Nikolay Karamzin

Nikolay Mikhailovich Karamzin (Russian: Никола́й Миха́йлович Карамзи́н; 12 December [O.S. 1 December] 1766 – 3 June [O.S. 22 May] 1826) was a Russian historian, romantic writer, poet, and critic. He is important because of his History of the Russian State. This was a series of 12 volumes. It was a history of Russia.

Nikolay Karamzin
Portrait of Karamzin by Vasily Tropinin, 1818.
Portrait of Karamzin by Vasily Tropinin, 1818.
Native name
Николай Карамзин
Born12 December [O.S. 1 December] 1766
Znamenskoye, Simbirsk Uyezd, Kazan Governorate, Russian Empire
Died3 June [O.S. 22 May] 1826 (aged 59)
Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire
OccupationWriter, historian, poet
Period1781–1826
Literary movementSentimentalism
Notable worksPoor Liza
''History of the Russian State'' [ru]

Important works

Prose

Fiction

  • Evgenyi i Yuliya (Russian: Евгений и Юлия), English translation: Evgeniy and Julia (1789)
  • Bednaya Liza (Russian: Бедная Лиза), English translation: Poor Liza (1792)
  • Natalya, boyarskaya doch (Russian: Наталья, боярская дочь), English translation: Natalya the Boyar's Daughter (1792)
  • Prekrasnaia tsarevna i schastlivyi karla (Russian: Прекрасная царевна и счастливый карла), English translation: The Beautiful Princess and the Happy Dwarf (1792)
  • Ostrov Borngolm (Russian: Остров Борнгольм), English translation: Island of Bornholm (1793)
  • Afinskaya zhizn (Russian: Афинская жизнь), English translation: Athenian Life (1794)
  • Melodor k Filaletu (Russian: Мелодор к Филалету), English translation: Melodor to Filalet (1794; paired with a sequel, Filalet to Melodor)
  • Yuliya (Russian: Юлия), English translation: Julia (1796)
  • Marfa-posadnitsa (Russian: Марфа-посадница), English translation: Martha the Mayoress (1802)
  • Moya ispoved (Russian: Моя исповедь), English translation: My Confession (1802)
  • Chuvstvitelnyi i kholodnyi (Russian: Чувствительный и холодный), English translation: The Sensitive and the Cold (1803)
  • Rytsar nashego vremeni (Russian: Рыцарь нашего времени), English translation: A Knight of Our Times (1803)

Non-fiction

  • Pisma russkogo puteshestvennika (Russian: Письма русского путешественника), English translation: Letters of a Russian Traveler (1791–92)
  • Zapiska o drevney i novoy Rossii (Russian: Записка о древней и новой России), English translation: Memoir on Ancient and Modern Russia (1811)
  • Istoriya gosudarstva Rossiyskogo (Russian: История государства Российского), English translation: History of the Russian State (1816–26)

Poetry

  • Poetry (Russian: Поэзия), 1787
  • Darovaniya (Russian: Дарования), English translation: Gifts (1796)
  • Solovey (Russian: Соловей), English translation: Nightingale (1796)
  • Protey, ili Nesoglasiya stikhotvortsa (Russian: Протей, или Несогласия стихотворца), English translation: Proteus, or Inconsistencies of a Poet (1798)
  • Ego imperatorskomu velichestvu Alexandru I, samoderzhtsu vserossiyskomu, na vosshestvie ego na prestol (Russian: Его императорскому величеству Александру I, самодержцу всероссийскому, на восшествие его на престол, English translation: To His Imperial Highness Alexander I, All-Russian Autocrat, on the Occasion of His Rise to the Throne (1801)
  • Gimn gluptsam (Russian: Гимн глупцам), English translation: Hymn to the Fools (1802)
  • K Emilii (Russian: К Эмилии), English translation: To Emilie (1802)
  • K dobrodeteli (Russian: К добродетели), English translation: To Virtue (1802)
  • Osvobozhdenie Evropy i slava Alexandra I (Russian: Освобождение Европы и слава Александра I), English translation: The Freeing of Europe and the Glory of Alexander I (1814)

References

Further reading

  • Anderson, Roger B. N.M. Karamzin's Prose: The Teller and the Tale. Houston: Cordovan Press, 1974.
  • Black, J.L. Nicholas Karamzin and Russian Society in the Nineteenth Century: A Study in Russian Political and Historical Thought. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1975 (hardcover, ISBN 0-8020-5335-1).
  • Cross, A.G. N.M. Karamzin: A Study of His Literary Career, 1783–1803. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 1971 (ISBN 0-8093-0452-X).
  • Essays on Karamzin: Russian Man-of-Letters, Political Thinker, Historian, 1766–1826 (Slavistic Printings and Reprintings; 309). Edited by J.L. Black. The Hague; Paris: Mouton, 1975.
  • Grudzinska Gross, Irena. "The Tangled Tradition: Custine, Herberstein, Karamzin, and the Critique of Russia", Slavic Review, Vol. 50, No. 4. (Winter, 1991), pp. 989–998.
  • [Karamzin, N.M.] Selected Prose of N.M. Karamzin. Trans. and Intr. by Henry M. Nebel, Jr. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1969.
  • Nebel, Henry M., Jr. N.M. Karamzin: A Russian Sentimentalist. The Hague: Mouton & Co., 1967.
  • Pipes, Richard. Karamzin's Memoir on Ancient and Modern Russia: A Translation and Analysis (Russian Research Center Studies; 33). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1959.
  • Fraanje, Maarten. Nikolai Karamzin and Christian Heinrich Spiess: "Poor Liza" in the Context of the Eighteenth-Century German Suicide Story. Study Group on Eighteenth-Century Russia Newsletter Volume 27 (1999).

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