RUSSIAN CULTURE NAVIGATOR

english
win1251
KOI8
by Olga Rusanova
December 5 marks 195 years since the outstanding Russian poet Fyodor Tyutchev (1803-1873) was born. The role he played in the history of Russian culture was not fully appreciated. Few of his contemporaries were able to perceive how powerful his talent was.
In his life time there were at least three men who realized that Tyutchev was a brilliant poet, second only to Pushkin. They were Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy and Nekrasov. Tolstoy even put Tyutchev above Pushkin. "Pushkin was broader, of course, but Tyutchev deeper," Tolstoy said.
The Soviet authorities viewed him - a monarchist, who was against all revolutions - as a reactionary, and tried to push him to the fringes of Russian culture. Nevertheless Tyutchev won nationwide recognition as a poet, though much in his life and work remains unknown to the broad public.
Tyutchev wrote only 200 poems, but they accompany us throughout our life. Schoolchildren readily recite his "I love a rainstorm in early May"; older lovers of poetry enjoy his lyrical descriptions of Russian landscapes; politicians quote his "You cannot understand Russia with your brain, you can only believe in it."
Tyutchev was not an ordinary man. Those who knew him in his youth noted his quick mind, his remarkable memory, his erudition, and his poetical gift which revealed itself when he was 16. Tyutchev received excellent education in Moscow University. His diplomatic career began when he was only 19. He was always the focus of public attention; in 1845 in St.Petersburg he was referred to as "society lion". People said about him: "In his society you feel that he is not an ordinary mortal, but a man with unusual gifts, a genius." He was described as a fascinating person with profound thinking.
Public interest in Tyutchev is alive to this day, particularly among researchers into his life and work. One of these is Vadim Kozhinov, who wrote a fundamental book on him printed in the famous series "Lives of Outstanding People".
"When I began to write this book, I wanted to speak about Tyutchev as a great poet," said Vadim Kozhinov. "But my work unwittingly turned into a book about history and about Tyutchev's participation in it. Poetry was a form of such participation. His grandiose thinking had historic and philological trends. He thought in terms of centuries and even millennia, and viewed his diplomatic activity as participation in world history."
Kozhinov's observations echo those of Tyutchev's contemporaries. For instance, the poet's friend and fellow-diplomat Prince Ivan Gagarin wrote: "Wealth, honours and fame itself attracted him little. What he enjoyed most of all was to watch world developments and follow changes on the world scene with close attention."
It was a rare combination - poet and diplomat, though history had seen outstanding men of letters who engaged in diplomacy: Beaumarchais, Griboyedov. Tyutchev served in a Russian diplomatic mission abroad from 1822 to 1844. But his role in that area was also underestimated. Vadim Kozhinov says: "I tried to prove that Tyutchev had played a great role in diplomacy. He managed to become the closest associate of and chief adviser to Russia's Foreign Minister Gorchakov. As soon as Gorchakov took office in 1856, he invited Tyutchev to work with him. I have proved that the most important diplomatic decisions taken by Gorchakov had been prompted by Tyutchev. They included the famous diplomatic victory won after Russia's defeat in the Crimean War in 1856. Under the peace treaty signed in Paris Russia's rights in the Crimea were greatly curtailed, but Gorchakov succeeded in restoring the status quo, and he went down in history for this."
Having lived in Western Europe for many years, Tyutchev could not help thinking about the destiny of Russia and its relationship with the West. He wrote several articles about it and a treatise on Russia and the West. He valued the achievements of Western civilization, but he did not think that Russia could follow that road. Speaking about history in terms of morality and the morals of those in power, he criticized bourgeois democracy and western individualism. However he got disappointed in the Russian government too. He believed that immorality involved only the "scum of Russian society". According to him, the masses in Russia were not awakened to historic life yet. Vadim Kozhinov said: "It's hard to imagine that his short articles published in the West in the 1840s sparked polemics that went on for more than 25 years. The disputes continued even after his death. Then all that was forgotten for a long time. Only decades later the students of his legacy, Ronald Lane of Britain among them, discovered in the western press about 50 responses to Tyutchev's articles, some comprising whole books. Tyutchev's publications gave rise to acute disputes, but no one disputed his cleverness and journalistic skill. In one of his articles Tyutchev predicted the Crimean War ten years before it started. He even foresaw how it would end. His publications were anonymous. He signed them either with the word "Russian" or with his initials. People learned about his authorship much later."
Tyutchev spent one-third of his life abroad. Both of his wives were foreign, and Russian was not spoken in his household. Nevertheless Tyutchev was a patriot. This is felt in his verses, articles and letters. Here's what he wrote to his daughter Anna, who had been born and raised in Germany, when she was to come to Russia for the first time as a 16-year-old girl: "In Russia you will find more love than anywhere else. Then you will be able to perceive the entire greatness of that country, and the goodness of its people; you will be proud and happy that you are Russian." Once Tyutchev said that what he loved most of all was his Motherland and poetry, but only after his wife. He meant his first wife, but his love for the second spouse was not lesser. He experienced a passionate love before his marriage, and his last love was also overwhelming. He had a special gift of love. He adored his women, and could not live without love. "When I cease to be an object of love, I turn into a pitiful creature," he wrote to his second wife Ernestine. Women were fond of him, but he viewed it as a gift of fate, not as something due to him. "I know no one less worthy of love than I. That is why I was always amazed at becoming the object of someone's love," he said.
In addition to books about Tyutchev, Vadim Kozhinov is preparing concert programs entitled "Tyutchev and Music". This is a separate topic. However it's amazing that the songs based on his verses are more numerous than the verses themselves. It means that different composers were interested in them .
 
 


 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

BACK TO MAIN PAGE