Background
He was born on January 4, 1795 in Moscow, Russia.
composer Diplomat playwright poet
He was born on January 4, 1795 in Moscow, Russia.
Griboyedov was educated at Moscow University from 1810 to 1812.
Like Alexander Pushkin, whose contemporary he was, Griboedov belonged to the well-to-do gentry and was prominent in the society of his time.
His literary fame rests entirely on one play, a satire in verse, Gore ot Uma (Woe From Wit or The Misfortune of Being Clever), which is a masterpiece of the Russian stage.
He graduated from the University of Moscow at the age of fifteen and enlisted in the army at the time of the Napoleonic invasion, serving for two years in a cavalry regiment.
From 1815 until his death Griboedov served as a diplomat in the Caucasus and later in Persia. In 1826, while he was diplomatic secretary to General Ermolov, Governor General of the Caucasus, Griboedov was suddenly arrested and brought to St. Petersburg for alleged connections with the revolt of the Decembrists, which took place on December 14, 1825, in St. Petersburg.
Many of the conspirators were Griboedov's close friends, but his formal connection with the conspiracy was never established, and he was finally freed and exonerated.
In 1828, after successfully negotiating the Treaty of Turkmanchai with Persia, he was decorated by the Russian government and was appointed Russian minister to Persia. As a minister, Griboedov tried scrupulously and fearlessly to enforce the treaty he had negotiated. The treaty was harsh and the feeling of resentment toward the Russian diplomat was intense. A shah, Alayar-Khan, from whose harem two Armenian girls took refuge in the Russian Legation, incited a mob against the Russians, and on January 30, 1829, Muslim fanatics stormed the Russian Legation in Tehran. Sword in hand, Griboedov fell fighting.
Griboedov's great play is classic in spirit and is comparable to the satirical plays of MolièreMoliere and Richard Brinsley Sheridan. The dialogue, in rhymed iambic verse, is natural, varied, and full of wit and repartee. Chatsky, an idealistic, impulsive youth, upon returning from abroad, goes to a ball and there attacks the foibles of the Moscow society or, in fact, any society. All the characters are types and are drawn with consummate skill. The play was censored but circulated extensively in manuscript; it was not published as a whole until 1833. Its first performance on the stage took place in 1831; from then on it held the stage continuously. The English translation by Sir Bernard Pares is included in George Noyes's Masterpieces of the Russian Drama (1933).
