Chirikov, Evgeniy Nikolaevich (1864–1932) — Russian writer and playwright whose life was intertwined with Nizhny Novgorod through years of exile, literary work, and a close friendship with Maxim Gorky. He began publishing his first stories in 1886, and repeatedly called Nizhny Novgorod a city dear to his heart; his final novel, Otchy Dom (The Ancestral Home), is set here. In 1920 Chirikov emigrated, and his name was effectively erased from Soviet cultural life for decades; his rediscovery by a wider readership began only in the late twentieth and early twenty-first century.[2]

Nizhny Novgorod: Exile and Early Works

Chirikov first came to Nizhny Novgorod in December 1887 as a political exile, having been arrested for organizing student unrest at Kazan University.[1] His confinement in the Nizhny Novgorod Ostrog (the First Nizhny Novgorod Prison Castle on Freedom Square) proved, by an irony of fate, a productive period: the prison governor, Colonel Poznansky, established a library in the facility and did not prohibit inmates from reading and writing, while candles were not extinguished in the solitary cells. It was here that Chirikov wrote his first novella, Kapral (The Corporal).[1] Later, images of the Nizhny Novgorod ostrog found their way into his multi-part novel Zhizn Tarkhanova (The Life of Tarkhanov), whose first part (Yunost / Youth) appeared in 1911 in the St. Petersburg journal Vestnik Evropy (The European Herald); a complete edition of the novel was prepared only in 2023.

Friendship with Gorky and the Move to Nizhny Novgorod

After the ostrog, Chirikov was transferred to Tsaritsyn (now Volgograd), where he first encountered the young Alyosha Peshkov, then working at Nobel's warehouses. During his Nizhny Novgorod exile, Chirikov met N. G. Chernyshevsky while serving the remainder of his term in Astrakhan: Chernyshevsky read the sketch Svinya (The Pig) and recognized the author's literary gift.[3] Their next meeting took place in Samara in 1895: both had by then become recognized writers, were contributing to Samara newspapers, and regularly saw each other at the "gatherings at Teitel's" — known as the "Assembly." During that period Chirikov collaborated with the Samarsky Vestnik (Samara Herald), the first legal provincial Marxist newspaper.[1]

In 1896 Chirikov came to Nizhny Novgorod with Gorky to cover the All-Russian Industrial and Art Exhibition of 1896. Contributing to Nizhegorodsky Listok and working on feuilletons, he wrote Yevrei (The Jews), Na Porukakh (On Bail), and Ivan Mironych while there.[4] At the same time, Gorky invited him to move to the city, intending to carry out ambitious social and literary plans there — including the creation of a People's House. After a personal meeting in Arzamas, where Gorky was living in exile, Chirikov accepted the offer and moved to Nizhny Novgorod in 1902. He first settled in a house on the corner of Korolenko Street (the building survives), then moved to Telyachya Street (now Gogol Street). The writer's wife, Valentina Georgievna Grigoryeva (stage name Iolshina; 1875–1966), was an actress; her brother Mikhail Grigoryev was one of the founders of the first Marxist circle in Nizhny Novgorod.[3] Gorky, together with Yekaterina Pavlovna Peshkova and their son Maxim, would visit the Chirikovs at home.[1]

Together with Gorky and his wife, Chirikov organized charity evenings and took part in establishing the People's House and its theatre.[2]

The Restoration of His Name and Memory in the City

In December 2009, a memorial plaque by sculptor V. F. Shikanov was unveiled on the building housing the Gorky Memorial Apartment-Museum (Semashko Street, formerly Martynovskaya Street), commemorating the period of Chirikov's frequent visits to Gorky. The ceremony was attended by the writer's granddaughter Valentina Georgievna, who described the beginning of his return to cultural life with the words "the ice has broken."[2] That same year in Moscow, Chirikov's final work — the novel Otchy Dom, set in Nizhny Novgorod — began to appear in print.[2]

The writer's great-grandson Mikhail Chirikov founded and heads the Ye. N. Chirikov Literary Museum and is engaged in publishing and promoting his ancestor's legacy: a complete edition of Zhizn Tarkhanova appeared in 2023. Mikhail Chirikov also serves as a lead project manager in the educational programmes department of KUPNO.START.[1] The family archive holds, among other items, letters bearing the autograph of Marina Tsvetaeva. In emigration, Chirikov and Vasiliy Ivanovich Nemirovich-Danchenko headed the Russian colony in Prague; Chirikov became the first chairman of the board of the Committee for the Improvement of Living Conditions for Russian Writers and Journalists residing in Czechoslovakia (1922). He is buried at the Olšany Cemetery in Prague beside a Russian church; the first Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia, K. Kramář, attended his funeral.[5][1]

Sources

  1. Nizhegorodskaya Pravda — Singer of the Volga and Youth
  2. Vremya N — Mikhail Chirikov on the work of Nizhny Novgorod writer Evgeniy Chirikov, his acquaintance with Lenin, and his friendship with Maxim Gorky (archive)
  3. expositions.nlr.ru — The Life and Creative Path of Ye. N. Chirikov — During his Nizhny Novgorod exile, Chirikov met N. G. Chernyshevsky while serving the remainder of his term in Astrakhan: he read… (archive)
  4. ngounb.ru — Literary Map of Nizhny Novgorod Region — In 1896, having come to Nizhny Novgorod, Chirikov contributed to Nizhegorodsky Listok, working on feuilletons; it was then that…
  5. livelib.ru — Evgeniy Chirikov — biography, books, reviews, quotes — In emigration, Chirikov and Vasiliy Ivanovich Nemirovich-Danchenko headed the Russian colony in Prague and he became the first…
Based on materials from articles (1)

Nizhny Novgorod Prison in Yevgeny Chirikov's Novel "The Life of Tarkhanov"