Dmitry Narkisovich Mamin*, known to us under the pseudonym Mamin-Sibiryak, was born on November 6, 1852 in the Visimo-Shaitansky plant (now the village of Visim near Nizhny Tagil). My mother’s family were hereditary priests. Father, Narkis Matveevich Mamin, served as rector in the St. Nicholas Church in the village of Visim. At the same time, together with his wife, he taught at a local parish school, but at the same time was a member of the Ural Society of Natural History Lovers. The mother of the future writer, nee Anna Semenovna Stepanova, is the daughter of a deacon. Dmitry became the second child of Mom’s 4 children; he had 2 more brothers and 1 sister.

Mitya was educated at home, then studied at the Visim school for children of workers.

The parents wanted their son to follow in the footsteps of his ancestors. Therefore, in 1866 they sent the boy to the Yekaterinburg Theological School. He stayed there until 1868, then moved to the Perm Theological Seminary. In Perm, the young man became interested in literature.

In the spring of 1871, the young man left for St. Petersburg and entered the Medical-Surgical Academy, the veterinary department, and later transferred to medicine. After 3 years, Mamin enrolled in the natural sciences department of St. Petersburg University, where he studied for another 2 years. But his studies did not end there either. Since 1876, the young man studied at the law faculty of the university, however, he did not complete this course; he was forced to interrupt his studies due to financial difficulties and a sharp deterioration in his health - Dmitry was diagnosed with tuberculosis. The disease was captured on initial stage, thanks to which he was completely cured.

Throughout his years in St. Petersburg, Dmitry wrote short reports and stories for metropolitan newspapers. Moreover, it began to be published in 1872.

In 1877, Dmitry Narkisovich returned to his parents in Nizhnyaya Salda, where they then lived. In the summer of the same year, at a picnic, the young man met the wife of a local engineer, 30-year-old mother of 3 children, Maria Yakimovna Alekseeva. Dmitry fell in love. The woman reciprocated. The romance began.

Maria Yakimovna was a fairly wealthy lady; her father held a high position at the Demidov factories. In 1878, a woman left her husband and, under the pretext that she intended to give her children good education, bought herself a house in Yekaterinburg and moved there with her two sons and daughter. At the same time, Dmitry Narkisovich also moved in with her, fortunately Mom’s father died and no one could prevent fornication. A little later, the entire Mamin family moved to Yekaterinburg. Maria Yakimovna and Dmitry Narkisovich lived in sin for 12 years. Alekseeva became her lover’s first adviser in his work. It was during those years that Mamin wrote great novel"Privalov's millions."

Dmitry Narkisovich traveled a lot around the Urals, studied literature on history, economics, and ethnography. He made his living from journalism, but was mainly supported by Maria Yakimovna. In 1881–1882, the writer published a series of travel essays “From the Urals to Moscow” and published them in metropolitan publications under the pseudonym D. Sibiryak. The pseudonym was automatically added to the author's surname and the result was the writer Mamin-Sibiryak.

In 1883, “Privalov’s Millions” was published in the magazine “Delo”. A second novel soon followed, “Mountain Nest.” After its release, Dmitry Narkisovich gained fame as an outstanding realist writer. Using the fees received, Mamin-Sibiryak bought a house in Yekaterinburg for his mother and brothers.

In the fall of 1890, Dmitry Narkisovich fell in love with the daughter of the Yekaterinburg photographer Heinrich, Maria Moritsevna Abramova. She was an actress and married to actor Abramov. Maria did not live with her husband and traveled with theater troupes around Russia.

Stormy romance novel The writer and actress ended with Mamin-Sibiryak’s breakup with Alekseeva and the lovers moving to St. Petersburg. On the eve of the breakup, the writer managed to publish his third novel, “Three Ends,” which was dedicated to Alekseeva.

Since the first husband did not give Abramova a divorce, she and Dmitry Narkisovich lived in an illegal marriage. On April 4, 1892, Maria Moritsevna gave birth to a daughter and died the next day. The girl was named Elena, affectionately called Alyonushka. He was an unfortunate child, seriously ill from birth. Alyonushka suffered from the dance of St. Vitta – her face was constantly twitching, convulsions occurred.

Dmitry Narkisovich was shocked by the death of his beloved woman. He set himself the goal of raising his sick daughter and devoted the rest of his life to her.

In 1894, the writer published his first work for children - famous fairy tale"Grey Neck" is about a duck with a broken wing. In Gray Neck he saw his own little sick daughter. Created in 1894–1896, “Alyonushka’s Tales” finally secured Dmitry Narkisovich’s fame as a great storyteller.

In 1900, the writer legally married for the first time - to the teacher of his daughter Olga Frantsevna Guvala.

The main trouble for Mamin-Sibiryak was the illegal birth of a girl. From the end of 1901, the writer fought for her adoption. Alyonushka's father was recorded as Maria Moritsovna's husband. After receiving his refusal from the child, a trial was held and in March 1902 the girl became the legal daughter of Dmitry Narkisovich.

Of course, all these years Mamin-Sibiryak did not abandon novelism; he composed and published the novels “Bread”, “Characters from the Life of Pepko” and “Shooting Stars”. The Ural Stories were very popular. However, all these works did not reach the heights of “Privalov’s Millions”, created under the supervision of Maria Yakimovna.

In 1911, the writer had a stroke and was partially paralyzed. Dmitry Narkisovich Mamin-Sibiryak died on November 15, 1912 in St. Petersburg. He was buried next to his wife in the churchyard of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. A year and a half later, in the fall of 1914, his Alyonushka died of transient consumption. The girl found peace next to her parents. In the 1950s, the remains of the Mamin-Sibiryak family were reburied at the Volkov cemetery in Leningrad.

_____________________

*The surname comes either from Tatar name– MamIn or from Bashkir name– MamIn, that’s why it was originally pronounced with the emphasis on the last syllable – MamIn.

ALENUSHKIN'S TALES

E. Permyakov. Alyonushka's tales. Staging.

GRAY NECK

I. Medvedeva, T. Shishova. Gray Neck. Staging.

G. Berezko. Gray neck. Scenario.

Russian literature XIX century

Dmitry Narkisovich Mamin-Sibiryak

Biography

Mamin-Sibiryak ( real name- Mamin) Dmitry Narkisovich (1852 - 1912), Russian prose writer, playwright.

Born on October 25 (November 6, new year) in the Visimo-Shaitansky plant, Perm province, in the family of a factory priest. He was educated at home, then studied at the Visim school for children of workers. In 1866 he was admitted to the Ekaterinburg Theological School, where he studied until 1868, then continued his education at the Perm Theological Seminary (until 1872). During these years, he participated in a circle of advanced seminarians and was influenced by the ideas of Chernyshevsky, Dobrolyubov, and Herzen. In 1872, Mamin-Sibiryak entered the St. Petersburg Medical-Surgical Academy in the veterinary department. In 1876, without completing the academy course, he transferred to the Faculty of Law of St. Petersburg University, but after studying for a year, he was forced to leave it due to financial difficulties and a sharp deterioration in health (tuberculosis began). In the summer of 1877 he returned to the Urals, to his parents. The following year, his father died, and the whole burden of caring for the family fell on Mamin-Sibiryak. In order to educate his brothers and sister and be able to earn money, it was decided to move to a large cultural center. Yekaterinburg was chosen, where it begins new life. Here he married Maria Alekseeva, who became not only a wife-friend, but also an excellent adviser on literary issues. During these years, he makes many trips around the Urals, studies literature on the history, economics, ethnography of the Urals, and immerses himself in folk life, communicates with “simpletons” who have a huge life experience. The first fruit of this study was a series of travel essays “From the Urals to Moscow” (1881 - 1882), published in the Moscow newspaper “Russian Vedomosti”; then his essays “In the Stones” and short stories (“At the Border of Asia”, “In Thin Souls”, etc.) were published in the magazine “Delo”. Many were signed under the pseudonym “D. Sibiryak”. The writer’s first major work was the novel “Privalov’s Millions” (1883), which was published for a year in the magazine “Delo” and was a great success. In 1884, the novel “Mountain Nest” appeared in the magazine “Domestic Notes”, which established Mamin-Sibiryak’s reputation an outstanding realist writer. Two long trips to the capital (1881 - 1882, 1885 - 1886) strengthened the writer’s literary connections: he met Korolenko, Zlatovratsky, Goltsev, etc. During these years he wrote and published a lot. short stories, essays. In 1890 he divorced his first wife and married a talented artist from the Yekaterinburg drama theater M. Abramova and moves to St. Petersburg, where he takes place last stage his life (1891 - 1912). A year later, Abramova dies, leaving her sick daughter Alyonushka in the arms of her father, shocked by this death. rise social movement in the early 1890s he contributed to the appearance of such works as the novels “Gold” (1892) and the story “Okhonin’s Eyebrows” (1892). Mamin-Sibiryak’s works for children became widely known: “Alenushka’s Tales” (1894 - 1896), “The Gray Neck” (1893), “Across the Urals” (1899), etc. The writer’s last major works were the novels “Characters from the Life of Pepko” (1894), "Shooting Stars" (1899) and the story "Mumma" (1907). At the age of 60, on November 2 (15 NS), 1912, Mamin-Sibiryak died in St. Petersburg.

Mamin-Sibiryak Dmitry Narkisovich (1852-1912) - Russian writer, playwright. Dmitry Mamin (Mamin-Sibiryak - pseudonym) was born on October 25 (November 6), 1852 in the Visimo-Shaitansky plant in the Perm province. His father was a factory priest and gave his son homemade primary education. Then Mamin-Sibiryak went to the Visim school, where he studied with the children of workers. He studied from 1866 for 2 years at the Ekaterinburg Theological School. Entered the Perm Theological Seminary in 1872. During his studies, he actively participates in the activities of a circle of advanced seminarians and is influenced by the works of Dobrolyubov, Chernyshevsky, and Herzen.

Mamin-Sibiryak went to St. Petersburg in 1872 to study as a veterinarian at the Medical-Surgical Academy. Without completing his studies, in 1876 he was transferred to the law department of St. Petersburg University, which, after a year of study, he was forced to leave due to financial difficulties and health problems. Mamin-Sibiryak fell ill with tuberculosis.

In the summer of 1877 he moved to his family in the Urals. A year later, the father dies. So that his sister and brothers can study, Mamin-Sibiryak and his family go to Yekaterinburg. Soon he meets Maria Alekseeva and marries her.

He begins to travel around the Urals, research literature on local economics, history and ethnography. The first results of the studies were published under the title “From the Urals to Moscow” (1881-1882) in Moscow in the periodical “Russian Vedomosti”. The essays “In the Stones” and some stories were published in the magazine “Delo”, which also published the first novel “Privalov’s Millions” in 1883, which aroused great interest among readers.

After a divorce in 1890, he married M. Abramova and remained to live in St. Petersburg. Dmitry Mamin-Sibiryak died on November 2 (15), 1912.

Dmitry Narkisovich Mamin-Sibiryak(1852 - 1912) - Russian writer and playwright, classic Russian literature.
Many talented writers were born on Russian soil, and one of them is D. N. Mamin-Sibiryak, whose fairy tales still delight young readers. The native Ural resident managed to convey through his works his love for native land And careful attitude to nature. The writer's characters are very diverse - among his heroes you can see a boastful hare, a young duck and even a wise taiga tree.

Read Mamin's and Sibiryak's tales

Parents will appreciate the series of works that Dmitry Narkisovich created for his little daughter Elena. Warmth and love permeate every story that Mamin-Sibiryak came up with - “Alyonushka’s Tales” is best read aloud. Having become acquainted with the adventures of Komar Komarovich, Ersh Ershovich or Sparrow Vorobeich, children will quickly calm down and fall asleep. Rich poetic language the Ural writer will improve both the overall development of children and their inner world.

D. N. Mamin-Sibiryak (Dmitry Narkisovich Mamin)
25.10.1852 – 02.11.1912

In a village surrounded on all sides by green, huge mountains, like giants, standing far from Nizhny Tagil on the very watershed of Europe and Asia, Dmitry Narkisovich Mamin was born on October 25, 1852. Native green mountains, rocky steeps, deep ravines, mountain springs, wonderful mountain air filled with the aromas of mountain herbs and flowers, and the endless whisper of a hundred-year-old forest... In this wonderful atmosphere, the childhood and youth of Mamin-Sibiryak, one of the most famous children's writers of our country, passed .

However, despite the surrounding beauty, life in those distant times was not easy. The people who inhabited the village were mostly workers; poverty, at times hunger and inhuman working conditions reigned in the society.

The writer's father Narkis Matveevich Mamin was a priest. They lived as a family friendly, hardworking and modest. Father stood out noticeably among other clergy for his breadth of interests; he knew and loved Russian literature. I wasn’t at Mom’s house large library, with the help of which parents instilled in their children a love and respect for literature.

Likely, environment and love for literature contributed to the fact that Mamin-Sibiryak’s stories are filled with stunning beauty and love for nature, ordinary people, to the beautiful and immense Ural region. People who are encountering the work of Mamin-Sibiryak for the first time will find it pleasant and easy to read his stories, novellas and fairy tales. Even during the writer’s lifetime, criticism recognized the writer’s undoubtedly bright talent, deep knowledge of the Ural reality, depth psychological drawing, landscape art...

And how pleasant it is to read the fairy tales of Mamin-Sibiryak, in them the writer prepares the child for future adult life, forms in him, through the characters of his fairy tales, a strong personality that sympathizes with the grief of his neighbor. You read, and your heart rejoices, warms, and calms. Mamin-Sibiryak wrote his fairy tales carefully and thoughtfully; in his deep conviction, a children's book is the foundation on which a person's moral edifice is built, and how strong this foundation will be largely depends on children's writers. Mamin-Sibiryak created fairy tales for a long time, and when the writer was 45 years old (in 1897), the collection “Alenushka’s Tales” was published, which were published annually during the writer’s lifetime. This is not surprising, because Mamin-Sibiryak wrote fairy tales for children with meaning, love and beauty, which is why he acquired such a large readership.

On our website you can download fairy tales, stories and stories by D. N. Mamin-Sibiryak in the formats you need.

On November 6 (October 25), 1852, Dmitry Narkisovich Mamin-Sibiryak (real name Mamin) was born - a great Russian prose writer and playwright.

There is no such person in Russia who has not heard the name of Mamin-Sibiryak and has not read at least one of his books.

In the post-revolutionary years, this name was covered with such a thick layer of “textbook gloss” that many do not know its real fate famous writer, nor many of his works. As soon as you say “Dmitry Narkisovich Mamin-Sibiryak”, it appears before your eyes famous photograph, where he looks happy with life, a respectable man, wearing a rich fur coat and an astrakhan fur hat.

D.N. Mamin-Sibiryak

According to the recollections of friends, the writer was of average height, but strongly built, charming, with beautiful black eyes, and always had a pipe. Despite his temper, he was distinguished by his kindness and sociability, was known as an excellent storyteller, and was often the life of the party. At the same time, he did not tolerate injustice, he was a straightforward, integral person, and did not know how to lie or pretend. Like everyone good man, “old people and children loved him and animals were not afraid of him.” The colorful figure of Mamin the Sibiryak was so noticeable that Ilya Repin himself painted one of the Cossacks from him for his famous painting.

However, the personal fate of Mamin-Sibiryak was difficult and unhappy. Only early childhood and fifteen months can be called prosperous happy marriage. It wasn't easy either creative path famous writer. At the end of his life, he wrote to publishers that his works “will amount to 100 volumes, but only 36 have been published.” There was no literary success, which he deserved, and family drama Russian prose writer and completely reminiscent of the plot of a Mexican TV series...

Childhood and youth

Dmitry Narkisovich Mamin was born in the village of Visim (Visimo-Shaitansky plant, owned by the Demidovs), 40 kilometers from Nizhny Tagil, on the border of Europe and Asia. The father of the future writer is a hereditary priest. The family is large (four children), friendly, hard-working (“I have never seen my father or mother without work”), and reading. The family had a large library: they ordered magazines and books from St. Petersburg. The mother loved to read aloud to the children. Dmitry's favorite book as a child was “The Childhood Years of Bagrov the Grandson” (Aksakov).

The writer said about his early childhood and about his parents: “There was not a single bitter memory, not a single childhood reproach.” Hundreds of amazing letters from Dmitry Narkisovich to his parents have been preserved, where he writes “Mom” and “Dad” always with a capital letter. But the time had come to study seriously, and the poor priest Mamin did not have money for the gymnasium. Dmitry and his older brother Nikolai were taken to the Yekaterinburg Theological School (Bursa), where their father had once studied. It was hard time for Mitya. He considered the years in the bursa to be wasted and even harmful: “... the school did not give anything to my mind, I did not read a single book... and did not acquire any knowledge.” (Later Pavel Petrovich Bazhov graduated from the same school).

After theological school, the son of a priest had a direct path to the Perm Theological Seminary. There, Dmitry Mamin began his first literary work. But he felt “cramped” in the seminary, and the future writer did not complete the course. In 1872, Mamin entered the veterinary department of the St. Petersburg Medical-Surgical Academy. In 1876, without graduating from the academy, he transferred to the Faculty of Law of St. Petersburg University. It was extremely difficult for him to study; his father could not send money. The student often went hungry and was poorly dressed. Dmitry earned his living by writing for newspapers. And then there is a serious disease - tuberculosis. He had to quit his studies and return home to the Urals (1878), but to the city of Nizhnyaya Salda, where his family moved. Father is dying soon. Dmitry takes care of the family.

Singer of the Urals

Dmitry Narkisovich had to work a lot, give lessons: “I wandered around private lessons for three years, 12 hours a day.” He wrote articles and educated himself. Moved to Yekaterinburg. Wrote books. The writer walked many roads in the Urals, rafted along the Ural rivers, met many interesting people, studied archives, studied archaeological excavations. He knew the history of the Urals, economics, nature, folk tales and legends. “Ural! Ural! The body is stone, the heart is fiery” - this was his favorite expression.

The future “classic” signed his first journalistic works by D. Sibiryak. In those days, everything that was beyond the Ural ridge was called Siberia. He began signing his novels with the double surname Mamin-Sibiryak. Now he would call himself Mom’s Uralian.

Recognition did not come to the writer immediately. For 9 years he sent his works to different editors and was always rejected. Only in 1881-1882 a series of essays by D. Sibiryak “from the Urals to Moscow” was published in the Moscow newspaper “Russkie Vedomosti”. The talented provincial was noticed not by publishers, but by radical journalists. A number of his essays about the Ural land were published in the St. Petersburg censored magazine “Delo”, and subsequently the most famous novel"Privalov's millions." However, for a serious writer to be published in Delo in the 1980s was not a great honor: the magazine was living out its last days and took any material allowed by the censorship (even pulp novels). The works of Mamin-Sibiryak deserved better. However, this publication allowed the talented writer to finally “reach out” to the capital’s publishing houses and become famous not only in the Urals, but also in the European part of the great country.

Mamin-Sibiryak revealed the Urals to the world with all its riches and history. A separate and serious conversation needs to be had about his novels, which will not fit into the scope of this essay. The novels required a huge amount of work from Mamin-Sibiryak. The writer did not have assistants or secretaries: he had to rewrite and edit manuscripts himself many times, make insertions, and perform technical processing of texts. Mamin-Sibiryak was distinguished by his enormous capacity for work as a writer and was talented in many literary genres: novels, stories, stories, fairy tales, legends, essays. The pearls of his work - “Privalov's Millions”, “Mountain Nest”, “Gold”, “Three Ends” - made a huge contribution to the development of Russian literature and the Russian literary language.

About the language of these works, Chekhov wrote: “Mamin’s words are all real, but he speaks them himself and doesn’t know others.”

Life at a turning point

Dmitry Narkisovich was approaching his fortieth birthday. Comparative prosperity has arrived. Royalties from publishing novels gave him the opportunity to buy a house in the center of Yekaterinburg for his mother and sister. He married Maria Alekseeva in a civil marriage, who left her husband and three children for him. She was older than him, a well-known public figure, and an assistant in his writing work.

It would seem that there is everything to live in peace, happy life, but Dmitry Narkisovich began a “midlife” crisis, followed by complete spiritual discord. His work was not noticed by metropolitan critics. For the reading public, he still remained a little-known “talented provincial.” The originality of the creativity of the Ural “nugget” did not find proper understanding among readers. In 1889, Mamin-Sibiryak wrote in one of his letters to a friend:

“... I gave them a whole region with people, nature and all the riches, but they don’t even look at my gift.”

I was tormented by dissatisfaction with myself. The marriage was not very successful. There were no children. It seemed like life was ending. Dmitry Narkisovich started drinking.

But for the new theater season of 1890, a beautiful young actress Maria Moritsevna Heinrich (by husband and stage - Abramova) arrived from St. Petersburg. They couldn’t help but get acquainted: Maria brought Mamin-Sibiryak a gift from Korolenko (his portrait). They fell in love. She is 25 years old, he is almost 40. Everything was not easy. The writer was tormented by his debt to his wife. The husband did not give Maria a divorce. Mamin-Sibiryak's family and friends were against this union. There was gossip and gossip in the city. The actress was not allowed to work, and the writer had no life. The lovers had no choice but to flee to St. Petersburg.

On March 20, 1892, Maria gave birth to a daughter, but she herself died the next day after a difficult birth. Dmitry Narkisovich almost committed suicide. From the shock he experienced, he cried at night, went to pray at St. Isaac's Cathedral, and tried to drown his grief with vodka. From letters to my sister: “I have one thought about Marusya... I go for a walk so that I can talk loudly with Marusya.” From a letter to his mother: “... happiness flashed by like a bright comet, leaving a heavy and bitter aftertaste... Sad, difficult, lonely. Our girl, Elena, remained in my arms - all my happiness.”

"Alyonushka's Tales"

Elena-Alyonushka was born a sick child (cerebral palsy). The doctors said, “I’m not going to live.” But the father, the father’s friends, the nanny-teacher - “Aunt Olya” (Olga Frantsevna Guvale later became the wife of Mamin-Sibiryak) pulled Alyonushka out of the other world. While Alyonushka was little, her father sat by her crib day and night. No wonder they called her “father’s daughter.” We can say that Mamin-Sibiryak accomplished the feat of fatherhood. Rather, he accomplished three feats: he found the strength to survive, did not let his child disappear, and began to write again.

The father told the girl fairy tales. At first he told those that he knew, then, when they ended, he began to compose his own. On the advice of friends, Mamin-Sibiryak began to record and collect them. Alyonushka, like all children, had a good memory, so the writer-father could not repeat himself.

In 1896, Alyonushkin’s Tales were published as a separate edition. Mamin-Sibiryak wrote: “...The publication is very nice. This is my favorite book - it was written by love itself, and therefore it will outlive everything else.” These words turned out to be prophetic. His "Alyonushka's Tales" are republished annually and translated into different languages. Much has been written about them, they are associated with folklore traditions, the writer’s ability to present important things to the child in an entertaining way moral concepts, especially the feeling of kindness. It is no coincidence that the language of “Alyonushka’s Tales” was called “Mother’s Syllable” by contemporaries. Kuprin wrote about them: “These tales are prose poems, more artistic than Turgenev’s.”

During these years, Mamin-Sibiryak wrote to the editor: “If I were rich, I would devote myself specifically to children’s literature. After all, it’s happiness to write for children.”

Mamin-Sibiryak with her daughter

You just have to imagine in what state of mind he wrote these fairy tales! The fact is that Dmitry Narkisovich did not have any rights to his child. Alyonushka was considered “the illegitimate daughter of the bourgeois Abramova,” and Maria Moritsevna’s first husband, out of revenge, did not give permission for her adoption. Mamin-Sibiryak reached despair and was even going to kill Abramov. Only ten years later, thanks to the efforts of the writer’s wife, Olga Frantsevna, permission was obtained.

“Happiness is writing for children”

Mamin-Sibiryak knew this happiness long before Alyonushka’s Tales. Back in Yekaterinburg, the first short story-essay for children, “The Conquest of Siberia,” was written (and he has about 150 children’s works in total!). The writer sent his stories to metropolitan magazines " Children's reading", "Spring" and others.

Everyone knows the fairy tale "The Gray Neck". Together with Alyonushka’s Tales, it was included in the collection “Fairy Tales of Russian Writers” (in the “Library of World Literature for Children” series). When the fairy tale was written, it had a sad ending, but later Mamin-Sibiryak added a chapter about saving Gray Neck. The tale has been published many times - both separately and in collections. Many tales before recent years were not published. Now they are returning to readers. Now we can read “Confession of the old St. Petersburg cat Vaska,” written back in 1903, and others.

WITH early childhood Everyone knows the stories of D. N. Mamin-Sibiryak: “Emelya the Hunter”, “Winter Quarters on Studenoy”, “Spit”, “The Rich Man and Eremka”. Some of these stories were highly appreciated during the writer's lifetime. "Emelya the Hunter" was awarded the Prize Pedagogical Society in St. Petersburg, and in 1884 received the International Prize. The story “Winter quarters on Studenoy” was awarded the Gold Medal of the St. Petersburg Literacy Committee (1892).

Legends in the works of Mamin-Sibiryak

The writer had a long-standing interest in folk legends, especially those created by the indigenous population of the Urals and Trans-Urals: the Bashkirs and Tatars. Previously, part of the indigenous population was called Kyrgyz (they are mentioned in the legends of Mamin-Sibiryak). In 1889 he wrote to the society Russian literature: “I would like to start collecting songs, fairy tales, beliefs and other works folk art“, asked for permission to do this. The permit - “Open sheet” - was issued to Mamin-Sibiryak.

He wanted to write a historical tragedy about Khan Kuchum, but did not have time. I wrote only five legends. They came out a separate book in 1898, which was later not reprinted. Some of the legends were included in the collected works of Mamin-Sibiryak, the most famous of which is “Ak-Bozat”. The legends have strong, bright heroes, their love for freedom is simply love. The Mayan legend is clearly autobiographical, in it early death the heroine who left a small child, the endless grief of the main character, who loved his wife very much, and the consonance of names - Maya, Maria. This is a personal song about bitter love, about longing for a deceased loved one.

Yuletide stories and tales of Mamin-Sibiryak

The son of a priest, a believer, Mamin-Sibiryak wrote Christmas stories and fairy tales for both adults and children. Naturally, they were not published after 1917. During the struggle against religion, it was impossible to link these works with the name of a democratic writer. Now they have begun to be published. IN Christmas stories and fairy tales, Mamin-Sibiryak preaches the ideas of peace and harmony between people different nationalities, different social strata, of different ages. They are written with humor and optimism.

Last period of life

The last years of the writer were especially difficult. He was sick a lot himself and was very worried about the fate of his daughter. He buried his closest friends: Chekhov, Gleb Uspensky, Stanyukovich, Garin-Mikhailovsky. They almost stopped printing it. On March 21 (fateful day for Mamin-Sibiryak), 1910, his mother dies. It was a huge loss for him. In 1911, the writer suffered from paralysis.

Shortly before his death, he wrote to a friend: “...The end is coming soon... I have nothing to regret in literature, she has always been a stepmother for me... Well, to hell with her, especially since she was intertwined with bitter need for me personally, which they don’t even talk about to their closest friends.”

The writer's anniversary was approaching: 60 years since his birth and 40 years literary work. They remembered him and came to congratulate him. And Mamin-Sibiryak was in such a state that he could no longer hear anything. At 60 years old, he seemed like a decrepit old man with dull eyes. The anniversary was like a funeral service. They talked good words: “the pride of Russian literature”, “an artist of words”... They presented a luxurious album with congratulations and wishes. This album also contained words about his works for children: “You opened your soul to our children. You understood and loved them, and they understood and loved you..."

But the “confession” came too late: Dmitry Narkisovich died six days later (November 1912). After his death, telegrams continued to arrive with congratulations on the anniversary. The capital's press did not notice the departure of Mamin-Sibiryak. Only in Yekaterinburg did friends and admirers of his talent gather for a funeral evening. Mamin-Sibiryak was buried next to his wife in the cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra in St. Petersburg.

Alyonushka's fate

Elena outlived her father by two years. After his death, she insisted on a trip to Yekaterinburg. I looked at the city, the surrounding area, and met my family. In her will, Elena Mamina wrote that after the death of the last owner, her father’s house would become a museum, “which I urgently ask to be established in this city and, if possible, in the bequeathed house or the house that will be built in its place.”

Her will was fulfilled: in the center of Yekaterinburg there is a wonderful Literary Quarter, which includes the preserved House of Mamin-Sibiryak (Pushkinskaya St., 27) with all the furnishings of those years, books, photographs, drawings and manuscripts of the writer.

Alyonushka died at the age of 22 from transient consumption in the fall of 1914, when the First world war. All her archives, poems, drawings, and some of her father’s works were lost. Alyonushka was buried next to her parents. A year later, a monument was erected to all three. The words of Mamin-Sibiryak are carved on it: “To live a thousand lives, to suffer and rejoice in a thousand hearts - that’s where real life and real happiness."

Elena Shirokova

based on the materials of the article: Kapitonova, N.A. Mamin-Sibiryak D.N. // Literary local history: Chelyabinsk region / N.A. Kapitonov. - Chelyabinsk: ABRIS, 2008. - pp. 18-29.

IN lately website website increasingly responds to the same search query: “Why is the hero of the fairy tale D.N. Mamin-Sibiryak “Ak-Bozat” left his wife?”

The frequency and frightening regularity of this request first surprised us, then puzzled us: “Is it really only this global problem is the younger generation of the entire post-Soviet space worried today?” - we thought.

It turned out that this insoluble question torments only the victims of the current secondary education system - schoolchildren and students, who, instead of reading Russian literature, today are offered ready-made answers to simple questions, as on a ballot paper (“yes”, “yes”, “no”, “yes” - cross out what you need!). The imperfection of the Unified State Examination is aggravated by the absolute confidence of students that on the World Wide Web one can easily find solutions to all the insoluble problems that humanity has ever set itself.

We will not smash this enviable confidence to smithereens, for hope dies last. We will answer this question without using “too many letters”, so that the answer can be “powered” by every representative of the “Pepsi generation”, i.e. - in the spirit of the Unified State Examination test.

Question: “Why does the hero of the fairy tale D.N. Mamin-Sibiryak “Ak-Bozat” left his wife?”
Possible answers:

1. He fell in love with a woman from a neighbor's harem;
2. He was inflamed with passion for a mare named Ak-Bozat (diagnosed with bestiality);
3. The wife didn’t manage the house well, didn’t tidy up the tent and didn’t know how to milk mares, and spent all day on VKontakte.ru.

Now try, my dear users who basically don’t read anything, point your finger at the sky and choose the correct answer. We would also recommend that education officials who write similar tests on Russian literature do this. Their only goal is to turn Russian schoolchildren into stupid, obedient sheep, capable of choosing answer options already proposed by someone without much thought and tedious reading.

We advise all other students to turn to the original source and read the very worthy (not to be confused with the word “slop”!) literary text of the fairy tale by the Russian writer D.N. Mamin-Sibiryak. Reading “Ak-Bozat” will take no more than 10-15 minutes, which in any case is less time spent searching for a ready-made answer on the Internet.

So,

“Why is the hero of the fairy tale D.N. Mamin-Sibiryak “Ak-Bozat” left his wife?”
(opinion of the site’s authors familiar with the text “Ak-Bozat”)

The hero of the fairy tale Bukharbay, in the past a very wealthy man, through his own fault, lost (walked away, drank, went on a spree) all his fortune. The only thing he managed to save was a thoroughbred foal named Ak-Bozat (Star). For many years, Bukharbai raised a foal, and the mare Ak-Bozat became the main thing in his life: at the same time the memory of his father and mother, and hope for his own better future, an object of self-realization.

Hard work bears fruit: the daughter of a rich man pays attention to Bukharbai, whom Bukharbai himself likes. However, her father asks for Ak-Bozat as a dowry for his daughter! It would seem that a mare is a completely acceptable payment for family happiness with a loving wife.

However, the horse was stolen! And this happens precisely at the moment when Bukharbai “betrayed” his destiny - he agreed to exchange Ak-Bozat for family happiness, a home and material well-being. As a result, life without Ak-Bozat, without a dream that he once betrayed and lost forever, turned out to be unbearable for him. Therefore the hero leaves his wife(!) and rushes off to his guiding star- Ak-Bozat, the possession of which, as he understands, was the true meaning of his life.