The First Half of Stepan Nechayev’s Life: Writer and Decembrist
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15826/qr.2021.1.581Keywords:
Decembrist movement, Russian literature, Stepan D. Nechayev, Nicholas I, Urals, Perm province, first half of the nineteenth centuryAbstract
The events that took place between 1825 and 1826 (Nicholas I’s accession to the throne, the Decembrist revolt, and a large-scale investigation) led to a new historical era in Russia. These events divided the life of the Russian nobility, or at least the lives of many of its representatives, into “before” and “after”. Stepan Dmitrievich Nechayev (1792–1860) did not put forward revolutionary ideas, nor was he a member of later Decembrist societies. He was not under investigation. However, his life was split in two. Before 1826, Nechayev was known as the author of numerous poems, aphorisms, travelogues, and translations. His Love of the Public Good encouraged him to serve the people’s enlightenment selflessly, erect a monument to the heroes of the Battle of Kulikovo, and participate in literary, academic, and charitable societies. Nechayev was also a member of the Union of Prosperity. Usually, investigators were not interested in persons who had left Decembrist societies before 1821. But Nechayev signed a false statement according to which he had never been a member of such societies. For such acts of perjury, other members of the Union of Prosperity were sentenced to a month’s imprisonment in the Peter and Paul Fortress. Nechayev also had artistic and friendly relationships with Decembrist writers A. A. Bestuzhev, K. F. Ryleev, and V. K. Küchelbecker, who played key or prominent roles in the preparation and realisation of the armed revolt on 14 December 1825 in St Petersburg. What saved Nechayev was his three-month official trip to Perm province, during which he successfully collected information about Old Believers and sectarians. Thus began the second half of his life, in which Nechayev held high positions, such as chief procurator of the Synod and senator, made no dangerous acquaintances, and abandoned the dream of literary fame.
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