Alexander Nikolayevich Afanasyev was a Russian Slavist and ethnographer who published nearly 600 Russian fairy and folk tales, one of the largest collections of folklore in the world. The first edition of his collection was published in eight volumes from 1855 to 1867, earning him the reputation as being the Russian counterpart to the Brothers Grimm.
Background
Alexander Nikolayevich Afanasyev was born on July 12, 1826 in Boguchar, Voronezh, Russian Federation into a family of modest means. His mother Varvara Mikhailovna Afanasyeva came from common people. Alexander was her seventh child. She became very ill after giving birth and died by the end of the year. The children were raised by their father Nikolai Ivanovich Afanasyev, a Titular councillor who served as a prosecutor's assistant.
Education
Alexander Nikolayevich became addicted to reading early in his life, having access to the well-stocked library left by his grandfather (a member of the Russian Bible Society), as well as to various magazines.
In 1837 Alexander Nikolayevich was sent to the Voronezh male gymnasium, and in 1844 he entered the Law Faculty of the University of Moscow which he finished in 1848. There he attended the lectures of Konstantin Kavelin, Timofey Granovsky, Sergey Solovyov, Stepan Shevyryov, Osip Bodyansky and Fyodor Buslaev.
Alexander Nikolayevich published a series of articles on government economy during the times of Peter the Great, on the Pskov Judicial Charter and other topics in the Sovremennik and Otechestvennye Zapiski magazines. Despite being one of the most promising students, he failed to become a professor. The conservative Minister of National Enlightenment, Count Sergey Uvarov, who oversaw the final exams, attacked Afanasyev's essay which discussed the role of autocracy in the development of Russian criminal law during the 16th and 17th centuries.
Career
In 1849 Konstantin Kavelin helped him to get a place at the Moscow's Main Archive Directorate under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Empire, and here Alexander Nikolayevich worked for the next 13 years. During that time he met many people of science and culture, collected a lot of ancient books and manuscripts that formed a huge library. His articles, reviews, ethnographical and historical works regularly appeared in the leading Russian magazines, newspapers, almanacs and scientific periodicals. His essays on Russian satire of the 18th century and on the works of prominent writers and publishers resulted in an 1859 monograph "Russian Satirical Magazines of 1769-1774", published in "Otechestvennye Zapiski".
In 1855 Alexander Nikolayevich headed the state commission responsible for publication of legislative, historical and literary works. From 1858 to 1861 he also worked as the main editor of the short-lived magazine "Bibliographical Notes" which actually served as a cover for collecting materials, censored and revolutionary literature for the socialist in exile Alexander Herzen. In 1862 the authorities arrested the Narodnik Nikolay Chernyshevsky, while other people associated with Herzen, including Afanasiev, came under suspicion. His flat was searched, and while nothing was revealed, Alexander Nikolayevich still lost his place at the Moscow Archives.
After his dismissal Alexander Nikolayevich couldn't find a stable job for several years and had to sell his library to feed his family. After that he worked as a secretary at the Moscow City Duma and at the Moscow Congress of Justices of the Peace while continuing his ethnographical research.
Alexander Nikolayevich wrote a large theoretical work (three tomes of 700 pages each) - "The Poetic Outlook of Slavs about Nature" - which came out between 1865 and 1869. In 1870 his Russian Children's Fairy Tales were published.
Alexander Nikolayevich spent his last years living in penury. He died in Moscow aged 45, suffering from tuberculosis. He was buried at the Pyatnitskoye cemetery.