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Birthday anniversary of Stepan P. Shevyryov, a conservative Russian literary historian and poet
18 (30) October 1806, in Saratov, was born a famous linguist, literary critic, historian and literary theorist, poet and academician Stepan Petrovich Shevyryov.
Stepan Petrovich’s father, Peter Stepanovich, was a hereditary nobleman, and had held the position of the marshal of the nobility in the Saratov province for 12 years. Along with his wife, Catherine Stepanovna, they gave their son a good education at home. In 1818, Stepan Petrovich was sent to the noble boarding school under the Moscow University, from which he graduated in 1822 with a gold medal. After graduation, Shevyryov actively engaged in self-education. He was an external student at the Moscow University, and studied mathematics and Greek on his own.
In 1823, Stepan Petrovich took the post of the library assistant at the Moscow Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. There he entered the circle of the so-called "archival boys" - young, educated people who worked in the archive. Among them were A. I. Koshelev, D. V. Venevitinov, I. V. Kireyevsky, N. A. Mel'gunov, V. P. Titov, S. A. Sobolevsky, etc. It was then that Shevyryov met M. P. Pogodin who became his lifetime friend. Together with "archival boys" Stepan Petrovich took part in the activities of the "Society of Wisdom" - literary and philosophical circles aimed at studying the German idealist philosophy and contemporary German literature.
After the suppression of the Decembrist uprising, which the members of the group obviously sympathized, the "Society of Wisdom" was dissolved. In 1825, Shevyryov’s first printed work - translation of "Timon" by a Greek writer Lucian, appeared. At the same time Shevyryov began publishing his experimental poetry. In 1827, Shevyryov became a regular contributor to the newly established "Moscow Gazette", whose editor was Pogodin, while A. S. Pushkin was its patron. The journal published the first significant works of Stepan Petrovich: "Talk about the possibility of finding a unified law for the elegant" - an aesthetic treatise in the form of dialogue, and "Letter to the editor" - a sharp satire on dissidents.
In 1829, Shevyryov left "Moscow Gazette,” having accepted the invitation of Princess Z. A. Volkonskaya and went abroad with her family as a teacher of her son. They went to Germany and Italy, where he stayed until 1832. Stepan Petrovich expressed his impressions of Europe in the form of travel notes, which he regularly sent to various Russian magazines. After returning to Russia, upon a proposal from the Minister of Education S. S. Uvarov, he started working at the University of Moscow, first as an associate, and then – as a full professor.
In 1833, Shevyryov defended his research work "Dante and his age" as a thesis for a master's degree. On the basis of his university courses on the history of world literature and the theory of poetry, he published a book, which became his most important scientific work - "History of poetry" in two volumes, and the "Theory of poetry in the historical development of the ancient and new peoples." These works had caused a heated controversy in the reading milieu, while Shevyryov was recognized as one of the most popular writers and critics of the 1830s.
Another work by Stepan Petrovich - a course of lectures on "The history of Russian literature, especially old one," which was later reprinted several times, also enjoyed great attention and success. It was the first systematic course on the history of Old Russian literature. In addition to the carefully collected scientific data, it reflected the ideas which had long made Shevyryov one of the main representatives of Slavophilism: propagation of humility, idealization of pre-Petrine Russia, interpretation of ancient Russia as the sole source of all moral ideals, an attempt to dissolve the state's history and culture in the history of church. Despite the criticism of lectures by the intelligentsia, particularly by A. I. Herzen and N. G. Chernyshevsky, most scientists agree that Shevyryov’s work laid the foundations of a new discipline of philology - the history of Old Russian literature.
In 1845-1846, Stepan Petrovich developed and read another course - "History of the world of poetry", and in the early 1850s he published two more books - "Introduction to pedagogy" and "On the significance of Zhukovsky in Russian life and poetry." Soon Shevyryov’s merits were recognized by scientific community, and in 1852 he became an academician of the Petersburg Academy of Sciences. In the first half of the 1850s, he worked a lot in preparation for the centennial of the University of Moscow. By 1855, Shevyryov had written and published the history of the university; on his own initiative and with the direct participation, he published "Biographical Dictionary of professors and teachers of Moscow University for the past century."
In 1857, due to a quarrel with the Count V. A. Bobrinsky, Stepan Petrovich was dismissed from the post of professor and soon went abroad, where he lectured. Resignation was a severe blow for Shevyryov, whose entire scientific career had been associated with the university.
Stepan Petrovich Shevyrev died May 8 (20), 1864 in Paris at the age of 57.
Lit.: Шевырёв С. П. История русской словесности, преимущественно древней. XXXIII публичные лекции: В 4 тт. М., 1846-1860; Он же. Лекции о русской литературе, читаемые в Париже в 1862 г. СПб., 1884; Он же. Стихотворения. Л., 1939; Он же. Теория поэзии в историческом развитии у древних и новых народов. М., 1836; Петров Ф. А. С. П. Шевырёв — первый профессор истории российской словесности в Московском университете. М., 1999; Погодин М. П. Воспоминания о С. П. Шевырёве. М., 1865; Ратников К. В. Степан Петрович Шевырёв и русские литераторы XIX века. Челябинск, 2003.; Шевырёв Степан Петрович // Русские филологи XIX века: Библиографический словарь-справочник / Авт.-сост. М. Е. Бабичева [и др]. М., 2006.
Based on the Presidential Library’s materials:
Шевырёв С. П. Князь Дмитрий Владимирович Голицын: Некролог. М., 1844;
Шевырёв С. П. 17, 18 и 19 мая 1844 года в Москве: Некролог Д. В. Голицына. М., 1844;