Dmitrii Ivanovich Khvostov
Dmitrii Ivanovich Khvostov was a notable Russian poet and literary figure born in 1757 in St. Petersburg into a noble family, where he later became a hereditary count. He began his literary journey at the age of eighteen, publishing verse and developing his craft while studying at a boarding school affiliated with Moscow University. Following his education, Khvostov took on a significant role as one of the procurators of the Holy Synod, overseeing the Russian Orthodox Church's administration after the reforms of Czar Peter the Great. Throughout his literary career, he adhered strictly to classicist principles, producing mostly conventional original works while finding greater success in translating French poetry into Russian. His attempts to adapt Aesopian fables, however, often led to comical interpretations that attracted ridicule from later generations of writers, but he accepted such criticism with grace. In recognition of his contributions to literature, Khvostov was elected to the Russian Academy in 1791. He continued to influence Russian literature until his death in 1835.
On this Page
Subject Terms
Dmitrii Ivanovich Khvostov
Poet
- Born: July 19, 1757
- Birthplace: St. Petersburg, Russia
- Died: October 22, 1835
- Place of death: St. Petersburg, Russia
Biography
Dmitrii Ivanovich Khvostov was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1757 to a noble family and was a hereditary count. He grew up surrounded by literature and at age eighteen began to write and publish verse. He attended the boarding school associated with Moscow University, and later the university itself. After his matriculation, he became one of the procurators of the Holy Synod, the lay committee that controlled the Russian Orthodox Church after Czar Peter the Great stripped the patriarch of Russia of administrative power.
Khvostov remained throughout his literary career firmly wedded to the strict classicist idea of literature and never sought to transcend or otherwise transform the literary standards of his time. Although his original work was for the most part pedestrian in both form and content, his translations of French poetry were quite successful, reflecting a mastery of both the source language and the literary possibilities of the Russian language. However, his attempts to adapt the Aesopian animal fable into Russian were often laughable; some of his animal characters were given an excess of human traits, such as doves with teeth. These excesses made him the butt of vicious humor by several subsequent generations of Russian literati. However, Khvostov accepted such jibes with good humor and never lashed out at any of his deriders. In 1791, Khvostov was elected a member of the Russian Academy. He died in 1835.