The childhood of Saltykov-Shchedrin. Interesting facts and important information about his childhood

Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin was born on January 27, 1826 in the village of Spas-Ugol, Tver province. The boy was born into an old noble family. Childhood years were spent in the father's family estate. Having received a good education at home, at the age of ten, Mikhail was accepted as a boarder at the Moscow Noble Institute, and in 1838 he was transferred to the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum. Here, under the influence of the works of Belinsky, Herzen, Gogol, he begins to write poetry.

In 1844, after graduating from the Lyceum, Saltykov served as an official in the Office of the Military Ministry. “... Duty is everywhere, coercion is everywhere, boredom and lies are everywhere...”, he gave such a description of bureaucratic Petersburg.

The first stories by Mikhail Evgrafovich "Contradictions", "A Tangled Case" attracted the attention of the authorities, frightened by their acute social problems, French Revolution 1848. After that, the writer was sent to Vyatka, where he lived for eight years.

In 1850, he was appointed to the post of adviser in the provincial government of the city. This made it possible for the writer to observe the bureaucratic world and peasant life.

Five years later, after the death of Nicholas I, Saltykov-Shchedrin returned to St. Petersburg and resumed his literary work. In the next two years, the writer created "Provincial Essays", for which the reading Russia called him Gogol's heir.

Further, until 1868, with a short break, Saltykov was on public service in Ryazan, Tver, Penza, Tula. The frequent change of duty stations is explained by conflicts with the heads of the provinces, over whom the writer "laughed" in grotesque pamphlets.

After a complaint from the Ryazan governor, Saltykov-Shchedrin was dismissed in 1868 with the rank of real councilor of state. Then he moved to St. Petersburg and accepted Nikolai Nekrasov's invitation to become co-editor of the Otechestvennye Zapiski magazine. Now the writer devotes himself entirely to literary activity.

In 1870, Saltykov-Shchedrin wrote The History of a City, the pinnacle of his satirical art. For the next five years, Mikhail Evgrafovich was treated abroad. In Paris he met with Turgenev, Flaubert, Zola. In the 1880s, Saltykov's satire reaches its climax: "Modern Idylls"; "Gentlemen Golovlevs"; "Poshekhon stories". IN last years life, the writer created his masterpieces: "Tales"; "Little nothings of life"; "Poshekhonskaya antiquity".

Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin died on May 10, 1889. According to the will, the writer was buried next to the grave of Ivan Turgenev at the Volkovskoye cemetery in St. Petersburg.

Bibliography of Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin

Chronicles and novels

"Pompadours and Pompadourses" (1863-1873)
"Lord Golovlevs" (1875-1880)
"History of one city" (1869-1870)
"Poshekhonskaya antiquity" (1887-1889)
"The Refuge of Mon Repos" (1878-1879)

Fairy tales

"Wild Landowner" (1869)
"The Tale of How One Man Feeded Two Generals" (1869)
"Conscience Lost" (1869)
"Toy business little people" (1880)
"Poor Wolf" (1883)
"The wise scribbler" (1883)
"Selfless Hare" (1883)
"The Tale of the Zealous Chief" (1883)
Dried Vobla (1884)
"Virtue and Vice" (1884)
"Karas-Idealist" (1884)
"Bear in the Voivodeship" (1884)
"The Deceiver Newsboy and the Gullible Reader" (1884)
Eagle Patron (1884)
"The Unremembering Sheep" (1885)
"The Faithful Trezor" (1885)
"Fool" (1885)
"Sane Hare" (1885)
"Kissel" (1885)
"Konyaga" (1885)
"Liberal" (1885)
"Watching Eye" (1885)
"Bogatyr" (1886; banned, published only in 1922)
"Crow Petitioner" (1886)
"Idle Talk" (1886)
"Adventure with Kramolnikov" (1886)
"Christ Night"
"Christmas tale"
"Neighbours"
"Village Fire"
"Way-way"

stories

"Anniversary"
"Good soul"
"Spoiled Children"
"Neighbours"
"Chizhikovo Mountain" (1884)

Essay books

"In the hospital for the insane"
"Gentlemen of Tashkent" (1873)
"Lord Molchaliny"
"Provincial essays" (1856-1857)
"Diary of a provincial in St. Petersburg" (1872)
"Abroad" (1880-1881)
"Letters to my aunt"
"Innocent Stories"
"Pompadours and Pompadourses" (1863-1874)
"Satires in prose"
"Modern idyll" (1877-1883)
"Well-intentioned speeches" (1872-1876)

Comedy

"The Death of Pazukhin" (1857, banned; staged 1893)
"Shadows" (1862-65, unfinished, staged 1914)

The memory of Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin

Named after Mikhail Saltykov:

streets in:

Volgograd
Kramatorsk
Krivoy Rog
Lipetsk
Novosibirsk
Orel
Penza
Ryazan
Taldome
Tver
Tomsk
Tyumen
Khabarovsk
Yaroslavl
street and lane in Kaluga
lane in Shakhty

State public library them. Saltykov-Shchedrin (St. Petersburg)
Before the renaming, Saltykov-Shchedrin Street was in St. Petersburg

Memorial museums of Saltykov-Shchedrin exist in:

Kirov
Tver

Monuments to the writer are installed in:

Lebyazhye, a monument to Saltykov Shchedrin
the village of Lebyazhye, Leningrad Region
in the city of Tver on Tverskaya Square (opened on January 26, 1976 in connection with the celebration of the 150th anniversary of his birth). Depicted seated in a carved chair, leaning his hands on a cane. Sculptor O. K. Komov, architect N. A. Kovalchuk. Mikhail Saltykov was vice-governor of Tver from 1860 to 1862. The writer's impressions from Tver were reflected in "Satires in Prose" (1860-1862), "History of a City" (1870), "Lord Golovlyov" (1880) and other works.
the city of Taldom, Moscow Region ((opened on August 6, 2016 in connection with the celebration of the 190th anniversary of his birth). Depicted sitting in an armchair, in right hand- a sheet of paper with the quote “Do not get bogged down in the details of the present, but cultivate the ideals of the future” (from “Poshekhonskaya antiquity”). Armchair - exact copy a real Saltykov chair, kept in the museum of the writer in the school of the village of Ermolino, Taldom district. The birthplace of the writer - the village of Spas-Ugol - is located on the territory of the Taldom municipal district, the center of which is the city of Taldom. Sculptor D. A. Stretovich, architect A. A. Airapetov.

Busts of the writer are installed in:

Ryazan. The opening ceremony took place on April 11, 2008, in connection with the 150th anniversary of the appointment of Mikhail Saltykov to the post of vice-governor in Ryazan. The bust was installed in a public garden next to the house, which is currently a branch of the Ryazan regional library, and previously served as the residence of the Ryazan vice-governor. The author of the monument is the Honored Artist of Russia, Professor of the Moscow State Academic art institute named after Surikov Ivan Cherapkin.
Kirov. The stone statue, the author of which was the Kirov artist Maxim Naumov, is located on the wall of the building of the former Vyatka provincial government (Dinamovskiy proezd, 4), where Mikhail Evgrafovich served as an official during his stay in Vyatka
Spas-Ugol village, Taldomsky district, Moscow region
The Saltykiada project, conceived and born in Vyatka, dedicated to the 190th anniversary of the birth of M.E. Saltykov Shchedrin, uniting literature and art. It included: the procedure of open defenses of diploma projects of students of the Department of Technology and Design of Vyatka State University, at which the solemn transfer of the statuette of the symbol of the All-Russian Prize M.E. regional museum. The M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin Prize was presented to Evgeny Grishkovets (September 14, 2015). Exhibition "M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin. The Image of Time” where the project of a sculptural monument to the writer was presented. Exhibition of works by Maxim Naumov "Saltykiada" in the Kirov Regional art museum named after the Vasnetsov brothers (March - April 2016). In October 2016, within the framework of the Saltykov Readings, a presentation of the multi-information album "Saltykiada" was held.
At the exhibition “Saltykiada. The history of one book”, held on March 16, 2017, 22 new graphic works cycle, as well as works from the funds of the Vyatka Art Museum.
Released in the USSR stamps dedicated to Mikhail Saltykov.
In the USSR and Russia, postal envelopes were issued, including those with special cancellation.

Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin with his biography is not known to many. Interesting Facts about Saltykov-Shchedrin will not go unnoticed by lovers of literature. This is the person who is truly worthy of attention. Saltykov-Shchedrin was an extraordinary writer, and interesting facts from the life of this man were not immediately revealed. Many unusual things happened in the life of this person. Interesting facts from the life of Saltykov-Shchedrin will tell about this in detail.

1.Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin - youngest child in a family of six children.

2. Saltykov-Shchedrin in childhood had to endure physical punishment from his parents.

3. Mother devoted little time to Mikhail.

4. Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin was able to get an excellent education at home.

5. At the age of 10, Saltykov-Shchedrin was already studying at a noble institute.

6. For 17 years, Saltykov-Shchedrin in his own family could not wait for the children to appear.

7. Mikhail had no connection with the Saltykov aristocrats.

8. Saltykov-Shchedrin loved card games.

9. When losing at cards, this writer always shifted the blame on his opponents, removing responsibility from himself.

10. For a long time, Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin was his mother's favorite, but after he became a teenager, everything changed.

11. The wife of Saltykov-Shchedrin throughout their life together cheated on him.

12. When Mikhail became very ill, his daughter and wife mocked him together.

13. The last years of his life, Saltykov-Shchedrin began to whine publicly that he was seriously ill and no one needed him, that he had been forgotten.

14. Saltykov-Shchedrin was considered a gifted child.

15. This writer's satire was like a fairy tale.

16.During long period Michael was an official.

17. Saltykov-Shchedrin liked to create new words.

18. For a long time Nekrasov was a close friend and colleague of Saltykov-Shchedrin.

19. Popularity Mikhail Evgrafovich could not stand.

20. The life of the writer was interrupted due to a common cold, although he suffered from a terrible disease - rheumatism.

21. Despite terrible disease tormenting the writer every day, he came to his office every day and worked.

22. There were always many visitors in the house of Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin, and he liked to talk to them.

23. The mother of the future writer was a despot.

24. Saltykov is real name writer, and Shchedrin is his pseudonym.

25. The career of Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin began with exile.

26. Saltykov-Shchedrin perceived himself as a critic.

27. Saltykov-Shchedrin was an irritable and nervous man.

28. The writer managed to live 63 years.

29. The death of the writer came in the spring.

30. Saltykov-Shchedrin published his first works while still in the process of studying at the Lyceum.

31. The turning point in the writer's personal life was exile in Vyatkino.

32. Saltykov-Shchedrin is of noble origin.

33. The health of Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin was shaken in the 1870s.

34. Saltykov-Shchedrin knew French and German.

35. He had to spend a lot of time with ordinary people.

36. In the Lyceum, Mikhail had the nickname "wise guy."

37.Own future spouse Saltykov-Shchedrin met at the age of 12. It was then that he fell in love with her.

38. Saltykov-Shchedrin and his wife Lizonka had two children: a girl and a boy.

39. The daughter of Saltykov-Shchedrin was named after her mother.

40. The daughter of Mikhail Evgrafovich married a foreigner twice.

41. Tales of this writer are intended only for thinking people.

42. The family made sure that Mikhail was brought up "according to the nobility."

43. Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin joined the people from childhood.

44. Saltykov-Shchedrin was buried at the Volkovsky cemetery.

45. Saltykov-Shchedrin's mother did not like his wife Lisa. And it wasn't because she was a dowry.

46. ​​The wife of Saltykov-Shchedrin was called Betsy in the family.

47. Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin was monogamous, and therefore his whole life was lived with one woman.

48. When Saltykov-Shchedrin got engaged to Elizabeth, she was only 16 years old.

49. The writer and his wife quarreled many times and reconciled many times.

50. With his own servant, Saltykov-Shchedrin was rude.

Childhood and youth of Irina Saltykova

A talented and purposeful girl did not sit still for a minute. Until the age of 12, Irina was fond of rhythmic gymnastics, won many competitions and even passed the CCM standard.

In 1981, Irina graduated from school and entered construction technical school which she successfully completed in 4 years. Having received the specialty of a secretary-typist, the girl refused to work by distribution - the Tulian woman was attracted by the capital and the opportunity to get higher education in one of the Moscow universities. The choice fell on the Moscow University of Economics, Statistics and Informatics, which Irina graduated in 1990.

The beginning of the career of Irina Saltykova

In 1989 Victor, not last man in musical circles, he recommended Irina to the Mirage group - they just needed girls to replace Natalia Gulkina and Margarita Sukhankina who left VIA. For three months, Irina, together with Tatyana Ovsienko, performed to the soundtrack, then left the group and took up housekeeping and raising Alice.

Irina did not stay as a housewife for long - Victor's group was losing popularity, and the financial situation of the Saltykov family was inexorably worsening, so the girl got a job in the Delhi variety show. In 1993, Irina bought out several market pavilions and became the hostess small business for the sale of clothes and cosmetics, which were brought from the UK by Irina's friend.

At this time, the relationship of the spouses began to deteriorate: Victor began to drink and dissolve his hands, there was not enough money, and Irina's creative ambitions remained unfulfilled. Constant quarrels were followed by a divorce and the collapse of the business: Victor's dancers worked as sellers in tents.

After a series of failures in her personal life and business, Saltykova realized: now or never! She sold outlets and gifts from her husband, among which was a ring with 27 diamonds. The proceeds were enough to start the singer's career. The solo debut of Irina Saltykova took place in 1994 on the stage of the Moscow cinema "Warsaw"; the singer performed the song "Let go."

On February 1, 1995, Irina recorded her first song, Gray Eyes. A video clip was quickly shot, provocative and erotic, especially by the standards of those years. Immediately after the release of the video on the air, Irina was showered with offers from recording studios. Irina signed a contract with the Soyuz studio, and in the same year the first solo album singers, "Grey Eyes".

Irina Saltykova - "Grey Eyes"

The slender blonde began to appear on the covers of glossy magazines, and with each new photo shoot her popularity grew. Saltykova made a bet on her stunning appearance and did not lose. The girl was often compared with Pamela Anderson, separately noting the contrast between mediocre creativity and bright appearance.

The heyday of the career of Irina Saltykova. New albums

Irina Saltykova - "Blue Eyes"

In 1997, Irina held the first two solo concerts in Moscow and St. Petersburg, then went on a long tour of Russia and the CIS.

The third disc, released in 1998, was called "Alice", in honor of her daughter.

Creative experiments led Saltykova to softer, more romantic lyrics, as a result of which the album sold out much faster than the previous one, and was awarded the Ovation honorary prize.

Irina Saltykova - White Scarf, 1998

In 2000, Irina Saltykova starred in Playboy magazine. Candid photo session V cowboy style The audience liked it so much that the edition had to be reprinted several times.

Film debut of Irina Saltykova

In 2001, she again appeared on the screen in the musical film Wings by Ilya Korobeinikov. The plot of the picture is a creative trial of Irina Saltykova, during which two angels decided the fate of the singer. The tape did not receive mass distribution.

The premiere of the next film with Saltykova took place in 2002. Irina, together with Vladimir Turchinsky and Igor Lifanov, played leading role in the action movie "Russian special forces". The fearless lieutenant of the FSB performed by the singer was not inferior to her partners: the girl demonstrated the art of hand-to-hand combat and accurately shot with two hands, remaining incredibly attractive.

Last before long break the film "Provincials" was released, telling about the adventures of a couple who came to conquer the capital.

In 2005, she appeared in the TV series "Kulagin and Partners", and in 2009 - in the sitcom "Give Youth!".

Irina Saltykova - business woman

In 2015, Irina had to sell the business, as the singer herself said, due to the difficulties of doing small business in Russia.

Personal life of Irina Saltykova

It was Viktor Saltykov, the lead singer of the Forum group, popular in those years. Charming, financially secure and talented singer won the girl's heart, according to Irina, "made her a fairy tale", surrounded by love and care. In 1987, Irina gave birth to Victor's daughter Alice and took up housekeeping - her husband believed that his wife was obliged to stay at home and fan the coals of the family hearth.

In 1993, the marriage of Irina and Victor broke up. Spouses were not stopped by 8 years of marriage and common child. Irina is tired of constant scandals, assault and drunken brawls. The last straw was another trick of her husband - on October 15, 1994, Victor got drunk before the concert and, thinking nothing, crawled onto the stage. The performance ended in failure, after which Irina filed for divorce.

04/28/1889 (11.05.) - Writer Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin died

M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin

Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov (01/15/1828–04/28/1889), writer and publicist (pseudo-Saltykov-Shchedrin). Born into a noble family, in the estate of his parents, the village of Spas-Ugol, Kalyazinsky district of the Tver province. Childhood years spent in the family estate, in a serf environment, had a huge impact on the formation of his social views.

He studied at the Moscow Noble Institute, from where in 1838, as the best student, he was transferred to the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum. Here Saltykov-Shchedrin became interested in literature, in 1841 he published his first poem. He was reprimanded by teachers for "rudeness", smoking, negligence in clothes, writing "disapproving" poetry. Then his acquaintance with V.G. Belinsky influenced him political position close to revolutionary. In 1847–1848 he became interested in the theories of the utopian socialists and visited the “Fridays” of M.V. Petrashevsky, with whom he later broke up. At the same time, he wrote the first stories "Contradiction" and "A Tangled Case", which caused dissatisfaction with the authorities with a sharp socially accusatory orientation.

However, the "despotic regime" was such that all this time, from 1844, after graduating from the lyceum, Saltykov served in the office of the Military Ministry. In 1848, for a "harmful way of thinking," he was only sent to serve in Vyatka, where he held the positions of a senior official, adviser to the provincial government. Judging by the note on the land disturbances in the Sloboda district, he warmly took his duties to heart when they brought him into contact with the people's troubles.

The death of Emperor Nicholas I in 1855 and the beginning of a liberal government course allowed Saltykov to return to St. Petersburg, where he gained fame with his "Provincial Essays" (signed under the pseudonym N. Shchedrin). "Provincial essays" were published in the "Russian Bulletin" from 1856, and in 1857, collected together, they went through two editions (subsequently - two more, in 1864 and 1882). They laid the foundation for the literature that came to be called "accusatory", but they themselves belonged to it only in part. Outer side Saltykov-Shchedrin's well-known bureaucratic world of slander, bribes and other abuses fills only a few of the essays; more important there is the psychology of bureaucratic life; "Gogol humor" alternates with lyricism.

During these years, the critic and accuser Saltykov-Shchedrin served as an official special assignments in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, was sent to the Tver and Vladimir provinces to review the office work of the provincial militia committees (on the occasion of the Crimean War). The note he wrote while executing this assignment reveals many abuses that he discovered. Further, he participated in the preparation of the peasant reform of 1861. In 1858-1862. was appointed vice-governor in Ryazan, then in Tver, constantly fought against bribery.

He resigned to devote himself entirely to literature. He moved to St. Petersburg and, at the invitation, entered the editorial office of the Sovremennik magazine, but he devoted most of his attention to the monthly review Nasha public life". In 1864, he left the editorial office of Sovremennik due to disagreements on the tactics of the "social struggle." retired with the rank of State Councilor (after a complaint from the Ryazan governor).Since 1868, at the invitation of Nekrasov, he worked for 16 years in Otechestvennye Zapiski, and after Nekrasov's death he headed the editorial office.

Saltykov-Shchedrin did not spare the new liberal institutions of Alexander II - the zemstvo, the court, the bar - because he demanded a lot from them and was indignant at every imperfection. Although this focus of his work is not tied only to his time. Particularly well-known in this respect are the allegorical fairy tales-parables of Saltykov-Shchedrin, the images of which entered the proverbs and became common nouns: " wise gudgeon", "Poor wolf", "Karas-idealist", "Sheep-forgetful" and others. True, they ridicule not only bureaucratic vices, but also the very principle of autocracy. "Poshekhonskaya antiquity" is also well known - a bright and biased picture life of serf Russia.In the work of this writer, and especially in fairy tales, there is generally a caricature denunciation of the then Russian order, by which it is impossible to judge that Russia (although we still meet these quotes now at every step - already in justification of the modern criminal regime: they say it has always been in Russia ...).

Nevertheless, Saltykov-Shchedrin cannot be counted among revolutionary democrats, as it was done with Soviet power. Here, apparently, at first the same feature of Russian accusation was affected by him: a heightened mental and moral sensitivity and rejection social evil with the inability to correctly understand the problem of theodicy: the existence of evil in the world under the omnipotent and omnipotent Creator. Saltykov-Shchedrin also lacked an understanding of the spiritual nature of evil, and therefore social ideal thought to be utopian. The fairy tale "The Adventure with Kramolnikov" is indicative here, in which the writer writes about his hero that the reason for his "seditious" writings was love for his country and pain for it, which was transmitted to others in the form of sedition. And in "Poshekhonskaya antiquity" Nikanor Shabby, through whose mouth, undoubtedly, the author himself also speaks, describes the effect produced on him by reading the Gospel. “The humiliated and insulted stood before me, radiant with light, and loudly cried out against the innate injustice, which gave them nothing but fetters.”

That is, in the heat of morally cheap experiences and denunciations, the writer exaggerated the ulcers of his time, denouncing in essence the sinfulness of man himself, but shifting responsibility for it to "society" and the existing Orthodox authorities. However, at the same time, Saltykov-Shchedrin remained a believer (reflections on the resurrection of Christ in the "Provincial Essays", "A Christmas Tale", "The Conscience Lost", "Christ's Night", etc.) and this "saves" many of his works for the classics of Russian literature . The Christian basis of the writer's intransigence to evil comes through, for example, in a speech about the fate of a Russian peasant woman, put by the author into the mouth of a rural teacher ("Dream in midsummer night"): "Who sees the tears of a peasant woman? Who hears how they pour drop by drop? Only a Russian peasant baby sees and hears them, but in him they revive the moral feeling and put the first seeds of goodness in his heart. "

Even in their very negative characters Saltykov-Shchedrin sees human features. In the socio-psychological novel "Lord Golovlevs" (a symbol of the decay of an idle life noble family) he reveals them even in "Judas" (Porfiry Golovlev) - a man who blasphemously covers up his amazing immorality and sinfulness with ostentatious prayerful piety, quotations from Holy Scripture, etc. (the character has become a household name and even famous). In the depiction of the crisis experienced by Judas during Holy Week and leading him to repentance and death, it is shown that Judas also has a conscience; in the words of Saltykov-Shchedrin, it can only be temporarily "driven and, as it were, forgotten." This novel rightfully introduces Saltykov-Shchedrin into the ranks of real Russian writers.

So in the fairy tale "Conscience is gone" - the conscience, which everyone is burdened with as a burden and from which they are trying to get rid of, she says to her last owner: "Find me a little Russian child, dissolve his pure heart before me and bury me in it: maybe he will shelter and nurse me, an innocent baby, maybe he will produce me to the best of his age, and then he will go out to people with me - he does not disdain ... Therefore, she the word did so. The petty-bourgeois found a little Russian child, and conscience grows with him. And there will be a little child big man and he will have a great conscience. And then all unrighteousness, deceit and violence will disappear, because the conscience will not be timid and will want to manage everything itself.

Saltykov-Shchedrin often transposes the gospel commandments in his own words in his works, however, sometimes too freely and boldly.

In 1875–1876 he was treated abroad, visited countries Western Europe V different years life. In Paris, he met with Flaubert, Zola.

Among the most significant works Saltykov belong to: "Well-intentioned speeches" (1872-76), "History of one city" (1870), "Lords of Tashkent" (1869–1872), "Lord Golovlevs" (1880), "Tales" (1869–1886), " Little things in life" (1886-1887), "Poshekhonskaya old times" (1887-1889).

). Future Writer was the sixth child in the family hereditary nobleman and retired collegiate adviser Evgraf Vasilyevich Saltykov (1776-1851). M.E. Saltykov's childhood years were spent in his father's estate.

In 1836-1838, M.E. Saltykov studied at the Moscow Noble Institute, in 1838-1844 - at the Imperial Tsarskoye Selo (since 1843 - Alexander) Lyceum. During his studies, he began to write and publish poetry.

After graduating from the lyceum, M.E. Saltykov served in the office of the military ministry (1844-1848). In the 1840s, he experienced a fascination with the utopian socialism of C. Fourier and Saint-Simon, and became close to the socialist circle of M. V. Petrashevsky.

The first stories by M.E. Saltykov "Contradictions" (1847) and "A Tangled Case" (1848), filled with sharp social issues provoked the displeasure of the authorities. In April 1848, the writer was arrested and then sent to serve in Vyatka (now) "for a harmful way of thinking."

In M. E. Saltykov, he served as a senior official for special assignments under the governor, from August 1850 he was an adviser to the provincial government. From numerous official trips around the Vyatka and adjacent provinces, he took out a rich supply of observations on peasant life and the provincial bureaucracy.

After the accession of the emperor, M.E. Saltykov was allowed to leave. At the end of 1855, he returned to the atmosphere of the ensuing social upsurge and immediately resumed the literary work interrupted by the exile. Huge success and fame to the writer brought "Provincial essays" (1856-1857), published under the name of "court councilor N. Shchedrin." This pseudonym almost replaced the real name of the author in the minds of his contemporaries.

In 1856-1858, M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin served as an official for special assignments in the Ministry of the Interior, participated in the preparation of the peasant reform. In 1858-1862, he served as lieutenant governor in, then in. As an administrator, M.E. Saltykov actively fought against landlord arbitrariness and corruption in the bureaucratic environment. In early 1862, he retired "due to illness".

During the years of vice-governorship, M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin continued to publish stories, essays, plays, scenes (since 1860, most often in the Sovremennik magazine). Most of them were included in the books "Innocent Stories" and "Satires in Prose" (both - 1863). Leaving the service, M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin attempted to publish his own journal Russkaya Pravda, but did not receive permission from the authorities.

After the arrest and 8-month suspension of the publication of Sovremennik, M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, at the invitation, became one of the co-editors of the journal. His monthly reviews "Our Public Life" remained an outstanding monument of Russian journalism and literary criticism 1860s. In 1864, due to disagreements within the leadership of Sovremennik, M.E. Saltykov left its editorial office, but did not stop the author's cooperation with the publication.

In 1865, M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin returned to public service. In 1865-1868, he headed the State Chambers in, and. Observations made in the service formed the basis of "Letters from the Provinces" and partly "Signs of the Times" (both -1869).

In 1868, by order of M.E. Saltykov, he was fired into final retirement with a ban on holding any position in the public service. At the same time, he accepted an invitation to become a member of the renewed Otechestvennye Zapiski magazine, designed to replace Sovremennik, which was closed in 1866. Sixteen years of M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin's work in Otechestvennye Zapiski form the central chapter in the writer's biography. In 1878, after his death, M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin headed the editorial office of the magazine.

The 1870s-1880s became the time of higher creative achievements M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin. At this time, he wrote the satirical chronicle "The History of a City" (1869-1870), the series of essays "Lords of Tashkent" (1869-1872), "Diary of a provincial" (1872), "Well-meaning speeches" (1872-1876) and "The Refuge of Mon Repos" (1878-1879), a socio-psychological novel by the Golovlevs (1875-1880).

In 1875-1876, M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin was treated abroad. Subsequently, he traveled to Europe in 1880, 1881, 1883 and 1885, and reflected his impressions of the trips in the book "Abroad" (1880-1881). The struggle against the political reaction of the 1880s was devoted to the artistic and journalistic cycles of the writer "Modern Idyll" (1877-1881), "Letters to Auntie" (1881-1882) and "Poshekhonsky Stories" (1883-1884).

In 1884, the publication " Domestic notes» was prohibited. M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin had a hard time with the closure of the journal. He was forced to publish in Vestnik Evropy and Russkiye Vedomosti, which were alien to him in the direction. In the last years of his life, he created "Tales" (1882-1886), which reflected almost all the main themes of his work. The chronicle novel Poshekhonskaya Antiquity (1887-1889) reflects the writer's childhood memories of the life of his parents' estate.