I loved, when I woke up at night, listening to the noise of the sea - and I heard whole hours. " Here the poet worked on the poem "Prisoner of the Caucasus." There he was also visited by the idea of ​ ​ creating poems "Eugene Onegin" and "Bakhchisarai Fountain."

Directions through Bakhchisaray

In the fall of 1820, the Raevsky family and A.S. Pushkin reached from Gurzuf to Bakhchisaray.

"I came to Bakhchisarai quite sick. I heard before about the strange monument of a khan in love. K * * poetically described it to me, calling it la fontaine des larmes ("Fountain of Tears"). I got into the palace, I saw a spoiled fountain, water dripped dropwise from a rusted pipe. I walked around the palace with great annoyance at the carelessness in which it bleeds, and at the semi-European alterations of some rooms. N.N. almost forcibly led me up a dilapidated staircase into the ruins of the harem and into the Khan's cemetery... Rastolkui to me now, why do the midday coast and Bakhchisarai have an inexplicable charm for me? Why is there such a strong desire in me to revisit the places left by me with such indifference? or memory is the strongest ability of our soul, and they are fascinated by everything that is subject to it? " (from a letter from A.S. Pushkin to A. Delvig).

Arrival in exile in Chisinau

Pushkin, sent into exile on September 21, 1820, arrived in Chisinau. For Pushkin's work, this was a period of romanticism.

Poem "Black Shawl"

A month after arriving in Chisinau, in October 1820, a draft version of a new, chronologically second Chisinau poem appeared - "Black Shawl." On November 14, 1820, Pushkin wrote the final white autograph with the title "Moldavian Song" (it was found and published more than a hundred years later, in 1936). The poem in the memoirs of the hero told about the hot passionate love and insidious betrayal of his beloved Greek woman with a separated Armenian.

Black Shawl (Moldavian song)

I look like a mad one at a black shawl,

And the cold soul is tormented by sadness.

When I was gullible and young,

I passionately loved the younger Greek woman;

The lovely maiden caressed me,

But soon I lived to see a black day.

One day I called in cheerful guests;

A despicable Jew knocked on me.

"Friends feast with you (he whispered);

Well, your Greek changed you. "

I gave him zlata and cursed him,

And the faithful was called by my slave.

We came out; I raced on a fast horse;

And meek pity was silent in me.

As soon as I envied the Greek woman's threshold,

My eyes have darkened, I am all exhausted...

I am alone in the rest of the distant...

The unfaithful maiden was lobzal by an Armenian.

I did not raise the light; bulat thundered...

The villain did not have time to interrupt the kiss.

Headless body I stomped for a long time

And silently on the maiden, pale, looked.

I remember the prayers... flowing blood...

A Greek woman died, love died.

Having removed the black shawl from its head dead,

Other I silently blood steel.

My slave, as the evening haze came,

Bodies threw them into the Danube waves.

Not a kiss of lovely eyes since then,

I haven't known the fun nights since.

I look like crazy on the black shawl,

And the cold soul is tormented by sadness.

Pushkin's "Black Shawl" is also a romantic work. At the same time, realistic trends have already been outlined in it, Belinsky defined it as transitional. The poet addresses strong feelings, exotic nationalities (Moldova was considered something far from secular official St. Petersburg with its balls, theaters, literary circles and all the attribute of the capital's pastime), to folk simple characters full of wild power, passions and energy. According to V. P. Gorchakov, "Black Shawl" is "a dramatic song, an expression of the most sultry passion."

And at the same time, in the Pushkin lines there is a dramatic picture of the collision of quite realistic human characters presented in development, in dynamics; so the main lyrical character appears in the created 32 lines to those living a life - from a hot young man to a wise old man.

Literary critic M.V. Stroganov is of the opinion that this poem was a response to the ballads of Zhukovsky. However, there are other assumptions that completely reject this opinion.

In 1823, the poem was set to music by composer Alexei Verstovsky. This is the first widely known romance based on Pushkin's poems. His first performer is Moscow opera singer Pyotr Bulakhov, father of composers Pyotr Bulakhov and Pavel Bulakhov.

Visit from Chisinau to the Davydov estate in Kamenka

On November 18, 1820, Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin arrived from Chisinau to Kamenka, the Davydov estate in the Chigirinsky district of the Kyiv province. The owner of the estate, Ekaterina Nikolaevna Davydova, nee Countess Samoilova, gathered a large family, numerous friends and acquaintances. On the day of her name day on November 24, 1820, one of the meetings of members of the secret society was timed, which brought together the Davydov brothers, M.F. Orlov, K.A. Okhotnikov and I.D. Yakushkin, N.N. Rayevsky Sr.. and A.N. Rayevsky.

I.D. Yakushkin later recalled: "Having arrived in Kamenka, I believed that I did not know anyone there, and was pleasantly surprised when A.S. Pushkin, who happened here, ran out to me with open arms.... Every day we dined downstairs at the mother's old lady. After lunch, they gathered in a huge living room, where everyone could with whom and what he wanted to talk about.... We spent all evenings at half of Vasily Lvovich, and evening conversations for all of us were very entertaining. "

About the poet, Yakushkin said that "in the hostel, Pushkin was extremely awkward and, with his irritability, was easily offended by some word in which there was absolutely nothing offensive for him. Sometimes he writhed the reckless, probably remembering Kaverin and his other hussar friends in Tsarskoye Selo; at the same time he told the most desperate jokes to himself, and everything together came out somehow very much. But there was a conversation about something delicate, Pushkin immediately enlightened. He judged the works of literature correctly and with a special dignity. Not to mention almost never his own works, he liked to analyze the works of modern poets and not only gave justice to each of them, but also knew how to find beauty in each of them, which others did not notice. "

Pushkin himself, in a letter to N.I. Gnedich, described life in Kamenka as follows:... " now I am in the Kyiv province, in the village of Davydov, cute and smart hermits, brothers of General Rayevsky. My time flows between aristocratic dinners and demagogic disputes. Our society, now absent-minded, was a recently diverse and cheerful mixture of the minds of the original, people known in our Russia, curious for an unfamiliar observer. - There are few women, a lot of champagne, a lot of sharp words, a lot of books, a little poetry. "

In Kamenka, Pushkin wrote poems "The flying ridge is thinning clouds," "Nereida," "I survived my desires," completed the correspondence of the white text of the poem "Prisoner of the Caucasus," putting a litter under the text: "February 23. 1821. Kamenka. "

1823

Pushkin is the first professional writer in Russia to earn literary work

A.S. Pushkin played a significant role in the history of the formation of the institute of copyright in Russia. At the beginning of the 19th century, only fairly wealthy people were engaged in writing, who combined literary work with state or military service. Most of them could not have imagined that the creation of works of literature could become the main source of income.

After the publication of the poems "Ruslan and Lyudmila," "Prisoner of the Caucasus" and "Bakhchisarai Fountain," having received a fee for them, Pushkin became the first professional writer in Russia to earn literary work. From that moment on, the status of the author was gradually manifested, and in legislative documents, primarily censorship charters, his rights were established, which at first were rather vague and significantly inferior to the rights of publishers.

Pushkin has repeatedly become a victim of copyright imperfection in Russia. In 1823, in St. Petersburg, the Caucasian Prisoner published a separate publication with a parallel Russian-German translation. Pushkin did not receive a penny, and all because of the fraud of a certain Eustathius Oldekop, who took advantage of the copyright loophole: translations were allowed to be printed without the permission of the author, and whether the original text was attached or not did not matter. The publication was a great success and quickly sold out. Dissatisfied Pushkin filed a complaint with the Censorship Committee, which only temporarily suspended the sale of the circulation.

Acquaintance with Elizabeth Vorontsova

Vorontsova Elizaveta Ksaverievna, nee Branitskaya, wife of the count, later prince (1844) M.S. Vorontsov, state lady (1838). The wedding of Eliza Branitskaya and Count Vorontsov took place in Paris in 1819. A.S. Pushkin met Vorontsova in Odessa at the end of 1823. The poet was deeply passionate about Vorontsova, dedicated a number of poems to her. In the manuscripts of A.S. Pushkin, more than 30 drawings with her image have been preserved.

1824: Moving from Odessa to exile in Mikhailovskoye

From August 1824 to September 1826, Pushkin was in exile in the village of Mikhailovskoye.

On August 9, 1824, Pushkin came from Odessa to Opochka, a town in the Pskov province, and from here he went to Mikhailovskoye on his horses with a coucher Peter.

Pushkin in Mikhailovsky is two years of the life of a poet who ended up in his mother's family estate not of his own free will. This is a link with a ban on leaving anywhere, a link that limited the circle of communication to the cute inhabitants of the neighboring Trigorskoye estate and rare visits of former classmates - I. Pushchin, A. Delvig, A. Gorchakov.

Stories of fairy tales from Tatiana's nanny

In mid-November 1824, he wrote to his brother:... "Do you know my studies? Before lunch I write notes, I dine late; after lunch I ride, in the evening I listen to fairy tales - and reward the shortcomings of my damned upbringing. What a beauty these tales are! Each one is a poem! "

A little later, Pushkin wrote to his Odessa friend D.M. Schwartz: "For four months now, as I am in a remote village, it is boring, but there is nothing to do... My solitude is absolutely - idleness is solemn. There are few neighbors near me, I am familiar with only one family, and then I see it quite rarely - all day on horseback - in the evening I listen to the tales of my nanny, the original nanny Tatiana... she is my only friend - and with her only I am not bored. "

According to Arina Rodionovna, Pushkin wrote down fairy tales in his workbook. Of the seven entries, Pushkin used four himself when he composed The Tale of Tsar Saltan, The Tale of the Dead Princess, The Tale of the Priest and His Worker Balda and the famous prologue to Ruslan and Lyudmila, and gave one plot to his friend Vasily Zhukovsky, who based it on wrote The Tale of Tsar Berendey.

35 years later, Mikhailovskoye was visited by Pushkin's admirer K. A. Timofeev, who made inquiries in advance, "is there any of the courtyards in the estate who would remember Pushkin. It turned out that another old man Peter was alive, who served as a coucher with Alexander Sergeevich. They found Peter. He is an old man in his 60s, still cheerful, speaks well, sensibly and, as you can see, very much understands what kind of general his master was. "

The stories of the coachman Peter Parfenov, thoroughly recorded by K. A. Timofeev, give a lively idea of ​ ​ the popular perception of the "good master" and convey the traditions and legends that exist about him.

Let's give a small fragment:

"Did he miss living here?

"Yes, I was bored; you can't understand him, however, he was wise here, sometimes he won't say what, he walked so wonderfully: a red shirt on it, a garter with a sash, wide pants, a white hat on his head: he didn't cut his hair, he didn't cut his nails, he didn't shave his beards - he would cut his head, and he walks. He always has an iron stick in his hands, nine pieces of weight; will go into the fields, throws the stick up, catches it on the fly, like a tambourmajor. And not then he roasts at home from pistols in the morning, in the cellar, here behind the bathhouse, but once a hundred years old and blurts out in the morning.

• Well, it was heard to you, for what it was demanded in Mikhailovskoye?

• Yes, they said that, they say, Alexander Sergeevich was a voster to his words, he did not like to give a descent. Yes, he did not give himself away here either. The fair here in the monastery happens on the ninth Friday in front of Petrovki; well, the people are going a lot; and he walked there, as it is, it happened, like at home: a red shirt, not a Brit, not cut, wonderfully so, an iron stick in his hands; will come to the people, there is a celebration, and he will sit down on the ground, gather beggars, blind people, they sing songs to him, say poems. So it was once, even to the beginning, the police captain arrived there at the fair: he walks, looks at what kind of person is wonderful in a red shirt with beggars. Sends the headman to ask: who, they say, is? And Alexander Sergeevich also looks at him, evil is so, and he says soon (he always said rudely): "Tell the police captain that he is not afraid of me, and I am not afraid of him, and if he needs to know me, so I am Pushkin." The captain took nothing, and with that he left, and Alexander Sergeevich threw the white to the blind men and also went home. "

"Boris Godunov" and the central chapters of "Evgeny Onegin"

The link in Mikhailovsky is a time when Pushkin's poetic gift matured and his historical interests took shape. In Mikhailovsky A.S. Pushkin created about a hundred works:

• tragedy "Boris Godunov,"
• the central chapters of the novel "Eugene Onegin,"
• poem "Count Nulin,"
• conceived "Little Tragedies."

Having got acquainted with the tragedy "Boris Godunov," P.A. Vyazemsky wrote:... "Pushkin's mind turned around seriously, his thoughts matured, his soul became clear, he ascended to a height in this creation that he had not yet reached."

1826

Poem "The Prophet"

Pushkin wrote the poem "The Prophet" in 1826. The first publication took place in the Moscow Herald for 1828. The work immediately won reader's love, and the expression "the verb of the heart of people" became winged.

Prophet

Presumably, the Prophet was part of a series of four poems under the title of the same name. According to M.P. Pogodin, "there should be four poems, the first is only printed (by spiritual thirst, etc.)." The other three poems did not reach us. There is no draft of the work (there is only a version of the first line: "The Great Sorrow Tomim").

Visit to Zinaida Volkonskaya's salon in Moscow

On December 26, 1826, Pushkin was at a farewell evening with Zinaida Volkonskaya in Moscow, arranged in honor of her daughter-in-law M.N. Volkonskaya, the 20-year-old wife of the Decembrist S.G. Volkonsky, who was leaving for Siberia. Then the poet read a poetic message to the exiled Decembrists "In the depths of Siberian ores."

The salon was located on Tverskaya Street, in a house built at the end of the 18th century by the architect M.F. Kazakov and who survived the fire of 1812. With the arrival of Princess Volkonskaya in 1824, the house became the center of the cultural life of the Moscow society of the golden age of Russian literature. The owner of the salon - Zinaida Volkonskaya, being one of the most educated women in Russia, wrote poetry and prose, composed music, had a rare beauty opera voice.

After the Decembrist uprising, Volkonskaya's salon came under police supervision. Many of the regular guests left Moscow or even Russia, like Mickiewicz. The owner of the salon herself converted to Catholicism and soon in 1829 left for Italy, where she lived in Rome, in a villa she bought. She was buried in Rome in the church of St. Vincent and Anastasia on Trevi Square.

1827

Ekaterina Ushakova is in love with Pushkin

"Ekaterina Nikolaevna Ushakova was in the full sense a beauty: a blonde with ashy hair, dark blue eyes, medium height, thick braids hung to her knees, her expression is very smart. She loved to do literature. She had many suitors; but after her youth, she was in no hurry to marry. " (P.I. Bartenev)

Ekaterina Ushakova at a ball in the Noble Assembly (1826) Pushkin was presented by a distant relative of the Ushakovs, a young man Sergei Sanych Sobolevsky. Soon he brought the poet to the Ushakov's house on Srednaya Presnya. For four years, before the engagement with Goncharova, the Ushakov family became for the poet one of the closest in Moscow.

Ekaterina Ushakova really loved Pushkin strongly, deeply, her feelings for the poet were the most serious. And she was a great joy for the poet. In the Ushakov's house "everything breathed Pushkin": there were all editions of his works, notes of romances on his words, girl albums (Catherine and her sister Elizabeth), completely open to Pushkin, filled with his drawings and poems. ... And lines of careless spelling I am humbled in your album.

Catherine did not think of life without Pushkin. He seemed to be in a similar love agitation. Leaving Moscow on May 16, 1827, Pushkin recorded her in an album:

Away From You I will be inseparable with you, Languid lips and languid eyes I will be diluted with memory; Worn out in silence, I don't want to be comforted, - Well, you sigh about me, If I'm hanged?

She, in turn, wrote to her brother Ivan: "Hello, dear brother... As for me, I miss to death.

She disappeared, life sweetness, I knew everything, I knew joy.

He went to Petersburg, maybe he will forget me; but no, no, we will cherish hope, he will return, he will return unconditionally! I bet: reading these lines, you think that your dear sister has lost her mind; there is some truth in this, but you bother: this is not for long, everything passes over time, and separation is the strongest cure for evil caused by love, "May 26, 1827

In the same letter, sister Elizaveta Nikolaevna Ushakova: "Upon arrival, I found a big change in Catherine; she speaks of nothing else as soon as Pushkin and his illustrious writings. She knows them all by heart. Straight completely stupid; I don't know where this change comes from. The moment I write to you, she reads aloud "The Prisoner of the Caucasus..." "

Delvig organizes the creation of a portrait of Pushkin by Kiprensky

One of the peaks of the work of the outstanding artist Orest Adamovich Kiprensky is rightfully considered a portrait of A.S. Pushkin in 1827.

Lyceum comrade and close friend of the poet A.A. Delvig (1798-1831) initiated the creation of this picturesque masterpiece. The artist at that time worked in a workshop arranged in the outbuilding of the palace of D.N. Sheremetyev (modern address: nab. Fontanka River, 34). From the end of May to the beginning of July 1827, sessions were held, during which Pushkin posed for Kiprensky, and at the end of the work he composed a poetic message:

Portrait of A.S. Pushkin Orest Kiprensky, 1827 Tretyakov Gallery

Both the artist and the poet apparently held this portrait in high esteem. Kiprensky exhibited it at the annual autumn exhibition at the Academy of Arts, and in 1831 Pushkin bought his portrait from the widow of Delvig. After the death of Pushkin himself, he was kept in the family, and in 1916 he was acquired by the Tretyakov Galleries, where he remains to this day.

Great popularity of this image was ensured by the engraving on copper performed by N.I. Utkin (1780-1863) in the same year, 1827. This was the first repetition of the picturesque original, but far from the last. Even during the poet's life, several works in various printed techniques were performed according to the original Kiprensky.

On January 21, 1830, a note appeared in Literaturnaya Gazeta: "Recently printed in the lithography of Gelbach, one of the best existing in St. Petersburg, three drawings made from Kiprensky's paintings, under the supervision of Sandomuri, long known to the public for his beautiful works on stone, by his students: Zhitnev and Deserted [...] The third drawing is also no less entertaining in its subject. This is a portrait of our poet Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin, made from a very good original belonging to Baron Delvig. Both this and the other two drawings are beautifully drawn and honor the workshop of Sandomuri... "

Alexander Ivanovich Sandomuri (1795-1833) headed a group of young pensioners of the Society for the Encouragement of Artists (A. Bezlyudny, L. Belousov, E. Zhitnev). In the workshop of A. Gelbach, he led the work on the translation of the picturesque originals of O.A. Kiprensky in lithography. It is interesting to note that Andrei Semenovich Bezlyudny (1800s - 1838) was a serf of the very Count D.N. Sheremetyev, in the palace of which Kiprensky's workshop was once located.

The collection of the All-Russian Museum of A.S. Pushkin contains several copies of the lithography completed by Deslyudny in 1830 with a portrait of Pushkin. Of particular importance is the sheet received from Boris Mikhailovich Vrevsky - the great-grandson of E.N. Vrevskaya (nee Wolf, 1809-1883), the famous Trigorsky neighbor of Pushkin. According to the recollections of the descendant, the lithographed portrait was considered the most valuable heirloom.

Kiprensky's painting served as the original for a huge number of Pushkin portraits: in his iconography there is a separate concept - "Kiprensky type." In addition to the external similarities noted by many contemporaries, the artist managed the main thing - to convey to the viewer the harmonious and completed image of the poet.

Love for Anna Olenina

Anna Olenina described the impression of meeting the poet after a long break as the daughter of the director of the Imperial Public Library, President of the Academy of Arts Aleksei Nikolaevich Olenin: "God, giving him the only genius, did not reward him with an attractive appearance. His face was expressive, of course, but some malice and derision overshadowed the mind that was visible in the blue, or, better to say, the glass, eyes of him. Yes, and add to that terrible sideburns, disheveled hair, nails, like claws, small height, mannerism in manners, a bold look at the women whom he distinguished with his love... "

Despite such an impartial portrait, the young maiden herself, according to her later recollections, was still in love with Pushkin, her contemporaries testified more than once, children and grandchildren wrote in their memoirs. But parenting did not allow giving free rein to feelings. And Pushkin, meanwhile, has already tried on her name for her last name in drafts - Annete Pouchkine.

1828

Olenina's parents refuse to marry Pushkin with their daughter Anna due to the poet's lack of fortune

In 1828, the poet decided to talk with the parents of Anna Olenina.

Portrait of Anna Olenina, O.A. Kiprensky, 1828

Most Pushkinists, according to indirect testimonies of contemporaries, are nevertheless inclined to the fact that Pushkin did not make an official proposal, but held a preliminary "leading" conversation. But in a suggestive conversation, the question was obvious. And he was refused. The bride was ripe, but all other circumstances were not in favor of the applicant for her hand. For seven years of absence, Pushkin not only became famous and changed, but also A.N. Olenin became another person. Privy Councilor, member of the Council of State, Presiding over the Department of Civil and Spiritual Affairs, he, although he met Pushkin with visible hospitality, but more because Their Majesty was favored by the forgiven poet.

In the spring and early summer of 1828, a trial was held against Pushkin regarding an excerpt from Andrei Chenier with the title "For December 14," which was distributed in the lists. Pushkin had to prove the obvious: the elegy was written six months before the Decembrist uprising and this passage's title was not his. The case was closed on June 28, 1828 by order to establish secret police supervision for Pushkin. Press Secretary of the State Council A.N. Olenin, who signed the protocol, of course, was aware of the matter.

A.N. Olenin, 1820s, Pushkin State Museum. Moscow

The investigation about Gavriiliada, the authorship of which was attributed to Pushkin, began not at all to the place, and A.N. Olenin was among those who examined this case. The investigation, which began in June 1828, was terminated on December 31 of the same year by the resolution of Nicholas I: "I know the case in detail and is completely over." In Pushkin's papers, brief notes were found about his "letter to the Tsar" (October 2) and the arrival of St. Petersburg Governor-General P. A. Tolstoy, who orally transmitted a message to him from the sovereign.

Olenin was reluctant to accept Pushkin as a son-in-law also because of his connection with A.P. Kern. This side of the case could turn, if not into a scandal, then a quiet censure in society. Known in secular circles (and not only in connection with Pushkin) A.P. Kern, nee Poltoratskaya, was brought by her niece to the mistress of the house, Elizabeth Markovna Olenina (nee Poltoratskaya) and her cousin, or cousin, as they said then, Anna Olenina herself. Pushkin saw for the first time, in 1819, his "wonderful moment" at a reception with the Olenins. Anya Poltoratskaya was married at the age of 17 to General Yermolai Kern, whom she not only disliked, but could not bring herself to respect him, she later admitted.

Pushkin in 1825 in Trigorsky (Psk.) Had nothing but permission to write from Anna Kern. He achieved its "favor" at the very beginning of the same 1828: as the researchers neatly write, "the novel resumed and even went beyond the epistolary," which Pushkin hastened to inform his friend S.A. Sobolevsky in February 1828.

According to them, Elizabeth Markovna was more shocked not by Pushkin's connection with her niece, but by the authorship of the Gavriiliada attributed to Pushkin, from which he disowned: he wrote off, they say, young, out of stupidity and basta.

And yet all this was not the main thing, but only a reason. Half a century later, Anna Alekseevna's nephew Olenina tried to reach the truth. "Pushkin proposed to me," Anna Alekseevna recalled. "Why didn't you come out?" - "He was vertoprach, had no position in society and, finally, was not rich" (published by T. G. Tsyavlovskaya).

In 1828, languishing in love and unclear in his position in the house of the Olenins, Pushkin writes a number of poems directly dedicated to his muse Anna Olenina or inspired by her charms. Among them:

• "She is nice - I will say between us"...,
• "You and You" (Annette on one fine evening herself switched from Pushkin to "you," which inspired the poet, but everything turned out to be an accident),
• "Don't sing, beauty, with me...,"
• "Alas! The language of love is chatty..., "
• "Young mare...,"

and, of course, "I loved you..."

Pushkin doomily writes to Vyazemsky (September 1, 1828): "I went into the light because I am homeless." The poet's explanation with Olenin, which dispelled his illusions regarding marriage with Anna, could have taken place in those days. Vyazemsky replied: "Aren't you allowed into Priyutino more...?"

I.A. Ivanov, Priyutino. 1825 The center depicts Aleksei Nikolaevich Olenin, his wife Elizaveta Markovna and their youngest daughter Anna. On the right, the artist showed himself to be at work.

In the shelter of Pushkin, of course, accepted. On September 5, he arrived for a holiday in honor of the name of Elizabeth Markovna. "Saying goodbye, Pushkin told me that he had to go to his estates, if only he got determination," he added with feeling, "Anna wrote down. This was the poet's last visit to the Olenin estate. The doors of their house were still open to him, but the poet could no longer be where he experienced deep disappointment and resentment.

Before leaving for Moscow, Pushkin wrote the poem "The city is magnificent, the city is poor"... in which he expressed regret for separation from St. Petersburg, where Annette, who charmed him, remains:

... Still, I feel sorry for you a little, Because here sometimes Walks a small leg, The curl is golden.

Visiting the estate of Malinniki P.A. Osipova-Wolf in the Tver province

Having said goodbye to Priyutin, in the fall of 1828 Pushkin leaves St. Petersburg. He does not go to "his estates," he did not have them, but to P.A. Osipova-Wolf in the Malinniki estate in Staritsky district, Tver province. Praskovya Aleksandrovna is better known as a Trigorsk (Psk.) Landowner; Malinniki's estate went to her from her first husband N.I. Volf, who died in 1813. In the fall of 1828, she was in Malinniki, which forced Pushkin to stop there for a couple of months.

Praskovya Aleksandrovna was a faithful, constant friend of the poet, knew almost everything about his literary, near-literary and, later, family affairs - therefore, in Malinniki, next to a warm friend surrounded by care, he worked well: "Poltava," 7th chapter of "Eugene Onegin," lyrics.

Pushkin returns to Moscow and upsets Ushakova's wedding to Dolgoruky

In early December 1828, Pushkin arrived in Moscow.

In the Ushakov family, it was long known about the passion of the poet Olenina and the refusal to him in her house. Catherine did not sit completely in the gate, attended secular balls, Moscow living rooms and could not remain unnoticed for a long time. A certain Dolgorukov had the greatest success with her. Soon Ushakova and her new chosen one announced the engagement. The family was preparing for the wedding, but then, like thunder with lightning, Pushkin came to the Ushakov's house... To his question: "What am I left with?" Offended by impermanence, Ushakov's betrayal answered with a stinging pun: "With Deer Horns." Alexander Sergeevich laughed loudly.

Ekaterina Ushakova, late 1820s - early 1830s

Later, Pushkin appeared to the Ushakov extremely concentrated, ceremonially bowed with the hostess and went straight to the office of Nikolai Vasilyevich, the head of the family. The poet also left, saying goodbye dryly. The hostess did not know what to think, so Alexander Sergeevich was not like himself.

And Nikolai Vasilyevich immediately called his eldest daughter to the office and pretended to be the door behind her. After some time, she came out pale, holding her palms to her face.

Here is how V.V. Veresaev explains what happened: "Pushkin collected information about Dolgorukov, which turned out to be very unfavorable for the groom, and informed their father Ushakova. The evidence was so clear that the wedding became upset. Pushkin again became a regular visitor to the Ushakovs. And again - laughter, jokes, cheerful scuffles of each other, playing with a slight hop in love. "

The information confidentially reported by Pushkin to N.V. Ushakov was reliable - there was no reason not to trust Pushkin, a scrupulous person in matters of honor. The engagement was terminated, the gifts to the groom were returned.

Acquaintance with 16-year-old Natalya Goncharova

On the eve of the new 1829, at a ball at the dance master Johann Pushkin for the first time meets the young beauty Natalya Goncharova, sixteen years old, who has just begun to be taken out. "When I saw her for the first time, the beauty of her barely began to be noticed in the light, I fell in love with her, my head became dizzy..."

1829

Refusal to marry Natalya Goncharova and leaving for the Caucasus in the army of Paskevich

The Ushakov House still attracted the poet. "Pushkin happens to them every day," we read in a letter from the poet's acquaintance V. A. Mukhanov to his brother in March 1829.

At the end of April 1829, Pushkin's matchmaker Fyodor Ivanovich Tolstoy-American (the poet's former opponent in a failed duel that could have cut short Pushkin's life as early as 1819) suffers a complete fiasco in the Goncharov's house. Pushkin receives a refusal, another refusal, which leads him to confusion of feelings and thoughts.

"Pushkin was not directly refused; but they responded that we must wait and see that the daughter is still too young and so on., "Recalled the brother of N.N. Goncharova, Sergey Nikolaevich.

Offended, Pushkin in May of the same year breaks down - he leaves for the Caucasus, for Paskevich's army, - makes a "Journey to Arzrum," summing up a kind of result of his former life.

Travel notes were published in 1836 under the title "Journey to Arzrum during the campaign of 1829."

Acquaintance with the prototype of the heroine of "Captain's Daughter" Masha Mironova and the verse about her "Winter Morning"

The poem "Winter Morning" was written by A.S. Pushkin in early November 1829. After recording the third stanza, the poet set the date: "November 3."

From October 13 to early November, Alexander Sergeevich visited Pavel Ivanovich Wulf's Pavlovskoye estate in Tver. The Wulfov raised the daughter of the poor old landowner Borisov, about whom Pushkin wrote: "Marya Vasilievna Borisova has a flower in the desert, a nightingale in forest game, pearl (pearl) in the sea... and I intend to fall in love with her the other day.' "Pushkin, who was here in the fall, very much brought her to fame," A.N. Wolf wrote in his diary. Researchers believe that she became the prototype of the heroine of the "Captain's Daughter" Masha Mironova. Perhaps it is to her that the Pushkin lines that have become textbook are addressed:

1830

Obtaining a document on political security for marriage to Natalya Goncharova

On April 8, 1830, on Easter, Pushkin makes a second offer to Natalya Goncharova, and he is accepted, but with the condition! The future mother-in-law N.I. Goncharova (nee Zagryazhskaya, in her youth - the dazzling beauty of the maid of honor of the court) demanded a written proof of political trustworthiness from the poet... On April 16, the poet was forced to turn to A.H. Behnkendorf. And he provided him with such a "tugament."

On May 6, 1830, Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin was officially declared the groom of Natalya Nikolaevna Goncharova.

On May 26, 1830, Pushkin, as a groom, came to the Linen Factory estate to celebrate his 31st birthday with his new family.

Return to Moscow from Boldino

October 1830 in the creative biography of Pushkin turned out to be one of the brightest. Upon returning to Moscow from Boldino, the poet wrote to P.A. Pletnev: "I will tell you (for the secret) that I wrote in Boldin, as I had not written for a long time. This is what I brought here: the last 2 chapters of Onegin, the 8th and 9th, completely ready for print. A story written in octaves (verses 400), which we will give to Anonyme. Several dramatic scenes, or small tragedies, are: "The Stingy Knight," "Mozart and Salieri," "Feast during the Plague" and "Don Juan." In addition, he wrote about 30 small poems. Good? Not everything (very secret). I wrote 5 stories in prose, from which Baratynsky rushes and fights - and which we will also print Anonyme... "

More than 40 works were written in those autumn days in Boldino.

1831

Marriage to Natalya Goncharova

In February 1831, a week after his wedding to Natalya Goncharova, Pushkin enthusiastically informed his friend Pavel Pletnev: "I am married - and happy; my one desire, so that nothing in my life will change - I will not wait for the best. This condition is so new to me that I seem to have been reborn. "

First meeting with Gogol

Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol from a young age read out the works of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin, was his devoted admirer, so having arrived in St. Petersburg in 1828, he decided to pay a visit to the poet.

The story about this failed visit of Gogol to Pushkin is well known: "Immediately upon arrival in St. Petersburg, Gogol, driven by the need to see Pushkin, who occupied all his imagination while still at school, went straight from home to him.

The closer he approached Pushkin's apartment, the more timidity mastered him and, finally, developed at the very door of the apartment to the point that he ran away to the confectionery and demanded a glass of liquor. Backed by him, he returned to the attack again, boldly called, and to his question: "Is the owner at home?" - the servants heard the answer: "Rest!" It was too late in the yard. Gogol, with great participation, asked: "Right, I worked all night?" - "How, I worked," the servant answered, "I played pictures."

Gogol admitted that this was the first blow dealt to the school idealization of him. He did not otherwise imagine Pushkin until he was constantly surrounded by a cloud of inspiration... "

The first meeting between Gogol and Pushkin, which laid the foundation for personal acquaintance, took place at an evening with Pletnev on May 20, 1831. The authors continued to communicate, and soon their relationship became really friendly.

In the summer of 1831, Gogol "almost every evening" met with Pushkin and Zhukovsky, who lived in Tsarskoye Selo. Later, Nikolai Vasilievich wrote to his friend A. S. Danilevsky: "All summer I lived in Pavlovsk and Tsarskoye Selo. Almost every evening we gathered: Zhukovsky, Pushkin and me. Oh, if you knew how many charms came out of the pen of these husbands. "

Pushkin praised the literary talent of his young colleague. The poet enthusiastically responded to Gogol's book "Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka," published in the fall of 1831: "Here is real fun, sincere, laid-back, without rudeness, without prudence. And in some places what poetry! what a sensitivity! All this is so extraordinary in our current literature that I have not yet come to my senses. "

According to the memoirs of Pavel Nashchokin, Pushkin "joyfully and warmly met all young talent, took Gogol to himself, patronized him, took care of the attention of the public to him, personally bothered to stage The Inspector General, in a word, brought Gogol to people."

Summer and autumn at the dacha in Tsarskoye Selo. "The Tale of Tsar Saltan," "The Tale of Belkin." Pregnancy of Natalia Nikolaevna.

After the wedding with Natalya Nikolaevna, the poet planned to live in Moscow for several months, and then move to St. Petersburg. Earlier, he wrote to his friend P.A. Pletnev that he wanted to remove the "faterka," but in a letter on April 7 (March 26, old style) in 1831, Pushkin explained that he needed a summer cottage in Tsarskoye Selo.

"Summer and autumn in this way I would spend in the solitude of inspiring, near the capital, in a circle of cute memories and similar conveniences." So the poet saw the beginning of his family life - in the place where his lyceum youth passed. Pushkin believed that staying in Tsarskoye Selo would be cheap, while he could see friends every week. Previously, he described his everyday life after the wedding: "I do not like Moscow life. Don't live here as you want - as aunts want. My mother-in-law is the same aunt. " I wanted to be, finally, "without a mother-in-law, without a crew... and without gossip. "

The poet's desire was fulfilled - Pletnev "on the street of Tsarskoye Selo" picked him up the house of Anna Kitaeva, the widow of the court valet. She needed money, so she handed over eight of the eleven rooms to Pushkin. The poet's sister Olga Sergeevna wrote to her husband: "Brother Alexander occupies a lovely summer cottage in Tsarskoye." In this "house," as Pushkin affectionately wrote about the dacha, he and his wife lived for less than five months - from May to October 1831.

As you know, Pushkin failed to "retire inspirationally" - in mid-June, a cholera epidemic began in St. Petersburg, and the courtyard moved to Tsarskoye Selo. Court life boiled over from a series of continuous ceremonies for a variety of reasons. Nadezhda Pushkina for an inexpensive summer cottage life in the country did not materialize: "Cholera pressed us, and in Tsarskoye Selo it turned out to be expensive. I am here without a crew and without a cake, and the money still goes. " The poet, who so strongly wanted to enjoy the calm of Tsarskoye Selo, was forced to confess in a September letter to E.M. Hitrovo: "Tsarskoye Selo can drive crazy, it is much easier to retire in St. Petersburg."

Nevertheless, the summer of 1831 passed fruitfully at Pushkin. He wrote here "Onegin's Letter to Tatyana," "The Tale of Tsar Saltan," prepared for the publication of "Belkin's Tale," worked on the almanac "Northern Flowers" in memory of A.A. Delvig. The poet intended to live in the country until January 1832, however, due to a happy event - Natalia Nikolaevna's pregnancy - he had to return to the city earlier.

The emperor allows Pushkin to work in the archives

In 1831, Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin, in whose work prose began to prevail over poetic genres, turned to the chief of the gendarmes and the head of the III branch A.K. Benckendorf:

"The caring true-fatherly sovereign of the emperor deeply touches me. Showered with the already beneficences of his majesty, I have long been saddened by my inaction. I am always ready to serve him as much as I can.<…> I also dare to ask for permission to engage in historical research in our state archives and libraries.<…> I can eventually fulfill my long-standing desire to write the story of Peter the Great and his heirs before Sovereign Peter III. "

Nicholas I supported the request, and Pushkin was accepted into the service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with the opportunity to work in the archives. The emperor assumed that Pushkin would deal not only with the history of Peter, but also with the "History of the Russian State." Unexpectedly, the poet was interested in the events of the uprising led by Emelyan Pugachev during the time of Catherine III. The greatest interest was caused by the verdict of death of Pugachev and his accomplices and the biography of Mikhail Shvanvich, a nobleman who sided with the rebels.

Having conceived to create a literary work on the topic of the Pugachev uprising, A.S. Pushkin began a thorough study of historical sources. To this end, he wrote out cases from the Moscow branch of the archive of the Inspection Department of Archival Businesses (about the Pugachev uprising and about the military activities of A.V. Suvorov), from the Senate archive ("Pugachev" case), from the Military Collegium ("Pugachev" books and documents on the combat activities of A.V. Suvorov), from the St. Petersburg archive of old affairs and the State Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In addition, Pushkin studied the materials of the collection of N.N. Bantysha-Kamensky and the "Pugachevsky" portfolio of G.-F. Miller. As a result of these surveys, the "History of the Pugachevsky Riot" and the story "Captain's Daughter" were created.

The king's review of the poem "My Family Tree"

November 24, 1831 A.S. Pushkin writes a letter to the chief of the gendarmes, the head of the III branch of His Imperial Majesty's Own Chancellery, Count Alexander Khristoforovich Benckendorf. The reason for the letter was official, but at the same time the poet considered it necessary to tell the story of the appearance of his poem "My Family Tree" and give some explanations:

"General, ... About a year ago, a satirical article was published in one of our newspapers, which spoke of a certain writer claiming a noble origin, while he was only a tradesman in the nobility. It was added that his mother was a mulatto, whose father, a poor black woman, was bought by a sailor for a bottle of rum. Although Peter the Great does not look like a drunken sailor at all, this clearly pointed to me, because among Russian writers I have one Negro among my ancestors. In view of the fact that the aforementioned article was published in the official newspaper and the obscenity went so far as to talk about my mother in a feuilleton, which should have been purely literary in nature, and since our journalists do not fight a duel, I considered it my duty to answer an anonymous satirist, which I did in verses, and moreover very cool. I sent my reply to the late Delvig asking him to be placed in his newspaper. Delvig advised me not to print it, pointing out that it would be ridiculous to defend myself with a pen against such an attack and flaunt aristocratic feelings of being myself, in essence, if not a tradesman in the nobility, then a nobleman in the tradesman. I relented, and so it ended; however, several lists of my answer went hand in hand, which I do not regret, as I do not refuse any of his words. I confess I cherish being as good a nobleman as any, though there is little benefit to me from it; finally, I cherish extremely the name of my ancestors, this only inheritance I have received from them.

However, in view of the fact that my poems can be mistaken for an indirect satire on the origin of some famous surnames, if you do not know that this is a very restrained answer to a summons worthy of extreme censure, I considered it my duty to frankly explain to you what the matter is and attach to this poem in question.

Accept, General, the assurance of my high respect. Your Excellency is the lowest and most submissive servant Alexander Pushkin. Nov. 24. St. Petersburg, 1831 "

It was important for Pushkin that if the ancestors of the new nobility made a career as a lackey, court service, defection from the enemy army, etc., then Pushkin's ancestors have always been distinguished by independence, honor, military valor, loyalty to beliefs.

The poem "My Family Tree" was written in 1830. It did not appear in print, but was known in the manuscript among the writers and friends of the poet.

Laughing cruelly at the brother-in-law,

Russian pisaki in a crowd

My name is aristocrat.

Look, perhaps, what nonsense!

Not the officer I am, not the assessor,

I am not a nobleman by cross,

Not an academic, not a professor;

I'm just a Russian tradesman.

...

My ancestor Racha muscle branching

He served St. Nevsky;

His offspring anger married,

Ivan IV spared.

Pushkin and the kings were found;

Not one of them was famous,

When competing with the Poles

Nizhny Novgorod tradesman.

Humbling sedition and cunning

And the rage of the broken bad weather,

When the Romanovs to the kingdom

He called his people in a letter,

We had a hand in it,

Our son favored us.

They used to treasure us;

It happened... but - I am a tradesman.

The spirit of stubbornness gave us all:

His relatives are indomitable,

I didn't hit it off with Peter

And he was hanged by him for that.

His example be science to us:

The lord does not like disputes.

...

I am a writer and a poet,

I'm Pushkin just, not Mussin,

I am not a rich man, not a tzaredvorets,

I am big myself: I am a tradesman...

Later, in his letter of December 10, 1831, Benckendorf informed the poet of the opinion of Nicholas I:

"Gracious Sovereign, The best answer to your venerable letter of November 24th will be a literal reproduction of his imperial majesty's review: "You can tell Pushkin on my behalf that I fully agree with the opinion of his late friend Delvig. Insults as low and mean as those that treated him dishonor the one who utters them, not the one to whom they are addressed. The only weapon against them is contempt. That's how I would have done in his place. - As for his poems, I find that there is a lot of wit in them, but most of all bile. For the honor of his pen and especially his mind, it will be better if he does not spread them. '

I ask you, gracious sovereign, to accept the expression of my perfect respect. A. Benckendorf. S. Petersburg. December 10, 1831. "

1832: Production of "Mozart and Salieri" at the Alexandrinsky Theater. Attempts to reform Russian theater

During the life of A.S. Pushkin, only one of his tragedies was staged - Mozart and Salieri (Alexandrinsky Theater, January 1832). A production of The Stingy Knight was also planned there, but it was canceled due to the death of the poet.

Having entered the service, the poet plunged into the theatrical life of St. Petersburg, becoming an "honorary citizen of the wings." His contemporaries were playwrights M. Zagoskin, A. Shakhovskaya, N. Hmelnitsky, actors P. Mochalov, V. Karatygin, E. Semenova, A. Yakovlev, ballerina A. Istomina. In the description of the usual St. Petersburg day of Yevgeny Onegin in the novel of the same name in verse, the theater takes not the last place, as it was in the life of the poet himself, who literally experienced intoxication by the theater in the early 1820s.

There, there under the cross-hairs My younger days rushed.

The theater of the time of Pushkin is the era of classicism, imitation of the French tragedy. All the action on stage took place in the same room or house, with the same people for the same time. Pushkin believed that the tragedy in such a narrow framework could not convey the fate of a person, the versatility and depth of character. "The tragedy requires the plausibility of the provisions and the plausibility of the dialogue," the poet noted. In his opinion, the characters of the heroes should be gradually revealed in certain circumstances proposed by the author. Pushkin brought psychology to the stage: "Observing the soul will always be interesting at the theater."

With his favorite work, the drama "Boris Godunov," the poet dreamed of "transforming" the outdated forms of the theater. However, the work was forbidden for production, although it was for the theater that it was written. The drama takes place simultaneously on the border Russia and, and in the Lithuania Kremlin, and in Krakow. Something happens at the same time, something in sequence, something with a break at some time. With censorship seizures and reductions, "Boris Godunov" was staged for the first time only in 1870 by Mariinsky Theater actors. Alexandrinsky Theater

Working on the drama and achieving realism on the theatrical stage, Pushkin could not help but realize that the domestic theater was not ready for historical chronicles. In the 1830s, the poet turned to the genre of small tragedies, using the techniques and forms that were available to this scene. So appeared laconic "dramatic scenes" or "little tragedies" - "The Mean Knight," "Mozart and Salieri," "Stone Guest" and "Feast during the Plague." In plays from one to four scenes, the action takes no more than two days, there are few characters, the plot is based on human passions and a global catastrophe, which is thought of as a reckoning or test. As a single whole, the cycle was not published during Pushkin's lifetime. The first publication of Mozart and Salieri and Feast during the Plague took place in 1832, The Stingy Knight in 1836. "The Stone Guest" was published in the collection "One Hundred Russian Writers" in 1839.

Neither the culture of the theater nor the technique of the actors were prepared for the dramatic scenes of the poet. Pushkin's tragedies in height of thought, depth of content were alien to those works that were then filled with posters. The poet's dramaturgy was ahead of his modern theater for many decades. Despite this, he did not turn his back on theatrical art and sought to transform it for the rest of his life.

1833

Natalya Pushkina rents an apartment in the house of A.K. Olivier at the Chain Bridge

At the beginning of 1833, in the absence of her husband, an apartment in the house of A.K. Olivier (5 Pestel St.) was rented by Natalya Nikolaevna Pushkina, the poet was at that time in Boldin. He addressed the letters to his wife as follows: "In S. Petersburg at the Chain Bridge against Panteleimon in the house of Olivier."

Just behind the Chain Bridge, on the opposite bank of the Fontanka is the Summer Garden.

The poem "The Copper Horseman" is completed

In 1833 in Boldino A.S. Pushkin completes the St. Petersburg poem "The Copper Horseman." The last part was written in one day. At the same time, the poet rewrote his creation. The date on the manuscript is: October 31 [Yabr] 1833 Boldino 5 hours. - 5 [minutes in the morning].

Gogol reads Pushkin "The Story of How Ivan Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich"

On December 2, 1833, Gogol read Pushkin "The Story of How Ivan Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich." The next day, Pushkin noted in his diary: "Yesterday Gogol read me the fairy tale" How Ivan Ivanovich quarreled with Ivan Timofeevich "- very original and very funny."

Resentment at junior court rank being awarded to junker cameras for work in archives

At the end of 1833, Nicholas I awarded his "historiographer" A.S. Pushkin, who continued to work in the archives, the junior court title of chamber junker. According to contemporaries and friends of the poet, he was furious with such a connection to the court. And in mid-1834, the titular adviser Pushkin resigned with a request to preserve the right to work in the archives necessary to write the "History of Peter." However, this right was denied to him. Pushkin had to withdraw the petition, and he continued to work in the archives, dealing with the history of Peter the Great until the tragic events at the Black River.

1834

Visiting the birthday of the former maid of honor Alexandra Smirnova

On Wednesday, March 7 [19], 1834, Pushkin spent an evening in the salon of Alexandra Osipovna Smirnova (nee Rosset). Celebrated her birthday: she was born on March 6 [18], 1809. The conversation touched on some private aspects of the life of the royal court and its customs. The guests judged everything boldly, spoke frankly - completely in the style of sharp and accurate expressions characteristic of the owner of the salon.

In particular, they remembered the scandalous love story of the late sovereign and maid of honor Varvara Turkestanova, the funeral of one of the killers of Emperor Pavel F.P. Uvarov. "At Uvarov's funeral," Pushkin recorded, "the late sovereign<Александр I> followed the coffin. Arakcheev said loudly (it seems to A. Orlov): "One king sees him off here, what else will meet him there? '."

The former maid of honor, A.O. Smirnova, was aware of many behind-the-scenes events in court life and knew how to effectively comment on them.

P.F. Sokolov. Portrait of A.O. Smirnova. Cardboard, watercolor. Early 1830s

In March 1832, on her birthday, Pushkin purchased an expensive large-format album in a store on Nevsky Prospekt, in which he brought it out with his hand on the first page: "Historical Notes of A.O. S." The poet also composed a poetic epigraph for these future notes:

Regular Summer Garden walks

In the summer of 1834, Pushkin became a regular visitor to the Summer Garden. To his wife, who left with her children for the family estate of the Linen Plant, he wrote:... "My summer garden is a vegetable garden. I stand up from my sleep and go there in my dressing gown and shoes. After lunch I sleep in it, read and write. I'm in it at home. "

Evasion of participation in the celebration of the name of Nicholas I. The tsar dances with the poet's wife

December 6 (19), on the day of the namesake of Emperor Nicholas I, was traditionally celebrated in the Winter Palace solemnly and in the presence of the court.

Since the appointment of A.S. Pushkin to the chamber-junker rank on the eve of 1834, the court service has become a painful service for the poet. Pushkin will write down the following about this:... " the court wanted<аталья> N.<иколаевна> N. to dance in Anichkov. " He considered his appointment humiliating, tried in every possible way to avoid protocol obligations. Therefore, on December 6, 1834, Pushkin did not go to the ball in honor of the name day of Nicholas I, affected the sick. The day before, he left the following entry in the Diary: "Tomorrow it will be necessary to appear at the palace. I don't have a uniform yet. There is no way I will go to introduce myself with my fellow junker cameras, 18-year-old milkmen. The king will be angry, "what should I do?"

Natalya Nikolaevna could not go - on that day her sister Ekaterina Goncharova was appointed maid of honor. In addition, the Pushkins understood how the tsar could perceive the absence of both spouses. Ekaterina Nikolaevna Goncharova a couple of days later informed her brother in detail about all the events of that evening and about the behavior of her older sister, "Madame Pushkina": "She danced polonaise with the emperor; he, as always, was very kind to her, although he washed her head a little because of her husband, who affected the sick so as not to wear a uniform. The emperor told her that he perfectly understands what his illness is, and since he is in admiration for the fact that she is with them, the more ashamed Pushkin is not to want to be their guest; however, Madame's beauty served as a lightning rod and carried a thunderstorm. "

And Pushkin wrote in the Diary: "I still was not the 6th in the palace - and reported sick. After me, the king wanted to send a courier or Arnt. "

And yet a few days later, on December 14, Pushkin had to visit the Anichkov Palace at the "evening dance meeting" (as it is called in the chamber-Fourier magazine), to which guests were invited "from Her Majesty on the list." Among the invited were "camera-junker Pushkin with her husband." From the Diary of Pushkin dated December 18, 1834:

... "The third day I was finally in Anichkov. I will describe everything in detail, in favor of the future of Walter-Scott.

The court footman came to me in the morning with an invitation: to be in 8½ in Anichkovsky, to me in a uniform coat, Natalia Nikolaevna, as usual. "At 9 o'clock we arrived. On the stairs I met the old Countess Bobrinskaya, who always lies for me and takes me out of trouble. She noticed that I had a triangular hat with plumage (not in shape: they go to Anichkov with round hats; but there is more to come). There were already enough guests; the ball began with counter-dances. The empress was all in white, with a turquoise headdress; sovereign - in a cavalry guard uniform. The empress is very prettier. Count Bobrinsky, noticing my triangular hat, ordered me to bring a round one. They gave me one so salted with lipstick that my gloves got wet and yellowed. "In general, I liked the ball. The sovereign is very easy to handle, completely at home.<…> The ball ended in 1½. "

1836

Death of mother

The poet's mother Nadezhda Osipovna Pushkina (nee Hannibal) died on March 29, 1836 at the age of 61. A.S. Pushkin, the only one of the whole family, accompanied her body for burial in the Svyatogorsk monastery. A year later, Alexander Pushkin will be buried in the same cemetery next to her grave. According to the apt expression of the poet's friend A.N. Wolf, Pushkin and his mother "now lie under the same stone, much closer to each other than they were during their lifetime."

Alexander Sergeevich always emphasized his "African" features. But Pushkin had no spiritual intimacy with his mother. Nadezhda Osipovna did not always understand her son, rarely took part in his fate. But it was thanks to his mother that Alexander Sergeevich perfectly mastered the French language as a child, for which he later received the friendly nickname Frenchman from fellow lyceum students.

Pushkin, after his marriage living in St. Petersburg, visited his parents quite often. In correspondence with her daughter Olga, Nadezhda Osipovna talked about meetings with her son and his charming wife and spoke friendly about them. During his mother's last illness, according to the testimony of a close friend of the poet E.N. Vrevskaya, Pushkin made her "regret unfair treatment of her son" with tireless care for her, and after the death of his mother, he complained about fate for so "briefly enjoyed the tenderness of his mother."

Moving to Moika Embankment, 12

In the fall of 1836, Pushkin settled with his whole family in the house of Princess S. G. Volkonskaya (now - the embankment of the Moika River, 12). The exact date of the move is unknown. This may have happened on September 12 (September 24 in a new style), shortly after the conclusion of the lease on September 1. Under the contract, the hired apartment occupied in the house consisting of "the 2nd Admiralty part of the 1st quarter at No. 7 all from one gate to the other the lower floor of eleven rooms."

"For three days now, we have returned to the city; we changed our apartment and now live on Moika near the new Konyushenny Bridge in the house of Princess Volkonskaya, "wrote Natalia Nikolaevna's sister Ekaterina in a letter to her brother on September 15. Probably, on the same day, a festive dinner was arranged in an apartment on Moika on the occasion of a housewarming party, eight bottles of white and red wine were ordered in Raul's cellar.

In St. Petersburg, Pushkin never had his own housing, but in the new apartment he was comfortable at home. The location of the house was excellent: in a prestigious area, next to the building of the General Staff, where the writer worked in the archive and was a member of the College of Foreign Affairs.

Pushkin rented an apartment for two years, but lived in it for only four and a half months before his death after a duel.

Epigram about Bulgarin

Pushkin was the author of whip epigrams. One of them, according to legend, was born in November 1836 as a result of the joint work of Pushkin and V. A. Sollogub: "We went to the gunsmith. Pushkin was accustomed to pistols, but did not buy, due to lack of money. After that, we went to the shop to Smirdin, where Pushkin wrote a note to the Puppeteer, it seems, demanding money. Meanwhile, I stayed at the door and improvised an epigram:

If you go to Smirdin, You can't find anything there, You won't buy anything there, Only Senkovsky you push.

These four verses I said to the outgoing Alexander Sergeevich, who concluded with extraordinary vivacity: Il in B (ulgarina) will come. "

In the XIX century, bookstores became the center of the intellectual life of St. Petersburg: literary salons were located in them, social life was seething, heated disputes were fought. In the shop of the bookseller and publisher A.F. Smirdin gathered the most diverse audience. Collaborating with writers of opposite camps, he significantly increased the assortment of the book market and brought wide readership to stores. In his shop you could meet: Pushkin, Gogol and Odoevsky, on the one hand, Bulgarin, Grech, Senkovsky - on the other. There was an ideological abyss between them, there was an ongoing literary controversy, but at the famous "housewarming party" at Smirdin they sat at the same table. It is the "variance" of visitors, as well as some illegibility of the bookseller in the selection of the assortment, that is ridiculed by the authors of this famous epigram.

1837: Death in Moika waterfront apartment

In the mansion on Moika, surrounded by his beloved family and close friends, the poet seriously wounded in a duel spent the last hours of his life. Now a memorial plaque hangs on the main facade of the building: "Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin died in this house on January 29, 1837." The poet's St. Petersburg life began on the embankment of the Moika River, and twenty-six years later it ended tragically.

1857: Poet's wife seeks extension of exclusive right to publish his writings from 25 to 50 years after death

After the death of the poet, his entire literary heritage passed into the ownership of his children for twenty-five years, as established by the censorship charter. But Natalya Nikolaevna, five years before the expiration of this period, concerned about the welfare of her already matured children, turned to the Minister of Education A.S. Norov with a request to extend the exclusive right to publish Pushkin's works. The treatment was granted and even led to a change in the law. From now on, the term of inherited ownership of literary and other artistic and musical property increased to fifty years from the date of the death of the author. So Natalya Nikolaevna made a small revolution in the history of copyright.