Mikhail Andreevich Osorgin: Biography and Creativity

Mikhail Andreevich Osorgin is a well-known Russian writer and journalist, the author of a large number of essays. One of the most popular masons among Russian emigrants, the founder of several lodges in France.

Origin

Mikhail Andreevich Osorgin was born in Perm in October 1878. His surname at birth was Ilyin, the pseudonym Ossorgin appeared later. It was the name of my grandmother. His parents were hereditary pillars of nobility.

My father was engaged in jurisprudence, was one of the participants in the judicial reform, conducted by Emperor Alexander II. Brother Sergei, known in the province as a poet and journalist, died in 1912.

Education

He studied at the Perm High School. During these years he published his first works in local periodicals. In the Perm Gubernia Gazette, his obituary was published on the death of a class warden, and in the popular "Journal for All" in 1896, the story "Father". Gymnasium Osorgin graduated in 1897.

Immediately after that he entered the Moscow University, the law faculty, deciding to follow in the footsteps of his father. As a student, he did not leave the work of a journalist, mostly writing articles and essays for the Ural newspapers.

He became one of the participants in student unrest, for which he was deported from Moscow back to Perm. He received his diploma in 1902. He entered the service of a sworn attorney in the Moscow Trial Chamber. In parallel, he worked as a jury solicitor in a commercial, orphaned court, as well as a legal adviser. During this period, published his first publicistic book - "Workers' compensation for accidents."

Political Views

In 1903, the biography of Mikhail Andreevich Osorgin changed dramatically - he married the daughter of the famous Narodovoltsy Malikov. At the same time, his political views are formed.

Osorgin was a zealous critic of the autocracy, taking into account his origin and anarchic character, he decided to join the party of social revolutionaries. First of all, he supported the ideas of the Socialist-Revolutionaries about the support of the peasantry, calls for responding to violence by violence and even by terror.

Mikhail Andreevich Osorgin, in his apartment in Moscow, organized the meetings of members of the committee of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party, hid the terrorists. He did not personally participate in the revolution, but actively participated in its preparation.

During the February Revolution, the apartment of Osorgin and the dacha in the Moscow region were used as venues for meetings of party functionaries, here were compiled and replicated the Socialist Revolutionary Appeal and slogans, party documents.

Osorgin himself took part only in the December uprising, which took place from December 20 to December 31, 1905. Then the fighting squads of the workers came out against the police, the Cossacks, dragoons and the Semenov regiment. The uprising was suppressed, reliable data on losses were not preserved.

Imprisonment and emigration

For participation in the uprising, Mikhail Andreevich Osorgin was arrested and imprisoned in the Taganskaya prison. In conclusion, he spent about 6 months. Saved him only release on bail. In prison, he was placed as a dangerous barricade.

Hardly having freed himself, Osorgin immediately emigrated, as he feared further prosecution. First he went to Finland, from there he soon moved to another Scandinavian country - Denmark. Then he lived in Germany, Switzerland.

Found a temporary refuge in Italy, in the emigrant commune near Genoa. In exile spent about 10 years, Mikhail Andreevich Osorgin. Books published in this period are devoted to life far from Russia, the most famous is "Essays of Contemporary Italy" - was published in 1913.

Life in exile

In exile, Mikhail Andreevich Osorgin briefly acquainted himself with the basics of the creation of the Futurists and immediately imbued with their ideas. Especially he was impressed by the early representatives of this trend, determined as resolutely as possible. His work in Italian futurism played a role in the development of this direction.

In 1913 there was another significant event - Mikhail Andreevich Osorgin, whose personal life was practically upset by that time, getting married for the second time. His chosen one is the 17-year-old Rosa Ginzberg, for her sake he even accepts Judaism. Her father is the famous Jewish philosopher Ahad-ha-Ama.

Osorgin traveled extensively throughout Europe. I visited the Balkans, Bulgaria, Montenegro and Serbia. In 1911, publicly announced his disappointment in the ideas of the Socialist-Revolutionaries and soon joined the Masons.

In exile Osorgin continued to write for Russian magazines. His publications were published in Russkiye Vedomosti, Vestnik Evropy. In 1916 he secretly returned to Russia and lives in Moscow.

The February Revolution

The year 1917 was enthusiastically received by Mikhail Andreevich Osorgin. The biography briefly notes that he adopted the February Revolution. He began to actively cooperate with the new government, joined the commission for the development of archives and political affairs, which worked closely with the security department. Published in the literary and historical journal "The Voice of the Past."

At the same time, his works "Ghosts", "Security Department and its secrets", "Fairy tales and not fairy tales" are published.

After the October Revolution

The victory of the Bolsheviks Osorgin did not accept, becoming their ardent opponent. Because of this, in 1919 he was imprisoned. The writer was freed only under the guarantee of the Writers' Union and the poet Baltrušaitis.

In 1921, for a short time he worked in the Commission for Assistance to the Hungry. However, in August he was arrested again, this time he was rescued by Nansen. However, he was deported to Kazan. In 1922, he was expelled from the country on the so-called philosophical steamer.

The second stage of life in emigration began with Berlin, in 1923, finally settled in Paris Osorgin Mikhail Andreevich. Biography, the writer's family was interested in his associates. Here again there were changes, in 1926 he married for the third time - on Tatiana Bakunina, who held the position of professor at the University of Paris.

The Parisian destiny

Living in Paris, Osorgin retained Soviet citizenship until 1937. After he lived without official documents, as he did not receive French citizenship.

After the Second World War Osorgin and his wife fled from occupied Paris and settled in the town of Shabri, not occupied by the Germans. Here he wrote his last significant works - "Letters of insignificance" and "In a quiet place of France." They condemn the war that has begun, and also predicts the decline and even the destruction of culture.

Creativity of Osorgin

One of his most famous works - the novel "Sivtsev Vrazhek" - Osorgin released in 1928. The main characters of the narrative are the old scientist, professor of ornithology, retired Ivan Aleksandrovich, as well as his granddaughter Tatyana. She lives with her elderly relative and in the course of the work turns from a young girl into a young bride.

This novel is also called a chronicle. This is illustrated by the fact that the narrative unfolds not on a strict storyline. In the center "Sivtseva Vrazhka" - the house where Professor Ivan Alexandrovich lives. Literary critics compare it even with the microcosm. The image of the sun in the center of this universe is the table lamp in the scientist's study.

Two basic ideas in the work of Mikhail Osorgin - love of the world around him and the desire for peace, at first glance, not the most important and ordinary things.

The passion for nature lies at the heart of a series of essays published by Osorgin in The Last News under the pseudonym of The Philistine. Later they were issued by a separate book "The Incidents of the Green World". They show a deep drama.

The second fundamental idea is in the hobby of Osorgin by collecting books and collecting. In his property there is a huge collection of Russian publications, a detailed list of which is presented in "Notes of the Old Bookseller", as well as in a collection of historical short stories, often criticized by representatives of the monarchist camp. In the press, they were published in 1928-1934. Critics especially zealously noted in them a disrespectful attitude towards the imperial family and the leadership of the Orthodox Church.

Pence

In 1924, in Berlin, in the journal Days, one of the most famous stories, authored by Mikhail Andreevich Osorgin, was published, Pensna.

The work begins with the statement that every thing in our world lives its own life. The author actively uses such method as personification. With its help, inanimate objects acquire human qualities. For example, Osorgin's watch paces and coughs.

Another favorite device of the author is a metaphor. With it, he manages to give ordinary everyday things a special, unique character. The main personage of the story is Mikhail Andreevich Osorgin pince-nez. The summary of the work describes its illustrative history.

As evidence that things sometimes live on their own, the author cites cases where household items first suddenly disappear, and then as suddenly unexpectedly are. This playful proof in Osorgin's interpretation is similar to Murphy's law.

As an example, the author leads a pince-nez, which disappeared at the most inopportune moment - during reading. His search gradually turned into a general cleaning of the whole house, but even when all the rooms were shining with cleanliness, they could not find the pince-nez.

To help the narrator comes his companion. They approach the case in detail, draw a plan of the room indicating the places where the pince-nez could have appeared, but all the searches are in vain.

In the finals to find a pince-nez can be completely random. In this case, the very fact of his discovery is considered heroes as a completely natural event.

The narrator refers to a pince-nez as an animate object, which has its own character, needs, and lives its own life. In the end, like any other living being, the life of a pince-nez comes to an end. It's dying. The finale is described very tragically, according to all the canons of the dramatic work. It died, shattered into small pieces.

A unique and original approach to the image and understanding of the essence of things makes this story noticeable in Osorgin's work.

In the camp of Freemasons

Beginning to live in emigration, since 1925, Osorgin participates in the organization of several Masonic lodges, while working under the aegis of the "Great East of France" - one of the oldest Masonic organizations. He was one of the leaders of the "North Star" and "Free Russia" lodges, while holding officer positions. For example, he was a venerable master.

By 1938 he was a member of the chapter - the supreme council of the great collegium of the Ancient and the adopted Scottish bylaw.

He died and was buried in the French city of Shabri in 1942.