In k Trediakovsky biography. Trediakovsky, Vasily Kirillovich - short biography

In the 18th century, the name of V.K. Trediakovsky has become a household name for a pretentious, mediocre pedant. His poems were mercilessly ridiculed - they really were often convenient objects for parodies. His works were not published at all, and Trediakovsky had to resort to various tricks in order to publish his next creation. Sumarokov brought him to the stage in Tresotinius, touched him in all satires and epistles on literary topics. Trediakovsky died in poverty, ridiculed and offended by his contemporaries. Radishchev and Pushkin tried to remove the stigma of a mediocre poet from Trediakovsky, realizing how great the significance of his literary activity was. Trediakovsky's real merit lies in his attempt to reform Russian versification; in posing the problem of creating a Russian literary language and active participation in the cause of its reform; in the creation of the literary doctrine of classicism; in the development of new genre forms in Russian literature.

The beginning of literary activity. A new concept of love in Russian literature

Success to young V.K. Trediakovsky in the literary field was brought by the first quiche published by him in 1730 "Riding to the Island of Love" translation of the love-allegorical novel by the French writer Paul Talman and poems collected in a special appendix "Poems for Different Occasions" ". Trediakovsky's attention was attracted by the general ethics -aesthetic concept of the work.In the preface "To the Reader" Trediakovsky warned that "this book is sweet love", "worldly book", thereby emphasizing its secular nature and novelty of content. Galman's book was chosen by Trediakovsky not only to inform the Russian reader of the forms and formulas of loving speech and tender conversations, but also to instill in him a certain concept of love. The young author perceived love as a source of joy and happiness, “as an eternal holiday, as a world of youth and fun” (I.Z. Serman), and his position differed significantly from that of Talman: “There is no such philosophy of love in Paul Talmann’s novel as that direction of French romance, with which "Ride to the Island of Love" is connected, did not have it (Serman I.Z. Russian classicism: Poetry. Drama. Satire / I.Z. Serman. - L., 1973. - P. 113) . Trediakovsky's love lyrics were also successful. He created a Russian literary song. It was he who legitimized mythological imagery in this genre as well.

Activities to create a Russian literary language

Trediakovsky was the first professional writer in Russia. By his liking, he considered himself a pioneer of Russian versification (see the section “Reform of Russian versification”). At meetings of the translation meeting of the academy (which he himself called the “Russian meeting”), Trediakovsky spoke with a broad program of streamlining the Russian language, creating a literary norm by it. In the preface to the book "Riding to the Island of Love", which he called "To the Reader", he emphasizes that he did not translate his book "Slovenian", but the usual spoken language, which is an attempt to form a literary language on a living colloquial basis.

Trediakovsky decided to take the speech of the court circle, or "a fair company", as the basis for linguistic transformations, urging to beware, on the one hand, of "profound Slavonicism", and on the other hand, of "mean use", i.e. the speech of the lower classes. But Old Slavonic the language at that time had not yet exhausted its possibilities, and "low" expressions were common not only among the "full people", but also in the "fair company". Real transformations on such a shaky basis were impossible. Trediakovsky drew attention to the problem itself, and MV Lomonosov had to solve it.

In the middle of his poetic activity, Trediakovsky nevertheless turns to both the "profound Slavonicism" he rejected, and to the democratic vulgar vocabulary. However, he failed to achieve a synthesis of book hailstones and a living foundation of colloquial speech - Trediakovsky's poetic speech was a disorderly mechanical mixture, which made it difficult to understand poems. Trediakovsky's poems require careful work to develop reading skills due to numerous and unjustified inversions, artificial combination of words, intricate constructions, the presence of superfluous, clogging words (he himself called them "gags" and warned poets against using "empty additives") and unmotivated combinations of archaisms with vernacular.

Thanks to the above features, Trediakovsky's poems have become a convenient object for parody.

Trediakovsky Vasily Kirillovich was born in 1703, in Astrakhan. His father was a priest. Trediakovsky was one of the figures who lived his life in the era of Peter. As in the works of Cantemir, his works reflected the features of the new time, new ideas and images, but Trediakovsky in his work could not completely overcome the former scholastic culture. He, like Cantemir, lived in an era of reactions, in an unfavorable, and sometimes hostile and hateful environment. Trediakovsky was an intellectual raznochinets, experiencing great difficulties and hardships in a noble-monarchist country.

In 1723, filled with a thirst for knowledge, he (he was only 20 years old) fled from Astrakhan to the capital, where he studied at the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy for 2 years. Trediakovsky in 1725, not satisfied with the theological and scholastic teachings at the academy, went to The Hague, and then to Paris, to the Sorbonne. In this best university in Europe, in poverty, he studied for 3 years and, having received the education of a philologist, in 1730 he returned to Russia in order to serve the enlightenment of his homeland. The brightest time in his life is the beginning of his work in the field of literature.

Trediakovsky returned to Russia as an atheist, who enthusiastically read satires written by Kantemir, who called church leaders bastards and tartuffes. He immediately joined the life of the public, spoke out as a supporter of "enlightened absolutism", defended the deeds of Peter. In the "Elegy on the death of Peter the Great" Trediakovsky revealed the historical significance of the Petrine reforms. At the same time, Trediakovsky was translating P. Talman's novel, which was Soviet in content, under the title "Riding to the Island of Love." This novel was perceived by representatives of the reactionary clergy as a desperate challenge to the official literature.

But it was like that from the beginning. The position of Trediakovsky, who defended his own right to exist in the conditions of the established aristocratic-landowner system, was truly tragic. He suffered discredit, humiliation, he was portrayed as mediocre and ridiculous. People who are engaged in mental work and devote themselves to science, without various titles and ranks, were considered inferior people in the highest circles. It was necessary to have colossal willpower, an unbending and powerful character, a huge talent, to assert their own rights, to maintain a sense of personal dignity, regardless of their plebeian origin. It was only Lomonosov who could do it.

Trediakovsky in 1732 took the position of a full-time translator at the Academy of Sciences, after which he became the secretary of the academy. He began to engage in literary and scientific work. However, his position in the academy became more difficult every day. It was also aggravated by the literary controversy with Sumarokov and Lomonosov. Acting as a remarkable innovator in most areas of literature, he, having less talent in literature, soon allowed himself to be identified by Sumarokov and Lomonosov, who, following the path first indicated to him. All this was very painfully perceived by Trediakovsky, and his enmity with Sumarokov and Lomonosov was irreconcilable and very long. It began in the 1740s, from the moment when Lomonosov's talent as a poet began to outshine Trediakovsky's.

Disputes between these writers were about the direction in which Russian poetry was to develop, about the nature of the language of poetry, but the polemical forms were sharp. Trediakovsky in recent years began to remain in complete solitude. His persecution in academic circles became so unbearable that in 1759 he was forced to leave the Academy.

Trediakovsky lived for another ten years practically in poverty, in illness and forgotten by everyone. Trediakovsky died in St. Petersburg in 1769 on August 6.

Trediakovsky as a critic and philologist

In determining the historical and literary significance of Trediakovsky's work, Belinsky noted that Trediakovsky would never be forgotten, since he was born on time.

Throughout his life, Trediakovsky worked hard. Extraordinary zeal, indefatigability, the desire to bring exceptional benefits to his country were his hallmarks. They left a huge legacy. He was a classicist writer who made a significant contribution to the literature of the time. In addition, he was also a major philologist, a reformer of Russian versification, a poet and translator, and an author of critical as well as theoretical articles. He took on everything that he should mainly take on. His enormous work was aimed at the formation of Russian literature, the culture of the nation.

He began his activity as a writer by writing songs of a gallant-love orientation, which he wrote in French, but with titles in Russian. These songs are examples of 18th century French light poetry. Upon his return to Russia in 1730, he published a translation of the famous novel by P. Thalmann called "Riding to the Island of Love" with an appendix called "Poems for Different Occasions". This was Trediakovsky's first appearance in print and the very first collection in Russia with Soviet poems, which were written both in Russian and in French.

In the preface to this novel, which was called "To the Reader", he, putting forward certain reform programs in the field of literature, emphasized the secular nature of this work. He came forward as a supporter of poetic rhyme, raised the question of choosing one or another language and style, which are determined by the content of the work itself, the nature of its genre. Trediakovsky justified the choice for translations of the ordinary Russian language, and not the Slavic language, by the fact that this worldly book is a book of love, and for this reason it should be understandable to everyone, and the Slavic language is dark, that is, not understandable to everyone. The Slavic language is the language of church books, and in the Soviet books Trediakovsky proposed liberation from the so-called "Slavicism". That is why he translates a novel called "Riding to the Island of Love" into the simplest Russian language that people speak to each other. However, the Russian common language that Trediakovsky implies is the language spoken at court. It is the language of nobles and ministers.

The merit of Trediakovsky is that, when raising the question of the need for a reform of the language of literature, the improvement of which he was concerned about even at the time when, on March 14, 1735, he delivered in the Russian Assembly “Speech on the pure Russian language”, in which he noted the need to compile a good and good grammar, a complete dictionary, rhetoric, as well as the science of versification.

To our deepest regret, Trediakovsky's language was characterized by considerable difficulty, both in poetic and narrative speech, which could be explained by the fusion of Slavonicisms with turns of Latin and Russian in simple words. This too complicated and artificial language more than once acted as a subject for ridicule of Trediakovsky. The reform of the literary Russian language, the need for which the writer was aware, was carried out by Lomonosov, who also published Rhetoric in 1748 and Grammar in 1757.

The new Russia needed a new national literature, and Trediakovsky made his own contribution to its development. He did especially much in the field of "the science of poetry." The syllabic composition of poetry, which arose under the conditions of ecclesiastical scholastic culture, in no way corresponded to the predominantly secular, new content of literature in Russia. This was understood for the first time by Trediakovsky, who turned his attention to Russian folk poetry. His reform of the composition of verses was connected with the deep-rooted traditions of the national Russian culture and was mainly based on his knowledge of folklore.

In 1735, in a treatise entitled "A New and Brief Method for the Composition of Russian Poetry", he was the first to focus on the tonic principle as the language most in line with the natural qualities. The basis of the writer's own system is a new principle of distribution of uniform stresses, the so-called principle of the tonic foot.

Trediakovsky's own theoretical propositions were also substantiated in other treatises, in particular in his article entitled "On the ancient, middle and new Russian poem." However, the reform that was undertaken by the writer was incomplete. He did not succeed in completely crushing the old syllabic system, believing that the new principles should be extended exclusively to long syllabic verses with numerous syllables, eleven-syllable verses, and also thirteen-syllable verses. Short verses, nine- and four-footed, can still be syllabic for the reason that in a short verse one stress is enough to organize it in order to give it a certain rhythm.

In addition, the half-heartedness of his reform was also reflected in the fact that he preferred a paired feminine rhyme, while rejecting the possibility of alternating feminine and masculine rhymes in one poem. Only in poems of a satirical nature were they allowed the possibility of using masculine rhyme. The restrictions also applied to three-syllable stops, the use of which the writer objected to. In two-syllable feet, he gave preference to chorea. He considered it the most characteristic size of Russian poetry.

Four years later, in 1739, Lomonosov's treatise entitled "On the Rules of Russian Poetry" appeared, which removed all restrictions from the system of syllabic versification. It is characteristic that Trediakovsky had to agree with the theoretical principles of Lomonosov and in the 2nd edition of The New and Brief Method in 1752, to which various poems are attached, he worked them out. Trediakovsky abandoned the restrictions that he had previously proposed. The innovative reform of the writer caused repeated accusations of imitation, of transferring the foundations of the composition of poetry from French. From the poetry of France, he borrowed poetic terms, and this system itself was born from the poetry of the people. The reform of the composition of Russian poetry, which was created by Trediakovsky, had tremendous historical significance.

Concerned about the approval of Russian classicism, the writer created a number of works of a theoretical nature, in which he acts as a popularizer of Boileau's poetics, and he himself tries to use various genres in his own practice of composing poetry.

Trediakovsky was the first to write a solemn laudatory "Ode solemn on the surrender of the city of Gdansk" in 1734, which was published five years before the first ode written by Lomonosov. He also attached to his ode “Discourse on the ode in general”, in which the very first in Russian classicism defined the ode as a genre, pointed out its differences from the epic poem and the main characteristic of the poetics of the ode - the red mess. The writer also introduced the Russian reader to such genres as the heroic poem, as well as comedy.

Among the best poems that were written by Trediakovsky, one should include his “Laudable Poems of Russia”, which are deeply patriotic in nature. They first appeared as an appendix to a novel called Love Island Ride.

This poem, which was written a few years before the publication of the poetic treatise of the writer, can rightfully act as an example of the toning of syllabic verses, which was achieved due to censorship. It is characteristic that the 2nd, already elaborated edition of the poems, which was published in 1752, was written in iambic.

In 1752, Trediakovsky wrote a poem called “Praise to the Izherskaya Land and the Reigning City of St. Petersburg”, which is imbued with a civic spirit, pride in the enormous transformations of his own country and its reformer Peter the 1st. The stanzas are filled with pathos and lyrical animation. In his poem, he conveys his own sense of pride, which is caused by the beauty and majestic view of St. Petersburg, which arose where there used to be a wild. This poem is written in iambic pentameter with cross, both female and male rhymes.

One of Trediakovsky's significant works in verse is a work entitled "Epistole from Russian Poetry to Apollo" in 1735. The writer asks the god Apollo to visit his native country and spread the poetic light there, which it spreads to all corners of the world. Trediakovsky gives an overview of the poetry of the world, he speaks of its best achievements, and this list of names is evidence of the presence of broad literary and artistic interests of the writer. He talks about Homer, Ovid, Horace, French Classical poetry, Italian poetry, English, Spanish and German poetry, and so on. In this epistle, driven by patriotic feelings about the development of the culture of the nation, he tries to introduce Russian poetry as an equal in the environment of European literature.

However, in this poem, the complexity of syntax constructions is very clearly expressed, which is caused by the use of latinized turns, the difficulty of speech of verses, which quite often made the writer's verses difficult to understand.

But, at the same time, Trediakovsky's biography is full of both bright and bright events, and falls that he still managed to overcome. He made a significant contribution to the development of domestic and world literature.

The work of Vasily Kirillovich Trediakovsky undoubtedly occupies a special and worthy place in the poetic heritage of Russian literature. The intellectual scientist, literary innovator and experimenter, poet and translator Trediakovsky created powerful prerequisites for a rapid transition to modern forms of versification, which A.S. Pushkin later brought to perfection. Trediakovsky's contemporaries and followers were aware of the significance of his many-sided work and gratefully called him the father and knight of enlightenment. Determining the historical and literary significance of his work, Belinsky wrote: "Trediakovsky will never be forgotten, because he was born on time."

The peculiarity of the poetry of the first decades of the eighteenth century was that there was no definite, academic norm in the literary language. Anarchy of styles dominated, where, along with Russisms and Slavicisms, there were turns of colloquial speech. Therefore, Trediakovsky's poetry was a reflection of this trend. It included syllabic verses, but with Trediakovsky's individual meter, Alexandrian verse and short verses, with iambic tetrameter and choir three-four-foot. The variety of genres and themes in his poetry testifies to his desire to ennoble the literary language and lay the foundations for a new system of versification. He composes solemn odes filled with socio-political sound. His elegies are dominated by emotions of a personal nature, with lyrical intonations, but at the same time, the poems pathetically reflect the state life of Russia and are a dedication to the Russian tsars.

In the poem "Song. Composed in Hamburg for the solemn celebration of the coronation of Her Majesty Empress Anna Ioannovna”, the poet joyfully and enthusiastically announces: “Triumph, all Russian peoples: We are having golden years.” But already in the ode “External Warmth”, the poet writes a dedication not to autocrats, but bows before the beauty of nature. In another of his poems, "Strophes praiseworthy to the villagers' life," he praises the silence and comfort of village life.

Trediakovsky experiments a lot, expanding the styles and genres of versification. His poems contrast and emotionally compete with each other. This is clearly seen in the themes of the description of nature, as well as in love lyrics. Despite the noticeable trace left by Trediakovsky in poetry, it must still be admitted that his poems were criticized and even ridiculed and did not find a serious response from readers. But his undoubted merit, as a poet and innovator, is to understand the need to reform the literary language and improve it.

Trediakovsky's biography keeps a certain secret, and the circumstances of his stay abroad remain mysterious. The son of a priest, against the will of his father, runs away from home and enters the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy. At the age of twenty-three, without graduating from the academy, he went to Holland, where he lived with the ambassador and mastered French there. He then walked to Paris and studied at the Sorbonne University. Here Vasily Kirillovich Trediakovsky carefully studies classical and modern French literature. He enriches his knowledge by studying the works of ancient Greek philosophers and ancient poets. He enthusiastically studies the works of Moliere and Racine, deeply delves into the layers of French educational thought. In a short period of time, he turns from a half-educated student into a European scientist.

In 1730, Trediakovsky returned to his homeland, with a huge store of knowledge and his own literary works. He publishes a translation of P. Talman's novel "Riding to the Island of Love", which he organically supplemented with a cycle of his love poems. This book made people talk about Trediakovsky as a talented translator and poet, which brought him fame and popularity. In 1732 he was hired as a translator at the Academy of Sciences.

Translations of Western European works are a very important moment in Trediakovsky's literary activity. His merit is that it was difficult to translate literary works into Russian: at that time the author had no auxiliary sources, no dictionaries, no other publications on which to rely or borrow experience. Trediakovsky went his own way, not deviating from a single letter of the original. Thanks to his work, Russian literature was enriched with translations of books by Western European authors: Talman, Barclay, Fenelon.

Trediakovsky translated a lot of ancient authors, Aesop's fables, the comedies of Terence, Seneca, as well as the works of Horace. By order of the Academy of Sciences, he, already in the rank of academician, takes up translations of the historical works of the French scientists Charles Rollin and Jean Crevier. The scientist devoted thirty years of his life to these translations, the result of which was the ten-volume work “The Ancient History of the Egyptians, the Carthaginians, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Medes, Persians, the Macedonians and the Greeks”, sixteen more volumes of “Roman History from the Foundation of Rome before the Battle of Actia” and four volumes of “The History of the Roman Emperors from Augustus to Constantine”. Titanic and massive work! This many years of painstaking work has become an invaluable service to the Russian educational community and Russian science as a whole.

Working on translations of Rollin and Crevier, Trediakovsky came to understand the meaning of civil society, despising tyranny and vices, and praising civic virtue. The scientist sincerely believed that "reason and virtue are the lot of the entire human race, and not only of pedigree people ...". He dedicated his enormous work to the Russian state and considered it "a service to the dearest fatherland."

In 1751, Trediakovsky was working on a translation of the novel "Argenida" by the Scottish writer Barclay. It must be borne in mind that the translation was carried out during the work on the works of Rollin and Crevier, so the work on the novel "Argenide" is not accidental, it expands Trediakovsky's worldview to issues of civil society and absolute monarchy. Vasily Kirillovich Trediakovsky tried by his translation to convey to the enlightened minds of Russia the idea that tyranny is not acceptable for public administration. John Barclay in the novel justifies the absolute monarchy and Trediakovsky, following his own principle of translation, does not distort this idea, linking it with the image of Peter the Great, who remained a model statesman. "Argemis" in the translation of Trediakovsky gained popularity and went through several editions, being a success with his contemporaries.

In 1766, a verse translation of the prose novel by François Fenelon "The Travels of Telemachus" ("The Adventures of Telemachus") was published. Trediakovsky calls his translation version "Telemakhida" ("Tilemakhida" in Trediakovsky's original). Fenelon's novel shows the ideals of the ruling monarchy and its role in the social order. It should be said that the book about the adventures of Telemachus in the enlightened circles of Russia was known and was translated as early as 1734, although its printed version appeared only thirteen years later, and was published by the Academy of Sciences, without indicating the name of the translator. Therefore, the new translation of Trediakovsky aroused genuine interest, since in Europe and in Russia anti-monarchist views were still very far from oppositional intentions, but the emergence of such thoughts in the minds of the enlightened part of society created the prerequisites for the emergence of opponents of the monarchy.

Trediakovsky retained in his translation the moralistic genre of the original, giving it the format of a political and educational treatise. The main ideological result of Trediakovsky's Telemachis is the idea that the tsar must be law-abiding and comply with the prescribed laws. Therefore, any mistakes should become a lesson and a science for the future monarch, who is obliged to benefit from the experience and mistakes of his predecessors. And if in “Argenida” Trediakovsky expounds “lessons to the kings” and gives instructions, then in Telemachid, in addition to the lessons, one can already hear criticism of the absolute monarchy, which indicates Trediakovsky’s indisputable understanding of the imperfection of the socio-political structure in Russia.

Vasily Kirillovich Trediakovsky, as a poet and citizen, in his translation, albeit indirectly, but reflected the modern reign of Catherine, which was clearly despotic in nature, and the queen herself was distinguished by waywardness and acted according to her whim and desires, "regardless of the law." The poet boldly denounced the courtiers and flatterers who "flatter the king in everything and betray the king in everything."

The thoughts and revelations voiced in Telemachid did not go unnoticed by Catherine. However, she did not take reprisals against the author. But on the other hand, she impartially spoke about Trediakovsky, calling him funny, and the work mediocre, and recommended reading this work as a remedy for insomnia. Of course, such a response from the queen to his translation offended and humiliated Trediakovsky. The book publisher and public figure N.I. Novikov tried to defend Trediakovsky, objecting to Catherine and noting the merits and significance of Telemakhida.

From a literary point of view, "Telemakhida" is an epic work, the poetic basis of which is the Russian hexameter. Such a choice of poetic meter can be considered Trediakovsky's obvious success, allowing the author to reproduce the solemn rhythm of ancient poems in Russian. Emphasizing the percussive principle of the hexameter, Trediakovsky uses a combination of feet of different poetic sizes, such as dactyl and trochee. This feature of the metric form of the epic was appreciated by Radishchev and Pushkin. Trediakovsky's hexameter became the forerunner for the translations of the Iliad by N.I. Gnedich and the Odyssey by V.A. Zhukovsky.

Noting the artistic innovation of Trediakovsky, one cannot fail to note a number of stylistic mistakes, the use of eclectic sets of Church Slavonic elements with colloquial speech, and the composition of unsuccessful poems. The translation of Telemachis was attacked by theorists of classicism, who rejected the entire structure of the epic. Despite the patriotic nature of the work, Trediakovsky failed to create a full-fledged Russian epic poem. It was built on an alien historical basis and, accordingly, the main person was not endowed with the features of a national hero. But even with such a critical attitude towards Telemachid, it must be admitted that it was she who became the reference point for the Russian poet and statesman M.M. Kheraskov, who created the first national poem Rossiada, working on it for about eight years.

We draw your attention to the fact that in the biography of Vasily Kirillovich Trediakovsky, the most basic moments from life are presented. Some minor life events may be omitted from this biography.

Creation

In art

(Tredyakovsky) (March 5 (February 22), 1703 - August 17 (6), 1769) - a famous Russian scientist and poet of the 18th century.

Biography

Born in 1703 in Astrakhan, in the family of a priest. He studied at the school of Capuchin monks and was supposed to take the rank, but, for unknown reasons, in 1723 he fled to Moscow and entered the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy. Here he wrote his first dramas "Jason" and "Titus Vespasian's son", as well as "Elegy on the death of Peter the Great" in 1725 and "Song" in 1725, which have not come down to us.

In 1726, Trediakovsky, without completing his course at the Academy, went to Holland and spent two years in The Hague. He had to live in poverty abroad: his request to Russia "to determine the annual salary" for the completion of theological and philosophical sciences was not respected, because he was listed as a fugitive from the Academy. In Paris, where he came "on foot for his extreme poverty," he studied mathematics and philosophy at the Sorbonne, listened to theology, and took part in public disputes.

Returning to Russia in 1730, Trediakovsky published a translation of Paul Thalmann's novel Riding to the Island of Love (1730). The translation was accompanied by verses by Trediakovsky himself, in Russian, French and Latin. The success of the book was ensured by the very content of the book, dedicated to depicting the feelings of graceful love and respect for a woman, new at that time for Russian readers. In the same book, Tredyakovsky placed a preface in which he first expressed the idea of ​​using the Russian language in literary works, and not the Old Slavonic language, as it had been before that time.

Trediakovsky became the court poet of Anna Ioannovna. In 1733, he was hired by the Academy of Sciences with the obligation to “clean up the Russian language, writing both in verse and not in verse; give lectures if required; finish the grammar he started and work together with others on Russian diction; translate from French into Russian everything that comes to him.

From the beginning of the 1740s, the poetic fame of Lomonosov overshadowed Trediakovsky, and the death of Anna Ioannovna and the coming to power of Elizabeth in 1741 worsened Trediakovsky's position at court. In the following years, Trediakovsky lived in extreme poverty, and his marriage in 1742 only aggravated this situation. Only in 1745, simultaneously with Lomonosov, he was appointed professor of the Academy in the department of elocvention, and this improved his financial condition.

Trediakovsky was actively engaged in translations and published the nine-volume Ancient History by Rollin, and the sixteen-volume Roman History by the same author.

In 1766 he published Telemachis, a free translation of Fenelon's The Adventures of Telemachus, made in hexameter. The work and its author immediately become the object of ridicule and attacks, so in the “Hermitage Etiquette” of Empress Catherine II, a comic punishment for light guilt was established: “If anyone stumbles against the above, then, according to the evidence of two witnesses, he must drink a glass of cold water for any crime , not excluding the ladies, and read the page of "Tilemakhida" (Tretyakovskiy). And whoever opposes three articles in one evening is guilty of learning the six lines of the Tilemachida by heart.

Son Leo (1746-1812) - Yaroslavl and Smolensk governor.

Reform of Russian versification

Trediakovsky is one of the founders of syllabo-tonic versification in Russia.

The poetry of the 16th - early 17th century was built on a syllabic basis, that is, the stresses in the verse were not ordered, only the number of syllables was fixed. This type of verse came to Russia from Poland.

In 1735 Trediakovsky published A New and Brief Method for Composing Russian Poetry. In this work, he introduced the concept of a poetic foot, and on its basis - the concept of iambic and trochaic. Trediakovsky proposed to build poetic lines on the basis of a chorea: "that verse ... is perfect and better, which consists only of choreas ... and that one is very thin, which all the iambs make up." In fact, Trediakovsky proposed to update the traditional sizes of syllabic versification (13 and 11 syllables) by introducing constant stress and caesura.

In his work, Trediakovsky also gave definitions of various genres: sonnet, rondo, epistles, elegies, odes, etc., gives numerous examples.

Lomonosov criticized the versification proposed by Trediakovsky. In the “Letter on the Rules of Russian Poetry” (1739), he pointed out that in addition to the chorea, Russian poetry can use iambic, as well as tripartite sizes - dactyl, amphibrach, anapaest. Lomonosov also challenged Trediakovsky's assertion that only feminine rhymes could be used in verse by introducing masculine and dactylic rhymes into Russian verse.

In general, Trediakovsky accepted the system proposed by Lomonosov, and even rewrote several of his previous odes so that they corresponded to the new rules of versification. However, one issue prompted further discussion:

Lomonosov believed that iambic meters are suitable for writing heroic works, in particular, an ode, and a trochee "having tenderness and pleasantness by nature, should be only an elegiac kind of poem." Sumarokov was of the same opinion. Trediakovsky, on the other hand, believed that the size itself does not carry any emotional connotations.

This dispute found the following continuation: the arguing poets published the book "Three odes paraphrastic psalm 143". In it, the same psalm was translated: Lomonosov and Sumarokov - iambic, and Trediakovsky - chorea.

Creation

Creativity Trediakovsky caused a lot of controversy both during the life of the author and after his death. On the one hand, partly under the influence of the opinions of the court and literary groups opposing him, Trediakovsky remained in history as an incompetent poet, a court intriguer, plotting against his talented colleagues. I. I. Lazhechnikov’s novel The Ice House, published in 1835, supported this myth, which led to the fact that during the 19th century Trediakovsky’s name was often used as a common noun to refer to a mediocre poet. At the same time, A.S. Pushkin, in an article about Radishchev's book Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow, speaks of Trediakovsky as follows:

A number of modern authors call Trediakovsky the founder of Russian lyrics of the New Time, Russian classicism of the 18th century with its ancient European origins, one of the most fruitful ideologists and practitioners of Russian bucolic poetry, etc.

The early work of Trediakovsky undoubtedly turns out to be in line with the so-called. Russian literary baroque with its characteristic pomp of style, layers of metaphors, inversions, Church Slavonicisms. At the same time, being an innovator, Trediakovsky laid down the main lines of formation of Russian lyrics of the new time, brilliantly developed later by Zhukovsky and Pushkin. Trediakovsky's later poems gravitate toward the emerging classicist tradition created by his contemporary Lomonosov and Sumarokov. However, Trediakovsky did not succeed in becoming an "exemplary classicist".

"Songs of the World" love lyrics

Trediakovsky's first song compositions date back to 1725-1727, i.e. while studying at the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy, however, the most interesting works created in this genre should be considered Russian love poems, which originated under the influence of French salon songs in the 30s of the 18th century, i.e. during Trediakovsky's studies in Paris. According to N.P. Bolshukhina, at the beginning of the 18th century, “Love (and, more broadly, secular) song was ... beyond the limits of ideas about poetry, poetry. Only in the 30s of the XVIII century it will be recognized as a specific genre and ... included by Trediakovsky in the system of national lyrical genres. As one of the characteristic examples of such creativity, one can take "Poems about the power of love." In it, Trediakovsky refers to ancient and biblical images, noting the extra-spatial and extra-cultural power of love, which "is a great thing." Such a performance was very in the spirit of the French song tradition, but for Russian poetry it was new. In a private letter, Trediakovsky wrote that “nature itself, this beautiful and tireless mistress, takes care to teach all youth what love is.” The strong influence of French song lyrics can also be noted in the poem "The Song of Love" (1730). The poem is written in couplet form, and the two final lines of each couplet form a refrain. There is a characteristic of French poetry, the presence of male rhyme next to the female. Love in the poem is seen as an impulse, unconscious and not amenable to reflection. The lyrical hero "dies about love" unable to figure out what is happening to him.

In art

• Trediakovsky is one of the characters in the historical novel Word and Deed by Valentin Pikul.
• Historical stories by Yuri Nagibin "The Fugitive" and "Island of Love" tell about the life of Vasily Trediakovsky

Trediakovsky Vasily Kirillovich (1703 - 1769), poet, prose writer, theorist.

Trediakovsky was one of the writers who determined the development of Russian literature of the 18th century - the century that prepared the "golden age of Russian literature."

Trediakovsky was born into the family of an Astrakhan priest, studied at the school of Capuchin monks and was supposed to take the rank. But it was not faith that attracted him, but science. He ran away from his parents' house and went to Moscow. There he entered the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy, but soon, driven by the same thirst for knowledge, he went abroad - completely without money, relying only on himself and his "sharp mind". Trediakovsky spent about two years in Holland, and then went to France, to the Sorbonne. Walking distance from The Hague to Paris.

Returning to his homeland, he made his debut with a translation of a French novel called "Ride to the Island of Love" - ​​and immediately incurred general anger for the obscene eroticism of the novel. However, Trediakovsky became famous, and his education and literary talent were noticed. Anna Ioannovna granted Trediakovsky the dignity of a court poet, and in 1733 he was enrolled in the staff of the Academy of Sciences as a secretary. In 1745 Trediakovsky became the first Russian professor. Before Trediakovsky, among the professors of the Academy of Sciences there were only foreigners invited to Russia, and they, to put it mildly, did not like such successes of the Russian "upstart". Trediakovsky tried to fight against intrigues, but nevertheless in 1759 he was dismissed from the Academy. However, he did not leave work for the benefit of Russian science.

Gradually, he published a translation of the works of the Sorbonne professor Sh. Rellen: the ten-volume "Ancient History" and the sixteen-volume "Roman History", as well as the "Stories of the Roman Emperors" by J.-B. Crevier. The largest literary work of Trediakovsky himself was "Telemakhida" - an arrangement of the novel "The Adventures of Telemachus" by the French writer Fenelon. "Telemakhida" incurred the wrath of the then reigning Catherine II (these events began in 1766), the royal wrath was followed by disgrace.

Trediakovsky was the first among the reformers of the Russian system of versification. In 1735 he wrote a treatise "A new and short way to add Russian poetry." At that time, the syllabic system of versification was used. Its basis is equalization of the number of syllables in each of the lines of the poem. The syllabic system used rhyme, but did not take into account the stress in words. Trediakovsky said that the syllabic system is suitable only for languages ​​in which the stress is fixed. In Russian, it is mobile. Consequently, Trediakovsky concluded, the syllabic system disfigures Russian poetry. He proposed to introduce elements of the tonic system of versification, based on the alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables. He called this system of versification syllabo-tonic. True, he limited the use of the syllabic-tonic system only to verses with a large number of syllables per line - there should be 11 or 13 syllables. A small number of syllables, in his opinion, could also be organized according to the rules of the syllabic.

The treatise also dealt with the use of poetic meters - this was a consequence of the introduction of the syllabic-tonic system. Tredmakovsky believed that the main size of Russian poetry should be the trochee. He considered iambic for Russian verse unsuitable, and ruled out trisyllabic meters altogether. In 1755, another important work by Trediakovsky, On Ancient, Middle, and New Russian Poems, was published. It was the first work on the history of Russian poetry. As the name implies, Trediakovsky singled out three stages in the development of poetry. The first - he called it "pagan" - is the most ancient, characterized by the dominance of the tonic system of versification (it is closest to folk poetic creativity). The second stage - from the XVII to the beginning of the XVIII century - the domination of the syllabic system. And finally, the third - modern - should approve the syllabic-tonic system.

Trediakovsky's works, indeed, as mentioned above, were among those that determined the development of Russian literature. But Trediakovsky's life lasted longer than recognition and fame. He died in complete poverty on August 6, 1769.

Poems of praise for Russia

I'll start on the flute, poems are sad,

For all day to me her kindness

There is a lot of hunting to think with the mind.

Mother Russia! my infinite light!

Let me ask your faithful child,

Oh, how red you sit on the throne!

The sky is Russian you are the sun clear!

Golden scepters paint all others,

And precious porphyry, miter;

You decorated your scepter with yourself,

And she honored the crown with a bright face.

About your high nobility

Who would not know in the wide world?

Direct itself all nobility:

God you, her! light production.

In you all the faith of the pious,

There is no admixture to you for the wicked;

You will not have double faith,

The evil ones do not dare to approach you.

All your people are Orthodox

And bravery is glorious everywhere;

Children are worthy of such a mother,

Everywhere are ready for you.

Why are you, Russia, not abundant?

Where are you, Russia, was not strong?

Treasure of all good you are one,

Always rich, glory is the reason.

If the stars in you all shine with health!

And the Russians splash loudly:

Vivat Russia! viva draga!

Vivat hope! vivat good.

I will die on the flute, poems are sad,

In vain to Russia through distant countries:

I would need a hundred languages

Glorify everything that is cute in you!

(1703-1769)

Trediakovsky was born on the distant outskirts of the then Russian state, in the provincial Astrakhan, in the family of a priest. He took a course of study at the school of Catholic monks, opened in Astrakhan, and at the age of nineteen he fled to Moscow, overwhelmed by a thirst for knowledge. In Moscow, he studied at the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy and soon went abroad. He wanders around Holland, then goes to France, on funds that the Russian envoy in Holland lent him. In Paris, he gets acquainted with French culture - the advanced culture of that time, listens to lectures at the Sorbonne, and is especially interested in the humanities. In 1730 he returned to Russia. All his close relatives and parents died of the plague. In Russia, he associates his activities with the newly created Academy of Sciences. But he failed to achieve an independent position, to assert his dignity. The intrigues of academicians and continuous quarrels with other major cultural figures, including Lomonosov and Sumarokov, led to the fact that Trediakovsky's position at the Academy became almost unbearable. His works and translations were no longer published in the then only magazine, Monthly Works. Trediakovsky printed them furtively, hiding under various pseudonyms. Lomonosov calls Trediakovsky, whose initially progressive views gradually faded, "an atheist and a hypocrite." In 1759 he was dismissed from the Academy and ended his life in poverty and oblivion.

Literary activity of Tredaikovskiy is represented by artistic and scientific works. As a theoretician and experimental writer, opening up new paths in Russian literature, Trediakovsky deserves the most serious attention. “His philological and grammatical research,” wrote A.S. Pushkin, - very remarkable. He had a broader understanding of Russian versification than Lomonosov and Sumarokov ... In general, the study of Trediakovsky is more useful than the study of our other old writers.

Trediakovsky was a reformer of Russian versification, the creator of the syllabo-tonic system of verse on Russian soil. The principles of the new versification were outlined by Trediakovsky in the treatise "A New and Brief Method for the Composition of Russian Poems with the Definition of the Previously Appropriate Titles", published in 1735. In The New Method, Trediakovsky fought "on two fronts": against quantitative prosody (the system of pronunciation of stressed and unstressed, long and short syllables in speech) and against syllabic versification. In his treatise, Trediakovsky declares syllabic verses to be "indirect" verses and advocates the use of syllabic tonics in Russian poetry. His demands boiled down to the requirement to replace syllabic verses with the so-called Russian "exameter" and "pentameter". An exameter is a trochee with thirteen syllables, and a pentameter is an eleven-syllable choreic verse. There were reservations in his reform that weakened its role: for example, the necessity of a caesura (pause) in the middle of the eleven and thirteen-syllable choreic verses recommended by him, and this caesura should be surrounded by stressed syllables, and this violated the syllabic structure of the verse; insisted on the use of female rhyme, considering male rhyme rude and alien to Russian poetry; the main size should be the trochee, and the iambic only in comic poems. In 1752, in the second edition of The New Way, Trediakovsky abandoned these restrictions. Despite the half-heartedness and timidity of the restructuring of Russian versification carried out by Trediakovsky, this reform was of great importance in the history of Russian poetry.

In addition to "A New and Brief Method for the Composition of Russian Poetry", Trediakovsky also wrote other works on the theory and history of verse. For example, “Opinion on the beginning of poetry and poetry in general” and “On the ancient, middle and new Russian poem (i.e. versification - I.A.)”, as well as “Discourse on the ode in general”.

In the first article, he states that "creation, invention and imitation are the soul and life of poetry." That is, he, developing the idea of ​​Feofan Prokopovich and going much further, affirms the leading role of fiction in poetry and emphasizes the importance of an active individual principle in poetic creativity.

The article "On the ancient, middle and new Russian poem" outlines the stages of development of Russian national poetry. At the same time, he reveals an understanding of the historical nature of the literary process. This is the first serious attempt at a historical study of the development of Russian versification. Trediakovsky divides the entire history of Russian poetry into three periods: the first is ancient, beginning in time immemorial and lasting until 1663; the second - middle - from 1663 to 1735 (the date of the appearance of the "New and Brief Method"), i.e. before the beginning of syllabo-tonic Russian versification; the third is a new period, when syllabo-tonic versification completely dominates in Russian poetry. The first Russian poems, according to the author of the treatise, performed a religious, cult function. It is very important to emphasize Trediakovsky's orientation towards the rhythm of folk verse. Such an orientation in the "New and Brief Way" to the establishment of the choreic meter as organically inherent in Russian verse, as opposed to other syllabic-tonic meters. It is about what phenomena caused qualitative changes in the development of Russian poetry, mention is made of the appearance at the end of the 16th century, in 1581, of the first Russian literary verses in the Ostroh Bible. Further, speaking of the correct syllabic verse, widespread in Poland in the 17th century, Trediakovsky points out that it was precisely this verse, having penetrated into Ukraine and Belarus, that served as a model for the creation of Russian correct syllabic verse, i.e. verse, which, as a rule, has an odd number of syllables, from 5 to 13, and, in the case of polysyllabism (11-13 syllables), is also divided by a caesura, “crossing”, as Trediakovsky says, into two unequal parts: seven and six syllables or five and six syllables. Trediakovsky considers the female rhyme at the end of the verse to be the most acceptable for Russian poetry, since the combination of two syllables, of which the first is under stress, in itself constitutes a choreic foot, i.e. foot, which, according to Trediakovsky, is most characteristic of Russian verse.

Speaking of syllabic versification, Trediakovsky shows that it is still so imperfect that verses written according to his rules hardly differ from prose. Trediakovsky also noted that the size of the verse is not directly related to the content of the work. On this issue, on which he argued with Lomonosov, Trediakovsky was right. His mistake was in the preference for the chorea and the neglect of other sizes.

In conclusion, Trediakovsky emphasizes that his reform of versification, in essence, is only a renewal of the old folk system. Thus, he once again draws attention to the deeply patriotic, truly popular character of his reform, to its national foundations.

In the article "Discourse on the ode in general" Trediakovsky appears as a theoretician of classicism. He emphasizes the need for "red disorder" in the solemn ode, i.e. intentional imbalance of emotions expressed in the introductory part of the ode, due to which the reader should have had the impression that the poet was extremely excited by the events described and unable to restrain his feelings. Trediakovsky divides the odes into two groups: odes of "praise" and odes of "gentle", in other words, Anacreontic. Trediakovsky insists on the need for the writer to follow the established rules, emphasizes the obligatory normativity of artistic creation. According to Trediakovsky, every writer not only can, but must imitate certain literary models, taken mainly from ancient literature. Trediakovsky himself willingly imitated the French classicists.

In 1730, immediately after returning from abroad, Trediakovsky published a novel by the French writer Paul Talman in his translation under the title "Riding to the Island of Love." This is a typical love story about the experiences of the characters - Tirsis and Aminta on the fantastic "Island of Love", where Tirsis arrived by ship from Europe, about his "cupid" with the beautiful Aminta, who, however, soon disappointed Tirsis, carried away by another young man. But his grief was short-lived: soon he was surprised to feel himself in love with two beauties at once. From some confusion about this, the hero was brought out by the Eye-lovingness he met, which advised Tirsis not to constrain himself with conventions: you need to love as much as you want - this is the basis of long happiness. These experiences are clothed in allegorical form. Each feeling of the characters corresponds to the conditional toponymy of the “Island of Love”: “Cave of Cruelty”, “Castle of Direct Luxury”, “Gate of Love”, “Desert of Duty”, “Gate of Refusal”, “Lake of Abomination”, etc. Along with the real ones, conditional characters such as “Pity”, “Sincerity”, “Eye-lovingness” are presented (this is how Trediakovsky translated the word “coquetry”, still unknown in Russian). It was this frank allegoricalness of the names, the frank conventionality of the area in which the action takes place, that gave capacity, typicality to the description of the characters' experiences themselves.

The poeticization of love feeling, its real cult, the glorification of the freedom of feelings, the emancipation of a person from the conventions of the old way of life - such is the ideological content of the work. Nevertheless, the end of the novel contradicts this idea, and the contradiction itself is significant: Tirsis decides not to pursue the pleasures of love anymore and devote his life to the glory of the Fatherland. Such an end was quite consistent with the mood of the time of Peter the Great. The image of the inner experiences of the characters is not yet given to either the author of the French original or its translator. That is why the allegorical names of caves, cities and bays and the personification of the very feelings that overwhelm the heroes were needed. Mystery, Coldness, Reverence, Shame operate in the novel.

Trediakovsky's book is interesting because on its last pages he placed his own poems written in French under the title "Poems for Different Occasions". This is Trediakovsky's pre-classical lyrics, which presents a purely personal, autobiographical theme. All the lyrics presented in the book are written in syllabic verse, but in four years Trediakovsky will decisively abandon the syllabic and propose a new system of versification instead.

In 1766, Trediakovsky published a book called "Tilemakhida or the Wanderings of Telemachus, the son of Odysseus, described as part of a heroic poem" - a free translation of the novel by the early French educator Fenelon "The Adventures of Telemachus". Fenelon wrote his work in the last years of the reign of Louis XIV, when France suffered from devastating wars, the result of which was the decline of agriculture and crafts.

The historical and literary significance of "Tilemakhida" lies not only in its critical content, but also in the complex tasks that Trediakovsky set himself as a translator. In essence, this is not a translation, but a radical reworking of the very genre of the book. On the basis of the French novel, Trediakovsky created a heroic poem modeled on the Homeric epic and, in accordance with his task, called the book not The Adventures of Telemachus, but Tilemachida.

As noted in the preface, the plot of a heroic poem should not be connected with the ancient world, its heroes cannot be historically reliable persons of either ancient or modern times. The heroic poem should be written, according to Trediakovsky, only in hexameter. The choice of characters and the plot of "Tilemachida" fully meets the theoretical requirements of the author.

Trediakovsky carefully preserved the enlightening pathos of Fenelon's novel. The supreme power becomes the subject of condemnation, it is said about the despotism of the rulers, about their addiction to luxury and bliss, about the inability of kings to distinguish virtuous people from greed and money-grubbers, about flatterers who surround the throne and prevent monarchs from seeing the truth.

Fenelon's novel, written largely in the footsteps of Barclay's Argenide, was intended by the author for his pupil, the grandson of Louis XIV, Duke of Burgundy, and, like Argenide, was full of vivid and very topical political content. Like Barclay, Fenelon is a staunch supporter of the monarchical principle, but at the same time, his novel, written towards the end of the reign of one of the most typical representatives of absolutism (“the sun king” - Louis XIV), is a cruel verdict on the entire state system of the latter, as you know, most detrimental to the life of the country, which brought France to the brink of complete economic and economic exhaustion. In contrast to this, Mentor teaches his pupil Telemachus in the novel, i.e. in essence, Fenelon to the Duke of Burgundy, the science of true public administration, which, as Trediakovsky explains, is “the middle between the excesses of despotic (self-predominant) power and the anarchic countless (without a leader).” This makes the author of Telemachus a bearer of the ideas of political liberalism, one of Montesquieu's immediate predecessors. In accordance with his accusatory satirical attitude, Fenelon sharply attacks the "evil kings". A number of verses of the Tilemakhida contain very strong and energetic tirades on the theme of wrong kings, who "do not love all those who boldly speak the Truth." Removed from the court, almost excommunicated from literature, Trediakovsky undoubtedly put a strong personal feeling into these poems.

The content of Tilemachida, as well as the novel of Fenelon, is a description of the travels of Odysseus's son Telemachus. Young Telemachus sets off in search of his father, who disappeared without a trace after the end of the Trojan War. The young man is accompanied by a wise mentor - Mentor. During his travels, Telemachus sees different countries with different rulers. This gives the author a reason for reasoning about the merits of certain forms of state power. Thus Mentor teaches Telemachus the ability to manage the people. Trediakovsky expresses here his cherished thoughts about the ideal state direction: of course, readers should have applied these considerations to Russian conditions. In his work, Trediakovsky stressed the importance of the monarch's observance of laws, both legal and "higher" laws of humanity. If the king is powerful over the people, then the laws are powerful over the sovereign, and he has no right to violate them. Subsequently, A.S. Pushkin will say:

You stand above the people

But the eternal law is above you!

Trediakovsky retells with pleasure the instructive story of the Cretan king Idomeneo. This king, distinguished by arbitrariness and lust for power, was expelled by the people from his country. Having learned the hard way that he was wrong, Idomeneo becomes the humane and law-respecting ruler of the city of Salanta. It was the idea of ​​the need to limit autocratic power, of the subordination of the ruler (like any citizen) that was not accepted by Catherine II.

I asked him, what does tsarist sovereignty consist in?

He answered: the king is powerful in everything over the people,

But the laws over him in everything are powerful, of course.

Tilemakhida evoked a different attitude towards itself both among contemporaries and descendants. Novikov and Pushkin praised her. Radishchev made one of her poems the epigraph to his Journey from Petersburg to Moscow. “His love for the Fenelon epic,” Pushkin wrote, “does him credit, and the idea of ​​translating it into verse and the very choice of verse proves an extraordinary sense of grace.” Catherine II took an irreconcilably hostile position. Her ill will was caused by criticisms of the autocrats. She introduced a humorous rule in the palace: for a light guilt, one was supposed to drink a glass of cold water and read a page from the Tilemakhida, for a more serious one, to learn six lines from it. In Tilemakhida, Trediakovsky clearly demonstrated the variety of possibilities of the hexameter as an epic verse. Trediakovsky's experience was later used by N.I. Gnedich when translating the Iliad and V.A. Zhukovsky at work on the Odyssey.

The historical and literary significance of Trediakovsky is indisputable. Being a little gifted as a poet, Trediakovsky, the greatest philologist of his time, the author of many translations that had great cultural and educational significance, contributed to the development of new forms of literature in Russia, his works carried out progressive socio-political ideas for that time.