Boris Nikolayevich Almazov was a Russian critic, poet and translator. He dedicated his life to literature, with the help of which he expressed his views. Boris Nikolayevich was a highly praised poet, but at the end of his life his works lost their charm and did not receive printed responses, being approved only by a circle of acquaintances.
Background
Boris Nikolayevich Almazov was born on October 27, 1827 in Vyazma, Russian Federation to a retired military man coming from an old Moscow family. He received his primary education at home, in his parents' village of Karavayevo, where he spent most of his childhood.
Education
In 1839 Boris Nikolayevich joined the First Moscow gymnasium, then was transferred to a boarding Ennes boarding school. In 1848-1850 he enrolled into the law faculty of Moscow University but failed to graduate due to financial difficulties.
Career
In the early 1850s Boris Nikolayevich joined the young staff of the magazine Moskvityanin, alongside Alexander Ostrovsky, Apollon Grigoriev, Lev Mey, and started writing humorous sketches, under the pseudonym "Erast Blagonravov." One of his pieces, "Dreaming of a Comedy," dealing with Sovremennik' negative review of Alexander Ostrovsky's It's a Family Affair-We'll Settle It Ourselves, had the heated exchange of insults between the two publications, as a result. Soon he changed his style of writing from frivolous to didactic and started to support the more traditional, type of prose.
In 1853 Boris Nikolayevich married S.Z. Voronina, whom he had tutored.The couple was dogged by financial troubles. Their affairs improved as in 1854 He joined the Moscow educational chancellery, a position he held until 1861. In 1857 he began working in the Russian Synod's publishing office.
In 1859 Boris Nikolayevich contributed two essays ("On Pushkin's Poetry" and "A Review of Russian Literature, 1858") to the Utro (Morning) almanac, compiled by Mikhail Pogodin.
In the 1860s and 1870s, Boris Nikolayevich concentrated on writing and translating poetry, contributing mostly to The Russian Messenger (1861-1864, 1871-1872), Razvlecheniye (1859-1866), Iskra (1861-1862) and Zanoza (1863). Writing under the pseudonym "B. Adamantov", he enjoyed considerable success with his humorous verses, satirizing Russian police's interference in people's private lives, the inconsistencies of the liberals, and the advocates of serfdom. His philosophical and religious poetry, mostly in the vein of Schiller, his personal hero, was less popular, poems like "Rus and The West", "The Old Russian Party" and "To the Russian Tsar," seen as typical for the Slavophile trend in the Russian poetry.
Best known Almazov's translation was his version of The Song of Roland (published in 1869 in Moscow, as Roland). He also translated Goethe, Schiller, and Chénier, as well as poetry of the Middle Ages.
In 1874 came out Poems, a comprehensive collection of Almazov's own poetic works. Critics ignored it, and long-time friend Alexey Pisemsky proved to be the only one who tried to promote the book. That was the year Almazov's wife died, the loss he suffered greatly from. His last piece, "Katenka", a novella in the natural school mode, came out in 1875. Heart-broken and destitute, Boris Almazov died on 11 November 1876, at the Sheremetiev's clinic in Moscow.
Almazov’s political views are clear from his works. His political lyrics – "Russia and the West" (1854; forbidden by censorship for excessive tone), "The Old Russian Party" (1864), excerpts from the poem "Socialists" (1871) and much more – reveal the author’s monarchical views, which are expressed in clichéd phraseology.
Views
In his first article (the best article of the "Moskvityanin" period) "A Dream on the Occasion of a Comedy" (1851), Boris Nikolaevich simultaneously appeared both as a witty feuilletonist and as an intelligent critic who sought to prove the superiority of Ostrovsky's "objectivity" over Gogol’s "lyricism", which makes this article a kind of introduction to the main literary and critical discussion of the 50s "Pushkin or Gogol?".
Developing his view of Pushkin as "the most complete and purest type of poet" and in this regard, expressing a number of insightful judgments about the naturalness that lies in the nature of his genius, Boris Nikolaevich combined it with the concept of "objectivity".
According to his point of view, "any exceptional attachment, specialty", including “exceptional attachment to poetry itself, if it obscures the poet’s immediate life..." interfere with true poetry. In 1851-1853 he challenged the doctrinal approach to art, finding it both among Westerners and the Slavophiles, and demanded from the artist, first of all, "mathematical accuracy in showing reality", which was achieved, in his opinion, only by Ostrovsky. Since 1853, having experienced some kind of internal crisis, Almazov is increasingly getting agreed with the viewpoint of the official nationality.
Membership
Young editorial team club
,
Russian Federation
1851
Society of Russian Literature Lovers
,
Russian Federation
1865
Connections
In 1853 Almazov married S.Z. Voronina, whom he had tutored. The marriage proved to be a happy one, but the couple was dogged by financial troubles, for Voronina came from a poor family, and her husband was known to be an impractical man.