Nikolay Karamzin
Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin
(Russian: Никола́й Миха́йлович Карамзи́н) (December
1, 1766 – June 3, 1826) a Russian author credited
with reforming the Russian literary language. He is
best remembered for his History of the Russian
State, a 12-volume national history modelled after
the works of Gibbon.
Early life
Karamzin was born in the village of
Mikhailovka, in the government of Orenburg on the
1st of December (old style) 1766. His father was an
officer in the Russian army. He was sent to Moscow
to study under Swiss-German Teacher Johann Matthias
Schaden; he later moved to St Petersburg, where he
made the acquaintance of Dmitriev, a Russian poet of
some merit, and occupied himself with translating
essays by foreign writers into his native language.
After residing for some time in St Petersburg he
went to Simbirsk, where he lived in retirement until
induced to revisit Moscow. There, finding himself in
the midst of the society of learned men, he again
took to literary work.
In 1789 he resolved to travel, and
visited Germany, France, Switzerland and
England. On his return he published his
Letters of a Russian Traveller, which
met with great success. These letters,
modelled after Irish-born Poet, Laurence
Sterne´s , (1713 – 1768), Sentimental
Journey, were first printed in the
Moscow Journal, which he edited, but
were later collected and issued in six
volumes (1797-1801).
In the same periodical Karamzin also
published translations from French and
some original stories, including Poor
Liza and Natalia the Boyar's Daughter
(both 1792). These stories introduced
Russian readers to sentimentalism, and
Karamzin was hailed as "a Russian
Sterne".
Karamzin as a writer
In 1794 Karamzin abandoned his literary
journal and published a miscellany in
two volumes entitled Aglaia, in which
appeared, among other stories, The
Island of Bornholm and Ilya Muromets,
the latter a story based on the
adventures of the well-known hero of
many a Russian legend. From 1797 to 1799
he issued another miscellany or poetical
almanac, The Aonides, in conjunction
with Derzhavin and Dmitriev. In 1798 he
compiled The Pantheon, a collection of
pieces from the works of the most
celebrated authors ancient and modern,
translated into Russian. Many of his
lighter productions were subsequently
printed by him in a volume entitled My
Trifles. Admired by Alexander Pushkin
and Vladimir Nabokov, the style of his
writings is elegant and flowing,
modelled on the easy sentences of the
French prose writers rather than the
long periodical paragraphs of the old
Slavonic school.
In 1802 and 1803 Karamzin edited the
journal the European Messenger (Vestnik
Evropy). It was not until after the
publication of this work that he
realized where his strength lay, and
commenced his 12 volume History of the
Russian State. In order to accomplish
the task, he secluded himself for two
years at Simbirsk, the Volga river town
where Vladimir Ilych Ulyanov, a.k.a.
Lenin, (1870 - 1924), was born. This
town was known then, after Lenin, for
some 60 years as Ulianovsk, while Saint
Petersburg became Leningrad till around
1990.
When emperor Alexander learned the
cause of his retirement, Karamzin was
invited to Tver, where he read to the
emperor the first eight volumes of his
history. He was a strong supporter of
the anti-Polish policies of the Russian
Empire, and expressed hope that there
would be no Poland under any shape or
name In 1816 he removed to St
Petersburg, where he spent the happiest
days of his life, enjoying the favour of
Alexander I and submitting to him the
sheets of his great work, which the
emperor read over with him in the
gardens of the palace of Tsarskoye Selo.
He did not, however, live to carry
his work further than the eleventh
volume, terminating it at the accession
of Michael Romanov in 1613. He died on
the 22nd of May (old style) 1826, in the
Tauride Palace. A monument was erected
to his memory at Simbirsk in 1845.
Karamzin as a historian
Karamzin is well regarded as a
historian[citation needed]. Until the
appearance of his work little had been
done in this direction in Russia. The
preceding attempt of Tatishchev was
merely a rough sketch, inelegant in
style, and without the true spirit of
criticism. Karamzin was most industrious
in accumulating materials, and the notes
to his volumes are mines of interesting
information. Perhaps Karamzin may justly
be criticized for the false gloss and
romantic air thrown over the early
Russian annals; in this respect his work
is reminiscent of that of Sir Walter
Scott, whose writings were at that time
creating a great sensation throughout
Europe and probably influenced upon him.
Karamzin wrote openly as the
panegyrist of the autocracy; indeed, his
work has been styled the Epic of
Despotism, and considered Ivan III as
the architect of Russian greatness, a
glory that he had earlier (perhaps while
more under the influence of Western
ideas) assigned to Peter the Great. (The
deeds of Ivan the Terrible are described
with disgust, though.)
In the battle pieces he demonstrates
considerable powers of description, and
the characters of many of the chief
personages in the Russian annals are
drawn in firm and bold lines. As a
critic Karamzin was of great service to
his country; in fact he may be regarded
as the founder of the review and essay
(in the Western style) among the
Russians.
Also, Karamzin is sometimes
considered a founding father of Russian
conservatism. Upon appointing him a
state historian, Alexander I greatly
valued Karamzin's advice on political
matters. His conservative views were
clearly expounded in The Memoir on Old
and New Russia, written for Alexander I
in 1812. This scathing attack on reforms
proposed by Mikhail Speransky was to
become a cornerstone of official
ideology of imperial Russia for years to
come.
