What ended Pushkin's secret affair with the 19-year-old serf Kalashnikova
Although we used to idealize the personality of A. S. Pushkin, nothing human was alien to the poet. Many are shocked by the history of Alexander Sergeevich's relationship with the aristocrat Anna Kern. The genius dedicated beautiful poems to her, and in the circle of friends he made obscene jokes about his muse and called her a "harlot". But even more strange was his secret affair with the serf peasant Olga Kalashnikova, about which it is customary to be shamefully silent.
Like many other landowners of his era, Pushkin did not disdain to start relationships with serf girls. This story began in the summer of 1824, when the 25-year-old poet lived in Odessa. The secret police were keenly interested in the poet's correspondence and one of the letters failed Alexander Sergeevich. In it, he confessed to a friend that he adheres to atheistic views. At that time, it was a serious offense, and in the case of a freethinker, it was a crime at all.
Because of the ill-fated letter, Pushkin was fired from the Odessa chancellery, where he worked, and exiled to the Mikhailovskoye estate of the Pskov province. It was the estate of the poet's mother, Nadezhda Osipovna. In August, the poet arrived at the place of exile, and in September he remained alone in the village. Summer is over, and numerous relatives have left, some to St. Petersburg, some to Moscow. Neighbors also left their estates, with whom they could spend time talking, go hunting or play cards.
Accustomed to social life, Pushkin was desperately bored. During this difficult period of life, the young master caught the eye of Olga, the 19—year-old daughter of Mikhailovskoye village clerk Mikhail Kalashnikov. The girl was a serf and was a "hay wench" at the manor house. They say that Alexander Sergeevich's nanny Arina Rodionovna brought him together with the servants, who could not bear to look at the longing pupil.
Whatever it was, but an affair began between the master and the serf. To get rid of prying eyes, Pushkin even fired the housekeeper Rosa Grigorievna. A woman who faithfully served the poet's family for many years was accused of theft and all sorts of abuses.
The details of this secret connection are unknown. The Soviet Pushkin scholar Pavel Shchegolev, having studied the "Mikhailovsky" period of the poet's life, made some conclusions. He wrote that Olga Kalashnikova was a kind and sweet girl. She gave Pushkin not only maiden honor, but also true feelings, because she really loved him.
This is not surprising, because for a young peasant woman Pushkin was an extraordinary man. But, from the point of view of Alexander Sergeevich, it was the most ordinary connection of the master with the servants. Interestingly, just 5 years before, in 1819, the poet denounced such mores in the poem "The Village". There were the words: "young virgins bloom for the whim of an unfeeling villain."
In place of the "villain" was now Pushkin himself. An affair with a peasant woman does not need to be idealized, because he did not oblige the poet to anything. Even in exile, he continued to add to his list of love victories. A lover of women went to the neighboring village of Trigorskoye, where a certain lady was bored. During his exile, Pushkin also met with the same Anna Kern, whom he called "a genius of pure beauty."
In his letters, Pushkin jokingly called his mistress Eda, in honor of the heroine of Baratynsky's poem, seduced by a visiting hussar-lovelace. For a long time, no one knew how the poet's rustic novel ended. There were even rumors that the girl drowned herself because of an unhappy love. But then it became known that Olga became pregnant.
In May 1826 Olga's father was appointed manager in the village of Boldino. She left with him from Mikhailovsky and the daughter who found herself in an interesting position. Pushkin tried his best to hide the story of the peasant woman. He even planned to give the child to An educational home in Moscow, where the illegitimate children of nobles grew up.
The poet also asked his friend Prince Peter Vyazemsky to take Olga to his estate. But he did not support this idea and advised his friend to act according to his conscience and talk to Olga's father. So Pushkin did. On June 1, 1826, Olga Kalashnikova gave birth to her son Pavel.
The child was recorded in the church book of the Boldinsky temple as the son of a local peasant Yakov Ivanov and was given the surname "father". Interestingly, the child's mother, Olga Kalashnikova, was recorded there as the "godmother". Agree, Pushkin knew how to cover his tracks. Historian and Pushkin scholar Mikhail Filin believes that Pavel was born prematurely and died as an infant. He even mentions the date of his death — September 15.
Two weeks before that, Pushkin's exile ended, and he left Mikhailovsky. No one knows whether the news of his son's death has reached him or not. It is quite possible that the fate of a child from a serf girl did not interest Alexander Sergeevich at all. The mores in those days were specific, and the nobles behaved frivolously.
The next meeting between Pushkin and Kalashnikova took place in 1830, during the famous Boldin autumn. The poet did not forget Olga and wrote her a letter of leave, making her free. And on October 18, 1831, she married a nobleman — a small landowner Pavel Klyucharev. At the age of 35, he remained a widower, and Olga became the mistress of his small estate and even the mistress of 19 peasants.
Klyucharev served as a noble assessor of the zemstvo court in Lukoyanov and was a kind and calm man. But the assessor had a weakness — he liked to drink. Soon, due to drunkenness, Pavel had to leave the service and the family was left without means of livelihood. They began to live at the expense of Olga's father Mikhail Kalashnikov, actually sitting on his neck.
The Klyucharyov serfs were laid, and the situation seemed hopeless. Desperate, Olga turned to Pushkin to help her redeem the peasants. He went to meet him and allowed the manager Kalashnikov to take the money for ransom from the rent. In 1833, the poet saw his former lover again and handed her a bundle of banknotes.
The amount at that time was considerable and Olga was able to buy a house in Lukoyanov and even got a serf servant. The former "hay wench" eventually became very selfish. She was sure that Pushkin would do anything for her. According to the testimony of Boldinsky manager Joseph Penkovsky, she pulled money from the poet until his death.
Having lost her patron, Olga quickly got into debt, lost her house and servants, and then broke up with her husband. By that time Pavel Klyucharev had long since turned into a descended bitter drunkard. Olga's fate is known only until 1840, then traces of her are lost. According to one version, she moved to St. Petersburg with her father and younger brother.