Alive, Kurilka: Who was the “journalist” from Pushkin's epigram, or the history of one conflict really was

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

An interesting story can sometimes be hidden behind some stable expression - as in the case of the "smoking room": it's not even about the origin of the phrase itself. Behind the cheerful words "Alive, Alive Smoking-room" can easily be considered a whole conflict, one of the sides of which was represented by no less than the main Russian poet.

From a Kharkov bourgeois family - to Moscow libraries and universities

Already in the difference between the biographies of Pushkin and Kachenovsky, one can find prerequisites for future hostility. Pushkin, apparently, was in the eyes of this scientist a darling of fate, an upstart, a capricious boy-nobleman. Kachenovsky himself had to go a rather long and probably not the most exciting path to the heights of Russian education.

Mikhail Trofimovich Kachenovsky was born in 1775 in Kharkov, in the family of a Greek named Kachoni, who came from Balaklava. Poor philistines, parents did not give much to their son, Mikhail lost his father early and, through the efforts of his relatives, was assigned to the Kharkov Collegium, a secondary school, where he studied until he was 13 years old. Service awaited him ahead. A sergeant of the Yekaterinoslav Cossack militia, then a clerk of the Kharkov provincial magistrate, a sergeant in the Tavrichesky grenadier regiment. In 1796, Mikhail was transferred to Moscow, where he advanced a little more in the service - to the rank of quartermaster, after which he submitted a letter of resignation and moved from military service to civilian occupations.

Count Alexei Kirillovich Razumovsky became Kachenovsky's employer - the one who would later become the Minister of Education and give his recommendation regarding Alexander Pushkin entering the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum. He served as a librarian for Count Kachenovsky, and later began to run his entire office. Then he writes a lot for magazines. The first publications of Kachenovsky - articles in the magazine "Ippokrena" in the spirit of sentimentalism - refer to 1799, when his future opponent was just born. In 1805, under the patronage of the trustee of Moscow University Mikhail Nikitich Muravyov, Kachenovsky received his Ph. D. in philosophy and liberal sciences, becoming a teacher of rhetoric and Russian at the university gymnasium.

If Pushkin received an excellent education at the Lyceum, then Kachenovsky, for all his erudition, academic preparation, apparently, did not have enough - but efficiency and a natural mind allowed him to advance in career growth, and the development of theories already expressed by someone earlier - to create his own scientific Kachenovsky headed various departments and taught different disciplines - history, eloquence, poetry, diplomacy and political history, and many other areas of scientific thought became the subject of his interests and research. He became the founder of skepticism - that approach in Russian historiography that casts doubt on the reliability of historical sources and denies their authenticity if they come into conflict with the general historical process. He began his lectures on history only with the reign of Prince Vladimir, denying the authenticity of the information contained in documents dated from earlier periods. "".

Kachenovsky criticized folk myths and legends, generally believing that up to the 13th century, Russia did not know any writing, monetary exchange, or trade relations. In his views, he was at odds with Karamzin, a historian, writer and reformer of the Russian language, which did not add to his popularity in the highest scientific circles, but aroused interest and allowed at least to win the sympathy of students. As for literature, and here the scientist had firm views: to compose works should have been using the "high calm", which was described by Lomonosov. In poetry, according to the views of Kachenovsky, it was unacceptable to use words from colloquial speech, common expressions. And then it already becomes clear that life could not but push him against Pushkin.

How to write poems correctly

The young poet first published his work "To a friend-poet" in 1814 in the journal "Vestnik Evropy", where his other poems were also published during the year. In 1815, Mikhail Kachenovsky was appointed editor of the magazine, and the work of the young lyceum student from that time ceased to correspond to the publication's policy.

Refusal to publish Pushkin was rather painful, complaining to friends in correspondence about failures, career ruin and obscurity. When Pushkin's first poem "Ruslan and Lyudmila" was published, Kachenovsky gave the poet even more reasons for hostility: on the pages of his magazine he erupted in criticism of the work, attacked the style of presentation - by no means high, moreover, it contained "flat jokes of antiquity ". Henceforth, Pushkin's work and he himself will be constantly condemned both by Kachenovsky himself and by those authors to whom he provided the pages of his magazine. According to the recollections of contemporaries, this was characteristic of the main skeptic - a tendency to intrigue, petty attacks. Of course, the sharp-tongued young Pushkin could not ignore this - remembering, moreover, the insult inflicted on him as a poet as a teenager. Kachenovsky became the addressee of a large number of caustic epigrams, there were also those who walked in society attributed to the poet, but in reality written by unknown persons.

Alive, Smoking-room

"Alive, Alive Smoking-room!" - perhaps the most famous of Pushkin's epigrams on Kachenovsky, it reminds of an old children's game, when participants pass from hand to hand a smoldering (smoking) splinter; the one for whom it goes out is eliminated. The very expression "The smoking-room is alive!" has long been used to speak of someone who was considered dead, missing, but in fact turned out to be alive and still busy with his own business. But the epigram gave the catch phrase a slightly different subtext, adding an impressive dose of irony to this exclamation.

Of course, the conflict between Pushkin and Kachenovsky was not limited to personal enmity - it was a much deeper and more serious confrontation between two types of worldviews. If the first defended the development, change of the Russian language and Russian literature, proclaimed the fight against archaism and academism, the second was focused on extreme conservatism, rejection of the new - in particular, was an opponent of neologisms and foreign borrowings. He opposed the Arzamas society, of which Pushkin was a member in 1818 - this circle based its ideas on the works of Karamzin, although the meetings were more like an informal meeting of friends.

A personal meeting between the opponents took place in 1832, when Pushkin, already a famous poet, attended a lecture at Moscow University. Then between him and Kachenovsky began the famous discussion about the authenticity of "The Lay of Igor's Campaign" - the critic did not recognize this work as a real source, considering it a forgery of the 14th century. Nevertheless, in a letter to his wife, Pushkin spoke about this dispute quite favorably and even warmly, apparently having received pleasure from the conversation with the "Old Believer."

The Kurilka remained alive at the time of Pushkin's death - moreover, in 1837 he took over as rector of Moscow University, and headed it until his death in 1842. Being an ambiguous figure, Kachenovsky had both opponents and supporters, in particular, Herzen and Goncharov spoke warmly about his lectures. His merit was seen in the fact that he "awakened critical thought," while it was generally accepted to treat ancient manuscripts with a blind naive faith in their authenticity.

And about how Pushkin spent his lyceum years: here.