An anti-nihilistic novel (), from () meaning 'nihilism'. is a form of

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", itsel ...

from late 19th-century

Russian literature Russian literature refers to the literature of Russia and its émigrés and to Russian language, Russian-language literature. The roots of Russian literature can be traced to the Middle Ages, when epics and chronicles in Old East Slavic were c ...

, 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 Nihilism (; ) is a philosophy, or family of views within philosophy, that rejects generally accepted or fundamental aspects of human existence, such as objective truth, knowledge, morality, values, or meaning. The term was popularized by Ivan ...

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 the conservative literary magazine ''

The Russian Messenger The ''Russian Messenger'' or ''Russian Herald'' (russian: Ру́сский ве́стник ''Russkiy Vestnik'', Pre-reform Russian: Русскій Вѣстникъ ''Russkiy Vestnik'') has been the title of three notable magazines published in ...

'' edited by Mikhail Katkov.

Background

Félix Nadar 1820-1910 portraits Yvan Tourgueniev

Nihilism came into conflict with Orthodox religious authorities, as well as with the Tsarist autocracy. Young radicals began calling themselves nihilists in university protests, innocuous youthful rebellions, and ever-escalating revolutionary activities, which included widespread

arson Arson is the crime of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, wat ...

. The theoretic side of nihilism was somewhat distinct from this violent expression however. Nevertheless, nihilism was widely castigated by conservative publicists and government authorities. ''Fathers and Sons'' is sometimes considered a more sympathetic work of the anti-nihilistic genre, as with Dostoevsky's '' The Brothers Karamazov''; Turgenev's own opinion of his nihilist character Bazarov was ambivalent, stating: "Did I want to abuse Bazarov or extol him? I do not know myself, since I don't know whether I love him or hate him."

List of anti-nihilistic novels

Notes

References

25. Терехин, Валерий. "Против течений" : утаенные русские писатели : типология "антинигилистического" романа. 3-е изд. // Терёхин В.Л. Утаённые русские писатели : �онографии, статьи М.: Знак, 2009. - C. 3-114 aleriĭ Terekhin. "Protiv techeniĭ" : utaennye russkie pisateli : tipologii͡a "antinigilisticheskogo" romana. Utaënnye russkie pisateli : [monografii, statʹiMoskva: Znak, 2009. - C. 3-114]

Background

List of anti-nihilistic novels

See also

Notes

References

Further reading