Miklashevich, Varvara Semenovna

Born into a noble family, daughter of the Penza landowner. She married the provincial official Anton Osipovich Miklashevich (Miklashevichev), a Pole by birth.

In the 1790s, her name was first mentioned as a lady who appears in "in Penza in the society of Prince. I. M. Dolgorukov , vice-governor and poet with a reputation of “Jacobin”. Neglecting public opinion, the young lady visits her disgraced and abandoned official. During the years of the reign of Pavlov, such visits could have had the most adverse consequences, and Dolgorukov fully appreciated the dedication of the “romantic” woman, devoting her several grateful lines in “The Temple of My Heart” ” ^[1] .

After that, under Emperor Paul, her husband was arrested and spent some time in prison, then he was forgiven by the tsar and in 1800 was appointed to the village of Mikhailovskaya, on the Don. A pregnant wife followed him and gave birth to a child on the way ^[1] . In 1808, the boy died.

Belonged to the relatives and friends of A. A. Gendra (later (from 1816?) - his common -law wife ^[2] ), thanks to which he became close to A. S. Griboedov , A. I. Odoevsky and others ^[3] .

“1825 brought her new misfortunes: after the uprising on December 14, she tries to save A. I. Odoyevsky by sheltering him and giving him a dress for escape; Odoevsky’s arrest led to the involvement of Gendre in the investigation, and Miklashevich faces a threatening complete catastrophe. The gendar was soon released, but the arrested Griboedov was brought from the Caucasus; after that, the familiar Ryleyev was executed. The experiences of these months were remembered by her for a long time; the official authorities were aware of the sharply hostile attitude towards the government of the “old hag Miklashevich,” who, with her “serpentine tongue,” was spreading “rumors” about meetings at the widow of Ryleyev ” ^[1] .

In the 1800s, she wrote odes, which are preserved in the manuscript in Derzhavin's papers, with which she obviously was in correspondence.

In 1824, she appeared in literature as a translator from the French comedy “The Bedroom, or Half an Hour from the Life of the Duke of Richelieu” and “Testament, or Who Outwitted Who” by Marivo and Lesage.

Roman

Later she wrote a character-adventure novel “The Village of Mikhailovskoye, or the Landowner of the 18th Century” (1828-36; fully published 1864-65). This work depicted genuine events and faces, including the Decembrists. The novel was banned by censorship, walked in manuscripts and enjoyed success ^[3] .

In his memoirs, Gendre wrote: “A. S. Pushkin learned from me about the existence of the novel“ Mikhailovskoye Selo ”> and came to us to ask for this book. Here is his judgment conveyed to me, regardless of what he told the writer ...“ Like everyone it's exciting. ""

According to contemporaries, the hero of this novel, Alexander Zarinsky, designed to save all the oppressed, has as a prototype the Decembrist Alexander Odoevsky , who was given a fictitious happy fate as a writer ^[4] . The prototype of another character - Ruzin, was the young Griboedov ^[1] . The third main character - Ilmenev, is written off, as claimed by the author’s relatives, from Ryleyev .

Grech, in the preface to the novel, hints that it is based on real events. The gendar testified that it authorized "the atrocities really committed by the rich, unbridled passions of the landowner. The writer did not invent anything: in her book there is not a single person who did not live during the incident and would not act as she described it. ” According to him, the old-timers recognized every face of the novel. In “Penin” Panov was portrayed, seducing his niece, having killed her and hiding the corpse; he was then tried, punished with a whip, and exiled to Siberia. In "Olenka Penina", according to Gendra, the writer portrayed her youth, the heroine’s husband Zarinsky, like her husband Miklashevich, was arrested at the beginning of Paul’s reign. “Princess Emirova” - Princess S. I. Divletkildeeva, who, like the character of the novel, cut her hair because of the religious exaltation of her mother. "The Hermit Theodore" - a wealthy nobleman of the Ushakov family who refused the favors of Catherine II ^[1] .

Kotlyarevsky , characterizing this novel, writes: “The story takes place in the 18th century, in the circle of the old landlord's life, and revolves mainly around various love intrigues described and developed in the style of old adventure novels. The author, obviously, imitated Walter Scott , but not quite successfully. The story is terribly stretched (4 volumes) and is full of absolutely incredible dramatic positions. The novel, however, has its own merits (which made Pushkin praise him when he read the first chapters in the manuscript). Despite all the improbability of intrigue (even the dead are raised), the story in some of its parts is true and real. Good, for example, are descriptions of the life of the clergy of higher and lower (in the literature of the 30s there is no parallel to these descriptions - what is their great value) and very true are the stories about various landlord violence against peasants (these pages made the novel impossible to appear in print). It should be noted that throughout the course of the story there is absolutely nothing similar to the history of the December incident or the life history of one or another Decembrist ” ^[4] .

In 1830, Grech and Bulgarin published the first chapters in their "Son of the Fatherland." However, censorship subsequently prohibits publishing it several times. Miklashevich died in 1846 after the death of her novel was inherited by her pupil, and in the end was still published. The same Grech became the publisher and author of the preface to the novel when he went through censorship in 1864-1865. The novel was reprinted again in 1908 by I. Danilov with a preface based on the letters of A. A. Gendra. Danilov “corrected” the text of the novel according to his own understanding ^[1] .

• Danilov I., Forgotten writer, “Historical Bulletin”, 1900, Ї7; Bobrov E.
• A. S. Pushkin and V. S. Miklashevich, “Collection of the Scientific and Literary Society at Yuryev University”, 1908, v. 13.