Anti-nihilistic Literature
An anti-nihilistic novel (), from () meaning 'nihilism'. is a form of novel from late 19th-century Russian literature, that came as a reaction to the disillusioned attitudes of the Russian nihilist movement and revolutionary socialism of the 1860s and 1870s. The genre was influential in shaping subsequent ideas on nihilism as a philosophy and cultural phenomenon. Its name derives from the historical usage of the word ''nihilism'' as broadly applied to revolutionary movements within the Russian Empire at the time. In the more formulaic works of this genre, the typical protagonist is a nihilist student. In contrast to the Chernyshevskian character of Rakhmetov however, the nihilist is weak-willed and is easily seduced into subversive activities by a villain, often a Pole (in reference to Polish insurrectionary efforts against the Russian Empire). The more meritous works of this genre managed to explore nihilism with less caricature. Many anti-nihilistic novels were published in t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Novel
A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itself from the la, novella, a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ''novellus'', diminutive of ''novus'', meaning "new". Some novelists, including Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Ann Radcliffe, John Cowper Powys, preferred the term "romance" to describe their novels. According to Margaret Doody, the novel has "a continuous and comprehensive history of about two thousand years", with its origins in the Ancient Greek and Roman novel, in Chivalric romance, and in the tradition of the Italian renaissance novella.Margaret Anne Doody''The True Story of the Novel'' New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1996, rept. 1997, p. 1. Retrieved 25 April 2014. The ancient romance form was revived by Romanticism, especially the histori ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tsarist Autocracy
Tsarist autocracy (russian: царское самодержавие, transcr. ''tsarskoye samoderzhaviye''), also called Tsarism, was a form of autocracy (later absolute monarchy) specific to the Grand Duchy of Moscow and its successor states the Tsardom of Russia and Russian Empire. In it, the Tsar possessed in principle authority and wealth, with more power than constitutional monarchs counterbalanced by a legislative authority, as well as more religious authority than Western monarchs. The institution originated during the time of Ivan III (1462−1505), and was abolished after the Russian Revolution of 1917. Alternative names Imperial autocracy, Russian autocracy, Muscovite autocracy, tsarist absolutism, imperial absolutism, Russian absolutism, Muscovite absolutism, Muscovite despotism, Russian despotism, tsarist despotism or imperial despotism. History Ivan III (reigned 1462-1505) built upon Byzantine traditions and laid foundations for the tsarist autocracy which with ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Idiot
''The Idiot'' ( pre-reform Russian: ; post-reform rus, Идиот, Idiót) is a novel by the 19th-century Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky. It was first published serially in the journal ''The Russian Messenger'' in 1868–69. The title is an ironic reference to the central character of the novel, Prince Lev Nikolayevich Myshkin, a young man whose goodness, open-hearted simplicity and guilelessness lead many of the more worldly characters he encounters to mistakenly assume that he lacks intelligence and insight. In the character of Prince Myshkin, Dostoevsky set himself the task of depicting "the positively good and beautiful man." The novel examines the consequences of placing such a singular individual at the centre of the conflicts, desires, passions and egoism of worldly society, both for the man himself and for those with whom he becomes involved. Joseph Frank describes ''The Idiot'' as "the most personal of all Dostoevsky's major works, the book in which he embodies his ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Vsevolod Krestovsky
Vsevolod Vladimirovich Krestovsky (russian: Все́волод Влади́мирович Кресто́вский; February 23, 1840 – January 30, 1895) was a Russian writer who worked in the city mysteries genre. Biography Krestovsky came from an old family of Polish gentry (''szlachta'') with roots in nowadays Ukraine. In 1857 he enrolled in the Historico-Philological faculty of St Petersburg University. At the university he became friends with the radical critic Dmitry Pisarev, and wrote for the magazine ''Russian Word''. After his short association with the radical camp, he joined a group of moderate slavophiles which included Apollon Maykov, Lev Mei and others, and began publishing his works in ''Notes of the Fatherland'', ''Time'' and ''Epoch''. In 1860 he left the university to become a professional writer. His novel ''The Slums of Saint Petersburg'' (1864), a product of many hours of personal observation, gained him considerable popularity. In 1863 he traveled to ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Crime And Punishment
''Crime and Punishment'' ( pre-reform Russian: ; post-reform rus, Преступление и наказание, Prestupléniye i nakazániye, prʲɪstʊˈplʲenʲɪje ɪ nəkɐˈzanʲɪje) is a novel by the Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky. It was first published in the literary journal ''The Russian Messenger'' in twelve monthly installments during 1866.University of Minnesota – Study notes for Crime and Punishment – (retrieved on 1 May 2006) It was later published in a single volume. It is the second of Dostoevsky's full-length novels following his return from ten years of exile in Siberia. ''Cri ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Vasily Avenarius
Vasily Petrovich Avenarius (russian: Василий Петрович Авенариус, born ''Wilhelm Heinrich Appolonius Avenarius'' 10 October 1839 - 9 November 1923) was a Russian writer and memoirist. Born in Tsarskoye Selo to a Lutheran pastor, he graduated from the Saint Petersburg University to join first the Russian Interior Ministry and later the Office of the Institutions of Empress Maria. His first two novels, the anti-nihilist ''The Modern Idyll'' (Современная идиллия, 1865), and ''The Passing Craze'' (Поветрие, 1867), were deemed and 'reactionary' by the influential democratic press. Shocked by the almost unanimous negative response, Avenarius turned away from political issues and from then on have been publishing only books for children, as well as biographies (also adapted for the young readership), notably of Pushkin and Gogol. Several of his books (including ''The Book of the Kiev Bogatyrs'', 1875, ''The Tale of a Bumble-Bee'', 1879, ''W ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Fyodor Dostoevsky
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (, ; rus, Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский, Fyódor Mikháylovich Dostoyévskiy, p=ˈfʲɵdər mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪdʑ dəstɐˈjefskʲɪj, a=ru-Dostoevsky.ogg, links=yes; 11 November 18219 February 1881), sometimes transliterated as Dostoyevsky, was a Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist and journalist. Dostoevsky's literary works explore the human condition in the troubled political, social, and spiritual atmospheres of 19th-century Russia, and engage with a variety of philosophical and religious themes. His most acclaimed novels include ''Crime and Punishment'' (1866), ''The Idiot'' (1869), ''Demons'' (1872), and ''The Brothers Karamazov'' (1880). His 1864 novella, ''Notes from Underground'', is considered to be one of the first works of existentialist literature. Numerous literary critics regard him as one of the greatest novelists in all of world literature, as many of his works are considered highly influen ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Notes From Underground
''Notes from Underground'' ( pre-reform Russian: ; post-reform Russian: ; also translated as ''Notes from the Underground'' or ''Letters from the Underworld'') is a novella by Fyodor Dostoevsky, first published in the journal ''Epoch'' in 1864. It is a first-person narrative in the form of a "confession": the work was originally announced by Dostoevsky in ''Epoch'' under the title "A Confession". The novella presents itself as an excerpt from the memoirs of a bitter, isolated, unnamed narrator (generally referred to by critics as the Underground Man), who is a retired civil servant living in St. Petersburg. Although the first part of the novella has the form of a monologue, the narrator's form of address to his reader is acutely ''dialogized''. According to Mikhail Bakhtin, in the Underground Man's confession "there is literally not a single monologically firm, undissociated word". The Underground Man's every word anticipates the words of an other, with whom he enters into an ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Viktor Klyushnikov
Viktor Petrovich Klyushnikov (russian: Клю́шников Ви́ктор Петро́вич, born 22 March 1841, village Leksianovka, Gzhatsk region, Smolensk Governorate, Imperial Russia, - 19 November 1892, Saint Petersburg, Imperial Russia) was a Russian writer, editor and journalist, whose debut novel, ''Marevo'' (Марево, Haze, ''Russky Vestnik'', 1864), was considered by contemporary Russian critics to be one of the four 'great anti-nihilist' novels of the time, alongside ''Troubled Seas'' by Alexey Pisemsky, '' No Way Out'' by Nikolai Leskov and ''Demons'' by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Both Ivan Turgenev and Alexey K. Tolstoy reacted positively, hailing the arrival of the original, even if erratic literary talent, "who as playingwith his gift in acrobatic fashion," according to Tolstoy. None of Klyushnikov's later works, among them ''Bolshiye korabli'' (Большие корабли, Big Ships, 1866), ''Tsygane'' (Цыгане, Gypsies, 1869), ''Drugaya zhizn'' (Друг ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Nikolai Leskov
Nikolai Semyonovich Leskov (russian: Никола́й Семёнович Леско́в; – ) was a Russian novelist, short-story writer, playwright, and journalist, who also wrote under the pseudonym M. Stebnitsky. Praised for his unique writing style and innovative experiments in form, and held in high esteem by Leo Tolstoy, Anton Chekhov and Maxim Gorky among others, Leskov is credited with creating a comprehensive picture of contemporary Russian society using mostly short literary forms. His major works include '' Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk'' (1865) (which was later made into an opera by Shostakovich), '' The Cathedral Folk'' (1872), ''The Enchanted Wanderer'' (1873), and " The Tale of Cross-eyed Lefty from Tula and the Steel Flea" (1881). Leskov received his formal education at the Oryol Lyceum. In 1847 Leskov joined the Oryol criminal court office, later transferring to Kiev, where he worked as a clerk, attended university lectures, mixed with local people, and took part ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Aleksey Pisemsky
Aleksey Feofilaktovich Pisemsky (russian: Алексе́й Феофила́ктович Пи́семский) () was a Russian novelist and dramatist who was regarded as an equal of Ivan Turgenev and Fyodor Dostoyevsky in the late 1850s, but whose reputation suffered a spectacular decline after his fall-out with ''Sovremennik'' magazine in the early 1860s. A realistic playwright, along with Aleksandr Ostrovsky he was responsible for the first dramatization of ordinary people in the history of Russian theatre.Banham (1998, 861). "Pisemsky's great narrative gift and exceptionally strong grip on reality make him one of the best Russian novelists," according to D.S. Mirsky. Pisemsky's first novel '' Boyarschina'' (1847, published 1858) was originally forbidden for its unflattering description of the Russian nobility. His principal novels are ''The Simpleton'' (1850), ''One Thousand Souls'' (1858), which is considered his best work of the kind, and ''Troubled Seas'', which gives a pic ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ivan Turgenev
Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev (; rus, links=no, Ива́н Серге́евич Турге́невIn Turgenev's day, his name was written ., p=ɪˈvan sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ tʊrˈɡʲenʲɪf; 9 November 1818 – 3 September 1883 (Old Style dates: 28 October 1818 – 22 August 1883) was a Russian novelist, short story writer, poet, playwright, translator and popularizer of Russian literature in the West. His first major publication, a short story collection titled ''A Sportsman's Sketches'' (1852), was a milestone of Russian realism. His novel '' Fathers and Sons'' (1862) is regarded as one of the major works of 19th-century fiction. Life Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev was born in Oryol (modern-day Oryol Oblast, Russia) to noble Russian parents Sergei Nikolaevich Turgenev (1793–1834), a colonel in the Russian cavalry who took part in the Patriotic War of 1812, and Varvara Petrovna Turgeneva (née Lutovinova; 1787–1850). His father belonged to an old, but impoverished Turge ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |