A. I. Herzen: short biography of the writer. Alexander Herzen: biography, literary heritage of Herzen and about him

Herzen Alexander Ivanovich - writer, publicist and public figure of the 19th century. Widely known as the creator of the work “Who’s to Blame?” But few people know how difficult and interesting the writer’s life was. It is about Herzen’s biography that we will talk in this article.

Herzen Alexander Ivanovich: biography

The future writer was born in Moscow on March 25, 1812 into a wealthy landowner family. His father was Ivan Alekseevich Yakovlev, his mother was Louise Haag, the sixteen-year-old daughter of an official serving as a clerk in Stuttgart. Herzen's parents were not registered and later also did not legalize the marriage. As a result, the son received the surname invented by his father - Herzen, which was derived from the German herz, which translates as “son of the heart.”

Despite his origins, Alexander received a noble upbringing at home, which was mainly based on the study foreign literature. He also studied several foreign languages.

The message about the Decembrist uprising had a great effect on Herzen, although he was still just a child. In those years, he was already friends with Ogarev, who shared these impressions with him. It was after this incident that dreams of a revolution in Russia arose in the boy’s mind. Walking on the Sparrow Hills, he swore an oath to do everything to overthrow Tsar Nicholas I.

University years

Biography of Herzen (its full version is presented in literary encyclopedias) is a description of the life of a man who tried to make his country better, but failed.

The young writer, full of dreams of the fight for freedom, enters the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Moscow University, where these sentiments only intensified. IN student years Herzen took part in the “Malov story”, fortunately, he got off very lightly - he spent several days in a punishment cell with his comrades.

As for university teaching, it left much to be desired and provided little benefit. Only a few teachers introduced students to modern trends and German philosophy. Nevertheless, the youth were very determined and greeted the July Revolution with joy and hope. Young people gathered in groups, vigorously discussed social issues, studied the history of Russia, and sang the ideas of Saint-Simon and other socialists.

In 1833, Herzen graduated from Moscow University without losing these student sentiments.

Arrest and exile

While still at the university, A. I. Herzen joined a circle, whose members, including the writer, were arrested in 1834. Alexander Ivanovich was sent into exile, first to Perm, and then to Vyatka, where he was assigned to serve in the provincial chancellery. Here he met the heir to the throne, who was destined to become Alexander II. Herzen was the organizer of an exhibition of local works and personally conducted a tour for the royal person. After these events, thanks to the intercession of Zhukovsky, he was transferred to Vladimir and appointed advisor to the board.

Only in 1840 did the writer get the opportunity to return to Moscow. Here he immediately met representatives of the Hegelian circle, headed by Belinsky and Stankevich. However, he could not fully share their views. Soon a camp of Westerners formed around Herzen and Ogarev.

Emigration

In 1842, A.I. Herzen was forced to go to Novgorod, where he served for a year, and then returned to Moscow again. Due to tightening censorship in 1847, the writer decides to go abroad forever. However, he did not break ties with his homeland and continued to collaborate with domestic publications.

By this time, Herzen adhered to radical republican views rather than liberal ones. The author begins to publish a series of articles in Otechestvennye zapiski, which had a pronounced anti-bourgeois orientation.

Herzen received the February Revolution of 1848 with joy, considering it the fulfillment of all his hopes. But the workers' uprising, which occurred in June of the same year and ended in bloody suppression, shocked the writer, who decided to become a socialist. After these events, Herzen became friends with Proudhon and several other famous revolutionary figures of European radicalism.

In 1849, the writer left France and moved to Switzerland, and from there to Nice. Herzen moves in the circles of radical emigration that gathered after the defeat of the European revolution. Including meeting Garibaldi. After the death of his wife, he moved to London, where he lived for 10 years. During these years, Herzen founded the Free Russian Printing House, where books banned in his homeland were printed.

"Bell"

In 1857, Alexander Herzen began publishing the newspaper Kolokol. The author's biography indicates that in 1849 Nicholas I ordered the seizure of all the property of the writer and his mother. The existence of the printing house and the new publication became possible only thanks to funding from the Rothschild Bank.

The Bell was most popular in the years preceding the peasants' liberation. At this time, the publication was constantly delivered to the Winter Palace. However, after the peasant reform, the influence of the newspaper gradually declined, and support for the Polish uprising that occurred in 1863 greatly undermined the publication's circulation.

The conflict reached the point that on March 15, 1865, the Russian government made an insistent demand to Her Majesty England. And the editors of Kolokol, together with Herzen, were forced to leave the country and move to Switzerland. In 1865, the Free Russian Printing House and the writer’s supporters moved there. Including Nikolai Ogarev.

Literary activity

A. I. Herzen began writing in the 30s. His first article, published in Telescope in 1836, was signed with the name Iskander. In 1842, “Diary” and “Speech” were published. During his stay in Vladimir, Herzen wrote “Notes young man", "More from the notes of a young man." From 1842 to 1847, the writer actively collaborated with Otechestvennye zapiski and Sovremennik. In these writings he spoke out against formalists, learned pedants and quietism.

Regarding works of art, then the most famous and outstanding are the novel “Who is to Blame?” and the story "The Thieving Magpie". The novel has great value and, despite its modest size, has a deep meaning. It raises issues such as feelings and happiness in family relationships, woman's position in modern society and her relationship with a man. Main idea The work is that people who base their well-being only on family relationships are far from social and universal interests and cannot ensure lasting happiness for themselves, because it will always depend on chance.

Public activity and death

A. I. Herzen had a huge influence on the minds of his contemporaries. Despite his stay abroad, he managed to stay informed about what was happening in his homeland and even influence events. However, his fascination with the uprising in Poland became disastrous for the writer’s popularity. Herzen sided with the Poles, although he hesitated for a long time and was suspicious of their activities. Bakurin's pressure was decisive. The result was not long in coming, and Kolokol lost most of its subscribers.

The writer died in Paris, where he came on business, from pneumonia. This happened on January 9, 1970. Initially, Herzen was buried there in the Père Lachaise cemetery, but later the ashes were transported to Nice.

Personal life

Alexander Herzen was in love with his cousin. A short biography usually does not contain such information, but the writer’s personal life allows us to get an idea of ​​his personality. So, exiled to Vladimir, he secretly married his beloved Natalya Aleksandrovna Zakharyina in 1838, taking the girl away from the capital. It was in Vladimir, despite the exile, that the writer was happiest in his entire life.

In 1839, the couple had a child, son Alexander. And 2 years later a daughter was born. In 1842, a boy was born who died 5 days later, and a year later - a son, Nikolai, who suffered from deafness. Two more girls were born in the family, one of whom lived only 11 months.

Already in exile, while in Paris, the writer’s wife fell in love with her husband’s friend Georg Herwegh. For some time, the families of Herzen and Herwegh lived together, but then the writer demanded his friend’s departure. Herwegh blackmailed him with threats of suicide, but eventually left Nice. Herzen's wife died in 1852, a few days after her last birth. The boy she gave birth to also soon died.

In 1857, Herzen began to live with Natalya Alekseevna Ogareva (whose photo can be seen above), the wife of his friend, who raised his children. In 1869, their daughter Elizabeth was born, who later committed suicide due to unrequited love.

Philosophical views

Herzen ( short biography this confirms) is associated primarily with the revolutionary movement in Russia. However, by nature he was not an agitator or propagandist. Rather, he can simply be called a man of very broad views, well educated, with an inquisitive mind and contemplative inclinations. Throughout his life he tried to find the truth. Herzen was never a fanatic of any beliefs and did not tolerate this in others. That is why he never belonged to any one party. In Russia he was considered a Westerner, but when he got to Europe, he realized how many shortcomings there were in the life that he had praised for so long.

Herzen always changed his ideas about something if factors changed or new nuances appeared. I have never been completely devoted to anything.

Afterword

We met amazing life, which Herzen Alexander Ivanovich lived. A short biography may include only some facts from life, but in order to finally understand this person, you need to read his journalism and fiction. Descendants should remember that Herzen dreamed of only one thing all his life - the well-being of Russia. He saw this in the overthrow of the king and therefore was forced to leave his dear homeland.

Alexander Herzen. Portrait 1895
Artist F. Vallotton

Alexander Ivanovich Herzen (1812-1870) – writer, philosopher, publicist.

A.I. Herzen – illegitimate son Moscow aristocrat I.A. Yakovlev and 16-year-old German Henriette Haag. Surname" Herzen“, meaning “child of the heart,” was invented by my father, deriving it from the German Herz - “heart.” “Birth trauma” became a deep tragedy.

Herzen deeply experienced the Decembrist uprising; he wrote: “December 14, indeed, opened a new phase in our political education... these people awakened the soul of the new generation - the blindfold fell from its eyes.” In 1827, Alexander Herzen and Nikolai Ogarev swore an oath on Vorobyovy Gory to avenge those executed.

At the university, a circle of young people arose around Herzen, gathering in Ogarev’s house on Bolshaya Nikitskaya. After graduating from university, Herzen did not serve. He was fascinated by parties where entertainment was interspersed with criticism of the autocracy. The young people were arrested. They found Ogarev's notes, and Ogarev's - Herzen's letters. In the summer of 1834 he was arrested and, after a trial, sent into exile. Bearing in mind the discrepancy between guilt and punishment, Herzen wrote: “The government tried to consolidate us in revolutionary tendencies.” He was disingenuous; by his own admission, he was born for the podium.

In 1838, Alexander Ivanovich Herzen married Natalya Alexandrovna Zakharyina. She was the illegitimate daughter of his uncle Alexander Alekseevich Yakovlev. The husband and wife are illegitimate, and even cousins. It didn't family life happy. Of the eight children, only three were healthy.

In 1846 I.A. died. Yakovlev, and Alexander Ivanovich Herzen became rich. The Herzens decided to see Europe. We were going to do it for a short time, but it turned out to be forever. In the summer of 1849, Nicholas I issued a decree seizing Herzen's property and banning entry into Russia for his support of the 1848 revolution and publications directed against the autocracy. He returned the property: he pledged it to Rothschild, who threatened Nicholas I with refusal to provide a loan. But he never appeared in Russia again.

After the death of his wife in 1852, Herzen went to London, where he opened the Free Russian Printing House. Poems by A.S., banned in Russia, were published here. Pushkin and M.Yu. Lermontov, propaganda songs by Ryleev and Bestuzhev, “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow” by Radishchev. Since 1857 A.I. Herzen published the weekly newspaper Kolokol. Among his correspondents were First Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs N.A. Milyutin and historian A.N. Afanasiev.

Money gradually melted away, health faded, and the popularity of “The Bell” fell. Circulations declined sharply after Herzen's support of the Polish uprising of 1863. In 1865, Alexander Ivanovich Herzen was expelled from England. He had to leave for Switzerland. In January 1870 he died in Paris from pneumonia.

In 1969, Naum Korzhavin wrote “The Ballad of Historical Lack of Sleep” dedicated to the memory of Herzen.

Biography of Herzen

A.I. Herzen. Portrait 1836 Artist A.L. Vitberg

A.I. Herzen. Portrait 1847 Lithograph by L. Noel

A.I. Herzen. Portrait 1867 Artist N.N. Ge

• 1812. March 25 (April 6) - birth of Alexander into the family of landowner I.A. Yakovleva. Mother - Henrietta Louise Haag, a native of Stuttgart, was not legally married to Yakovlev. End of September – departure from Moscow.
• 1813. Spring - the family returns to Moscow.
• 1825 or 1826. Beginning of friendship with Nikolai Ogarev.
• 1827. Summer - Herzen and Ogarev’s oath on the Sparrow Hills: “Dedicate your whole life to the fight against untruth and vices.”
• 1829-1833. Studying at the Physics and Mathematics Department of Moscow University. Herzen's circle.
• 1831. March - participation in the student protest against Professor Malov.
• 1833. June 22 – final exam, awarding the degree of candidate. June - July – beginning of correspondence with N.A. Zakharyina.
• 1834. July 9 – arrest of Ogarev in the “Case of persons who sang libelous poems.” July 21 – Herzen’s arrest. Imprisonment in the Prechistenskaya police station. December – imprisonment in the gendarmerie barracks of the Krutitsky Monastery.
• 1835. March – verdict on Herzen’s exile to Perm.
• 1835-1837. Transfer of Herzen to Vyatka. Acquaintance with P. Medvedeva, with “snow friends” - A. Skvortsov, P. Trompeter, with the Ernov and Vitberg families. Participation in the fate of the architect A.L. Vitberg.
• 1837. Stay of the heir to the throne Alexander Nikolaevich in Vyatka. Meeting V.A. Zhukovsky. Efforts about transferring from Vyatka exile.
• 1838. January 2 – Herzen’s arrival in Vladimir, in a new exile. March-April – dates in Moscow with Natasha Zakharyina. May 8 – “kidnapping” of Natalya Zakharyina. May 9 – wedding of A.I. Herzen and N.A. Zakharyina in Vladimir.
• 1839. June 13 – birth of the first child, Alexander Herzen. July 26 – release from exile and removal of police supervision. Autumn – Herzen’s visits to Moscow. Meeting M.A. Bakunin, T.N. Granovsky, V.P. Botkin.
• 1840. March - move to Moscow. Meeting with P.Ya. Chaadaev. May - moving to St. Petersburg to serve in the office of the Minister of Internal Affairs. Friendship with Belinsky. December – arrest on charges of “spreading harmful rumors for the government.” New link.
• 1841. February - birth of son Ivan, who soon died. July - Herzen's exile to Novgorod as an adviser to the Novgorod provincial government. December 22-24 – birth and death of daughter Natalya.
• 1842. May - resignation from the rank of court councilor. July 10 – permission to move to Moscow. Summer - autumn - meetings with Chaadaev. Presentation of Herzen to the Elagin family. November 30 - December 5 – birth and death of son Ivan.
• 1843. August 26 – apartment troubles and arrangement in the “Tuchkovsky house” (Sivtsev Vrazhek, 27). December 30 – birth of son Nikolai.
• 1844. December 13 – birth of daughter Natalya (Tata).
• 1845. December 30 – birth of daughter Elizabeth (Lika).
• 1846. May 6 – death of father, I.A. Yakovleva. A petition addressed to the Moscow Governor General for permission to travel abroad. November 27 – death of daughter Elizabeth.
• 1847. January 19 – departure of the Herzens from Russia. March 25 – arrival in Paris. Meeting with M.A. Bakunin. Spring-summer – first meeting with Georg Herwegh. Traveling around Italy.
• 1848. May 5 – return to Paris. June 23-26 – uprising of Parisian workers. July 5 – order of Nicholas I to return Herzen to Russia.
• 1849. June 13 - Herzen’s participation in a demonstration demanding that the French government implement the constitution. June 20 – flight to Switzerland after the failure of the performance. July 10 – arrival from Paris to Geneva N.A. Herzen and G. Herwega. Herzen's decision to stay abroad. Seizure of Herzen's estate. December 27 – Herzen’s departure for Paris.
• 1850. June 27 – moving to Nice. "Nest of Twins" - the period of cohabitation of the Herzen and Herweg families. November 20 – birth of daughter Olga. December 18 – verdict of the St. Petersburg court: “The defendant Herzen, having been deprived of all the rights of his fortune, shall be recognized as an eternal exile from the borders of the Russian state.”
• 1851. January - departure of the Herweghs from Nice at the request of Herzen because of Georg Herwegh's affair with his wife. Condemnation of Herzen by the international revolutionary community for “moral coercion” of his wife to break up with her lover. May – Herzen’s naturalization in Switzerland. November 16 – the death of Herzen’s mother and son Kolya during a shipwreck in the Mediterranean Sea.
• 1852. May 2 – death in Nice of Natalia Alexandrovna Herzen and her newborn son Vladimir. August 24 – Herzen and his son Alexander arrive in London. November – the beginning of work on the memoirs “The Past and Thoughts”.
• 1853. Winter - Herzen founded the Free Russian Printing House. February - release of the first lithographed leaflet - "Free Russian book printing. To the brothers in Rus'" with the active assistance of members of the Polish Democratic Centralization. June - publication of the proclamation "St. George's Day! St. George's Day! To the Russian nobility."
• 1855. Death of Nicholas I. Foundation of the almanac "Polar Star" (1855-1869).
• 1856. April 9 – arrival in London of N.P. Ogarev and N.A. Tuchkova-Ogareva.
• 1857. Founding of the newspaper "Bell". Herzen's acquaintance with P.I. Bakhmetyev. Foundation of the Bakhmetyev Foundation. The beginning of Herzen's cohabitation with Nikolai Ogarev's wife Natalya Alekseevna Ogareva-Tuchkova.
• 1858. September 4 – birth of Herzen and Tuchkova-Ogareva’s daughter Lisa. Autumn – Herzen’s break with liberal supporters.
• 1859. Herzen's polemic with the Sovremennik magazine.
• 1860. March – publication in Kolokol of the anonymous “Letter from the Province” with a foreword by Herzen.
• 1861. February - liberation of peasants in Russia. December 10 – birth of Herzen and Tuchkova-Ogareva’s twins Alexei and Elena.
• 1862. Summer - “The case of persons accused of having relations with London propagandists.”
• 1863. March - Herzen's support in the "Bell" of the Polish uprising (1863-1864). Participation of Herzen and his son Sasha in the Polish rebel expedition. Herzen's disagreements with Bakunin on the Polish question.
• 1864. The popularity of the Bell falls due to the support of the Poles. December – death of twins from diphtheria.
• 1865. Spring - transfer of the editorial office of "The Bell" and the Free Russian Printing House to Geneva. Herzen's move to Switzerland.
• 1866. Attempt on Alexander II. December – Herzen’s article in “The Bell” “Order triumphs!”
• 1867. Herzen’s break with the “young emigrants.” Output of the last, double sheet of "Bells".
• 1869. Disagreements with Bakunin and Ogarev regarding the claims of S. Nechaev. Transfer of part of the “Bakhmetyevsky fund” to Nechaev. The release of the last "Polar Star". December 18 – Herzen’s arrival in Paris with Tuchkova, Lisa and Tata.
• 1870. On the night of January 20-21, Alexander Ivanovich Herzen died.

Herzen in Moscow

• Arbat, 31. Ogarev's house. Alexander Herzen visited a friend in December 1839 after returning from exile.
• Armenian, 13. Levashov's house in 1819-1821. Filmed by A.I. Herzen’s father and his brother.
• Basmannaya Staraya, 15. City estate P.Ya. Chaadaeva. He was visited by A.S. Pushkin, N.V. Gogol, A.I. Herzen, I.S. Turgenev.
• Vlasevsky B., 14. Alexander Herzen lived in this house since 1824. The first house bought by Herzen’s parents. Not preserved.
• Vlasevsky M., 12. Mansion of the merchant I.M. Korovina. Alexander Ivanovich Herzen often visited here with his family of friends.
• Vorobyovy Gory. Here fifteen-year-old Alexander Herzen and Nikolai Ogarev vowed to devote their lives to the fight against autocracy.
• Zagorje. Park named after A.I. Herzen. He visited the owner of the estate, Princess M.A., more than once. Khovanskaya.
• Znamensky B., 1. In this house in 1817-1818. Herzen's father, I.A., rented the apartment. Yakovlev.
• Znamensky M., 1. House of Prince S.M. Golitsyn. Here, in March 1835, Herzen, Ogarev and their comrades were sentenced in the case of “persons who sang libelous songs.”
• Krutitsky 1st, 4 A. Political prison. A.I. Herzen served his sentence there for 7 months.
• Levshinsky, 8. At literary “Thursdays” in the house of A.F. Veltman visited

Illegitimate son of a wealthy landowner Ivan Alekseevich Yakovlev and a German woman, Louise Ivanovna Haag. At birth, the father gave the child the surname Herzen (from German word herz – heart).

Received a good home education. From his youth he was distinguished by his erudition, freedom and open-mindedness. The December events of 1825 had a great influence on Herzen's worldview. Soon he met his distant relative on his father’s side, Nikolai Platonovich Ogarev, and became his close friend. In 1828, they, being like-minded people and close friends, took an oath on Vorobyovy Gory in Moscow. eternal friendship and showed the determination to devote their whole lives to the struggle for freedom and justice.

Herzen was educated at Moscow University, where he became friends with a number of progressive-minded students who formed a circle in which wide circle issues relating to science, literature, philosophy and politics. After graduating from the university in 1833 with a candidate of science degree and a silver medal, he became interested in the teachings of the Saint-Simonists and began to study the works of socialist writers of the West.

A year later A.I. Herzen, N.P. Ogarev and their other comrades were arrested for freethinking. After spending several months in prison, Herzen was exiled to Perm, and then to Vyatka to the office of the local governor, where he became an employee of the newspaper Gubernskie Vedomosti. There he became close to the exiled architect A.I. Vitberg. Then Herzen was transferred to Vladimir. For some time he was allowed to live in St. Petersburg, but soon he was exiled again, this time to Novgorod.

Since 1838 he has been married to his distant relative Natalya Aleksandrovna Zakharyina. The parents did not want to give Natalya to the disgraced Herzen, so he kidnapped his bride, married her in Vladimir, where he was in exile at that time, and confronted his parents with a fait accompli. All contemporaries noted the extraordinary affection and love of the Herzen spouses. Alexander Ivanovich more than once turned to the image of Natalya Alexandrovna in his works. In marriage he had three children: a son, Alexander, a professor of physiology; daughters Olga and Natalya. The last years of the couple's life together were overshadowed by Natalya Alexandrovna's sad infatuation with the German Georg Herwegh. This ugly story, which made all its participants suffer, ended with the death of Natalya Alexandrovna from childbirth. The illegitimate child died along with his mother.

In 1842, Herzen received permission to move to Moscow, where he lived until 1847, pursuing literary activities. In Moscow, Herzen wrote the novel “Who is to Blame?” and a number of stories and articles dealing with social and philosophical issues.

In 1847, Alexander Ivanovich left for Europe, living alternately in France, Italy, and Switzerland and working in various newspapers. Disappointed in revolutionary movement Europe, he was looking for a different path of development for Russia from the Western one.

After the death of his wife in Nice, A.I. Herzen moved to London, where he organized the publication of the free Russian press: Polar Star and Kolokol. Speaking with a freedom-loving and anti-serfdom program for Russia, Herzen’s “Bell” attracted the attention and sympathy of the progressive part of Russian society. It was published until 1867 and was very popular among the Russian intelligentsia.

Herzen died in Paris and was buried in the Père Lachaise cemetery, then his ashes were transported to Nice.

Childhood

Herzen was born into the family of a wealthy landowner Ivan Alekseevich Yakovlev (1767-1846), descended from Andrei Kobyla (like the Romanovs). Mother - 16-year-old German Henrietta-Wilhelmina-Louise Haag, the daughter of a minor official, a clerk in the state chamber in. The parents' marriage was not formalized, and Herzen bore the surname invented by his father: Herzen - “son of the heart” (from German. Herz).

In his youth, Herzen received the usual noble education at home, based on reading works of foreign literature, mainly from the end of the 18th century. French novels, comedies by Beaumarchais, Kotzebue, works by Goethe, Schiller with early years set the boy in an enthusiastic, sentimental-romantic tone. There were no systematic lessons, but the tutors - French and Germans - informed the boy solid knowledge foreign languages. Thanks to his acquaintance with Schiller’s work, Herzen was imbued with freedom-loving aspirations, the development of which was greatly facilitated by the teacher of Russian literature I. E. Protopopov, who brought Herzen notebooks of Pushkin’s poems: “Odes to Freedom”, “Dagger”, “Thoughts” by Ryleev, etc., as well as Bouchot, participant in the French Revolution, who left France when the "depraved and rogues" took over. Added to this was the influence of Tanya Kuchina, Herzen’s young “Korchev cousin” (married Tatyana Passek), who supported the childish pride of the young dreamer, predicting an extraordinary future for him.

Already in childhood, Herzen met and became friends with Nikolai Ogarev. According to his memoirs, the news of the Decembrist uprising made a strong impression on the boys (Herzen was 13, Ogarev was 12 years old). Under his impression, their first, still vague dreams of revolutionary activities; During a walk on the Sparrow Hills, the boys vowed to fight for freedom.

University (1829−1833)

Monument to Herzen in the courtyard of Moscow State University

Herzen dreamed of friendship, dreamed of struggle and suffering for freedom. In this mood, Herzen entered Moscow University at the Department of Physics and Mathematics, and here this mood intensified even more. At the university, Herzen took part in the so-called “Malov story” (student protest against an unloved teacher), but got off relatively lightly - with a short imprisonment, along with many of his comrades, in a punishment cell. Of the teachers, only Kachenovsky with his skepticism and Pavlov, who managed to manage his lectures agriculture to introduce listeners to German philosophy, awakened young thought. The youth were, however, quite stormy; she welcomed the July Revolution (as can be seen from Lermontov’s poems) and other popular movements (the cholera that appeared in Moscow contributed greatly to the revival and excitement of students, in the fight against which all university youth took an active and selfless part). The meeting of Herzen with Vadim Passek dates back to this time, which later turned into friendship, the establishment of a friendly connection with Ketcher and others. The group of young friends grew, made noise, seethed; from time to time she allowed small revelries, of a completely innocent nature, however; She read diligently, being carried away mainly by social issues, studying Russian history, assimilating the ideas of Saint-Simon (whose utopian socialism Herzen then considered the most outstanding achievement of contemporary Western philosophy) and other socialists.

Link

Despite mutual bitterness and disputes, both sides had much in common in their views and, above all, according to Herzen himself, the common thing was “a feeling of boundless, all-existence love for the Russian people, for the Russian mentality.” The opponents, “like a two-faced Janus, looked in different directions, while the heart beat alone.” “With tears in our eyes”, hugging each other, recent friends, and now principled opponents, went in different directions.

In the Moscow house where Herzen lived from 1847 to 1847, the A. I. Herzen House Museum has been operating since 1976.

In exile

Herzen arrived in Europe more radically republican than socialist, although the publication he began in Otechestvennye zapiski (Otechestvennye zapiski) of a series of articles entitled “Letters from Avenue Marigny” (later in a revised form published in “Letters from France and Italy”) shocked him friends - Western liberals - with their anti-bourgeois pathos. The February Revolution of 1848 seemed to Herzen the fulfillment of all his hopes. The subsequent June workers' uprising, its bloody suppression and the ensuing reaction shocked Herzen, who decisively turned to socialism. He became close to Proudhon and other prominent figures of the revolution and European radicalism; Together with Proudhon, he published the newspaper “The Voice of the People” (“La Voix du Peuple”), which he financed. His wife's sad infatuation with the German poet Herwegh dates back to the Parisian period. In 1849, after the defeat of the radical opposition by President Louis Napoleon, Herzen was forced to leave France and moved to Switzerland, from Switzerland he moved to Nice, which then belonged to the Kingdom of Sardinia.

During this period, Herzen moved among the circles of radical European emigration that had gathered in Switzerland after the defeat of the revolution in Europe, and in particular became acquainted with Giuseppe Garibaldi. He became famous for his book of essays “From the Other Shore,” in which he reckoned with his past liberal convictions. Under the influence of the collapse of old ideals and the reaction that occurred throughout Europe, Herzen formed a specific system of views about doom, “dying” old Europe and about the prospects for Russia and the Slavic world, which are called upon to realize the socialist ideal.

After the death of his wife in 1852, Herzen moved to London, where he founded the Free Russian Printing House to print prohibited publications and, from 1857, published the weekly newspaper “The Bell”.

The peak of the influence of the Bell occurs in the years preceding the liberation of the peasants; the newspaper was then regularly read in the Winter Palace. After the peasant reform, its influence begins to decline; support for the Polish uprising of 1863 sharply undermined circulation. At that time, Herzen was already too revolutionary for the liberal public, and too moderate for the radical one. On March 15, 1865, under the insistent demand of the Russian government to the British government, the editors of Kolokol, headed by Herzen, left London forever and moved to Switzerland, of which Herzen had by that time become a citizen. In April of the same 1865, the “Free Russian Printing House” was also transferred there. Soon people from Herzen’s entourage began to move to Switzerland, for example, in 1865 Nikolai Ogarev moved there.

On January 9 (21), 1870, Alexander Ivanovich Herzen died of pneumonia in Paris, where he had recently arrived on family business. He was buried in Nice (the ashes were transferred from the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris).

Literary and journalistic activities

Literary activity Herzen began back in the 1830s. In the Athenaeum for 1830 (II volume) his name is found under one translation from French. The first article signed by a pseudonym Iskander, was published in the Telescope for 1836 (“Hoffmann”). The “Speech Delivered at the Opening of the Vyatka Public Library” and “Diary” (1842) date back to the same time. In Vladimir the following were written: “Notes of a young man” and “More from the notes of a young man” (“Otechestvennye zapiski”, 1840-41; in this story Chaadaev is depicted in the person of Trenzinsky). From 1842 to 1847, he published articles in “Domestic Notes” and “Contemporary”: “Amateurism in Science”, “Romantic Amateurs”, “Workshop of Scientists”, “Buddhism in Science”, “Letters on the Study of Nature”. Here Herzen rebelled against learned pedants and formalists, against their scholastic science, alienated from life, against their quietism. In the article “On the Study of Nature” we find philosophical analysis various methods of knowledge. At the same time, Herzen wrote: “About one drama”, “On various occasions”, “New variations on old themes”, “A few remarks about historical development honor”, ​​“From the notes of Dr. Krupov”, “Who is to blame? "", "The Thieving Magpie", "Moscow and St. Petersburg", "Novgorod and Vladimir", "Edrovo Station", "Interrupted Conversations". Of all these works, amazingly brilliant, both in depth of thought, and in artistry and dignity of form, the ones that especially stand out are: the story “The Thieving Magpie,” which depicts the terrible situation of the “serf intelligentsia,” and the novel “Who is to Blame,” dedicated to the question about freedom of feeling, family relationships, the position of women in marriage. The main idea of ​​the novel is that people who base their well-being solely on the basis of family happiness and feelings, alien to the interests of social and universal humanity, cannot ensure lasting happiness for themselves, and in their lives it will always depend on chance.

Of the works written by Herzen abroad, the following are especially important: letters from “Avenue Marigny” (the first published in Sovremennik, all fourteen under the general title: “Letters from France and Italy”, edition of 1855), representing a remarkable description and analysis of events and the moods that worried Europe in 1847-1852. Here we encounter a completely negative attitude towards the Western European bourgeoisie, its morality and social principles, and the author’s ardent faith in the future significance of the fourth estate. Herzen’s work made a particularly strong impression both in Russia and in Europe: “From the Other Shore” (originally in German “Vom andern Ufer”, Hamburg,; in Russian, London, 1855; in French, Geneva, 1870), in which Herzen expresses complete disappointment with the West and Western civilization - the result of that mental revolution that ended and defined mental development Herzen in 1848-1851. It is also worth noting the letter to Michelet: “The Russian people and socialism” - a passionate and ardent defense of the Russian people against the attacks and prejudices that Michelet expressed in one of his articles. “The past and thoughts" - a series of memories that are partly autobiographical in nature, but also give a whole series highly artistic paintings, dazzlingly brilliant characteristics, and Herzen’s observations from what he experienced and saw in Russia and abroad.

All other works and articles of Herzen, such as, “ Old world and Russia”, “Le peuple Russe et le socialisme”, “Ends and Beginnings”, etc. represent a simple development of ideas and sentiments that were fully defined in the period 1847-1852 in the works mentioned above.

Philosophical views of Herzen during the years of emigration

Attraction to freedom of thought, “freethinking”, in best value This word was especially strongly developed in Herzen. He did not belong to any one party, either open or secret. The one-sidedness of “men of action” alienated him from many revolutionary and radical figures in Europe. His mind quickly comprehended the imperfections and shortcomings of those forms of Western life to which Herzen was initially drawn from his ugly, distant Russian reality of the 1840s. With amazing consistency, Herzen abandoned his passions for the West when it turned out in his eyes to be lower than the previously drawn up ideal.

Herzen's philosophical and historical concept emphasizes the active role of man in history. At the same time, she recognizes that reason cannot realize its ideals without taking into account existing facts history, that its results constitute the “necessary basis” for the operations of the mind.

Pedagogical ideas

There are no special theoretical works on education in Herzen's legacy. However, throughout his life Herzen was interested in pedagogical problems and was one of the first Russian thinkers and public figures, who raised the problems of education in his works. His statements on issues of upbringing and education indicate the presence thoughtful pedagogical concept.

Herzen's pedagogical views were determined by philosophical (atheism and materialism), ethical (humanism) and political (revolutionary democracy) beliefs.

Criticism of the education system under Nicholas I

Herzen called the reign of Nicholas I a thirty-year persecution of schools and universities and showed how the Nicholas Ministry of Education stifled public education. The tsarist government, according to Herzen, “laid in wait for the child at the first step in life and corrupted the cadet-child, the schoolboy-adolescent, the student-boy. Mercilessly, systematically, it eradicated the human embryos in them, weaning them, as if from a vice, from all human feelings except obedience. It punished minors for violation of discipline in a way that hardened criminals are not punished in other countries.”

He resolutely opposed the introduction of religion into education, against the transformation of schools and universities into a tool for strengthening serfdom and autocracy.

Folk pedagogy

Herzen believed that the most positive influence children are influenced by the common people that it is the people who bear the best Russian national qualities. Young generations learn from the people respect for work, aversion to idleness, selfless love to the homeland.

Upbringing

Herzen considered the main task of education to be the formation of a humane, free personality who lives in the interests of his people and strives to transform society on a reasonable basis. Children must be provided with conditions for free development. “Reasonable recognition of self-will is the highest and moral recognition of human dignity.” In everyday educational activities, an important role is played by the “talent of patient love,” the teacher’s disposition towards the child, respect for him, and knowledge of his needs. healthy family environment And right relationship between children and teachers are a necessary condition for moral education.

Education

Herzen passionately sought the spread of education and knowledge among the people, called on scientists to take science out of the classroom walls and make its achievements public domain. Emphasizing the enormous educational importance of the natural sciences, Herzen was at the same time in favor of a system of comprehensive general education. He wanted students secondary school along with natural science and mathematics, they studied literature (including the literature of ancient peoples), foreign languages, history. A. I. Herzen noted that without reading there is and cannot be either taste, style, or multifaceted breadth of understanding. Thanks to reading, a person survives centuries. Books influence the deepest areas of the human psyche. Herzen emphasized in every possible way that education should correspond to the development of independent thinking in students. Educators should, relying on children’s innate inclinations to communicate, develop social aspirations and inclinations in them. This is achieved through communication with peers, collective children's games, and general activities. Herzen fought against the suppression of children's will, but at the same time gave great value discipline, considered the establishment of discipline a necessary condition for proper education. “Without discipline,” he said, “there is no calm confidence, no obedience, no way to protect health and prevent danger.”

Herzen wrote two special works in which he explained natural phenomena to the younger generation: “The Experience of Conversations with Young People” and “Conversations with Children.” These works are wonderful examples of talented, popular presentation of complex ideological problems. The author simply and vividly explains to children from a materialistic point of view the origin of the universe. He convincingly proves the important role of science in the fight against incorrect views, prejudices and superstitions and refutes the idealistic fabrication that a soul also exists in a person, separate from his body.

Family

In 1838, in Vladimir, Herzen married his cousin Natalia Alexandrovna Zakharyina. In 1839 their son Alexander was born, and in 1841 a daughter was born. In 1842, a son, Ivan, was born, who died 5 days after birth. In 1843, a son, Nikolai, was born, who was deaf and mute. In 1844, daughter Natalya was born. In 1845, a daughter, Elizabeth, was born, who died 11 months after birth.

While in exile in Paris, Herzen's wife fell in love with Herzen's friend Georg Herwegh. She admitted to Herzen that “dissatisfaction, something left unoccupied, abandoned, was looking for another sympathy and found it in friendship with Herwegh” and that she dreams of a “marriage of three,” moreover, more spiritual than purely carnal. In Nice, Herzen and his wife and Herwegh and his wife Emma lived in the same house. Herzen then demanded the Herwegs' departure from Nice, and Herwegh blackmailed Herzen with the threat of suicide. The Herwegs left anyway. In the international revolutionary community, Herzen was condemned for subjecting his wife to “moral coercion” and preventing her from uniting with her lover. In 1850, Herzen's wife gave birth to a daughter, Olga.

Since 1857, Herzen began to cohabit with Nikolai Ogarev’s wife, Natalya Alekseevna Ogareva-Tuchkova, and she raised his children. They had a daughter, Elizabeth. In 1869, Tuchkova received the surname Herzen, which she bore until her return to Russia in 1876, after Herzen’s death.

Daughter's suicide

Elizaveta Herzen, the 17-year-old daughter of A.I. Herzen and N.A. Tuchkova-Ogareva, committed suicide because of unrequited love for a 44-year-old Frenchman in Florence in December 1875. The suicide had a resonance; Dostoevsky wrote about it in his essay “Two Suicides.”

Memory

• Vyatka Public Library named after A. I. Herzen.
• RGPU named after. A. I. Herzen
• Library and Information Center named after A. I. Herzen

Philately

Addresses in Moscow

Addresses in St. Petersburg

• December 14-24, 1839 - house of F. D. Serapin - Tsarskoselsky Avenue, 22;
• May 20 - June 1840 - A. A. Orlova’s apartment in the house of the Guardian Council - Bolshaya Meshchanskaya Street, 3;
• June 1840 - June 30, 1841 - house of G.V. Lerche - Bolshaya Morskaya Street, 25 (Gorokhovaya St., 11), apt. 21 - Historical monument of Federal significance;
• October 4-14, 1846 - apartment of N. A. Nekrasov and Panaevs in the house of Princess Urusova - embankment of the Fontanka River, 19.

Essays

• "Passing by" story ()
• "Damaged" story ()
• "Tragedy over a glass of grog" ()
• "For boredom's sake" ()

See also

Notes

Literature

• Valovaya D., Valovaya M., Lapshina G. Boldness. M.: Young Guard, 1989. - 314 p. P.194-206.
• Sverbeev D. Memories of A. I. Herzen // Russian Archive, 1870. - Ed. 2nd. - M., 1871. - Stb. 673-686.

Links

• Herzen, Alexander Ivanovich in the library of Maxim Moshkov
• Herzen A.I. Works: In 2 volumes - M.: Mysl, 1985-1986. on the Runiverse website
• Herzen Alexander Ivanovich on the website “Giving life to art without giving up.”
• In Christ Sapper To the clash between A. I. Herzen and His Eminence Ignatius Brianchaninov, 1913
• Herzen, Alexander Ivanovich- article from the Great Soviet Encyclopedia
• Zenkovsky. Chapter about Herzen // Russian thinkers and Europe. Gumer Library
• Derek Offord.

Alexander Ivanovich Herzen(March 25 (April 6), Moscow - January 9 (21), Paris) - Russian publicist, writer, philosopher, teacher, one of the most prominent critics official ideology and the politics of the Russian Empire in the 19th century, a supporter of revolutionary bourgeois-democratic transformations.

Encyclopedic YouTube

1 / 5

✪ Lecture I. Alexander Herzen. Childhood and youth. Prison and exile

✪ Lecture III. Herzen in the West. "Past and Thoughts"

✪ Herzen Alexander Ivanovich “Who is to blame? (ONLINE AUDIOBOOKS) Listen

✪ Herzen and the Rothschilds

✪ Lecture II. Westerners and Slavophiles. Small prose of Herzen

Subtitles

Biography

Childhood

Herzen was born into the family of a wealthy landowner Ivan Alekseevich Yakovlev (1767-1846), descended from Andrei Kobyla (like the Romanovs). Mother - 16-year-old German Henrietta-Wilhelmina-Louise Haag (German). Henriette Wilhelmina Luisa Haag), the daughter of a minor official, a clerk in the treasury chamber in. The parents' marriage was not formalized, and Herzen bore the surname invented by his father: Herzen - “son of the heart” (from German Herz).

In his youth, Herzen received the usual noble education at home, based on reading works of foreign literature, mainly from the late 18th century. French novels, comedies by Beaumarchais, Kotzebue, works by Goethe, Schiller from an early age set the boy in an enthusiastic, sentimental-romantic tone. There were no systematic classes, but the tutors - French and Germans - gave the boy a solid knowledge of foreign languages. Thanks to his acquaintance with Schiller’s work, Herzen was imbued with freedom-loving aspirations, the development of which was greatly facilitated by the teacher of Russian literature I. E. Protopopov, who brought Herzen notebooks of Pushkin’s poems: “Odes to Freedom”, “Dagger”, “Thoughts” by Ryleev, etc., as well as Bouchot, a participant in the Great French Revolution, who left France when the “depraved and rogues” took over. Added to this was the influence of Tanya Kuchina, Herzen’s young aunt, “Korchevskaya cousin” (married Tatyana Passek), who supported the childish pride of the young dreamer, prophesying an extraordinary future for him.

Already in childhood, Herzen met and became friends with Nikolai Ogarev. According to his memoirs, the news of the Decembrist uprising on December 14, 1825 made a strong impression on the boys (Herzen was 13, Ogarev was 12 years old). Under his impression, their first, still vague dreams of revolutionary activity arise; During a walk on Vorobyovy Gory, the boys vowed to fight for freedom.

University (1829−1833)

Herzen dreamed of friendship, dreamed of struggle and suffering for freedom. In this mood, Herzen entered Moscow University in the physics and mathematics department, and here this mood intensified even more. At the university, Herzen took part in the so-called “Malov story” (student protest against an unloved teacher), but got off relatively lightly - with a short imprisonment, along with many of his comrades, in a punishment cell. Of the teachers, only M.T.  Kachenovsky with his skepticism and M.G.  Pavlov, who introduced listeners to German philosophy at agricultural lectures, awakened young thought [ clarify] [ ] . The youth were, however, quite stormy; she welcomed the July revolution (as can be seen from Lermontov’s poems) and other popular movements (the excitement of students was facilitated by the cholera that appeared in Moscow, in the fight against which all university youth took an active part) [ ] . The meeting of Herzen with Vadim Passek dates back to this time, which later turned into friendship, the establishment of a friendly connection with Ketcher and others. The group of young friends grew, made noise, seethed; from time to time she allowed small revelries, of a completely innocent nature, however; She read diligently, being carried away mainly by social issues, studying Russian history, assimilating the ideas of Saint-Simon (whose utopian socialism Herzen then considered the most outstanding achievement of contemporary Western philosophy) and other socialists.

Link

After the link

Despite mutual bitterness and disputes, both sides had much in common in their views and, above all, according to Herzen himself, the common thing was “a feeling of boundless love for the Russian people, for the Russian mentality, embracing the entire existence.” The opponents, “like a two-faced Janus, looked in different directions, while the heart beat alone.” “With tears in our eyes”, hugging each other, recent friends, and now principled opponents, went in different directions.

In the Moscow house where Herzen lived from 1847 to 1847, the A. I. Herzen House Museum has been operating since 1976.

In exile

Herzen arrived in Europe more radically republican than socialist, although the publication he began in Otechestvennye Zapiski of a series of articles entitled “Letters from Avenue Marigny” (subsequently published in revised form in “Letters from France and Italy”) shocked him friends - Western liberals - with their anti-bourgeois pathos. The February Revolution of 1848 seemed to Herzen the fulfillment of all his hopes. The subsequent June workers' uprising, its bloody suppression and the ensuing reaction shocked Herzen, who decisively turned to socialism. He became close to Proudhon and other prominent figures of the revolution and European radicalism; Together with Proudhon, he published the newspaper “The Voice of the People” (“La Voix du Peuple”), which he financed. The beginning of his wife's passion for the German poet Herwegh dates back to the Parisian period. In 1849, after the defeat of the radical opposition by President Louis Napoleon, Herzen was forced to leave France and moved to Switzerland, and from there to Nice, which then belonged to the Kingdom of Sardinia.

During this period, Herzen moved among the circles of radical European emigration that gathered in Switzerland after the defeat of the revolution in Europe, and, in particular, became acquainted with Giuseppe Garibaldi. He became famous for his book of essays “From the Other Shore,” in which he reckoned with his past liberal convictions. Under the influence of the collapse of old ideals and the reaction that occurred throughout Europe, Herzen formed a specific system of views about the doom, the “dying” of old Europe and the prospects for Russia and the Slavic world, which are called upon to realize the socialist ideal.

After a series of family tragedies that befell Herzen in Nice (his wife’s infidelity with Herwegh, the death of a mother and son in a shipwreck, the death of his wife and newborn child), Herzen moved to London, where he founded the Free Russian Printing House to print prohibited publications and, from 1857, published a weekly newspaper "Bell".

The peak of the influence of the Bell occurs in the years preceding the liberation of the peasants; then the newspaper was regularly read in the Winter Palace. After the peasant reform, its influence begins to decline; support for the Polish uprising of 1863 sharply undermined circulation. At that time, Herzen was already too revolutionary for the liberal public, and too moderate for the radical one. On March 15, 1865, under the persistent demands of the Russian government to the British government, the editorial board of Kolokol, headed by Herzen, left London forever and moved to Switzerland, of which Herzen had by that time become a citizen. In April of the same 1865, the “Free Russian Printing House” was also transferred there. Soon people from Herzen’s circle began to move to Switzerland, for example, in 1865 Nikolai Ogarev moved there.

On January 9 (21), 1870, Alexander Ivanovich Herzen died of pneumonia in Paris, where he had recently arrived on family business. He was buried in Nice (the ashes were transferred from the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris).

Literary and journalistic activities

Herzen's literary activity began in the 1830s. In the Athenaeum for 1831 (II volume) his name is found under one translation from French. The first article signed by a pseudonym Iskander, was published in the Telescope for 1836 (“Hoffmann”). The “Speech Delivered at the Opening of the Vyatka Public Library” and “Diary” (1842) date back to the same time. In Vladimir the following were written: “Notes of a young man” and “More from the notes of a young man” (“Otechestvennye zapiski”, 1840-1841; in this story Chaadaev is depicted in the person of Trenzinsky). From 1842 to 1847, he published articles in Otechestvennye Zapiski and Sovremennik: “Amateurism in Science”, “Romantic Amateurs”, “Workshop of Scientists”, “Buddhism in Science”, “Letters on the Study of Nature”. Here Herzen rebelled against learned pedants and formalists, against their scholastic science, alienated from life, against their quietism. In the article “On the Study of Nature” we find a philosophical analysis of various methods of knowledge. At the same time, Herzen wrote: “About one drama”, “On various occasions”, “New variations on old themes”, “A few notes on the historical development of honor”, ​​“From the notes of Dr. Krupov”, “Who is to blame? "", "The Thieving Magpie", "Moscow and St. Petersburg", "Novgorod and Vladimir", "Edrovo Station", "Interrupted Conversations". Of all these works, the story “The Thieving Magpie”, which depicts the terrible situation of the “serf intelligentsia”, and the novel “Who is to Blame?”, dedicated to the issue of freedom of feeling, family relationships, and the position of women in marriage, especially stand out. The main idea of ​​the novel is that people who base their well-being solely on the basis of family happiness and feelings, alien to the interests of social and universal humanity, cannot ensure lasting happiness for themselves, and in their lives it will always depend on chance.

Of the works written by Herzen abroad, the following are especially important: letters from “Avenue Marigny” (the first published in Sovremennik, all fourteen under the general title: “Letters from France and Italy”, edition of 1855), representing a remarkable description and analysis of events and the moods that worried Europe in 1847-1852. Here we encounter a completely negative attitude towards the Western European bourgeoisie, its morality and social principles, and the author’s ardent faith in the future significance of the fourth estate. A particularly strong impression both in Russia and in Europe was made by Herzen’s essay “From the Other Shore” (originally in German “Vom anderen Ufer”, Hamburg,; in Russian, London, 1855; in French, Geneva, 1870), in in which Herzen expresses complete disappointment with the West and Western civilization - the result of that mental revolution that determined Herzen’s worldview in 1848-1851. It is also worth noting the letter to Michelet: “The Russian people and socialism” - a passionate and ardent defense of the Russian people against the attacks and prejudices that Michelet expressed in one of his articles. “The Past and Thoughts” is a series of memoirs that are partly autobiographical in nature, but also provide a whole series of highly artistic pictures, dazzlingly brilliant characteristics, and observations of Herzen from what he experienced and saw in Russia and abroad.

All other works and articles of Herzen, such as: “The Old World and Russia”, “Russian People and Socialism”, “Ends and Beginnings”, etc., represent a simple development of ideas and sentiments that were fully defined in the period 1847-1852 in his writings mentioned above.

Philosophical views of Herzen during the years of emigration

The attraction to freedom of thought, “freethinking,” in the best sense of the word, was especially strongly developed in Herzen. He did not belong to any one party, either open or secret. The one-sidedness of “men of action” alienated him from many revolutionary and radical figures in Europe. His mind quickly comprehended the imperfections and shortcomings of those forms of Western life to which Herzen was initially drawn from his ugly, distant Russian reality of the 1840s. With amazing consistency, Herzen abandoned his passions for the West when it turned out in his eyes to be lower than the previously drawn up ideal.

Herzen's philosophical and historical concept emphasizes the active role of man in history. At the same time, it implies that reason cannot realize its ideals without taking into account the existing facts of history, that its results constitute the “necessary basis” for the operations of reason.

Quotes

“Let’s not invent a God if he doesn’t exist, because this still won’t exist.”

“At every age and under various circumstances I returned to reading the Gospel, and each time its content brought peace and meekness to my soul.”

Pedagogical ideas

There are no special theoretical works on education in Herzen's legacy. However, throughout his life Herzen was interested in pedagogical problems and was one of the first Russian thinkers and public figures mid-19th centuries, who touched upon the problems of education in their works. His statements on issues of upbringing and education indicate the presence thoughtful pedagogical concept.

Herzen's pedagogical views were determined by philosophical (atheism and materialism), ethical (humanism) and political (revolutionary democracy) beliefs.

Criticism of the education system under Nicholas I

Herzen called the reign of Nicholas I a thirty-year persecution of schools and universities and showed how the Nicholas Ministry of Education stifled public education. The tsarist government, according to Herzen, “laid in wait for the child at the first step in life and corrupted the cadet-child, the schoolboy-adolescent, the student-boy. Mercilessly, systematically, it eradicated the human embryos in them, weaning them, as if from a vice, from all human feelings except obedience. It punished minors for violation of discipline in a way that hardened criminals are not punished in other countries.”

He resolutely opposed the introduction of religion into education, against the transformation of schools and universities into a tool for strengthening serfdom and autocracy.

Folk pedagogy

Herzen believed that the simplest people have the most positive influence on children, that it is the people who bear the best Russian national qualities. Young generations learn from the people respect for work, selfless love for their homeland, and aversion to idleness.

Upbringing

Herzen considered the main task of education to be the formation of a humane, free personality who lives in the interests of his people and strives to transform society on a reasonable basis. Children must be provided with conditions for free development. “Reasonable recognition of self-will is the highest and moral recognition of human dignity.” In everyday educational activities, an important role is played by the “talent of patient love,” the teacher’s disposition towards the child, respect for him, and knowledge of his needs. A healthy family environment and correct relationships between children and teachers are a necessary condition for moral education.

Education

Herzen passionately sought the spread of education and knowledge among the people, calling on scientists to take science out of the classroom walls and make its achievements public domain. Emphasizing the enormous educational importance of the natural sciences, Herzen was at the same time in favor of a system of comprehensive general education. He wanted secondary school students, along with natural science and mathematics, to study literature (including the literature of ancient peoples), foreign languages, and history. A. I. Herzen noted that without reading there is and cannot be either taste, style, or multifaceted breadth of understanding. Thanks to reading, a person survives centuries. Books influence the deepest areas of the human psyche. Herzen emphasized in every possible way that education should contribute to the development of independent thinking in students. Educators should, relying on children’s innate inclinations to communicate, develop social aspirations and inclinations in them. This is achieved through communication with peers, collective children's games, and general activities. Herzen fought against the suppression of children's will, but at the same time attached great importance to discipline, and considered the establishment of discipline a necessary condition for proper upbringing. “Without discipline,” he said, “there is no calm confidence, no obedience, no way to protect health and prevent danger.”

Herzen wrote two special works in which he explained natural phenomena to the younger generation: “The Experience of Conversations with Young People” and “Conversations with Children.” These works are wonderful examples of talented, popular presentation of complex ideological problems. The author simply and vividly explains to children the origin of the Universe from a materialistic point of view. He convincingly proves the important role of science in the fight against incorrect views, prejudices and superstitions and refutes the idealistic fabrication that a soul also exists in a person, separate from his body.

Family

In 1838, in Vladimir, Herzen married his cousin Natalya Alexandrovna Zakharyina, before leaving Russia they had 6 children, two of whom lived to adulthood:

• Alexander(1839-1906), famous physiologist, lived in Switzerland.
• Natalya (b. and d. 1841), died 2 days after birth.
• Ivan (b. and d. 1842), died 5 days after birth.
• Nikolai (1843-1851), was deaf from birth, with the help of the Swiss teacher I. Shpilman learned to speak and write, died in a shipwreck (see below).
• Natalia(Tata, 1844-1936), family historiographer and keeper of the Herzen archive.
• Elizabeth (1845-1846), died 11 months after birth.

In exile in Paris, Herzen's wife fell in love with Herzen's friend Georg Herwegh. She admitted to Herzen that “dissatisfaction, something left unoccupied, abandoned, was looking for another sympathy and found it in friendship with Herwegh” and that she dreams of a “marriage of three,” and more spiritual than purely carnal. In Nice, Herzen and his wife and Herwegh and his wife Emma, ​​as well as their children, lived in the same house, forming a “commune” that did not involve intimate relationships outside of couples. Nevertheless, Natalya Herzen became Herwegh’s mistress, which she hid from her husband (although Herwegh revealed himself to his wife). Then Herzen, having learned the truth, demanded the Herwegs' departure from Nice, and Herwegh blackmailed Herzen with the threat of suicide. The Herwegs left anyway. In the international revolutionary community, Herzen was condemned for subjecting his wife to “moral coercion” and preventing her from uniting with her lover.

In 1850, Herzen's wife gave birth to a daughter Olga(1850-1953), who in 1873 married the French historian Gabriel Monot (1844-1912). According to some reports, Herzen doubted his paternity, but never stated this publicly and recognized the child as his own.

In the summer of 1851, the Herzen couple reconciled, but a new tragedy awaited the family. On November 16, 1851, near the Giera archipelago, as a result of a collision with another ship, the steamship “City of Grasse” sank, on which Herzen’s mother Louise Ivanovna and his son Nikolai, deaf from birth, with their teacher Johann Shpilman sailed to Nice; they died and their bodies were never found.

In 1852, Herzen’s wife gave birth to a son, Vladimir, and died two days later; the son also died soon after.

Since 1857, Herzen began to cohabit with Nikolai Ogarev’s wife, Natalya Alekseevna Ogareva-Tuchkova, she raised his children. They had a daughter Elizabeth(1858-1875) and twins Elena and Alexey (1861-1864, died of diphtheria). Officially, they were considered Ogarev’s children.

In 1869, Natalya Tuchkova received the surname Herzen, which she bore until her return to Russia in 1876, after Herzen’s death.

Elizaveta Ogareva-Herzen, the 17-year-old daughter of A.I. Herzen and N.A. Tuchkova-Ogareva, committed suicide because of unrequited love for a 44-year-old Frenchman in