Background
Irinarkh Vvedensky was born on November 21, 1813, in the village of Zhukovka, Saratov Province (now Petrovsk, Saratov oblast, Russian Federation). He was born in the family of a poor priest.
Samara Seminary
the Moscow Theological Academy
Saint Petersburg State University
Irinarkh Vvedensky was born on November 21, 1813, in the village of Zhukovka, Saratov Province (now Petrovsk, Saratov oblast, Russian Federation). He was born in the family of a poor priest.
At the age of eight Irinarkh Vvedensky was sent to Penza County School of Theology, where he lived for about a year in a bursa, which he later recalled with a shudder. He studied at the Samara Seminary (1828-1834) independently learned English, German and Italian languages in which he could write.
Due to a lack of funds, "contrary to myself" he entered the Moscow Theological Academy; in 1838 he was forced to leave it. In 1838 Irinarkh Vvedensky entered (without an exam) the sophomore year of the History and Philology Faculty of Moscow University (now Moscow State University) and, at the same time, he worked as a teacher in a boarding school. Two years later, he suddenly dropped everything and left for Petersburg. In 1840 he was admitted to Saint Petersburg University (now Saint Petersburg State University) at the philological department of the Philosophy faculty. At the same time, he met with O.I. Senkovsky.
In 1841 Irinarkh Vvedensky made his debut as a translator and critic in his journal The Library for Reading. After graduating from University in 1842, he taught in military schools, rising to the position of chief mentor-supervisor for the teaching of the Russian language and literature. In 1853 he managed to go abroad, where he dreamed to meet with C. Dickens in London. Later a legend arose about this meeting, which did not actually take place. Prolonged heavy stress undermined Vvedensky’s poor eyesight. In 1854 he became blind.
Vvedensky’s fate and personality are characteristic of the social self-affirmation of a capable one-off who gave Russian workers the type of laboring intellectual. Vvedensky’s innate democracy, closeness to the ideas of M.V. Petrashevsky determined the ideological atmosphere of the "mediums" that were settled in his apartment in Saint Petersburg in the late 40s and early 50s. Vvedensky’s circle influenced the formation of the views of the young N.G. Chernyshevsky, whom he patronized as a gifted fellow countryman. Pogodin even considered Vvedensky the ancestor of Russian nihilism.