Sergey Aksakov: Years of Childhood

Table of contents :
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE......Page 4
AUTHOR'S PREFACE......Page 8
CONTENTS......Page 9
I. SCATTERED RECOLLECTIONS......Page 10
II. CONSECUTIVE RECOLLECTIONS......Page 18
III. THE JOURNEY TO PARASHINO......Page 26
IV. PARASHINO......Page 41
V. THE JOURNEY FROM PARASHINO TO BAGROVO......Page 52
VI. BAGROVO......Page 59
VII. WE STAY AT BAGROVO WITHOUT OUR PARENTS......Page 70
VIII. A WINTER AT UFA......Page 84
IX. SERGÉYEVKA......Page 105
X. OUR RETURN TO TOWN LIFE AT UFA......Page 127
XI. A JOURNEY IN WINTER TO BAGROVO......Page 135
XII. BAGROVO IN WINTER......Page 139
XIII. UFA......Page 158
XIV. WE ARRIVE AT BAGROVO TO LIVE THERE......Page 176
XV. CHOORASSOVO......Page 199
XVI. BAGR0V0 AFTER CH00RASS0V0......Page 222
XVII. MY FIRST SPRING IN THE COUNTRY......Page 228
XVIII. A SUMMER VISIT TO CHOORASSOVO......Page 270
XIX. A JOURNEY IN AUTUMN TO BAGROVO......Page 295
XX. LIFE AT BAGROVO AFTER MY GRANDMOTHER'S DEATH......Page 305
APPENDIX: THE SCARLET FLOWER......Page 326

Citation preview

YEARS OF CHILDHOOD BY

SERGE AKSAKOFF

TRANSLATED FROM THE RUSSIAN BY

J.

D. DUFF

FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE

WITJ-1 PORTRAIT

LONDON EDWARD ARNOLD All rig-1,ts reserved

TO

A. C. D.

TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE SERGE AKSAKOFF, the author of this autobiography, was born at Ufa, in the district of Orenburg, on September 20, 1791. His father held some office in the law-court of the town, and his grandfather lived in the country as the owner of large estates, to which Aksakoff ultimately succeeded. The Russians were then only settlers in the country, and the population consisted mainly of Tatars and a number of Finnish tribes often mentioned in this book. Aksakoff's childhood is here described down to the winter of 1799, when he went to school at Kazan. From school he proceeded to the university of the same city, and left it in 1807, when many of his class-mates were joining the Army to fight against Napoleon. He entered the civil service in 1808 and served, with some intervals, in various capacities until he finally retired in 1839. He married in 1816; and his two sons, Constantine and Ivan, both played a conspicuous part in the public life of Russia. He remained during his whole life a passionate lover of the country and of all country occupations and amusements. He died at l\Ioscow, after a long and painful illness, on April 30, 1859. Aksakoff was always keenly interested in literature and wrote a number of books; but his reputation, which stands very high in Russia, depends mainly upon two volumes of l\Iemoirs which he wrote at the end of his life. The first of these he called A Family History, and the second, which is here translated, Years of Childhood. The first volume begins with the history of his grandfather, vii

viii

TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE

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