Nikolai Aleksandrovich Bestuzhev
Nikolai Aleksandrovich Bestuzhev, born on April 24, 1791, was a multifaceted figure in Russian history, known for his contributions as an agronomist, artist, astronomer, dramatist, economist, ethnographer, and revolutionary. A graduate of the Naval Academy, he became prominent in the literary and cultural circles of St. Petersburg, where he served as chief editor for a prominent literary journal. Bestuzhev's writings included essays, histories, poetry, and translations of notable Western authors, reflecting his commitment to Enlightenment ideals. His approach to literature emphasized clarity and reason, often blending factual narratives with biographical elements in his works.
However, his involvement in the Decembrist Revolt, which sought to reform the Russian government, led to his exile in Siberia in 1825. During his time in Siberia until his death in 1855, Bestuzhev continued to influence the local intelligentsia by helping to establish educational institutions. His artistic endeavors included creating unembellished portraits and landscapes that documented life during this critical period in Russian history. Bestuzhev's legacy is marked by his rationalist perspective and his efforts to modernize Siberia, leaving an enduring impact on Russian intellectual and cultural development.
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Subject Terms
Nikolai Aleksandrovich Bestuzhev
Fiction and Nonfiction Writer
- Born: April 24, 1791
- Birthplace: Russia
- Died: May 15, 1855
- Place of death: Selengins, Siberia
Biography
A true Renaissance man of his day, Nikolai Aleksandrovich Bestuzhev was an agronomist, artist, astronomer, dramatist, economist, ethnographer, historian, inventor, mechanic, natural scientist, political mind, revolutionary, and writer of fiction and memoir. Bestuzhev was born on April 24, 1791, the first child of Aleksandr Fedoseevich Bestuzhev, a member of the Russian nobility, and Praskovya Mikhailovna Bestuzheva. Following his graduation from the Naval Academy with a distinguished record, Bestuzhev instructed and tutored new cadets. He published the chronicles of his naval travels of 1815, 1817, and 1824 to Holland, France, and Spain serially, and participated in the literary life of St. Petersburg until 1825, serving as chief editor of prose submissions to the journal of the Vol’noe obshchestvo liubitelei rossiiskoi slovesnosti (Free People of Lovers of Russian Literature).
Bestuzhev wrote variously and voluminously during this period; his work includes essays, fables, histories, quasi-romantic tales, poetry, travel notes, and translations of Lord Byron, Washington Irving, Thomas More, and Sir Walter Scott. Deeply committed to Enlightenment ideals in economics, education, history, law, and politics, Bestuzhev’s approach as a writer was subtle and straightforward. He attempted to present the unadorned facts in a readable and reliable way, preferring reason to emotional appeal as the ultimate persuasive tool. Bestuzhev’s approach failed him only in his forays into fiction; for instance, Gugo Fon-Brakht: Proizshestvie XIV stoletiia, published in 1823, is a wild and romantic tale with uninteresting language and no dramatic tension. Because Bestuzhev believed that life informs art, rather than the opposite Romantic notion which many of his contemporaries held, his most interesting written works derive from his engagement with the real world. One such piece, the fictionalized memoir Shlissel’burgskaia stantsiia: Istinnoe proisshestvie, written between 1830 and 1832, blends the techniques of fiction writing with objective biographical facts to an entertaining and enlightening effect.
By 1823, Bestuzhev had been promoted from assistant director of the Baltic lighthouses in Russia to director of the Naval Museum in St. Petersburg, where he began a history of the Russian navy. He did not complete his history because he was exiled to Siberia in 1825, and remained there until he died in 1855. Bestuzhev’s exile was the result of his participation in the Decembrist Revolt, an attempt to reform Russian government and overthrow the czar. Bestuzhev and other Decembrist insurgents contributed to the development of a Siberian intelligentsia; they founded schools, libraries, and hospitals. Bestuzhev’s impressive achievements in Siberia are a testament to the great range of his intellectual abilities and beliefs. He attempted to apply a consistent set of rules to the various circumstances of his life.
Bestuzhev’s interest in an objective and verifiable reality is apparent in the paintings he made of his friends and surroundings during his exile. His unembellished portraits and landscapes serve as documentary evidence of a slippery, but crucial, period in Russian history. Among Bestuzhev’s undeniable contributions to Russian intellectual and cultural history are his empiricist and rationalist anticipation of such post-Romantic figures as the Russian writers Nikolai Gavrilovich Chernyshevsky and Nikolai Aleksandrovich Dobroliubov, his unswerving attempts to modernize Siberia, and his written and painted depictions of the real people and situations he encountered.