Fet Afanasy Afanasyevich(real name Shenshin) (1820-1892) - poet, prose writer, publicist, translator.
Fet's life journey began with a severe test. His mother Caroline Charlotte Feth left Germany in 1820 with a Russian nobleman, retired captain A.N. Shenshin. Soon Afanasy was born, whom Shenshin adopts. Fourteen years later, the illegality of metric registration was discovered, and the Russian nobleman Afanasy Shenshin turned into a commoner - “foreigner Afanasy Fet”, who managed to obtain Russian citizenship only in 1846. Fet experienced everything that happened as a tragedy. He sets the goal of returning to the noble fold of the Shenshins and achieves it with fantastic tenacity.
From 1838 to 1844, Fet studied at the verbal department of the Faculty of Philosophy at Moscow University. There he studies the history of world culture and continues to write poetry, which he began to enjoy in his youth.
In 1840 it comes out the first collection of his poems “Lyrical Pantheon”, and since 1842, Fet’s poems regularly appear on the pages of magazines. “Of the poets living in Moscow, Mr. Fet is the most gifted,” writes Belinsky in 1843.
In 1845, the budding poet became a non-commissioned officer in a provincial regiment, since the first officer rank gave the right to receive hereditary nobility. In 1853, he managed to transfer to a privileged guards regiment, stationed not far from the capital. Fet establishes connections with St. Petersburg writers.
In 1850, a second collection of the poet’s poems was published in Moscow. In 1856, the third was published in St. Petersburg, attracting the attention of poetry connoisseurs and lovers.
In 1858, Fet retired. The nobility was not received, and in 1860 the poet acquired land plot, becoming a common landowner. This still infringes on his worldview: the status of a landowner-nobleman is unattainable for him. And he writes almost no poetry, does housework, and acts as a conservative publicist. Democratic criticism greets with hostility a two-volume collection of his lyrics from the 40s and 50s (1863).
From 1862 to 1871, Fet’s two largest prose cycles were published in magazines: “From the Village” and “Notes on Freelance Labor.” The defining principle in the cycles is journalism, but at the same time this is real “village” prose: the cycles consist of essays, short stories and even short stories. Fet's poetry and prose are artistic antipodes. The author himself persistently differentiated them, believing that prose is the language of everyday life, and poetry expresses the life of the human soul. Everything that was rejected by Fet’s poetry was accepted without tension by his prose. Hence the duality of his poetics: in poetry Fet follows the romantic tradition, and in prose - the realistic one.
Fet’s diverse journalistic prose largely prepared The final stage his poetic creativity (1870-1892).
In 1873, with the permission of the tsar, commoner Fet turned into nobleman Shenshin. I.S. Turgenev immediately responded to this: “Like Fet you had a name, like Shenshin you only have a surname.”
Having become a wealthy landowner, Fet is also involved in charitable activities: helping loved ones, organizing a literary evening in Moscow in favor of the hungry, working on setting up a hospital, “doing a lot of good to neighboring peasants.” It is characteristic that during these years, as if in defiance of the achieved well-being, Fet began to experience feelings of melancholy and dissatisfaction with himself. In one of his letters he writes: “Now I freeze like the earth in autumn,” in another he complains of “almost absolute loneliness.” Fet finds his only joy in poetry. The creative upsurge of the early 80s continues until the end of his life. He publishes four editions of the poetry collection “Evening Lights” and is engaged in translation activities, which were awarded the Pushkin Prize.
Even during the poet’s life, he was seen, on the one hand, as Fet, a master of the poetic word; on the other, Shenshin, a prudent landowner and conservative publicist. The opposition between Fet and Shenshin has become familiar.
Fet is a romantic. Not without reason, back in the 1850s, criticism noted his gift for “catching the elusive” and capturing “ethereal shades of feeling.”
IN love lyrics Fet also offers optimistic, life-affirming motives. This is also typical for the poet’s later works, created during 1882-1892 (for example, “Another forgettable word...”, “In the steppe wilderness, above the silent moisture...”, “Although happiness was not granted to me by fate...” ." and etc.).
Fet's poetry is distinguished by its musicality, variety of rhythms and sounds. That is why it served as excellent material for the romances of many Russian composers: Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, etc. According to Saltykov-Shchedrin, Fet’s romances “are sung by almost all of Russia.”
The poet lived a long and difficult life. The historical fate of his inheritance is also verydramatic. Fet entered literature in 1840. Pushkin was no longer there; Lermontov published his only collection of poetry; Tyutchev was known to a narrow circle of connoisseurs; a new generation of poets was just emerging. In the 1840-50s, Fet's fame began to grow. But in the next thirty years, Fet’s desire to prove by any means that he belonged to the “three hundred years of nobility” alienated a wide democratic reader from him, overshadowing the main thing in him - his enormous talent as a lyricist. Of his confession he And I didn't see it. 1892, the last year in Fet’s life, was the eve of the publication of Bryusov’s collections “Russian Symbolists”. At the turn of the century, during a new heyday of Russian poetry, interest in Fet quickly increased. It gradually became clear that over half a century of literary activity he opened a new chapter in the history of Russian poetry, starting “not the calendar, the real twentieth century” (A. Akhmatova).
Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet (correctly Fet) for the first 14 and last 19 years of his life officially bore the surname Shenshin. Born November 23 (December 5), 1820 in the Novoselki estate Mtsensk district Oryol province - died on November 21 (December 3), 1892 in Moscow. Russian lyricist of German origin, translator, memoirist, corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1886).
Father - Johann-Peter-Karl-Wilhelm Feth (Föth) (1789-1825), assessor of the Darmstadt city court.
Mother - Charlotte Elizabeth Becker (1798-1844). Sister - Caroline-Charlotte-Georgina-Ernestina Föt (1819-1868).
Stepfather - Shenshin Afanasy Neofitovich (1775-1855).
Maternal grandfather - Karl-Wilhelm Becker (1766-1826), privy councilor, military commissar.
Paternal grandfather - Johann Föt.
Paternal grandmother - Miles Sibylla.
Maternal grandmother - Gagern Henrietta.
On May 18, 1818, the marriage of 20-year-old Charlotte Elisabeth Becker and Johann Peter Karl Wilhelm Vöth took place in Darmstadt. In 1820, a 45-year-old Russian landowner, hereditary nobleman Afanasy Neofitovich Shenshin, came to Darmstadt for the waters and stayed in the Fetov house. A romance broke out between him and Charlotte-Elizabeth, despite the fact that the young woman was expecting her second child. On September 18, 1820, Afanasy Neofitovich Shenshin and Charlotte-Elizabeth Becker secretly left for Russia.
On November 23 (December 5), 1820, in the village of Novoselki, Mtsensk district, Oryol province, Charlotte Elizabeth Becker had a son, who was baptized in the Orthodox rite on November 30 and named Athanasius. In the registry book he was recorded as the son of Afanasy Neofitovich Shenshin. However, the couple got married only in 1822, after Charlotte-Elizabeth converted to Orthodoxy and began to be called Elizaveta Petrovna Fet. In 1821-1823, Charlotte-Elizabeth gave birth to a daughter, Anna, and a son, Vasily, from Afanasy Shenshin, who died in infancy, and in May 1824, a daughter, Lyuba.
Johann Feth married his daughter Caroline's teacher in 1824. On November 7, 1823, Charlotte Elisabeth wrote a letter to her brother Ernst Becker in Darmstadt, complaining about ex-husband Johann Peter Karl Wilhelm Fet, who frightened her and offered to adopt her son Afanasy if his debts were paid. On August 25, 1825, Charlotte-Elizabeth Becker wrote a letter to her brother Ernst about how well Shenshin takes care of her son Afanasy: “no one will notice that this is not his natural child.”
In March 1826, she again wrote to her brother that her first husband, who had died a month earlier, had not left her and the child any money: “to take revenge on me and Shenshin, he forgot his own child, disinherited him and put a stain on him... Try, if possible, to ask our dear father to help restore this child to his rights and honor; he should get a surname..." Then, in the next letter: "... It is very surprising to me that Fet forgot and did not recognize his son in his will. A person can make mistakes, but denying the laws of nature is a very big mistake. Apparently, before his death he was quite ill...”
When Afanasy Shenshin was 14 years old, the diocesan authorities found out that he was born before marriage, and he was deprived of his surname, Russian citizenship and nobility and became “Hessendarmstadt subject Afanasy Fet.” This event changed my whole life young man. Along with his surname, he lost his position in society and the right to inheritance. The goal of his life was to obtain a noble title, so he went to serve in a cuirassier regiment, despite the fact that he graduated from the verbal department of the Faculty of Philosophy of Moscow University. According to the laws of that time, along with the officer rank, the rank of nobility was also given, and a junior officer rank could be obtained after six months of service. However, it was at this time that Nicholas I issued a decree according to which only senior officers were entitled to nobility, and this meant that Athanasius would have to serve for 15-20 years.
Only in 1873 Afanasy Fet officially returned his surname Shenshin, but literary works and continued to sign translations with the surname Fet.
In 1835-1837, Afanasy studied at the German private boarding school of Krümmer in Verro (now Võru, Estonia). At this time he began to write poetry and show interest in classical philology. In 1838 he entered Moscow University, first at the Faculty of Law, then at the historical and philological (verbal) department of the Faculty of Philosophy. Studied for 6 years: 1838-1844.
In 1840, a collection of Fet’s poems, “Lyrical Pantheon,” was published with the participation of Apollo Grigoriev, Fet’s friend from the university. In 1842 - publications in the magazines “Moskvityanin” and “Domestic Notes”. In 1845 he entered military service in the cuirassier regiment of the Military Order and became a cavalryman. In 1846 he was awarded the first officer rank.
In 1850, Fet's second collection was published, which received positive reviews critics in the magazines Sovremennik, Moskvityanin and Otechestvennye zapiski. At this time, Maria Kozminichna Lazich, the poet’s beloved, died, to whose memories the poem “Talisman”, the poems “Old Letters”, “You suffered, I still suffer...”, “No, I have not changed. Until deep old age..." and many of his other poems.
In 1853, Fet was transferred to a guards regiment stationed near St. Petersburg. The poet often visited St. Petersburg, then the capital of Russia. There Fet met with, and others, as well as his rapprochement with the editors of the Sovremennik magazine.
In 1854 he served in the Baltic Port, which he described in his memoirs “My Memoirs”.
In 1856, Fet's third collection was published, edited by I. S. Turgenev.
In 1857, Fet married Maria Petrovna Botkina, sister of the critic V.P. Botkin.
In 1858 he retired with the rank of guards captain and settled in Moscow.
In 1859, the poet broke up with the journalist Dolgoruky A.V. from Sovremennik.
In 1863, a two-volume collection of Fet's poems was published.
In 1867, Afanasy Fet was elected justice of the peace for 11 years.
In 1873, Afanasy Fet was returned to the nobility and the surname Shenshin. The poet continued to sign his literary works and translations with the surname Fet.
In 1883-1891 - publication of four issues of the collection “Evening Lights”.
Died on November 21, 1892 in Moscow. According to some reports, his death from a heart attack was preceded by a suicide attempt. He was buried in the village of Kleymenovo, the family estate of the Shenshins.
Family of Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet:
Wife - Botkina Maria Petrovna (1828-1894), from the Botkin family. Her brothers: V. P. Botkin, a famous literary and art critic, author of one of the most significant articles about the work of A. A. Fet, S. P. Botkin - a doctor, after whom a hospital in Moscow is named, D. P. Botkin - collector of paintings. There were no children in the marriage.
Nephew - E. S. Botkin, shot in 1918 in Yekaterinburg along with the family of Nicholas II.
Being one of the most sophisticated lyricists, Fet amazed his contemporaries by the fact that this did not prevent him from being at the same time an extremely businesslike, enterprising and successful landowner. in many works, especially in the novel “The Diary of a Provincial in St. Petersburg,” he was repeatedly and completely unfairly accused of adherence to the serfdom.
The famous palindrome phrase written by Fet and included in “The Adventures of Buratino” by A. N. Tolstoy - "And the rose fell on Azor's paw".
Philologist O. Sharovskaya writes about him: “There are no complete psychological portraits, characters, the images of the addressees are not outlined, even the image of the beloved is abstract. There is also no lyrical hero in the narrow sense: nothing is known about his social status, life experience, habits. The main place of “action” is generally a garden, a house in general, etc. Time is presented as “cosmic” (the existence of life on earth - its disappearance), natural (time of year, time of day) and only in general view as biological (life-death, youth or, more precisely, years of full strength - old age, and there are no milestones or boundaries here), but in no case historical time. Thoughts, feelings, sensations are expressed that are intended to have a universal significance, albeit small, private, but understandable to any thinking and feeling person.”
Fet is a late romantic with a clear inclination towards psychological realism and accuracy of subject descriptions, but is thematically narrow. Its three main themes are nature, love, art (usually poetry and most often “song”), united by the theme of beauty.
Russian poet ( real name Shenshin), corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1886). The lyrics of nature, filled with specific signs, fleeting moods human soul, musicality: “Evening Lights” (collections 1 4, 1883 91). Many poems are set to music.
Biography
Born in October or November in the village of Novoselki, Oryol province. His father was a wealthy landowner A. Shenshin, his mother was Caroline Charlotte Föth, who came from Germany. The parents were not married. The boy was registered as the son of Shenshin, but when he was 14 years old, the legal illegality of this recording was discovered, which deprived him of the privileges given to hereditary nobles. From now on he had to bear the surname Fet, the rich heir suddenly turned into a “man without a name,” the son of an unknown foreigner of dubious origin. Fet took this as a shame. Regaining his lost position became an obsession that determined his entire life. life path.
He studied at a German boarding school in the city of Verro (now Võru, Estonia), then at the boarding school of Professor Pogodin, a historian, writer, and journalist, where he entered to prepare for Moscow University. In 1844 he graduated from the literature department of the university's Faculty of Philosophy, where he became friends with Grigoriev, his peer and fellow poet. Gogol gave Fet his “blessing” for serious literary work, saying: “This is an undoubted talent.” Fet's first collection of poems, "Lyrical Pantheon", was published in 1840 and received Belinsky's approval, which inspired him to further work. His poems have appeared in many publications.
In order to achieve his goal of regaining the title of nobility, in 1845 he left Moscow and entered military service in one of the provincial regiments in the south. He continued to write poetry.
Only eight years later, while serving in the Life Uhlan Guards Regiment, he got the opportunity to live near St. Petersburg.
In 1850, the magazine Sovremennik, owned by Nekrasov, published Fet's poems, which aroused the admiration of critics of all directions. He was accepted among the most famous writers (Nekrasov and Turgenev, Botkin and Druzhinin, etc.), thanks to literary earnings, he improved his financial situation, which gave him the opportunity to travel around Europe. In 1857 in Paris, he married the daughter of a rich tea merchant and the sister of his admirer V. Botkin M. Botkina.
In 1858, Fet retired, settled in Moscow and energetically engaged in literary work, demanding from publishers an “unheard-of price” for his works.
A difficult life path developed in him a gloomy outlook on life and society. His heart was hardened by the blows of fate, and his desire to compensate for his social attacks made him a difficult person to communicate with. Fet almost stopped writing and became a real landowner, working on his estate; he is elected magistrate in Vorobyovka. This went on for almost 20 years.
At the end of the 1870s Fet with new strength started writing poetry. The sixty-three-year-old poet gave the collection of poems the title “Evening Lights.” (More than three hundred poems are included in five issues, four of which were published in 1883, 1885, 1888, 1891. The poet prepared the fifth issue, but did not manage to publish it.)
In 1888, in connection with the “fiftieth anniversary of his muse,” Fet managed to achieve the court rank of chamberlain; he considered the day on which this happened to be the day when the surname “Shenshin” was returned to him, “one of happy days own life".
Afanasy Fet is an outstanding Russian poet, translator and memoirist, corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. His poems are known and read not only in Russia, but also far beyond its borders.
Afanasy Fet in his youth Soon he successfully passed the exams at Moscow University at the Faculty of Law, but then transferred to the verbal department of the Faculty of Philosophy.
At the university, the student became friends with the famous writer and journalist Mikhail Pogodin.
While studying at the university, Afanasy Fet did not stop composing new poems. One day he wanted to know Pogodin’s opinion regarding his work.
He responded positively to his poems and even decided to show them.
Imagine Fet’s surprise when he learned that his works made a wonderful impression on famous writer. Gogol called the young poet “an undoubted talent.”
Fet's works
Inspired by praise, in 1840 Afanasy Fet published a poetry collection “Lyrical Pantheon”, which was the first in his creative biography. Since that time, his poems began to appear in various Moscow publications.
A few years later, serious changes occurred in Fet’s life. In 1844, his mother and beloved uncle passed away.
It is worth noting that after his uncle’s death, he expected to receive an inheritance from him. However, for some unknown reason, the money disappeared.
As a result, Afanasy Afanasyevich was left practically without a livelihood. To make a fortune, he decided to become a cavalryman and rise to the rank of officer.
In 1850, Afanasy Fet’s second collection was published, which aroused great interest among critics and ordinary readers. After 6 years, a third collection appeared, edited by.
In 1863, Fet published a two-volume collection of his own poems. It contained many lyrical works in which he perfectly described human qualities. In addition to poetry, he was also fond of writing elegies and ballads.
It is worth noting that Afanasy Fet gained great popularity as a translator. During his biography, he managed to translate both parts of Faust and many works of Latin poets, including Horace, Juvenal, Ovid and Virgil.
An interesting fact is that at one time Fet wanted to translate the Bible into synodal translation he considered unsatisfactory. He also planned to translate the Critique of Pure Reason. However, these plans were never destined to come true.
Poems by Fet
Among the hundreds of poems in Fet’s biography, the most popular are:
- If the morning makes you happy...
- Steppe in the evening
- I'll just meet your smile...
- I stood motionless for a long time...
- I came to you with greetings...
Personal life
By nature, Afanasy Fet was quite extraordinary personality. Many saw him as a serious and thoughtful person.
As a result, his admirers could not understand how such a closed personality managed to vividly, vividly and easily describe nature and human feelings.
One day in the summer of 1848, Fet was invited to a ball. While meeting the invited guests and watching the dancing, he noticed a black-haired girl, Maria Lazic, who was the daughter of a retired general.
It is interesting that Maria was already familiar with the work of Afanasy Fet, since she loved poetry.
Soon correspondence began between the young people. Later, the girl inspired Fet to write many poems and played an important role in his biography.
However, Afanasy Fet did not want to propose to Maria, since she was as poor as he was. As a result, their correspondence ceased, and at the same time any communication.
Soon Maria Lazic died tragically. An accidentally thrown match caused her outfit to catch fire, as a result of which she received many burns incompatible with life.
Some biographers of Fet claim that the death of the young beauty was suicide.
When the writer gained some popularity and was able to improve his financial situation, he went on a trip to the cities of Europe.
Abroad, Fet met a wealthy woman, Maria Botkina, who later became his wife. And although this marriage was not for love, but for convenience, the couple lived a happy life together.
Death
Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet died on November 21, 1892 from a heart attack at the age of 71.
Some researchers of Fet's biography believe that his death was preceded by a suicide attempt, but this version has no reliable facts.
The poet was buried in the village of Kleymenovo, the Shenshin family estate in the Oryol region of Russia.
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Fet (Shenshin) Afanasy Afanasyevich. Biography
Fet (Shenshin) Afanasy Afanasyevich (1820-1892), Russian poet, translator, memoirist
Childhood
Afanasy Fet was born on November 23, 1820 in Novoselki, a small estate located in the Mtsensk district of the Oryol province. His biological father- Johann Peter Wilhelm Feth, assessor of the city court in Darmstadt, mother - Charlotte Elisabeth Becker. Being seven months pregnant, she left her husband and secretly left for Russia with 45-year-old Afanasy Shenshin. When the boy was born, he was baptized according to the Orthodox rite and named Athanasius. He was recorded as the son of Shenshin. In 1822, Charlotte Elizabeth Fet converted to Orthodoxy and married Afanasy Shenshin.
Education
Afanasy received brilliant education. The talented boy found it easy to study. In 1837, he graduated from a private German boarding school in the city of Verro, in Estonia. Even then, Fet began to write poetry and showed interest in literature and classical philology. After school, in order to prepare for entering the university, he studied at the boarding house of Professor Pogodin, a writer, historian and journalist. In 1838, Afanasy Fet entered the law, and then the philosophical faculty of Moscow University, where he studied in the historical and philological (verbal) department.
At the university, Afanasy became close to one of the students, Apollon Grigoriev, who was also interested in poetry. Together they began to attend a circle of students who were intensively studying philosophy and literature. With the participation of Grigoriev, Fet released his first collection of poems, “Lyrical Pantheon.” The young student’s creativity earned Belinsky’s approval. And Gogol spoke of him as “an undoubted talent.” This became a kind of “blessing” and inspired Afanasy Fet to further work. In 1842, his poems were published in many publications, including the popular magazines Otechestvennye zapiski and Moskvityanin. In 1844, Fet graduated from the university.
Military service
In 1845, Fet left Moscow and joined a provincial cuirassier regiment in southern Russia. Afanasy believed that military service would help him regain his lost noble title. A year after the start of his service, Fet received the rank of officer. In 1853 he was transferred to a guards regiment, which was stationed near St. Petersburg. He often visited the capital, met with Turgenev, Goncharov, Nekrasov, and became close to the editors of the popular magazine Sovremennik. In general, the poet’s military career was not very successful. In 1858, Fet retired, having risen to the rank of headquarters captain.
Love
During his years of service, the poet experienced a tragic love, which influenced all of his further work. The poet's beloved, Maria Lazic, was from a good but poor family, which served as an obstacle to their marriage. They broke up, and after some time the girl tragically died in a fire. The poet kept the memory of his unhappy love until his death.
Family life
At the age of 37, Afanasy Fet married Maria Botkina, the daughter of a wealthy tea merchant. His wife was not particularly young or beautiful. It was a marriage of convenience. Before the wedding, the poet revealed to the bride the truth about his origins, as well as about a certain “family curse” that could become a serious obstacle to their marriage. But Maria Botkina was not afraid of these confessions, and in 1857 they got married. A year later, Fet retired. He settled in Moscow and devoted himself to literary work. His family life was quite prosperous. Fet increased the fortune that Maria Botkina brought him. True, they did not have children. In 1867, Afanasy Fet was elected justice of the peace. He lived on his estate and led the lifestyle of a real landowner. Only after the return of his stepfather's surname and all the privileges that a hereditary nobleman could enjoy did the poet begin to work with renewed vigor.
Creation
Afanasy Fet left a significant mark on Russian literature. He published his first collection of poems, “Lyrical Pantheon,” while he was studying at the university. Fet's first poems were an attempt to escape reality. He sang the beauty of nature and wrote a lot about love. Even then, his work showed characteristic- he spoke about important and eternal concepts with hints, knew how to convey the subtlest shades of moods, awakening pure and bright emotions in readers.
After the tragic death of Maria Lazic, Fet's work took on a new direction. He dedicated the poem “Talisman” to his beloved. It is assumed that all subsequent poems by Fet about love are dedicated to it. In 1850, a second collection of his poems was published. It aroused the interest of critics, who did not skimp on positive reviews. At the same time, Fet was recognized as one of the best modern poets.
Afanasy Fet was a representative of “pure art”; he did not touch upon pressing social issues in his works and remained a convinced conservative and monarchist until the end of his life. In 1856, Fet published his third collection of poems. He praised beauty, considering this the only goal of his work.
The heavy blows of fate did not pass without a trace for the poet. He became bitter, broke off relations with friends, and almost stopped writing. In 1863, the poet published a two-volume collection of his poems, and then there was a twenty-year break in his work.
Only after the poet’s stepfather’s surname and the privileges of a hereditary nobleman were returned to him, he took up creativity with renewed vigor. Towards the end of his life, Afanasy Fet's poems became more and more philosophical, they contained metaphysical idealism. The poet wrote about the unity of man and the Universe, about supreme reality, about eternity. Between 1883 and 1891, Fet wrote more than three hundred poems, which were included in the collection “Evening Lights.” The poet published four editions of the collection, and the fifth was published after his death.
Death
Afanasy Fet died of a heart attack. Researchers of the poet's life and work are convinced that before his death he tried to commit suicide.
Main achievements
Afanasy Fet left behind a great creative legacy. Fet was recognized by his contemporaries, his poems were admired by Gogol, Belinsky, Turgenev, Nekrasov. In the fifties of his century, he was the most significant representative of poets who promoted “pure art” and sang “eternal values” and “absolute beauty.” The work of Afanasy Fet marked the completion of the poetry of new classicism. Fet is still considered one of the most brilliant poets of his time.
The translations of Afanasy Fet are also of great importance for Russian literature. He translated Goethe's entire Faust, as well as the works of a number of Latin poets: Horace, Juvenal, Catullus, Ovid, Virgil, Persius and others.
Important dates in life
1820, November 23 - born in the Novoselki estate, Oryol province
1834 - was deprived of all privileges of a hereditary nobleman, the Shenshin surname and Russian citizenship
1835-1837 - studied at a private German boarding school in the city of Verro
1838-1844 - studied at the university
1840 - the first collection of poems “Lyrical Pantheon” was published
1845 - entered the provincial cuirassier regiment in southern Russia
1846 - received officer rank
1850 - the second collection of poems “Poems” was published
1853 - joined the guards regiment
1856 - the third collection of poems was published
1857 - married Maria Botkina
1858 - retired
1863 - a two-volume collection of poems was published
1867 - elected justice of the peace
1873 - returned noble privileges and the surname Shenshin
1883 - 1891 - worked on the five-volume “Evening Lights”
1892, November 21 - died in Moscow from a heart attack
Interesting Facts from life
In 1834, when the boy was 14 years old, it turned out that legally he was not the son of the Russian landowner Shenshin, and the recording was made illegally. The reason for the proceedings was an anonymous denunciation, the author of which remained unknown. The decision of the spiritual consistory sounded like a sentence: from now on Afanasy had to bear his mother’s surname and was deprived of all the privileges of a hereditary nobleman and Russian citizenship. From a wealthy heir, he suddenly became a “man with no name,” an illegitimate child of dubious origin. Fet perceived this event as a shame, and the return of his lost position became a goal for him, an obsession that largely determined the poet’s future life path. Only in 1873, when Afanasy Fet was 53 years old, his lifelong dream came true. By decree of the tsar, the noble privileges and the surname Shenshin were returned to the poet. Nevertheless, he continued to sign his literary works with the surname Fet.
In 1847, during military service, in the small estate of Fedorovka, the poet met Maria Lazich. This relationship began with light, non-binding flirting, which gradually grew into a deep feeling. But Maria, a beautiful, well-educated girl from a good family, still could not become a good match for a man who hoped to regain his noble title. Realizing that he truly loved this girl, Fet, however, decided that he would never marry her. Maria took this calmly, but after some time she decided to break off relations with Afanasy. And after some time, Fet was informed about the tragedy that occurred in Fedorovka. A fire broke out in Maria's room and her clothes caught fire. Trying to escape, the girl ran out onto the balcony, then into the garden. But the wind only fanned the flames. Maria Lazic was dying for several days. Her last words were about Athanasius. The poet suffered this loss hard. Until the end of his life, he regretted that he did not marry the girl, because there was nothing else in his life. true love. His soul was empty.
The poet bore a heavy burden. The fact is that there were crazy people in his family. His two brothers, already adults, lost their minds. At the end of her life, Afanasy Fet’s mother also suffered from madness and begged to take her life. Shortly before Fet's marriage to Maria Botkina, his sister Nadya also ended up in a psychiatric clinic. Her brother visited her there, but she did not recognize him. The poet often noticed attacks of severe melancholy. Fet was always afraid that in the end he would suffer the same fate.