The creative range of Alexander Petrovich Sumarokov is very wide. He wrote odes, satires, fables, eclogues, songs, but the main thing with which he enriched the genre composition of Russian classicism was tragedy and comedy. Sumarokov’s worldview was formed under the influence of the ideas of Peter the Great’s time. But unlike Lomonosov, he focused on the role and responsibilities of the nobility. A hereditary nobleman, a graduate of the gentry corps, Sumarokov did not doubt the legality of noble privileges, but believed that high office and ownership of serfs must be confirmed by education and service useful to society. A nobleman should not humiliate the human dignity of a peasant or burden him with unbearable exactions. He sharply criticized the ignorance and greed of many members of the nobility in his satires, fables and comedies.

Best form government structure Sumarokov considered the monarchy. But the high position of the monarch obliges him to be fair, generous, and able to suppress bad passions. In his tragedies, the poet depicted the disastrous consequences resulting from monarchs forgetting their civic duty.

According to their own philosophical views Sumarokov was a rationalist and looked at his work as a kind of school of civic virtues. Therefore, they put moralistic functions in first place.

This book is dedicated to the study of the work of this outstanding Russian writer and publicist. course work.

1. BRIEF BIOGRAPHY AND EARLY WORK OF SUMAROKOV

1.1 Brief biography of the writer

Alexander Petrovich Sumarokov was born on November 14 (25), 1717 in St. Petersburg into a noble family. Sumarokov's father was a major military man and official under Peter I and Catherine II. Sumarokov received a good education at home, his teacher was the teacher of the heir to the throne, the future Emperor Paul II. In 1732 he was sent to a special educational institution for children of the highest nobility - the Land Noble Corps, which was called the “Knight Academy”. By the time the corpus was completed (1740), two Odes of Sumarokov were published, in which the poet sang the praises of Empress Anna Ioannovna. The students of the Land Noble Corps received a superficial education, but brilliant career was provided for. Sumarokov was no exception, who was released from the corps as an aide-de-camp to Vice-Chancellor Count M. Golovkin, and in 1741, after the accession of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, he became an aide-de-camp to her favorite Count A. Razumovsky.

During this period, Sumarokov called himself a poet of “tender passion”: he composed fashionable love and pastoral songs (“Nowhere, in a small forest”, etc., about 150 in total), which were a great success, he also wrote pastoral idylls (7 in total) and eclogues (total 65). Describing Sumarokov’s eclogues, V.G. Belinsky wrote that the author “did not think of being seductive or indecent, but, on the contrary, he was concerned about morality.” The critic was based on the dedication written by Sumarokov to the collection of eclogues, in which the author wrote: “In my eclogues, tenderness and fidelity are proclaimed, and not indecent voluptuousness, and there are no such speeches that would be disgusting to the ear.”

Work in the eclogue genre contributed to the poet’s development of light, musical verse, close to the spoken language of that time. The main meter that Sumarokov used in his eclogues, elegies, satires, epistles and tragedies was iambic hexameter, a Russian variety of Alexandrian verse.

In the odes written in the 1740s, Sumarokov was guided by the models given in this genre by M.V. Lomonosov. This did not stop him from arguing with his teacher on literary and theoretical issues. Lomonosov and Sumarokov represented two trends of Russian classicism. Unlike Lomonosov, Sumarokov considered the main tasks of poetry not to pose national problems, but to serve the ideals of the nobility. Poetry, in his opinion, should not first of all be majestic, but “pleasant.” In the 1750s, Sumarokov performed parodies of Lomonosov’s odes in a genre that he himself called “nonsense odes.” These comic odes were, to a certain extent, self-parodies.

Sumarokov tried his hand at all genres of classicism, writing sapphic, Horatian, anacreontic and other odes, stanzas, sonnets, etc. In addition, he opened the genre of poetic tragedy for Russian literature. Sumarokov began writing tragedies in the second half of the 1740s, creating 9 works of this genre: Khorev (1747), Sinav and Truvor (1750), Dimitri the Pretender (1771), etc. In tragedies written in accordance with the canons of classicism, in full At least Sumarokov's political views became apparent. So, tragic ending Khorev stemmed from the fact that the main character, the “ideal monarch,” indulged his own passions - suspicion and distrust. “A tyrant on the throne” becomes the cause of suffering for many people - this is main idea tragedy Demetrius the Pretender.

Creation dramatic works not least facilitated by the fact that in 1756 Sumarokov was appointed first director Russian Theater in St. Petersburg. The theater existed largely thanks to his energy.

During the reign of Catherine II, Sumarokov paid great attention to the creation of parables, satires, epigrams and pamphlet comedies in prose (Tresotinius, 1750, Guardian, 1765, Cuckold by Imagination, 1772, etc.).

According to his philosophical beliefs, Sumarokov was a rationalist, formulated his views on the structure human life as follows: “What is based on nature and truth can never change, but what has other foundations is boasted, blasphemed, introduced and withdrawn according to the will of each and without any reason.” His ideal was enlightened noble patriotism, opposed to uncultured provincialism, metropolitan gallomania and bureaucratic corruption.

Simultaneously with the first tragedies, Sumarokov began to write literary and theoretical poetic works - epistles. In 1774 he published two of them - Epistola on Russian language and About poetry in one book: Instructions for those who want to be writers. One of the most important ideas epistol Sumarokov had an idea about the greatness of the Russian language. In his Epistle about the Russian language, he wrote: “Our beautiful language is capable of everything.” Sumarokov's language is much closer to the spoken language of enlightened nobles than the language of his contemporaries Lomonosov and Trediakovsky.

What was important for him was not the reproduction of the color of the era, but political didactics, which the historical plot allowed to be carried out to the masses. The difference was also that in the French tragedies the monarchical and republican mode of government were compared (in “Zinna” by Corneille, in “Brutus” and “Julius Caesar” by Voltaire), in the tragedies of Sumarokov there is no republican theme. As a convinced monarchist, he could oppose tyranny only with enlightened absolutism.

Sumarokov's tragedies represent a kind of school of civic virtues, designed not only for ordinary nobles, but also for monarchs. This is one of the reasons for the unkind attitude towards the playwright of Catherine II. Without encroaching on the political foundations of the monarchical state, Sumarokov touches on it in his plays moral values. A conflict of duty and passion is born. Duty commands the heroes to strictly fulfill their civic duties, passions - love, suspicion, jealousy, despotic inclinations - prevent their implementation. In this regard, two types of heroes are presented in Sumarokov’s tragedies. The first of them, entering into a duel with passion that gripped them, eventually overcome their hesitation and honorably fulfill their civic duty. These include Horev (the play “Horev”), Hamlet (a character from play of the same name, which is a free adaptation of Shakespeare’s tragedy), Truvor (the tragedy “Sinav and Truvor”) and a number of others.

The problem of curbing, overcoming personal “passionate” principles is emphasized in the remarks of the characters. “Overcome yourself and rise higher,” the Novgorod boyar Gostomysl teaches Truvor,

During Sumarokov's lifetime, a complete collection of his works was not published, although many collections of poetry, compiled according to genre, were published.

Sumarokov died in Moscow, 59 years old, and was buried in the Donskoy Monastery.

After the poet's death, Novikov published twice Complete collection all works of Sumarokov (1781, 1787).

1.2 Sumarokov as the founder of the tragedy genre

Tragedies brought literary fame to Sumarokov. He was the first to introduce this genre into Russian literature. Admiring contemporaries called him “the northern Racine.” In total, he wrote nine tragedies. Six - from 1747 to 1758: “Khorev” (1747), “Hamlet” (1748), “Sinav and Truvor” (1750), “Artistona” (1750), “Semira” (1751), “Yaropolk and Demiza” ” (1758). Then, after a ten-year break, three more:

“Vysheslav” (1768), “Dmitry the Pretender” (1771) and “Mstislav” (1774).

Sumarokov widely used experience in his tragedies French playwrights XVII-XVIII centuries. - Corneille, Racine, Voltaire. But for all that, in Sumarokov’s tragedies there were also distinctive features. In the tragedies of Corneille and Racine, along with political ones, there were also purely psychological plays (“Cid” by Corneille, “Phaedra” by Racine). All of Sumarokov’s tragedies have a pronounced political overtones. The authors of French tragedies wrote plays based on ancient, Spanish and “oriental” subjects. Most of Sumarokov’s tragedies are based on domestic themes. In this case, an interesting pattern is observed. The playwright turned to the most distant eras of Russian history, of a legendary or semi-legendary nature, that “Take your love and master yourself” (Ch (3. P. 136), - his daughter Ilmena echoes Gostomysl.

Sumarokov decisively reworks one of Shakespeare's best tragedies, Hamlet, specifically emphasizing his disagreement with the author. “My Hamlet,” wrote Sumarokov, “barely resembles Shakespeare’s tragedy” (10. p. 117). Indeed, in Sumarokov’s play, Hamlet’s father is killed not by Claudius, but by Polonius. Carrying out retribution, Hamlet must become the murderer of the father of his beloved girls. In this regard, Hamlet’s famous monologue, which begins in Shakespeare with the words “To be or not to be?” is changed beyond recognition:

What should I do now?

Don't know what to conceive? Is it easy to lose Ophelia forever!

Father! Mistress! Oh dear names...

Who will I be trespassing against? You are equally kind to me (3. P. 94 - 95).

The second type includes characters in whom passion triumphs over public debt. These are, first of all, persons vested with supreme power - princes, monarchs, i.e. those who, according to Sumarokov, must especially zealously fulfill their duties:

The monarch needs a lot of insight,

If he wants to wear the crown without reproach.

And if he wants to be strong in glory,

He must be righteous and strict and merciful (3. p. 47).

But, unfortunately, power often blinds rulers, and they, more easily than their subjects, turn out to be slaves to their feelings, which most sadly affects the fate of the people dependent on them. Thus, his brother and his brother’s fiancée, Osnelda (“Khorev”), become victims of Prince Kiy’s suspicion. Blinded love passion Novgorod prince Sinav drives Truvor and his beloved Ilmena to suicide (“Sinav and Truvor”). The punishment for unreasonable rulers is most often repentance and pangs of conscience that come after belated insight. However, in some cases, Sumarokov allows more formidable forms of retribution.

The most daring in this regard was the tragedy “Dmitry the Pretender” - the only one of Sumarokov’s plays based on reliable historical events. This is the first tyrant-fighting tragedy in Russia. In it, Sumarokov showed a ruler convinced of his right to be a despot and absolutely incapable of repentance. The Impostor declares his tyrannical inclinations so openly that it even harms the psychological persuasiveness of the image: “I am accustomed to horror, furious with villainy, //Filled with barbarity and stained with blood” (4. P. 74).

Sumarokov shares the educational idea of ​​the right of the people to overthrow a tyrant monarch. Of course, the people do not mean commoners, but nobles. In the play, this idea is realized in the form of an open performance of soldiers against the Pretender, who, in the face of imminent death, stabs himself with a dagger. It should be noted that the illegality of the reign of False Dmitry is motivated in the play not by impostor, but by the tyrannical rule of the hero: “Whenever you reigned in Russia maliciously, // Whether you are Dmitry or not, this is the same for the people” (4. P. 76).

Sumarokov’s merit to Russian drama is that he created a special type of tragedy, which turned out to be extremely stable throughout the 18th century. The constant hero of Sumarokov's tragedies is a ruler who has succumbed to some destructive passion - suspicion, ambition, jealousy - and as a result of this causes suffering to his subjects.

In order for the tyranny of the monarch to be revealed in the plot of the play, two lovers are introduced into it, whose happiness is prevented by the despotic will of the ruler. The behavior of lovers is determined by the struggle in their souls of duty and passion. However, in plays where the despotism of the monarch acquires destructive proportions, the struggle between duty and passion of lovers gives way to the struggle with the tyrant ruler. The outcome of tragedies can be not only sad, but also happy, as in “Dmitry the Pretender.” This indicates Sumarokov’s confidence in the possibility of curbing despotism.

The heroes of Sumarokov's plays are little individualized and correlate with that social role, which is assigned to them in the play: an unjust monarch, a cunning nobleman, a selfless military leader, etc. The lengthy monologues attract attention. The high structure of the tragedy corresponds to the Alexandrian verses (iambic hexameter with paired rhyme and caesura in the middle of the verse). Each tragedy consists of five acts. The unity of place, time and action is observed.

1.3 Comedies and satires

Sumarokov owns twelve comedies. From experience French literature“correct” classic comedy should be written in verse and consist of five acts. But in his early experiments Sumarokov relied on another tradition - on interludes and commedia dell'arte, familiar to Russian audiences from the performances of visiting Italian artists. The plots of the plays are traditional: the matchmaking of several rivals to the heroine, which gives the author the opportunity to demonstrate their funny sides. The intrigue is usually complicated by the favor of the bride's parents towards the most unworthy of the applicants, which, however, does not interfere with a successful outcome. Sumarokov’s first three comedies “Tresotinius”, “An Empty Quarrel” and “Monsters”, which consisted of one act, appeared in 1750. Their heroes repeat the characters of the comedy dellarte: a boastful warrior, a clever servant, a learned pedant, a greedy judge. Comic effect was achieved using primitive farcical techniques: fighting, verbal altercations, dressing up.

So, in the comedy “Tresotinius”, the scientist Tresotinius and the boastful officer Bramarbas woo the daughter of Mr. Orontes, Clarice, Mr. Orontes is on the side of Tresotinius. Clarice herself loves Dorant. She feignedly agrees to submit to her father’s will, but secretly from him, she writes Dorant, not Tresotinius, into the marriage contract. Orontes is forced to come to terms with what has happened. The comedy “Tresotinius”, as we see, is still very much connected with foreign models, heroes, conclusion marriage contract- all this is taken from Italian plays. Russian reality is represented by satire on a specific person. The poet Trediakovsky is depicted in the image of Tresotinius. In the play, many arrows are aimed at Trediakovsky, even to the point of parodying his love songs.

The next six comedies - “The Dowry by Deception”, “The Guardian”, “The Covetous Man”, “Three Brothers Together”, “Poisonous”, “Narcissus” - were written between 1764 and 1768. These are the so-called comedies of character. The main character in them is given close up. His “vice” - narcissism (“Narcissus”), evil-tonguing (“Poisonous”), stinginess (“The Covetous”) - becomes the object of satirical ridicule.

The plot of some of Sumarokov’s character comedies was influenced by the “philistine” tearful drama; it usually depicted virtuous heroes who were financially dependent on “vicious” characters. A major role in the denouement of tearful dramas was played by the motive of recognition, the appearance of unexpected witnesses, and the intervention of representatives of the law. The most typical play for character comedies is “The Guardian” (1765). Its hero is the Stranger - a type of miser. But unlike the comic versions of this character, Sumarokov’s miser is scary and disgusting. As the guardian of several orphans, he appropriates their fortune. He keeps some of them - Nisa, Pasquin - in the position of servants. Sostrate is prevented from marrying her loved one. At the end of the play, the intrigues of the Stranger are exposed, and he must stand trial.

The “everyday” comedies date back to 1772: “Mother is a Daughter’s Companion,” “The Screwtape” and “Cuckold by Imagination.” The last of them was influenced by Fonvizin’s play “The Brigadier”. In “The Cuckold,” two types of nobles are contrasted with each other: the educated, endowed with subtle feelings, Florisa and Count Cassander, and the ignorant, rude, primitive landowner Vikul and his wife Khavronya. This couple eats a lot, sleeps a lot, and plays cards out of boredom.

One of the scenes picturesquely conveys the features of the life of these landowners. On the occasion of the arrival of Count Cassandra, Khavronya orders a festive dinner from the butler.

This is done with passion, inspiration, and knowledge of the matter. An extensive list of dishes colorfully characterizes the uterine interests of village gourmets. Here are pork legs with sour cream and horseradish, a stuffed stomach, pies with salted milk mushrooms, “frucasse” of pork with prunes and porridge “smear” in a “murlen” pot, which, for the sake of the noble guest, is ordered to be covered with “Venice” (Venetian) plate.

Khavronya’s story about her visit to the St. Petersburg theater, where she watched Sumarokov’s tragedy “Khorev” is funny. She took everything she saw on stage for a real incident and after Khorev’s suicide she decided to leave the theater as soon as possible. “Cuckold by Imagination” is a step forward in Sumarokov’s dramaturgy. Unlike previous plays, the writer here avoids too straightforward condemnation of the characters. In essence, Vikul and Khavronya are not bad people. They are good-natured, hospitable, touchingly attached to each other. Their trouble is that they did not receive proper upbringing and education.

Sumarokov owns ten satyrs. The best of them, “On Nobility,” is close in content to Kantemir’s satire “Filaret and Eugene,” but differs from it in its laconicism and civic passion. The theme of the work is true and imaginary nobility. The nobleman Sumarokov is hurt and ashamed for his fellow classmates who, taking advantage of the benefits of their position, forgot about their responsibilities. True nobility lies in deeds useful to society:

The antiquity of the family, from the point of view of the poet, is a very dubious advantage, since the ancestor of all humanity, according to the Bible, was Adam. The right to high positions is given only by enlightenment. A nobleman, a slacker nobleman, cannot lay claim to nobility:

And if I am not fit for any position, -

My ancestor is a nobleman, but I am not noble (4.P. 191).

In his other satires, Sumarokov ridicules mediocre but ambitious writers (“About bad rhymers”), ignorant and self-interested judicial officials (“About bad judges”), gallomaniac nobles deforming Russian speech (“About French"). Most of Sumarokov's satires are written in Alexandrian verses in the form of a monologue, replete with rhetorical questions, appeals, and exclamations.

A special place among satirical works Sumarokov is occupied by “Chorus to the Perverse Light”. The word “perverted” here means “different”, “other”, “opposite”. “The Choir” was commissioned by Sumarokov in 1762 for the public masquerade “Minerva Triumphant” on the occasion of the coronation of Catherine II in Moscow. According to the plan of the organizers of the masquerade, it was supposed to ridicule the vices of the previous reign. But Sumarokov violated the boundaries proposed to him and started talking about the general shortcomings of Russian society. “Chorus” begins with the story of a “tit”, who flew in from across the “midnight” sea, about the ideal orders that she saw in a foreign (“perverted”) kingdom and which are sharply different from everything that she encounters in her homeland. The “perverse” kingdom itself has a utopian, speculative character in Sumarokov. But this one is pure satirical device helps him expose bribery, the injustice of clerks, the nobles’ disdain for science, and their passion for everything “foreign.” The most daring were the poems about the fate of the peasants: “They don’t skin the peasants there, // They don’t put villages on the cards there, // They don’t trade people overseas” (6. P. 280).

2. POETRY AND PUBLICISTICS BY A.P. SUMAROKOVA

2.1 Poetic creativity

Sumarokov's poetic creativity is extremely diverse. He wrote odes, satires, eclogues, elegies, epistles, and epigrams. His parables and love songs were especially popular among his contemporaries.

The writer used this word, denoting a short edifying story, to call his fables. Sumarokov can be considered the founder of the fable genre in Russian literature. He turned to him throughout his entire life. creative life and created 374 fables. Contemporaries spoke highly of them. “His parables are revered as the treasures of Russian Parnassus,” N.I. Novikov pointed out in his “Experience of a historical dictionary about Russian writers" Sumarokov's parables reflect the most diverse aspects of Russian life of that time. By topic they can be divided into three main groups.

Sumarokov was the first in Russian literature to introduce multi-footed verse into the fable genre and thereby sharply increased it expressive capabilities. Not content with allegorical images from the animal and plant world, the poet often turned to specific everyday material and based on it created expressive genre scenes (“The Solicitor,” “The Minx,” “The Man and the Nag,” “Kiselnik”). In his parables, which, according to the poetic gradation of classicists, belong to low genres, Sumarokov was guided by Russian folklore - a fairy tale, a proverb, an anecdote with their rough humor and picturesque colloquial language. In Sumarokov one can find such expressions as “and she licked the molasses” (“Beetles and Bees”), “his grumbling in her ear tickled her” (“The Legless Soldier”), “neither milk, nor wool” (“Loaf”), “ and spat in the eyes” (“Wrangler”), “what nonsense you are weaving” (“Mischief”). Sumarokov coarsens the language of his fables. In the very selection of vulgar words he sees one of the means to humiliate and ridicule the phenomena of private and public life. This feature sharply distinguishes Sumarokov's parables from the gallant, refined fables of La Fontaine. In the field of fables, Sumarokov is one of Krylov’s predecessors.

Love poetry in Sumarokov’s works is represented by eclogues and songs. His eclogues, as a rule, are created according to the same plan. First, a landscape picture appears: a meadow, grove, stream or river; heroes and heroines - idyllic shepherds and shepherdesses with ancient names Damon, Clarice, etc. Their love longings, complaints, confessions are depicted. The eclogues end with a happy denouement of an erotic, sometimes quite frank, nature.

Sumarokov's songs, especially love ones, enjoyed great success among his contemporaries. In total, he wrote over 150 songs. The feelings expressed in them are extremely varied, but most often they convey suffering, the pangs of love. Here is the bitterness of unrequited passion, and jealousy, and melancholy caused by separation from a loved one. Sumarokov's love lyrics are completely freed from all kinds of realities. We do not know either the names of the heroes or their social status, neither the place where they live, nor the reasons that caused their separation. Feelings detached from the everyday life and social relations of the characters express universal human experiences. This is one of the features of the “classicism” of Sumarokov’s poetry.

Some of the songs are stylized in the spirit of folk poetry. These include: “The girls were walking in the grove” with the characteristic refrain “Is it my viburnum, is it my raspberry”; “Wherever I walk, I don’t go” with a description of folk festivities. This category includes songs with military and satirical content: “Oh, you, strong, strong Bendergrad” and “Savushka is a sinner.” Sumarokov's songs are distinguished by their exceptional rhythmic richness. He wrote them in two- and three-syllable sizes and even in long divisions. Their strophic patterns are just as varied. The popularity of Sumarokov’s songs is evidenced by the inclusion of many of them in printed and handwritten songbooks of the 18th century, often without the name of the author.

Sumarokov wrote the first elegies in Russian literature. This genre was known in ancient poetry, and later became a pan-European property. The content of the elegies were usually sad reflections caused by unhappy love: separation from a loved one, betrayal, etc. Later, especially in the 19th century, the elegies were filled with philosophical and civil topics. In the 18th century elegies, as a rule, were written in Alexandrian verse.

In Sumarokov’s work, the use of this genre was to a certain extent prepared by his own tragedies, where the monologues of the heroes often represented a kind of small elegies. The most traditional in Sumarokov’s poetry are elegies with love themes, such as “Playing and laughter have already left us,” “For others, a sad verse gives birth to poetry.”

A unique cycle is formed by elegies related to the author’s theatrical activities. Two of them (“On the death of F. G. Volkov” and “On the death of Tatyana Mikhailovna Troepolskaya”) were caused by the premature death of leading artists of the St. Petersburg court theater - best performers tragic roles in Sumarokov's plays. In two other elegies - “Suffer the sorrowful spirit, my breast is tormented” and “My vexation has now surpassed all measures” - reflected dramatic episodes theatrical activities of the poet himself. In the first of them, he complains about the machinations of his enemies who deprived him of his director’s position. The second is caused by a gross violation of copyright. Sumarokov categorically objected to the performance of the role of Ilmena in his play “Sinav and Truvor” by the mediocre actress Ivanova, whom the Moscow commander-in-chief Saltykov sympathized with.

The author complained about Saltykov's arbitrariness to the empress, but received a mocking and insulting letter in response. Sumarokov's works significantly expanded the genre composition of Russian classic literature. “...He was the first of the Russians,” wrote N.I. Novikov, “to begin writing tragedies according to all the rules theatrical arts, but succeeded so much in them that he earned the name “northern Racine.” (8. P. 36)

2.1 Journalism and dramaturgy

Sumarokov was also an outstanding journalist; he felt acutely and purely artistic tasks, which stood before Russian literature. He outlined his thoughts on these issues in two epistles: “On the Russian Language” and “On Poetry.” Subsequently, he combined them in one work entitled “Instruction for those who want to be writers” (1774). The model for the “Instruction” was Boileau’s treatise “The Art of Poetry,” but in Sumarokov’s work there is an independent position dictated by the urgent needs of Russian literature. Boileau's treatise does not raise the question of creating a national language, since in France in the 17th century. this problem has already been resolved. Sumarokov begins his “Instructions” precisely with this: “We need a language like the Greeks had, // Like the Romans had, And following them in that // As Italy and Rome now speak” (1. p. 360) .

The main place in the “Instructions” is given to the characteristics of genres new to Russian literature: idylls, odes, poems, tragedies, comedies, satires, fables. Most of the recommendations are related to the choice of style for each of them: “In poetry, know the difference between genders // And what you start, look for decent words for it” (1. P. 365). But Boileau and Sumarokov’s attitude towards individual genres does not always coincide. Boileau speaks very highly of the poem. He puts it even above tragedy. Sumarokov says less about her, content with only characterizing her style. He never wrote a single poem in his entire life. His talent was revealed in tragedy and comedy. Boileau is quite tolerant of small genres - the ballad, rondo, madrigal. Sumarokov in the epistle “On Poetry” calls them “trinkets,” but in “Instructions” he passes over them in complete silence.

At the end of the reign of Empress Elizabeth, Sumarokov opposed the established way of government. He was outraged that the nobles did not comply ideal image“sons of the fatherland”, that bribery is flourishing. In 1759, he began publishing the magazine “Hardworking Bee,” dedicated to the wife of the heir to the throne, the future Empress Catherine II, with whom he pinned his hopes on organizing his life according to truly moral principles. The magazine contained attacks on nobles and clerks, which is why it was closed a year after its founding.

Sumarokov's opposition was based not least on his difficult, irritable character. Everyday and literary conflicts- in particular, the conflict with Lomonosov is also partly explained by this circumstance. The rise of Catherine II to power disappointed Sumarokov in that a handful of her favorites primarily took up the task of satisfying personal needs rather than serving the common good.

Sumarokov’s extremely proud and obstinate disposition served as a source of endless quarrels and clashes, even with his closest relatives. His enemies cannot undermine Sumarokov’s literary authority.

succeeded, but in the attitude of many people from the highest and literary circles towards him there was a lot of unfairness. The nobles teased him and made fun of his rage; Lomonosov and Tretyakovsky pestered him with ridicule and epigrams. They brutally attacked I.P. Elagin when he, in his “satire on petimeter and coquettes,” addressed Sumarokov in the following terms:

Confidant Bualov, our Russian Racine,

Defender of truth, persecutor, scourge of vices. (5. P. 34)

Sumarokov, for his part, did not remain in debt: in his absurd odes, he parodied Lomonosov’s pompous stanzas, and portrayed Tredyakovsky in “Tressotinius”, in the person of a stupid pedant, either reading clumsy and funny poems from which everyone runs away, or talking about which is “solidly” correct - whether it has three legs or one. Sumarokov's opponents literary field there were also Emin and Lukin, but Kheraskov, Maikov, Knyazhnin, Ablesimov bowed to his authority and were his friends.

Sumarokov waged a constant struggle with censorship. In most cases, Sumarokov’s intransigence was explained by his relentless pursuit of the truth, as he understood it. With the strongest nobles of his time, Sumarokov argued and got excited just as much as with his fellow writers, and he could not be either a jester or a flatterer among them; in kind. Sumarokov’s relationship with I.I. Shuvalov was imbued with sincere and deep respect.

Sumarokov did not manage the theater for particularly long: due to some completely unknown clashes with artists and misunderstandings, or rather intrigues, Sumarokov was dismissed from the title of director of the theater in 1761. Although this did not cool his passion for writing, he was very upset and greeted the accession of Catherine II with particular joy. IN laudable word, written on this occasion, he attacked in strong terms ignorance, strengthened by partiality and force, as the source of untruth in life; he begged the empress to fulfill what death prevented Peter the Great from doing - to create a “magnificent temple of inviolable justice.” Empress Catherine knew and appreciated Sumarokov and, despite the need to sometimes make suggestions to this “hot head,” she did not deprive him of her favor. All his works were published at the expense of the Cabinet.

It is curious both for characterizing the time and morals, and for determining the mutual relations of Sumarokov and the empress, his affair with the owner of the Moscow Belmonti Theater, whom he forbade to play his works. Belmonti turned to the Commander-in-Chief of Moscow, Field Marshal Gr. P.S. Saltykov, and he, without thoroughly delving into the matter, allowed him to play Sumarokov’s works.

CONCLUSION

Sumarokov's work had a great influence on contemporary Russian literature. The enlightener N. Novikov took epigraphs for his anti-Catherine satirical magazines from Sumarokov’s parables: “They work, and you eat away their labor,” “Strict instruction is dangerous, / Where there is a lot of atrocity and madness,” etc. Radishchev called Sumarokov a great man. Pushkin considered his main merit to be that “Sumarokov demanded respect for poetry at a time of disdain for literature.”

Racine and Voltaire served as models for Sumarokov. His tragedies are distinguished by all the external properties of false-classical French tragedy - its conventionality, lack of live action, one-sided portrayal of characters, etc. Sumarokov not only reworked, but directly borrowed from French tragedies the plan, ideas, character, even entire scenes and monologues. His Sinavis and Truvors, Rostislavs and Mstislavs were only pale copies of the Hippolytes, Britannicas and Brutuses of French tragedies.

Contemporaries liked Sumarokov's tragedies for the idealization of characters and passions, the solemnity of monologues, external effects, the bright contrast between virtuous and vicious persons; They established the pseudo-classical repertoire on the Russian stage for a long time. Being deprived of national and historical flavor, Sumarokov’s tragedies had an educational value for the public in the sense that the lofty ideas about honor, duty, love for the fatherland that were dominant at that time in European literature were put into the mouths of the characters, and images of passions were clothed in an ennobled and refined form .

Sumarokov's comedies were less successful than his tragedies. And they, mostly, alterations and imitation of foreign models; but they have much more of a satirical element addressed to Russian reality. In this regard, Sumarokov’s comedies, of which the best is “The Guardian,” along with satires, fables and some eclogues, provide rich material for studying the spirit of the era and society. The purpose of Sumarokov's comedy.

In difficult moments, Sumarokov’s soul was overcome by a religious feeling, and he sought consolation from sorrows in the psalms; he translated the psalter into poetry and wrote spiritual works, but there is as little poetry in them as in his spiritual odes. His critical articles and reasoning in prose currently has only historical significance.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL LIST

1. Aldanov, M.S. Russian literature in the era of classicism. / M.S. Aldanov.M., 1992. 468 p.

2. Arend, X.V. Becoming Russian classical literature./ H.V. Rent. M., 1996. 539 p.

3. Bulich, N.P. Sumarokov and contemporary criticism./ N.P. Bulich. St. Petersburg, 1954. 351 p.

4. Gardzhiev K.S. Introduction to literary criticism. -M.: Logos Publishing Corporation, 1997.

5. Mekarevich E. Legal revolution/UDialog.1999. - No. 10-12.

6. Sumarokov A.P. Poly. collection all op. Part 4.

7. Novikov N.I. Selected Works M., L., 1951.

8. Pushkin, A.S. Collected works./ A.S. Pushkin. M., 1987. 639 p.

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Plan
Introduction
1 Biography
2 Creativity
References

Introduction

Alexander Petrovich Sumarokov (1717-1777) - Russian poet, writer and playwright of the 18th century.

1. Biography

Born into a noble family on November 14 (25), 1717 in Moscow in house No. 6 on Voznesensky Lane. He studied at home, continued his education in the Land Noble Corps, where he began to engage in literary work, translating psalms into verses, composing “congratulatory odes” to Empress Anna on behalf of the cadets, songs modeled on French poets and V.K. Trediakovsky ( Tredyakovsky). After graduating from the corps in 1740, he was enlisted first in the military campaign office of Count Minich, then as an adjutant to Count A. G. Razumovsky.

His first tragedy, Horev, was published in 1747 and performed at court and brought him fame. His plays were performed at court by F. G. Volkov's troupe, which was contracted from Yaroslavl. When was it founded in 1756? permanent theater, Sumarokov was appointed director of this theater and for a long time he remained the main “supplier” of the repertoire, for which he is rightly called the “father of the Russian theater.” Horeb was followed by eight tragedies, twelve comedies and three opera librettos.

At the same time, Sumarokov, who worked extremely quickly, developed in other areas of literature. In 1755-1758, he was an active contributor to the academic journal “Monthly Works,” and in 1759 he published his own satirical and moralizing journal, “The Hardworking Bee” (the first private magazine in Russia). Collections of his fables were published in 1762-1769, and a number of collections of his poems were published from 1769 to 1774.

Despite his proximity to the court, the patronage of nobles, and the praise of admirers, Sumarokov did not feel appreciated and constantly complained about the lack of attention, censorship and ignorance of the public. In 1761 he lost control of the theater. Later, in 1769, he moved to Moscow. Here, abandoned by his patrons, bankrupt and drunk, he died on October 1 (12), 1777. He was buried at the Donskoye Cemetery in Moscow.

2. Creativity

Sumarokov's creativity develops within the framework of classicism, in the form that it took in France in the 17th - early. XVIII centuries Modern admirers therefore more than once proclaimed Sumarokov “Boileau’s confidant”, “northern Racine”, “Molière”, “Russian Lafontaine”.

Literary activity Sumarokova attracts attention with her external diversity. He tried all genres: odes (solemn, spiritual, philosophical, anacreontic), epistles (epistles), satires, elegies, songs, epigrams, madrigals, epitaphs; In his poetic technique, he used all the meters that existed at that time, made experiments in the field of rhyme, and used a variety of strophic structures.

However, Sumarokov's classicism is different, for example, from the classicism of his older contemporary Lomonosov. Sumarokov “reduces” classical poetics. The “decline” is expressed in the desire for less “high” themes, in the introduction of personal, intimate motives into poetry, in the preference for “middle” and “low” genres over “high” genres. Sumarokov creates large number lyrical works in the genre of love songs, works by many satirical genres- fables, comedies, satires, epigrams.

Sumarokov sets a didactic task for satire - “to correct the temper with mockery, to make people laugh and to use its direct rules”: Sumarokov ridicules the empty class swagger (“not in title, in action one must be a nobleman”), warns against abuse of landowner power (see especially “ Choir to the Perverse Light”, where the “tit” says that “overseas the sea they don’t trade people, they don’t put villages on the map, they don’t skin the peasants”).

Sumarokov is one of the founders of Russian parody, the cycle of “Nonsense Odes”, ridiculing Lomonosov’s “furious” odic style.

References:

1. Don Cemetery

The brightest representative of classicism was Alexander Sumarokov (1717 – 1777). However, already in his work there are differences from the high “calm” that he declared. He introduced elements of middle and even low style into “high tragedy.” The reason for this creative approach was that the playwright sought to give vitality to his creations, coming into conflict with the previous literary tradition.

The purpose of creativity and ideas of Sumarokov’s plays

Belonging to an ancient noble family and brought up on the ideals of nobility and honor, he believed that all nobles should meet this high standard. Studying in the Corps of Gentry, friendship and communication with other young idealistic nobles only strengthened this idea. But reality did not live up to the dreams. The playwright met everywhere in high society laziness, cowardice, was surrounded by intrigue and flattery. This made him very angry. The unbridled nature of the young talent often led the writer into conflicts with noble society. For example, Alexander could easily throw a heavy glass at a landowner, who enthusiastically talked about how he punished his serfs. But the future genius got away with a lot, since he gained fame as a court poet and enjoyed the patronage of monarchs.

A.P. Sumarokov, art. F. Rokotov

The goal of his creativity - both drama and poetry - Sumarokov considered the education of noble character traits among nobles. He even risked lecturing royalty because they did not live up to the ideal he had drawn. Gradually, the author’s mentorship began to irritate the court. If at the beginning of his career the playwright enjoyed special immunity, then at the end of his life the playwright lost the patronage even of Catherine II, who never forgave him for his malicious epigrams and messages. Alexander Petrovich died alone and in poverty at the age of 61.

His dramaturgy was frankly didactic in nature. But this does not mean that it was uninteresting or unoriginal. Sumarokov's plays are written in brilliant language. The playwright gained fame among his contemporaries

“northern Racine”, “Boileau’s confidant”, “Russian Molière”.

Of course, in these plays there is some imitation of Western classicists, but it was almost impossible to avoid this. Although Russian drama of the 18th century was deeply original, it could not help but use the best Western models to create Russian dramatic works

Tragedies of Sumarokov

Alexander Petrovich is the author of 9 tragedies. Literary scholars divide them into two groups.

The first includes tragedies written in 1740-1750.

These are “Horev” (1747), “Hamlet” (1748), “Sinav and Truvor” (1750), “Ariston” (1750), “Semira” (1751), “Dimiza” (1758).

The second group of tragedies was written after a 10-year break:

“Yaropolk and Dimiza” (1768) (revised “Dimiza” 1958) “Vysheslav” (1768), “Dimitri the Pretender” (1771), “Mstislav” (1774).

From tragedy to tragedy, the tyrannical pathos of the author's works increases. The heroes of tragedies, in accordance with aesthetics, are clearly divided into positive and negative. In tragedies there is practically a minimum of action. The bulk of the time is occupied by monologues of the main characters, often addressed to the viewer, and not to what is happening on stage. In monologues, the author, with his characteristic directness, sets out his moralizing thoughts and moral principles. Due to this, the tragedies play out in dynamics, but the essence of the play turns out to be contained not in the actions, but in the speeches of the characters.

The first play “Khorev” was written and staged by the playwright during his years of study in the gentry corps. She quickly gained recognition and popularity. Empress Elizaveta Petrovna herself loved to watch it. The action of the play is transferred to the era Kievan Rus. But the “historicity” of the play is very conditional; it is just a screen for expressing thoughts that were completely modern for the playwright’s era. It is in this play that the author argues that the people were not created for the monarch, but the monarch exists for the people.

The tragedy embodies the conflict characteristic of Sumarokov between the personal and the public, between desire and duty. Main character plays - Kyiv Tsar Kiy - himself guilty of tragic ending conflict. Wanting to test the loyalty of his subject Khorev, he instructs him to oppose the father of his beloved Osmelda, Zavlokh, who was once expelled from Kyiv. The ending of the tragedy could have been happy (as in the free translation of Hamlet with a changed ending), but court intrigues ruin the lovers. According to Alexander Petrovich, the reason for this is the tsar’s despotism and arrogance.

The tyrant-fighting idea was most embodied in his last tragedy - “Dimitri the Pretender”. The play contains direct calls for the overthrow of royal power, expressed through the mouth of minor characters: Shuisky, Parmen, Ksenia, Georgy. How much resonance the publication and production of the tragedy caused can be judged by the reaction of Catherine II, who read the work and said that it was “an extremely harmful little book.” At the same time, this tragedy was shown in theaters until the 20s of the 19th century.

Comedies by Sumarokov

The author's comedies, despite the fact that in their own way artistic features they are weaker than “high tragedies”, they have great value formation and development of Russian drama. Like tragedies, his comedic plays are written with “educational” and educational goals and are distinguished by accusatory pathos. Comedies, unlike tragedies, are written in prose and are not very long in length (1-2, less often 3 acts). They often lack a clear plot; what happens in them looks like a farce. Characters the playwright's comedies are the people he noticed in ordinary life: priests, judges, peasants, soldiers, etc.

The greatest strength of comedies was their colorful and deeply original language. Despite the fact that the author spent much less time creating comedies than tragedies, he managed to convey the flavor of contemporary folk life. Of the 12 comedies he wrote, the most famous was the comedy called. “Cuckold by Imagination,” in which the playwright ridiculed the denseness and despotism of the landowners.

On the significance of the playwright’s activities in the creation and development of the Russian theater -

Alexander Petrovich Sumarokov (1718 – 1777). The son of a general and an aristocrat. At the age of 14 he entered the Gentry Cadet Corps, opened in 1732 by the government of Anna Ioannovna. Art, including literature, occupied a significant place in the corpus. Sumarokov was the first to take up literary work professionally.

Sumarokov's life was extremely sad. He was a nervous man who reacted sharply to the surrounding savagery of morals; had extraordinary ideas about serving the Fatherland, honor, culture, virtue. He was the creator of a new type of drama, the first director, and theater director.

Sumarokov’s first poems are odes from 1739 in a brochure entitled: “To Her Imperial Majesty, the most merciful Empress Anna Ivanovna, the All-Russian autocrat, congratulatory odes on the first day of the new year 1740 from the cadet corps, composed through Alexander Sumarokov.

He was influenced by the work of Trediakovsky, and then Lomonosov, with whom he was friends. Late 40s - early. 50x – discrepancy with Lomonosov.

Sumarokov believed that his poetic activity was a service to society, a form of participation in the political life of the country. By political views he is a noble landowner. counted serfdom necessary, he believed that the state was based on two classes - the peasantry and the nobility. Nevertheless, the nobleman, in his opinion, does not have the right to consider the peasants his property, to treat them as slaves. He must be the judge and commander of his vassals and has the right to receive food from them. Sumarokov believed that the tsar must obey the laws of honor embodied in state laws.

In January 1759, Sumarokov began publishing his own magazine, “The Hardworking Bee.” Published monthly, published in the Academy of Sciences. Published mainly by one person. In the eyes of the government, such a body of independent noble public opinion was undesirable, and the magazine had to be closed.

Being one of Nikita Panin’s friends, after the coup that brought Catherine the Second to power, Sumarokov was close to the palace and received support as a writer. However, by the end of the 60s he found himself in disgrace, because Catherine began to crack down on all kinds of freethinking. Sumarokov gradually made enemies for himself. There was also unhappy love in Sumarokov’s life. He fell in love with a simple girl - his serf, and married her. Relatives of Sumarokov's first wife began a process against him, demanding that his children from his second marriage be deprived of the rights. Although the case ended in Sumarokov’s favor, it caused damage to his health, he began to drink; He became so poor that when he died, there was no money even for a funeral. The writer's coffin was carried in their arms to the cemetery by actors from the Moscow Theater. Besides them, two people came to see him off.

As a poet and theorist, Sumarokov completed the construction of the style of classicism in Russia. The basis of Sumarokov’s concrete poetics is the requirement of simplicity, naturalness, and clarity of poetic language. Poetry should avoid the fantastic and vaguely emotional. Preaches simplicity in verse and prose.

Sumarokov polemicizes a lot with Lomonosov, does not agree with his grammar and word usage. Sometimes he turns directly to the analysis of Lomonosov’s works. Sumarokov considered changing the meaning of a word as a violation of grammatical correctness.

In 1747, Sumarokov published his first tragedy, Horev, and the following year, Hamlet. "Khorev" was installed in the cadet corps in 1949. A kind of cadet troupe was created that played at court. Her soul was Sumarokov. Later he was the director of the theater organized by F. Volkov. (see ticket about the tragedy)

Sumarokov wrote tragedies and comedies. He was a brilliant comedian, but he was soon surpassed in this by Fonvizin, Knyazhnin, and Kapnist. As an author of tragedies he was unsurpassed. In total, Sumarokov wrote 12 comedies: “Tresotinius”, “An Empty Quarrel” and “Monsters”, written in 1750. Then, after 14 years - “Dowry by Deception”, “Guardian”, “Reddy Man”, “Three Brothers Together”, “Poisonous”, “Narcissus”. Then three comedies from 1772 - “Cuckold by Imagination”, “Mother Companion to Daughter”, “Crazy Woman”. Sumarokov's comedies have minimal connection to the traditions of French classicism. All of his comedies are written in prose; none of them has the full volume and correct arrangement of the composition of the classical tragedy of the West in five acts. Eight comedies have one act, four have three. These are small plays, almost sideshows. Sumarokov very conditionally maintains three unities. There is no unity of action. In the first comedies there is a rudimentary plot in the form of a couple in love, who at the end get married. The composition of the comic characters in them is determined by the composition of the stable masks of Italian folk comedy. They are enlivened by Sumarokov’s language - lively, sharp, cheeky in its unvarnishedness.

The six comedies of 1764–1768 were noticeably different from the first three. Sumarokov switches to the type of comedy of characters. In each play, the focus is on one image, and everything else is needed either to shade it or to create a fiction of the plot. The undoubted masterpiece of Sumarokov’s entire comedic work is his comedy “Cuckold by Imagination.” (In general, I think there’s no need to go into much detail about the comedy, because we were mostly going through tragedy, so I think that’s enough.)

Sumarokov’s poetic creativity amazes with its diversity, richness of genres and forms. Considering himself the creator of Russian literature, Sumarokov sought to show his contemporaries and leave for his descendants examples of all types of literature. He wrote exceptionally a lot and, apparently, quickly. Sumarokov wrote songs, elegies, eclogues, idylls, parables (fables), satires, epistles, sonnets, stanzas, epigrams, madrigals, solemn, philosophical odes, etc. He also translated the Psalter.

In total, Sumarokov wrote 374 parables. It was he who discovered the fable genre for Russian literature. He borrowed a lot from La Fontaine. Sumarokov's parables are often topical, aimed at ridiculing specific disorders in Russian social life of his time. Sometimes they were very small in volume. The most important theme of the fables is Russian nobility. The language of fables is lively, bright, interspersed with sayings and colloquial expressions... In the mid-18th century, the main direction in the development of fables was determined. 1st model: the fable is written in the middle style, Alexandrian verse. Moral story. 2nd model (Sumarokov model): offers mixed verse, elements of low style - a fable story. In Sumarokov’s satirical works one can feel bile, conceit, and scandalous temperament.

In Lyrics, Sumarokov strives to give a generalized analysis of man in general. The love face gives an image of love in its “pure form.” In songs and elegies, Sumarokov speaks only about love, happy or unhappy. Other feelings and moods are not allowed. We will also not find individual characteristics of lovers and loved ones. There are no facts or events of real life in lyrical poems. Sumarokov wrote songs from the perspective of a man and a woman. The text consists of repeated formulas, devoid of specific character expression. Sumarokov created the language of love as a high feeling. Sumarokov did not publish his songs. Pastoral motifs appear in a number of songs and idylls. Elegies and eclogues are written in iambic hexameter, and songs give all kinds of rhythmic combinations.

1747 “Epistole on Language”, “Epistole on Poetry”. The “Epistole on Language” gives general principles for the assimilation of antiquity. The “Epistole on Poetry” has its own theory, exemplary writers, genres. (at first general characteristics, then the main samples, then the characteristics of individual genres.)

The tragedy of Sumarokov.

Sumarokov, the author of the first Russian tragedies, took advantage of the example of French tragedians of the 17th and 18th centuries. A number of characteristic features of their system are Alexandrian verse (iambic hexameter with a caesura on the 3rd foot), 5 acts, the absence of extra-plot insertions and digressions, the absence of comic elements, “high syllable”, etc. Sumarokov transferred it to his tragedies. However, it cannot be said that Sumarokov borrowed the tragedy from the French, since there it was constantly developing, and, by borrowing, he would have to transfer the final version to Russian soil, i.e. Voltaire's version. Sumarokov built his tragedy on the principles of extreme economy of means, simplicity, restraint, and naturalness. The simplicity of the dramatic plot of his plays does not allow us to talk about intrigue, because... there is no hub of events, the whole action tends to be limited to one peripeteia. The initial situation stretches through the entire tragedy and is lifted at the end. Sumarokov's roles are also usually motionless. The tragedy is filled to a large extent by revealing the main situation in its significance for each pair of heroes separately. Dialogues, especially those of the central characters (lovers), receive a lyrical coloring. No narrative inserts. The central place of the drama, the third act, is marked mainly by an extra-plot device: the heroes draw swords or daggers from their scabbards. (because there is no plot climax). The action of most of Sumarokov's tragedies is attributed to ancient Rus'; here Sumarokov breaks the custom of depicting distant eras and distant countries in tragedy. Unlike the French tragedy, Sumarokov has almost no confidants, their role is extremely small. He either turns into a messenger, or, on the contrary, becomes a separate hero. The departure from the confidante system led to the development and abundance of monologues, since a monologue can replace a false dialogue with a confidant. Monologue is used to communicate to the viewer the thoughts, feelings and intentions of the characters. The desire to reduce the total number of characters. Thus, Sumarokov created a very unified compositional system of tragedy, in which all elements are fused and conditioned by the principle of simplicity and economy.

Sumarokov believed that “tragedy is done in order... to instill in the caretakers love for virtue and extreme hatred for vices.” Sumarokov’s plays strive to arouse in the viewer admiration for virtue, to influence his emotional sensitivity. She wanted to correct the souls of the audience, not the minds, not the state apparatus. Hence the predominance of happy endings. (Only “Khorev” and “Sinav and Truvor” end tragically for the heroes.) The presence of a clear moral and evaluative characteristic. Before us are either wise, virtuous heroes (Semira, Dimisa, Truvor) or black villains (Dimitri the Pretender, Claudius in Hamlet), the villains die, the virtuous heroes emerge victorious from disasters.

Conflict is understood as a conflict between a person's life and how he should live. (“Dimitri the Pretender”) is not a conflict between feeling and duty. The tragedy of a person who does not live the way he should live. A man's collision with fate. At these moments, the scale of the hero’s personality is revealed. In tragedies, the location of the action is not important. The heroes are devoid of characteristic features. Classicism negatively perceived everything concrete - it was perceived as a distortion of human nature. Existential image of life. A tragic hero must be unhappy. Kupriyanova writes that “the hero of a classical tragedy should be neither good nor bad. He must be miserable." Tragedy elevates viewers and readers (catharsis... blah blah blah ).

The tragedy of Sumarokov gave rise to a tradition. His successors - Kheraskov, Maikov, Knyazhnin - nevertheless introduced new features into the tragedy.

Sumarokov Alexander Petrovich

Sumarokov Alexander Petrovich (1717 – 1777), poet, playwright. Born on November 14 (25 BC) in Moscow into an old noble family. Until the age of fifteen he was educated and raised at home.

In 1732 - 40 he studied at the Land Noble Corps, where he began to write poetry, imitating Trediakovsky. He served as an adjutant to Count G. Golovkin and Count A. Razumovsky and continued to write, at this time being strongly influenced by Lomonosov’s odes.

After some time, he found his own genre - love songs, which received public recognition and were widely distributed in lists. He develops poetic depiction techniques mental life And psychological conflicts, later used by him in tragedies.

Sumarokov's lyrics were met with disapproval by Lomonosov, a supporter of civic issues. The controversy between Lomonosov and Sumarokov on issues of poetic style represented important stage in the development of Russian classicism.

From love songs Sumarokov moves on to poetic tragedies - “Khorev” (1747), “Hamlet” (1748), “Sinav and Truvor” (1750). For the first time in the history of Russian theater, these works used the achievements of French and German educational drama. Sumarokov combined in them personal, love themes with social and philosophical issues. The appearance of tragedies served as an incentive for the creation of the Russian Theater, of which Sumarokov (1756 – 61) became the director.

In 1759 he published the first Russian literary magazine“The Hardworking Bee,” who acted on the side of the court group, which was oriented toward the future Empress Catherine II.

At the beginning of the reign of Catherine II literary fame Sumarokova reaches its zenith. Young satirists, grouped around N. Novikov and Fonvizin, support Sumarokov, who writes fables directed against bureaucratic tyranny, bribery, and inhumane treatment of serfs by landowners.

In 1770, after moving to Moscow, Sumarokov came into conflict with the Moscow commander-in-chief P. Saltykov. The Empress took Saltykov's side, to which Sumarokov responded with a mocking letter. All this worsened his social and literary position.

In the 1770s, he created his best comedies (“Cuckold by Imagination”, “Crazy Woman”, 1772) and tragedies “Dmitry the Pretender” (1771), “Mstislav” (1774). He participated as a director in the work of the theater at Moscow University, published the collections “Satires” (1774), “Elegies” (1774).

The last years of his life were marked by material deprivation and loss of popularity, which led to an addiction to alcoholic beverages. This was the cause of Sumarokov’s death on October 1 (12 n.s.) 1777 in Moscow.

Brief biography from the book: Russian writers and poets. Brief biographical dictionary. Moscow, 2000.