V. A. Zhukovsky's secretary Vasily Kalyanov

The paper examines the late period of V. A. Zhukovsky's work and biography. The poet spent the last years of his life far from his homeland, separated from old friends, so his new family (Reitern's family), German friends and helpers were closest to him people in this period. Meanwhile, many of them remain almost completely unknown to researchers. The aim of this paper is to give a brief reconstruction of the biography of one of the closest associates of Zhukovsky in the last years of his life - his Secretary Vasiliy Kalyanov. Vasiliy Kalyanov was a serf of A. I. Blok, the manager of His Imperial Majesty's Own Chancellery. Painfully reliving his serfdom, he fled from his master and settled in Frankfurt on the responsibility of Prince Eugene of Württemberg, hoping to learn some trade. There in 1844 he made acquaintance with Zhukovsky. On 1 September 1847, he took Kalyanov to his service as a scribe, and in 1848 entrusted him with the duties of Valet and Secretary. Zhukovsky was the best man at the wedding of Kalyanov (1851), the godfather of his first child. To finally regulate the legal status of his Valet, poet at his own expense bought the fugitive serf and liberated him. To do this he had to make considerable efforts. The poet became «father and mentor» for Kalyanov, who admired the moral greatness of Zhukovsky. Kalyanov nursed Zhukovsky on his deathbed, and in his hands the poet breathed his last. Faithfully preserving a grateful memory of his mentor, Kalyanov continued to serve his orphaned family. Kalyanov's older children were named in honor of Zhukovsky's children Paul and Sasha. P. V. Zhukovsky was the godfather of Kalyanov's younger son Nicholas. When Zhukovsky's family moved from Frankfurt to Moscow in 1853, Kalyanov returned to homeland with them. Here, he was responsible home translator because nor the rest of the servants, consisting of the Germans, nor E. A. Zhukovskaya, nor her children spoke no Russian. After the death of E. A. Zhukovskaya in 1856 Kalyanov left to live in Moscow, earning a living from renting apartments in the apartment house. Younger Zhukovsky went to see their guardian in Petersburg in December 1856. But Kalyanov did not lose contact with them, supporting correspondence. Kalyanov moved to the capital in the early 1860s probably. In 1867-1868 he, already living in St. Petersburg, he helped P. V. Zhukovsky as the Secretary and the courier, working on the sixth edition of the collected works of V. A. Zhukovsky. In 1883 he collaborated with O. Miller in the preparation of the anniversary of the poet. Kalyanov took care about the monument at the grave of Zhukovsky, paying annually to the watchman work on his cleaning. For many years he would receive a pension, appointed by the Emperor children Zhukovsky, and send them abroad. Zhukovskie in turn did not forget their old servant. The paper contains unpublished V. Kalyanov's letters addressed to P. V. Zhukovsky. They add new touches to the history of Kalyanov's relations with the family of the poet.