Osip Ivanovich Senkovsky (; – ), born Józef-Julian Sękowski, was a Polish-Russian orientalist, journalist and entertainer.

Life

Senkovsky was born on his mother's estate in Antagotony, located some 30 miles away from Vilna (Vilnius in modern-day Lithuania, then in the Russian Empire). He was born into an old family of

Lithuanian nobility The Lithuanian nobility () or ''szlachta'' of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (, ) was historically a legally privileged hereditary elite class in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth (including during period of foreign r ...

. During his study in the University of Vilna he became fascinated with all things oriental. Having mastered the Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and Hebrew languages, he was assigned to the Russian mission in

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

, which occupation gave him ample opportunities to travel in

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

Nubia Nubia (, Nobiin language, Nobiin: , ) is a region along the Nile river encompassing the area between the confluence of the Blue Nile, Blue and White Nile, White Niles (in Khartoum in central Sudan), and the Cataracts of the Nile, first cataract ...

, and Egypt. In 1821 he returned to the Russian capital, where he got the chair in oriental languages at the

University of Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg State University (SPBGU; ) is a public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in Russia. Founded in 1724 by a decree of Peter the Great, the university from the be ...

. In the 1820s, Senkovsky started publishing in the popular periodicals of

Kondraty Ryleyev Kondraty Fyodorovich Ryleyev (, , – ) was a Russians, Russian poet, publisher, and a leader of the Decembrist Revolt, which attempted to overthrow the Russian monarchy in 1825. Early life Ryleyev was born in the village of Gatchinsky Distric ...

and

Faddei Bulgarin Faddei Venediktovich Bulgarin (; – ), born Jan Tadeusz Krzysztof Bułharyn, was a Russian writer, journalist and publisher of Polish ancestry. In addition to his newspaper work, he rejuvenated the Russian novel, and published the first theat ...

. He is best remembered for having edited the first Russian "thick journal," ''

Biblioteka Dlya Chteniya ''Biblioteka Dlya Chteniya'' (, ) was a Russian monthly magazine founded in Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire, in 1834 by Alexander Smirdin. History The magazine "of literature, sciences, arts, industry, current news and fashion" was launched in ...

'' (Library for Reading, 1833–1856), whose lively and humorous style (as

Nikolai Gogol Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol; ; (; () was a Russian novelist, short story writer, and playwright of Ukrainian origin. Gogol used the Grotesque#In literature, grotesque in his writings, for example, in his works "The Nose (Gogol short story), ...

put it) attracted to literary journals even those people who had never held a book in their hands. Senkovsky encouraged new writers. He had a strong influence on Yelena Hahn and on Elizaveta Akhmatova. In the latter case he not only developed a writer but she regarded him as a parent, Akhmatova would eventually publish her own magazines and in time her own memoir of Senkowsky. A very prolific writer, Senkovsky contributed articles on a wide range of topics, from mathematics to medicine. Under the pen-name of Baron Brambeus he published a series of

fantastic voyage ''Fantastic Voyage'' is a 1966 American science fiction adventure film directed by Richard Fleischer and written by Harry Kleiner, based on a story by Otto Klement and Jerome Bixby. The film is about a submarine crew who is shrunk to microsco ...

s, including one to the center of the Earth (''The Sentimental Journey to Mount Etna'') and another to an antediluvian Egyptian civilization flourishing on the now-frozen

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

n plain (''The Scientific Journey to Bear Island''). As a literary critic he had few principles, his motto being "easy reading and less thought". One day he would pronounce his friend

Nestor Kukolnik Nestor Vasilievich Kukolnik () (1809–1868) was a Russian playwright and prose writer of Carpatho-Rusyn origin. Immensely popular during the early part of his career, his works were subsequently dismissed as sententious and sentimental. Today, he ...

to be Gogol's superior, only to place Gogol higher than

Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...

the very next day. He dismissed ''

The Tale of Igor's Campaign ''The Tale of Igor's Campaign'' or ''The Tale of Ihor's Campaign'' () is an anonymous epic poem written in the Old East Slavic language. The title is occasionally translated as ''The Tale of the Campaign of Igor'', ''The Song of Igor's Campaign'' ...

'' as a clumsy fake, derogated

Alexander Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin () was a Russian poet, playwright, and novelist of the Romantic era.Basker, Michael. Pushkin and Romanticism. In Ferber, Michael, ed., ''A Companion to European Romanticism''. Oxford: Blackwell, 2005. He is consid ...

as a second-hand imitator, and declared the ''

Tale of Bygone Years The ''Primary Chronicle'', shortened from the common ''Russian Primary Chronicle'' (, commonly transcribed ''Povest' vremennykh let'' (PVL), ), is a chronicle of Kievan Rus' from about 850 to 1110. It is believed to have been originally compile ...

'' to be written in Polish. During his last years, Senkovsky turned from literature to music. He claimed to have invented a five-stringed violin and a new type of oven. He also published pioneering studies of Chinese,

Mongolian Mongolian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Mongolia, a country in Asia * Mongolian people, or Mongols * Bogd Khanate of Mongolia, the government of Mongolia, 1911–1919 and 1921–1924 * Mongolian language * Mongolian alphabet * ...

, and

Tibetan Tibetan may mean: * of, from, or related to Tibet * Tibetan people, an ethnic group * Tibetan language: ** Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard ** Standard Tibetan, the most widely used spoken dial ...

languages. He has been referred to as the founder of

Litvinism Litvinism (; ) is a pseudohistory, pseudohistorical branch of Belarusian nationalism, nationalism, philosophy and Political capital, political current in Belarus, which bases the history of its state on the heritage of the Grand Duchy of Lithuan ...

References