ASTYREV Nikolai Mikhailovich

born November 16, 1857. Job Nominated A. and established his name, appeared originally in the Journal of Europe "and was published in book three times, under the title" The clerk. Sketches of peasant self-government "(1886 - the author, 1896 - corrected and supplemented Goltsev, with his own preface, 1904 - in the form I t. not implement the "Complete Works", but without the interesting article Goltsev). Illegitimate son of General (the mother died after his birth), A. received a good initial education, but at 14 years was forced to earn bread lessons. After graduating from the Moscow real school, he enrolled in the Institute of Railway Engineers, where he stayed only 1 1 / 2 years. The overall thrust of the youth end of the seventies in the village enticed A. "the people". Done, in 1881, clerk, to get to know people's lives, rather judge it, and directly confront the hostile forces, gravitating to the life of the Russian peasantry, A. , explained his desire: "From the very understandable anxiety drove me to the village Kochetov. Here's the place where I would have to be face to face with the "people", that's the arena where the first time I can to use their strength and knowledge to help workers and burdened, now nearing the clue that tormented my doubts and perplexities ... Now everything depends on me and only me, I'll be able to take advantage of the circumstances, I'll be able to understand and be understood - and my inner "I" lit steady, calm and conscious light; not know how - and again the chaos representation, confusion ... Result of rural life, A. essays were "The clerk, which VG. Korolenko responded to the newspaper feuilleton Volzhsky Herald "(Kazan, September 18, 1886, N 201) as" very-nice work, very original, fresh and unlike other ". Noting that the artistic fiction gives more or less generalized pattern, types, and ethnographic, giving the raw material, some dry and less interesting, Korolenko finds that the book A. "owing to some fortunate circumstances, is at one and the same time, the principal advantages of both types, avoiding the major drawbacks of both". A. - Intelligent observer, and, moreover, deeply concerned, "- said Korolenko. In 1884, a. was forced to leave the village. He worked in the Moscow Zemsky provincial statistical bureau, under the leadership of VI. Orlova, and independently - in the Irkutsk Bureau of Statistics, at the invitation of Governor-General of Eastern Siberia (with LS. Lichkova and EA. Smirnov), the result of the latter study were: "Materials on the study of land use and economic life of the rural population of Irkutsk and Yenisei province". A ratio. to the people of different hot love, that did not prevent him truthfully depict the dark side of people's life, which he gives the correct coverage. Apart from the books, he published several collections of essays and short stories from peasant life, as well as some statistical work (see. Vengerov: Dictionary, t. I, and "Sources", t. I), has written in "Russian Gazette", "Russian Thought", "order", "Legal Gazette and other publications. In 1891, went on hunger "in the province of Samara. In March 1892 a. was arrested and released to patients after 2 years, died June 3, 1894. S. Sh