The attitude of the Russian people to the great fabulist Ivan Andreevich Krylov (1769-1844) has always been extremely warm. They called him "Grandfather Krylov", thereby emphasizing the respect and love for this extraordinary person. N. V. Gogol called the Krylov fables "The Book of Folk Wisdom". But the great fabulist created not only fables; he has shown his talent in a wide variety of literary genres. A bold satirist, a subtle lyrical poet, a witty author of funny comedies. This was Krylov at the end of the 18th century.
This period of creative activity prepared the writer for the field of fabulist, which brought him well-deserved fame. At the same time, the 80-90s of the 18th century can be viewed as an independent stage in the creative formation of Ivan Andreevich. He, as a writer, took a worthy place in the literary life of those years, and his early works are an example of biting satire and to this day arouse keen interest among readers.
Biography of I.A.Krylov
Ivan Andreevich Krylov was born on February 2, 1769 in Moscow in the family of a modest army officer. His father, Andrei Prokhorovich Krylov, served for a long time as an ordinary soldier, then as a company clerk and, in the end, rose to the rank of sergeant. He distinguished himself during the suppression of the Pugachev uprising and resigned in 1774 with the rank of captain.
After his resignation, he was appointed to the post of chairman of the Tver provincial magistrate. So little Krylov ended up in Tver. He was brought up by his mother. She was, according to the fabulist himself, a simple woman without education, but intelligent by nature. At the age of 10, the boy's father died, and the family was left without any means of subsistence.
The boy's mother, having become a widow, was petitioning for a pension, appealing to the highest name, begging her to condescend to her poverty, to take into account her husband's long and blameless service. But the pension was denied, and Krylov's mother began to raise money for her daily bread with services in wealthy houses and reading a psalter for the dead.
The youngest Krylov was assigned as a sub-clerk to the same provincial magistrate, where his father served during his lifetime. But in the winter of 1782, mother and son moved to St. Petersburg. There Krylov was taken into the office in the St. Petersburg State Chamber. The family owed this to the merits of the deceased father. Although the widow was denied a pension, the state showed its participation, and the son of the honored captain was given a more or less decent job.
Creativity in young years
In the capital, Krylov became interested in theater. At first, I just went to performances as a spectator, and then decided to try myself in drama. At the age of 14, he wrote a comic opera in verse "Coffee House". Then he wrote tragedies from ancient Greek life: "Philomela" and "Cleopatra". In 1786-1788, the young man wrote a number of comedies and met such prominent actors as Dmitrievsky, Rykalov, Plavilshchikov. But Krylov's creations were not staged on stage.
Disappointed with the opportunity to see his plays on stage, Krylov broke up with the theater and decided to take up journalism. In 1788 he began to cooperate with the magazine "Morning Hours", which was directed by I. G, Rachmaninoff. The occupation of the future fabulist in the new field was the most diverse. He proved himself both as a poet, and as a satirist, and as a journalist. The magazine "Morning Hours" also published the first fables: "The Shy Gambler", "The Peacock and the Nightingale" and a number of others.
Rachmaninov, under whom Krylov worked, was close to the radical intelligentsia grouped around Radishchev. And this affected the activities of Ivan Andreevich. In January 1789, he began to publish the Mail of Spirits magazine, the main purpose of which was to denounce the noble society of that time.
Krylov, thus, acted as the successor of the traditions of Radishchev, Novikov, Fonvizin. The Spirit Mail became a one-author magazine. It reflected the correspondence of fictitious "spirits" with the same fictional "Arab philosopher Malikulmulk". Such satire made it possible to speak rather transparently about the shortcomings of the existing system.
But the magazine lasted only until August 1789. The Great French Revolution led to an intensification of reaction in Russia. This made it impossible to further publish the "Mail of the Spirits". However, Krylov, on a par with actor Dmitriev, playwright Plavilshchikov, young writer Klushin, organized the publication of a new magazine "Spectator". It began printing in 1782.
In "Spectator" Ivan Andreevich published such works of his as "Kaib", "Nights", "A speech of praise in memory of my grandfather." And these creations, which came out of the pen of the future fabulist, largely continued and deepened the satirical motives of the "Mail of Spirits".
In 1796, Catherine II died, but the government's tough course in relation to literature did not change. The new emperor Paul I intensified the persecution of free thought. He ordered the closure of private printing houses and established strict censorship over the press.
In the fall of 1797, Ivan Andreevich Krylov settled in the village of Cossack in the Kiev province. This was the estate of Prince S. F. Golitsyn, who fell out of favor with Paul I. The mood of the future fabulist was extremely oppositional. This was evidenced by the clownish comedy "Podshchip", written in Cossack. She represented herself as an evil parody of the order existing in the country. It was first published only in 1871.
Ivan Andreevich's stay in Cossack ended with the death of Emperor Paul I. In the fall of 1801, S. F. Golitsyn was appointed governor-general of Riga. Krylov went with his patron as a secretary. And in 1802 in St. Petersburg the second edition of "Mail of Spirits" was published and the comedy "Pie" was staged.
Creativity in adulthood
Soon Krylov retired and went to Moscow. In the January issue of the magazine "Moscow Spectator" for 1806, the first fables of Ivan Andreevich were published, which determined his further creative path. By the beginning of 1806, the aspiring fabulist arrived in St. Petersburg. In this city he lived all subsequent years.
His life became monotonous and peaceful. He takes an active part in the literary life of the capital, becomes a member of the literary and scientific communities. He becomes closely acquainted with the most famous writers of that time. Lives next door to the translator of the Iliad NI Gnedich and is a member of the Public Library.
Krylov is getting closer to the president of the Academy of Arts A. N. Olenin. In those years, famous scientists, writers and artists gathered in the Olenins' house. There were Shakhovsky, Ozerov, Gnedich, Batyushkov, later Pushkin and many other popular people. All literary news, newly appeared poems, information about interesting books, original paintings immediately got into the house.
With the coming to power of Alexander I, liberal trends gained strength in the country. As a result, Ivan Andreevich Krylov again returned to literary activity. Along with fables, which became his main activity, in 1806-1807 such comedies as "Fashion Shop", "A Lesson for Daughters", "Ilya-Bogatyr" were written. They were successful with the audience and were imbued with love and respect for Russian national culture.
In them, the ignorant provincial nobility was shown in a vitally truthful, cheerful, aptly. It was in awe of everything foreign, and as a result of its gullibility, it allowed foreign rogues to rob and fool itself. But Krylov's fame was brought not by comedies, but by fables.
In 1809, the first book of Ivan Andreevich's fables was published. And since then, for a quarter of a century, he devoted all his energy to writing fables. In 1811 he was elected a member of the Conversations of the Lovers of the Russian Word, which united the writers of the older generation. At this time, Krylov no longer looked like that impudent rebel who dared to hit the empress herself with the arrows of satire.
He becomes sedate, unhurried, withdraws into himself, and those around him begin to consider him eccentric. And how not to count, if Ivan Andreevich Krylov could now sit for hours at the window in his room with a pipe in his mouth, thinking about the course of human life. Legends began to circulate about his absent-mindedness and laziness. It was said that he once appeared at the palace in a uniform, the buttons on which were wrapped in pieces of paper by the tailor. And Pushkin, who knew Krylov closely, wrote about him while about a lazy eccentric.
However, Pushkin's friend P.A.Vyazemsky did not at all consider Ivan Andreevich an eccentric. He sagaciously wrote: “Krylov was not at all the absent-minded and simple-hearted La Fontaine, which everyone had long considered him to be. In everything and always he was extremely smart. Fables were his calling. In them, he could say a lot without pretending, and under the guise of animals, touch upon issues, circumstances, personalities, to which he did not have the heart to directly reach. "
IV Turgenev, who met the famous fabulist in his youth, described his appearance as follows: “I saw Krylov only once at an evening with a Petersburg writer. He sat for more than 3 hours motionless between two windows and during this time he did not say a word. He was dressed in a spacious, well-worn tailcoat, a white neckerchief, and tasselled boots wrapped around his fat legs. He rested his hands on his knees and never turned his head. Only the eyes moved under the drooping eyebrows. It was impossible to understand whether he was listening or just sitting there. "
Such was Ivan Andreevich Krylov, the great Russian fabulist. In his youth, he established himself as a rebel, boldly attacking those who held him in power, and in his mature years he hid, assuming the image of a lazy eccentric. He began to express the truth about the world around him through fables, skillfully hiding his true thoughts and feelings.
At the end of a life's journey
In 1838, a solemn celebration of Krylov took place on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of his literary activity. At this meeting, V. Zhukovsky described Ivan Andreevich's fables as poetic lessons of wisdom that will reach posterity and never lose their strength and freshness. And the reason for this is that they have turned into popular proverbs, and they always live with the people.
The great fabulist worked in the Public Library for about 30 years. He retired in March 1841 at the age of 72. He settled in a quiet apartment on Vasilievsky Island. The last work of the writer was the preparation for publication in 1843 of the complete collection of his fables. Ivan Andreevich Krylov died on November 9, 1844 at the age of 75.
The cause of death was bilateral pneumonia. The funeral was held extremely magnificently with a large crowd of people. The great fabulist wrote a total of 236 fables, which were included in 9 collections during his lifetime. They were published from 1809 to 1843. Many expressions from fables have become winged.
Ivan Andreevich was born on February 2, 1769 in Moscow into a military family, which did not differ in high incomes. When Ivan was 6 years old, his father Andrei Prokhorovich was transferred to Tver, where the family in poverty continues to exist, and soon loses its breadwinner.
Due to the move and the low level of income, Ivan Andreevich was unable to complete the education he started in Moscow. However, this did not prevent him from gaining considerable knowledge and becoming one of the most enlightened people of his time. This became possible thanks to the young man's strong desire for reading, languages and sciences, which the future publicist and poet mastered through self-education.
Earlier creativity. Dramaturgy
Another "life school" of Ivan Krylov, whose biography is very multifaceted, was the common people. The future writer enjoyed visiting various folk festivals and entertainment, he himself often took part in street battles. It was there, in a crowd of ordinary people, that Ivan Andreevich drew the pearls of folk wisdom and scintillating peasant humor, capacious vernacular expressions that would eventually form the basis of his famous fables.
In 1782, the family moved to St. Petersburg in search of a better life. In the capital, Krylov Ivan Andreevich began government service. However, such activities did not satisfy the young man's ambitions. Carried away by the then fashionable theatrical trends, in particular under the influence of the play "The Miller" by A.O. Aplesimova, Krylov manifests himself in writing dramatic works: tragedies, comedies, opera librettos.
Contemporary critics of the author, although they did not show high appreciation, nevertheless approved of his attempts and encouraged further creativity. According to a friend and biographer Krylov M.E. Lobanova, I.A. Dmitrievsky, a famous actor of that time, saw the talent of a playwright in Krylov. With the writing of the satirical comedy "Pranksters", even a brief summary of which makes it clear that Ya.B. The prince, who was considered the leading playwright of that time, the author quarrels not only with the "master" himself, but also finds himself in the field of resentment and criticism of the theatrical management.
Publishing activities
Failures in the field of drama did not cool, but on the contrary, strengthened the satirical notes in the talent of the future fabulist Krylov. He takes over the publishing of the monthly satirical magazine "Mail of the Spirits". After eight months, however, the journal ceases to exist. After retiring in 1792, a publicist and poet acquired a printing house, where he began to publish the magazine "Spectator", which began to enjoy greater success than the "Mail of Spirits".
But after a search it was closed, and the publisher himself devoted several years to travel.
Last years
In a short biography of Krylov, it is worth mentioning the period associated with S.F. Golitsyn. In 1797, Krylov entered the service of the prince as a home teacher and personal secretary. During this period, the author never ceases to create dramatic and poetic works. And in 1805 he sent for consideration a collection of fables to the famous critic I.I. Dmitriev. The latter appreciated the work of the author and said that this is his true vocation. Thus, a brilliant fabulist entered the history of Russian literature, who devoted the last years of his life to writing and publishing works of this genre, working as a librarian. He penned more than two hundred fables for children studied in different classes, as well as original and translated satirical works for adults.
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Ivan Krylov Russian writer, fabulist, academician. In 1809 - 43 he created more than 200 fables imbued with a democratic spirit, distinguished by satirical sharpness, bright and well-aimed language. Social and human vices were denounced in them. N. V. Gogol called I. Krylov's fables "... the book of wisdom of the people themselves."
Born on February 2 in Moscow into the family of a poor army captain. The future fabulist received a meager education, but, possessing exceptional abilities, reading a lot from childhood, persistently and persistently engaged in self-education, he became one of the most enlightened people of his time.
After the death of his father the family was left without any means of subsistence, and from the age of ten, Krylov had to work as a scribe in the Tverskoy court. The mother was unable to obtain a pension after the death of her husband, and in 1782 it was decided to go to Petersburg to seek a pension. In the capital, too, nothing was achieved, but for Krylov there was a place as a clerk in the Treasury. In addition, Petersburg opened up for him the opportunity to engage in literary work. During 1786 - 1788 Krylov wrote the tragedies "Cleopatra" and "Philomela" and the comedy "The Furious Family", "The Pranksters".
The name of the young playwright soon becomes famous in theatrical and literary circles. In 1789 Krylov began publishing the satirical magazine Mail of Spirits, which continued the traditions of Russian satirical journalism. Due to its radical direction, the magazine was able to survive for only eight months, but Krylov did not abandon his intention to resume it. In 1792 he created a new satirical magazine "Spectator", which immediately became popular due to the topicality of its topics. The story "Kaib" allegorically presents the arbitrariness and deceitful liberalism of the totalitarian regime, in which the reader can easily recognize the Russia of his day. In the summer of 1792, a search was carried out in the printing house, Krylov came under police surveillance, and the publication of the magazine had to be stopped.
In 1791 - 1801 Krylov retired from journalistic activities. He managed to enter the service of Prince S. Golitsyn as a personal secretary and teacher for his children. In 1809, the first book of Krylov's fables was published, in which he acted not only as a moralist, but an exposer of the "powerful" of this world, oppressing the people. It was the fable that became the genre in which Krylov's genius was expressed unusually broadly. Nine books, including more than 200 fables, make up Krylov's fable legacy.
1812 became the librarian of the newly opened Public Library, where he served for 30 years, retiring in 1841. Krylov not only turned out to be a good collector of books, the number of which greatly increased during his reign, but he worked a lot on compiling bibliographic indexes and a Slavic-Russian dictionary. November 9 (21 NS) 1844 at the age of 75 years Krylov died. Buried in St. Petersburg.
***
The well-known fable “ Cuckoo and Rooster”Written by Krylov on a specific occasion. Its publication in the collection was accompanied by an illustration, where the writers F. Bulgarin and N. Grech were depicted in caricatures, praising each other to the point of indecency in print. Now this fact is known only to specialists, and the everyday rule has adopted a refined formulation of human wisdom and decency:
“Why, not being afraid of sin,
Is the cuckoo praising the Rooster?
For praising the Cuckoo "
(“The Cuckoo and the Rooster”). So decide whether this is good or bad.
But there is another side that limits the advantages of the allegorical genre - the multivariate interpretation of a particular plot, its duality both in the image and in the perception.
It turns out that even a very specific at first glance fable “ Choosy bride”, Describing a capricious beauty, has a second, deeper meaning. According to Krylov himself, he meant himself here. In the famous fable “ Quartet”Was ridiculed the highest body of tsarist Russia - the State Council, established in 1810 and consisted of four departments. Its members could not accommodate in any way in departments and endlessly transplanted from one to another.
Fable " A Crow and a fox”Should not be understood only as praising the cunning, resourcefulness and intelligence of the Fox, who understands very well that she cannot take away cheese by force. That is why she decides to lure him out of the Crow by cunning and says "so sweet, barely breathing." And the Crow, not at all a stupid bird, falls for shameless flattery:
My dear, how lovely!
Well, what a neck, what eyes!
Tell, really, fairy tales!
What pears! what a sock!
The fox deftly and skillfully goes to the goal: "And, surely, there must be an angelic voice!" The author condemns not only the one who is flattering, but also the one who succumbs to flattery, the one who is “dizzy” and “the breath stole from joy in the goiter”. Flattery reigns in society (“a flatterer will always find a corner in his heart”), and this is a fact, but you cannot succumb to flattery, overestimating your strength (“after all, you would have had a bird king!”, That is, you would have been an eagle), no matter how tempting this flattery is. The fox at first flattering seemingly plausible, but then, speaking about her “angelic” voice, she simply mocks Vorona. Let us remember that in Russian the verb croak is used not only in the meaning of "to make a sharp, guttural sound (about the cry of a crow)", but also in a figurative meaning - "to predict failure, trouble". The author does not comment on the denouement: "The cheese fell out - there was such a cheat with it." Everyone knows “that flattery is disgusting, harmful”, a lot is said about this (“how many times have they told the world”), but people still fall into this trap to this day.
In the fable “ Crow”Tells about the Raven in peacock feathers:
“She lagged behind the Ravens,
And she did not stick to Pavam (ie, to peacocks) "
and it became "Neither Pavel nor Raven." This phrase has become a phraseological unit and is used when they say “about a person who has moved away from his milieu and does not stick to others”.
It was Krylov who “as a man of genius instinctively guessed the aesthetic laws of the fable” and “created the Russian fable,” according to Belinsky. What allowed the critic to draw such a conclusion? The most famous fabulist then was I.I. Dmitriev, who blessed the first experiments of the novice Krylov. Famous fabulists adhered to the Classicist or Sentimentalist tradition. Krylov, on the other hand, went his own way, without entering into various kinds of discussions and polemics with his contemporaries. He freed the fable, on the one hand, from sweetness and rudeness, and on the other, from abstract moralizing. This is his historical merit.
Krylov's fables are replete with many specific details and interesting observations. So, for example, many poets described the singing of a nightingale, but no one was able to convey “a thousand modes” with such a vivid semantic series (here are verbs and adverbs), which is given in Krylov's fable “ Donkey and Nightingale”, When the Nightingale“ began to show his art ”:
Clicked, whistled
A thousand frets, pulled, poured;
Then gently he weakened
And languid in the distance I gave myself a pipe,
It suddenly crumbled into small fractions in the grove.
The peculiarity of Krylov is that he does not teach, but observes his heroes and brings his observations to the reader's judgment. Take, for example, the fable “ Two boys”(1833), now almost forgotten, which is a shame, since it belongs to the category of fables that form the moral image of a young man (cycle“ philosophy of behavior ”). The plot of the fable is extremely simple: two boys run to a tree to feast on chestnuts, but the tree is very tall, then one boy plants another, but the one who is on the tree forgets about his friend and eats the chestnuts alone. The plot is not at all a fable, and if it were not for the moral at the end, then this narration could be considered a small story in verses from the life of children, a special, isolated case. Morality is separated from the narrative and placed at the end of the fable, transferring a particular case into the category of generalizations. Morality does not allow for ambiguity, clearly showing the position of the narrator. In addition, morality makes it clear to the reader, firstly, that this is a real, but, unfortunately, not an isolated case (“Vidal Fedyush in the world I am”) and, secondly, that this applies not only to children, but also to adults too:
I've seen Fedyush in the world, -
To whom their friends
They helped me to climb to the top,
And after that from them - did not see the shell!
Black ingratitude in this fable is just stated, but not condemned in any way, although it is quite clear on whose side the author (poor Senya) is. This follows from the description of Fedya's actions, who, having climbed a tree, found many chestnuts there:
Chestnuts there not only cannot be eaten, -
Do not count!
There is something to profit from
But Fedya began to eat them alone, forgetting about his friend:
"Above Fedyusha did not doze
I cleaned the chestnuts by both cheeks ”(in draft form)
“Fedya took over the chestnuts,
He stuffed his mouth and his pockets ”(in draft form).
The final version remains:
“Fedyusha himself removed the chestnuts from the top,
And to a friend from a tree he threw only shells ”.
Sena had to make an effort to hook a friend:
“I was puffing, I was drenched in sweat
And finally helped Fedya to climb. "
The drafts describe these efforts in more detail than the final version. Apparently, Krylov wanted to show that the point is not in the intensity of these efforts, but in the very desire to help a friend. Senya expected that he would be rewarded for his efforts, but he was deceived in his expectations:
Well! Seine from that profit came out small:
He, poor man, licked only his lips at the bottom;
Fedyusha himself removed the chestnuts from the top,
And to a friend from a tree he threw only shells.
Thus, without condemning either one or the other hero, Krylov shows the readers on whose side he is and which of the heroes is doing badly. Krylov is a defender of compulsory morality, a moral judge.
The originality of the fabulist's creativity is that the author-story-chik is always next to his characters, but not above them. Even when his characters do obvious stupid things, the author does not directly condemn them, but only shows the absurdity of their behavior. But this does not mean that Krylov equally sympathizes with all his heroes. His position is socially colored. He supports ordinary people living in a world of natural values, sympathizes with his heroes, not idealizing or embellishing them, but he is not touched and does not lisp. It is this sobriety of analysis that makes the fabulist a teacher and mentor. Is good 
gifted with characteristic details, we immediately imagine the Krylov heroes: and a capricious beauty bride (“ Choosy bride"), And funny Trishka (" Trishkin caftan"), And poor Foku (" Demyanov's ear”), And other heroes.
The structure of fables is varied. But morality is a necessary component of the fable, which Krylov places either at the beginning
“It happens not rarely to us
And labor and wisdom to see there,
Where one has only to guess
It's easy to get down to business ”
(“Casket”)
either at the end of the fable
He was also a translator, State Councilor, a member of the Russian Academy, published many magazines, wrote both comedies and tragedies. In all of his works, not only human, but also social vices are exposed, all of them are distinguished by a well-aimed and vivid language, satirical poignancy.
Krylov's biography: childhood, education
February 13, 1769 is the day when the future fabulist was born in Moscow, in the family of an army officer. During the Pugachev rebellion, his father defended where Krylov's early childhood passed. His mother, Maria Alekseevna, was engaged in raising her son. When the boy was 9 years old, his father died, and the family had a very hard time. Out of mercy, Ivan took lessons from the teachers of the Lvov family, later entered the service in the Kalyazinsky zemstvo court, then in the Tver magistrate. In 1782, Krylov moved to St. Petersburg, and from 1783 began serving in the Treasury. In his free time, he studied foreign languages, music theory, mathematics, had the honor to meet some art connoisseurs and writers of that time.
Biography of Krylov: first experience
Krylov began his literary career as a playwright (the opera Coffee House, the tragedy Philomena, the comedy The Writer in the Hallway, etc., 1786-1788). Ivan Andreevich closely communicated with actor Dmitrevsky, playwright Plavilshchikov. In the late 1780s, in his comedy "Pranksters", he ridiculed the famous playwright and his wife, for which he was excommunicated from the theater and public service. The fabulist Krylov, whose biography is full of unexpected twists, began working as a journalist, publishing the “Mail of Spirits” magazine. In 1791, Ivan Andreevich founded a company that published the magazine "Spectator". However, the publication of magazines was soon banned due to ambiguous satirical and moralizing statements.
Krylov's biography: opal
In 1794 Krylov left to live in Moscow, in 1797 he became the personal secretary of General Golitsyn, who soon fell into disgrace, and Krylov, of his own free will, went into exile with him and taught his children to read and write. At this time (1801-1803) Ivan Andreevich was engaged in verse retelling of psalms.
Krylov's biography: writing fables
The first book with fables was published in 1809. In total, Krylov wrote more than 200 satirical works, and in 1843 the most complete edition was published - a collection of nine books. In many fables cowardice, cruelty, self-interest are ridiculed, each work has a moral and a moral meaning contained in it. Some works describe the events of the political and social life of Russia ("The Crow and the Hen", "Dog Friendship", etc.) The Decembrist Bestuzhev noted the pathos Pushkin and Zhukovsky spoke about the natural originality of fables. However, even today these works are very popular, and some quotes from them even serve as a guide to action or ridicule certain actions.
An outstanding Russian fabulist, playwright and journalist, Ivan Andreevich Krylov, was born on February 2 (February 14, NS) in Moscow (the exact place of birth is unknown, but Moscow is considered to be this place) in the family of a poor retired army officer.
Childhood in the biography of Krylov
Krylov's childhood passed in Tver and was far from rosy. Father - Andrei Prokhorovich Krylov, died in 1778 without leaving the family any means of subsistence, so little Krylov already at the age of 10 had to work as a scribe in the Tverskoy court. Krylova's mother, Marya Alekseevna, did not have any opportunity to educate her son, but since she was an intelligent woman by nature, although not educated, she paid great attention to her son's self-education. Ivan studied at home reading and writing, arithmetic and prayer. He was also allowed to study with the children of a local landowner, whom he somehow surprised with his poems.
Youth in the biography of Krylov
Krylov's mother did not manage to get a pension after the death of her husband, so in 1782 she decided to move to St. Petersburg and seek a pension there. In St. Petersburg, for Krylov, there was a position as a clerk in the Treasury. In addition, this move gave Ivan the opportunity to engage in literary work. From 1786 to 1788, Krylov wrote the tragedies "Cleopatra" and "Philomela" and the comedies "The Rabid Family", "The Pranksters". Thanks to these works, the name of the young playwright began to gradually gain fame in the literary circles of St. Petersburg.
Krylov was not satisfied with the work in the Treasury and in 1787 he achieved a place in the mountain expedition of the Cabinet of Her Imperial Majesty.
In 1789, in the printing house of I.G. Rachmaninov and with his funding, Krylov begins to publish a monthly satirical magazine "Mail of Spirits". True, due to its radical orientation, the magazine was destined to exist for only 8 months.
In 1792, Krylov, together with his friends, opened a printing house and began to publish a new satirical magazine "Spectator", which immediately became popular due to the topicality of its topic.
In the summer of 1790, a search was carried out in the printing house, Krylov came under police surveillance, and the publication of the magazine had to be stopped.
From 1791 to 1801, Krylov took a break from his journalistic activities, but did not stop writing, although he occasionally appeared in print. At this time, he wanders around the province: he visited Tambov, Saratov, Nizhny Novgorod, Ukraine.
Maturity in the biography of Krylov
After the death of Catherine II, Ivan Andreevich entered the service of Prince Golitsin as a personal secretary and teacher for his children.
In the fall of 1803, Krylov left Riga to stay with his brother in Serpukhov. And in 1806 he returned to St. Petersburg.
In 1808-1810 he worked in the Department of Coins.
In 1809, the first book of Krylov's fables was published, in which he acted not only as a moralist, but an exposer of the "powerful" of this world, oppressing the people. It was the fable that became the genre in which Krylov's genius was expressed unusually broadly. Nine books, including more than 200 fables, make up Krylov's fable legacy. In the same year he ran for the Russian Academy. And in 1811 he was elected a member of the Russian Academy.
1812-1841 - works at the Public Library.
November 9 (21 NS) Krylov's biography ends in 1844 at the age of 75. Krylov died and was buried in St. Petersburg.
Krylov ivan andreevich