There lived a brave admiral. He served the Fatherland faithfully on the battlefield, in the field of government and in the literary field.
Such people can be safely ranked among geniuses - Alexander Shishkov was able to realize his talents in a number of completely unrelated areas. First of all, of course, he was a soldier of his Motherland, therefore he approached the matter seriously and achieved high results. Not without incidents, excesses, but with whom does this not happen? The latter irritated the contemporaries of our hero so much that his figure in Russian culture was called contradictory and preferred to be consigned to oblivion. It's time to correct the mistake of the past centuries.
Childhood
The founder of the Shishkov family arrived at the court of the Tver prince at the beginning of the 15th century. probably from Smolensk, or Pskov. The surname of the serving noblemen was formed from the nickname Shika, which was worn by Mikula - the most famous of the descendants of the same settler from the West. By the 18th century. this aristocratic family was not rich.
Born in 1754, Sasha was supposed to continue the military dynasty. At the age of 6, the boy was sent from the Shishkov family estate to the capital to study at the Naval Cadet Corps. Only education could pave the way for him to a decent life.
Marine service
The very first sea voyage of midshipman Shishkov ended in failure - the ship was wrecked. The crew rescued on the shores of Sweden, where they were surprised by such guests. Diplomatic delays and the search for funds to return home did not break the sailor graduate. His mentors liked this and Alexander was offered to stay in the cadet corps as a teacher.
Alexander Shishkov managed to combine teaching activities with participation in long and dangerous voyages. With the rank of captain, he took part in the war against Sweden in 1788-1790. Having distinguished himself in battles, he was noticed and awarded by Catherine II. A promising officer attracted the attention of his colleagues, Rear Admiral Aleksey Shelting gave him his daughter Daria as his wife. Together they lived a long and peaceful life, but they had no children. In order not to feel lonely, the Shishkovs adopted Alexander Semyonovich's nephews into the family for education.
Civil service
After the death of the empress, hills and bumps began in the biography of the naval officer: Paul I began his acquaintance with Shishkov, bestowing upon him the title of captain-commander, and then with the rank of admiral sent him to … the Forestry Department. The accession of the grandson of Catherine the Great did not bring relief - in 1802, the Naval Ministry was headed by Alexander Shishkov's competitor Pavel Chichagov.
The career of Alexander Shishkov could have ended if the young sovereign had not paid attention to one of the admiral's talents - back in 1777, as a green lieutenant, he began to write and publish works on naval affairs. A man who knew how to competently compose the texts of documents and instructions was needed by the state - in 1812 Shishkov took over as Secretary of State and during the war with Napoleon, and later the Foreign Campaign, he was engaged in diplomatic work.
Academician
After the war, the retired navigator received the post of president of the Russian Academy and was introduced to the State Council. There he quickly made enemies for himself, advocating tougher censorship. In 1824, the sovereign appointed an official with radically patriarchal views as minister of public education. Here the difficult character of the retired admiral manifested itself: instead of immediately banning any sedition, he willingly polemicized with free-thinkers and did not begin purges in the apparatus. And yet Shishkov began to be perceived as a strangler of freedom.
In 1825, Nicholas I introduced the old man to the court, which was considering the case of the Decembrists, but did not guess right - Shishkov began to demand that the punishment for the rebels be mitigated. The emperor and his retinue ignored the remarks of this strange man, but later they gladly accepted the repressive amendments to the Censorship Law initiated by Shishkov.
Contribution to culture
Simultaneously with military service, administrative activities and active participation in public life, Alexander Semenovich Shishkov was engaged in literature. He began with translations that he did at the dawn of his naval career. Then there were works of authorship on the education of the military and civil elite of the Russian Empire, poetry, memoirs. Occasionally our hero turned to the genre of the play.
The great achievement of Alexander Shishkov is the adaptation of the masterpiece of medieval literary creativity "The Lay of Igor's Host" into a language close to his contemporaries. So the first step was taken towards the popularization of this work. The admiral was fond of religious literature and became the author of a number of works on linguistics and theology. But he not only did not want to translate texts from Church Slavonic into literary, but also forbade others.
last years of life
After the death of his wife in 1825, the venerable old man decided not to give up on his personal life. Shishkov's chosen one was the adventurer Yulia Narbut. In the light, they could not accept such a choice of Alexander Semyonovich - the biography of the bride and her Catholic faith did not in any way fit the worldviews of the formidable guardian of the old order. The stubborn man again did his own thing. Life has proved that Julia did not need capital or fame, but a good husband, she abandoned her old habits and accompanied her faithful everywhere.
Alexander Shishkov died in April 1841. His memory remained ambiguous, many tried to quickly forget the convinced conservative. But Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin, sharp-tongued, in his work mentioned the admiral with warmth, called him a respected person and a living monument to the heroes of 1812. Alexander Semyonovich Shishkov was such an unusual and controversial person.
