Dmitry Gorchakov

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Dmitry Gorchakov
Born(1758-01-12)January 12, 1758
Kostroma, Russian Empire
DiedDecember 11, 1824(1824-12-11) (aged 66)
Moscow, Russian Empire

Prince Dmitry Petrovich Gorchakov (Russian: князь Дми́трий Петро́вич Горчако́в, IPA:

poet, best known for his satirical verses and three comical operas, staged at the end of the 18th century.[1]

Biography

Prince Dmitry Gorchakov was born in

Ryurikovichs. He received a high quality education at home, in 1768 joined the army, took part in Wallachian and Crimean campaigns but in 1782 (for reasons that remained unclear), retired to engage himself in agricultural activities in his Tula
estate. It was in the early 1780s that he first started to write poetry.

In 1790 Prince Gorchakov rejoined the Russian army as a volunteer, took part in the

Danilov monastery in Moscow.[1]

Works

Dmitry Gorchakov was best known for his comedy plays King for a Day (Калиф на час, Moscow, 1786), The Lucky Tonya (Счастливая тоня,

Saint Petersburgh
. His novelet Plamir and Raida came out in 1796.

A keen analyst of the European political affairs, Gorchakov in the early 1800s was regarded as the leading Russian satirist. Some of his poems were published in the Drug Prosveshchenya (Friend of Enlightenment) magazine in 1804-1806, more of the others circulated privately as hand-written manuscripts, best-known of which was The Epistle to Prince S.N.Dolgorukov which in many ways (notably by bringing to mind the famous Tchatsky's monologue) pre-empted

Aleksander Pushkin was much impressed by Prince Gorchakov’s works. In his 1815 poem Gorodok (Small Town) he mentioned him and his satires ("I love your needle-sharp verse..."). Tellingly, in 1828 amidst The Gabrieliad scandal, Pushkin tried to ascribe his "dirty" poem to Prince Gorchakov, then four years dead, trying to exploit the latter's reputation as the early 1800s Russia's major volnodumetz ("free-thinking man").[1]

The first ever attempt to collect Gorchakov's legacy was made in 1890 by his granddaughter Princess Yelena Gorchakova who published The Works of D.P.Gorchakov (Сочинения Д.П. Горчакова). This volume was far from comprehensive, though: none of the earlier publications were included. Large part of Gorchakov's legacy has been lost: a bulk of his unpublished material along with numerous rough copies has perished in the fire that destroyed his country house, while some of poems he did publish remained anonymous.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c Petrova, T. G. (1990). "Russian Writers. Biobibliographical Dictionary. Vol 1". Moscow. Prosveshchenye Publishers. Retrieved 2011-01-01.
  2. ^ Tonya (тоня) - a place for fishing.
  3. ^ a b "Russian Biographical Dictionary". www.rulex.ru. Retrieved 2011-01-01.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dmitry_Gorchakov&oldid=1191729041"