Karamzin N.M., (1766-1826), historian, writer

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KARAMZIN Nikolay Mikhailovich (1766-1826, St. Petersburg), writer, critic, historian, honorary member of the Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1818). He studied in a Moscow Boarding School. In 1782-84 he served with the Guards in St. Petersburg. After retiring he travelled in Europe (1789-90), and then lived mainly in Moscow. He was the founder of Russian sentimentalism. He was the author of Letters of a Russian Traveller, stories: Poor Lisa, Natalya the Boyar's Daughter, Marpha the Governor's Wife, etc., verses, essays, critique, translations. He played an important role in the development of Russian standard language, establishment of new trends in Russian literature, had an influence on V.A. Zhukovsky, K.N. Batyushkov, A.S.Pushkin. Karamzin's followers and associated formed a friends literature society, Arzamas, while their adversaries, archaists, headed by A.S. Shishkov - Conversations for Lovers of the Russian Word literature society. In 1803 he was appointed a historiographer by Emperor Alexander I and started working on his main work the History of the Russian State, the publication of which (vol. 1-12, 1816-29) was a milestone in the development of Russian science and self awareness. Karamzin was a firm believer in enlightened monarchy, in the early 1810s he argued against M.M. Spiransky's reforms. In 1816 he moved with his family to Tsarskoe Selo, where he was given one of the houses in Chinese Village. Pushkin visited him there as a lyceum pupil. While staying in St. Petersburg in 1816-18 Karamzin lived in E.F. Muravyeva's House (25 Fontanka River Embankment), he spent summer months in Tsarskoe Selo in the Kavalersky Block at 12 Sadovaya Street (1752-53, architect S.I. Chevakinsky; rebuilt in 1784, architect I.V. Neelov). The last Petersburg residence of Karamzin was Mizhuev's House (26 Fontanka River Embankment). Karamzin was a witness of the Decembrist Uprising on 14 December 1825 at Senatskaya Square. Karamzin criticised its participants and organisers for heedlessness, though he endured their fate as a personal tragedy (many of the conspirators were close acquaintances). On the day of the uprising Karamzin caught a cold, which resulted in a severe illness, the latter being fatal for Karamzin. He was buried at the Necropolis of Artists.

References: Эйдельман Н. Я. Последний летописец. М., 1983; Лотман Ю. М. Сотворение Карамзина. М., 1998; Шмидт С. О. Николай Михайлович Карамзин (1766-1826) // Портреты историков: Время и судьбы: В 2 т. М.; Иерусалим, 2000. Т. 1. С. 25-37.

N. L. Korsakova. Alexander I, Emperor
Batyushkov Konstantin Nikolaevich
Chevakinsky Savva Ivanovich
Karamzin Nikolay Mikhailovich
Muravyeva Ekaterina Fedorovna
Neelov Ilya Vasilievich
Neelov Vasily Ivanovich
Pushkin Alexander Sergeevich
Shishkov V.M.
Speransky Mikhail Mikhailovich
Zhukovsky Vasily Andreevich
Dekabristov Square/Saint Petersburg, city
Fontanka River Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city, house 26
Fontanka River Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city, house 25
Sadovaya Street/Pushkin, town, house 12
Шмидт С. О. Николай Михайлович Карамзин (1766-1826) // Портреты историков. Время и судьбы: 2 т. М.; Иерусалим, 2000
Лотман Ю. М. Сотворение Карамзина. М., 1998
Эйдельман Н. Я. Последний летописец. М., 1983 Russian Academy of Sciences
Arzamas, Literary Circle
Conversations for Lovers of the Russian Word , Literary Society
Necropolis of Artists
China-village (Pushkin)
Mizhuev, House of
1795
1816
1826