Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet(real name Shenshin) (1820-1892) - Russian poet, corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1886).
Afanasy Fet was born December 5 (November 23, old style), 1820 in the village of Novoselki, Mtsensk district, Oryol province. He was the illegitimate son of the landowner Shenshin, and at the age of fourteen, by decision of the spiritual consistory, he received the surname of his mother, Charlotte Fet, at the same time losing the right to nobility. Subsequently, he achieved a hereditary noble rank and returned the surname Shenshin to himself, but the literary name - Fet - remained with him forever.
Athanasius studied at the verbal faculty of Moscow University, here he became close to Apollon Grigoriev and was a member of a circle of students who were intensively engaged in philosophy and poetry. While still a student, in 1840, Fet published the first collection of his poems - "Lyrical Pantheon". In 1845-1858 he served in the army, then acquired large lands and became a landowner. According to his convictions, A. Fet was a monarchist and a conservative.
The origin of Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet is still not fully understood. According to official version, Fet was the son of the Oryol landowner Afanasy Neofitovich Shenshin and Charlotte-Elizaveta Fet, who had fled from her first husband to Russia. The divorce proceedings dragged on, and the wedding of Shenshin and Fet took place only after the birth of the boy. According to another version, his father was the first husband of Charlotte-Elizabeth Johann-Peter Fet, but the child was born already in Russia and was recorded under the name of his adoptive father. One way or another, at the age of 14, the boy was recognized as illegitimate and deprived of all noble privileges. This event, which overnight turned the son of a wealthy Russian landowner into a rootless foreigner, had a profound impact on Fet's entire subsequent life. Wanting to protect their son from litigation regarding his origin, the parents sent the boy to a German boarding school in the city of Verro (Võru, Estonia). In 1837, he spent half a year in the Moscow boarding school of Mikhail Petrovich Pogodin, preparing to enter Moscow University, and in 1838 he became a student of the historical and philological department of the Faculty of Philosophy. The university environment (Apollon Aleksandrovich Grigoriev, in whose house Fet lived throughout his studies, students Yakov Petrovich Polonsky, Vladimir Sergeevich Solovyov, Konstantin Dmitrievich Kavelin, etc.) contributed to the formation of Fet as a poet in the best possible way. In 1840, he published the first collection of A. F. Lyrical Pantheon. The Pantheon did not produce much resonance, but the collection drew the attention of critics and opened the way to key periodicals: after its publication, Fet's poems began to appear regularly in Moskvityanin and Otechestvennye Zapiski.
You tell me: I'm sorry! I say goodbye!
Fet Afanasy Afanasyevich
Hoping to receive a letter of nobility, in 1845 Afanasy Afanasyevich enrolled in a cuirassier order regiment stationed in the Kherson province, with the rank of non-commissioned officer, a year later he received the rank of officer, but shortly before that it became known that from now on the nobility gives only the rank of major. During the years of the Kherson service, a personal tragedy broke out in the life of Fet, which left its mark on the subsequent work of the poet. Beloved Feta, daughter retired general Maria Lazich, died from burns - her dress flared up from a match accidentally or deliberately dropped. The version of suicide seems the most likely: Maria was a dowry, and her marriage to Fet was impossible. In 1853, Fet was transferred to the Novgorod province, having received the opportunity to visit St. Petersburg frequently. His name gradually returned to the pages of magazines, this was facilitated by new friends - Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov, Alexander Vasilyevich Druzhinin, Vasily Petrovich Botkin, who were part of the editorial board of Sovremennik. A special role in the poet's work was played by Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev, who prepared and published a new edition of Fet's poems (1856).
In 1859, Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet received the long-awaited rank of major, but the dream of returning the nobility was not destined to come true then - since 1856 this title was awarded only to colonels. Fet retired and, after a long trip abroad, settled in Moscow. In 1857 he married the middle-aged and ugly Maria Petrovna Botkina, receiving a solid dowry for her, which made it possible to purchase an estate in the Mtsensk district. “He has now become an agronomist - a master to the point of desperation, let go of his beard to his loins ... he doesn’t want to hear about literature and scolds magazines with enthusiasm,” I. S. Turgenev commented on the changes that happened to Fet. Indeed, for a long time, only accusatory articles about the post-reform state came out from the pen of a talented poet. Agriculture. “People don’t need my literature, and I don’t need fools,” Fet wrote in a letter to Nikolai Nikolaevich Strakhov, hinting at the lack of interest and misunderstanding on the part of contemporaries who were fascinated by civic poetry and populist ideas. Contemporaries answered in the same way: “All of them (Fet’s poems) are of such content that a horse could write them if it learned to write poetry,” this is the textbook assessment of Nikolai Gavrilovich Chernyshevsky.
TO literary creativity Afanasy Fet returned only in the 1880s after returning to Moscow. Now he was no longer the rootless poor Fet, but the rich and respected nobleman Shenshin (in 1873, his dream finally came true, he received a letter of nobility and his father's surname), a skilled Oryol landowner and owner of a mansion in Moscow. He again became close to his old friends: Polonsky, Strakhov, Solovyov. In 1881, his translation of the main work of Arthur Schopenhauer "The World as Will and Representation" was published, a year later - the first part of "Faust", in 1883 - the works of Horace, later Decimus Junius Juvenal, Gaius Valerius Catullus, Ovid, Maron Publius Virgil, Johann Friedrich Schiller, Alfred de Musset, Heinrich Heine and other famous writers and poets. Collections of poems published in small editions common name"Evening Lights" In 1890, two volumes of memoirs, My Memoirs, appeared; third, " early years my life", was published posthumously, in 1893.
By the end of life physical state Feta became unbearable: vision deteriorated sharply, aggravated asthma was accompanied by attacks of suffocation and excruciating pain. On November 21, 1892, Fet dictated to his secretary: “I don’t understand the conscious increase in inevitable suffering, I voluntarily go towards the inevitable.” The suicide attempt failed: the poet died earlier from apoplexy.
All Fet's work can be considered in the dynamics of its development. The first verses of the university period tend to glorify the sensual, pagan beginning. The beautiful acquires specific visual forms, harmonious and complete. There is no contradiction between the spiritual and carnal worlds, there is something that unites them - beauty. The search and disclosure of beauty in nature and man is the main task of the early Fet. Already in the first period, tendencies appear that are characteristic of later creativity. The objective world became less clear, and shades of the emotional state, impressionistic sensations came to the fore. The expression of the inexpressible, the unconscious, music, fantasy, experience, an attempt to capture the sensual, not the object, but the impression of the object - all this determined the poetry of Afanasy Fet in the 1850s-1860s. The later lyrics of the writer took shape largely under the influence of the tragic philosophy of Schopenhauer. The creativity of the 1880s is characterized by an attempt to escape into another world, the world of pure ideas and essences. In this, Fet was close to the aesthetics of the Symbolists, who considered the poet their teacher.
Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet passed away December 3 (November 21, old style), 1892, in Moscow.
“His articles, in which he advocated for the interests of the landowners, aroused the indignation of the entire advanced press. After a long break in poetic work, in his seventh decade, in the 80s, Fet published a collection of poems “Evening Lights”, where his work unfolded from new strength.
Fet entered the history of Russian poetry as a representative of the so-called "pure art". He argued that beauty is the only goal of the artist. Nature and love were the main themes of Fet's works. But in this relatively narrow sphere, his talent manifested itself with great brilliance. ...
Athanasius Fet especially skillfully conveyed the nuances of feelings, vague, fluent or barely nascent moods. "The ability to catch the elusive" - this is how criticism characterized this trait of his talent.
Poems by Athanasius Fet
Don't wake her up at dawn
At dawn she sleeps so sweetly;
Morning breathes on her chest
Brightly puffs on the pits of the cheeks.
And her pillow is hot
And a hot tiring dream,
And, blackening, they run on their shoulders
Braids tape on both sides.
And yesterday at the window in the evening
For a long, long time she sat
And watched the game through the clouds,
What, sliding, started the moon.
And the brighter the moon played
And the louder the nightingale whistled,
She became more and more pale
My heart was beating harder and harder.
That's why on a young chest,
On the cheeks so the morning burns.
Don't wake her, don't wake her...
At dawn she sleeps so sweetly!
I came to you with greetings
Say that the sun has risen
What is hot light
The sheets fluttered;
Tell that the forest woke up
All woke up, each branch,
Startled by every bird
And full of spring thirst;
Tell that with the same passion
Like yesterday, I came again
That the soul is still the same happiness
And ready to serve you;
Tell that from everywhere
Joy blows on me
I don't know what I will
Sing - but only the song matures.
There are some sounds
And cling to my headboard.
They are full of languid separation,
Trembling with unparalleled love.
It would seem, so what? resounded
Last gentle caress
Dust ran down the street
The postal stroller disappeared...
And only... But the parting song
Unrealizable teases love,
And light sounds are carried
And cling to my headboard.
Muse
How long has she visited my corner again,
Made you languish and love?
Whom did you incarnate this time?
Whose speech affectionate managed to bribe?
Give me a hand. Sit down. Light your torch of inspiration.
Sing, good one! In silence I recognize your voice
And I will stand, trembling, on my knees,
Memorize the verses sung by you.
How sweet, forgetting worldly excitement,
From pure thoughts to blaze and go out,
Your mighty smelling breath,
And listen to your eternally virginal words.
Come, heavenly, to my sleepless nights
More blissful dreams and glory and love,
And with a gentle name, barely spoken,
Bless my thoughtful work again.
All night the neighboring ravine thundered,
The brook, bubbling, ran to the brook,
Resurrected waters pressure last
He announced his victory.
Did you sleep. I opened the window
Cranes were crying in the steppe,
And the power of thought carried away
Beyond the borders of the native land,
Fly to the boundless, off-road,
Through the forests, through the fields, -
And under me spring shivers
The earth was moving.
How to trust the migratory shadow?
Why this instant affliction
When you are here; my good genius,
A troubled friend?
Learn from them - from the oak, from the birch.
Around winter. Tough time!
In vain, tears froze on them,
And cracked, shrinking, the bark.
All the angrier blizzard and every minute
vomits angrily last sheets, -
And a fierce cold grabs at the heart;
They stand silent; shut up and you!
But believe in spring. Genius will rush her
Breathing warmth and life again.
For clear days, for new revelations
A grieving soul will be ill.
Forgive and forget everything in your cloudless hour,
Like a young moon at the height of azure;
And they break into the outer bliss more than once
With the aspiration of the young frightening storms.
When under a cloud, transparent and pure,
The dawn will tell that the day of bad weather has passed, -
You will not find a blade of grass and you will not find a leaf,
So that he does not cry and does not shine with happiness.
With one push to drive the rook alive
From the smoothed ebb of the sands,
One wave to rise into another life,
Feel the wind from the flowering shores.
To interrupt a dreary dream with a single sound,
Get drunk suddenly unknown, dear,
Give life a sigh, give sweetness to secret torment
Someone else instantly feel your own,
Whisper about what the tongue goes numb to,
Strengthen the fight of fearless hearts -
That's what the singer only the chosen one owns,
That is his sign and crown!
Spruce covered the path with my sleeve.
Wind. In the forest alone
Noisy, and creepy, and sad, and fun,
I do not understand anything.
Wind. All around is buzzing and swaying,
Leaves swirl at your feet.
Chu, there is suddenly heard in the distance
Subtly calling horn.
Sweet call to me herald copper!
Dead sheets to me!
It seems that the poor wanderer came from afar
You warmly greet.
1891.
Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet - quotes
Night. Can't hear city noise. There is a star in the sky - and from it, Like a spark, a thought was sown Secretly in my sad heart. 
Mother! Look out of the window - To know, yesterday it was not for nothing that the cat Washed its nose: There is no dirt, the whole yard is covered, It brightened, turned white - It can be seen that there is a frost. Not prickly, light blue Frost is hung on the branches - Look at least you! As if someone with a thorny Fresh, white, puffy cotton wool All removed the bushes.
Long forgotten, under a light layer of dust, Cherished features, you are again in front of me And in the hour of mental anguish, you instantly resurrected Everything that was lost by the soul a long time ago. Burning with the fire of shame, the eyes again meet One credulity, hope and love, And faded patterns of sincere words From my heart to the cheeks drive blood.
If I meet a bright dawn in the sky, I tell her about my secret, If I approach the forest key And I whisper to him about the secret. And as the stars tremble in the night, I'm glad to tell them all night; Only when I look at you, I will never say anything.
From the thin lines of the ideal, From the children's sketches of the chela You have not lost anything, But all of a sudden you have gained. Your gaze is open and fearless, Although your soul is quiet; But yesterday's paradise shines in it And an accomplice of sin.
Born into the family of a landowner Afanasy Neofitovich Shenshin and a mother who left her husband Johann-Peter Fet for him. After fourteen years, the Oryol spiritual consistory returned to Athanasius the surname of his mother's previous husband, because of which he lost all the privileges of the nobility. Fet studied first at home, then was sent to a German boarding school in the city of Verro and brilliantly graduated from it in 1837.
In 1837, Afanasy Fet arrived in Moscow, studied at the boarding school of Professor M.P. Pogodin, and in 1838 he first entered the Faculty of Law, then the Historical and Philological Department of the Faculty of Philosophy of Moscow University.
In 1840, at his own expense, he published a collection of poems, Lyrical Pantheon A.F., which was praised in the Notes of the Fatherland and scolded in the Library for Reading.
In 1842-1843, his eighty-five poems were published in Fatherland Notes.
In 1845, Afanasy Fet entered as a non-commissioned officer in a cuirassier regiment stationed in the Kherson province, wanting to acquire hereditary Russian nobility. In 1846 he was awarded the first officer rank.
In 1847 permission was obtained from the censorship to publish the book and a book of poems was published in 1850. The verses were positive reviews in the magazines Sovremennik, Moskvityanin, Domestic Notes.
In 1853, Afanasy Fet moved to the Guards Lancers stationed near Volkhov, and began to visit St. Petersburg more often. Here he began to communicate with new edition"Contemporary" by N. Nekrasov, I. Turgenev, V. Botkin, A. Druzhinin.
In 1854, his poems began to be published in Sovremennik.
In 1856 Afanasy Fet left military service, in the rank of guards headquarters captain, without serving the nobility, and settled in Moscow. In 1857 he married M.P. Botkina.
In 1860 he bought an estate in the Mtsensk district and, in the words of I. Turgenev, "became an agronomist-owner to the point of desperation."
Since 1862, he began to regularly publish essays in the editorial "Russian Bulletin" that denounced the order in the countryside.
In 1867 - 1877 Afanasy Fet was elected a justice of the peace.
In 1873, the surname Shenshin was recognized as his surname and hereditary nobility was granted. During this period, he did little literary activity.
In 1881, Afanasy Fet bought a mansion in Moscow, and in the same year his translation of The World as Will and Representation by A. Schopenhauer was published.
In 1882, he published his translation of the first part of Faust by I.V. Goethe.
In 1883, Afanasy Fet began to publish his poems again in the form of collections "Evening Lights".
In 1888, the second part of "Faust" by I.V. Goethe in the translation of Athanasius Fet and the third collection of poems "Evening Lights".
Afanasy Fet died of a presumed heart attack on November 21 (December 3), 1892 in Moscow. He was buried in the village of Kleymenovo, the Shenshin family estate.
The future poet was born on November 23 (December 5, according to the new style), 1820 in the village. Novoselki of the Mtsensk district of the Oryol province (Russian Empire).
As the son of Charlotte-Elizabeth Becker, who left Germany in 1820, Athanasius was adopted by the nobleman Shenshin. After 14 years, an unpleasant event occurred in the biography of Afanasy Fet: an error was discovered in the birth record, which deprived him of his title.
Education
In 1837, Fet graduated from the private boarding school of Krimmer in the city of Verro (now Estonia). In 1838 he entered the Faculty of Philosophy at Moscow University, continuing to take a great interest in literature. He graduated from the university in 1844.
Creativity of the poet
IN short biography Fet is worth noting that the first poems were written by him in his youth. Fet's poetry was first published in the collection "Lyrical Pantheon" in 1840. Since then, Fet's poems have been constantly published in magazines.
In an effort to regain his title of nobility by all possible means, Afanasy Fet went to serve as a non-commissioned officer. Then, in 1853, in Fet's life, there is a transition to the Guards Regiment. Creativity Fet even in those days does not stand still. In 1850, his second collection was published, in 1856 - the third.
In 1857 the poet marries Maria Botkina. Having retired in 1858, without having achieved the return of the title, he acquires land, devotes himself to housekeeping.
Fet's new works, published from 1862 to 1871, make up the cycles "From the Village", "Notes on Freelance Labor". They include novels, short stories, essays. Afanasy Afanasievich Fet strictly distinguishes between his prose and poetry. Poetry is romantic for him, and prose is realistic.
In the Novoselki estate near the city of Mtsensk, Oryol province (now Mtsensk district, Oryol region).
According to other sources, Fet's date of birth is November 10 (October 29, old style) or December 11 (November 29, old style), 1820.
The future poet was born into the family of a landowner, retired captain Afanasy Shenshin, who in 1820 allegedly married abroad according to the Lutheran rite with Charlotte Fet, the daughter of Ober-Kriegs Commissar Karl Becker, who bore the surname Fet after her first husband. This marriage had no legal force in Russia. Until the age of 14, the boy bore the surname Shenshin, and then was forced to take the surname of his mother, as it turned out that the Orthodox wedding of his parents was performed after the birth of the child.
This deprived Fet of all noble privileges.
Until the age of 14, the boy lived and studied at home, and then was sent to a German boarding school in Verro, Livonia province (now the city of Vyru in Estonia).
In 1837, Afanasy Fet arrived in Moscow, spent half a year in the boarding house of Professor Mikhail Pogodin and entered Moscow University, where he studied in 1838-1844, first at the law department, then at the verbal department.
In 1840, the first collection of poems was published under the title "Lyrical Pantheon", the author took refuge behind the initials A.F. From the end of 1841, Fet's poems regularly appeared on the pages of the Moskvityanin magazine published by Pogodin. Since 1842, Fet has been published in the liberal Western journal Otechestvennye Zapiski.
In order to obtain the title of nobility, Fet decided to enter the military service. In 1845 he was accepted into a cuirassier regiment; in 1853 he moved to the Lancers Guards Regiment; in the Crimean campaign was part of the troops guarding the Estonian coast; in 1858 he retired as a staff captain, having not served the nobility.
During the years of military service, Afanasy Fet was in love with a relative of his provincial acquaintances, Maria Lazich, who influenced all his work. In 1850, Lazich died in a fire. Researchers single out a special cycle of Fet's poems related to Lazich.
In 1850, the second collection of Fet's poems, entitled "Poems", was published in Moscow. In 1854, while in St. Petersburg, Afanasy Fet became close to the literary circle of the Sovremennik magazine - Nikolai Nekrasov, Ivan Turgenev, Alexander Druzhinin, Vasily Botkin, and others. His poems began to be published in the magazine. In 1856, a new collection of "Poems by A.A. Fet" was published, reprinted in 1863 in two volumes, and the second included translations.
In 1860, Fet bought the Stepanovka farm in the Mtsensk district of the Oryol province, took care of the household, and lived there all the time. In 1867-1877 he was a justice of the peace. In 1873, the surname Shenshin with all the rights associated with it was approved for Fet. In 1877, he sold Stepanovka, which he had arranged well, bought a house in Moscow and the picturesque Vorobyovka estate in the Shchigrovsky district of the Kursk province.
From 1862 to 1871, in the journals Russkiy Vestnik, Literary Library, Zarya, Fet's essays were published under the editorial titles Notes on Volunteer Labor, From the Village, and On the Question of Hiring Workers.
In Stepanovka, Fet began work on the memoirs My Memoirs, covering the period from 1848 to 1889, they were published in 1890 in two volumes, and the volume Early Years of My Life was published after his death - in 1893.
A lot at this time, Fet was engaged in translations, completed mainly in the 1880s. Fet is known as a translator of Horace, Ovid, Goethe, Heine and other ancient and modern poets.
In 1883-1891, four issues of Fet's collection of poems "Evening Lights" were published. The fifth he did not sing to release. The poems intended for him were partly and in a different order included in the two-volume book published after his death " Lyric poems"(1894), prepared by his admirers - the critic Nikolai Strakhov and the poet K.R. (Grand Duke Konstantin Romanov).
Fet's last years were marked by signs of external recognition. In 1884, for the complete translation of the works of Horace, he received the Pushkin Prize of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, in 1886, for the totality of his works, he was elected its corresponding member.
In 1888, Fet received the court rank of chamberlain, personally introduced himself to Emperor Alexander III.
Afanasy Fet died on December 3 (November 21, old style) 1892 in Moscow. The poet was buried in the village of Kleymenovo, the Shenshin family estate.
Afanasy Fet was married to the sister of the literary critic Vasily Botkin, Maria Botkina.
The material was prepared on the basis of information from RIA Novosti and open sources
“Fet is the gentlest singer of elusive sensations,
airy, like the edges of evening clouds,
and strange - transparent,
like quiet, eerie waters of a deep backwater ... "
K. Balmont
The poetry of A. Fet is undoubtedly one of the pinnacles of Russian classical poetry. It is not as broad in scope, butunusually rich in various shades of feelings, emotional states. Nature and love were the main themes of Fet's works. But in this relatively narrow sphere, his talent manifested itself with great brilliance.A poet of great emotional power, Fet especially skillfully conveyed the nuances of feelings, vague, fluent, barely nascent moods.
critics noted “the poet’s ability to catch the elusive, to give an image and a name to what before him was nothing more than a vague fleeting sensation of the human soul, a sensation without an image and a name” (A.V. Druzhinin).
His poetry entered my worldview not in childhood with poems about nature, but in adolescence with poems about love with the first love, hopes, first disappointments and tears. I still remember this overwhelming shock from the number of emotions, moods, and words of his poems, which, as it seemed to me, reflected the movements of my soul, which I myself was not able to describe. He taught me to experience all shades of happiness, unhappiness, grief, fear, light sadness, sympathy, hope. And, most importantly, to be able to talk about these feelings ... In my opinion, this was the time when the “soul worked” and grew, so as not to remain flat and deaf, for which there is only black and white, good and bad. This is the main merit of the poetry of A. Fet.
He rightfully took his place in Russian literature, and occupies one of the leading places in terms of citation frequency. Remember “I came to you with greetings Tell me that the sun has risen”, “At dawn, you don’t wake her, At dawn she sleeps so sweetly”, “Whisper, timid breathing, Trills of the nightingale”, “No, I have not changed. Until deep old age, I am the same devotee, I am a slave of your love”, “A wonderful picture, How dear you are to me: White plain, Full moon” ...
Free yourself half an hour, fifteen minutes and in silence read A. Fet's poems aloud, together, with your loved ones or with your children. Read in a room in silence, in the alleys of hushed parks, on the edge of a forest, and you will immediately feel the foggy haze, fragrant spring, the sad babbling of a leaf, the growth of a midnight flower ...
One cannot but agree with K. Chukovsky: “Reading Fet is sweeter than any wine ... I began to read Fet, one poem after another, and still could not stop, chose my favorites and experienced such bliss that it seemed my heart could not stand it - and could not imagine that there are people somewhere for whom it is dead and not needed ... ".
Loving this poet, in her youth she never looked at his portrait. For me, he seemed like a beautiful, tall, slender young man with an amazing name and a surname that boggles the imagination. But how else could a sharply suffering and so subtly feeling person look like?
Today, peering into the portrait of A. Fet, already knowing his difficult life, I understand that two personalities lived in him, each with its own amazing world.
So much incredible and tragic intertwined in the fate of the poet that, perhaps, it would be enough for more than one person and could become the plot for the creation, for example, by Alexandre Dumas of another novel in the spirit of the Count of Monte Cristo.
First of all, these are two mysteries - birth and death.
It all started in 1820, when a Russian landowner Athanasius Shenshin appeared in a small German town, not rich, not handsome, not his first youth.
It is difficult to understand how he captivated the young German woman Charlotte Fet, but she left her husband, father, one-year-old daughter, everything dear and close, and fled with Shenshin to Russia, to his estate. And on October 29, 1820, the future poet was born in the village of Novoselki, Oryol province.
When Athanasius was 14 years old, the boy turned out to be "without a surname." The authorities decided that “the aforementioned Athanasius cannot be recognized as the son of Captain Shenshin” (since Charlotte Fet married Shenshin after the birth of her son, and arrived in Russia 2 months before the birth of the child). The boy was deprived of the name Shenshin, all the privileges associated with the title of a nobleman, and the right to receive an inheritance. For Fet, this was a blow, the consequences of which he experienced throughout his life. From that moment on, Fet had a fixed idea, to regain the title of a nobleman, by all means.
All his life, Fet considered his renaming a severe catastrophe. Having carried the name Fet for thirty years and having glorified him, he writes to his wife: “If you ask: what are the names of all the suffering, all the sorrows of my life, I will answer: their name is Fet.”
Earlier in literary criticism there were several versions about the birth of A. Fet. But already in 2002, the publication of the so-called "Darmstadt documents" appeared, which shed the truth on the first secret of A. Fet. I wish readers to understand this purely detective story on the basis of the article by Alexander Nikolayevich Nikolyukin (Literary Journal No. 30 Series "Literary Journal", book 30 http://www.litres.ru/pages/biblio_book/?art=10215360 Literary Journal No. 30 ). I concluded that the true name of the poet is Shenshin!
For 14 years he was the first son of a nobleman with a huge and illustrious pedigree, all privileges belonged to him. And suddenly, in an instant, the parents themselves deprive him of this in order to save the honor of his father, who was put on trial because of the illegality of the marriage. So, in the end, the boy received an “honest surname”, which became a source of dishonor and misfortune for him.
ridicule, uncomfortable questions, outright bullying rained down on the young man's head in the boarding house of Krimmer in the city of Veero. In 1838, Fet entered the verbal department of the philosophical faculty of Moscow University. Passion for poetry, the emerging belief in his poetic recognition were, of course, the reason for choosing the faculty. Just 2 years later, his first poetry collection “Lyrical Pantheon” was published, about which V. Belinsky said: “Of the poets living in Moscow, Mr. Fet is the most gifted.”
But A. Fet cannot focus on creativity and devote himself to poetry. He never for a moment forgets about his dream - to become a Russian nobleman. He sees its implementation through military service, because the officer rank at that time gave hereditary nobility. But even here disappointment awaited him, the new manifestos gave the right to confer the title of nobility only in the rank of colonel. But Fet does not dare to leave the military service: his new prepared collection is considered by publishers to be unprofitable. And he sees no other means of subsistence. The life of the poet passes among the barracks drill, in spiritual isolation.
At this time, the poet meets the daughter of a small estate nobleman Maria Lazich. Surprisingly poetic and at the same time tragic story worthy of a novelist's pen.
She was a serious, educated girl, an excellent musician, a lover of poetry. Her pretty appearance and inner beauty conquered Fet. And she herself recklessly fell in love with the one whose poetry she considered the pinnacle of perfection. A romance ensued.Fet spent many confidential evenings with Maria Lazich, love flared up more and more each time. They needed each other. However, Fet already understood that marriage was impossible for him ... “I am not marrying Lazich, and she knows this, but meanwhile she begs us not to interrupt our relationship ... This is a Gordian knot of love ... which the more I tighten, the tighter I tie , but I don’t have the spirit and strength to cut it with a sword ... ”(from a letter). It is impossible for Fet to part with his dream of nobility. Agree, amazing determination, for which he, 28 years old, is ready to throw love into the flames of a fire!
He severely breaks off relations with his beloved, despite her pleas.
But soon a tragedy occurs - Maria burns down in her Kherson house. Burning, she shouted: “Save the letters in the name of heaven!” ... Her torment lasted for another four days. “Is it possible to suffer more on the cross than I do?” her lips fluttered. And just before her death, Maria managed to whisper the last words, largely mysterious, but they sent forgiveness to her loved one: "He is not to blame, but I ...". On the fiery altar of love were placed humanis happiness and life itself.
Yesterday's dowry, submissive, rejected, ready to follow the poet at his first call, suddenly becomes inaccessible and royally majestic. From now on, it is she who becomes the inspirer of poetic lines filled with repentance, sadness and love. It was after the death of the beloved in Fetov's lyrics that motifs and images associated with fire became stable, whether it be a blazing fire, a blazing fireplace or a quivering candle flame.
From the poet's pen words of love, repentance, longing broke, often surprising in their fearless frankness. M. Lazich is dedicated to one of the best poems by Fet, written by him already in his declining years - “Alter Ego”:
Like a lily looking into a mountain stream,
You stood over my first song,
And was there a victory, and whose, -
By the stream or from the flower, by the flower or from the stream?
You understood everything with the soul of a child,
What did the secret power give me to say,
And even though I'm destined to drag out life without you,
But we are with you, we cannot be separated.
That grass that is far away, on your grave,
And I know, looking at the stars sometimes,
That we looked at them like gods with you.
Love has words, those words won't die.
A special judgment awaits you and me;
He will be able to distinguish us immediately in the crowd,
And we will come together, we cannot be separated!
Fet's fate changes dramatically in 1853. He manages to go toGuards Life Lancers Regiment, and Fet gets the opportunity to often visitPetersburg, to meet writers. His poems are published in "Contemporary", his name is becoming more and more famous.
In 1857, Fet married M.P. Botkina, daughter of a major tea merchant andsister of the critic V.F. Botkin. Marya Petrovna was an educated woman,good musician. She became her husband's assistant in both literary andeconomic affairs. But most importantly, she was heartily devoted to her husband, tied to him. Fet always felt this and could not help but be grateful. The dream came true: he is happy, rich ...
But fate still does not allow him to enjoy happiness! After the attacks of critics, he flees to the village, becomes a zealous owner, and for ten years serves as a fair justice of the peace. Afanasy Fet gave seventeen years to improve the living conditions of hundreds of peasants, to schools and hospitals for them. During all this time - not a single poem. With old verses - even worse. “For 26 years, not even a thousand copies of my collection have been sold…”
In 1873, already a well-known poet and wealthy landowner, having no practical need for this, he would directly turn to Emperor Alexander II, and then an imperial decree would be issued on “joining the retired guard captain Af. Af. Feta to the family of his father Shenshin, with all the rights, title and family belonging to him. From now on, he will sign all his letters only with the name of Shenshin, even markson silverware orders to remake.The struggle for the return of hereditary nobility lasted about 40 years. Many did not understand the activity of Afanasy Afanasyevich in this area. The phrase of Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev is known: “Like Fet, you had a name; like Shenshin, you only have a surname.” (Turgenev I. S. Complete collection of works and letters. T. 10. M. 1994. p. 339).
He thought otherwise.Two names corresponded to the two images of this man: the hereditary Russian nobleman Shenshin, from a young age pursued by an evil fate, and Afanasy Fet, a rootless poet who served as a priest in the temple of art. One of his comic messages to Academician F.E. Korshu ends with these words:
I am between the crying Shenshin,
And Fet I am only among those who sing.
(“Member of the Academy of the sick ...”, 1887)
Attitude towards Fet has always been ambiguous. For example, such a statement by D. Pisarev is known: “Over time, the compositions of Mr. Fet will only be used to wrap tallow candles, Meshchera cheese and smoked fish. And he defeated everyone. In some ways, even death itself.
There was a rumor that as soon as Repin finished the portraits of Mussorgsky, Pisemsky, Pirogov, the Italian stage master Mereya d'Argento, they soon disappeared. Argento was very intemperate in the pleasures of life.The craving for mysticism and all sorts of strange riddles, strong at all times, and here outweighed.
It got to the point that the famous collector of paintings, the creator of the Tretyakov Gallery, Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov, was afraid to order Repin a portrait of the aged poet Tyutchev. But still he could not restrain himself - he ordered. And what would you think? As soon as the artist took up the brush, the poet fell ill and soon died. It was not for nothing that strange and mystical conjectures crept among the artists: they say, “Repin has an extraordinary ability to melt living flesh and blood into paints. human body» (http://www.iv-obdu.ru/content/view/1009/169/)
When Repin painted that very canonical portrait of A. Fet, with a beard and a squint, everyone decided that Fet would certainly not be good. And he fooled everyone. No, Fet, of course, died. But only eleven years later.
On November 21, 1892, the poet solemnly drank a glass of champagne, surprising his wife a lot, and then found an excuse and sent her away from home. When Maria Petrovna left, Fet called his secretary and dictated: “I don’t understand the conscious increase in inevitable suffering. Volunteering towards the inevitable." And signed: "November 21, Fet (Shenshin)." Then he grabbed a steel stiletto, which was used for cutting papers, and tried to hit himself on the temple. But the secretary, having injured her hand, snatched the stiletto from the old man and wanted to give him a sedative. While she was pouring the potion into a glass, Fet ran out of the room and rushed into the dining room. The old man grabbed the door of the kitchen drawer with one hand, and reached for the knife with the other, but he could not take it. The secretary found Fet lying on the floor. Leaning towards him, she barely made out in his incoherent whisper only one word: "Voluntarily ...". Having said this, the poet lost consciousness and died a few minutes later...Fet's funeral was held in the village of Kleimenova. Until now, here, in the Shenshin family estate, the ashes of the famous Russian poet rest. And until now, all lovers, rejoicing and sad, read the poems of A. Fet, which teach our soul humanity, which means love ...
