Short biography: Saltykov-Shchedrin ME

Little in the history of Russian literature there are writers who would be so persistently and strongly hated as Saltykov-Shchedrin. Contemporaries called him "storyteller," and his works - "strange fantasies," which have nothing to do with reality. Meanwhile, today the work of the famous satirist and cartoonist remains fresh and relevant. About how difficult was the writer's way to the literary Olympus, tells the biography of Saltykov-Shchedrin, a brief summary of which we will consider in this article.

Youth

Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov is a Russian writer, nobleman, who was born in 1826 in a small village of Spas-Ugol (Tver Province). His first teacher was a simple serf Pavel, and then he was engaged in a priest and student of the theological academy. At the age of ten, the boy was sent to Moscow, to the nobility institute, and two years later to the Tsarskoe Selo Lyceum. It is here that his creative biography begins.

Saltykov-Shchedrin in the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum

Here, under the influence of the creativity of young poets, Mikhail Evgrafovich begins to write poetry. In his certificate at the end of the lyceum, along with such school misconduct as smoking and rudeness, writing of works of disapproving content will be recorded. Meanwhile a number of his poems are already published in the journal Sovremennik. However, Mikhail himself does not see the talent of the poet in himself, but he got carried away with literature seriously. From this period, his writer's biography is tied. Saltykov-Shchedrin becomes famous.

Popularity

At the end of the Lyceum, the future writer is enlisted in the military chancery. He is fond of French literature and he himself begins to write bibliographical notes, which are published in Otechestvennye zapiski. Four years after the end of the Lyceum, in 1848, he wrote the story "Confused Affair". This work clearly shows the author's attitude to serfdom and aversion to routine. These arguments about the fate of Russia could have gone unnoticed if it had not coincided with the French revolution. In the same year, the writer was sent to Vyatka, where his provincial biography would last for 7 long years.

Saltykov-Shchedrin in Vyatka

About the service of the writer in Vyatka for certain is not known so much. He served as a clerk in various state institutions. Meanwhile, provincial life during this period opened up for Saltykov an opportunity to better understand all the dark sides of the existence of the ordinary people. During his stay in Vyatka, Mikhail Evgrafovich writes "Provincial Sketches", and also compiles the "Brief History of Russia". Here he finds a wife, and in 1855 he is allowed to leave Vyatka.

Literary activity in the last years of life

In 1856, Saltykov was sent to Tver province, and in 1860 was appointed deputy governor of Tver. Continues his literary biography. Saltykov-Shchedrin at that time wrote a lot, published in well-known journals. And in 1863, after his resignation, he moved to Petersburg and became one of the editors of Sovremennik. In the last years of his life he writes stories and fairy tales, trying through humor and satire to convey to the reader the spirit of freedom and independence. In 1889 Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, whose biography is closely intertwined with the fate of the people, dies after a serious illness.