Alexander Sergeyevich
Pushkin
1799-1837
Russian Russian poet, playwright and novelist Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin, creator of the foundations of Russian realism, critic and literary theorist, historian, publicist. He was born in Moscow in the German settlement. The son of state councilor S.L. Pushkin and N.O. Hannibal, the granddaughter of the ancestor of the surname Hannibal, a blackamoor, godson of Peter I – A.P. Hannibal. Since 1811, he studied at the newly formed Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum near St. Petersburg, from which he graduated with the first graduation in 1817. After studying, he was appointed collegiate secretary to the College of Foreign Affairs, where he served until 1820. He began writing poetry at the Lyceum, already then attracting the attention of the most prominent writers of that time – V.A. Zhukovsky, K.N. Batyushkov, I.I. Dmitriev, N.M. Karamzin, P.Ya. Chaadaev, etc. He was a member of the literary societies “Arzamas”, where he was accepted back at the Lyceum, “Green Lamp”. In 1820, Pushkin’s poem “Ruslan and Lyudmila” was published, which was a huge success. Since 1824, he was in exile at his mother’s estate in the village of Mikhailovskoye near Pskov. In Mikhailovsky Pushkin wrote and completed the works “Gypsies”, “Count Nulin”, “Boris Godunov”, the first chapter of “Eugene Onegin”, etc. In 1829 he proposed to the first beauty of St. Petersburg, N.N. Goncharova, but did not receive the desired response from her mother. He went to the Caucasus to join his brother in the army. The result of this trip was a “Trip to Arzrum”. In the spring of 1830, he proposed to Goncharova again, and on May 6 their engagement took place. Before the wedding, he went to his Boldino estate in Nizhny Novgorod province, where he was forced to stay for several months due to cholera quarantine. In Boldino, “Eugene Onegin” was completed, which had been published since 1825. “Belkin’s Novellas” were written in chapters. After the wedding, the family lived for a short time on the Arbat in Moscow, after which they moved to St. Petersburg. In 1831, Pushkin began researching the history of Peter I and the Pugachev rebellion, which formed the basis for the story “The Captain’s Daughter”. He re-joined the Board of Foreign Affairs with the right to work in the archives for his research. In 1833, he made a trip to the places of the Pugachev rebellion. In the same year, he wrote fairy tales, the poem “The Bronze Horseman”, etc. After retiring, he became the first professional writer in Russia, living off the results of his work. In 1836 he founded the magazine Sovremennik. In 1837, he was killed due to a wound received during a duel. In Moscow, in memory of the great poet, a memorial plaque has been installed on the wall of A.S. Pushkin’s Memorial Apartment on the Arbat.
Address: Moscow, Arbat str., 53, building 1
