''Russkoye Slovo'' (Русское слово, Russian Word) was a

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

weekly

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

published in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

in 1859-1866 by its owner, Count

Grigory Kushelev-Bezborodko Count Grigory Alexandrovich Kushelev-Bezborodko (russian: Григорий Александрович Кушелев-Безбородко, 1 February 1832, Saint Petersburg, Imperial Russia, – 13 May 1870, Saint Petersburg, Imperial Russia) was ...

History

The magazine's first editors were

Yakov Polonsky Yakov Petrovich Polonsky (russian: Яков Петрович Полонский; ) was a leading Pushkinist poet who tried to uphold the waning traditions of Russian Romantic poetry during the heyday of realistic prose. Of noble birth, Polonsky ...

Apollon Grigoryev Apollon Aleksandrovich Grigoryev (russian: Аполло́н Алекса́ндрович Григо́рьев, p=ɐpɐˈlon ɐlʲɪkˈsandrəvʲɪdʑ ɡrʲɪˈɡorʲjɪf, a=Apollon Alyeksandrovich Grigor'yev.ru.vorb.oga; 20 July 1822 – 7 Octob ...

, and A.Khmelnitsky. In mid-1860 Grigory Blagosvetlov came in, to invite several new authors, including

Dmitry Pisarev Dmitry Ivanovich Pisarevrussian: Дми́трий Ива́нович Пи́сарев ( – ) was a Russian literary critic and philosopher who was a central figure of Russian nihilism. He is noted as a forerunner of Nietzschean philosophy and fo ...

who became the head of the literary criticism section. ''Russkoye Slovo'' soon became quite popular among the young Russian

intelligentsia The intelligentsia is a status class composed of the university-educated people of a society who engage in the complex mental labours by which they critique, shape, and lead in the politics, policies, and culture of their society; as such, the in ...

. In 1862, after the publication of Pisarev's essay "Poor Russian Thought" (Бедная русская мысль), the magazine received half a year suspension. While ''Sovremennik'' (with

Nikolai Dobrolyubov Nikolay Alexandrovich Dobrolyubov ( rus, Никола́й Алекса́ндрович Добролю́бов, p=nʲɪkɐˈlaj ɐlʲɪˈksandrəvʲɪtɕ dəbrɐˈlʲubəf, a=Nikolay Alyeksandrovich Dobrolyubov.ru.vorb.oga; 5 February Old_Style_a ...

and

Nikolai Chernyshevsky Nikolay Gavrilovich Chernyshevsky ( – ) was a Russian literary and social critic, journalist, novelist, democrat, and socialist philosopher, often identified as a utopian socialist and leading theoretician of Russian nihilism. He was t ...

as its ideological leaders) represented the deeper, analytical part of the same spectrum, for ''Russkoye Slovo'' the straightforward, often

nihilistic 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 of life, meaning. The term was pop ...

protest was the order of the day. Some attacks on liberal literature and arts published in the journal were criticized even by its ''Sovremennik'' allies. Polemic essays by Pisarev,

Varfolomey Zaytsev Varfolomey Alexandrovich Zaytsev (russian: Варфоломей Александрович Зайцев, 11 September 1842, Kostroma, Imperial Russia, – 20 January 1882, Clarens, Switzerland, Switzerland) was a Russian literary critic, histor ...

Nikolai Shelgunov Nikolai Vasil'evich Shelgunov (1824–1891) was a Russian forestry professor, journalist, and literary critic, who became a notable figure of the Russian nihilist movement. Nikolai was born the son of a nobleman, on in Saint Petersburg. He stud ...

Afanasy Shchapov Afanasiy Prokopievich Shchapov (''Афанасий Прокофьевич Щапов'' in Russian) (May 10(17).1830 – February 27(10.3).1876) was a Russian historian accused of " Siberian nationalism" and persecuted by tsarist authorities. ...

represented the facade of ''Russkoye Slovo''. The prose section behind it was less impressive: the main contributors to it were Nikolai Bazhin and Nikolai Blagoveshchensky as well as (occasionally) Marko Vovchok, Alexander Levitov, Alexander Sheller, Nikolai Pomyalovsky, Fyodor Reshetnikov, Konstantin Staniukovich and

Gleb Uspensky Gleb Ivanovich Uspensky ( rus, Глеб Иванович Успенский; October 25, 1843 April 6, 1902), was a Russian Empire writer, and a prominent figure of the Narodnik movement. Biography Early life Gleb Uspensky was born in Tula, t ...

. After the 1866 Karakozov's assassination attempt ''Russkoye Slovo'' (as well as ''Sovremennik'') was closed by a

monarch A monarch is a head of stateWebster's II New College DictionarMonarch Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 2001. p. 707. Life tenure, for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest authority ...

's decree.

References

{{Reflist 1859 establishments in the Russian Empire Defunct literary magazines published in Europe Defunct magazines published in Russia Magazines established in 1859 Magazines disestablished in 1866 Magazines published in Saint Petersburg Literary magazines published in Russia Weekly magazines published in Russia Russian-language magazines