2017-№2 (55) Article 14

I.V. Gracheva

“Once an official, of rather low family…” (Nicolai Nekrasovʼs poem “Who is happy in Russia?” and a prototype from Ryazan) . P. 137- 144.

UDC 821.161.1-1.09

One of the distinguishing features of Nicolai Nekrasovʼs epic poem “Who is Happy in Russia?” is its realistic character. Nikolay Nekrasov gathered eyewitness and hearsay accounts of his acquaint-ances and his own observations. An eminent Russian lawyer, public figure and writer Anatoly Koni in his memoirs recollects that living in the Ryazan Province he heard a story of a dutiful serf Jacob the Faithful and his tyrant master. Anatoly Koni communicated the story to Nicolai Nekrasov, but did not tell the poet the cruel masterʼ real name. In Nicolai Nekrasovʼs poem the tyrant master goes under the name of Polivanov. However the readers in the Ryazan Province recognized the tyrant at once. The prototype of the tyrant was a local landowner (pomyeshchick) retired Major V.I. Chulkov. The article analyzes ar-chival materials concerning the retired Major Chulkov in order to acquaint the readers with the real char-acter of the landowner and to trace the transformation of a real person into a fictional character.

Nikolai Nekrasov, epic poem “Who is Happy in Russia?, Ryazan Province, V.I. Chulkov, reality and fiction.

References:

1. Gosudarstvennyj arhiv Rjazanskoj oblasti (GARO). – F. 98. – Op. 11. – D. 48 ; F. 733. – Op. 1. – D. 1540, 1822 ; F. 1375. – Op. 1. – D. 1 , 3, 4, 6, 7, 10, 12, 25.
2. Zapiski A.I. Kosheleva [Text] / podgot. T.F. Pirozhkova. – M. : Nauka, 2002. – 475 s.
3. Koni, A.F. Vospominanija o pisateljah [Text]. – M. : Pravda, 1989. – 656 s.
4. Povalishin, A.D. Rjazanskie pomeschiki i ih krepostnye: Ocherki iz istorii krepostnogo prava v Rjazanskoj gubernii v XIX stoletii [Text]. – Repr. izd. – Rjazanʼ : Izd-vo RGPU, 1995. – 450 s.