Аннотация: The Cultural Matrix of the Russian Intellectual in a novel in verse "Eugene Onegin" by Alexander Pushkin. An essay.
The Cultural Matrix of the Russian Intellectual in a novel in verse "Eugene Onegin" by Alexander Pushkin. An essay.
Reading the biography of Alexander Pushkin, written by Ariadna Tyrkova-Williams, we meet the opinion of Alexander Pushkin about "Eugene Onegin": "this is my best work" (March 24, 1825).
Pushkin wrote "Eugene Onegin" for 7 years, 4 months, 17 days (from 1823 to 1830).
You can remember the "Onegin stanza", the poetic merits of the work.
But we will consider the historical, cultural significance of "Eugene Onegin". The poetic virtues were the subject of discussion already during the Pushkin's lifetime.
And in 2021, in an era of active destruction of the intelligentsia (meaning economic pressure, a decrease in influence, a reduction in intellectual freedoms, etc.), it's time to say a few words about the historical significance of "Eugene Onegin".
In 1795, the partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was completed. The Russian empire was filled with educated, but robbed, people.
Why, with such an influx of educated, cultured people, write out specialists from abroad?
Was there such a stratum as the intelligentsia in Russia before 1795?
The intelligentsia appeared at the time of Peter the Great. The conditional date is 1696 (this the year is conditionally recognized as the date of the foundation of the Russian fleet).
Russian noblemen were not very willing to master the exact sciences that required perseverance. The peasants, in their outlook and historical experience, were far from being committed to a long-term learning, to reading a variety of texts in a large volumes.
In a very timely manner, the numerous educated (before these events - well-off) stratum of the inhabitants of the Commonwealth joined the ranks of the citizens (subjects) of the Russian Empire in 1795. It is very good that they are engaged in intellectual work and benefit Russia! But we should not forget about regular uprisings in the territory of the Commonwealth.
What candidate should be chosen to illustrate the Russian intelligentsia in the pre-Petrine, Petrine and post-Petrine eras - but before 1795? Adashev? Menshikov? Razumovsky?
About some of them, there is almost no detailed biographical information, someone devoted their whole life to solving managerial problems, following the personality of head of state.
We are looking at Yuri Lisianski, the first Russian circumnavigator (expedition round the World of 1803-1806). He is an intellectual (member of intelligentsia).
Is he an intellectual in the sense of the word that is used to name the intelligentsia created by Peter the Great? Maybe yes.
Lisianski spent part of his life studying, part of his life he served in the navy, part of his life he lived in retirement.
Yuri Lisianski was an educated, outstanding naval officer, civil servant, explorer, traveler. He inscribed his name in world and Russian history.
But - unlike Ivan Krusenstern - Yuri Lisianski will not receive either the title of academician, or the position of the head of the Naval Cadet Corps, or a beautiful monument in the center of the capital. He did not and will not have a large fortune. He will receive a position, orders (awards) and a state pension (of a very moderate size).
The Commonwealth was, as it were, forgotten in Karamzin's "History" (and in the public mind). But in practical life the Commonwealth was not forgotten.
Until 2002 (when a voluminous biography of Lisianski from I.I.Firsov was published), it never occurred to anyone to write a detailed biography of the first Russian circumnavigator, let alone reflect on the typical fate of an intellectual in Russia at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries.
But Alexander Pushkin comes and creates Eugene Onegin.
We see Onegin and his environment.
Onegin is characterized by: a wide range of interests, intellectual activity, tolerance in the worldview, a general humanity, contemplation, irony, a positive attitude to the acquisition of knowledge and to intellectual work, a kind of economic and spiritual autonomy, relative remoteness from a public service, from a religion, from such typical occupations of the Russian nobility, like hunting and feasts (dinner parties, banquets), from the financial issues.
It can be assumed that Onegin is very interested in literature and poetry, theater, travel, moral themes. Onegin can be suspected of liberal, even revolutionary, views and sentiments ...
In general, Eugene Onegin is a cultured, civilized person in the Russian noble environment.
A money for Onegin appears as if out of an air.
'First, our Eugene decided to
Establish a new order.
In his wilderness, the desert sage,
Yoke of an ancient corvee
He replaced with a light rent;
And a slave thanked (blessed) own fate. "
Onegin focuses on reflection and emotion. Onegin is clearly not an entrepreneur. If discipline and planning will be applied to his habit of getting up late, then he will perceive this with understanding (this he saw already), in a village the work went (was fulfilled) in a certain order and in a reasonable sequence.
Was the portrait of a Russian intellectual of the early 19th century (Eugene Onegin) correct? How accurate was this portrait?
The cultural matrix of the Russian intelligentsia in "Eugene Onegin" turned out to be quite attractive for the population of Russia, and this cultural matrix influenced the population of Russia in the 19th and 20th centuries.
The other writers came after Alexander Pushkin, complementing the generalized portrait, complementing the cultural matrix of the Russian intellectual.
I don't think that Dostoevsky, Krzhizhanovsky, Dzerzhinsky, Tsiolkovsky, Krupskaya, Lunacharsky and other East-republican intellectuals were very similar to Onegin.
But Maxim Gorky came. The Union of Writers of the USSR appeared, the exaltation of the "simple" person, who received an education and engaged in intellectual work, began.
Gleb Krzhizhanovsky did not create the Soviet scientific intelligentsia on the model of Onegin.
But many of Onegin's inner qualities came in handy: the absence of moral baseness (moral underness) and commercialism, a kind of loftiness and dreaminess, a wide range of interests, intellectual activity, tolerance in the worldview, a general humanity, a contemplation, an irony, a positive attitude to knowledge acquisition and intellectual work ...
After the revolutionary upheavals of 1917, V.I. Lenin called the intelligentsia a dirty word. Under Lenin, many intellectuals were either killed or expelled from the country.
After the Kronstadt mutiny (1921) V.I. Lenin gradually found himself on vacation and treatment in Gorki ... The intelligentsia began to recover and built a powerful economy, achieved outstanding results.
In the 21st century, with intellectual and spiritual degradation, there is every reason to look into the past, at (onto) Eugene Onegin, to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the cultural matrix of the Russian intelligentsia.
April 19, 2021 10:17
Translation from Russian into English: April 20, 2021 07:29.
Владимир Владимирович Залесский 'Культурная матрица русского интеллигента в 'Евгении Онегине' Александра Пушкина. Очерк'.