12 Dec 1766
В Simbirsk province (now the Ulyanovsk region) was born Nikolai Karamzin. A sentimentalist writer. Author of "The History of the Russian State." The only official historiographer of the Russian imperial court.
Reading all the Stories requires some patience, more or less rewarded with pleasure
His father, a retired captain and minor landowner, educated his son in private boarding schools in Simbirsk and Moscow.
At 15, Nikolai became an auditor at Moscow University. He also served in the Preobrazhensky Life Guards Regiment.
At 23, having left the service, he went to Europe: he met with Immanuel Kant and visited Paris during the French Revolution. Upon his return, he wrote his famous "Letters of a Russian Traveler" and soon became a renowned writer.
He published the Moscow Magazine, and one of the first to be published there was Karamzin's story about unhappy love, Poor Liza, which cemented his success.
He who does not respect himself will undoubtedly not be respected by others.
Young ladies read his sentimental prose as captivatingly as they had previously read French novels.
Karamzin's influence on literature can be compared to Catherine's influence on society: he made literature humane.
(Alexander Herzen)
In the mid-1790s he became interested in history and began writing the story “Marfa the Mayor”.
1803 was a turning point for Karamzin: he transformed from a writer into a historian. That same year, the Emperor Alexander I He granted him the title of historiographer and added 2 rubles to his annual salary (a pood of meat cost one ruble, a customs inspector received 300 rubles a year, and a district doctor 180 rubles). The title of historiographer in Russia was not renewed after Karamzin's death. He declined the government positions offered to him (including that of governor of Tver).
At the same time, he began writing "The History of the Russian State," one of the first comprehensive works on the country's history (which remained unfinished). It was not the first of its kind (by that time, books had already been published Tatishcheva и Shcherbatova), but Karamzin made history accessible to a broad educated public.
Everyone, even socialites, rushed to read the history of their homeland, previously unknown to them. It was a new discovery for them. Ancient Russia, it seemed, had been discovered by Karamzin, like America by Columbus.
(Alexander Pushkin)
In 1818, he released the first eight volumes for sale - the three thousandth edition was sold out within a month (other volumes were then published; the unfinished 12th volume was published after the author’s death).
Rulers and Legislators act according to the instructions of History and look at its pages, like sailors at the charts of the seas.
The treasury of the timid belongs to the brave
Work on "History…"—12 volumes over 23 years—brought Karamzin so close to the court and the emperor that he settled in Tsarskoye Selo. By the end of his life, he had become a staunch supporter of absolute monarchy and an opponent of liberal reforms (including being the first to draw attention to the dark side of Peter the Great's reforms).
In his "History" elegance, simplicity
Prove to us, without any prejudice,
The need for autocracy
And the delights of a whip
(Alexander Pushkin)
As early as 1811, he wrote the first manifesto of Russian conservatism, “Notes on Ancient and New Russia in Its Political and Civil Relations,” which was essentially a condensed version of “History….”
Autocracy is the palladium of Russia; its integrity is necessary for its happiness.
He went down in history as one of the reformers of the Russian literary language. He sought to move away from Old Church Slavonic vocabulary, using French as a model. He introduced such neologisms into Russian as "charity," "love," "freethinking," "attraction," "responsibility," "suspiciousness," "industry," "refinement," and "humane."
He introduced into circulation (according to another version, he invented) the letter yo
He died in 1826. Petersburg, At 59, he died of consumption. According to one theory, it was the result of a cold he contracted on December 14, 1825, when Karamzin witnessed the events on Senate Square.
