Chronology

  

1820
Afanasy Shenshin brings Charlotta Elizaveta Foeth (Fet) from Darmstadt, Germany, where she had lived with her husband I. P. Foeth, to «Novosyolki,» his estate in Russia near the town of Mtsensk. November 28: The future poet Afanasy Fet is born at «Novosyolki.» His father illegally registers him as his son.
1822
Shenshin marries Charlotta Fet.
1835
After discovering that Fet was born before Elizaveta Fet and Afanasy Shenshin were legally married, the ecclesiastical authorities annul the birth documents. On the basis of an affidavit sent from Darmstadt, the Orlov Consistory issues a document stating that Afanasy was «the son of tax-assessor I. P. Foeth and his former wife Charlotta Foeth.»
1835-1837
Fet attends the Krümmer boarding school in the town of Verro (now Vôru), Estonia.
1838
Fet enters the Law faculty of Moscow University; later transfers to the Philological Section of the Philosophical Department of the same University.
1840
Fet’s first book of verse, the Lyrical Pantheon, is published over the signature A. F.
1841-1842
Fet publishes poems in the journals The Muscovite and Notes of the Fatherland.
1844
Fet graduates from the University. July-August goes to Darmstadt and Frankfurt-on-Main. Begins writing for the journal Repertoire and Pantheon.
1845
Joins a regiment of cuirassiers stationed in Novogeorgievsk in the Ukraine. Nikolay I issues a manifesto stating that the right to become a member of the hereditary nobility can be earned only upon reaching a senior officer’s rank, which means Fet would have to wait fifteen or twenty years instead of the six months he had counted on.
1847
During a vacation in Moscow, Fet prepares a collection of verse for the press. December: The collection is passed by the censor.
1848
In late summer and early autumn, becomes friendly with Mariya Lazich.
1850
At the beginning of the year, Fet’s new collection appears. Summer: Death of Mariya Lazich (a suspected suicide).
1852
Beginning of Fet’s connection with The Contemporary.
1853
Transferred to a Guard Regiment of Uhlans stationed in Krasnoe Selo, near St. Petersburg.
1854
Makes the acquaintance of, and is accepted into, the literary circle of The Contemporary. Friendship with Turgenev. A period of great creative activity. February 22: Fet’s regiment sent to Estonia to guard the Baltic coast.
1856
A new collection of Fet’s verse, edited by Turgenev, is passed by the censor. From June to December, a European trip to Germany, France, Italy. A new ukase issued, delaying still further the bestowal of hereditary nobility through service as an army officer. For Fet, the award is now unattainable. June: Fet resigns from the army, travels abroad. August 16: marries Mariya Petrovna Botkina, sister of the literary critic Vasily Botkin.
1860-1861
Purchases «Stepanovka,» an estate in the Mtsensk district; devotes himself to reconstructing the house and supervising the land.
1862
Two articles entitled «Notes on Free Labor» published in The Russian Herald.
1863
A new collection of Fet’s works appears.
1863-1864
Three articles entitled «Notes from the Village» published in The Russian Herald. Radical critics attack Fet’s articles, review his 1863 collection unfavorably.
1873
December 23: Alexander II grants Fet permission to take the name of Shenshin.
1882
The collection Evening Lights passed by the censor.
1883
Fet’s translations of Horace published.
1884
A second edition of Evening Lights passed by the censor.
1885
Fet’s translation of Schopenhauer’s treatise The Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason published.
1886
Fet’s translations of Catullus appear.
1887
Third edition of Evening Lights passed by the censor.
1888
Publication of Fet’s translation of Schopenhauer’s World as Will and Idea, Propertius’ Elegies, Part II of Goethe’s Faust, and Part II of Vergil’s Aeneid.
1889
Fet awarded title of Chamberlain.
1890
Volumes I and II of Fet’s Memoirs published. Fourth edition of Evening Lights passed by the censor.
1892
Work on memoirs The Early Years, published posthumously in 1893.
November 21: Death of the poet.
November 25: Buried on the Shenshin estate in the province of Orlov.