Vissarion Grigorovich Belinsky – an outstanding Russian publicist, the first literary and theatre critic. Belinsky was born on June 11, 1811, in the Sveaborg fortress, where his father served as a naval doctor. In early childhood the family moved to Chembar, where Belinsky attended the district school and then the gymnasium in Penza.
His passion for literature appeared already in his youth; he wrote stories and ballads. At 18 he became a student of the Faculty of Philology at Moscow University, where he met Herzen, Ogarev and Stankevich. He was expelled from the university in his third year for distributing a banned drama. To support himself he did translation work and gave lessons. Belinsky's first significant literary work was the article "Literary Dreams. An Elegy in Prose," published in the magazine Molva in 1834. The article caused a great resonance among his contemporaries and is considered one of the fundamental surveys of Russian literature. In 1839 he returned to the St. Petersburg publication Otechestvennye Zapiski.
Heavy work undermined the writer's frail health. Tuberculosis forced him to leave his post and go to the south, where he became close to the actor Shchepkin. After returning to Petersburg he published a substantial article "A Review of Literature for 1847" in Sovremennik and again went abroad for treatment, this time to Germany. There he wrote the famous "Letter to Gogol." However, treatment in Germany also proved unsuccessful. Vissarion Grigorovich Belinsky died at the age of 36 and was buried at the Volkovsky Cemetery in Saint Petersburg.
A service for finding museums across Russia, on a map, as a list, and in curated collections
Sign up
You have successfully registered, a confirmation email has been sent to the email address you provided.
Продолжая использовать наш сайт, Вы соглашаетесь на обработку файлов cookie. Data is processed to provide our services and improve the quality of our website and services.
