The Presidential Library rarities about the great Russian poet N. A. Nekrasov

December 10, 2017 marks the 196th anniversary of the birth of Nikolay Alekseyevich Nekrasov — a classic of Russian literature, a poet, a writer, a journalist and a publisher. Apart from the rare editions dedicated to him, there are also some critical articles, scientific works, and documentaries in the Presidential Library electronic stock.

“It’s quite rarely that someone among the outstanding writers aroused in his lifetime and hereafter death so many contradictory assessments, as N. A. Nekrasov. On the one hand — “a bearer of the people’s grief,” on the other — a tendentious poet,” —writer’s friend and a well-known lawyer Anatoly Koni observes in his book “N. A. Nekrasov. F. M. Dostoyevsky.”

The Presidential Library fund contains a rare 1909-year edition of N. A. Nekrasov, where the biography of the writer is described in detail. His childhood passed in the Greshnevo family estate. The father of the future great writer did not have a good temper and, as the author of the book N. I. Dyunkin points out, “if it there were not the mother, who had a strong influence on the child’s mental and spiritual development, then a chip of the old block — the landowner-tyrant might have been matured afterwards. Often the boy, after some trouble or in the absence of a terrible father at home, led with his mother spiritual conversations, forever imprinted in his memory. Later Nekrasov will remember this in the poem “Mother”:

When later I read Dante and Shakespeare,

It seemed I’ve met before that kind:

These images from living world in there

You have imprinted deeply in my mind.

Nekrasov has quite early shown his interest in poetry. The publication testifies: “From the age of seven the boy begins to engage in versification. The poet’s mother saved his first poetic experience. The verses started with this:

My dear mom, don’t refuse,

Accept this work, although reduced,

Yet overlook,

If this somewhere will be of use.

He begins to read every printed page that comes across his eyes and — “whatever he reads, that he impersonates.” By the age of fifteen, an entire notebook had already been filled with verses.”

Against a desire of his father, Nikolay Alekseyevich enrolled the Faculty of Philology of St. Petersburg University, and in response to this wayward behavior his allowances from the family was cut. Then he began to write poetry a la carte. “He had to live in misery, from time to time starving for long and experiencing such poverty, homelessness and uncertainty in the future, which have affected the content of many of his poems,” — A. F. Koni writes in the above-mentioned work about this period of the poet’s life. At the same time, the young writer enters the literary and journalistic circles of Petersburg, begins widely publishing his works.

Soon Nekrasov engaged with publishing business, he released a number of almanacs. In 1846 he leased the Sovremennik (lit. contemporary) magazine, founded by Pushkin, and turned it into a successful leading publication, and after its closing received the right to publish the Otechestvennye Zapiski (lit. native notes) magazine. The poet was a very pragmatic person and has managed to lead business successfully, which enabled him to become one of the richest literary men of his time.

In 1871, Nekrasov began to search for a place to live in solitariness, where he could completely devote himself to pursuing his liking, and his choice fell on the small estate named “Chudovskaya Luka” in Novgorod Province. This manor house was a favorite place of the writer, where he used to rest from the city hassles and worries, went hunting, and could to get in touch with average Russian people.

“Fighting has prevented me from being a poet,” — Nekrasov said, but in Chudovo poetry evoked, and he began writing. The summer of 1874 was especially fruitful, when the writer came to work on the magazine, but was carried away by poems and in two months created 11 works. This was very rare for him, especially in recent years. The lines of the famous “Elegy” refer specifically to this period of time:

Daylight is ebbing fast. All taken by the dreams,

Over the fields and meadows, piled with stacks,

All lost in reverie, I’m wandering in chilling semi-darkness,

And in the mind a song is being put together its own…

Without leaving home, any user if the Presidential Library website can visit that dearly loved by the poet place and learn more about it. The documentary entitled The Hunter’s House of N. A. Nekrasov is precisely dedicated to the memorial estate “Chudovskaya Luka.”

In the summer of 1876, already seriously ill poet worked here on the fourth chapter of the poem “Who is happy in Russia,” and he was no longer destined to return here.

The writer died in St. Petersburg on January 8, 1878. A. F. Koni recalled: “Nekrasov’s death has effected St. Petersburg and many other places across Russia with a strong impression, evoked in many people’s hearts love to the faded away, and caused a real pain, forcing the insinuations of the enemies and malicious jokes of hypocritical friends to cease for a while. This atmosphere found a vivid expression in the beautiful lines of Borovikovsky, written on the eve before a funeral and beginning with the words: “The poet’s decent mouths fell silent.”