Birth of Nikolai Dmitriyevich Teleshov, Writer, Organizer of the Famous Literary Circle of Moscow Writers “Sreda” (1899–1916)

Nikolai Dmitriyevich Teleshov was born on October 29 (November 10), 1867 in Moscow in the merchant family of Dmitry Yegorovich and Yelizaveta Petrovna Teleshovs. His ancestors were serfs of Vladimir Governorate, who managed to redeem themselves.

Nikolai Teleshov was interested in reading and literature since an early age. Still a teenager, he met the book publisher I. D. Sytin, in whose printing house he observed the “birth” of a book. With time, Nikolai Teleshov felt the need to be involved in the literary process himself. Business connections and friendship with Sytin accompanied him his whole life.

In 1880, twelve-year-old Nikolai attended the Pushkin Celebrations in Moscow, the opening of the monument to the poet, where F. M. Dostoyevsky, I. S. Turgenev and others performed.

In 1884, Nikolai Teleshov graduated the Moscow Practical Academy of Commercial Sciences and published his first poem Abandoned in the Raduga magazine. In 1886, he actively participated in preparation of the collection of young poets Sincere Word. His first poems were influenced by S. Y. Nadson, A. A. Fet, I. S. Nikitin, A. N. Pleshcheyev. Even though the collection didn’t gain popularity, it became Teleshov’s first experience of entering the literary environment. His deep interest in literary and creative communication helped him to eventually found the literary association Sreda, but in the beginning he was published in little-known magazines, such as Semiya, Rossiya, Prince Meshchersky’s Grazhdanin, D. I. Tikhomirov’s Detskoye chteniye.

The main theme of Nikolai Teleshov’s early stories – The Rooster, The Petty-Bourgeois Drama, The Duel, The Name Day – is merchant and middle-class life. The early stories were included in the first collection On troikas (1895). Contemporaries observed in the issues of the early works by Nikolai Teleshov a certain imitation of A. P. Chekhov, whom he met in 1888. The title of the collection On troikas was inspired by an essay, published in 1893 in the conservative magazine Russkoye obozreniye. The essay was dedicated to the Irbit Fair and was based on the experiences of M. A. Kornilov – a relative of Nikolai Teleshov.

Works of V. G. Korolenko and D. N. Mamin-Sibiryak aroused in Nikolai Teleshov the interest for Russian outskirts. Following the advice of A. P. Chekhov in 1894, Nikolai Teleshov took upon his own long journey to Siberia, which resulted in a series of stories dedicated to the lifestyle of migrants (cycles Beyond Ural (1897), Across Siberia and The Migrants, novellas The Need, On the Way, The Walkers, Going Home, and others). In the essay Beyond Ural, the author tells in detail about everything he encountered on his journey. Siberian landscapes are followed by the description of life and morals of the region’s residents. Landmarks of Siberian cities, sketches of lifestyles of Ural mining workers with terrifying details of their hard labor are shown as well. In Siberia, Nikolai Teleshov encountered the issue of migration for the first time. He told about the terrible needs and problems of the men’s life in essays and stories, eventually collected in the cycle The Migrants. Nikolai Teleshov wasn’t a pioneer in this field. A. P. Chekhov, G. I. Uspensky and others have also tried to bring the society’s attention to migrant’s hard life. At the same time, Nikolai Teleshov made this issue the main topic of all his creative work in the 1890s and managed to shine a new light on this tragic phenomenon in the life of Russian peasants. All attention of Nikolai Teleshov was focused on the horrors of the migrants’ path.

Step by step, the writer traces individual stages of the migrants’ path in the story On the Way. Special attention is paid to the fates of peasant children and old people. Parents were forced to leave sick children to their fate, weak old people died on the road – such was the sad result of the tragic path (The Walkers, The Christmas Tree of Mitrich, The Need, and others). Pain and compassion for the people fill the pages of these stories, significant not only in the oeuvre of Nikolai Teleshov, but also in the best works of Russian realistic prose of the late XIX – early XX century.

The period from 1898 to 1903 wasn’t easy for the author: he had difficulties writing, he didn’t want to publish “nonsense”, as he said so himself. By the end of the 1890s, Nikolai Teleshov stopped collaborating with conservative press. His new works were published in liberal magazines Mir Bozhiy, Russkaya mysl, Zhurnal dlya vsekh, numerous compilations and almanacs. In addition to A. P. Chekhov, V. A. Gilyarovsky, I. A. Belousov, the writer’s circle of acquaintances included brothers Y. A. and I. A. Bunins, N. N. Zlatovsky, K. M. Stanyukovich, D. N. Mamin-Sibiryak, editors and staff of Moscow magazines.

In 1899 in Nizhny Novgorod, Nikolai Teleshov met Maxim Gorky. M. Gorky got interested in the literary circle of Nikolai Teleshov and recommended L. A. Andreyev and S. G. Skitalets to participate. They were joined by Y. N. Chirikov, V. V. Veresayev, A. I. Kuprin, A. S. Serafimovich and several other writers. Since the writers meetings took place in Teleshov’s apartment on Wednesdays, it was decided to name the new literary association “Sreda” (Wednesday) of Teleshov. The “Wednesdays” continued from 1899 to 1916. There, Maxim Gorky read his play The Lower Depths for the first time. Afterwards, the collections The Knowledge, The Word and The Nizhny Novgorod Collection were formed from the works of the circle’s writers. There, one could also meet musicians, singers, painters. It was often attended by S. V. Rachmaninoff, F. I. Shalyapin, I. I. Levitan, V. D. Polenov. Nikolai Teleshov was the soul and organizer of “Sreda”. His literary talent perfectly matched his organization skills, true generosity, kindness, simplicity in communication.

On November 29, 1903 Nikolai Teleshov was elected Active Member of the Lovers of Russian Literature Society, and on February 14, 1909 he became the society’s treasurer.

The writer founded a rural gymnasium for workers, railway laborers and peasants in Podmoskovye. For ten years, children of the poorest peasants and workers studied there for free (or for a reduced fee). The means to keep the gymnasium running were provided by the family of Teleshovs. In addition, Nikolai Teleshov was one of the main organizers of the literary, creative, theatre and artistic life of Moscow. For a long time, he headed the mutual assistance fund for writers and scientists, was the initiator of setting up the production of writers’ amateur plays, was the jury of the court of honor under the publishing and literature society.

Nikolai Teleshov reacted to the first Russian revolution of 1905 enthusiastically, and when the wave of the revolutionary movement faded, his works didn’t undergo any decadent changes. It still kept the human’s belief in humanitarian values (The Loyal Friend, The Mowers, Another Soul). The distaste for World War I was reflected in the stories In the Dark, The Mine, in the collections 1914, Days by Days, To help the captured Russian soldiers (1914). The Teleshov spouses organized at their own expense a hospital in Malakhovka, built a city duma. After the October Revolution, Teleshov participated in the work of the People’s Commissariat of Education. During these years, he was engaged in children’s literature, including the tales Krupenichka (1919) and Zorenka (1921).

The main work of Nikolai Teleshov of the Soviet years is the creative memoirs A Writer Remembers (1948), which made him widely popular among Soviet readers. His memories are characterized by objectivity, reliability, abundance of details in the delivery of events and descriptions of people. The memoirist tells about meetings with numerous remarkable people, gives their public and mundane characteristics. This book is a chronicle of the literary and public life of Moscow. Selected essays are dedicated to A. P. Chekhov, M. Gorky, L. A. Andreyev.

The book of novellas and short stories The Beginning of the End (1933) is dedicated to the revolutionary events of 1905-1907.

Already in the Soviet years, the Museum of the Moscow Art Theatre was founded thanks to the energy and tirelessness of Nikolai Teleshov. For over half a century, he thoroughly collected the valuable museum materials restoring the history of the theatre. In 1938, Nikolai Teleshov was awarded the title of Merited Worker of Arts of the RSFSR.

Nikolai Dmitriyevich Teleshov died on March 14, 1957 in Moscow. He is buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery.

Lit.: Н. Д. Телешов и его тюменские впечатления // Тюменский край и писатели XVII–XIX вв. / Л. Г. Беспалова, Ю. М. Беспалова. Екатеринбург, 1998. С. 200–210; Беспалова Л. Г. Телешов Николай Дмитриевич // Большая Тюменская энциклопедия. Т. 4: А–Я. Тюмень, 2009. С. 387; Пантелеева К. Николай Дмитриевич Телешов // Телешов Н. Д. Избранные произведения. М., 1985. С. 3–18; Путевые очерки и крестьянские рассказы Н. Д. Телешова // Очерки русской литературы Сибири: в 2 томах. Т. 1: Дореволюционный период / ред. А. П. Окладников. Новосибирск, 1982. С. 486–489; Не только Чехов, или Дорога уходит на юг // Большое городище: [литературно-краеведческий альманах] / сост., переводчик Ф. Корандей. Курган, 2021. № 7–8 (40–41). С. 274–312.

Based on the Presidential Library’s materials:

Телешов  Н. Д. За Урал: из скитаний по Западной Сибири: очерки. М., 1897 (Доступно в электронном читальном зале);

1914 год: сборник / под ред. С. А. Лопашова. М., 1914;

В помощь пленным русским воинам: Лит. сб. под ред. Н. В. Давыдова и Н. Д. Телешова. М., 1916;

Скиталец, М. Горький, Л. Андреев, Шаляпин, Бунин, Телешев, Чириков: [фотография] [1902].

Based on the article of the Tyumen Region Branch of the Presidential Library