Verenitsyn, Konstantin Vasilyevich

Of the yard people, originally had the surname Vasiliev (the same as the middle name). At the age of 11, he received his free will from landowner Vasily Bondyrev, and at 17, having signed up as a tradesman , he took the name Verenitsyn. It is possible that Verenitsyn was the illegitimate son of his landowner, and later Bondyrev’s relatives took care of his fate. He studied at the parish school in Gorodok , then (after receiving his freedom) at the Vitebsk Provincial Gymnasium and at the St. Petersburg Medico-Surgical Academy (1852-1854).

Gorki Agricultural Institute in the XIX century. Drawing by Napoleon Orda

On April 15, 1855, the manuscript of “Taras on Parnassus” is dated, written by Verenitsyn in Gorodok, with his signature (known from the list from the collection of A. F. Rypinsky , the description of which M. Piotukhovich compiled in the 1930s came to us). In 1857–1859, he studied at the Gorygoretsky Agricultural Institute (he entered the third year at a time) and obtained the qualification of an agronomist, having defended his thesis “On the Belarusian Economy”. April 7, 1860 dated the poem "Two Devils", also preserved in Rypinsky's collection, marked "Moscow" (it is not known about the presence of Verenitsyn in Moscow from other sources, perhaps he was looking for work there). Then Verenitsyn withdrew from literature. In general, no known documents, except Rypinsky’s lists, do not associate his personality with literary activity. Nevertheless, the well-known details of his biography correspond to the alleged appearance of the author “Taras”, as literary scholars presented him: a native of Vitebsk, from peasants, a man of Russian culture (unlike the Polish orientation of most other applicants for authorship), was in St. Petersburg (“Taras” shows a close acquaintance with the Russian literary life, a portrait of Bulgarin , probably written in it from nature), he studied at the Gorygoretsky Institute, with which tradition consistently linked the origin of the poem.

After graduation, Verenitsyn ran an estate in the Mogilev province , in 1874–1879 he taught geography and natural science at a teacher’s seminary in Molodechno , but due to poor health (he had typhus and pneumonia) he left. Between 1875 and 1879, Verenitsyn married the widow of the provincial secretary, Elizaveta Alekseevna Pol; they apparently did not have children, in any case, they are not mentioned in his official lists. From 1880 he served in St. Petersburg as an official of the Ministry of Railways in the office of the minister, rose to the rank of State Counselor . When in 1889 “ Taras on Parnassus ”, previously distributed in lists, was first published in the Minsk Leaf newspaper (later reprinted several times, attributed to V. Dunin-Martsinkevich , then Frantishka Bogushevich , then V. Rovinsky , or another authors), Verenitsyn did not declare his authorship.

He lived in Petersburg at the address: Povarskoy Lane , 12 (now number 13). Earlier in the same house lived Turgenev, Nekrasov, Chernyshevsky. Verenitsyn retired in 1900 and died shortly before February 1904, when new documents were issued to his widow. The exact date of his death is unknown, as is the place where he is buried; there is not even a certainty that he died in St. Petersburg, since in the archives of the churches closest to his house, a record of his funeral was not found for the corresponding period.

Verenitsyn’s authorship regarding the poem “Taras on Parnassus” (previously considered anonymous) was proved in the 1970s by the Minsk researcher Gennady Kiselev .

In 1968, in the emigrant press (Anton Adamovich, Munich), information appeared on the unknown lists of Taras for Parnassus, compiled in the 1860s by the writer A. Rypinsky and in the 1920s in the collection of literary critic M. Piotuhovich. According to Adamovich, in these lists the author of "Taras" was Konstantin Verenitsyn, about whom Piotukhovich told his students that this was a pseudonym. Five years later, this publication reached G. Kiselev, who found in archival documents information about the real Konstantin Verenitsyn and found out his biography, which fully corresponded to the intended appearance of the author “Taras”. Kiselev also admitted that his compatriot and fellow practitioner EF F. Vul (the real name is Karafa-Korbut ) was co-author of Verenitsyn. Attempts to find authentic Rypinsky's lists were not crowned with success (Piotukhovich was shot in 1937; the lists died either during his arrest or during the war, if he managed to transfer them to the libraries of Minsk). However, in 1986 in Moscow V. Skalaban discovered Piotukhovich’s unpublished article with a detailed description of Rypinsky’s lists, which included discrepancies in the text of “Taras Parnassus” and the full text of the previously unknown work, also signed in the name of Verenitsyn - “Two Devils”. Another early list of “Taras on Parnassus” (the so-called Krakow) was also found, although anonymous, but reflecting the same early version of the text as Rypinsky’s list.

Subsequently, the point of view according to which Verenitsyn was the author of "Taras" was recognized by most literary critics ^[1] .

For both works, Verenitsyn is characterized by the use of the traditions of burlesque , a humorous iroi-comic poem (traveled world of gods, devils) in combination with literary and everyday satire. Living pictures of peasant (“Taras”) and urban (“Two Devils”) life have a specific geographic reference - this is Vitebsk and its province. His predecessor was Vikenty Rovinsky , author of the unfinished Belarusian version of the Ukrainian Aeneid of Kotlyarevsky , which is cited in one place in Taras on Parnassus; Kotlyarevsky’s direct influence is also highly probable. Verenitsyn language - Belarusian northeastern Vitebsk dialects.

Verienitsyn's verse is basically syllabic-tonic (“Taras” - iambic , “Two Devils” - trochee ), but characteristic for him in significant numbers compared with Russian verse perecentsentuatsii and eliezie vowels at the junction of words.

In 2001, in the homeland of K. Verenitsyn in Ostrovlyany and Gorodok, memorial signs were installed in honor of the poem “Taras on Parnassus” and its likely author.