Vasily Ivanovich Nemirovich-Danchenko (, born 23 December (4 January), 1845,

Tiflis Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი, ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), ( ka, ტფილისი, tr ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia ( ...

(now

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი, ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), ( ka, ტფილისი, tr ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia ( ...

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Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

– died 18 September 1936,

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) was a

Russian writer Russian literature refers to the literature of Russia, its émigrés, and to Russian-language literature. Major contributors to Russian literature, as well as English for instance, are authors of different ethnic origins, including bilingual ...

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ist,

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, and the brother of famous theater director

Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko Vladimir Ivanovich Nemirovich-Danchenko (; – 25 April 1943) was a Soviet and Russian theatre director, writer, pedagogue Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how t ...

. Vasily Nemirovich-Danchenko, the most prolific Russian Empire writer of the late 19th-early 20th century, published more than 250 books; he was widely popular among the general reading public, but had little success with mainstream critics.

Biography

Early life

Vasily Nemirovich-Danchenko was born in Tiflis, the son of a Russian army officer based in the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...

. His memories of early childhood formed the basis of many of his later books, notably those dealing with the Caucasian Wars (''The Forgotten Fortress'' novel, 1895, ''Gavryushka's Captivity'', 1917). He began writing poetry while a student of the Moscow 1st Cadets Corps (1854–1863). In the 1860s he became a member of the Saint Petersburg literary circle based around Sophia Mei (poet

Lev Mei Lev Aleksandrovich Mei or Mey (; ) was a Russian dramatist and poet. Biography Mei was born on 13/25 February 1822, in Moscow. His father was a German officer who was wounded in the Battle of Borodino and died young. His mother was Russian. Mei c ...

's wife). It was in the ''Modny Magazin'' (Fashionable Magazine) which she edited that Nemirovich-Danchenko published his first poems in 1865. In early 1870 Nemirovich-Danchenko was deported to

Archangelsk Arkhangelsk (, ) is a city and the administrative center of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. It lies on both banks of the Northern Dvina near its mouth into the White Sea. The city spreads for over along the banks of the river and numerous islands o ...

(some biographers suggested it was due to embezzlement, but the exact reason remained unclear). From there he wrote a letter to Aleksey Nekrasov, complaining about the injustices he had suffered. The latter took interest in the young poet and published five of his verses in his ''

Otechestvennye Zapiski ''Otechestvennye Zapiski'' ( rus, Отечественные записки, p=ɐˈtʲetɕɪstvʲɪnːɨjɪ zɐˈpʲiskʲɪ, variously translated as "Annals of the Fatherland", "Patriotic Notes", "Notes of the Fatherland", etc.) was a Russian lit ...

'' (No. 11, 1871, signed D.) magazine, under the title ''Songs of the Fallen''. The magazine's reputation was such that several "thick" journals took interest in Nemirovich-Danchenko and his documentary prose. His books of essays (''Beyond the Polar Circle'', 1876; ''From the Ocean: Essays'', 1874; ''Solovki: Remembering a tour with Worshippers'', 1874), full of original ethnographic material written in an engaging, lively manner, became highly popular and were later re-issued as compilations. "Who's the author of those articles on

Solovetsky Monastery The Solovetsky Monastery (, ) is a fortified monastery located on the Solovetsky Islands in the White Sea in northern Russia. It was one of the largest Christian citadels in northern Russia before it was converted into a Soviet Union, Soviet pris ...

in ''

Vestnik Evropy ''Vestnik Evropy'' () (''Herald of Europe'' or ''Messenger of Europe'') was the major liberal magazine of late-nineteenth-century Russia. It was published from 1866 to 1918. The magazine (named for an earlier publication edited by Nikolay Kara ...

''? They are excellent," enquired

Ivan Turgenev Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev ( ; rus, links=no, Иван Сергеевич ТургеневIn Turgenev's day, his name was written ., p=ɪˈvan sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ tʊrˈɡʲenʲɪf; – ) was a Russian novelist, short story writer, poe ...

to Mikhail Stasyulevich, the magazine's editor-in-chief.

Career

Nemirovich-Danchenko published the majority of his novels, short stories and books for children in the 1870s. A newer series of documentaries (''The Bound-up Wanderers'', 1877) followed, but this time the critical reception was more cool.

Nikolay Mikhaylovsky Nikolay Konstantinovich Mikhaylovsky (; – ) was a Russian literary critic, sociologist, writer on public affairs, and one of the theoreticians of the Narodniki movement. Biography The school of thinkers he belonged to became famous in the ...

, while giving the author credit for "having some talent" and "fluency of style" criticised him for being too flashy and "ostentatious in attention-grabbing." It was this aspect of Nemirovich-Danchenko's prose that made it very popular with readers and unpopular with reviewers. Having gained the reputation of a 'tourist writer' and 'ethnographical correspondent', he spent years touring Russia and abroad. The ethnographic material gathered was used extensively in his later fiction (novels ''Smugglers'', 1892 and ''The Great Old Man'', 1898, among others). As the

Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) The Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) was a conflict between the Ottoman Empire and a coalition led by the Russian Empire which included United Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, Romania, Principality of Serbia, Serbia, and Principality of ...

broke out, for the first time in Russian history newspaper correspondents were admitted to the fighting Army. Nemirovich-Danchenko travelled to the

Balkans The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

as the correspondent for ''Novoye Vremya'' (The New Times). His reports were published under the Shest (Six) moniker and later made part one of the ''One Year of War'' compilation. He took part in all of the key military operations and was rewarded with the

St. George's Cross In heraldry, Saint George's Cross (or the Cross of Saint George) is a red cross on a white background, which from the Late Middle Ages became associated with Saint George, the military saint, often depicted as a crusader. Associated with th ...

, usually reserved for heroic soldiers. His cycle of war novels: ''The Storm'' (Гроза, 1879), ''Plevna and Shipka'' (Плевна и Шипка, 1881), ''Forward!'' (Вперед!, 1883), as well as numerous novelettes and short stories were based on his experiences as a correspondent. The common characteristic of Nemirovich-Danchenko's novels was their "overpopulation"; they boasted a huge number of characters, most of them vague and undeveloped. What he was exceptionally good at, though, was depicting the 'sister of mercy' type of women finding their calling in life in evangelical self-sacrifice. Some critics argued that most of Nemirovich-Danchenko's books of the time were hardly novels in the common sense of the word: huge in size (averaging 700 pages each), they were, in effect, just long sequences of scenes, connected not by a plot line, but by the main characters appearing here and there. The book of war memoirs called ''Skobelev: How I Remembered Him'' (Скобелев. Личные воспоминания и впечатления, 1882) featuring

Mikhail Skobelev Mikhail Dmitriyevich Skobelev (; 29 September 1843 – 7 July 1882), a Russian general, became famous for his conquest of Central Asia and for his heroism during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878. Dressed in a white uniform and mounted on ...

, the legendary Russian Army general and Turkish War hero as its main character, and containing a wealth of priceless documentary and first-hand historic material written in a captivating manner, became widely popular – among the critics too, for a change. It was general Skobelev who served as a prototype for another well-known Nemirovich-Danchenko novel, ''The Family of Great Warriors'' (Семья богатырей). Vasily Nemirovich Danchenko

In 1882 Nemirovich-Danchenko published his first book of poems. In the 1880s and 1890s several of his novels and short stories came out (in ''

Russkaya Mysl ''Russian Mind'' (; French – ''La Pensée Russe'') is a pan-European sociopolitical and cultural magazine, published on a monthly basis both in Russian and in English. The modern edition follows the traditions of the magazine laid down in 1880 ...

'', ''Sever'', ''Nablyudatel'' and many other magazines) in which the "world of financial capital" served as the major theme. These books dealt with bank crises, financial machinations, stock exchange speculations, money laundering, the shadowy side of the massive railway boom investments, and the murky world of concessions and joint-stock companies (''The Lights on Moors'', 1903; ''Slastyonov’s Millions'', 1893; ''Diamonds Trump!'', 1894, ''The Tsars of Stock Exchange'', 1886). Highly dynamic and full of action, these novels were steeped with murder and suicide, had exuberant and preposterous finales, and were jeered by serious critics as totally farcical. This flaw was evident even more in Nemirovich-Danchenko's romantic fiction (''Two Diaries'', 1901, ''A Woman's Confession'', 1889, ''On Different Roads'', 1894), using the adultery theme as a common leitmotif. Some of Nemirovich-Danchenko's novels, concerning "the small man's troubles" (''Wolves' Feast'') found favor with the leftist press; ''Russkaya Mysl'' supported the author "full of deep love for human beings" and carrying "the faith in God's eternal light filling human souls." One of the most successful of Nemirovich-Danchenko's books was ''Major Bobkov and His Orphans'', a novel about a man of the highest moral standards who devotes his life to the bringing up of orphan children, refusing himself everything for their happiness. Again, it even touched the soul strings of those critics who otherwise treated the author sceptically. ''

Russkoye Bogatstvo ''Russkoye Bogatstvo'' (, Russian Wealth) was a monthly literary and political magazine published in St. Petersburg, Russia, from 1876 to mid-1918. In the early 1890s it served as an organ of the liberal Narodniks. From 1906 it became an organ o ...

'' wrote of "the novelette's original and beautiful story line," while Akim Volynsky, a critic known for his stern judgements, wrote sympathetically of this paen to "the self-effacing, self-sacrificing man labouring selfishly for the happiness of other people." As the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905) was fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and the Korean Empire. The major land battles of the war were fought on the ...

broke out in early 1904, Nemirovich-Danchenko travelled to

Manchuria Manchuria is a historical region in northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day northeast China and parts of the modern-day Russian Far East south of the Uda (Khabarovsk Krai), Uda River and the Tukuringra-Dzhagdy Ranges. The exact ...

as a ''Novoye Slovo'' war correspondent. He arrived at Port Arthur together with a shipment of ammunition just before the start of the

Siege of Port Arthur The siege of Port Arthur (, ''Ryojun Kōisen''; , ''Oborona Port-Artura'', August 1, 1904 – January 2, 1905) was the longest and most violent land battle of the Russo-Japanese War. Port Arthur, the deep-water port and Russian naval base ...

. Staying in the fortress, in the first year of his mission there he published 350 reports which had "an astounding success". Nemirovich-Danchenko served again as a correspondent in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. His popularity with readers never waned; not long before his emigration in 1921 a ''Vestnik Literatury'' reviewer described him as "one of our best stylists" and a "master of poetry in prose" whose "books are invariably among the most in demand in libraries ". Nemirovich-Danchenko was one of the most prolific writers in the history of Russian literature, having published more than 250 books in his lifetime. Dmitry Grigorovich wrote of him: "...What a wonderful novelist Vasily Ivanovich would have made, had he, instead of writing forty volumes, written, say, six. He is a man of such extraordinary talent". In 1921 Vasily Nemirovich-Danchenko emigrated to Germany, then moved to

where he died in

, in 1936. The Comeback. The Life of Vasily Nemirovich-Danchenko.
Russkaya Kniga, 2001

English translations

*''Personal Reminiscences of General Skobeleff'', Allen, London, 1884
from Archive.org
*''With a Diploma'', and ''The whirlwind'', Maunsel, London, 1915
from Archive.org
*''Peasant Tales of Russia'', McBride, NY, 1918
from Archive.org

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nemirovich-Danchenko, Vasily 19th-century writers from the Russian Empire Journalists from the Russian Empire Russian male journalists Male poets from the Russian Empire Russian male poets Novelists from the Russian Empire Essayists from the Russian Empire Russian male essayists War correspondents of the Russo-Japanese War 1845 births 1936 deaths Writers from Tbilisi White Russian emigrants to Germany White Russian emigrants to Czechoslovakia Russian male novelists Russian male short story writers 19th-century short story writers from the Russian Empire 19th-century male writers from the Russian Empire