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 The Russian nihilist movementOccasionally, ''nihilism'' will be capitalized when referring to the Russian movement though this is not ubiquitous nor does it correspond with Russian usage. was a philosophical, cultural, and revolutionary movem ...

and

revolutionary socialism Revolutionary socialism is a political philosophy, doctrine, and tradition within socialism that stresses the idea that a social revolution is necessary to bring about structural changes in society. More specifically, it is the view that revolut ...

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 movement A revolutionary movement (or revolutionary social movement) is a specific type of social movement dedicated to carrying out a revolution. Charles Tilly defines it as "a social movement advancing exclusive competing claims to control of the State ( ...

s within the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

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 Rakhmetov is a fictional character from the 1863 novel ''What Is to Be Done?'' by Nikolai Chernyshevsky. Although he is only a minor character (appearing in just 1/10 of the book at the end of chapter three), he is the most famous because he inspi ...

however, the nihilist is weak-willed and is easily seduced into subversive activities by a villain, often a

Pole Pole may refer to: Astronomy *Celestial pole, the projection of the planet Earth's axis of rotation onto the celestial sphere; also applies to the axis of rotation of other planets *Pole star, a visible star that is approximately aligned with the ...

(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 Mikhail Nikiforovich Katkov (russian: Михаи́л Ники́форович Катко́в; 13 February 1818 – 1 August 1887) was a conservative Russian journalist influential during the reign of tsar Alexander III. He was a proponent of Rus ...

Background

Félix Nadar 1820-1910 portraits Yvan Tourgueniev

Nihilism came into conflict with

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...

religious authorities, as well as with the

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 th ...

. 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 ''The Brothers Karamazov'' (russian: Братья Карамазовы, ''Brat'ya Karamazovy'', ), also translated as ''The Karamazov Brothers'', is the last novel by Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky. Dostoevsky spent nearly two years writing '' ...

''; 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