Background
Alexander Lvovich Borovikovsky was born on November 14 (26), 1844 in Poltava, Ukraine in a family of a little-known Ukrainian poet and folklorist Lev Borovikovsky.
Imperial Kharkov University
Alexander Lvovich Borovikovsky was born on November 14 (26), 1844 in Poltava, Ukraine in a family of a little-known Ukrainian poet and folklorist Lev Borovikovsky.
As a teenager, Alexander Lvovich studied at Kharkov gymnasium. In 1866 he graduated from the Faculty of Law of Kharkov Imperial University and was left at the Department of the History of Russian Law.
Alexander Lvovich worked hard throughout his life. Since 1868, fascinated by the practical problems of the ongoing judicial reform, he began working in the bar as a lawyer in Kharkov. Since 1867 Alexander Lvovich was the assistant secretary of Kharkiv District Court. Then in 1870, he started to work as deputy prosecutor of Simbirsk court and from 1871 – at Saint Petersburg district court. In 1874 Alexander Lvovich left civil service and became attorney-at-law at Saint Petersburg judicial district. As a lawyer, he took part in the political Lawsuit of 50 (1877) and Lawsuit of the 193 (1877-1878). During these years Alexander Lvovich became close to the circle of reporters Patriotic notes. Together with N.A.Nekrasov and M. Saltykov-Shchedrin he contributed a lot to G.Eliseev’s release from the police’s custody.
Since the end of 1883, Alexander Lvovich was a member of the Odessa Judicial Chamber. In 1887-1894 he worked as a freelance university lecturer at Novorossiysk University in Odessa. Since 1894 he became assistant to the State Secretary of the State Council, since 1895 – Chief Prosecutor, since 1898 – senator of the State Cassation Department of the Senate.
The first literary works of Alexander Lvovich were inspired by Ukrainian folklore: the essay Women’s share of Little Russian songs written in 1864 and the poem Their Ukrainian Motives. In 1874, he became friends with A.S.Suvorin and became a co-author (of their poetic parts) of a number of his literary feuilletons, sustained in the spirit of accusatory journalism of the 60s, published in the newspapers Saint Petersburg lists (1874), New Time (1876).
The mature period of the poetic work of Alexander Lvovich fell at the years of 1877-1882. The verses of these years were close to populist poetry and the traditions of N. Nekrasov. Many poems were censored, persecuted, and distributed illegally.
Alexander Lvovich admired the moral stamina, the sincerity of the Narodniks though he didn’t share their extreme convictions.
Quotes from others about the person
Anatoly Koni: "He died, however, although not young, but also not aged, suddenly, in the midst of lively activity. His memory will live for a long time among those who knew him, and future servants of the Judicial Rules should learn from him the ability to reconcile interpretations of the cold law with a compassionate attitude to the conditions and severity of civilian life."
Anatoly Koni: "Even though in my time (1871–1875) the composition of civilian divisions was superior in knowledge, experience, and talent to the majority of the comrades of the chairman and members included in it, Borovikovsky almost immediately gained authority and respect among them."
Vikenty Veresaev: "A.L. Borovikovsky is the best poet of "Patriotic Notes" after N. Nekrasov. He was unjustly forgotten. The youth of that time wrote down his verses and taught them by heart, but he did not even publish them as a separate book, later becoming a major figure in the judicial department and the author of special works on civil law."