We are all familiar with M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin to ridicule human vices, but is he really like that? What was the reason for the sarcastic attitude towards the state, whose images were taken as the basis for the work of "Lord Golovlevs" and many others

interesting facts about Saltykov-Shchedrin.

The main interesting fact about Saltykov-Shchedrin is the history of the appearance of his surname. Saltykov-Shchedrin is not a real surname, or rather its second part was invented. Shchedrin is a pseudonym. The poet himself explains his ambiguity by this: Saltykov is a serious official, and Shchedrin is a writer.

The writer was an excellent careerist. Initially, he went to serve in the office as an assistant secretary, however, two years later he was expelled from the city for his sarcastic epigrams. In exile, he continued to do what he loved, to serve for the good of the state, and several times held the post of vice-governor. Therefore, who, if not Saltykov-Shchedrin, should write about the vices of bureaucracy and embezzlement. He always tried to fight such officials, so he liked to hold the post of leader in order to clear government structures from bribe-takers.

Interesting facts about Saltykov-Shchedrin

• It was Saltykov-Shchedrin who made the genre of a socially oriented fairy tale popular, used to expose human vices.

Biography of Saltykov-Shchedrin: interesting facts

• It was Saltykov-Shchedrin who invented the word "softness".

• Initially, the writer planned to be a poet, wrote poetic sketches, studied foreign works on rhyming, but soon realized that poetry was not at all his sphere of activity.

• An interesting fact from the biography of Saltykov-Shchedrin: in the lyceum certificate of the future writer, the behavior was called "pretty good", not "excellent." The list of his offenses included not only "smoking, rudeness, negligence", but also "writing poetry of disapproving content."

• Shchedrin married during his exile to the governor's daughter E.A. Boltina, with whom he lived for 33 years.

• In the biography of Saltykov-Shchedrin, one interesting and funny fact is noted: once a writer decided to help his daughter with her lessons and wrote an essay for her, which was rated two points by the teacher, the signature: "You don't know the Russian language."

Do not miss! Interesting facts about Fet

• Belinsky criticized one of the novels of the writer to smithereens, many after this would definitely stop writing. A well-known critic argued that the work "Contradictions" is nothing more than idiotic stupidity.

Biography of Saltykov-Shchedrin: interesting facts

• The writer spent 8 years in exile and was pardoned only after the death of the tsar.
• The writer was buried in accordance with the request in the will next to I.S. Turgenev.

Mikhail Evgrafovich is a great Russian prose writer and satirist. The life of Saltykov-Shchedrin began in 1826, on January 27 (15) in the Tver province in the village of Spas-Ugol. He is a hereditary nobleman, and his family was wealthy.

Saltykov-Shchedrin: biography - a brief history of childhood

The future writer had an oppressive mother. Zabelina was completely devoid of humanity, and her image would later be embodied in The Golovlevs. The family had six children, and despite the fact that Misha was known as a favorite, he had seen a lot of family squabbles. But the boy was, on the contrary, tempered. The author will subsequently describe the period up to ten years almost autobiographically in Poshekhonskaya antiquity. Saltykov always recalled his childhood with bitterness and, as a rule, did not like to talk about it. His childhood was spent mostly alone, all the older children had already left to study. And they did little to educate him for real.

Duality

Interesting facts from the life of Saltykov-Shchedrin begin with his last name. Of its two parts, the real one is the first - Saltykov, and the second - Shchedrin - appeared later as a pseudonym. His life seems to be divided into two parts: Saltykov is an official, and Shchedrin is a writer,

Saltykov's career

Saltykov Mikhail Evgrafovich began his career in exile. In August 1844 he was enrolled in the St. Petersburg Chancellery, in 1846 the young man there was already able to get a job as Assistant Secretary of the Minister of War. And at 22, in 1848, he was exiled to Vyatka for his first literary research. However, he continued to serve, and his career was brilliant. He twice served as vice-governor: in the Ryazan province and in the Tver province.

Literary debut

In 1847, Saltykov-Shchedrin made his debut as a writer. First there were reviews, and then two stories published in the journal Otechestvennye zapiski. They came out under the pseudonyms M. Nepanov and M. S.

Real fame came to him in 1856, when he published his cycle "Provincial Essays", from that moment the pseudonym Nikolai Shchedrin came into practice, which later became a component of his surname. And also a tradition has appeared to publish their works in cycles.

Essays

Shchedrin's essays are primarily about state orders, about those who must fulfill these orders and put them into practice. Saltykov-Shchedrin Mikhail Evgrafovich specially devoted his work to the image of Russian officials in the mid-60s.

Shchedrin the writer begins to prevail over Saltykov the official. This is especially evident at the moment when N. A. Nekrasov comes to the journal Otechestvennye zapiski and calls Saltykov-Shchedrin as co-editor. In 1868, Saltykov, the official, forever gave way to the writer Shchedrin.

Since 1878, after the death of Nekrasov, Saltykov-Shchedrin became the sole editor of Otechestvennye zapiski. It was a whole era in his life.

Interesting facts from the life of Saltykov-Shchedrin as a critic

Saltykov-Shchedrin himself perceives himself as a critic. Criticism of the foundations, orders, officials. At the same time, in the 60s, he himself finds himself under the "fire" of fellow writers.

The fact is that the writer offers his readers satire, but not from the point of view of an external observer, but a person who is his own for this environment. It was for this that Saltykov-Shchedrin was repeatedly reproached. And the most ardent critic was Dmitry Ivanovich Pisarev. He said that it is no longer enough to simply scoff at the existing order, and in general, it is reprehensible to scoff at the state bureaucratic machine, being a part of it. This is a moral paradox. Pisarev was generally convinced that literature should not give pleasure, but recipes for how to live for readers. He said, for example, that Pushkin was useless. After all, what does Eugene Onegin teach?

Pisarev throws a stronger rebuke to Saltykov-Shchedrin. It is generally accepted that in the 60s two directions in Russian literature opposed each other: pure art, which serves eternal beauty, and civil literature. It seems that the works of Saltykov-Shchedrin belong to the second of the indicated directions. But Pisarev says a terrible thing: that Saltykov-Shchedrin represents in literature a useless fashion for laughter, scoffing, mockery, which has nothing to do with a genuine change in reality.

Change in creativity

At the turn of the 60s - 70s, Mikhail Evgrafovich offers his readers something completely new - this is not just a cycle of essays, but a whole work - "The History of a City". It is a parody of blissful historical chronicles. The city acts as a model of the world. The city of Fools is about Russia. In this work, criticism of the bureaucracy is of great importance.

In the mid-80s, the works of Saltykov-Shchedrin became completely new. He called them fairy tales. There are about thirty of them. They were filled in and were published in the newspaper Russkiye Vedomosti, which is strange in itself. After all, fairy tales are usually not published in newspapers. But this is exactly what the author said that he wanted: everything is not limited to a fairy tale. As in the usual fairy tales, there are no happy endings in his works. They are full of irony and more like stories and stories.

In satirical Russian literature, it is Saltykov-Shchedrin who plays an important role. A short biography is not able to convey the full completeness of the mystery of such a phenomenon in Russian literature as Mikhail Evgrafovich. He was called a great diagnostician of evils and ailments.

Interesting facts from the life of Saltykov-Shchedrin were told by the people who worked with him. They said that his character was very nervous and irritable. And this affects creativity. Therefore, it is difficult to read it. The works cannot be "swallowed".

“Gentlemen Golovlevs” is one of the darkest things in Russian literature. Perhaps Dostoevsky approached her by writing The Brothers Karamazov.

Interesting facts from the life of Saltykov-Shchedrin include the fact that many words that we still use were invented and introduced into literature and life by him. For example, the word "softness". Mikhail Evgrafovich created and introduced into literature his own system of ironic allegories. The author also tried to write poetry, but after the first unsuccessful attempt at writing, he gave up poetry forever. Saltykov-Shchedrin studied at the same lyceum as Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin, and it was there that they both began to write.

The writer lived for 63 years. He died in the spring of 1889.

Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin is a famous Russian writer, journalist, editor, government official. His works are included in the compulsory school curriculum. It is not for nothing that the writer's tales are called so - they contain not only caricature ridicule and grotesque, thereby the author emphasizes that a person is the arbiter of his own destiny.

Childhood and youth

The genius of Russian literature comes from a noble family. Father Evgraf Vasilievich was a quarter of a century older than his wife Olga Mikhailovna. The daughter of a Moscow merchant got married at the age of 15 and left for her husband in the village of Spas-Ugol, which was then located in the Tver province. There, on January 15, 1826, according to the new style, the youngest of six children, Mikhail, was born. In total, three sons and three daughters grew up in the Saltykov family (Shchedrin is part of the pseudonym that followed over time).

According to the descriptions of the researchers of the biography of the writer, the mother, who eventually turned from a cheerful girl into an imperious mistress of the estate, divided the children into favorites and hateful ones. Little Misha was surrounded by love, but sometimes he was also hit with rods. There was always screaming and crying at home. As Vladimir Obolensky wrote in his memoirs about the Saltykov-Shchedrin family, in conversations the writer described childhood in gloomy colors, once said that he hated "this terrible woman", talking about his mother.

Saltykov knew French and German, received a brilliant primary education at home, which allowed him to enter the Moscow Noble Institute. From there, the boy, who showed remarkable diligence, got on full state support in the privileged Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, in which education was equated to university, and graduates were assigned ranks according to the Table of Ranks.

Both educational institutions were famous for graduating the elite of Russian society. Among the graduates - Prince Mikhail Obolensky, Anton Delvig, Ivan Pushchin. However, unlike them, Saltykov from a wonderful smart boy turned into an untidy, foul-mouthed, often sitting in a punishment cell, a boy who never made any close friends. It is not for nothing that his classmates nicknamed Mikhail "The Gloomy Lyceum Student".

The atmosphere within the walls of the lyceum encouraged creativity, and Mikhail, in imitation of his predecessors, began to write verses of free-thinking content. This behavior did not go unnoticed: a graduate of the Lyceum, Mikhail Saltykov, received the rank of collegiate secretary, although he received a higher rank for his academic success - a titular adviser.

After graduating from the Lyceum, Mikhail got a job in the office of the military department and continued to compose. In addition, he became interested in the works of the French socialists. The themes raised by the revolutionaries were reflected in the first novellas "Confused Business" and "Contradictions".

But the aspiring writer did not guess the source of the publication. The journal Otechestvennye zapiski at that time was under tacit political censorship and was considered ideologically harmful.

By the decision of the supervisory commission, Saltykov was sent into exile in Vyatka, in the office of the governor. In exile, in addition to official affairs, Mikhail studied the history of the country, translated the works of European classics, traveled a lot and communicated with the people. Saltykov almost stayed to vegetate in the provinces for good, even though he rose to the position of an adviser to the provincial government: in 1855 he was crowned to the imperial throne, and the ordinary exile was simply forgotten.

Peter Lanskoy, a representative of a noble family, a second husband, came to the rescue. With the assistance of his brother, the Minister of Internal Affairs, Mikhail was returned to St. Petersburg and given a place as an official for special assignments in this department.

Literature

Mikhail Evgrafovich is considered one of the brightest satirists of Russian literature, masterly mastering the Aesopian language, whose novels and stories have not lost their topicality. For historians, the works of Saltykov-Shchedrin are a source of knowledge of the mores and customs prevalent in the Russian Empire of the 19th century. Peru of the writer belongs to such terms as "bungling", "soft" and "stupidity".

Upon his return from exile, Saltykov revised his experience of communicating with officials of the Russian provinces and, under the pseudonym Nikolai Shchedrin, published a series of stories "Provincial Essays", recreating the typical types of residents of Russia. The works were expected to be a great success, the name of the author, who later wrote many books, will primarily be associated with "Sketches", researchers of the writer's work will call them a landmark stage in the development of Russian literature.

In the stories, simple, hard workers are described with special warmth. Creating images of nobles and officials, Mikhail Evgrafovich spoke not only about the foundations of serfdom, but also focused on the moral side of the representatives of the upper class and the moral foundations of statehood.

The pinnacle of creativity of the Russian prose writer is considered the "History of one city". The satirical story, full of allegory and grotesque, was not immediately appreciated by contemporaries. Moreover, the author was initially accused of making fun of society and trying to tarnish historical facts.

The main heroes-mayors show a rich palette of human characters and social foundations - bribe-takers, careerists, indifferent, obsessed with absurd goals, outright fools. The common people act as blindly obedient, ready to endure everything, a gray mass, which acts decisively only when it finds itself on the brink of destruction.

Saltykov-Shchedrin ridiculed such cowardice and cowardice in the Wise Piskar. The work, despite the fact that it is called a fairy tale, is not addressed to children at all. The philosophical meaning of the story of a fish endowed with human qualities lies in the fact that a lonely existence, closed only on its own well-being, is negligible.

Another fairy tale for adults is The Wild Landowner, a lively and cheerful work with a slight touch of cynicism, in which the common working people are openly opposed to the tyrant landowner.

The literary work of Saltykov-Shchedrin received an additional boost when the prose writer began working in the editorial office of the Otechestvennye Zapiski magazine. The general management of the publication since 1868 belonged to the poet and publicist.

At the personal invitation of the latter, Mikhail Evgrafovich headed the first department dealing with the publication of fiction and translated works. The bulk of Saltykov-Shchedrin's own works also appeared on the pages of Notes.

Among them - "Shelter of Mon Repos", according to literary scholars - a tracing of the family life of the writer who became vice-governor, "Diary of a Provincial in St. Petersburg" - a book about adventurers not translated into Russia, "Pompadours and pompadours", "Letters from the provinces."

In 1880, an epoch-making, highly social novel "Lord Golovlevs" was published in a separate book - a story about a family in which the main goal is enrichment and an idle lifestyle, children have long turned into a burden for their mother, in general, the family does not live according to the law of God and, not noticing addition, moves towards self-destruction.

Personal life

Mikhail Saltykov met his wife Elizaveta in Vyatka exile. The girl turned out to be the daughter of the immediate superior of the writer, vice-governor Apollon Petrovich Boltin. The official made a career in education, economic, military and police departments. At first, the experienced campaigner feared the freethinker Saltykov, but over time the men became friends.

In the family Lisa was called Betsy, the girl called the writer, who was 14 years older than her, Michel. However, soon Boltin was transferred to Vladimir, and the family left for him. Saltykov was forbidden to leave the Vyatka province. But, according to legend, he twice violated the ban in order to see his beloved.

The writer's mother, Olga Mikhailovna, categorically opposed the marriage with Elizaveta Apollonovna: not only is the bride too young, but also the dowry for the girl is not solid. The difference in years also raised doubts among the Vladimir vice-governor. Mikhail agreed to wait one year.

The young people got married in June 1856, the groom's mother did not come to the wedding. Relations in the new family were difficult, the spouses often quarreled, the difference in characters affected: Mikhail was straightforward, hot-tempered, they were afraid of him in the house. Elizabeth, on the other hand, is gentle and patient, not burdened with knowledge of science. Saltykov did not like his wife's coquetry and coquetry, he called his wife's ideals "not very demanding."

According to the recollections of Prince Vladimir Obolensky, Elizaveta Apollonovna entered the conversation at random, made remarks that were irrelevant. The nonsense uttered by the woman baffled the interlocutor and angered Mikhail Evgrafovich.

Elizabeth loved a beautiful life and demanded appropriate financial support. In this, the husband, who had risen to the rank of vice-governor, could still contribute, but he constantly got into debt and called the acquisition of property a disorderly act. From the works of Saltykov-Shchedrin and studies of the life of the writer, it is known that he played the piano, knew about wines and was known as a connoisseur of profanity.

Nevertheless, Elizabeth and Michael have lived together all their lives. The wife copied the works of her husband, turned out to be a good housewife, after the death of the writer she competently disposed of the inheritance, thanks to which the family did not feel the need. In marriage, a daughter, Elizabeth, and a son, Constantine, were born. The children did not show themselves in any way, which upset the famous father, who loved them infinitely. Saltykov wrote:

"My children will be unhappy, no poetry in their hearts, no rosy memories."

Death

The health of the middle-aged writer suffering from rheumatism was greatly undermined by the closure of Otechestvennye zapiski in 1884. In a joint decision of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Justice and Public Education, the publication was recognized as a distributor of harmful ideas, and the editorial staff were members of a secret society.

Saltykov-Shchedrin spent the last months of his life in bed, asking the guests to tell them: "I am very busy - I am dying." Mikhail Evgrafovich died in May 1889 from complications caused by a cold. According to the writer's will, he was buried next to the grave at the Volkovskoye cemetery in St. Petersburg.

• According to some sources, Mikhail Evgrafovich does not belong to the aristocratic boyar family of the Saltykovs. According to others, his family is the descendants of an untitled branch of the clan.
• Mikhail Saltykov - Shchedrin coined the word "softness".
• Children in the family of the writer appeared after 17 years of marriage.

• There are several versions of the origin of the pseudonym Shchedrin. First, many peasants with such a surname lived in the Saltykovs' estate. Second: Shchedrin is the name of a merchant, a member of the schismatic movement, whose case the writer was investigating due to his official duties. "French" version: One of the translations of the word "generous" into French is libéral. It was the excessive liberal chatter that the writer exposed in his works.

Bibliography

• 1857 - "Provincial Essays"
• 1869 - "The Tale of How One Man Fed Two Generals"
• 1870 - "The Story of a City"
• 1872 - "Diary of a Provincial in St. Petersburg"
• 1879 - "Refuge of Mon Repos"
• 1880 - "Gentlemen Golovlevs"
• 1883 - "The Wise Piskar"
• 1884 - "Crucian idealist"
• 1885 - "Horse"
• 1886 - "The Crow-petitioner"
• 1889 - "Poshekhonskaya antiquity"

Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin with his biography is not known to many. Interesting facts about Saltykov-Shchedrin will not go unnoticed by literature lovers. This is the person who truly deserves attention. Saltykov-Shchedrin was an extraordinary writer, and interesting facts from the life of this man were not immediately revealed. Many unusual things happened in the life of this person. Interesting facts from the life of Saltykov-Shchedrin will tell you about this in detail.

1. Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin is the youngest child in a family of six children.

2. Saltykov-Shchedrin in childhood had to endure physical punishment from his parents.

3.Mother devoted little time to Michael.

4. Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin was able to receive an excellent education at home.

5. At the age of 10, Saltykov-Shchedrin was already studying at a noble institute.

6. For 17 years, Saltykov-Shchedrin in his own family could not wait for the appearance of children.

7. Mikhail had no connection with the aristocrats Saltykovs.

8. Saltykov-Shchedrin loved card games.

9. When playing cards, this writer always blamed his rivals, removing responsibility from himself.

10. For a long time, Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin was his mother's favorite, but after he became a teenager, everything changed.

11. The wife of Saltykov-Shchedrin cheated on him throughout their life together.

12. When Mikhail became very ill, his daughter and wife mocked him jointly.

13. In the last years of his life, Saltykov-Shchedrin began to whine publicly that he was seriously ill and was not needed by anyone, that he was forgotten.

14. Saltykov-Shchedrin was considered a gifted child.

15. The satire of this writer was like a fairy tale.

16. For a long period, Mikhail was an official.

17. Saltykov-Shchedrin loved to create new words.

18. For a long time, Nekrasov was a close friend and colleague of Saltykov-Shchedrin.

19. Mikhail Evgrafovich could not stand the popularity.

20. The life of the writer was interrupted due to an ordinary cold, although he suffered from a terrible disease - rheumatism.

21.Despite the terrible illness that torments the writer every day, he came to his office every day and worked.

22. There were always a lot of visitors in the house of Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin, and he loved to talk to them.

23. The mother of the future writer was a despot.

24.Saltykov is the real surname of the writer, and Shchedrin is his pseudonym.

25. The career of Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin began with exile.

26. Saltykov-Shchedrin perceived himself as a critic.

27.Saltykov-Shchedrin was an irritable and nervous man.

28.The writer managed to live for 63 years.

29. The death of the writer came in the spring.

30.Saltykov-Shchedrin published his first works while still studying at the Lyceum.

31. The turning point of the writer's personal life was the link to Vyatkino.

32.Saltykov-Shchedrin is of noble origin.

33. The health of Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin deteriorated in the 1870s.

34.Saltykov-Shchedrin knew French and German.

35. He had to spend a lot of time with ordinary people.

36. At the Lyceum, Mikhail had the nickname "smart guy."

37. Saltykov-Shchedrin met his future wife at the age of 12. It was then that he fell in love with her.

38.Saltykov-Shchedrin and his wife Lizonka had two children: a girl and a boy.

39.The daughter of Saltykov-Shchedrin was named after her mother.

40. The daughter of Mikhail Evgrafovich married a foreigner twice.

41. The tales of this writer are intended only for thinking people.

42.The family took care that Michael was brought up "according to the nobility."

43. Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin was introduced to the people since childhood.

44. Saltykov-Shchedrin is buried at the Volkovskoye cemetery.

45 Saltykov-Shchedrin's mother did not like his wife Liza. And this was not because she was a dowry.

46. ​​The wife of Saltykov-Shchedrin was called Betsy in the family.

47. Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin was monogamous, and therefore his whole life was lived with one woman.

48. When Saltykov-Shchedrin became engaged to Elizabeth, she was only 16 years old.

49. The writer and his wife quarreled many times and reconciled many times.

50.Saltykov-Shchedrin was rude to his own servants.

One can talk endlessly about the biography of Saltykov-Shchedrin, given his status as the founder of Russian satirical literature with elements of a fairy tale. Therefore, in brief facts about the most important events in the life of the writer, the attitude of the degenerated nobility to the state of affairs in the serf state is clearly traced.

Childhood

1. The parents of the future satirist were Evgraf Vasilyevich Saltykov and Olga Mikhailovna Zabelina. The pope served as a collegiate advisor and had no weight either in society or in the family, due to his origin from a poor noble family. Everything was ruled by a mother, a strict woman with primitive ideas about raising children and a huge greed for her own wealth.
2. She was married off as a very young girl, which is why she transferred the foundations of the landlord's life into her own family and adhered to them with strict rigor.
3. The writer was born as the sixth child of 9 living brothers and sisters on January 15, 1826 in the village of Spas-Ugol of the Kalyazinsky district of the Tver province. Until the age of 10, he was considered the most beloved child in the family, which was reflected in the somewhat strange attitude of the greedy and domineering mother towards him - the remnants of the festive dinner were the first to be given to Mikhail.
4. The master's children were taught by teachers and tutors from their own serfs, as well as the elder sister of the writer Nadezhda, together with her colleague at the Catherine Institute Avdotya Vasilevskaya. A little later, a priest from a neighboring village and a student of the theological seminary joined the education of the teenagers.
5. For excellent knowledge of basic subjects, Mikhail Saltykov was admitted in 1836 to the Moscow Noble Institute immediately in the third grade. As a result of his studies, he was enrolled in the capital's lyceum in 1838 for state content, as a successful student.

It is noteworthy that the writer's craving for creativity developed within the walls of the lyceum under the influence of Pushkin's creativity and his sudden death. Initially, Mikhail Saltykov tried to study poetry, which he quickly got tired of the need to "squeeze good thoughts into the framework of rhymed lines."

Career and link

After graduation, Mikhail Evgrafovich received a low rank in the table of ranks for free-thinking and craving for Protestant sentiments, which prevented him from taking a high position in the civil service. At the same time, he continued to improve in writing, for which he was exiled to the province.

His further activities are inextricably linked with living in various provinces of the Russian Empire and acting as an official in authoritative positions:

1. In April 1948, Saltykov was sent to Vyatka by his immediate superior, Count Chernyshov, frightened by the writer's thoughts expressed in the story "A Confused Business". By this time, Europe was frightened by the French Revolution and the German uprisings, which led to a tightening of censorship and the exile of all educated people sympathetic to the problems of the lower strata of the population.
2. In 1951, the disgraced satirist was able to avoid bloodshed between tenants and peasants in the surrounding villages.
3. Until the end of his exile in 1955, the writer did a lot of translations of French enlighteners, and also compiled "History of the Russian State" to teach this subject to the daughters of his friend, the vice-governor of Vyatka and nearby villages. In the Boltin family he had a warm welcome and constantly spent his free time with the mayor's youngest daughters, which later played an important role in the biography of Saltykov-Shchedrin - the St. Petersburg state councilor fell in love with his wife, Elena Appolonyevna Boltin, when she was barely 12 years old.
4. In 1856, becoming a full state councilor from the Ministry of the Interior, he married his chosen one, who was barely 14 years old. Only the elder brother of the writer came to the wedding - the mother of Mikhail Evgrafovich did not like the daughter-in-law because of her youth and the lack of a rich dowry.
5. From 1858 to 1862 he served as the chief police chief in the Tver and Ryazan provinces. During this time, he was able to organize several sections to control the order in the areas adjacent to these cities and showed himself as a progressive fighter for justice in relation to the disenfranchised layers of the population - officials of the lower categories, serfs and farmers.

In the essays of his contemporaries, telling about the most important facts from the life of the first satirist, the time of service in government positions for Saltykov-Shchedrin was not in vain. Observations of the life and foundations of provincial settlements and cities served as a rich basis for future works of the classic.

Success in literary work

Mikhail Evgrafovich did not give up the hope of creating a name for himself as a progressive writer of our time, and therefore throughout the entire period of his public service he worked a lot on his own written observations and reflections. The fruitfulness of his efforts was determined by the undoubted popularity of individual works that saw the light at different stages of his work:

1. 1856 - the beginning of a series of publications under the general title "Provincial Notes" in the journal "Russian Bulletin".
2. Since June 1868, after the secondary and final resignation, Saltykov became the de facto editor of the journal Otechestvennye zapiski together with Nekrasov. By this time, a collection of his essays and stories was published, composed of many years of publications in "Moskovskiye vedomosti" and "Sovremennik".
3. In the period from 1868 to 1884, the publication published most of the famous works of Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, which allowed him and his family to exist and travel with dignity in Europe.

The writer died in 1989, leaving behind not only a young widow, but also a son and daughter. Despite the huge number of sources claiming that Saltykov-Shchedrin did not like his family, there are many reasons to assert the opposite - the writer's suicide notes to his son have survived. In them, a dying man with great tenderness and love asks the heir to take care of his sister and mother after his death.