Orest Mikhailovich Somov
Orest Mikhailovich Somov was a notable Ukrainian prose innovator, critic, editor, and publisher, born on December 10, 1793, in Volchansk, Ukraine. His early education took place at home and in Nezhin, followed by studies at the University of Khar'kov, from which he graduated before moving to St. Petersburg in 1817. Somov quickly integrated into the city's literary circles, joining influential literary societies and contributing to various periodicals where his works, including travel letters, began to gain recognition. His publishing career took off with his restructuring of the periodical Sorevnovatel' in 1823 and the publication of significant critical essays advocating for a Russian Romantic movement rooted in national identity.
In addition to his literary pursuits, Somov held a position as a head clerk at the Russian-American Company and worked on multiple literary almanacs, including Severnye tsvety. His fiction often featured first-person narratives that accurately depicted characters' social classes and experiences, evident in works like "Kikimora." Somov was also a pioneer of the society tale, satirizing the customs of the gentry in stories like "Roman v dvukh pis'makh." Although his contributions were overshadowed by contemporaries such as Alexander Pushkin and Nikolai Gogol, Somov's works remain significant, with a collection of his stories published in 1984, showcasing his exploration of Russian folklore and rural life.
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Orest Mikhailovich Somov
Writer
- Born: December 10, 1793
- Birthplace: Volchansk, Ukraine
- Died: May 27, 1833
Biography
A prose innovator, critic, editor, and publisher, Orest Mikhailovich Somov was born into a family that belonged to the gentry in Volchansk, Ukraine, on December 10, 1793. Before entering the University of Khar’kov in 1809, he was educated at home and at a school in Nezhin. By the time that Somov moved to St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1817, some of his poems had begun appearing in provincial journals.
Somov quickly became a part of St. Petersburg’s literary society: in 1818 he was accepted into the Vol’noe obshchestvo liubitelei rossiiskoi slovesnosti (free society of lovers of Russian literature) and in 1819 into the more conservative Vol’noe obshchestvo liubitelei slovesnosti, nauk i khudozhestv (free society of lovers of letters, sciences, and the arts). The societies’ periodicals, Sorevnovatel’ (the emulator) and Blagonamerennyi (well-intended), published the anecdotal letters Somov wrote while touring Europe in 1819 and 1820.
Somov’s work to help restructure Sorevnovatel’ in 1823 marked the beginning of his publishing career. Here, too, his first important critical work appeared: a three-part essay titled O romanticheskoi poezii (on romantic poetry), which argues for a Russian Romantic movement based upon national identity and locale. Additionally, Somov took a job as a head clerk at the Russian- American Company in 1824. He soon became involved in the publication of Poliarnaia zvezda (polar star), Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Bestushev’s almanac. His journalistic and critical writing began appearing in Severnaia pchela (northern bee), Syn otechestva (son of the fatherland), and Severnyi arkhiv (northern archive).
In 1827, Somov became the assistant editor of Baron Anton Antonovich Del’vig’s popular literary annual Severnye tsvety (northern flowers). While curating these almanacs, Somov found time to write fiction, as well as numerous reviews, short stories, and translations specifically intended for publication in Literaturnaia gazeta (the literary gazette), the short-lived weekly newspaper he and Del’vig founded and edited. In 1830, Somov married Aleksandra Bestuzheva, a Ukrainian; they had a son, Nikolai, the following year.
As Somov, in much of his critical work, expressed interest in the development of an authentic prose language, so he concerned himself, in his fiction, with accurate portrayals of a character’s class and experience, by way of that character’s first-person narration. Exemplary in this regard is “Kikimora (Rasskaz russkogo krest’ianina na bol’shoi doroge)” (monster [the story of a Russian peasant on the highway]), published in Severnye tsvety in 1830. Among Somov’s epistolary sketches, short stories, and novellas, one encounters the people, folk legends, customs, and traditions of rural Russia.
In addition to writing fairy tales based upon local legends, Somov might also be credited as a pioneer of the society tale, which satirizes the gentry’s customs, including its grand balls and fatal duels. “Roman v dvukh pis’makh” (a novel in two letters) and “Matushka I synok” (mommy and sonny-boy), both published in Al’tsiona [Alcyone], are two such tales. Somov’s groundbreaking fiction was soon overshadowed by the work of Alexander Pushkin and Nikolai Gogol. It is, however, possible to read Somov today, as twenty of his stories were collected as Byli i nebylitsy (true tales and legends) in 1984.