Andrei the Nameless

In the novella “Andrei the Nameless” (1829), Emperor Peter easily resolves the problems of the unlucky main characters, while in every situation remaining invariably majestic, as befits his rank.

Alexander Osipovich Kornilovich was a Decembrist writer, historian, and author of studies and novellas devoted to the era of Peter I, as well as “The Life of Mazepa,” which served as an introduction to K. F. Ryleev’s poem “Voynarovsky.”
He belonged to the Southern Society, was convicted, sent to the Nerchinsk mines, but was soon returned to St. Petersburg for additional interrogations.
He spent about five years imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress, then was sent as a private soldier to the Caucasus.
Kornilovich appears as a fervent supporter of Peter’s reforms, of Peter’s personality and his loyal friends, and an opponent of stagnant antiquity. Such a view sharply diverged from the historical concept of N. M. Karamzin: respecting and honoring his works, the Decembrists, including Kornilovich, did not share the historian’s views and convictions. Alexander Osipovich was a sober realist, preferring to the temptations of poeticizing ancient Rus a clear analysis of progressive tendencies in modern history. Moreover, the realism of A. O. Kornilovich in a way balanced the romantic enthusiasms of the Decembrists.
During a campaign against the mountaineers in Dagestan in 1834, A. O. Kornilovich fell ill with a fever and died.