Nikolai Alekseevich Polevoi
Nikolai Alekseevich Polevoi (1796-1872) was a prominent Russian journalist, editor, and author, recognized for his significant contributions to the literary landscape of his time. Born into a prosperous merchant family in Irkutsk, he initially faced resistance from his father regarding his literary ambitions, despite having access to a rich library. After secretly attending university lectures in Moscow, Polevoi began publishing articles in 1817, which eventually led to his father's approval. In 1825, he founded the influential journal Moskovskii telegraf, which showcased a diverse array of content, including literature, art, and critical essays.
Polevoi was particularly noted for his critical insights into the works of contemporaries like Alexander Pushkin and Victor Hugo, proposing innovative ideas about literature's role in society. His editorial work not only popularized various literary movements but also facilitated discussions on political and cultural issues. Additionally, he authored a six-volume history of the Russian people and several novels and dramas, contributing to the formation of Russian national identity. Despite the closure of Moskovskii telegraf in 1834 by government censors, Polevoi continued to write extensively, solidifying his legacy as a key figure in the evolution of Russian Romanticism and journalism.
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Nikolai Alekseevich Polevoi
Writer
- Born: June 22, 1796
- Birthplace: Irkutsk, Russia
- Died: 1846
- Place of death: St. Petersburg, Russia
Biography
A foremost journalist of his time, Nikolai Alekseevich Polevoi was born into a prosperous merchant family in Irkutsk, Russia, on June 22, 1796. Polevoi did not receive a regular education because he was expected to work in the family business. He did, however, read voraciously from the extensive library of his father, Aleksei Evsev’evich Polevoi, who did not approve of his literary aspirations. In 1811, Polevoi was sent to Moscow for a year on business; once there he secretly attended university lectures, studying Russian grammar and foreign languages. After Polevoi’s first publication, an article on the czar’s trip through Kursk in Russkii vestnik in 1817, his articles began to appear in journals regularly and he gained his father’s approval. He moved to Moscow in 1820 to expand the family business, and by 1825 had founded what became the leading journal of his day. During its ten-year run the broad-minded Moskovskii telegraf published a wide range of content, including literature, literature in translation, artwork, criticism, and articles on the arts and sciences, politics, and current events both domestic and international.
Polevoi himself was tireless in his journalistic pursuits and contributed nearly half of Moskovskii telegraf’s content, including translations of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet (1604) and of the German Romantic writers E. T. A. Hoffmann, August Wilhelm Schlegel, Friedrich Schiller, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling, and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Polevoi’s critical article on Alexander Pushkin’s Evgeny Onegin (1823-1831; Eugene Onegin, 1881) in 1825 posits the work’s cross-generic mode as indicative of a new type of literature. In what was perhaps his most lauded article, “O romanakh V. Giugo i voobshche o noveishikh romanakh” (1932), Polevoi examines the novels of Victor Hugo and modern novels generally and suggests that the novel is both an artifact and a mechanism of freedom. Concurrent with his editorial efforts, Polevoi wrote Istoriia russkogo naroda, a six-volume history of the Russian people concerned, in part, with ideas of national identity and place.
When Moskovskii telegraf was closed by government censors in 1834, Polevoi continued to write numerous works, including historical studies of Peter the Great and Napoleon, essays, reviews, historical dramas (popularly but not critically acclaimed), and fiction. His novels, Kliatva pri grobe Gospodnem (1832) and Abbaddonna (1833), and his collection of short stories and novellas, Mechty i zhizn’ (1834), were moderately successful in their initials runs and have since enjoyed posthumous republication. While prolific in his literary endeavors, Polevoi is best remembered for his work as an editor, publisher, and journalist. By way of Moskovskii telegraf he helped to make literature and vital aesthetic, political, and topical issues available to a large audience. Polevoi’s own critical articles contributed to the evolution of Russian Romanticism and prose.