Ivan Pnin
Russian poet
Ivan Petrovich Pnin (Russian: Иван Петрович Пнин; 1773-1805) was a Russian poet and political writer. In accordance with a Russian Illegitimacy custom, Pnin's surname was the abbreviation of that of his father, Prince Nicholas Repnin.
01Biography
Born out of wedlock, he famously deplored the status of illegitimate children in his 1802 petition to Alexander I of Russia (Pnin's father was rumored to have also illegitimately fathered Poland's Prince Adam Jerzy Czartoryski.)
Pnin's liberal Essay on the Enlightenment in Russia (1804) attacked Russian serfdom and therefore was banned in the Russian Empire.
The titles of Pnin's best-known poems, Man (1804) and God (1805), mirror Derzhavin's on purpose, as he sought to refute the great poet's idealism by taking up the Deist stance of Radishchev, Volney, and d'Holbach.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Ivan Pnin”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Ivan Pnin Opyt.jpg by Dmitrismirnov, CC BY-SA 3.0
Fathomly is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Wikimedia Foundation. Spotted a problem? Tell us.