Novodvorsky, Andrey Osipovich

Born in 1853 in an impoverished Polish gentry family in Kiev province . Novodvorsky was 13 years old when his father died, and the responsibility to support his mother and sisters fell on him. He studied at that time in the Nemirov gymnasium , where he finished the course in 1870. Novodvorsky had to live in extremely unhygienic and humiliating conditions on “conditions”; it embittered his soul and ruined his health. In the 1870s, Novodvorsky for some time listened to lectures at the mathematics department of Kiev University , then moved to St. Petersburg and in 1877 made his debut in “ Domestic Notes ” with the story: “An episode from the life of neither paws nor ravens”, followed by several the stories are “Career”, “Aunt”, “Souvenir”, “Roman”, “Dreamers”, “History”, “Eve” (in “Domestic Notes”, “Word” and “New Review”). In 1881, he discovered fleeting sequel . At the expense of the literary fund, he was sent to Nice , where he died in hospital in April 1882, in poverty and complete solitude.

Only 15 years after his death, in 1897, stories of him scattered around old journals, and even those that were banned from extradition from libraries, were published separately (St. Petersburg, 1897). At that, there was a time when the “Episode from the life of neither paws nor crows” raised extraordinary expectations and when Shchedrin put Novodvorsky above V.M. Garshin . The adverse conditions in which Novodvorsky put the fate, responded to his works. The desire to reflect the mood that covered the generation of the late 70s of the XIX century and which, for external reasons, could not get a clear literary expression, led to the fact that all Novodvorsky's works are a series of allegories and hints. The indisputable gift of the story and subtle humor turned out to be powerless in this struggle with the inability to translate the author’s cute types and moods into certain images. Aspirations and faces, he unsympathetic, Novodvorsky draws exaggerated and sharp. In general, we get a little artistic disproportion and cartoon impression. Novodvorsky's best work - “An episode from the life of neither paws nor ravens”: this is a very original, sometimes brilliant mixture of fiction and journalism, where the characters are literary types - Pechorin , Rudin, Lermontovsky Demon, Bazarov , Elena from “ Eve ”. JS Turgenev appears on the scene, leading a conversation with Solomin from Novi.

• Gruzdev A.I. Novodvorsky-Osipovich // History of Russian Literature: In 10 tons. / Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Inst. Rus. lit. (Pushkin. House). - M .; L .: Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1941--1956. T. IX. Literature 70--80-ies. Part 2. - 1956. - p. 168--175.
• Osipovich (A.O. Novodvorsky) // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron : in 86 tons (82 tons and 4 extras). - SPb. , 1890-1907.