"Love for three", a wife won at cards, a passion for hunting dogs and other oddities in the life of the poet Nekrasov

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

The personality of the Russian poet classic Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov contradictory, like all his work. And what can we say about his personal life, which caused constant bewilderment and indignation not only of society, but also of his closest friends and relatives. The poet's extraordinary nature, capable of unpredictable actions, which few would have dared to, to this day arouses the interest of not only critics and connoisseurs of the writer's work, but also uninitiated readers.

This inconsistency was most clearly expressed in ambiguous judgments about him and assessments of his actions by other writers and prominent figures, the poet's contemporaries. Chernyshevsky described him as "a generous man of a strong character," and Lenin called him "weak and wavering." Dostoevsky spoke of him as a primordially Russian type, and Blok took for a "master" and a passionate, carried away nature.

In addition, critics from literature unanimously argued that none of the famous Russian poets wrote so many bad poems along with unsurpassed genius creations as Nekrasov. And the strangeness in his personal life, as mentioned above, has badly damaged the poet's reputation.

Childhood, adolescence, youth

Nekrasov's father, Lieutenant Alexei Sergeevich, served in the Ukrainian town of Nemirov, Vinnitsa district, when Nikolai was born. The boy was one of thirteen children of the large Nekrasov family. At one time, the lieutenant married a very young young lady, Elena Zakrevskaya, from a noble family, with a worthy dowry and good manners. The story of their love, which began with passionate love and a secret wedding, very soon turned into hell for the newlywed.

"Love is evil" - truly this phrase is entirely related to the story of the family of the future poet. After the wedding, the romance of feelings between the spouses very soon cooled down and the already cruel and rude husband, prone to drunkenness and debauchery, appeared before the young wife in all its glory. Since childhood, Nicholas, who saw the lawlessness and atrocities perpetrated by his father on both the peasants and his wife and children, sunk deeply into the soul and left their mark on his life and work.

The reclusive mother endured all her husband's bullying and, as best she could, tried to protect the thirteen children born in this hated marriage. It is to this unfortunate woman that the future poet owes his love and addiction to literature. And he will carry all the touching tenderness and love for mother and sisters throughout his life.

Soon the retired lieutenant took his family to the estate in the Yaroslavl province, where Nikolai Nekrasov spent his childhood and school years. It should be noted that the mischievous boy, studying at the gymnasium, was not distinguished by special diligence and diligence. But with his cocky satirical rhymes he constantly annoyed the teachers.

The father, himself being a military man, dreamed of a career for his son in the army. With such thoughts, he sent Nicholas to St. Petersburg to study in a noble regiment. But once in the capital, he chose a different path for himself - he entered the university as a volunteer at the Faculty of Philology, however, before that he had failed the entrance exams with a crash. His father's rage knew no bounds, and by renouncing his son, he deprived him of any material support. And it was a sharp turn in the life of a young man who disobeyed his monster father.

Endless wanderings and life from hand to mouth began. What the poet later wrote about in his memoirs as follows: going into a tavern and hiding behind a newspaper, stealthily collected half-eaten bread from plates and ate it with thirst. And once, finding himself homeless, he lived for some time in a slum among the poor. Standing on the verge of life and death, 16-year-old Nekrasov promised himself that he would fight for life by all means and would not die in poverty somewhere under a fence or in an attic.

Lust for life

Nikolai began to practice private lessons, write various articles and simple poems for the press, and little by little began to earn his daily bread. And three years later he released his first collection of poems "Dreams and Sounds", which he published for his own money. However, the unflattering reviews of V. A. Zhukovsky and V. G. Belinsky about the collection, which was already selling very poorly, forced the poet to show character: he removed all copies of the collection from stores and burned them.

However, the young and persistent poet did not want to give up his positions in front of life, and a new milestone in his creative life will be cooperation in the literary journal Otechestvennye zapiski, where he will become close to Belinsky, Dostoevsky and Grigorovich and make friends with them.

Love for three

In the personal life of Nikolai Alekseevich, changes also took place. Once in 1842, at one of the poetry evenings, he met Avdotya Panaeva, the wife of the writer Ivan Panaev, and fell passionately in love. A charming brunette, was known as one of the most charming ladies in St. Petersburg. In addition to all the merits, she was smart enough and talented, together with her husband Ivan Panaev they kept a literary salon, where the creative intelligentsia of the capital gathered. It should be noted that Panaev was an unrestrained rake and reveler who openly cheated on his beautiful wife left and right. And it was he who first brought Nikolai Alekseevich to his house.

Regular visitors to the Panayevs' salon were then young, but promising Chernyshevsky, Dobrolyubov, Turgenev, Belinsky. Yes, and Nekrasov often began to visit the hospitable house. And despite the fact that Avdotya Panaeva was distinguished by decency and loyalty to her dissolute husband, the 26-year-old poet, made a lot of effort to attract the attention of this amazing woman. Although at first he was rejected by her and even tried to commit suicide. But most likely, thanks to the qualities of his stubborn character, Nikolai still managed to achieve reciprocity. By the way, Dostoevsky was also in love with the owner of the salon at one time, but he never got any favors from Avdotya.

What happened next - little is invested in the head, but nevertheless: Avdotya and Nikolai Alekseevich, no longer hiding their feelings and love relationships, began to live in a civil marriage in the Panaevs' house, moreover, together under the same roof with Avdotya's legal husband.

Tired of his wife, Ivan Ivanovich Panaev no longer harbored past feelings for her and looked completely indifferently at Avdotya's connection with Nikolai, who, in turn, rolled scenes of jealousy and constant quarrels to his lawful husband, followed by a stormy truce.

What was surprising at all, their "love for three" was quite long - almost 16 years, until the very death of Panaev. This whole story caused general indignation and human rumors. It was said about Nekrasov that “Caricaturists who were sharp on satire often joked about this trinity in their cartoons.

At that time, even close friends turned away from the poet, but be that as it may, in 1846 Nekrasov and Panaev jointly acquired the Sovremennik magazine, which became an entire era in the publishing house of progressive Russian literature. And rumors, gossip and rumors circulating around the city did not in any way prevent the lovers from living happily. Nikolay and Avdotya worked for a long time in the co-authorship of "Nekrasov and Stanitsky" (pseudonym Avdotya). Several novels belong to this collaboration of two loving people, which at one time had considerable success. In addition, after several years of marriage, in 1849, Avdotya became pregnant and gave birth to a son to Nikolai. But to the great regret of the parents, the baby turned out to be weak and soon died.

In 1862, Panaeva's husband also died, and almost immediately Avdotya herself left Nekrasov. She immediately married the young secretary of Sovremennik. Sharp tongues joked that Avdotya managed to marry the entire magazine. And Nekrasov suffered greatly after her departure. Although in recent years their relationship had already undergone a collapse, since he was passionately jealous of Avdotya, he himself gradually began to cheat on her.

French muse of the poet

A couple of years later, the poet with his sister and Frenchwoman Celine Lefrain, with whom he had already known for about a year and had more than friendly relations, went abroad. For some time they lived in Paris, after which Nekrasov returned to Russia, and Celine remained in France. And for another five years this romance lasted at a distance. And despite the fact that Celine was very dry about the poet, he constantly helped her financially. And once having received a considerable sum from him, the selfish Frenchwoman will leave her benefactor forever.

The last muse of the poet, won at cards

And Nikolai Alekseevich did not suffer for long, he fell in love several more times and finally even got married, finding himself a young life partner, or to be more precise, he won her at cards. The girl, whose name was Fyokla Anisimovna, was kept by a merchant, he then lost her in a card game to Nekrasov. After that, no one called Fekla by her name, since Nekrasov decided to give his "win" not only a new life, but also a new name - Zinaida Nikolaevna.

The elderly poet “held Zinaida like a doll” - he gave expensive gifts, spoiled, but at the same time taught to read and write, took her to theaters, in a word, tried to make a lady of high society out of her. The only thing he never devoted to her love poems as his first darling. And the young wife reciprocated him, was devoted and tender, she learned his poems by heart and sincerely admired her talented husband.

Maps are the hereditary passion of the Nekrasovs

In the family on the paternal side of Nikolai Alekseevich, all men were avid gamblers. Thus, the great-grandfather of the "immensely rich" Ryazan landowner lost all his wealth at the card table. Both the grandfather and the father and the poet's brothers were gamblers. In the Nekrasov family, stories about the glorious genealogy of the Nekrasov family, which the father loved to tell, were popular:

And only Nikolai, with his extraordinary luck, was the first of all the Nekrasovs who managed to catch "luck by the tail" for a long time. He was also an avid card player, but unlike his ancestors, he almost never lost. I only won … and sometimes a lot.

Hound hunting

Throughout his life, Nekrasov was also passionately fond of hound hunting, in adulthood he even went to bear. He also inherited this passion from his father. He could walk all day with a gun through the swamps, hunting for prey, and get tremendous pleasure from this. Zinaida Nikolaevna also became addicted to this occupation.

Nikolai Alekseevich watched with delight as his wife saddled a horse on her own and rode in full hunting uniform next to him on the hunt. Zinaida was truly an object of his pride, for this he loved her … and most likely in a fatherly way.

But once on a hunt something happened that forever killed a hunter with 43 years of experience in Nekrasov. Zinaida Nikolaevna accidentally shot her husband's beloved dog - a black pointer named Kado. After this incident, Nikolai Alekseevich forever refused to take a gun in his hands.

The last years of the poet's life

By the beginning of 1875, Nekrasov fell seriously ill, the diagnosis was tantamount to a sentence - intestinal cancer, an incurable disease at that time. For about two years, the poet was bedridden and slowly faded away; even an operation carried out by a surgeon who had specially arrived from Vienna did not help. Soon the poet died. A crowd of five thousand gathered at his funeral and practically staged a rally in defense of the people's poet's honor.

In his will, Nekrasov mentioned all his women whom he loved and who loved him. And Zinaida Nikolaevna survived him by thirty-eight years, during which she did not take off her mourning for her husband. Having given her part of the inheritance to the relatives of Nikolai Alekseevich, she left nothing for herself … only a bright memory.

Avdotya Panaeva also survived Nekrasov by as much as sixteen years. She gave birth to a daughter from a young husband. And in the year of Nekrasov's death, she buried her husband and lived the rest of her life with her daughter, enduring need. And she dedicated her memoirs entirely to Nikolai Alekseevich.

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