Dmitri Vladimirovich Wenevitinov

Dmitri Wenevitinow, watercolor by Pyotr F. Sokolow (1827)

Dmitri Vladimirovich Wenewitinow ( Russian Дмитрий Владимирович Веневитинов ., Scientific transliteration Dmitrij Vladimirovič Venevitinov ; born September 14, ^jul. / 26. September  1805 ^greg. In Moscow , † March 15 ^jul. / 27. March  1827 ^greg. , St. Petersburg ) was a Russian poet and romantic philosopher .

Life

Dmitri Wenevitinov was born in Moscow on September 26, 1805. His father Vladimir Petrovich Wenevitinow came from a wealthy Voronezh noble family, his mother Anna Nikolajewna Wenewitinowa, who was also a nobleman and through whom he was distantly related to the Russian national poet Alexander Pushkin , ran a well-known artist salon in Moscow.

Under the supervision of his mother, Wenevitinov was initially trained by private tutors - he learned French, German, Latin, classical and Russian literature and music. From 1822 to 1824 he studied as a listener at Moscow University . Here he dealt in particular with German philosophy and the romantic literature of his time. Among his teachers were the professors AF Merslyakov, the Schellingianer II Dawydow, MG Pavlov and J. Ch. Loder .

In 1823, the Moscow philosophical secret society of Lyubomudry ("Wisdom Friends") was established in the milieu of the student nobility, among whose heads Wenevitinov (as secretary of the society) counted together with Vladimir Odojewski : "D. Wenevitinov spoke the most and often put us in Enthusiasm, "recalls one participant. The members were primarily concerned with the philosophy of German idealism . After the suppression of the Decembrist rebellion, the society dissolved to avoid persecution.

From 1824 Wenevitinow served in the "Moscow Archives of the College for Foreign Affairs", whose young employees were immortalized by Pushkin in his verse novel Eugene Onegin as "archive youths" and thus achieved not only social but also literary fame. In November 1826, Wenevitinov moved from Moscow to St. Petersburg, where, thanks to the protection of Princess Sinaida Volkonskaya, in whose salon he frequented, he worked in the Asia Department of the Foreign Ministry. The former participants of the circle of "Wisdom Friends" founded the Moscow Messenger in 1827 , in which Wenevitinov took part as a critic.

Upon his arrival in Petersburg, Wenevitinov was arrested together with his roommate Fyodor S. Khomyakov, the brother of the founder of Slavophilism Alexei S. Khomyakov : they were suspected of participating in the Decembrist conspiracy (there were indeed connections and sympathies, but no participation ). They were released again; the arrest, however, was very hard on Wenevitinov. After a severe cold, he died on March 15, 1827, only 21 years old, of pneumonia in St. Petersburg. His death shook the Russian literary world; at the burial in the cemetery of the Simonov monastery in Moscow , among others, the poets Alexander Pushkin and Adam Mickiewicz took part. The inscription on his tombstone was taken from one of his poems: “How did he know life! How little did he live! ”(“ Как знал он жизнь! Как мало жил! ”).

plant

Wenevitinov's work - which is not very extensive due to his short life span - consists of philosophical essays and fragments, literary critical and theoretical articles, literary prose works (partly in dialogue form), literary translations (including Goethe's) and around 50 lyrical poems. In addition, around 40 letters in Russian and French have been received. Wenevitinow has also worked as a musician, music critic, composer and visual artist (drawings).

As a poet, Wenevitinow can be assigned to Russian Romanticism and the current of so-called philosophical poetry. In Wenevitinov's view, the poet takes his forms from nature. Topics include Weltschmerz, the demonic and uncanny, nihilism, love, friendship, religious, national historical and classical motifs in his poetry. In its idealistic thirst for freedom, its attitude is close to the aesthetics of Decabrism.

Wenewitinow connects philosophically and aesthetically to Schelling - especially to his nature , identity and art philosophy . He postulates the philosophy, which he hopes for further training and dissemination in Russia, as a fundamental science par excellence. In its conception, philosophy is closely, even “inseparably” connected with literature (poetry), which is basically intended to be independent of non-artistic greats . As a result, the philosophy of art - again based on Schelling - is of central importance. Poetry - allegorically portrayed by Wenevitinov - stands at the forefront as the mother of the other arts.

meaning

Wenevitinov's philosophical letters to Countess NN (Princess AI Trubezkaja) transfer Schelling's system of transcendental idealism to Russia: “[...] precisely because of their exact and logical exposition of Schelling's system they are valuable. Together with W. Odojewski's notes, they gave one of the first interpretations of the principle of identity in Russia [...], which played an important role in the development of the entire philosophical aesthetic in Russia [...]. ”Through his application of the idealistic principle of identity in the sense of Schelling on art (literature) Wenevitinow can be considered a “pioneer of philosophical aesthetics” and “founder of a whole philosophical tradition in Russia”, which is characterized by a special closeness and connection between literature and philosophy. The Slavophile philosopher Ivan Kirejewski - also a former member of the "Wisdom Friends" - considers Wenevitinov to be the forefather of Russian philosophy.

The contemporary Russian literary world placed great hopes in the extremely talented young writer, whose poems Pushkin highly valued and praised. This high assessment of his talents and his potential is still expressed in the later 19th century, for example by the revolutionary literary critic Nikolai G. Chernyshevsky : "If Wenevitinov had lived at least ten years longer, he would have advanced our literature by decades." tragic loss and early death let Wenevitinow become the epitome of the romantic young poet-philosopher.

Trivia

The princess and Salonnière Sinaida A. Volkonskaya, with whom Wenevitinov was in love, gave him an antique ring from her collection of precious objects that had been found during excavations in Herculaneum before he left for St. Petersburg . On this ring, in 1826, Wenevitinov wrote his poem To my ring (K moemu perstnju). The ring, which became known as "Wenevitinov's Ring", is also mentioned in the poem Give Mr. Tyuchev the Dragonfly by Osip Mandelstam . Wenevitinov had decreed that he would be buried with the ring, and this request was obeyed.

In 1930 the Simonow monastery, in whose cemetery Wenevitinow was buried, was demolished. Wenevitinov's bones were exhumed and buried in the New Virgin Cemetery in Moscow. The tombstone was removed and the ring removed; it is now kept in the Literature Museum.

The Wenevitinow family came from Novoshiwotinnoye. The village is located around 30 km north of the city of Voronezh and around 460 km south of Moscow- on- Don . The settlement was founded in the 17th century by an ancestor of Wenevitinov. Today there is a Wenewitinow Museum with a park and a memorial in the manor house.

Work editions

In Russian language

• Venevitinov, DV: Stichotvorenija. Proza. Moskva 1980.
• Venevitinov, DV: Polnoe sobranie sočinenij . Moskva / Leningrad 1934.
• Polnoe sobranie sočinenij . Pod red. AV Pyatkovskogo. Sankt-Peterburg 1862.
• Sočinenija DV Venevitinova . 1829.

In German language

• Venevitinov, Dmitrij: Wings of Life. Poetry, prose, letters - collected works. Translated by Hendrik Jackson (poetry), Dorothea Trottenberg (prose and letters), Doris Heinemann (French letters). With a foreword by Markus Bernauer. Annotated and with an afterword ed. by Ilja Karenovics. Ripperger & Kremers, Berlin 2016.
• Venevitinov, Dmitrij: morning, noon, evening and night. Translated by Dorothea Trottenberg: In: Jean Paul: Dintenuniversum. Writing is Reality - Exhibition Catalog, ed. by Markus Bernauer, Angela Steinsiek and Jutta Weber. Berlin 2013.

literature

• Karenovics, Ilja: Wisdom Friends . The “Ljubomudry” circle 1820–1830 and the emergence of Russian philosophy . Berlin 2015.
• Lebedewa, Yekatherina: Russian dreams. The Slavophiles - a cultural phenomenon . Berlin 2008.
• Majmin, EA: Dmitrij Venevitinov i ego literaturnoe nasledie . V kn .: Venevitinov, DV: Stichotvorenija. Proza. Moskva 1980.
• Wytrzens, Günther: Dmitrij Vladimirovič Venevitinov as a poet of Russian romanticism . Cologne 1962.
• Setschkareff , W .: Schelling's influence in Russian literature of the 20s and 30s of the 19th century. Century . Berlin 1939.
• Aronson, M .: Vvedenie . V kn .: Venevitinov, V. et al .: Stichotvorenija . Moskva 1937.
• Špicer, S .: Materialy dlja biografii Venevitinova. Golos minuvšego, No. 1, 1914.
• Pyatkovsky, AP: Kn. Odoevskij i Venevitinov. St. Peterburg 1901.
• Košelev, AI: Literaturnye zapiski . Berlin 1884.

Remarks

1. ↑ Koselev, AI: Zapiski (1812-1883 gg.) . Berlin 1884, p. 12 .
2. ↑ Koselev, AI: Zapiski (1812-1883 gg.) . Berlin 1884.
3. ↑ Venevitinov, D. / Ševyrev, S. / Chomjakov, A .: Stichotvorenija . Ed .: Aronson, M. / Sergievskij, I. Moskva 1884, p. 7th ff .
4. ↑ Pjatkovskij, AP: očerk Biografičeskij . In: Venevitinov, DV (ed.): Polnoe sobranie sočinenij . Sankt-Peterburg 1862.
5. ↑ Karenovics, Ilya: Wisdom friends . Berlin 2015, p. 176 f .
6. ↑ Karenovics, Ilya: Wisdom friends . Berlin 2015, p. 222 f .
7. ↑ Wytrzens, Günther: Dmitry Vladimirovič Venevitinov as a poet of Russian romance . Cologne 1962.
8. ↑ Karenovics, Ilya: Wisdom friends . Berlin 2015, p. 208 ff .
9. ^ Mann, Ju .: Russkaja filosofskaja ėstetika (1820–1830e gody) . Moskva 1969, p. 14 .
10. ↑ Lebedewa, Jekatherina: Russian dreams. The Slavophiles - a cultural phenomenon . Berlin 2008.
11. ↑ Karenovics, Ilya: Wisdom friends . Berlin 2015, p. 208 f .
12. ↑ Karenovics, Ilya: Wisdom friends . Berlin 2015.
13. ↑ Kireevskij, IV: Polnoe Sobranie sočinenij v dvuch tomach . tape II . Moskva 1911, p. 26 .
14. ↑ Černyševskij, NG: Polnoe sobranie sočinenij . tape II . Moskva 1949, p. 926 .
15. ↑ Neverov, O. Yes: Gemmy iz sobranija ZA Volkonskoj . In: Pamjatniki kul'tury. Novye otkrytija: Pis'mennost '. Iskusstvo. Archeologija . 1994.
16. ↑ Mandel'štam, O. Ė .: Sočinenija v dvuch tomach . tape I . Moskva 1990, p. 189 .
17. ↑ Dmitry Venevitinov's Memorial Estate. Retrieved December 4, 2015 .