Nikolai Vladimirovich Stankevich
Nikolai Vladimirovich Stankevich was a Russian writer and philosopher born on September 27, 1813, in the village of Uderevko, Voronezh province, into a wealthy gentry family. Despite his life being tragically cut short by tuberculosis, he played a significant role in shaping the intellectual landscape of 1830s Russia. Stankevich began his education among peasant children, later attending a school for nobility and eventually entering Moscow University as a literature student in 1830. He was instrumental in forming the Stankevich Circle, a group of thinkers and writers who engaged in discussions on aesthetics and philosophy, influenced by prominent figures like Friedrich Schiller and Ludwig van Beethoven.
His literary contributions include a short story and numerous lyric poems, although he ultimately chose not to pursue poetry as a career. Stankevich's health deteriorated, prompting him to study philosophy in Berlin, where he reflected on Russia's need for political and social reform. His life ended in northern Italy in 1839, but he is primarily remembered for his influence on fellow intellectuals rather than his literary output. Stankevich's legacy lies in his encouragement of a burgeoning Russian intelligentsia during a time of significant censorship and limited publication opportunities.
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Nikolai Vladimirovich Stankevich
- Born: September 27, 1813
- Birthplace: Uderevko, Voronezh, Russia
- Died: June 25, 1840
- Place of death: Lake Como, Italy
Biography
Although his life was cut short by tuberculosis, Nikolai Vladimirovich Stankevich managed to influence the intellectual life of a number of burgeoning writers and thinkers in 1830’s Russia. Stankevich was born in Uderevko, a village in the Voronezh province, on September 27, 1813, to a wealthy gentry family. Stankevich spent his early years among the peasant children, learning Ukrainian folk songs and tales. When he was nine, he entered the district public school; at twelve, he began attending a school for nobility, located in the provincial capital.
Stankevich started writing poetry a few years later, and saw one of his poems, titled “Nadpis’ k pamiatniku Pozharskogo i Minina” (an inscription for a statue of Pozharsky and Minin), published in Babochka (the butterfly) in 1829. Stankevich entered Moscow University as a literature student in 1830. He lived at the home of Professor Mikhail Grigor’evich Pavlov, where he and his friends gathered to discuss aesthetics and philosophy. They were particularly interested in the aesthetic theories of Friedrich Schiller, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling, and August Wilhelm von Schlegel; the music of Ludwig van Beethoven, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Franz Schubert; and the literature of Honoré de Balzac, E. T. A. Hoffman, Petr Vasil’evich Kireevsky, Aleksei Vasil’evich Kol’tsov, and Adam Mickiewicz. This group became known as the Stankevich Circle; its members included, among others, Vissarion Grigor’evich Belinsky, Mikhail Aleksandrovich Bakunin, Ivan Petrovich Kliushnikov, Vasilii Ivanovich Krasov, and Sergei Mikhailovich Stroev.
Such intellectual groups were culturally important in the 1830’s, a decade of official censorship and relatively few publication outlets. However, at this time Stankevich also made the acquaintance of Nikolai Ivanovich Nadezhdin, who edited Teleskop (the telescope), the journal that published much of his work. Stankevich’s literary output comprises a short story, “Neskol’ko mgnovenii iz zhizni grafa Z” (a few moments in the life of Count Z, 1834), forty-two mostly lyric poems, and a verse tragedy. By 1834, when Stankevich graduated with honors and returned to Voronezh to work as a school inspector at Ostrogozhsk, he had decided not to make poetry his métier.
Partially as a result of his worsening health, Stankevich went abroad in 1837. He studied philosophy at the University of Berlin under Karl Werder, and observed, in letters and diaries, Russia’s need for political and social change. Stankevich traveled to Rome in 1839. His illness progressed and he died in northern Italy the following year. Stankevich is best remembered not as a writer but as an enabling participant in the historical intelligentsia.