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NIKOLAI MIKHAILOVICH KARAMZIN (1765-1...

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Originally appearing in Volume V15, Page 677 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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NIKOLAI MIKHAILOVICH See also:

KARAMZIN (1765-1826)  , See also:Russian historian, critic, novelist and poet, was See also:born at the See also:village of Mikhailovka, in the See also:government of See also:Orenburg, and not at See also:Simbirsk as many of his See also:English and See also:German biographers incorrectly See also:state, on the 1st of See also:December (old See also:style) 1765 . His See also:father was an officer in the Russian See also:army, of Tatar extraction . He was sent to See also:Moscow to study under See also:Professor Schaden, whence he after-wards removed to St See also:Petersburg, where he made the acquaintance of See also:Dmitriev, a Russian poet of some merit, and occupied himself with translating essays by See also:foreign writers into his native See also:language . After residing some See also:time at St Petersburg, he went to Simbirsk, where he lived in retirement till induced to revisit Moscow . There, finding himself in the midst of the society of learned men, he again betook himself to See also:literary See also:work . In 1789 he resolved to travel, and visited See also:Germany, See also:France, See also:Switzerland and See also:England . On his return he published his Letters of a Russian Traveller, which met with See also:great success . These letters were first printed in the Moscow See also:Journal, which he edited, but were after-wards collected and issued in six volumes (1797–1801) . In the same periodical See also:Karamzin also published See also:translations of some of the tales of See also:Marmontel, and some See also:original stories, among which may be mentioned Poor Liza and Natalia the See also:Boyar's Daughter . In 1794 and 1795 Karamzin abandoned his literary journal, and published a See also:miscellany in,two volumes, entitled Aglaia, in which appeared, among other things, " The See also:Island of See also:Bornholm " and " Ilia Mourometz," a See also:story based upon the adventures of the well-known See also:hero of many a Russian See also:legend . In 1797–1799 he issued another miscellany or poetical See also:almanac, The Aonides, in See also:con-junction with Derzhavin and Dmitriev . In 1798 he compiled The See also:Pantheon, a collection of pieces from the See also:works of the most celebrated authors See also:ancient and See also:modern, translated into Russian .

Many of his lighter productions were subsequently printed by him in a See also:

volume entitled My Trifles . In 18o2 and 1803 Karamzin edited the journal the See also:European Messenger . It was not until after the publication of this work that he realized where his strength See also:lay, and commenced his See also:History of the Russian See also:Empire . In See also:order to accomplish the task, he secluded himself for two years; and, on the cause of his retirement becoming known to the See also:emperor See also:Alexander, Karamzin was invited to See also:Tver, where he read to the emperor the first eight volumes of his history . In 1816 he removed to St Petersburg, where he spent the happiest days of his See also:life, enjoying the favour of Alexander, and submitting to him the sheets of his great work, which the emperor read over with him in the gardens of the See also:palace of Tzarskoe Selo . He did not, however, live to carry his work further than the See also:eleventh volume, terminating it at the See also:accession of See also:Michael See also:Romanov in 1613 . He died on the 22nd of May (old style) 1826, in the See also:Taurida palace . A See also:monument was erected to his memory at Simbirsk in 1845 . As a.n. historian Karamzin has deservedly a very high reputation . Till the See also:appearance of his work little had been done in this direction in See also:Russia . The preceding See also:attempt of Tatistchev was merely a rough See also:sketch, inelegant in style, and without the true spirit of See also:criticism . Karamzin was most industrious in accumulating materials, and the notes to his volumes are mines of curious See also:information .

The style of his history is elegant and flowing, modelled rather upon the easy sentences of the See also:

French See also:prose writers than the See also:long periodical paragraphs of the old See also:Slavonic school . Perhaps Karamzin may justly be censured for the false See also:gloss and romantic See also:air thrown over the See also:early Russian See also:annals, concealing the coarseness and See also:cruelty of the native See also:manners; in this respect he reminds us of See also:Sir See also:Walter See also:Scott, whose writings were at this time creating a great sensation throughout See also:Europe, and probably had their See also:influence upon him . Karamzin appears openly as the panegyrist of the See also:autocracy; indeed, his work has been styled the " Epic of Despotism." He does not hesitate to avow his admiration of See also:Ivan the Terrible, and considers him and his grandfather Ivan III. as the builders up of Russian greatness, a See also:glory which in his earlier writings, perhaps at that time more under the influence of Western ideas, he had assigned to See also:Peter the Great In the See also:battle-pieces (e.g. the description of the See also:field of Koulikovo, the taking of Kazan, &c.) we find considerable See also:powers of description; and the characters of many of the See also:chief personages in the Russian annals are See also:drawn in See also:firm and bold lines . As a critic Karamzin was of great service to his See also:country; in fact he may be regarded as the founder of the See also:review and See also:essay (in the Western style) among the Russians .

End of Article: NIKOLAI MIKHAILOVICH KARAMZIN (1765-1826)
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