Afanasy Fet

Afanassi Afanassjevitch Fet (Russian Афанасий Афанасьевич Фет; * 23 Novemberjul / December 5 1820greg near the Mtsensk District, .. .. † 21 Novemberjul / December 3 1892greg in Moscow), also Foeth, later Shin 's ( Шеншин ), was a Russian poet, who coined the Russian poetry during the last quarter of the 19th century.

Biography

Fet the child of a German mother was named Charlotte Elizabeth Becker from Darmstadt, whose first husband was John Foeth. She went in 1822 a second marriage to a wealthy Russian landowner named Shin 's one, two years after birth Fets 1820. It is not known whether the Fet 's son Foeths or Schins is. The Sacred Consistory in Orel decided that he would get the name of his German father, since his mother's marriage had not become effective early enough 's shin. This decision was for Fet life traumatic, because he never identified himself with Foeth, but completely with Shin 's. Fet studied at Moscow University and served until 1856 in the army. 1850 brought a young woman ( Maria Lazitsch ), which had fallen in love with Fet, but could not marry him because of financial reasons to by burned himself. In this event Fet went into numerous (also late ) poems. Fet was also influenced by the life long stigma of illegitimate son, and was able to use the prestigious name of his Russian father only from 1876, with years of litigation preceded it. Access to the Russian nobility was granted to him because of his services in the army after 1861 serfdom was abolished.

Fet was ridiculed by the radicals because of its reactionary personal political views, however, was of the opinion that a writer's life have little to do with his poetry - an artist must not be serious. In the army he became acquainted with Leo Tolstoy, whom he greatly admired. When he later on the estate Stepanovka settled - in the region of Mtsensk - he visited his neighbor Tolstoy often, and was the only writer under whose former friends.

In the late phase of his career wrote Fet literary reminiscences, translated parts of the Aeneid, the Faust I and The World as Will and Representation by Arthur Schopenhauer. In old age Fet tried to commit suicide, but was prevented by his family in mind. After another suicide attempt Fet died of a heart attack.

German text editions

• Poetry: Russian- German. Retightened by Uwe Gruening, ed. by Klaus Müller. Leipzig: Reclam, 1990, ISBN 3-379-00563-0.

Literature on Fet

• Klenin, Emily: The Poetics of Afanasy Fet. Cologne: Böhlau, 2002 ( Slavic philology and is blocks for Cultural History 39). ISBN 978-3-412-16901-5