Petr Aleksandrovich Pletnev
Petr Aleksandrovich Pletnev (1792-1869) was a notable yet not widely recognized figure in nineteenth-century Russian literature, primarily known for his role in supporting and promoting the works of other writers. Born in Tver', Russia, to a modest clerical family, he pursued education in religious studies before shifting to St. Petersburg, where he studied and later taught at the Central Pedagogical Institute. Pletnev began his literary career with poetry in 1818, but by the late 1820s, he transitioned to literary criticism, becoming an influential member of various literary societies.
His critical writings appeared in multiple journals, and he played a pivotal role in editing Alexander Pushkin's journal, Sovremennik, after Pushkin's death. Pletnev is credited with introducing the biographical essay to Russian literature, exemplified by his essay on Pushkin published in 1838. Throughout his career, he also mentored prominent literary figures like Nikolai Nekrasov and Ivan Turgenev. Serving as a professor of Russian literature at St. Petersburg University, he eventually became the university's chancellor and a member of the Academy of Sciences. After retiring in 1861, Pletnev spent his later years in Paris, leaving a legacy marked more by his mentorship and editorial efforts than his individual literary output.
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Petr Aleksandrovich Pletnev
Writer
- Born: August 10, 1792
- Birthplace: Tver', Russia
- Died: December 29, 1865
- Place of death: Paris, France
Biography
Although he was not a major figure in nineteenth century Russian literature, Petr Aleksandrovich Pletnev helped advance the careers of other Russian writers. Pletnev was born in Tver’, Russia, on August 10, 1792, to a poor clerical family. After studying at the religious seminary in Tver’, he moved to St. Petersburg, where he studied at the Central Pedagogical Institute from 1810 to 1814, and taught there after his graduation. Pletnev also held concurrent teaching appointments in a military educational institute, at the Ekaterininsky and the Patriotic Institutes, and as a private tutor to the young Tsar Alexander II and the grand- princesses.
Pletnev’s poems, often elegiac, first appeared in print in 1818. However, by the end of the 1820’s he had stopped writing poetry to concentrate his efforts on literary criticism, a field in which he had been active since 1819. Pletnev became a member of both Obshchestvo liubitelei slovesnosti, nauk i khudozhestv (Free Society of Lovers of Letters, Science, and Arts) and Obshchestvo liubitelei rossiiskoi slovesnosti (Society of Lovers of Russian Literature). During the 1820’s he regularly published critical articles in the latter society’s journal, as well as in Sorevnovatel’ prosveshcheniia i blagotvoreniia and in Baron Anton Antonovich Del’vig’s journal Severnye tsvety. In 1825 Pletnev began editing Severnye tsvety with Del’vig.
As a literary scholar Pletnev promoted the validity of historicist readings of Russian literature. In 1832 he became a professor of Russian literature at St. Petersburg University; in this capacity he had the opportunity to teach such future literary lights as Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov and Ivan Turgenev. During his tenure, Pletnev rose to the position of chancellor of the university and also became a member of the Academy of Sciences, where he was made chairman of the second section in 1859. When poet Alexander Pushkin died in 1837, Pletnev assumed editorship of Pushkin’s popular journal, Sovremennik; nine years later the journal had lost so many readers that Pletnev was obliged to admit defeat. During this time, however, he did succeed in introducing a new genre into Russian letters—the biographical essay. In 1838 Pletnev’s essay on Pushkin appeared in Sovremennik. He published another important article in 1842 about Nikolai Gogol’s novel Mertyvye dushi (1842; Dead Souls, 1866); the article helped to get the novel past the censorship committee. Gogol later selected Pletnev to oversee publication of his Vybrannye mesta iz perepiski s druz’iami (1847; Selected Passages from Correspondence with My Friends, 1969).
Pletnev married twice; after the death of his first wife, Stepanida Aleksandrovna Raevskaia, he wed Countess Aleksandra Vasil’evna Shchetinina. He retired from his university post in 1861 and lived out the remainder of his life in Paris. More important than his own literary and critical contributions to Russian literature were Pletnev’s influence as a teacher and the publications he enabled.