Sergey Terpigorev
Encyclopedia
Sergey Nikolayevich Terpigorev was a Russian writer.
) into an impoverished noble family. He attended grammar school, and in 1861-62, studied at Saint Petersburg State University
. For his involvement in student unrest he was exiled and sent to the family estate of his mother, where he lived for five years under police surveillance.
During this period he decided to gather material for essays on social topics. He sent them to the magazine Russian Word (Russkoye Slovo) and the St. Petersburg newspaper The Voice (Golos). These essays denounced fraud and embezzlement, and showed the hard life of the common people.
In 1867 , when his term of exile ended, Terpigorev again went to St. Petersburg. He published a series of essays on life in the steppe
in the popular magazine Notes of the Fatherland
, which he signed with the pseudonym "Sergey Atava". In these essays he commented on the poor state of affairs after the Emancipation reform of 1861
.
In January 1880 he published a series of essays about poverty in Notes of the Fatherland. He then published Disturbed Shadows, a collection of essays which brought him literary fame. Subsequent collections included The Yellow Book (Uzorochnaya Pestryad) and Historical Stories and Memories.
In his later years he worked on his novel The Ice Broke, but was unable to finish it. He died in St. Petersburg on June 13, 1895.
Biography
Terpigorev was born on May 12, 1841, in the village of Nikolsky in the Usmansky District (now the Dobrinsky district of Lipetsk OblastLipetsk Oblast
Lipetsk Oblast is a federal subject of Russia which was formed on January 6, 1954. Its administrative center is the city of Lipetsk...
) into an impoverished noble family. He attended grammar school, and in 1861-62, studied at Saint Petersburg State University
Saint Petersburg State University
Saint Petersburg State University is a Russian federal state-owned higher education institution based in Saint Petersburg and one of the oldest and largest universities in Russia....
. For his involvement in student unrest he was exiled and sent to the family estate of his mother, where he lived for five years under police surveillance.
During this period he decided to gather material for essays on social topics. He sent them to the magazine Russian Word (Russkoye Slovo) and the St. Petersburg newspaper The Voice (Golos). These essays denounced fraud and embezzlement, and showed the hard life of the common people.
In 1867 , when his term of exile ended, Terpigorev again went to St. Petersburg. He published a series of essays on life in the steppe
Steppe
In physical geography, steppe is an ecoregion, in the montane grasslands and shrublands and temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biomes, characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes...
in the popular magazine Notes of the Fatherland
Otechestvennye Zapiski
Otechestvennye Zapiski was a Russian literary magazine published in St Petersburg on a monthly basis between 1818 and 1884. The journal served liberal-minded readers, known as the intelligentsia...
, which he signed with the pseudonym "Sergey Atava". In these essays he commented on the poor state of affairs after the Emancipation reform of 1861
Emancipation reform of 1861
The Emancipation Reform of 1861 in Russia was the first and most important of liberal reforms effected during the reign of Alexander II of Russia. The reform, together with a related reform in 1861, amounted to the liquidation of serf dependence previously suffered by peasants of the Russian Empire...
.
In January 1880 he published a series of essays about poverty in Notes of the Fatherland. He then published Disturbed Shadows, a collection of essays which brought him literary fame. Subsequent collections included The Yellow Book (Uzorochnaya Pestryad) and Historical Stories and Memories.
In his later years he worked on his novel The Ice Broke, but was unable to finish it. He died in St. Petersburg on June 13, 1895.