Sergei Aksakov
| Sergey Aksakov | |
|---|---|
Portrait of Aksakov by Vasily Perov
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| Born |
October 1, 1791 Ufa, Russia |
| Died | May 12, 1859 (aged 67) Moscow, Russia |
| Period | 1810s-1850s |
| Children |
Ivan Aksakov Konstantin Aksakov |
| Relatives | Alexandr Aksakov |
Sergey Timofeyevich Aksakov (Russian: Серге́й Тимофе́евич Акса́ков) (October 1 [O.S. September 20] 1791—May 12 [O.S. April 30] 1859) was a 19th-century Russian literary figure remembered for his semi-autobiographical tales of family life, as well as his books on hunting and fishing.
According to the Velvet Book of Russian genealogy, the Aksakovs trace their male line to Šimon, a Varangian nephew of Haakon the Old, who settled in Novgorod in 1027. Sergey was born in Ufa and brought up there and in the family estate at Novo-Aksakovka in Orenburg guberniya, where he acquired a lifelong love of nature. He was also introduced to literature by his mother at an early age, and became especially fond of Kheraskov's Rossiada and the tragedies of Sumarokov.
He was educated at the Kazan Gymnasium and then, in 1805 (in the first year after its founding), at Kazan University, though he himself said he was ill-prepared for a university education (and some of the professors, brought from abroad, taught in foreign languages). He was also distracted by his obsessive interest in the theater.
He left the university in 1807, and the following year went to St. Petersburg to take up government service, for which he was also poorly prepared. Again, he spent considerable time at the theater, and his acquaintance with the conservative Admiral Shishkov strengthened his preference for classical Russian literature and introduced him to the Lovers of the Russian Word. He resigned from the civil service in 1811 and moved to Moscow, where he was active as an amateur in literary and theatrical life and published his first verse anonymously in 1812.
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