JOUKOVSKY, zhu-kOf'ske, Vasily An dreievitch, Russian poet and translator: b. 1783; d. 1852. He was the son of a country land-owner and a Turkish slave named Salkha. The father, Bounine, turned the child over to Andrew Grigorovitch Joukovsky, who ulti mately gave him into the care of Madame Iouchkov, sister of Bounine, a rich and talented lady of great musical ability living at Tula, where she was the life of an artistic circle. Music, literature, plays, concerts were of fre quent occurrence and awakened the latent tal ent of the boy who wrote two plays, 'Camilla,' and 'Paul and Virginia,' both of which were presented on the stage. In 1797 Joukovsky was sent to school in Moscow, where he at once be gan contributing to the local papers poems that attracted attention; and making transla dons for publishers to meet expenses, as his aunt died soon after his atrival at college. Among his translations were Kotzebue's entire plays and most of his novels. Becoming editor of the European Messenger, he proceeded to write each complete edition himself, making up the contents of translations, sketches, stories, criticisms and poems. In 1810 his natural father gave him money enough to buy a small landed property on which he settled. There he found congenial neighbors in a rich land owner named Pletcheieve and his wife who were fond of literature, music, poetry and the drama. Madame Pletcheieve was musical and Joukovsky wrote poems and ballads which she set to music. The poet left with the national forces for the defense of the country in 1812; and his poem, The Bard in the Russian Camp,' descriptive of the first battle, became immensely popular throughout Russia. A second poem ad dressed to the Tsar on the capture of Paris in 1814 increased his reputation and brought him into direct contact with the court, where he became first reader to the empress and, later on, tutor to the royal children. There he acquired a reputation as a great teacher, a mas ter translator and a good poet. He was a great
favorite with the whole royal family who paid him liberally for his services. Joukovsky, judging from his original work, was possessed of considerable poetical feeling, but of com paratively little originality. Thus he fell short of rising to real greatness. His translations in troduced to Russia some of the best Romantic literature of Germany, France and England which he admired very much himself without apparently entering into the true spirit of the revival which this literature represents. How ever, his long and enthusiastic labors and trans lations inspired succeeding Russian writers who were destined to enter more fully into the spirit of the western Romanticism. A master of poetical and literary form, Joukovsky was rather in clined to be conservative, though his friends have, somewhat inadvisedly, claimed for him the honor of having been the leader of the Romantic movement in Russia. His classical taste is shown in his excellent translation of the 'Odyssey.> By his distribution throughout Russia of translations of English and German literature and his presentation of the authors and the interpretation of their work he proved himself an even more successful teacher of the literary part of the nation than he had • been of the children of the court. His influence upon Alexander II and the literary genius, Pouch kinc, was alike strong and, in a sense, epoch making, perhaps more so than that of any one other contemporary personage. Consult Grot, 'Sketches of the Life and Poetical Works of Joukovsky' ; Jarintzov, N., 'Russian Poets and Poems' (New York 1917) ; John, 'Speci mens of the Russian Poets' ; Seidlitz, 'W. A. Joukovsky, ein russisches DichterslebetV (Mit tau 1870) ; Waliszewski, K., 'A History of Rus sian Literature.>