Gleb Ivanovich Uspensky
Gleb Ivanovich Uspensky was a notable Russian writer born on October 13, 1843, in Tula, Russia. He is recognized as an important figure in the narodnik (populist) movement, producing works that infused fiction with travel observations. Uspensky's early life included a brief stint at St. Petersburg University, followed by a career that began with literary sketches published in various journals. His notable works, including the novel "The Manners of Rasteriaev Street," reflect his critical perspective on peasant life and the adverse effects of capitalism and industrialization.
Throughout the 1870s, Uspensky traveled extensively in Europe, which deepened his commitment to social issues, leading him to align with the populist group Zemlia i volia. His writings often explored complex social themes, addressing gender, ethnic stereotypes, and the societal implications of mental illness. Sadly, Uspensky struggled with his own mental health issues later in life, spending his final years in institutions while continuing to write. His contributions to literature and social thought were acknowledged by contemporaries, including Vladimir Lenin, who recognized his insights into rural life. Uspensky's work remains a vital resource for understanding the social dynamics of his time and the peasant experience in Russia.
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Gleb Ivanovich Uspensky
Writer
- Born: October 13, 1843
- Birthplace: Tula, Russia
- Died: March 24, 1902
- Place of death: St. Petersburg, Russia
Biography
An important narodnik (populist) writer of fiction and travel observations, Gleb Ivanovich Uspensky was born in Tula, Russia, on October 13, 1843, to Ivan Iakovlevich Uspensky, a member of the clergy, and Nadezhda Glebovna Uspenskaia, née Sokolova. In 1856, the family moved to Chernigov, where Uspensky attended secondary school. He entered St. Petersburg University upon his graduation in 1861, but was shortly thereafter expelled. Uspensky initially supported himself and his mother, unexpectedly widowed in 1864, by publishing literary sketches in such journals as Iasnaia poliana (bright meadow) and Sovremmenik (the contemporary). The first four chapters of Uspensky’s novel Nravy Rasteriaevoi ulitsy (the manners of Rasteriaev Street, 1872) appeared in the latter journal in 1866.
In the late 1860’s Uspensky worked briefly as a teacher in Epifan and as a clerk for the public prosecutor in Moscow. In 1870, he married Aleksandra Vasil’evna Baraeva, with whom he had five children. Uspensky’s travels through Europe in 1872 and from 1875 to 1876 exposed him to urban capitalism and its concomitant social ills. Consequently, he devoted himself to the populist cause and, in 1877, relocated to the provinces. Uspensky’s affiliation with the populist terrorist group Zemlia i volia (land and liberty) shaped his sketch cycles “Krest’ianin i krest’ianskii trud” (peasant and peasant labor, 1882) and Vlast’ zemli (the power of the land, 1880), both originally published in Otechestvennye zapiski (notes of the fatherland).
In his works, Uspensky does not idealize peasant life; instead, he presents the peasant’s loss of spiritual or aesthetic attachment to the soil as a consequence of the spread of capitalism and industrialization to the provinces, as in the story “Parovoi tsiplenok” (incubator chick), which appeared in Russkie vedomosti (Russian news, 1888). His writings comprise a veritable storehouse of peasant language, customs, and beliefs. In his social thought, Uspensky was a pioneer; his stories, ethnographic travel sketches, and essays treated questions related to gender and ethnic stereotypes and prejudices, as well as challenged current notions of prostitution and mental illness as genetic, proposing instead that these might be at least partially the result of social and economic conditions.
Uspensky’s interest in psychological illness may have stemmed from his own clinical schizophrenia; he passed the final decade of his life in mental institutions. While incarcerated, he continued to work, on separate memoirs about Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev and Vera Figner, but was unable to finish these projects. Vladimir Lenin celebrated Uspensky’s life in an obituary in his newspaper Iskra (the spark), praising the writer for his revolutionary spirit and citing his work as an important resource on rural life.