Osip Ivanovich Senkovsky
Osip Ivanovich Senkovsky was a prominent Russian prose writer and scholar during the 1830s and 1840s, well-regarded for his contributions to literature and journalism. Born on March 19, 1800, in Antagotony near Wilno, he pursued education at the Minsk Collegium and the University of Wilno, where he engaged with satire and journalism. After graduating in 1819, he traveled extensively through regions such as Turkey and Egypt, contributing articles to Polish periodicals.
Senkovsky's career flourished in St. Petersburg, where he served as a translator at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and became a professor of Oriental languages at the University of St. Petersburg from 1822 to 1847. He was recognized for his scholarly work, earning memberships in various scientific societies and an honorary doctorate. His literary endeavors included the publication of satirical short stories and the editing of influential journals, which featured contributions from notable writers like Alexander Pushkin and Nikolai Gogol.
Despite his early acclaim, Senkovsky's later writings faced criticism, being labeled reactionary by contemporary critics. However, interest in his work revived towards the end of the twentieth century, leading to the reprinting of some of his fiction, thereby renewing his legacy in Russian literary history.
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Osip Ivanovich Senkovsky
Writer
- Born: March 19, 1800
- Birthplace: Antagotony, Russia (now in Lithuania)
- Died: March 4, 1858
Biography
One of the most popular Russian prose writers of the 1830’s and 1840’s, Osip Ivanovich Senkovsky was also an accomplished scholar and an influential magazine editor. He was born in Antagotony, near Wilno (now Vilnius, Lithuana), on March 19, 1800. Senkovsky attended the Minsk Collegium before entering the renowned University of Wilno, where he joined the Towarzystwo Szubrawcòw (Society of Scamps). Through the club’s magazine, Wiadomosci brukowe, Senkovsky developed two of the interests for which he would become known—satire and journalism. In 1819 he graduated from the university, married Marja Rodziewiczòwna, and commenced his travels through Turkey, Syria, Egypt, and Nubia. While away, Senkovsky contributed articles to Polish periodicals.
In 1821, he became both a translator at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in St. Petersburg and a member of Vol’noe obshchestvo liubitelei slovesnosti (Free Society of Lovers of Literature). From 1822 to 1847, Senkovsky was a professor of Oriental languages at the University of St. Petersburg. In this capacity, he distinguished himself as an Oriental scholar, not only publishing meticulously researched articles and translations from Arabic and Persian but also lecturing on Oriental culture, geography, history, language, linguistics, and literature. He served as a dean, a member of the school’s educational committee, and a public school inspector during his tenure.
While still in his twenties, Senkovsky was honored at home and abroad. He became a member of the Towarzystwo Przyjaciòl Naukowe (Scientific Society of Friends) in Warsaw, Poland; the Towarzystwo Naukowe (Society of Science) in Cracow, Poland; the Asiastic Society in London; and Russia’s Akademiia Nauk (Academy of Sciences). He also was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Cracow Academy and was made a censor by the Russian government. In 1828 Senkovsky’s first marriage was annulled; the following year he wed Adelaida Aleksandrovna Rall.
In 1833, he helped editor Aleksandr Smirdin compile an anthology, Novosel’e, in which his own fiction appeared for the first time. The same year he published a collection of scathing short stories about contemporary life in Russia in the journal Severnaia pchela and also published Fantasticheskie puteshestviia Barona Brameusa, a satire of literary language, Romanticism, science, and philosophy. Smirdin appointed Senkovsky the editor of a new journal, Biblioteka dlia chteniia, in 1834. Under Senkovsky’s direction, Biblioteka dlia chteniia reached thousands of subscribers and drew contributions from such literary lights as Faddei Bulgarin, Vasily Zhukovsky, Alexander Pushkin, and Nikolai Gogol. Ill with cholera, Senkovsky was forced to relinquish his editorial position in 1848. Senkovsky’s writing attracted little attention late in his life and was attacked as reactionary by the socially minded critics of the mid-nineteenth century. Towards the end of the twentieth century, however, some of Senkovsky’s fiction was reprinted.