Sergey Timofeyevich Aksakov (russian: Серге́й Тимофе́евич Акса́ков) (—) was a 19th-century Russian literary figure remembered for his semi-autobiographical tales of family life, as well as his books on hunting and fishing. A crater on the planet Mercury has been named in his honor.

Early life

According to the Velvet Book of Russian genealogy, the Aksakovs trace their male line to

Šimon Šimon (Old Norse: ''Sigmundr'') was a Varangian (Viking) whose story is related in the Kievan ''Patericon'' and his story concerns the creation of the Kievan cave monastery, where he is reported to have been its most important donor. Story Šimon ...

, a

Varangian The Varangians (; non, Væringjar; gkm, Βάραγγοι, ''Várangoi'';Varangian
" Online Etymo ...

nephew of

Haakon the Old Haakon IV Haakonsson ( – 16 December 1263; Old Norse: ''Hákon Hákonarson'' ; Norwegian: ''Håkon Håkonsson''), sometimes called Haakon the Old in contrast to his namesake son, was King of Norway from 1217 to 1263. His reign lasted for 46 y ...

, who settled in

Novgorod Veliky Novgorod ( rus, links=no, Великий Новгород, t=Great Newtown, p=vʲɪˈlʲikʲɪj ˈnovɡərət), also known as just Novgorod (), is the largest city and administrative centre of Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It is one of the o ...

in 1027. Their first documented ancestor was Ivan Feodorivich Velyaminov nicknamed Oksak who lived during the 15th century. His family crest was based on the Polish Przyjaciel coat of arms (also known as Aksak) which is considered to be of

Tatar The Tatars ()Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different

origin in Poland (the word «oksak» means «lame» in

Turkic languages The Turkic languages are a language family of over 35 documented languages, spoken by the Turkic peoples of Eurasia from Eastern Europe and Southern Europe to Central Asia, East Asia, North Asia (Siberia), and Western Asia. The Turkic l ...

). All this led some researches to believe that the Aksakov family also originated from Tatars, despite they had no relation to the Polish noble house. Sergey was born in Ufa and brought up there and in the family estate at Novo-Aksakovka in Orenburg guberniya, where he acquired a lifelong love of nature. He was also introduced to literature by his mother at an early age, and became especially fond of Kheraskov's ''Rossiada'' and the tragedies of Sumarokov. He was educated at the

Kazan Kazan ( ; rus, Казань, p=kɐˈzanʲ; tt-Cyrl, Казан, ''Qazan'', IPA: ɑzan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka rivers, covering ...

Gymnasium and then, in 1805 (in the first year after its founding), at Kazan University, though he himself said he was ill-prepared for a university education (and some of the professors, brought from abroad, taught in foreign languages). He was also distracted by his obsessive interest in the theater.

Career

He left the university in 1807, and the following year went to St. Petersburg to take up government service, for which he was also poorly prepared. Again, he spent considerable time at the theater, and his acquaintance with the conservative Admiral Shishkov strengthened his preference for classical Russian literature and introduced him to the Lovers of the Russian Word. He resigned from the civil service in 1811 and moved to

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, where he was active as an amateur in literary and theatrical life and published his first verse anonymously in 1812. Aksakov enlisted in the militia and took part in the Campaign of 1812; afterwards he settled for the quiet life of a sporting country squire at his estate of Aksakovo in Orenburg guberniya, where he stayed from 1816 until 1826, after which he was usually in Moscow. In 1816 he married Olga Semenovna Zaplatina, and the couple had six sons and eight daughters. His eldest daughter Vera Aksakova who was born in 1819 was also a noted author. He began publishing translations, reviews, and articles in the early 1820s, though his important work came much later. In 1827 he was appointed to the Moscow Censorship Committee, from which he was dismissed in 1832 for allowing the publication of a "scurrilous" pamphlet on drunken policemen; in 1833 he became an inspector at the Grand Duke Constantine School of Surveying, and in 1835 the first director of the Constantine Geodetic Institute (''Konstantinovsky mezhevoi institut''). He retired from the civil service in 1838. In 1832 he met

Nikolai Gogol Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol; uk, link=no, Мико́ла Васи́льович Го́голь, translit=Mykola Vasyliovych Hohol; (russian: Яновский; uk, Яновський, translit=Yanovskyi) ( – ) was a Russian novelist, ...

"and recognized in him what he had failed to see in Púshkin or any other man—a purely Russian genius. Aksákov's house, a stronghold of pure Russianism in Moscow society, became the temple of the cult of Gogol, and Aksakov its high priest." It was Gogol who revealed to Aksakov the possibility of creating literature based directly on life, without forcing it into the mold of classical forms. In 1834 Aksakov published his first realistic story, "A Blizzard." Around 1840, encouraged by Gogol, he began writing the book that would make him famous, ''A Family Chronicle''. While he was working on that, he published books about two of his favorite activities since his youth, ''Notes on Fishing'' (1847) and ''Notes of a Hunter in Orenburg Province'' (1852). Their "limpid style and concrete content," which were "almost unique in Russian literature," were appreciated by contemporaries;

Turgenev Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev (; rus, links=no, Ива́н Серге́евич Турге́невIn Turgenev's day, his name was written ., p=ɪˈvan sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ tʊrˈɡʲenʲɪf; 9 November 1818 – 3 September 1883 ( Old Style da ...

reviewed them enthusiastically, and Gogol wrote Aksakov, "Your birds and fishes are more alive than my men and women."

Later life

In 1843 Aksakov settled in the village of

Abramtsevo Abramtsevo (russian: Абрамцево) is the name of several rural localities in Russia: * Abramtsevo (selo), Dmitrovsky District, Moscow Oblast, a '' selo'' in Sinkovskoye Rural Settlement of Dmitrovsky District in Moscow Oblast; * Abramtsev ...

, near Moscow, where he entertained writers including Gogol,

, and

Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich TolstoyTolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; russian: link=no, Лев Николаевич Толстой,In Tolstoy's day, his name was written as in pre-refor ...

and which was also frequented by his Slavophile sons,

Konstantin The first name Konstantin () is a derivation from the Latin name '' Constantinus'' ( Constantine) in some European languages, such as Russian and German. As a Christian given name, it refers to the memory of the Roman emperor Constantine the Gr ...

and

Ivan Ivan () is a Slavic male given name, connected with the variant of the Greek name (English: John) from Hebrew meaning 'God is gracious'. It is associated worldwide with Slavic countries. The earliest person known to bear the name was Bulga ...

. In the late 1850s he published his most enduring works, ''The Family Chronicle'' (''Semeinaya khronika'', 1856; translated as ''A Russian Gentleman'') and ''Childhood Years of Bagrov Grandson'' (''Detskie gody Bagrova-vnuka'', 1858, translated as ''Years of Childhood''). These reminiscences of a childhood spent in a Russian patriarchal family "brought Aksakov recognition as a literary artist of the first rank."John McNair, "Sergei Timofeevich Aksakov," p. 98. Aksakov's semi-autobiographical narratives are unmatched for their scrupulous and detailed description of the everyday life of the Russian nobility. Among Aksakov's other works are ''The History of My Acquaintance with Gogol'' (''Istoriya moego znakomstva s Gogolem'', published 1890 ritten in 1830s and 1840s; ''Memoirs'' (''Vospominaniya'', 1856, translated as ''A Russian Schoolboy''), and ''Collecting Butterflies'' (''Sobiranie babochek'', 1858). His fairy tale '' The Scarlet Flower'' was adapted into an animated

feature film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

in the Soviet Union in 1952.

Family

Aksakov married Olga Semyonovna Zaplatina who was the daughter of Major General Semyon Grigorievich Zaplatina and a captured

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

woman. They had four sons (

, Gregory,

and Mikhail) and seven daughters (

Vera Vera may refer to: Names *Vera (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) *Vera (given name), a given name (including a list of people and fictional characters with the name) **Vera (), archbishop of the archdiocese of Tarrag ...

, Olga, Nadezhda, Anna, Lyubov, Maria, and Sophia).

English translations

* *''A Russian Schoolboy'', E. Arnold, London, 1917, tr. by J. D. Duff
from Archive.org
*''A Russian Gentleman'', E. Arnold, London, 1917, tr. by J. D. Duff
from Archive.org
*''The Family Chronicle'', E. P. Dutton & Co., New York, 1961, tr. by M. C. Beverley.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aksakov, Sergey 1791 births 1859 deaths Writers from Ufa Male writers from the Russian Empire Memoirists from the Russian Empire Corresponding members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences Nobility from the Russian Empire Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery 19th-century novelists from the Russian Empire 19th-century male writers from the Russian Empire