Alexander Kunitsyn
Alexander Petrovich Kunitsyn (Russian: Александр Петрович Куницын; November 16 [27], 1783, Koi, Tver Province – July 1 [13], 1840, St. Petersburg) was a Russian lawyer, professor, Active State Councillor. He was a favourite teacher of the Russian poet and playwright, Alexander Pushkin.
Biography[edit]
Kunitsyn was born on November 16 (27), 1783 in the family of a rural deacon. He was educated at the Main Pedagogical Institute (1803–1807); then he prepared for a professorship at the Universities of Göttingen and Heidelberg (1808–1811).
In 1811–1820, from the moment of opening of the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum and the Noble Boarding school at the Main Pedagogical Institute, he taught moral, political and legal sciences. Since the opening of St. Petersburg University, he had been reading the same subjects in it. The success that he had among the students of the lyceum was testified by Alexander Pushkin in the poem dedicated to the Lyceum's anniversary 'October 19, 1825'.[1]
Cultural references[edit]
Kunitsyn is one of the characters in the novel by Yuri Tynyanov "Pushkin" (1936).
Pushchin's memoirs describe an episode in which Kunitsyn, during the opening of the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, in his speech in the presence of Alexander I, never mentioned the name of the emperor. Alexander I was so surprised by Kunitsyn's lack of flattery that the next day he sent him the Order of St. Vladimir.