Zagoskin, Mikhail Nikolaevich

Born July 14, 1789 in the family of the Penza landowner Nikolai Mikhailovich Zagoskin (1761-1824) and Natalya Mikhailovna, aunt of the infamous N. S. Martynov . Zagoskin's father bought a large number of books at fairs and gave them to his children to read. At the age of 11, the future writer composed the tragedy “Leon and Zideya” and the story “Hermit” (not preserved).

In 1802, the son of the Penza governor Philip Vigel brought his second cousin Misha Zagoskin to St. Petersburg , where he entered the service of the office of the state treasurer Golubtsov :

“He was then fourteen years old, and according to the then custom, he was prepared for service, although his teaching was not only not finished, it seems to me that it was not even begun. The name of Misha, by whom he was called, was very respectable to him; he was rather stern and clumsy, like a teddy bear. He had a rather severe, but fresh and beautiful face. "

- F. Vigel ^[2]

Indeed, Zagoskin received a mediocre home education and subsequently made numerous grammatical errors in manuscripts, some of which ended up in print media.

After three years of service, Zagoskin was a Senate registrar . In 1807 he moved to the mining department ; then he served in the State Assignation Bank for two years and in 1811 was transferred to the Department of Mining and Salt Affairs. I did not receive help from my parents. He lived on the salary received with his uncle educator Prokhor Kondratievich, whom he portrayed in the novel Miroshev.

In the midst of the French invasion , on August 9, 1812, Zagoskin enlisted in the St. Petersburg militia , which was intended to reinforce Wittgenstein's corps. When the militia entered the first battle on October 6 when Polotsk was captured , Zagoskin was wounded in the leg and received the Order of St. Anne of the 4th degree with the inscription "For Bravery". After treatment, he returned to the regiment, was appointed adjutant to Count F.F. Leviz, and stayed in this position throughout the war. After the capture of Danzig (December 24, 1813), the militia was dissolved.

In 1814, Zagoskin returned to his family estate, Ramzai, where he wrote the one-act comedy “The Prankster.”

Return to Petersburg

At the beginning of 1815, Mikhail Nikolayevich returned to St. Petersburg, and again entered the service of the Department of Mining and Salt Affairs for the position of assistant to the head captain . In the years of St. Petersburg (1815-1820) he rented an apartment in the apartment building of Yakovlev on 96 Nevsky Prospect .

In St. Petersburg, Zagoskin sends a letter to the playwright Prince A. A. Shakhovsky , who at that time served as a member of the repertoire of the state theater, in writing. Shakhovskoi wished to meet an unknown author. The Prankster was staged in St. Petersburg once or twice. The play “Prankster” was followed by the play “Comedy Against Comedy, or Lesson to Red tape”. She was accompanied by much greater success, the play often went to theaters, and Zagoskin became a famous writer.

In 1816, Zagoskin left the mining department; at the end of 1817 he was appointed assistant to the member of the repertoire of the Directorate of the Imperial Theaters. In the same year, Zagoskin published and edited the Northern Observer magazine, which was a continuation of Korsakov ’s Russian Desert, or Observer of Domestic Morals journal. In the journal Zagoskin writes articles under a pseudonym, leads the theater section. At this time, he writes and puts on the comedies Bogatonov, or Provincial in the Capital and the Party of Scientists, and two interludes: Makaryevskaya Fair and Lebedyanskaya Fair.

In 1818, Mikhail Nikolayevich joined the Imperial Public Library as an assistant librarian. In December 1819, Zagoskin was elected a full member of the Society of lovers of Russian literature . This year, he wrote a one-act play, “A Romance on the High Road,” and a comedy in three acts, “The Good Little.” In July 1820, Zagoskin left the post of assistant librarian and moved to Moscow.

In Moscow

In Moscow, Zagoskin begins to write poetry. At the beginning of 1822, a comedy appeared in the poems “A Lesson from the Single, or Heirs”. In 1823, his new play, The Village Philosopher, was staged. Zagoskin’s plays were very successful in Moscow theaters.

In May 1822, Zagoskin entered the service of an official of special assignments under the Moscow military governor-general with the correction of the post of forwarder in the theater department, and since 1823 he has been a member of the economic part of Moscow theaters.

For several years, Zagoskin collects materials for a historical novel from the era of the Time of Troubles and in 1828-1829 processes them. At the end of 1829, a historical novel in three parts “ Yuri Miloslavsky, or Russians in 1612 ” was published. The novel received enthusiastic responses and soon became the most popular novel in Russian ^[3] . V. G. Belinsky called "Yuri Miloslavsky" "the first good Russian novel." "Yuri Miloslavsky" was translated into 6 languages ^[4] .

After the triumph of "Yuri Miloslavsky," Zagoskin received the position of manager of the office of the Imperial Moscow Theaters. In 1833 he became a full member of the Russian Academy , and after joining it to the Academy of Sciences - an honorary academician of the latter in the department of Russian language and literature.

In 1837, Zagoskin was promoted to state councilor with the appointment of director of the imperial Moscow theaters. Five years later, he received the post of director of the Moscow Armory , which he held until the end of his life. An adherent of all that is traditional, in journal articles Zagoskin took up arms against “our skeptics, Europeans, liberals” ^[5] , opposed the introduction of foreign words into the Russian language.

Zagoskin, who died at the age of 62, was buried in the Novodevichy Convent in Moscow. In Soviet times, his tombstone was destroyed ; however, when it was recognized as a mistake, the tombstone was restored .

In literature, Zagoskin made his debut comedy "Prankster" (1815). In his plays Bogatonov in the Village, or Surprise to Himself (1821), A Lesson from the Singles, or Heirs (1822), A Village Philosopher (1822), Rehearsal at the Station (1827), and Noble theater ”(1827) find imitation of French comedy.

In 1829, focusing on the fashionable works of Walter Scott , Zagoskin wrote the novel “ Yuri Miloslavsky, or the Russians in 1612 ”, which “had immediate and resounding success and remained deservedly popular for about a hundred years among not very picky readers” ^[1] . Continuing the historical theme, in 1831 Zagoskin publishes the novel “Roslavlev, or Russians in 1812”. The first edition of the novel was quickly sold out. Soon two more editions followed ^[6] . Before the advent of War and Peace , this was the most popular book about the Patriotic War of 1812.

In 1833, Zagoskin’s third historical novel, Askold's Grave, about the distant times of Vladimir Krasno Solnyshko, was released . To the author’s surprise, the “ancient Slavonic” coloring of the novel was poorly received by the public. Based on this book, Zagoskin created a libretto for the Verstovsky opera of the same name . The opera was staged in 1835 and enjoyed great popularity.

Zagoskin’s historical novels were designed in the spirit of official patriotism and served as a kind of illustration of the theory of official nationality . Related to this is Zagoskin’s rejection in Soviet times, when it was believed that “his fervent serf patriotism ^[7] often reached the point of comicism” ^[8] . D. Mirsky notes in his novels “a lack of true historical color, crude nationalism and cardboard psychology” ^[1] .

After the failure of the Askold's Grave, Zagoskin stopped writing about Russian history for a while. Under the influence of “ Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka ”, he publishes a whole volume of Gothic South Russian tales of demons and ghosts entitled “ Evening on Khopre ” (1834).

The short story “White Ghost” from this collection contains a detective line, which makes the work a “protodetective” of Russian literature. The author offers the reader two interpretations of events - realistic and fantastic ^[9] .

In 1837, the first part of "The Stories of Mikhail Zagoskin" was published. The second part of The Tales includes Three Grooms, Provincial Essays, and Kuzma Roshchin. Zagoskin’s books were well sold out; "Homesickness" in 1839 required a new edition.

In 1842, Zagoskin’s three-part novel “Kuzma Petrovich Miroshev” was published about the times of Catherine II . Critics put him on a par with Yuri Miloslavsky. In 1846, Zagoskin’s popular novel, The Bryn Forest, was published about the first years of the reign of Peter I , and in 1848, the novel Russians at the Beginning of the Eighteenth Century. After that, Zagoskin no longer wrote major works.

Four issues of ethnographic and everyday essays were published under the title “Moscow and Muscovites” (1842-1850); the comedies “Dissatisfied”, “Lesson to Mothers,” “The Outside City,” “Travel Abroad,” “The Married Groom,” and others. In total, Zagoskin published 29 volumes of novels, short stories, and short stories, 17 comedies and one vaudeville.

The memory of Zagoskin is immortalized in his native village of Ramzai with a monument and a plaque. In Penza, one of the streets is named after the writer.

Awards

• Order of St. Anne 4th Art. with the inscription "For courage" (01/03/1813)
• Order of St. Vladimir 4th art. (03/20/1823)
• Order of St. Anne , 2nd art. (08/12/1824)
• Order of St. Vladimir 3rd art. (04/13/1840)
• Order of St. Stanislav 1st Art. (01/14/1845)
• Order of St. Anne 1st Art. (09/03/1851)

In 1816, contrary to the wishes of relatives, Zagoskin married the illegitimate daughter of team leader Dmitry Alexandrovich Novosiltsev (1758-1835) ^[10] - Anna Dmitrievna Vasiltsovskaya (06.26.1792-26.03.1853), who brought him to the dowry village of Abakumovo, Pronsky district . After moving to Moscow, he settled in Gagarinsky Lane at his influential father-in-law, D. A. Novosiltsev. S. T. Aksakov recalled the cramped circumstances of the Zagoskin before the publication of "Yuri Miloslavsky" brought the head of the family all-Russian fame ^[11] :

“Zagoskin lived in the house of his father-in-law, on the mezzanine with his wife and children, and was placed very closely. I saw that my visit confused him. The room in which he received me was a checkpoint; all our conversations could be heard by strangers from neighboring rooms, and we also heard everything that was said about us, especially because we talked loudly around, not at all embarrassed by the presence of the host who was hosting the guest. Zagoskin, very quick-tempered, blushing incessantly, ran out, even tried to calm obscene noise, but I heard that they answered him with laughter. I understood the situation of poor Zagoskin in the midst of a spoiled, arrogant lackey, in the house of the gentleman, who was a reflection of the old Russian capricious gentleman of Catherine’s times, apparently not too respecting his son-in-law.

The sons Dmitry were born in the marriage (05.23.1818-10.01.1870), Nikolai and Sergey (05.15.1833-25.02.1897) ^[12] , who served in the archival service to the rank of Privy Councilor and left interesting memoirs.

• Complete works of Zagoskin, with biography. essay and a list of everything he wrote. - SPb., 1889. - in 7 volumes.
• Skabichevsky A. Our historical novel in its past and present // Collected Works. - ed. 3rd - SPb., 1903. - T. 2.
• Maykov Val. M.N. Zagoskin // Collected Works. - Kiev, 1903. - T. 1.
• Aksakov S. Biography of Zagoskin. - SPb., 1913.
• Grigoryev Ap. The development of the idea of ​​nationality in our literature since the death of Pushkin // Collected Works. - M., 1915. - V. 3.
• Sakulin P.N. Russian literature. - M., 1929. - Part 2, III.
• Meziere A.V. Russian literature from the 11th to the 19th centuries inclusive. - SPb., 1902. - Part 2.
• Vengerov S. A. Sources of the dictionary of Russian writers. - SPb., 1910. - T. 2.
• Vladislavlev I.V. Russian writers. - ed. 4th. - L .: Guise, 1924;
• Horses F. A. M. N. Zagoskin and censorship // Under the banner of science. - M., 1902.
• Peskov A.M. Zagoskin Mikhail Nikolaevich // Russian writers 1800-1917. Biographical Dictionary / Editor-in-Chief P.A. Nikolaev. - M .: Great Russian Encyclopedia, 1991. - T. 2: G — K. - S. 304-306. - 623 p. - 60,000 copies. - ISBN 5-85270-064-9 .
• List of cavaliers of the Russian imperial and tsarist orders. - St. Petersburg, 1850.
• The list of cavaliers of the Russian imperial and tsarist orders, all mercifully granted during 1851, serves as an addition to the general cavalier list. - St. Petersburg, 1852.
• Nefyodov V.V. “Patriarch of Moscow novelists”. // Sura, 2017, No. 3, pp. 167-176.

• A.O. Round . Zagoskin, Mikhail Nikolaevich // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron : 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
• Zagoskin, Mikhail Nikolaevich in the library of Maxim Moshkov
• Kopylov A. N. Creative path of M. N. Zagoskin in the light of literary criticism of the 1st half of the 19th century // Modern Humanitarian Studies. 2010. No. 6. S. 75-80.
• Tyustin A.V. Zagoskin Mikhail Nikolaevich (07.14.1789 - 06.23.1852) (Russian) // Tyustin A.V., Shishkin I.S. They increased the fame of Penza. - Penza: Iceberg, 2012. - T. 1 (A-L): [biogr. words.] . - S. 124-125 . - ISBN 978-5-94428-091-6 .