Semen Iakovlevich Nadson
Semen Iakovlevich Nadson was a Russian poet born on December 14, 1862, in St. Petersburg. He came from a family marked by tragedy; his father, a Jewish merchant who converted to Russian Orthodox Christianity, died in a mental institution, while his mother succumbed to tuberculosis. Nadson's educational journey included time in military cadets and high schools in St. Petersburg and Kiev, where he began writing a diary that would later be published. His poetry emerged during the 1870s and 1880s, resonating deeply with the Russian intelligentsia, particularly as he transformed his personal struggles with illness into a broader commentary on the suffering of the Russian people under autocratic rule.
Nadson's health deteriorated due to pulmonary tuberculosis, which he romanticized in his works as a "sweet illness." Posthumously, his poetry gained immense popularity, leading to a cultlike following in places like Kiev. Despite some critical backlash against his fame, he was recognized with the prestigious Pushkin Prize. Nadson's early death on January 19, 1887, at just 24 years old, solidified his legacy, influencing a generation of poets and composers. His work is emblematic of the decadent literary movement of the 1890s in Russia, reflecting both personal and societal anguish.
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Semen Iakovlevich Nadson
Nonfiction Writer and Poet
- Born: December 14, 1862
- Birthplace: St. Petersburg, Russia
- Died: January 19, 1887
Biography
Semen Iakovlevich Nadson was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, on December 14, 1862. His father was a son of a Jewish merchant who converted to Russian Orthodox Christianity and who died in 1864 as a mental patient. His mother hailed from an aristocratic family; she died from tuberculosis. Nadson attended high schools in Kiev and St. Petersburg and entered boarding school for military cadets. There he began to write a diary, which was published in 1912 as Proza. Dnevniki. Pis’ma. It reflected Nadson’s childhood experiences suffused with illness, grief, and sadness, sentiments which would set the tone for his entire literary opus.
During the 1878’s to1880’s, Nadson was searching for his poetic identity. His poems were noticed favorably by critics and readers. Back in St. Petersburg he entered a military academy, but soon fell ill of pneumonia, another tragic event in his life. He spent the year 1880 in Tbilisi on a medical leave. There he wrote poems, short stories, and a diary with a passionate soul and alert mind, trying to convert physical illness into spiritual suffering.
Upon graduation from the military academy in 1882, Nadson was stationed in Kronshtadt as an officer, where he served for three years. His poetry became increasingly popular. Military doctors diagnosed Nadson’s pulmonary tuberculosis. He accepted his disease in the Romantic interpretation of tuberculosis as a “sweet illness,” glamorizing in his poems of the 1880’s its destructive power and connecting it with the suffering of Russian people. He followed the suggestion of Russia’s most important civic poet, Nikolai Nekrasov (who died of stomach cancer), that a sick poet fulfill his civic duty. Such poetry appealed to intelligentsia who suffered under the autocratic rule of Czar Alexander III from 1881 to 1894.
Nadson was released from military service in 1884 on account of his illness. He traveled to France and Switzerland seeking help, but after two operations doctors suggested he return to Russia. In his absence, a collection of his poems, Stikhotvoreniia (1886), was published in St. Petersburg and became enormously popular, undergoing several printings. Most critics disapproved of this mania, protesting the popularity of Nadson poetry based primarily on his illness.
Upon his return to Russia, Nadson went to Kiev and experienced an unabated, cultlike following of his admirers. While seeking relief from his illness in Yalta, he received the prestigious Pushkin Prize from the Imperial Academy. Nadson died on January 19, 1887. The veneration continued. Many writers wrote poetry imitating him and dozens of composers set his poems to music. Nadson’s phenomenon typified the decadent period in Russian literature of the1890’s.