According to a brief biography of Leonid Andreev, he was born in 1871 in Orel. His family was quite wealthy, and the young man received a good education. First he studied at the Oryol classical gymnasium, then he entered St. Petersburg University. Already at that time, Andreev was interested in literature and was a big fan of the work of Schopenhauer.
After some time, the young man's father died, and the family's financial situation was shaken. Andreev himself recalls that at this time he began to abuse alcohol and at times go hungry. In the end, the young man was expelled from the university, and he entered the Faculty of Law of Moscow University.
In 1894, Andreev tried to commit suicide due to unrequited love. After a suicide attempt, his health deteriorated greatly and he was diagnosed with a heart defect. This disease later became the cause of the writer’s death.
The young man was forced to study and work, as he had to support his family: his mother, brothers and sisters, who moved to Moscow with him. The financial situation worsened again. At the same time, he began to write, but publishers were not interested in his stories; they refused to publish them.
Mature years
In 1897, Andreev graduated from the university and began practicing law. At the same time, he was able to publish his first story, which was noted by M. Gorky himself, who invited the young writer to the Znanie publishing partnership.
In 1902, several significant events occurred in the writer’s life. Firstly, he married the great-niece of Taras Shevchenko. Secondly, with the help of M. Gorky, he published the first collection of his works. Thirdly, he became “restricted from traveling”, since the police reasonably assumed that he was connected with revolutionaries. During the first Russian revolution, in 1905, Andreev supported the revolutionaries, hid members of the RSDLP in his house, for which he was arrested and imprisoned, then released on bail, which was paid by Savva Morozov.
Since 1906, the writer was in exile. He lived for some time in Germany, then in Capri, at M. Gorky’s dacha. At this time, the writer gradually became disillusioned with the ideas of the revolution and gradually moved away from all political affairs. He moved to Belgium and then to Finland. In 1909, he made a long trip to Africa and began writing dramatic and philosophical works. At this time, his works were published in his homeland in the anthology “Rosehip”.
The Writer and the Revolution of 1917
The writer met the February Revolution with enthusiasm and even headed the editorial office of the newspaper “Russian Will” for some time, but Andreev did not accept the October Revolution, moreover, all the writer’s works of that time were imbued with hatred of Bolshevism.
Death
The writer never returned to his homeland. He remained in Finland, where he died of heart disease in 1919.
Other biography options
- Andreev's literary biography is incredibly rich. In total, he wrote about 90 stories, 20 plays, 8 novels and novellas. His outstanding contemporaries were engrossed in Andreev’s works. He was well regarded as a writer
Years of life: from 08/09/1871 to 09/12/1919
Russian writer and playwright. He used many impressionistic techniques in his work and is considered the founder of existentialism in Russia. In dramaturgy, he largely anticipated Brecht's theater.
Biography
L.N. Andreev was born in the city of Orel on August 9, 1871.
Leonid was the eldest son in the family, his mother loved and spoiled him very much. Andreev carried memories of friendship and warm relations with his mother throughout his life.
The father was strict with the children, tried to keep them within strict limits. However, Andreev Sr. had one drawback - like all other residents of the street, he often went on drinking bouts and at this time there was no control over the children. Andreev inherited a penchant for alcohol from his father, but struggled with this habit all his life.
The pictures and customs of the street on which the Andreevs lived were vividly depicted in Leonid Nikolaevich’s first published story, “Bargamot and Garaska.”
Leonid Andreev received his primary education at home, then entered the Oryol gymnasium. Andreev was a careless student; it was rare that a teacher could interest him, and even teachers at that time did not strive for this. Andreev stayed for the second year, often skipped classes, wrote poetry during lessons and drew caricatures of teachers and students.
At the gymnasium, Andreev became interested in the philosophy of Schopenhauer and Hartmann. After reading Schopenhauer’s treatise “The World as Will and Representation,” Andreev literally pursued his comrades with questions that they could not answer. Schopenhauer's philosophy had a significant influence on Andreev's worldview and his creative method. It is from here that the writer’s pessimism comes, disbelief in the triumph of reason, doubt in the triumph of virtue and confidence in the insurmountability of fate.
In 1891, Andreev graduated from high school and went to St. Petersburg to continue his education. He lives very poorly, since his father had already died by this time, and his family could not help him financially. Andreev is expelled from the university for non-payment, and he enters the law faculty of Moscow University, where his studies are paid for by the Society for Benefits to the Needy.
During this period, Andreev experiences a deep feeling of love, but the reciprocity does not last long - his chosen one refuses his marriage proposal, and the writer attempts suicide. Its result was heart disease, from which Andreev later dies.
In 1897, Andreev graduated from the university, quite successfully, and began serving as an assistant to a sworn attorney, but Andreev did not have to practice law for long - already in 1898 he published his first story in the newspaper “Courier”. The story “Bargamot and Garaska” was written to order for the Easter issue of the newspaper and immediately became the object of heated discussions and praise. In particular, the story was noticed by Gorky, with whom Andreev began a correspondence, and the writers became almost best friends.
It should be noted that Andreev was published in Courier before this. But he acted as a simple correspondent who wrote reviews of court proceedings and feuilletons. His pseudonym was James Lynch.
In 1900, Andreev finally met Gorky personally, who immediately introduced him to the realistic literary circle “Sreda”, where the aspiring writer was very well received and predicted a great future for him. At the society's meetings, the most prominent artists of the time met, not only writers (Bunin, Serafimovich, Chekhov, Korolenko, Kuprin), but also artists (Vasnetsov, Levitan), as well as stage figures (Chaliapin). Thus, Andreev finds himself in the best intellectual society, where writers read their works, listened to the opinions of professionals about them, and learned from each other.
When the circle decides to organize its own publishing house, Andreev has the opportunity to publish his first collection of stories. So, in 1901, under his own name - Leonid Andreev - the writer published his first collection - “Stories”.
Those 10 works that were published in it made the most favorable impression on readers and critics. Many of the country's leading critics wrote laudatory articles, and Andreev himself jokingly said that the volume of laudatory articles exceeded the volume of the collection itself. So fame immediately came to Andreev.
In 1902, Andreev happily married Alexandra Mikhailovna Veligorskaya, a very meek and patient woman.
In 1905, one of the most important events takes place in Russia, and Andreev, naturally, does not remain on the sidelines. Like most progressive people of his time, he welcomes the First Russian Revolution, seeing in it an opportunity for the further development of Russia.
However, the revolution is defeated, and Andreev is forced to leave Russia and in November goes to Germany, where his wife dies in childbed fever.
In terrible depression, which was aggravated by heavy drinking, Andreev went to Gorky’s estate on the island of Capri, where he lived until 1908.
In 1907, Andreev became disillusioned with the ideas of the revolution, which caused a cooling of friendly relations with Gorky.
In 1908, having married again (to Anna Ilyinichna Denisevich), Andreev left for his estate in Finland - “Advance”, so named because it was built with an advance received from the publisher. There Andreev will live most of the rest of his life, occasionally traveling to the capital on business of his publications.
Andreev greeted the beginning of WWI with enthusiasm, believing in the victory of the Russian army over Germany, but he soon realized the callousness of the war and abandoned military-patriotic sentiments.
Andreev also greets the February Revolution of 1917 joyfully, but realizing how much blood is shed by the Bolsheviks in the name of a good cause, he refuses to take their side and already condemns the October Revolution.
Unwittingly, after the declaration of independence of Finland, where Andreev continued to live at his dacha, he found himself in exile. The writer felt “exiled three times: from home, from Russia and from creativity.”
So, not accepting the revolution, but also not taking the side of the whites, Andreev lived in Finland until 1919.
In the fall, in mid-September, Leonid Nikolaevich Andreev dies of heart paralysis - an old suicide attempt took its toll.
During his student years, Andreev was engaged in painting - he painted portraits to order for 3-5 rubles apiece. His amateur works were positively assessed by such masters of the brush as N. Roerich and I. Repin.
In 1905, Andreev sheltered revolutionaries, provided his apartment for meetings of the Central Committee of the RSDLP, for which he would be sent to prison in February 1905. After staying in the fortress for about a month, Andreev is released on bail provided by Savva Morozov. Moreover, he comes out completely satisfied with himself, as he tells Gorky - the conclusion helps to feel life more fully, to unfold in all its breadth.
Leonid Andreev (1871-1919) was born in Orel on August 9. This domestic author is considered to be not only a prominent representative of the Silver Age of literature, but the founder of expressionism in Russia. During his short life, the writer created many original works in which several trends were mixed.
Childhood and adolescence
Leonid Nikolaevich spent his youth in a simple family of a land surveyor and the daughter of a Polish landowner. From an early age he loved to read, with a particular interest in Hartmann and Schopenhauer. After graduating from high school, the young man entered the University of St. Petersburg, the Faculty of Law. During the same period, Andreev began his first attempt at writing, but his stories were not accepted by editors. After his father passed away, Leonid really lacked money, and he was forced to transfer to a similar faculty in Moscow, where his friends helped him.
In 1894, a heartbreak led the future writer to attempt suicide. An unsuccessful suicide led not only to the development of heart disease, but also to new financial problems. Andreev painted, taught, and in 1897 began working in the legal profession. Leonid Nikolayevich’s journalistic practice in Moscow newspapers also dates back to this period, one of which already in 1898 published Andreev’s story “Bargamot and Garaska” - the first attempt at a critical analysis of modern society. The author’s talent was noticed by Maxim Gorky, and he invited “Znanie” writers to join his fellowship.
Literary success
In 1901, Andreev’s story “Once Upon a Time” appeared in the magazine “Life”. At the same time, the story “The Wall” was published, in which the author’s professional style and its main themes had already begun to take shape - the struggle of a person against political and social oppression, the lack of faith in the mind of the individual and a skeptical attitude towards society. A year later, the writer was offered to be the editor of the publication “Courier” and helped to publish a collection of essays, he got married.
In 1905, the First Revolution broke out, for participation in which Leonid was sent to prison. Andreev then moved to Germany in 1906, but less than a year later his wife died. For some time the writer lived in Italy with Maxim Gorky, but gradually Leonid Nikolaevich became disillusioned with the ideas of the revolution and moved away from such a circle of writers. At this time, his passion for spiritualism and religion arose, in connection with which the story “Judas Iscariot” was born in 1907.
In the period from 1905 to 1908. Andreev writes a lot about the ideas of revolution that he likes. But gradually the heroes of Leonid Nikolaevich’s stories increasingly begin to be dissatisfied with the orders of modernity, turning into suffering victims or anarchists (“The Story of the Seven Hanged Men”).
In 1908, Andreev married for the second time, purchased a villa with money from publishers, and began to create serious dramatic works. A year later, the writer began collaborating with modernist magazines.
The First World War was greeted positively by Andreev. During this period, he wrote a drama about the events in Belgium, but never returned to the theme of war, telling in his works only about the tragedies of the “little man.”
The October Revolution was not accepted by the writer; moreover, he lived in Finland at that time and became an emigrant. Andreev's latest literary creations concern a negative attitude towards the Bolsheviks and have a depressive mood. The unfinished novel “Satan's Diary” is dedicated to the incredible cunning and evil of modern society, which is capable of deceiving even the devil.
In September 1919, Leonid Andreev passed away due to heart disease at his friend’s dacha. Books by this author began to be actively published in the Soviet Union only in the 50s.
Leonid Nikolaevich Andreev is a great Russian writer of the Silver Age, who created a number of equally significant works, both in realistic and symbolic prose. He is rightfully considered one of the strangest and most mysterious authors. A huge talent: to see the interesting in the ordinary, the ability to turn the most, at first glance, ordinary character into a personality, to show the impartial sides of the human soul, the ability to make a reader of any age look into himself and wander with a cleansing lantern in the darkness of his own psyche.
A few interesting facts from the biography will help us better understand the thoughts and feelings of the author. This will become for us a real guide to the world of his gloomy works. The life and work of Leonid Andreev are closely intertwined.
L.N. was born. Andreev in the Oryol province, which was the birthplace of many talented authors. I.A. also walked along the same streets. Bunin, and I.S. Turgenev. The famous philosopher M.M. was born here. Bakhtin.
Nature endowed Leonid Andreev not only with talent, but also with impeccable appearance. As F.M. would have written. Dostoevsky: “possessed extraordinary, terrible beauty.” Many passers-by looked around as he passed by. He was drawn by I.E. Repin, V.A. Serov, L.O. Parsnip.
Andreev studied, by his own admission, “badly.” After graduating from high school, he decided to enter St. Petersburg University to become a lawyer, but was expelled because the family had financial difficulties. But, despite this, Andreev educated himself and read a lot. “Leonid Andreev had more talent than taste,” Chukovsky wrote in his reviews.
1889 became one of the most difficult years in the life of young Andreev; he experienced the loss of his father, as well as the crisis of his first unhappy love. All this left a huge imprint on the author’s delicate psyche. A manic idea to go to another world appears in his soul, and his first attempt to commit suicide occurs (he falls on the rails). However, fortune smiled on Leonid Andreev, and he remained alive, giving the world a lot of works. Subsequently, he will try to commit suicide more than once: such is his violent, restless nature. In general, Andreev with a pistol or a razor in his hands is a common sight for his inner circle. He is the man who has been captive to his passions throughout his life. “Nature is boiling water.” He also inherited his father's sin - alcohol addiction. But, having tasted all the abundance of vices and having gone through thorns on his own, Leonid Nikolaevich gave us a huge bouquet of insightful texts.
Phenomenal abilities of Leonid Andreev
Many argue that the writer had the gift of foresight. 2 months before the death of his first wife Shurochka Veligorskaya (she died after giving birth to Daniil Andreev, who would become a writer in the future), Leonid Nikolaevich created the famous play “The Life of a Man.” He read this work to her - she turned pale. In this text, L.N. Andreev foresaw his own suffering and torment after some time. Andrei Bely defined the tone of this play as “sobbing despair”, and called Andreev himself a person “behind whom chaos swirls.”
How did Andreev feel about the revolution?
Andreev, in his work, foresaw all the events that took place in Russia at the beginning of the twentieth century. He was a rebel by nature. He stood for what he considered right and fair. Even as a student, Andreev participated in anti-government circles, and after that he supported both the First World War and the February Revolution with all his might. Initially, the author saw the benefit and flourishing of democracy during the October Revolution of 1917, but the stronger the power of the Bolsheviks became, the more Andreev realized the senselessness and incorrectness of this action. “The conqueror Lenin walks on puddles of blood,” he wrote in a pamphlet about Lenin. “The heart does not want to beat, the blood does not want to flow, life does not want to live,” Leonid Nikolaevich left this entry in his diary at the end of 1917.
Andreev was not afraid of persecution and punishment; he openly condemned both his own government and foreign authorities. In the article “S.O.S” (short for “save our souls”, translated: “Save our souls!”), the author openly reproaches the Allied governments for their attitude towards “torn Russia”.
“You must have no sense of dignity at all in order to wash yourself with slop instead of water, in order to absorb with a pleasant smile, like a sugared pineapple, all those insults and ridicule, mocking mockery and outright sincere kicks that were awarded to representatives of all allied peoples in Bolshevik Petrograd...”
Journalism of Leonid Andreev: analysis
Leonid Andreev was a critic by nature. His journalistic works are distinguished by brevity and causticity. For example, in a note dedicated to the 25th anniversary of Nekrasov’s death, Andreev sincerely made it clear that Nekrasov is not his favorite poet, he does not like poems at all. It’s surprising that the author’s vulnerable soul is more affected by the prose. Why is Andreev so brief in his note? He probably did not want to offend with his carelessness and subjectivity the feelings of those readers who value Nekrasov’s genius, but he could not help but notice: “At present, Nekrasov, it seems to me, is respected more than ever, and less than ever before.” Anyway, let’s read.” Let it be brief, but sincere, it’s not for nothing that one famous writer said: “Only that which is empty from within rattles.”
Leonid Nikolaevich devoted much more lines to Maxim Gorky, who often acted as a mentor and critic and more than once gave advice to young Andreev. However, in “careless thoughts” Andreev does not “sing laudatory praises” to Alexei Maksimovich, but, on the contrary, actively criticizes: “The basis of Gorky’s artistic individuality is his despotism”; “There is no peace in his artistic kingdom, and that is why there is an eternal “war of all against all””; “and like Chronos, devouring his children, one by one, Gorky little by little swallows his heroes.”
Interesting? Save it on your wall!
Leonid Nikolaevich Andreev - Russian prose writer, playwright, publicist - born August 9(21), 1871 in Orel. Son of a private land surveyor. His family has always been quite wealthy. But when his father died, a difficult period began in the biography of Leonid Nikolaevich Andreev. There was not enough money, so sometimes Leonid was even forced to starve. To support his family, he had to work a lot and change several jobs.
In 1897 L. Andreev graduated from the Faculty of Law of Moscow University. From the same year he served as an assistant attorney for the Moscow Judicial District, and at the same time worked as a court reporter in the Kurier newspaper, where since 1900 led two cycles of feuilletons - the daily “Impressions” and the Sunday “Moscow. Little things in life" since December 1901 was in charge of the fiction department.
First appearance in print - the story “In Cold and Gold” ( 1892 ), but Andreev himself considered the Easter story “Bargamot and Garaska” (“Courier”, 1898, April 5). He gained fame after his first book “Stories” ( 1901 ), released at the expense of M. Gorky; published in collections of realistic themes edited by him. At the same time, there are clear echoes with the classical tradition, with the themes and motifs of F.M. Dostoevsky, V.M. Garshina, L.N. Tolstoy, A.P. Chekhov already in Andreev’s early stories (“Grand Slam”, 1899 ; "Silence", 1900 ; "Wall", 1901 ; “Abyss”, “In the Fog”, “Thought”, 1902 etc.) combined with the modernist interpretation of existence and man, attention to the irrational and subconscious layers of existence (due to the influence of the philosophy of A. Schopenhauer and E. Hartmann, partly F. Nietzsche). Precision in the choice of socially significant issues, the elevation of social specifics to metaphysical universals, intense psychologism of the narrative (often conveying the extreme, “borderline” states of the characters), the originality of the stylistic manner of Andreev the prose writer (“The Life of Vasily Fiveysky”, 1904 ; "Red Laughter", "Thief" 1905 ; "Governor" 1906 ; "Judas Iscariot and others" 1907 ; “The Tale of the Seven Hanged Men”, “My Notes”, 1908 etc.), in many ways foreshadowing the poetics of expressionism, made his innovative work in 1900s – early 1910s. a barometer of sociocultural and intellectual-aesthetic moods in Russia.
In 1907 the writer became a laureate of the literary prize. Griboyedov in St. Petersburg.
In the 1910s None of Andreev’s new works becomes a literary event, nevertheless, Bunin writes in his diary: “Still, this is the only modern writer to whom I am attracted, whose every new thing I immediately read.”
In literature, Andreev occupied an isolated position, seemingly in the gap between realism and modernism. In his ideological quests, he (as biographical materials testify - unconsciously) came closer to the existentialist philosophy of L. Shestov and N.A. Berdyaev. The motives of total alienation of man from an existence hostile to him, clearly expressed during this period, are replaced by in the first half of the 1910s. hopes for the possibility of reconciliation with the universe (for example, the story “Flight”, 1914 ), but at the end of life they are again strengthened by a mood of pessimism (the unfinished novel “Satan’s Diary”, published posthumously in 1921 ).
In the field of dramaturgy, Andreev’s innovation was expressed in attempts to create plays in which traditional life-likeness would be replaced by a symbolically rich conventional plot, combined with an expressionistic style and capable of containing all stages of an individual’s existence (“Life of a Man,” 1907 ), generalized images of social cataclysms (“Tsar Famine”, 1908 ), phantoms of the subconscious (“Black masks”, 1908 ). In his concept of the “theater of panpsychism” ( 1912-1914 ) Andreev asserts the priority of intellectual principles in the future evolution of the theater. This concept was partially implemented in his later plays ("He Who Gets Slapped" 1915 ; "Requiem", 1917 ; "Dog Waltz" 1922 ), in which the theme of the tragedy of individual existence is especially acute. Andreev’s plays as experimental (“Life of a Man”, “Anatema”, 1908 ), and more traditional (“Days of our Lives”, 1908 ; "Anfisa" 1909 ; "Ekaterina Ivanovna" 1912 ), staged by major directors (K.S. Stanislavsky, Vl.I. Nemirovich-Danchenko, V.E. Meyerhold); they were successfully performed in many Russian and European theaters.
When the First Russian Revolution began, Andreev actively participated in public life. He went to prison, but was soon released on bail. A in November 1905 left the country. First he went to Germany, then to Italy, Finland. The First World War in the biography of the writer Leonid Andreev left its mark on his life and work. Andreev did not accept the October Revolution. At that time he lived with his family at the dacha in Finland and in December 1917 After Finland gained independence, he ended up in exile.
