Nikolay Nekrasov illustrated in the Presidential Library’s collections

December 10, 2019 marks the 198th anniversary of the birth of Nikolay Nekrasov, a classic of Russian literature, poet, writer, journalist, publisher. The Presidential Library’s electronic collections include not only rare editions dedicated to him, but also critical articles, scientific works and documentaries.

The childhood of the future writer passed in the family estate of Greshnyovo. The Volga flowed nearby, at a distance passed the famous Vladimirka (Sibirka), about which the poet recalled: “Everything that went along it, and rode, and it was known, starting with the mail triples and ending with the prisoners chained in a chain, accompanied by convoys, was constant the food of our childhood curiosity”.

Nikolay’s father was not distinguished by a good disposition. N. I. Dyunkin - author of the book “Nikolay Nekrasov” of 1909, stored in the Presidential Library’s collections in the form of an electronic copy, mentions:“ If it weren’t for a mother who had a strong influence on the mental and spiritual development of a child, a worthy son of his father, a landowner, could later develop petty tyrant". The writer further notes: “At one time, Nekrasov’s father served as a police officer and took his son with him on the road; before the boy’s clean, childish eyes, trials, fist suggestion, and poverty of the serfs are held. The child is impressionable, and besides, his father’s oppression is so strong at home, he is already imbued with sympathy for the people”.

As a teenager, after some kind of trouble or in the absence of a formidable father’s house, he had emotional conversations with his mother, forever imprinted in his memory.

Starting to compose poetry at the age of seven, Nekrasov became interested in literature. The writer N. I. Dyunkin draws attention: “He begins to read every printed page that strikes his eyes and - “what he reads is what he imitates”. By the age of fifteen, a whole notebook had already been accumulated”.

At the age of 17 Nekrasov goes to study at the University of Philology at St. Petersburg State University. He goes against the will of his father, not wanting to devote himself to a military career. As a result, he is deprived of material support, and in order not to starve to death, he composes poems to order.

The young writer was a member of the literary and journalistic circle of St. Petersburg, begins to widely publish his works. Soon Nekrasov decides to engage in publishing.

For the money borrowed, the poet, together with the writer Ivan Panayev in the winter of 1846, leases the journal Sovremennik, founded by Pushkin. The concern for the material side of the publication depended on Nekrasov, since he was a pragmatic person and knew how to conduct business. (In the end, these qualities will allow the poet to become one of the richest writers, to buy the Golitsyn family estate in Karabikha, Yaroslavl Region, with a magnificent palace).

Sovremennik, published by Nekrasov together with Panayev, was the first magazine in Russia to express revolutionary democratic ideas and have a coherent and clear program of action. In his early issues, the novel “The Thief Magpie” and the novel “Who is to Blame?” By Herzen, stories from Turgenev's “Notes of the Hunter,” Belinsky's articles, and many other works of the same orientation were published. Nekrasov himself published the poem "Dog Hunt".

The influence of the magazine grew every year, until in 1862 the government suspended its publication, and then completely banned the magazine. However, Nekrasov acquired the right to issue the journal "Domestic Notes", which the last years of his life were associated with. During this period, he created several poems, including “Who is Happy in Russia” and “Russian Women”.

In 1871, Nekrasov began to look for a place for solitude, where he could completely devote himself to classes, and his choice fell on the small estate "Chudovskaya Luka" in Novgorod Province. This estate became the writer's favorite place where he rested from city worries and anxieties, hunted, talked with ordinary Russian people.

A visitor to the portal of the Presidential Library can virtually visit the Chudovskaya Luka Museum-Estate and learn more about this dearly beloved poet's place from the documentary “The Hunting Lodge of Nikolay Nekrasov”.

In the summer of 1876, the seriously ill Nekrasov worked here on the fourth chapter of the poem “Who is Happy in Russia” and he was never destined to return here. He died in St. Petersburg on January 8, 1878.

Nikolai Dunkin’s book "Nikolay Nekrasov” tells that the writer’s funeral at the Novodevichy cemetery in St. Petersburg acquired the character of a socio-political manifestation and continued, according to contemporaries, from nine in the morning until six in the evening. At the civil funeral service, Dostoevsky, Plekhanov and many others, those who especially loved and appreciated Nekrasov "for a drop of blood common with the people" delivered their speeches.

Anatoly Koni in his book “Nikolay Nekrasov. Fyodor Dostoevsky” recalled: “The death of Nekrasov made in St. Petersburg, and in many places of Russia, a strong impression, inspired a love of coal, and aroused a genuine feeling of pain, forcing silence against the slander of enemies and malicious jokes of hypocritical friends for a while. This mood was vividly expressed in the wonderful poems of Borovikovsky, created on the eve of the funeral and beginning with the words: "The noble poet's mouth was silent".

For the past 20 years, Nekrasov lived in St. Petersburg, on Liteiny Prospect, 36. Now the memorial Museum-apartment of the poet is located in the house. It is part of the National Pushkin Museum, with which, in 2018, within the framework of the VII St. Petersburg International Cultural Forum, the Presidential Library signed an agreement on cooperation. Then a plan was outlined for joint preparation marking the 200th anniversary of Nikolay Nekrasov, which will be celebrated in 2021.