The creative path and biography of Fet Athanasius, the Russian poet

Athanasius Fet, whose biography and creativity will be examined below, is a very interesting man. His fate, from the side of seemingly light-hearted and light, is in fact full of difficult episodes. And even the birth of the poet, his origin and sonship was for a long time shrouded in mystery.

Prehistory

Fet's biography, strange as it may sound, began long before the birth of the poet. In 1818, in distant Darmstadt, a young German girl, Charlotte-Elizabeth Becker, was married to a 29-year-old assessor of the local court, Johann Föth (Foeth). A year later, the couple had a daughter, Carolina. But the husband got into debt, began to treat his wife badly. As Darnstadt Charlotte met with Afanasy Neophytovich Shenshin, who at that time was forty-five, the documents are silent. It is clear only that on September 18, 1820, this couple crossed the Russian border. Two months later, on November 21 (December 3, according to a new style), the adopted son of Elizabeth Petrovna Fet was born to the son Athanasius.

Childhood

What happened next? Poet Fet, biography Which began so scandalously, was recorded in the church metric book of the village of Novoselki (this Mtsensk district of the Orel province) as the son of Athanasius Neophytovich Shenshin. Until the age of 14, the boy wore this name. Judging by the letters of his mother, who wrote to her brother Ernst in Darmstadt, the stepfather took care of Athanasius as a blood son. The couple had three more children, two of whom died in infancy. At Athanasius there were only two sisters: the elder Carolina Fet and the younger Love Shenshina. In 1824, the blood father Athanasios married the teacher of the eldest daughter and completely crossed out his son from his will.

"Spot" of an illegitimate child

When the boy was 14 years old, the secret of his origin was revealed, and he turned from a Russian citizen into a "Hessendarmstadt citizen" Afanasy Fet. The poet was very hard survived this and throughout his life sought the return of the name Shenshin. He did it only in 1873. A creative biography of Fet started in a private boarding house for German boys "Krümmer" in Võru (modern Estonia). There he became addicted to poetry and wrote his first poems.

Awakening Talent

However, Athanasius Fet chose the creative path not immediately. In 1838, on the advice of his parents, he entered the University of Moscow to become a lawyer. But cramming the laws, acts and various resolutions of Athanasius turned out to be too tough, and he transferred to the chair of history and philology. The first collection of poems came out when Fet was still sitting on the university bench, in 1840. He published his works in several magazines (this and the Moskvityanin, and "Otechestvennye zapiski", and others). After a short military service, he was awarded the rank of officer. After the death of the beloved Maria Lazich, the biography of Fet AA Has changed. He decided to continue his military career.

The coming of glory

Already the first collections of poems were taken with criticism of Russia favorably. He becomes a member of literary circles of venerable writers, gets acquainted with Goncharov, Nekrasov, Turgenev and others. In the 1850s he approached the editorial board of Sovremennik. In 1857 the poet married Maria Botkin, the sister of a famous physician, retired and settled in Moscow. Further biography of Fet   A. made a sharp turn towards servility before the emperor. Athanasius broke with the journal Sovremennik, which seemed to him too politicized, and devoted himself to the chanting of nature, weather, and feminine beauty. For that he was treated kindly by the authorities. Died venerable lyricist and corresponding member of the Petersburg Academy in Moscow in November 1892, on the 21st.