Alexander Nikolaevich Radishchev (20 (31) August 1749, Moscow - 12 (24) September 1802, St. Petersburg) - Russian writer, philosopher, poet, director of the St. Petersburg customs and a member of the Commission for the drafting of laws.
Alexander Nikolaevich Radishchev was born on August 20, 1749 into a family of noble roots. Radishchev's grandfather was an orderly for Peter I, then served in the Guards troops. Radishchev's father, being a very educated person, preferred the military service to housekeeping. Alexander himself was the first child in the family.
Radishchev was educated according to the gymnasium program, then was sent to Leipzig to continue his education. After returning to St. Petersburg, Radishchev was appointed a protocol officer in the Senate.
Alexander Nikolaevich devoted his whole life to literary work. Many works on historical, political and philosophical themes belong to him. Most famous work - "Travel from St. Petersburg to Moscow" - was completed in 1790. In the same year, for distributing this book, Radishchev was arrested and sent to Siberian exile, where he spent five years. Until 1801, Alexander Nikolaevich lived under constant police supervision.
Then, at the request of A.R. Vorontsov, Radishchev became a member of the Commission for Drafting Laws, here he worked for the rest of his life. Radishchev died on September 12, 1802.
Serfs were the tutors of Alexander Radishchev. On early years life of Nicholas, they taught him to write and read. It was then that the child discovered the hardships of the life of the peasants - from the serfs he learned about the hardheartedness of the neighboring landowners. The stories of their abuse of the serfs left a deep mark on the boy's soul, which later turned into hatred of the oppressors. Upon reaching the age of six, a Frenchman was invited into the house, who later turned out to be a fugitive soldier. And he practically did not know French. I had to part with him. In 1756, the father took his son to Moscow - to the house of a relative of his mother. The latter was the nephew of the director of Moscow University. Alexander Radishchev began his studies at the gymnasium program of the university. True, he received knowledge at home, but just like high school students, he attended exams, participated in disputes, and had access to a bookstore at the university. Alexander read a lot.
In 1762, Alexander Radishchev became a page. By this time he was a young man who had received an excellent education. As a result, he was enrolled in the court service. He became a page. In 1764, Alexander made his first journey. As part of the Corps of Pages, he accompanied the Empress from Moscow to St. Petersburg. Arriving in Petersburg, he found himself completely alone in a city unfamiliar to him; here he spent more than two years - from 1764 to 1766.
Radishchev was sent to study in Germany. In 1766, the empress sent twelve young noblemen abroad to the University of Leipzig. Alexander Radishchev also set out to comprehend legal sciences. Among the young people, Fyodor Vasilyevich Ushakov was noticeably different - being the oldest (at that time he was 19 years old), he had an acute thirst for knowledge (for this he even abandoned an advantageous job as an official), thanks to which he soon became the head of the group. Studying in Leipzig lasted five years ... In addition to studying the subjects provided by the program, Alexander Radishchev was interested in literature, foreign languages, medicine. Students began to come to Russia in 1771.
Alexander Nikolaevich's literary activity began while studying in Leipzig. Here he began translating a political brochure by the politician Geek. The choice of this particular topic for translation speaks of the corresponding hobbies of Radishchev.
In 1771, Radishchev was promoted to a protocol officer. After returning to his homeland, Alexander Nikolaevich became a protocol officer in the Senate. He received the rank of titular councilor.
Radishchev did not confine himself to working in the Senate. In his spare time, he was engaged in the translation of the work of G.B. de Mable, a famous French thinker. In the summer of 1773, Alexander Nikolaevich wrote an autobiographical novel. It was called The Diary of a Week. Working in such an institution as in the Senate provided the young author with a huge amount of material for reflection on the fate of the country, the established state system, etc. Radishchev described some details of his service in his work. True, this work saw the light after many years - the story was published only in 1811 (after the death of the author).
Alexander Nikolayevich learned about the beginning of the uprising under the leadership of Pugachev in the Finnish division. Here he received the post of a regimental judge. It is likely that Radishchev personally saw the execution of Pugachev on January 10, 1775. This uprising led Alexander Nikolaevich to the idea of \u200b\u200bhow much the autocracy harms the development of the country, and also to the fact that it is possible to get rid of oppressive serfdom only with the help of armed struggle.
In March 1775, Alexander Nikolaevich insisted on resignation. However, after a while Radishchev was accepted to the post of legal consul. Count Vorontsov, who occupies a prominent place among state dignitaries, appreciated the abilities of Alexander Nikolaevich and contributed to the appointment of Radishchev to a higher post. In 1780 he became assistant manager of the St. Petersburg customs, where he served until 1790. Then he was appointed manager of the Petersburg customs.
The best works of art Alexander Nikolaevich Radishchev belongs to the 80s of the 18th century. It was during these years that excellent historical, artistic and journalistic works were created. In 1780 Radishchev wrote The Lay of Lomonosov. Alexander Nikolaevich's ode "Liberty", written in the period from 1781 to 1783, opened the Russian revolutionary direction in literature. In 1788, Radishchev finished working on his second autobiographical story. Its content included a description of Radishchev's studies in Leipzig. He spoke about his comrades, with whom he whiled away his university years, as well as the important role of education and upbringing. In the same years, Alexander Nikolaevich wrote several treatises on the history of the Fatherland and the state of customs in the Russian Empire.
Radishchev is a member of the Society of Verbal Sciences. He entered it in the second half of the 80s. At the meetings of the society, Radishchev read his articles, in which he talked about nobility, compassion, good manners and other virtues.
Radishchev is the author of Travel from St. Petersburg to Moscow. General ledger in life path Radishchev was completed in 1790. This work immortalized the name of Alexander Nikolaevich in the memory of his descendants. Only now the empress did not appreciate his efforts at all, called him a "rebel", and even worse than Pugachev - such acute problems were covered in this book. Nobody dared to publish this work of Radishchev, so Alexander Nikolaevich took up this business personally - he organized a printing house on the second floor of his St. Petersburg house. Radishchev was able to publish about 650 copies of the book, some of which were already on sale in May 1790. Radishchev presented several copies to his friends. What did Catherine the Great dislike when she actually read this book? Its main theme was the inhuman attitude of the landowners with their serfs. But more than that, he dared to justify the armed revolt of the peasants against the cruel masters - to change the state system, in his opinion, could only be an uprising.
For his convictions, Radishchev was arrested. It happened on June 30, 1790. Colonel Goremykin arrived at his house and presented an arrest warrant. Radishchev was imprisoned in Peter and Paul Fortress, the investigation into his case lasted two weeks. The verdict passed by the Petersburg Chamber of the Criminal Court sounded menacing - Alexander Nikolaevich Radishchev was sentenced to death. However, the empress did not approve it, the likelihood of public discontent was too great. AN Radishchev was sent into exile for a period of 10 years. The place of exile was Siberia - Ilimsky prison.
An interesting fact is that after Alexander Nikolaevich, some of his peasants, or rather, of the former peasants, went to the place of exile - before his arrest, he gave them freedom.
Radishchev went to Siberia in a light dress. By September 8, 1790, he could barely stay on his feet - exhaustion and tremendous nervous tension affected. In addition, he set off in a light dress. Probably, Catherine was thinking about the death of Radishchev on the road, then the public would not be as alarmed as in the case of a possible execution. However, Count A.R. Vorontsov, when he learned that Alexander Nikolaevich was being taken to prison, ordered the Tver governor to buy Radishchev everything he needed - Vorontsov personally sent him the money.
"Travel from St. Petersburg to Moscow." was prohibited. Radishchev burned a significant part of the published books with his own hand even before his arrest. 6 copies were found by the relevant authorities and destroyed. Less than fifteen copies of "Travel from St. Petersburg to Moscow" by Radishchev have survived to this day.
The problems that Alexander Nikolaevich Radishchev highlighted in his work continued to trouble the minds of the Russian people for another century. And how much persecution the book has endured! Even in 1905, all attempts to publish the book in full were thwarted by the authorities, who saw in it an undermining of the monarchical foundations and revolutionary notes in the author's mood. Radishchev was accused of encroaching on the good name of important nobles, especially civil servants, as well as convincing the peasants of the need for violent action against the landlords.
Alexander Nikolaevich Radishchev spent five years in Siberian exile. In the Ilimsk prison, he was engaged in social activities and domestic work: he healed, personally vaccinated against smallpox (knowledge of medicine here was useful to him), conducted various experiments on smelting ore, built a smelting furnace at home, which he used to roast dishes. However, the most important occupation for Radishchev in Siberia also remained literature - among his works and philosophical treatises, the story of Ermak, as well as historical investigation.
A new tsar, Paul I, freed Alexander Nikolaevich from exile; he ordered him to live in his village. But Radishchev never became a completely free man - he lived constantly under police supervision. Police representatives could show up at the estate of Alexander Nikolaevich at absolutely any time they wanted. They had every right to read all of Radishchev's letters, copied their contents and provided copies to Pavel I. Such a life was very difficult, only work saved Radishchev.
After the end of his term of exile, Radishchev did not become free. In 1800, when the ten-year term of exile allotted to Radishchev by Empress Catherine the Great ended, Paul I did not stop supervising Alexander Nikolaevich.
Alexander I freed Radishchev. The amnesty decree was issued by the new emperor on May 31, 1801. Count A.R. Vorontsov assisted in the return of the title of nobility to Alexander Radishchev. He could live in St. Petersburg again and was even included in the Commission for the drafting of laws, in which he worked until the last days of his life. At the age of 53 - in 1802 - he died, the circumstances of his death are not fully understood, because his last words were "The offspring will avenge me." Most likely, in them he expressed his compassion for the serfs, hope for the mind of the autocrats and insult for the state order of Russia.
RADISHCHEV, ALEXANDER NIKOLAEVICH(1749-1802) writer, philosopher. Born in Moscow into a noble family on August 20 (31), 1749. He studied in Germany, at the University of Leipzig (1766–1770). During these years, Radishchev's passion for philosophy began. He studied the works of representatives of the European Enlightenment, rationalistic and empirical philosophy. After returning to Russia, he entered the service in the Senate, and later - in the Commerce Collegium. Radishchev actively participated in literary life: he published a translation of the book by G. Mable Reflections on Greek History (1773), own literary works A word about Lomonosov (1780), Letters to a friend who lives in Tobolsk (1782), ode Liberty (1783), etc. Everything changed after publication in 1790 Travel from St. Petersburg to Moscow... Radishchev was arrested and declared a state criminal for his "godless writings." The court sentenced him to death, which was commuted to exile "to Siberia, to the Ilimsky prison for ten years of hopeless stay." In exile, Radishchev was engaged in scientific research, wrote Abridged story of the acquisition of Siberia, Chinese Bargaining Letter, philosophical treatise (1790-1792). In 1796, Emperor Paul I allowed Radishchev to return from Siberia and settle in his Kaluga estate. In 1801, Emperor Alexander I allowed him to move to the capital. In the last year of his life, Radishchev prepared a number of projects ( About the statute, Civil Code Project and others), in which he substantiated the need to eliminate serfdom and civil reforms. Radishchev died in St. Petersburg on September 12 (24), 1802.
Radishchev's philosophical views bear traces of the influence of various directions of European thought of his time. He was guided by the principle of reality and materiality (corporeality) of the world, arguing that "the existence of things, regardless of the power of knowledge about them, exists by itself." According to his epistemological views, "the basis of all natural knowledge is experience." At the same time, sensory experience, being the main source of knowledge, is in unity with "reasonable experience." In a world in which there is nothing to "cut corporeality", a person takes his place, a being as corporeal as all nature. Man has a special role, he, according to Radishchev, represents the highest manifestation of corporeality, but at the same time is inextricably linked with the animal and plant world. “We do not humiliate a person,” said Radishchev, “finding similarities in his constitution with other creatures, showing that he essentially follows the same laws with him. How else could it be? Isn't he real? "
The fundamental difference between a person and other living beings is that he has reason, thanks to which he "has the power of things that are known." But an even more important difference lies in a person's ability to moral actions and assessments. "Man is the only creature on earth who knows the bad, the evil", "a special human property is the unlimited possibility of both improving and corrupting." As a moralist, Radishchev did not accept the moral concept of "reasonable egoism", believing that it is not "selfishness" that is the source of moral feelings: "a person is a compassionate being." Being a supporter of the idea of \u200b\u200b"natural law" and always defending ideas about the natural nature of man ("the rights of nature never run out in man"), Radishchev at the same time did not share the opposition of society and nature, the cultural and natural principles in man, outlined by Rousseau. For him, the social being of a person is as natural as natural. In fact, there is no fundamental boundary between them: “Nature, people and things are human educators; climate, local situation, government, circumstances are the educators of peoples. " Criticizing the social vices of Russian reality, Radishchev defended the ideal of a normal "natural" life order, seeing in the injustice reigning in society in the literal sense of a social disease. He found this kind of "illness" not only in Russia. So, assessing the state of affairs in the slave-owning United States, he wrote that "a hundred proud citizens are drowning in luxury, and thousands have no reliable food, nor their own from the heat and darkness of the shelter."
In the treatise About man, about his mortality and immortality Radishchev, considering metaphysical problems, remained faithful to his naturalistic humanism, recognizing the indissolubility of the connection between the natural and spiritual principles in a person, the unity of body and soul: “Doesn't the soul grow with the body, does it not grow up with it, doesn’t it grow up with it, doesn’t it wither and grow dull with it ? ". At the same time, not without sympathy, he quoted thinkers who recognized the immortality of the soul (I. Gerdera, M. Mendelssohn, and others). Radishchev's position is not an atheist, but rather an agnostic, which is quite consistent general principles his worldview, which is already sufficiently secularized, oriented towards the "naturalness" of the world order, but alien to theomachy and nihilism.
Radishchev Alexander Nikolaevich
Born: August 20 (31), 1749.
Died: 12 (24) September 1802.
Biography
Alexander Nikolaevich Radishchev (August 20, 1749, Verkhnee Ablyazovo, Saratov province - September 12, 1802, St. Petersburg) - Russian prose writer, poet, philosopher, de facto head of the St. Petersburg customs, member of the Commission for the drafting of laws under Alexander I.
He became best known for his main work "A Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow", which he published anonymously in 1790.
Alexander Radishchev was the firstborn in the family of Nikolai Afanasyevich Radishchev (1728-1806), the son of the Starodub colonel and major landowner Afanasy Prokopyevich.
He spent his childhood on his father's estate in the village of Nemtsovo, Borovsk district, Kaluga province. In the initial training of Radishchev, apparently, his father, a devout man, who spoke well Latin, Polish, French and German, was directly involved. As was customary at that time, the child was taught Russian reading and writing according to the book of hours and the psalter. By the age of six, a French teacher was assigned to him, but the choice was unsuccessful: the teacher, as they later learned, was a fugitive soldier. Soon after the opening of Moscow University, around 1756, his father took Alexander to Moscow, to the house of his maternal uncle (whose brother, A.M. Argamakov, was the director of the university in 1755-1757). Here Radishchev was entrusted with the care of a very good French governor, a former adviser to the Rouen parliament, who fled from the persecution of the government of Louis XV. The children of the Argamakovs had the opportunity to study at home with professors and teachers of the university gymnasium, so it cannot be ruled out that Alexander Radishchev prepared here under their leadership and went through, at least in part, the program of the gymnasium course.
In 1762, after the coronation of Catherine II, Radishchev was granted a page and sent to St. Petersburg to study in the Page Corps. The Corps of Pages trained not scientists, but courtiers, and pages were obliged to serve the empress at balls, in the theater, at ceremonial dinners.
Four years later, among twelve young nobles, he was sent to Germany, to the University of Leipzig, to study law. During the time he spent there, Radishchev expanded his horizons enormously. In addition to a solid scientific school, he adopted the ideas of the leading French enlighteners, whose works to a great extent paved the way for the bourgeois revolution that broke out twenty years later.
Among Radishchev's comrades, Fyodor Ushakov is especially remarkable for the great influence he had on Radishchev, who wrote his Life and published some of Ushakov's works. Ushakov was a more experienced and mature person than his other associates, who immediately recognized his authority. He served as an example for other students, guided their reading, instilled in them strong moral convictions. Ushakov's health was upset even before his trip abroad, and in Leipzig he still spoiled it, partly by poor nutrition, partly by excessive occupations, and fell ill. When the doctor announced to him that “tomorrow he will no longer be involved in life,” he firmly met the death sentence. He said goodbye to his friends, then, summoning one Radishchev to him, gave him all his papers and told him: "remember that you need to have rules in life in order to be blissful." Last words Ushakov, Radishchev's "indelible feature was marked in memory".
Service in St. Petersburg
In 1771, Radishchev returned to St. Petersburg and soon entered the service in the Senate, as a protocol officer, with the rank of titular councilor. He did not serve for long in the Senate: the comradeship of clerks, the rude treatment of his superiors, was a burden. Radishchev entered the headquarters of General-in-Chief Bruce, who was in command in St. Petersburg, as chief auditor and stood out for his conscientious and courageous attitude to his duties. In 1775, he retired and married, and two years later he entered the service of the Commerce Collegium in charge of trade and industry. There he became very close friends with Count Vorontsov, who subsequently helped Radishchev in every possible way during his exile to Siberia.
From 1780 he worked in the St. Petersburg customs, having risen to the position of its chief by 1790. From 1775 to June 30, 1790 he lived in St. Petersburg at 14 Gryaznaya Street (now Marata Street).
Literary and publishing activities
The foundations of Radishchev's outlook were laid in the earliest period of his activity. Returning to St. Petersburg in 1771, a couple of months later he sent to the editorial office of the Zhivopisets magazine an excerpt from his future book Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow, where he was published anonymously. Two years later, Radishchev's translation of Mably's book Reflections on Greek History was published. Other works of the writer belong to this period, such as "Officers' Exercises" and "Diary of a Week".
In the 1780s, Radishchev worked on The Journey and wrote other works in prose and poetry. By this time, there was a huge social upsurge throughout Europe. The victory of the American Revolution and the French Revolution that followed created a favorable climate for promoting the ideas of freedom, which Radishchev took advantage of. In 1789 he started a printing house at his home, and in May 1790 he published his main work, "A Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow." After that, Catherine II sent him into exile
His treatise "On Man, His Mortality and Immortality" contains numerous paraphrases of Herder's works "A Study on the Origin of Language" and "On the Knowledge and Sensation of the Human Soul."
Arrest and exile
The book began to sell out quickly. His bold reflections on serfdom and other sad phenomena of the then social and state life attracted the attention of the empress herself, to whom someone had brought the "Journey" and who called Radishchev - "a rebel worse than Pugachev."
Radishchev was arrested, his case was entrusted to SI Sheshkovsky. Imprisoned in the fortress, during interrogations, Radishchev led the line of defense. He did not name a single name from among his assistants, he saved the children, and also tried to save his life. The Criminal Chamber applied to Radishchev the articles of the Code on "attempted assassination of the sovereign's health", on "conspiracies and treason" and sentenced him to death. The verdict, transmitted to the Senate and then to the Council, was approved in both instances and presented to Catherine.
On September 4, 1790, a personal decree was issued, which found Radishchev guilty of a crime of oath and the office of a subject by publishing a book “filled with the most harmful speculations, destroying public peace, diminishing the respect due to the authorities, striving to generate indignation among the people against the bosses and superiors and finally, offensive and violent expressions against the dignity and power of the king ”; Radishchev's guilt is such that he fully deserves the death penalty, to which he was sentenced by the court, but "out of mercy and for everyone's joy" the execution was replaced by his ten-year exile in Siberia, in the Ilimsky prison.
Emperor Paul I, shortly after his accession (1796), returned Radishcheva from Siberia. Radishchev was ordered to live on his estate in the Kaluga province, the village of Nemtsov.
Last years
After the accession of Alexander I, Radishchev received complete freedom; he was summoned to Petersburg and appointed a member of the Commission to draw up laws. Together with his friend and patron Vorontsov, he worked on a constitutional project entitled "The Most Merciful Letter of Merit."
There is a legend about the circumstances of Radishchev's suicide: summoned to the commission for drafting laws, Radishchev drew up a draft of the liberal code, in which he spoke of the equality of all before the law, freedom of the press, etc. The chairman of the commission, Count P.V. a way of thinking, sternly reminding him of his previous hobbies and even mentioning Siberia. Radishchev, a man with severely upset health, was so shocked by Zavadovsky's reprimand and threats that he decided to commit suicide: he drank poison and died in terrible agony.
In the book "Radishchev" by DS Babkin, published in 1966, a different version of Radishchev's death is proposed. The sons who were present at his death testified about a serious physical illness that struck Alexander Nikolaevich already during his Siberian exile. The immediate cause of death, according to Babkin, was an accident: Radishchev drank a glass with "strong vodka prepared in it to burn out the old officer's epaulettes of his eldest son" (royal vodka). The burial documents speak of natural death. In the statement of the church of the Volkovskoe cemetery in St. Petersburg on September 13, 1802, the list of those buried included “the collegiate adviser Alexander Radishchev; fifty-three years old, died of consumption ”, priest Vasily Nalimov was at the removal.
The grave of Radishchev has not survived to this day. It is believed that his body was buried near the Resurrection Church, on the wall of which a memorial plaque was installed in 1987.
Perception of Radishchev in the XIX-XX centuries
The idea that Radishchev was not a writer, but a public figure distinguished by striking spiritual qualities began to take shape immediately after his death and, in fact, determined his further posthumous fate. IM Born in a speech to the Society of Lovers of the Fine, delivered in September 1802 and dedicated to the death of Radishchev, says about him: “He loved truth and virtue. His fiery love of mankind longed to illuminate all his brothers with this flickering ray of eternity. " NM Karamzin described Radishchev as an “honest man” (“honnête homme”) (this oral testimony is given by Pushkin as an epigraph to the article “Alexander Radishchev”). The idea of \u200b\u200bthe superiority of Radishchev's human qualities over his writing talent is expressed especially succinctly by PA Vyazemsky, explaining in a letter to AF Voeikov the desire to study Radishchev's biography: “In our country, people are usually invisible behind a writer. In Radishchev, on the contrary: the writer falls on the shoulder, and the man is taller with his head. "
When interrogating the Decembrists, when asked "since when and where did they borrow their first free-thinking thoughts," many Decembrists called the name of Radishchev.
Obviously, Radishchev's influence on the work of another freethinker writer - A.S. Griboyedov (presumably, both were connected by blood relationship), who, being a career diplomat, often traveled around the country and therefore actively tried his hand at the genre of literary "travel".
A special page in the perception of the personality and work of Radishchev by Russian society was the attitude of A.S. Pushkin towards him. Acquainted with the "Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow" in his youth, Pushkin clearly focuses on Radishchev's ode "Liberty" in his eponymous ode (1817 or 1819), and also takes into account in "Ruslan and Lyudmila" the experience of "heroic song" of Radishchev's son, Nikolai Alexandrovich , "Alyosha Popovich" (Pushkin all his life mistakenly considered the author of this poem Radishchev the father). The "Journey" turned out to be consonant with the tyrannical and anti-serfdom moods of young Pushkin. Despite the change in political positions, Pushkin retained interest in Radishchev in the 1830s, acquired a copy of Travel, which was in the Secret Chancellery, and sketched Journey from Moscow to Petersburg (conceived as a commentary on Radishchev's chapters in reverse order). In 1836, Pushkin tried to publish fragments from Radishchev's "Travel" in his Sovremennik, accompanying them with the article "Alexander Radishchev" - his most detailed statement about Radishchev. In addition to a bold attempt, for the first time since 1790, to acquaint the Russian reader with the forbidden book, here Pushkin also gives a very detailed criticism of the work and its author.
We have never considered Radishchev a great man. His act always seemed to us a crime, no excuse, and "Journey to Moscow" a very mediocre book; but with all this we cannot but recognize in him a criminal with an extraordinary spirit; a political fanatic, deluded of course, but acting with amazing selflessness and with some kind of chivalrous conscience.
Criticism of Pushkin, in addition to auto-censoring reasons (however, the publication was still not allowed by the censorship) reflects "enlightened conservatism" recent years life of the poet. In the drafts of "Monument" in the same 1836, Pushkin wrote: "Following Radishchev I glorified freedom."
In the 1830s-1850s, interest in Radishchev declined significantly, and the number of Voyage lists decreased. A new revival of interest is associated with the publication of "Travel" in London by AI Herzen in 1858 (he puts Radishchev among "our saints, our prophets, our first sowers, the first fighters").
The assessment of Radishchev as the forerunner of the revolutionary movement was also adopted by the social democrats of the early 20th century. In 1918 A. V. Lunacharsky called Radishchev "the prophet and forerunner of the revolution." GV Plekhanov believed that under the influence of Radishchev's ideas "the most significant social movements of the end of the 18th - first third of the 19th centuries took place." V. I. Lenin called him "the first Russian revolutionary."
Until the 1970s, opportunities for the general reader to read The Journey were extremely limited. After in 1790 almost the entire circulation of Travel from St. Petersburg to Moscow was destroyed by the author before his arrest, until 1905, when the censorship ban was lifted from this work, the total circulation of several of his publications hardly exceeded 1,500 copies. Herzen's foreign edition was carried out according to a faulty list, where the language of the 18th century was artificially "modernized" and numerous errors were encountered. In 1905-1907 several editions were published, but after that 30 years "Journey" was not published in Russia. In subsequent years, it was published several times, but mainly for the needs of the school, with banknotes and scanty circulation by Soviet standards. Back in the 1960s, Soviet readers were known to complain that it was impossible to get the Journey from a store or a district library. Only in the 1970s, "Journey" began to be released on a truly massive scale.
In fact, Radishchev's scientific research began only in the 20th century. In 1930-1950, under the editorship of Gr. Gukovsky completed the three-volume "Complete Works of Radishchev", where for the first time many new texts were published or attributed to the writer, including philosophical and legal. In the 1950s-1960s, romantic hypotheses about the "secret Radishchev" (G.P. Shtorm et al.) Arose that were not supported by sources - that Radishchev, allegedly after exile, continued to refine "Journey" and distribute the text in a narrow circle of like-minded people. At the same time, it is planned to abandon the straightforward agitational approach to Radishchev, emphasizing the complexity of his views and the great humanistic significance of the personality (N. Ya. Eidelman, etc.). IN contemporary literature the philosophical and journalistic sources of Radishchev are investigated - Masonic, moral and educational, and others, the multifaceted problems of his main book, which cannot be reduced to the struggle against serfdom, are emphasized.
Memory
Moscow has streets Verkhnyaya and Nizhnyaya Radishchevskaya, on Verkhnyaya there is a monument to the writer and poet.
There is Radishcheva Street in the Central District of St. Petersburg.
Streets in Kursk, Ust-Kut, Ryazan, Petrozavodsk, Kaliningrad, Irkutsk, Murmansk, Tula, Tobolsk, Yekaterinburg, Saratov, Kuznetsk, Barnaul, Biysk, Alchevsk, Gatchina, Tambov, Smolensk, Tyumen, and Tambov are also named in honor of Radishchev. and also in the city of Togliatti.
In the village of Firstovo, Bolsheukovsky district of the Omsk region, an obelisk was installed in 1967, in honor of Radishchev, who passed and visited the village in 1790.
In the village of Artyn, Muromtsevsky district of the Omsk region, in 1952, an obelisk was erected in memory of his passage into Siberian exile and his return from exile in 1797.
In honor of A. N. Radishchev's passage, one of the villages was renamed, which received the name - the village of Radishchevo, Nizhneomsky district of the Omsk region.
In the village of Evgashchino, Bolsherechensky District, Omsk Region, Radishcheva Street is named.
In the village of Takmyk, Bolsherechensky District, Omsk Region, Radishcheva Street is named.
In Ulyanovsk, from 1918 to the present, there is a Radishchev street.
Annual Radishchev Readings are held in Maloyaroslavets and Kuznetsk
State art Museum named after Radishchev (Saratov).
Radishchevo platform of the Oktyabrskaya railway in the Solnechnogorsk district of the Moscow region.
There is Radishchev street in Rostov-on-Don.
In Novokuznetsk, Kemerovo region, there is a street. Radishcheva (Ordzhonikidze district).
In Khabarovsk there is Radishcheva Street (Industrial District).
In Simferopol there is a street. Radishchev (not far from Vernadsky Ave.)
In Kryvyi Rih there is a street. Radishcheva (Zhovtnevyi district)
In the city of Ust-Ilimsk, Irkutsk region in 1991, an obelisk in memory of A.N. Radishchev was installed.
In Zheleznogorsk-Ilimsky (Irkutsk region. Nizhneilimsky district) there is a school named after V.I. A.N. Radishcheva
Alexander Radishchev biography of a short Russian poet is presented in this article.
Alexander Radishchev short biography
Alexander Nikolaevich was born on August 20 (31), 1749 into a noble family in Moscow. He spent his childhood in the village of Nemtsovo, after which the family moved to Verkhnee Ablyazov. At first he studied at home, and only in 1756 his father took his son to Moscow and settled in the house of the director of Moscow University. Here he was dealt with by a hired French tutor.
In 1762, Radishchev was granted a page and sent to the Petersburg page corps. By decree of Catherine II, he was sent to Germany in 1766 to study at the University of Leipzig at the Faculty of Law. In an educational institution, he became interested in the works of Rousseau, Raynal, Voltaire, Helvetius.
Alexander Nikolaevich returned to St. Petersburg in 1771. He receives the title of counselor and gets a job as secretary in the Senate. Also this year, the writer anonymously publishes an excerpt from his book "Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow" in the journal "Painter".
Radishchev in 1773 entered the military service in the rank of chief auditor in the Finnish divisional headquarters. At the same time he is engaged in the translation of Mably's book, writes the works "Diary of one week" and "Officer exercises". He retires in 1775.
After 2 years, he began working at the Commerce Collegium of Count Vorontsov. Since 1780 he got a job at the Petersburg customs, which he headed 10 years later. The writer in 1783 wrote the ode "Liberty".
In 1790 he completed work on the main work of his entire life: "A Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow", in which he reflected on the serf system of Russia. The book provoked a protest from the empress. He was arrested and sentenced to death, but it was subsequently replaced by 10 years of exile in the Siberian prison of Ilimsk.
In Siberia, Radishchev continued to write, studying the traditions of the local population. He created works: "About man, about his mortality and immortality", "Letter about the Chinese bargaining", "Abridged story about the acquisition of Siberia."
When Paul I came to power, he returned Radishchev from exile in 1796. On May 31, 1801, Alexander I announced an amnesty for the writer. He was summoned back to St. Petersburg and offered a job in the Commission for the Drafting of Laws. He developed a project to abolish serfdom, but Alexander Nikolaevich was threatened with another Siberian exile. This morally broke the writer: he decided to commit suicide by taking poison. Radishchev died 12 (24) September 1802.
Alexander Nikolaevich Radishchev was born on August 20 (31), 1749 in Moscow into a noble family. The future writer spent his childhood in the village of Nemtsovo, then his family moved to the village of Verkhnee Ablyazovo. Alexander Nikolaevich received his primary education at home. In 1756, his father took Radishchev to Moscow. The boy was settled with A. Argamakov, who at that time served as director of Moscow University. Radishchev was trained there by a specially hired French tutor.
In 1762, Alexander Nikolaevich was granted a page and sent to the St. Petersburg page corps. In 1766, by order of Catherine II, he was sent to Germany, where he entered the Faculty of Law at Leipzig University. During this period of his short biography, Radishchev became interested in the works of Voltaire, Rousseau, Helvetius, Raynal.
Career and the beginning of literary activity
In 1771 Alexander Nikolaevich returned to St. Petersburg. Having received the title of adviser, he got a job as a secretary in the Senate. In the same year, the Zhivopisets magazine published for the first time an anonymously an extract from the book Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow.
Since 1773 Radishchev entered military service as chief auditor at the headquarters of the Finnish division. The writer publishes the translation of Mably's book, completes the works "Officers' Exercises" and "Diary of a Week".
In 1775, Alexander Nikolaevich retired.
In 1777, Radishchev entered the service of the Commerce Collegium, headed by Count A. Vorontsov. Since 1780, Alexander Nikolaevich has been working in the Petersburg customs, ten years later he becomes its head. In 1783 the writer created the ode "Liberty", in 1788 - the work "Life of FV Ushakov".
Link to Siberia
In 1790, Radishchev completed work on his most important work - "A Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow" and published it in his home printing house. In the book, the writer boldly talked about the serf system in Russia. This provoked a sharp protest from the empress. Alexander Nikolaevich was arrested and sentenced to death, but she was replaced by ten years of exile in the Siberian prison of Ilimsk.
While in Siberia, Radishchev, whose biography was inextricably linked with writing, studied the traditions of the region, created a "Letter about the Chinese bargaining", "About a man, about his mortality and immortality", "An abbreviated story about the acquisition of Siberia", etc.
Life after exile
In 1796, Emperor Paul I returned Radishchev from exile. The date of May 31, 1801 marked the complete release of the writer - Alexander I issued a decree on amnesty and returned his title of nobility. Radishchev was summoned to Petersburg and appointed a member of the Commission for the Drafting of Laws. In one of the projects, Alexander Nikolaevich proposed to destroy serfdom, however, he was threatened with another exile to Siberia. This was a serious shock for the sick and mentally broken writer.
On September 12 (24), 1802, Alexander Nikolaevich Radishchev committed suicide by taking poison. The grave of the writer has not survived, it is assumed that he was buried at the Volkovsky cemetery in St. Petersburg.
Chronological table
Other biography options
- Serfs taught little Radishchev to read and write. Ever since childhood, he learned about the hardships of peasant life, which revived in the writer's soul hatred for the landowners, pity for the people.
- Alexander Nikolaevich was married twice. The first wife, Anna Rubanovskaya, died in childbirth, they had four children in total. The second wife of the writer was Anna's younger sister Elizaveta Rubanovskaya, they had three children.
- According to some reports, Radishchev died of a serious illness, which struck the writer during his exile.
- Radishchev's work had a significant impact on Russian politics, including the Decembrist movement. A. Lunacharsky spoke of the writer as a prophet and forerunner of the revolution.
- At school, Radishchev's works are studied in the eighth and ninth grades.