Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 21.djvu/124

Rh RUSSIA [LITERATURE. translated parts of Horace. Besides his satires, he pub- lished versions of Fontenelle's Pluralite des Mondes and the histories of Justin and Cornelius Nepos. He was for some time Russian ambassador at the courts of London and Paris. But more celebrated than these men was MICHAEL LOMOXOSOFF (q.v.). He was an indefatigable writer of verse and prose, and has left odes, tragedies, didactic poetry, essays, and fragments of epics ; without being a man of great genius he did much to advance the education of his country. He also made many valu- able contributions to science. Basil Tatistcheff (1686- 1750), a statesman of eminence, was the author of a Rus- sian history which, although written in a confused style and hardly superior to a chronicle, is interesting as the first attempt in that field, which was afterwards so successfully cultivated by Karamzin, Solovieff, and Kosto- maroff. His work was not given to the world till after his death. There had been a slight sketch published before by Khilkoff, entitled the Marrow of Russian History. Basil Trediakovski (1703-1769) was but a poor poetaster, in spite of his many productions. He was born a,t Astrakhan, and we are told that Peter, passing through that city at the time of his Persian expedition, had Trediakovski pointed out to him as one of the most promising boys of the school there. Whereupon, having questioned him, the czar said, with truly prophetic insight, "A busy worker, but master of nothing." His Telemakhida, a poem in which he versified the Telemaque of Fenelon, drew upon him the derision of the wits of the time. He had frequently to endure the rough horse-play of the courtiers, for the position of a literary man at that time in Russia was not altogether a cheerful one. From the commencement of the reign of Elizabeth Russian literature made great progress, the French furnishing models. Alexander Sumarokoff (1718-1777) wrote prose and verse in abundance comedies, tragedies, idyls, satires, and epigrams. He is, perhaps, best entitled to remembrance for his plays, which are rhymed, and in the French style. It took the Russians some time to find out that their language was capable of the unrhymed iambic line, which is the most suitable for tragedy. His Dmitri Samozvanetz ("Demetrius the Pretender") is certainly not without merit. Some of the pieces of Kniazhnin had great success in their time, such as The Chat- terbox, The Originals, and especially The Fatal Carriage. He is now, however, almost forgotten. In 1756 the first theatre was opened at St Petersburg, the director being Sumarokoff. Up to this time the Russians had acted only religious plays, such as those written by Simeon Polotzki. The reign of Catherine IL (1762-96) saw the rise of a whole generation of court poets, many of whom were at best but poor writers. Everything in Russia was to be forced like plants in a hot-house ; she was to have Homers, Pindars, Horaces, and Virgila. Michael Kheraskoff (1733-1807) wrote besides other poems two enormous epics the Hossiada in twelve books, and Vladimir in eighteen ; they are now but little read. Although they are tedious poems on the whole, yet we occasionally find spirited passages. Bogdanovich (1743-1803) wrote a pretty lyric piece, Dushenka, based upon La Fontaine, and telling the old story of the loves of Cupid and Psyche. Perhaps the elegance of the versification is the best thing to be found in it. With Ivan Khemnitzer begins the long list of fabulists ; this half-Oriental form of literature, so common in countries ruled absolutely, has been very popular in Russia. Khemnitzer (1744-1784), whose name seems to imply a German origin, began by translating the fables of Gellert, but afterwards produced original specimens of this kind of literature. A writer of real national comedy appeared in Denis von Visin, probably of German extraction, but born at Moscow (1745-1792). His best production is Nedorosl ("The Minor"), in which he satirizes the coarse features of Russian society, the ill- treatment of the serfs, and other matters. The colouring of the piece is truly national. He has also left some very good letters describing his travels. He saw France on the eve of the great Revolution, and has well described what he did see. Russian as he was, and accustomed to serfdom, ho was yet astonished at the wretched condi- tion of the French peasants. The great poet of the age of Catherine, the laureate of her glories, was Gabriel Der- Derzhavin (1743-1816). He essayed many styles of zhavin. composition, and was a great master of his native language. Many of his lyric pieces are full of fire. No one can deny the poet a vigorous imagination and a great power of expressing his ideas. There is something grandiose and organ-like in his high-sounding verses ; unfortunately he occasionally degenerates into bombast. His versification is perfect ; and he had the courage, rare at the time, to write satirically of many persons of high rank. His Ode to God is the best known of his poems in Western countries. We can see from some of his pieces that he was a student of Edward Young, the author of the Night Thoughts. Tawdry rhetoric, containing, however, occasionally fine and original thoughts, rendered this writer popular throughout Europe. Other celebrated poems of Derzhavin are the Odes on the Death of Prince Mestcherski, The Nobleman, The Taking of Ismail, and The Taking of Warsaw. An unfortunate author of the days of Catherine was Radis- Alexander Radistcheff, who, having, in a small work, A tcheff. Journey to Moscow, spoken too severely of the miserable condition of the serfs, was punished by banishment to Siberia, from which he was afterwards allowed to return, but not till his health had been permanently injured by his sufferings. An equally sad fate befell the spirited writer Novikoff, who, after having worked hard as a Novikoff. journalist, and done much for education in Russia, fell under the suspicion of the Government, and was imprisoned by Catherine. On her death he was released by her successor. The short reign of Paul was not favour- able to literary production ; the censorship of the press was extremely severe, and many foreign books were excluded from Russia. Authors and lovers of literature were liable to get into trouble, as we see by the experiences of the poet Kotzebue and pastor Seidler. But a better state of things came with the reign of Alexander, one of the glories of whose days was NICHOLAS Karamzir KARAMZIN (q.v.). His chief work is his History of the Russian Empire, but he appeared in the fourfold aspect of historian, novelist, essayist, and poet. Nor need we do more than mention the celebrated Archbishop PLATOX Platon. (q.v.). Ivan Dmitrieff (1760-1837) wrote some pleasing Dmitritir lyrics and epistles, but without much force. He is like some feeble British poets towards the close of last cen- tury, in whom the elegance of the diction will not atone for the feebleness of the ideas. He appears from his translations to have been well acquainted with the English poets. Ozeroff wrote a great many tragedies, which are Ozeroff. but little read now. They are in rhyming alexandrines. His form belongs to the false classical school, but he occasionally handled native subjects with success, as in his Dmitri Donskoi and Yaropolk and Oleg. In Ivan Kriloff. Kriloff (1768-1844) the Russians found their most genial fabulist. His pieces abound with vigorous pictures of Russian national life, and many of his lines are standard quotations with the Russians, just as Httdibrat is with our- selves. Long before his death Kriloff had become the most popular man in Russia. He resembled La Fontaine not only in the style of his verse but in his manner of life. He was the same careless, unpractical sort of person, and