Nikolai Alexejewitsch Polewoi

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Nikolai Polevoi

Nikolai Polevoy ( Russian Николай Алексеевич Полевой ; born June 22 . Jul / 3. July  1796 greg. In Irkutsk ; † February 22 jul. / 6. March  1846 greg. In St. Petersburg ) was a Russian journalist , writer , Translator and historian .

Life

Nikolai Polewoi, son of a Kursk businessman and director of a Russia-America company, grew up in Irkutsk until 1811 the family lived first in Moscow and then in Kursk. He had only a home education as his literary and historical interests made him unwilling to enter the family business and his father was unwilling to invest money in his education. Like his older sister, the writer Yekaterina Alexejewna Avdejewa geb. Polewaja (1788-1865), he wanted to work literary, and so he made his debut in 1817 as a journalist for the magazine Russischer Bote . His younger brother Xenophon Alexejewitsch Polewoi (1801–1867) also became a journalist, writer and critic.

In 1820 Nikolai Polewoi moved to Moscow and wrote poems, articles, essays and translations from French for the Patriotic Notes , the North Archives , the Syn otechestva and the Almanac Mnemosina . Thanks to the support of Prince Pyotr Andreevich Vyazemsky , a friend of Pushkin's , Polewoi was published in 1825 of the literary and science magazine Moskauer Telegraf , which was printed in the Moscow printer Auguste-René Semens (1781–1862) and enjoyed economic prestige. In 1834 he published a negative review of a patriotic play by Nestor Wassiljewitsch Kukolnik , whereupon the magazine was closed on the personal orders of Nicholas I. After the closure, Polewoi gave up his previous views.

From 1835–1844 Polewoi published the yearbook Illustrierte Rundschau of the memorable things from science, art, business and home together with a picturesque journey through the world and biographies of important people . He participated in the Nordbiene , the government- related magazine for politics and literature (unofficial organ of the secret service) and headed their literature department from 1837-1838. 1838-1840 he was editor of the son of the fatherland . In 1841 he started the new edition of the monthly Russian Bote together with Nikolai Ivanovich Gretsch and was its only editor from 1842–1844. In 1839 he had settled in St. Petersburg .

In addition to his journalistic work, Polewoi worked as a historian. Apart from essays on historical topics, he wrote the history of the Russian people (volumes 1–6, 1829–1833), with which, in contrast to Karamsin's history of the Russian empire, instead of describing the rulers, wars and foreign policy events, the organic development of the Wanted to represent people from the beginning. In doing so, he was guided by Western European historiography, above all by François Guizot and Barthold Georg Niebuhr , and also went into the social order by being the first to apply the concept of feudalism to early Russia . The criticism from the Pushkin circle saw Polewoy's work as an unworthy parody of Karamsin's story . In an unedited review , however , Pushkin favorably rated the second volume, Polewois, as a very independent work. Initially, Polevoi planned twelve volumes for his history work and also announced such a subscription , but due to personal circumstances he was only able to complete six volumes, which earned him the accusation of financial irregularity. The last volumes were no longer as interesting as the first two, as he slipped into the traditional scheme of depicting rulership due to lack of time and only retold sources. His portrayal ended with the conquest of Kazan by Ivan the Terrible .

In addition to and after his story , Polewoi wrote a number of historical writings for a wide range of readers. For example, he denied in his work Little Russia , its inhabitants and its history (Moscow Telegraph No. 17-18 (1830)) strictly any ethnic and historical relationship between Great Russians and Little Russians, so that Little Russia was never the northern part of Russia, as Karamzin represented it.

Polewoi was also the author of dramatic works (4 volumes, 1842–1843), of which Ugolino , Parasha and Grandfather of the Russian Fleet were particularly well received.

Polewoi summarized his essays on Gawriil Romanowitsch Derschawin , Wassili Andrejewitsch Schukowski , Pushkin and other Russian writers in the book Essays on Russian Literature , the two parts of which appeared in 1839. In his later years he appeared against Vissarion Grigoryevich Belinsky and thus also against the so-called Gogolian direction in literature. Belinski polemicized against him, but recognized his significant contribution to literature in his necrology .

Nikolai Polewoy's son, Pyotr Nikolayevich Polewoi , also became a journalist and literary scholar .

literature

Web links

Commons : Nikolay Polevoy  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Polewoi, Nikolai Alexejewitsch . Meyers Konversations-Lexikon, Verlag des Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig and Vienna 1888, fourth edition, 1885–1892, volume 13, page 181. (accessed on October 22, 2015)
personal data
SURNAME Polewoi, Nikolai Alexejewitsch
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Никола́й Алексе́евич Полево́й (Russian spelling); Polevoj, Nikolaj Alekseevich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Russian journalist and historian
DATE OF BIRTH July 3, 1796
PLACE OF BIRTH Irkutsk
DATE OF DEATH March 6, 1846
Place of death St. Petersburg