Aleksandr Fomich Vel'tman
Aleksandr Fomich Vel'tman was a prominent Russian novelist, historian, and ethnographer born on July 8, 1800, in St. Petersburg. He hailed from a family of noble Swedish descent and received his education in various private institutions, culminating in his graduation from the Korpus Kolonnovozhatykh in 1817. Vel'tman's early career included over a decade of service as a military officer and cartographer in southwestern Russia. He began his literary journey with the publication of his arithmetic textbook in the same year he enlisted, progressively transitioning to writing fiction that incorporated themes of archaeology, folklore, and history.
Vel'tman gained significant recognition for his novel "Strannik" (The Wanderer), released in the early 1830s, which blended travelogue and military memoir with societal commentary. Throughout the 1830s and 1840s, he produced a range of works, including a novel annually, exploring genres from utopian narratives to historical fiction. Despite facing criticism for neglecting the social role of art, he continued to write prolifically, notably working on a five-novel epic over a span of twenty-five years. In addition to his fiction, Vel'tman contributed to ethnographic scholarship and served in various editorial roles. His influence on Russian Realist literature and his subsequent rediscovery in the 20th century underscore his importance in Russian literary history.
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Aleksandr Fomich Vel'tman
Fiction Writer
- Born: July 8, 1800
- Birthplace: St. Petersburg, Russia
- Died: January 11, 1870
Biography
A novelist, historian, and ethnographer, Aleksandr Fomich Vel’tman was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, on July 8, 1800, the eldest of four children, to Foma Fedorovich Vel’tman, of noble Swedish ancestry, and Maria Petrovna Kolpanicheva. Vel’tman was educated at a private school in Plesko, a private pension, and the Korpus Kolonnovozhatykh (Moscow educational institution for staff officers), where he began to write and from which he graduated in 1817. During the same year, his textbook, Nachalnye osnovaniia arifmetiki (the basics of arithmetic), was published and he enlisted in the armed forces.
Vel’tman spent over a decade as a cartographer and military officer in Russia’s southwestern area, retiring as a lieutenant in 1831. He began compiling information on archeology, ethnography, folklore, geography, history, and religion, much of which appeared his fiction. Vel’tman married Anna Pavlovna Veidel’ and moved to Moscow in 1832. The couple had two children. After the death of his first wife, he married Elena Ivanovna Krupenikova, with whom he had two more children.
Vel’tman achieved recognition as a writer with the appearance of his novel Strannik (the wanderer) in the Moskovskii telegraf (Moscow telegraph) in 1830 and 1831. Strannik was both successful and influential; the novel melds travelogue, military memoir, and society tale, and engages readers with its vivid details and unruly digressions. From 1833 to 1840, Vel’tman generated, in addition to numerous short stories, a novel a year. These works range from utopian to historical fiction. A provincial romance, Serdtse i dumka: Prikliuchenie (heart and mind: an adventure, 1838) manages to portray both urban and rural life and to incorporate hearty amounts of folklore.
Vel’tman was unable to maintain his rank as a foremost writer into the 1840’s; he was charged with ignoring art’s social function. He did, however, continue to write. For twenty-five years he worked on the five-novel epic Prikliucheniia pocherpnutye iz moria zhiteiskago (adventures drawn from the sea of life), which consists of Salomeia, Chudodei (the eccentric), Vospitannitsa Sara (the ward Sarah), Schast’e- neschast’e (fortune-misfortune), and Poslednii v rode i bezrodnyi (last in line and disinherited; completed but not published).
Vel’tman’s nonfiction endeavors include various ethnographic writings, translations, a literature textbook, historical monographs, a book on Eastern religion, and a number of texts linked to his job as assistant director, and later director, of the Museum of the Kremlin’s Armaments. He also served as editor of the journal Moskvitianin (the Muscovite) in 1849 and 1850, writing many esteemed book reviews. Vel’tman’s scholarship was recognized by both the Russian National Archaeological Society and the Russian Academy of Sciences. Vel’tman is often credited with influencing Russian Realist writing. The twentieth century saw a renewed interest in his works of fiction.