Almazov, Boris Nikolaevich

He came from the old noble family Almazov , belonging to the highest Moscow nobility. The son of a retired staff captain Nikolai Petrovich Almazov and Evdokia Petrovna Zubkova.

He spent his childhood in the clan village of Karavaevo (Smolensk province). Initially received a home education. In 1839 he was admitted to the 2nd grade of the 1st Moscow gymnasium , and as a boarder he lived with its director, M. A. Okulov. From the 4th grade of the gymnasium he was transferred to the boarding house of Ennes , graduating from which in 1848 he entered the law faculty of Moscow University . He attended lectures of famous professors-historians T.N. Granovsky and P.N. Kudryavtsev ; He did not graduate from a university course, since in 1850 he was expelled for non-payment.

In 1853, Almazov married S.Z. Voronina, whom she had previously given literature lessons. Family life brought with it serious material difficulties: the wife had no condition, and the offspring of the young couple grew rapidly. In search of a job in 1854, he was forced to enlist in the office of the trustee of the Moscow school district , from where in 1857 he transferred to the office of the Moscow synodal printing house . According to friends of Almazov,

he was the most impractical person in the world and could never get a job ... He was incapable of service.

- Averkiev D.V. Diary of a writer. 1885. No 4. Page 146

After serving several years, Almazov already in 1861 retired with the rank of provincial secretary.

The last years of the poet's life were overshadowed by the death of his wife (1874), leaving him to raise seven children (the family of Almazovs had already lost seven more children). Constant need and grief undermined the health of B.N. Almazov. He died at the Sheremetev hospital . He was buried in the Moscow Donskoy monastery (grave lost).

Since 1851 he took up literary activity. Thanks to close friendship with A. N. Ostrovsky and Apollon, Grigoryev joined the circle, the so-called "young editorial board" of the Moskvityan magazine. Which included, in addition to A. N. Ostrovsky and Ap. Grigoriev, Pisemsky, A. A. Potekhin , Pechersky-Melnikov , E. N. Edelson , L. A. May , Nikolai Berg , Gorbunov and others. None of them were Orthodox Slavophiles, but all of them were attracted to the Moskvites. that here they were free to justify their socio-political worldview on the foundation of Russian reality.

In “ Moskvityanin ” B. N. Almazov made his debut (under the pseudonym Erast Blagonravov ), with funny, witty feuilleton. Diamonds had more aesthetics than a politician . That is why it was so easy for him, after the release of The Moskvityanin, he transferred to the Library for Reading , which adheres to Westernist views and the English English Herald . Here he placed translations of works of various poets, occasionally original plays and critical articles.

With the advent of a number of satirical magazines at the very end of the 1850s, B. N. Almazov became one of the most prominent Russian figures in this genre of literature. His subtle witty poetic parodies, mostly placed in The Entertainment by Fedor Miller, gained great popularity. Of the works of Almazov, his weakest only story is Katenka. A number of critical works came out from under the pen of the writer, in particular, an article about Pushkin in the collection Morning. The main thesis of Almazov’s critical articles was the principle of “ art for art ” brought to extremes.

Whatever particular virtues a poetic work would shine, but if any philosophical idea develops in it, it is already devoid of freshness and represents stretches in construction

- B. N. Almazov

.

In the 1860-1870s, Almazov almost did not appear as a literary critic, but continued to work fruitfully as a poet and translator. He collaborates in the magazines Russky Vestnik (1861-1864, 1871-1872), Entertainment (1859-1866), Iskra (1861-1862), Splinter (1863), and Spectator of Public Life, Literature and sports ”(1862-1863) and others, where he publishes mainly humorous poems.

In 1863, under the pseudonym B. Adamantov published in Moscow a collection of parodies "Dissonances." Themes, plots, types that Almazov refers to are traditional for Russian democratic satire and humor. There are very few original poems by B. N. Almazov from the category of “serious” - about 15 plays. Here he acts as a “civilian” poet, scourging the various aspects of social life of the 1860s, unsympathetic to his conservative way of thinking. Basically, they are philosophical and imbued with a religious feeling ("Thunderstorm", "Calming"). Some poems, “The Scientific and Literary Masquerade,” “The Moscow Poet and the St. Petersburg Philistine,” and a number of others, were very successful. The poem “Russia and the West” written by him in 1854, the poems “The Old Russian Party” (1864), “The Russian Tsar”, are permeated by Slavophile mindsets.

His parodies are very good. Parodies of the author can be divided into two categories: general and special literary, where the piquancy lies in the fact that contemporary writers appear in comic positions. Of the latter, the most interesting are: "The funeral of" Russian Speech ", who died after a short but serious illness" and "Scientific and literary masquerade." The main property of the skits of B. N. Almazov is subtle, elegant, but at the same time, completely non-malicious humor. With all the impeccability of the technique and with all the indisputable wit, Almazov remains a funny parodist who never rose to satire.

Since the end of 1860, Diamonds translates a lot. A major work in this area was his first free translation into Russian of “ Songs of Roland ”, published in 1869 in Moscow under the name “Roland”.

In 1875 he published the novel Katenka, which was mainly designed in the spirit of the “ natural school ”.

The result in the work of B. N. Almazov was the collection of "Poems" (M., 1874), which incorporated almost everything previously written by the poet. Works of B. N. Almazov are collected in 3 volumes. (M., 1892).

Member of the Society of Lovers of Russian Literature .

Contemporaries perceived the work of B.N. Almazov in different ways. For the majority, he remained a gifted comedian, “singer of the minute” , and only a few saw the original look of an interesting Russian poet and critic, uncompromisingly defending his views on art.

• Works in 3 t. - M., 1892;
• Poems // Satire of the 60s. / Comp. N. Kravtsov, A. Morozov. - M .; L., 1932;
• Russian poetic parody (XVIII - beginning of XX century) / Entrance. Art., preparation. text and note. A.A. Morozova. - L., 1960 (according to the index);
• Poets of the 1860s / Entry. Art., preparation. text and note. I. G. Yampolsky. - L., 1968;
• A dream on the occasion of a comedy // Russian aesthetics and criticism of the 40-50s. XIX century / Prep. text, comp., intro. Art. and note. V.K. Kantora, A.L. Ospovata. - M., 1982.

• Russian Writers: Bibliographic Dictionary / Ed. P.A. Nikolaeva. - M .: Education, 1990. - Volume 1. A-L.
• Almazov, Boris Nikolaevich // Russian Biographical Dictionary : in 25 volumes. - SPb. - M. , 1896-1918.
• Almazov, Boris Nikolaevich // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
• Almazov, Boris Nikolaevich // Great Soviet Encyclopedia : [in 66 vol.] / Ch. ed. O. Yu. Schmidt . - 1st ed. - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia , 1926-1947.
• A dictionary of members of the Society of Amateurs of Russian Literature at Moscow University . - M .: Pechatnya A. Snegireva, 1911. - S. 9 ..

• Voinalovich E.V., Karmazinskaya M.A. B. N. Almazov: biobibliographic reference