Chronicle of life and work
Nikolai Gavrilovich Chernyshevsky
(1828-1889)
1828 — July 12 (24)- at the Saratov archpriest, dean member of the consistory Gavriil Ivanovich Chernyshevsky son Nicholas is born.
The father of Nikolai Gavrilovich is the son of a deacon from the village of Chernysheva, Chembarsky district, Penza province. He received his surname when he entered the Penza seminary by the name of his native village. After the death of the Saratov archpriest of the Sergius Church, E. I. Golubev, at the insistence of the governor, appoint the deceased "best student" from among those who graduated from the seminary (at that time Chernyshevsky's father worked as a teacher at the seminary), moves to Saratov and becomes the new archpriest and marries daughter of the deceased Evgenia Egorovna Golubeva- mother of Nikolai Gavrilovich.
1835 — summer- Beginning of studies under the guidance of his father.
1836 — December - Chernyshevsky entered the Saratov Theological School.
1842 — September- Chernyshevsky is enrolled in the Saratov Theological Seminary.
1846 — May - Chernyshevsky moved from Saratov to St. Petersburg to enter the university. This summer, Chernyshevsky successfully passes his exams and enters the historical and philological department of the philosophical faculty of St. Petersburg University. AT august, after the start of classes at the university, Chernyshevsky met the poet M. L. Mikhailov, a future revolutionary and employee of Sovremennik.
1848 - since the spring of this year, Chernyshevsky begins to take an interest in the course of revolutionary events in the countries of Western Europe, in particular, in France. After meeting and communicating with the Petrashevist A. V. Khanykov begins to study the works of the French utopian socialist Fourier. Conversations with Khanykov strengthen Chernyshevsky in his thoughts about the proximity and inevitability of a revolution in Russia.
1850 - after graduating from the university, Chernyshevsky became a teacher of literature in the 2nd St. Petersburg Cadet Corps.
1851-1853 - Having received an appointment at the Saratov gymnasium as a senior teacher of Russian literature, Chernyshevsky moved to Saratov in the spring of 1851. In 1853 he met there with O. S. Vasilyeva whom he will soon marry. AT May goes with her to Petersburg. Begins cooperation with the journal "Domestic Notes". Works on master's thesis "Aesthetic Relations of Art to Reality". Secondary admission as a teacher of literature in the 2nd St. Petersburg Cadet Corps. autumn Chernyshevsky meets N. A. Nekrasov and begins working at Sovremennik.
1854 - Chernyshevsky's articles are published in the Sovremennik magazine: about novels and short stories M. Avdeeva, "On Sincerity in Criticism", on comedy A. N. Ostrovsky"Poverty is not a vice", etc.
1855 — May- defense of Chernyshevsky's master's thesis "Aesthetic relations of art to reality" at the university. Issue 12 of Sovremennik publishes Chernyshevsky's first article from the cycle Essays on the Gogol Period of Russian Literature.
1856 - acquaintance and friendship with N. A. Dobrolyubov. N. A. Nekrasov, going abroad for treatment, transfers his editorial rights to Sovremennik to Chernyshevsky.
1857 — No. 6 of Sovremennik publishes an article on the Provincial Essays M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin. In second half of the year Chernyshevsky, having transferred the literary-critical department of the journal to Dobrolyubov, begins to develop philosophical, historical, political and economic questions on the pages of Sovremennik, in particular, the question of the forthcoming liberation of the peasants from serfdom.
1858 - Chernyshevsky becomes the editor of the Military Collection. Sovremennik No. 1 published an article entitled Cavaignac, in which he harshly denounces the liberals for betraying the cause of the people. In No. 2 of Sovremennik, an article "On the new conditions of rural life" is published. In the magazine "Atenei" (part III, No. 18) an article "Russian man on rendez-vous" was published. In No. 12 of Sovremennik there is an article "Criticism of Philosophical Prejudices Against Communal Ownership".
1859 - in the journal Sovremennik (from No. 3), Chernyshevsky begins to publish systematic reviews of European political life under the general title Politics. AT June Chernyshevsky goes to London to A. I. Herzen for an explanation about the article “Very dangerous!” (“Very dangerous!”), published in The Bell. Upon returning from London, he leaves for Saratov. AT September returns to Petersburg.
1860 - in No. 1 of Sovremennik Chernyshevsky's article "Capital and Labor" is published. From the second issue of Sovremennik, his translation of the Foundations of Political Economy begins to appear. J. S. Mill followed by deep critical commentary. Issue 4 of Sovremennik published Chernyshevsky's article "The Anthropological Principle in Philosophy", which is one of the most famous declarations of materialism in Russian literature.
1861 - a trip to Moscow to attend a meeting of St. Petersburg and Moscow editors on the issue of problems and mitigation of censorship. No. 6 of Sovremennik publishes the article "Polemical Beauties"—Chernyshevsky's original response to the attacks of reactionary and liberal writers on his article "The Anthropological Principle in Philosophy." AT august well-known provocateur Vsevolod Kostomarov passes through his brother to the Third Department two handwritten proclamations: "To the Barsk Peasants" (author N. G. Chernyshevsky) and "Russian Soldiers" (author N. V. Shelgunov). In autumn, according to an eyewitness A. A. Sleptsova, Chernyshevsky discusses measures to organize the secret society "Land and Freedom". The police set up systematic surveillance of Chernyshevsky and gave secret instructions to the governors not to issue a passport to Chernyshevsky.
1862 - Chernyshevsky is present at the opening of the Chess Club in St. Petersburg, which had the goal of uniting representatives of the progressive public of the capital. Censorship forbids the publication of Chernyshevsky's "Letters without an Address", since the article contains sharp criticism of the peasant "reform" and the socio-political picture of life in Russia. AT March Chernyshevsky speaks at a literary evening in the Ruadze Hall with a reading on the topic "Acquaintance with Dobrolyubov." In June, Sovremennik is closed for eight months. July 7 Chernyshevsky was arrested and imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress.
1864 — May 19 a public "civil execution" of Chernyshevsky took place on Mytninskaya Square in St. Petersburg and a subsequent exile to Siberia. AT august Chernyshevsky arrives at the Kadainsky mine (Transbaikalia).
1865-1868 - the period of work on the novel "Prologue of the Prologue", "Levitsky's Diary" and "Prologue".
1866 — in August O. S. Chernyshevskaya with son Michael arrives in Kadai for a meeting with N. G. Chernyshevsky. AT September Chernyshevsky was sent from the Kadainsky mine to the Aleksandrovsky plant.
1871 — in February revolutionary populist arrested in Irkutsk German Lopatin, who came to Russia from London with the aim of releasing Chernyshevsky. AT december Chernyshevsky is transferred from the Aleksandrovsky plant to Vilyuysk.
1875 - attempt I. N. Myshkina release Chernyshevsky.
1883 Chernyshevsky is being sent from Vilyuysk to Astrakhan under police supervision.
1884-1888 - in Astrakhan, Chernyshevsky conducts a great literary activity. He wrote "Memoirs of Turgenev's relationship to Dobrolyubov", articles "The nature of human knowledge", "The origin of the theory of benevolence of the struggle for life", prepared "Materials for the biography of Dobrolyubov", eleven volumes of "General History" were translated from German G. Weber.
1889 - Chernyshevsky is allowed to move to Saratov, where he goes to end of June.
October 17 (29) Chernyshevsky, after a short illness, dies of a cerebral hemorrhage.
Places of residence in St. Petersburg:
June 19 - August 20, 1846— profitable house of Prilutsky — Ekaterininsky Canal Embankment (now — Griboyedov Canal), 44;
August 21-December 7, 1846— profitable house of Vyazemsky — Ekaterininsky Canal Embankment (now — Griboyedov Canal), 38, apt. 47;
1847-1848 - Frideriks' house - Vladimirskaya street, 13;
1848- Solovyov's apartment building - Voznesensky Prospekt, 41;
September 20, 1849 - February 10, 1850- apartment of L. N. Tersinskaya in the apartment building of I. V. Koshansky - Bolshaya Konyushennaya street, 15, apt. eight;
1853-1854 - I. I. Vvedensky's apartment in Borodina's apartment building - Embankment of the Zhdanovka River, 7;
Late June 1860 - June 7, 1861— profitable house of V. F. Gromov — 2nd line of Vasilyevsky Island, 13, apt. 7;
June 8, 1861 - July 7, 1862— profitable house of Esaulova — Bolshaya Moskovskaya street, 6, apt. four.
Works by N. G. Chernyshevsky
Novels
1862-1863 - What to do? From stories about new people.
1863 - Stories in stories (unfinished).
1867-1870 - Prologue. A novel from the early sixties (unfinished).
Tale
1863 - Alferyev.
1864 - Small stories.
Literary criticism
1850 - About the "Foreman" Fonvizin. PhD work.
1854 - On sincerity in criticism.
1854 - Songs of different nations.
1854 - Poverty is not a vice. Comedy by A. Ostrovsky.
1855 - Pushkin's works.
1855-1856 - Essays on the Gogol period of Russian literature.
1856 - Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin. His life and writings.
1856 - Koltsov's poems.
1856 - Poems by N. Ogarev.
1856 - Collection of poems by V. Benediktov.
1856 - Childhood and adolescence. Military stories of Count L. N. Tolstoy.
1856 - Essays from the peasant life of A. F. Pisemsky.
1857 - Lessing. His time, his life and work.
1857 - "Provincial essays" by Shchedrin.
1857 - Works by V. Zhukovsky.
1857 - Poems by N. Shcherbina.
1857 - "Letters about Spain" by V. P. Botkin.
1858 - Russian man on rendez-vous. Reflections on reading the story of Mr. Turgenev "Asya".
1860 - Collection of miracles, stories borrowed from mythology.
1861 - Is not the beginning of a change? Stories by N. V. Uspensky. Two parts.
Publicism
1856 - Review of the historical development of the rural community in Russia by Chicherin.
1856 - "Russian conversation" and its direction.
1857 - "Russian conversation" and Slavophilism.
1857 - On land ownership.
1858 - Farming system.
1858 - Cavaignac.
1859 - Materials for solving the peasant question.
1859 - Superstition and the rules of logic.
1859 - Capital and labor.
1859-1862 - Politics. Monthly surveys of foreign political life.
1860 - History of civilization in Europe from the fall of the Roman Empire to the French Revolution.
1861 - Political and economic letters to the President of the United States of America G. K. Carey.
1861 - On the causes of the fall of Rome.
1861 - Count Cavour.
1861 - To the lordly peasants from their well-wishers.
1862 - In gratitude Letter to Mr. Z<ари>well.
1862 - Letters without an address.
1861 - N. A. Dobrolyubov. Obituary.
1878 - Letter to the sons A. N. and M. N. Chernyshevsky.
Memoirs
1883 - Memories of Nekrasov.
1884-1888 - Materials for the biography of N. A. Dobrolyubov, collected in 1861-1862.
1884-1888 - Memories of Turgenev's relationship to Dobrolyubov and the break in friendship between Turgenev and Nekrasov.
Philosophy and aesthetics
1854 - A critical look at modern aesthetic concepts.
1855 - Aesthetic relationship of art to reality. Master's dissertation.
1855 - Sublime and comic.
1855 - The nature of human knowledge.
1858 - Criticism of philosophical prejudices against common ownership.
1860 - Anthropological principle in philosophy. "Essays on questions of practical philosophy". Composition by P. L. Lavrov.
1888 - The origin of the theory of beneficence of the struggle for life. Preface to some treatises on botany, zoology and the sciences of human life.
Translations
1860 — D. S. Mill's Foundations of Political Economy. With your notes.
1884-1888 - "The General History of G. Weber". With articles and comments.
Writer, philosopher and journalist Nikolai Chernyshevsky was popular during his lifetime in a narrow circle of readers. With the advent of Soviet power, his works (especially the novel What Is to Be Done?) became textbooks. Today his name is one of the symbols of Russian literature of the 19th century.
Childhood and youth
Nikolai Chernyshevsky, whose biography began in Saratov, was born into the family of a provincial priest. The father himself was engaged in the education of the child. From him, Chernyshevsky was transferred to religiosity, which faded away in his student years, when the young man became interested in revolutionary ideas. From childhood, Kolenka read a lot and swallowed book after book, which surprised everyone around him.
In 1843 he entered the theological seminary of Saratov, but, without graduating from it, he continued his education at the University of St. Petersburg. Chernyshevsky, whose biography was connected with the humanities, chose the Faculty of Philosophy.
At the university, the future writer was formed. He became a utopian socialist. His ideology was influenced by members of the circle of Irinarkh Vvedensky, with whom the student talked and argued a lot. At the same time, he began his literary activity. The first works of fiction were only training and remained unpublished.
Teacher and journalist
Having received an education, Chernyshevsky, whose biography was now connected with pedagogy, became a teacher. He taught in Saratov, and then returned to the capital. In the same years, he met his wife Olga Vasilyeva. The wedding took place in 1853.
The beginning of Chernyshevsky's journalistic activity was connected with Petersburg. In the same 1853, he began to publish in the newspapers Otechestvennye Zapiski and St. Petersburg Vedomosti. But most of all, Nikolai Gavrilovich was known as a member of the editorial board of the Sovremennik magazine. There were several circles of writers, each of which defended its position.
Work at Sovremennik
Nikolai Chernyshevsky, whose biography was already known in the literary environment of the capital, became closest to Dobrolyubov and Nekrasov. These authors were passionate about the revolutionary ideas they wanted to express in Sovremennik.
A few years earlier, civil riots had erupted across Europe, echoing through Russia. For example, Louis-Philippe was overthrown by the bourgeoisie in Paris. And in Austria, the nationalist movement of the Hungarians was suppressed only after Nicholas I came to the rescue of the emperor, who sent several regiments to Budapest. The tsar, whose reign began with the suppression of the Decembrist uprising, was afraid of revolutions and increased censorship in Russia.
This caused concern among the liberals in Sovremennik. They Vasily Botkin, Alexander Druzhinin and others) did not want the journal to be radicalized.
Chernyshevsky's activities increasingly attracted the attention of the state and officials responsible for censorship. A striking event was the public defense of a dissertation on art, at which the writer delivered a revolutionary speech. In protest, Minister of Education Avraam Norov did not allow Nikolai Gavrilovich to be awarded the prize. Only after he was replaced in this position by the more liberal Yevgraf Kovalevsky, did the writer become a master of Russian literature.
Chernyshevsky's views
It is important to note some features of Chernyshevsky's views. They were influenced by schools such as French materialism and Hegelianism. As a child, the writer was a zealous Christian, but in adulthood he began to actively criticize religion, as well as liberalism and the bourgeoisie.
Especially fiercely he stigmatized serfdom. Even before the Manifesto on the Liberation of the Peasants of Alexander II was published, the writer described the future reform in many articles and essays. He proposed drastic measures, including the transfer of land to peasants free of charge. However, the Manifesto had little to do with these utopian programs. Since they were established that prevented the peasants from becoming completely free, Chernyshevsky regularly scolded this document. He compared the situation of Russian peasants with the life of black slaves in the USA.
Chernyshevsky believed that in 20 or 30 years after the liberation of the peasants, the country would get rid of capitalist agriculture, and socialism would come with a communal form of ownership. Nikolai Gavrilovich advocated the creation of phalanstery - premises in which the inhabitants of future communes would work together for mutual benefit. This project was utopian, which is not surprising, because its author was Phalanster, which was described by Chernyshevsky in one of the chapters of the novel What Is To Be Done?
"Land and Freedom"
Revolutionary propaganda continued. One of her inspirations was Nikolai Chernyshevsky. A short biography of the writer in any textbook necessarily contains at least a paragraph stating that it was he who became the founder of the famous Land and Freedom movement. It really is. In the second half of the 1950s, Chernyshevsky began to have many contacts with Alexander Herzen. went into exile due to pressure from the authorities. In London, he began publishing the Russian-language newspaper The Bell. She became the mouthpiece of revolutionaries and socialists. It was sent in secret editions to Russia, where the numbers were very popular among radical students.
Nikolai Gavrilovich Chernyshevsky also published in it. The biography of the writer was known to any socialist in Russia. In 1861, with his ardent participation (as well as the influence of Herzen), Land and Freedom appeared. This movement united a dozen circles in the largest cities of the country. It included writers, students and other supporters of revolutionary ideas. It is interesting that Chernyshevsky even managed to drag the officers with whom he collaborated by publishing in military magazines there.
Members of the organization were engaged in propaganda and criticism of the tsarist authorities. "Going to the People" has become a historical anecdote over the years. The agitators, who tried to find a common language with the peasants, were handed over to the police by them. For many years, revolutionary views did not find a response among the common people, remaining the lot of a narrow stratum of the intelligentsia.
Arrest
Over time, the biography of Chernyshevsky, in short, interested the agents of the secret investigation. On Kolokol's business, he even went to see Herzen in London, which, of course, only drew more attention to him. From September 1861, the writer was under covert surveillance. He was suspected of provocations against the authorities.
In June 1862, Chernyshevsky was arrested. Even before this event, clouds began to gather around him. In May, the Sovremennik magazine was closed. The writer was accused of compiling a proclamation discrediting the authorities, which ended up in the hands of provocateurs. The police also managed to intercept a letter from Herzen, where the emigrant offered to publish the closed Sovremennik again, only in London.
"What to do?"
The accused was placed in the Peter and Paul Fortress, where he stayed during the investigation. It went on for a year and a half. At first, the writer tried to protest against the arrest. He announced hunger strikes, which, however, did not change his position in any way. On days when the prisoner was getting better, he took up the pen and began to work on a sheet of paper. So the novel “What is to be done?” Was written, which became the most famous work published by Chernyshevsky Nikolai Gavrilovich. A brief biography of this figure, printed in any encyclopedia, necessarily contains information about this book.
The novel was published in the newly opened Sovremennik in three issues in 1863. Interestingly, there might not have been any publication. The only original was lost on the streets of St. Petersburg during transportation to the editorial office. The papers were found by a passer-by and only out of his spiritual kindness returned them to Sovremennik. Nikolai Nekrasov, who worked there and literally went crazy with the loss, was beside himself with happiness when the novel was returned to him.
Sentence
Finally, in 1864, the verdict was announced to the disgraced writer. He went to hard labor in Nerchinsk. The verdict also contained a clause according to which Nikolai Gavrilovich was to spend the rest of his life in eternal exile. Alexander II changed the term of hard labor to 7 years. What else can Chernyshevsky's biography tell us? Briefly, literally in a nutshell, let's talk about the years spent by the materialist philosopher in captivity. The harsh climate and difficult conditions greatly worsened his health. Despite having survived hard labor. Later he lived in several provincial towns, but never returned to the capital.
Even in hard labor, like-minded people tried to free him, who came up with various escape plans. However, they were never implemented. From 1883 to 1889, Nikolai Chernyshevsky (his biography says that it was at the end of the life of a democratic revolutionary) spent in Astrakhan. Shortly before his death, he returned to Saratov thanks to the patronage of his son.
Death and meaning
On October 11, 1889, N. G. Chernyshevsky died in his native city. The biography of the writer has become the subject of imitation of many followers and supporters.
Soviet ideology put him on a par with the figures of the 19th century, who were the harbingers of the revolution. The novel "What to do?" became a mandatory element of the school curriculum. In modern literature lessons, this topic is also studied, only fewer hours are allocated to it.
In Russian journalism and journalism there is a separate list of the founders of these areas. It included Herzen, Belinsky and Chernyshevsky. Biography, a summary of his books, as well as the impact on social thought - all these issues are being investigated by writers today.
Quotes Chernyshevsky
The writer was known for his sharp language and ability to build sentences. Here are Chernyshevsky's most famous quotes:
- Personal happiness is impossible without the happiness of others.
- Youth is the time of freshness of noble feelings.
- Scholarly literature saves people from ignorance, and elegant literature from rudeness and vulgarity.
- They flatter in order to dominate under the guise of humility.
- Only in truth is the power of talent; wrong direction destroys the strongest talent.
Chernyshevsky Nikolai Gavrilovich (1828-1889)
Russian revolutionary, writer, journalist. He was born in Saratov in the family of a priest and, as his parents expected him to, he studied at a theological seminary for three years. From 1846 to 1850 studied at the historical and philological department of St. Petersburg University. The French socialist philosophers Henri de Saint-Simon and Charles Fourier had a particularly strong influence on the formation of Chernyshevsky.
In 1853 he married Olga Sokratovna Vasilyeva. Chernyshevsky not only loved his young wife very much, but also considered their marriage a kind of "testing ground" for testing new ideas. The writer preached the absolute equality of spouses in marriage - a truly revolutionary idea for that time. Moreover, he believed that women, as one of the most oppressed groups of the then society, should have been given maximum freedom in order to achieve real equality. He allowed his wife everything, up to adultery, believing that he could not consider his wife as his property. Later, the personal experience of the writer was reflected in the love line of the novel What Is to Be Done.
In 1853 he moved from Saratov to St. Petersburg, where he began his career as a publicist. The name of Chernyshevsky quickly became the banner of the Sovremennik magazine, where he began working at the invitation of N.A. Nekrasov. In 1855, Chernyshevsky defended his dissertation "The Aesthetic Relations of Art to Reality", where he abandoned the search for beauty in the abstract sublime spheres of "pure art", formulating his thesis: "Beautiful is life."
In the late 50s and early 60s, he published a lot, using any excuse to openly or covertly express his views, he expected a peasant uprising after the abolition of serfdom in 1861. Sovremennik was closed for revolutionary agitation. Shortly thereafter, the authorities intercepted a letter from A.I. Herzen, who had been in exile for fifteen years. Upon learning of the closure of Sovremennik, he wrote to the magazine's employee, N.L. Serno-Solov'evich and offered to continue publishing abroad. The letter was used as a pretext, and on July 7, 1862, Chernyshevsky and Serno-Solovyevich were arrested and placed in the Peter and Paul Fortress. In May 1864, Chernyshevsky was found guilty, sentenced to seven years of hard labor and exile to Siberia until the end of his life, on May 19, 1864, the rite of “civil execution” was publicly performed on him.
While the investigation was going on, Chernyshevsky wrote his main book, the novel What Is to Be Done, in the fortress.
Only in 1883 did Chernyshevsky receive permission to settle in Astrakhan. By this time he was already an elderly and sick man. In 1889 he was transferred to Saratov, and soon after the move he died of a cerebral hemorrhage.
CHERNYSHEVSKY Nikolai Gavrilovich was born in the family of a priest - publicist, literary critic, writer, philosopher.
He received a good education at home under the guidance of his father.
From the age of 8, he was listed as a student of the Saratov Theological School, without studying in it.
In 1842 he was enrolled in a theological seminary.
Already at the age of 16 he thoroughly studied nine languages: Latin, Ancient Greek, Persian, Arabic, Tatar, Hebrew, French German, English.
In 1846, Nikolai Gavrilovich entered St. Petersburg University at the Faculty of History and Philology, where he studied for four years (1846-50). The young man was attracted by a scientific career, he went to St. Petersburg with an ardent desire to gain knowledge, but soon became convinced that he was mistaken in his expectations. Not relying on the university, Chernyshevsky is persistently engaged in self-education. “Reading oneself is much more useful than listening to lectures,” he writes to his relatives (Poln. sobr.
In his student years, Chernyshevsky goes through an intensive process of mastering cultural wealth and developing a worldview. The circle of his interests is extensive: philosophy, social doctrines, political economy, history, aesthetics, fiction. In the same years, the activities of Belinsky, Herzen, and Petrashevists proceeded, which had an ideological influence on the progressive student youth. The pan-European events of 1848, when a revolutionary flurry rushed over France, Hungary, Germany, and Italy, also contributed to the rapid maturation of the worldview of Nikolai Gavrilovich. The bourgeoisie, which came to power by deceiving the people, arouses its anger and sharp condemnation. His sympathy is on the side of the people, and he ranks himself among the supporters of "socialists and communists and extreme republicans ..." (I, 122). He met the Petrashevites A. V. Khanykov and I. M. Debu.
With the first of them he spoke “of the possibility and proximity of a revolution in our country” (I, 196). Chernyshevsky did not rule out the possibility that over time he would intervene in the society of the Petrashevites.
In the diary of 1850, Nikolai Gavrilovich wrote: “... the image of thought about Russia: an irresistible expectation of an imminent revolution, a thirst for it” (I 358). He thinks about the "secret printing press", about writing an appeal calling for revolution. Thus, by the time he graduated from the university, the revolutionary worldview of Chernyshevsky N.G. finally formed.
In 1851-53 he taught at the Saratov Gymnasium. His teaching activity left an indelible mark on the history of the Saratov gymnasium and in the minds of students.
In 1853, he marries the daughter of a Saratov doctor, OS Vasilyeva, and soon moves to St. Petersburg. In July of the same year, Chernyshevsky's journal activity began. He meets Nekrasov.
Until 1857, Nikolai Gavrilovich wrote mainly on issues of aesthetics and literature.
In 1855, his master's thesis appeared in print. "The Aesthetic Relationship of Art to Reality"; soon took place and its defense.
Chernyshevsky's historical and literary work is published in Sovremennik. (1855-56).
In 1856 his books were published "BUT. S. Pushkin. His life and writings.
In 1856-57 "Lessing. His time, his life and work.
The popularity of Nikolai Gavrilovich as a journalist is growing, he becomes the editor of the Military Collection (1858).
In 1858, an intensive organization of underground circles took place, the activities of which were strongly influenced by the ideas of Chernyshevsky. The direction of Sovremennik is also changing, which becomes the center of revolutionary thought in Russia. Dobrolyubov began to lead the critical department in it, and Chernyshevsky took up international reviews and coverage of the bourgeois revolution in France. He writes articles
"Cavaignac"
"Party Struggle in France under Louis XVIII and Charles X" (1858),
"France under Louis Napoleon" (1859),
"July Monarchy" (1860),
and in political reviews he gave a deep analysis of the national liberation movement in Italy and the American Civil War. Russia, preparing for revolutionary events, according to Chernyshevsky's plan, was to master the experience of the liberation movement in Europe. In connection with the beginning of the work of the drafting commission for the preparation of the reform, he writes a series of articles on the peasant question:
"The device of life of landlord peasants",
"Is it difficult to buy land"(1859) and others.
During the years of the first revolutionary situation (1859-61), Chernyshevsky wrote economic studies ( "Capital and Labor", "Fundamentals of Political Economy" and others), in which he showed the bourgeois character of classical political economy. He seeks to create his own economic program, in which he completely denies exploitation.
In 1859 Nikolai Gavrilovich traveled to London to discuss some tactical issues with Herzen. At this time, the secret revolutionary organizations "Velikoruss", "Library of Kazan students", "Land and Freedom" were born, proclamations appeared "Great Russian", "To the younger generation". In response to the predatory reform, he writes a proclamation "Bar peasants"(1861). He is being followed. In the same year, Chernyshevsky's articles appeared in Sovremennik:
"Polemical Beauties",
"National faux pas",
"Is not the beginning of a change?", they clearly feel revolutionary appeals.
On the night of July 8, 1862, Nikolai Gavrilovich Chernyshevsky was arrested and imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress. Having no direct evidence, the government resorted to the "services" of bribed witnesses and the provocateur Vs. Kostomarov. The court sentenced him to 7 years of hard labor and eternal settlement in Siberia. However, Chernyshevsky did not consider himself defeated. During the 22 months of his stay in the fortress, he wrote 205 printed sheets, of which 68 fiction (novel "What to do?", "Autobiography", unfinished novels "Alferyev", "Tales in the story" and others). On May 20, after a civil execution, he was sent to hard labor.
From August 1864 to September 1866 he was in Kadai, where his wife OS Chernyshevskaya (1866) came to visit him. From the Kadai mine, he was sent to the Alexander Plant, where he stayed until the end of 1871. Here Nikolai Gavrilovich wrote a lot, he created plays:
"About Liberals",
"Kashevar, or the Master of Cooking Porridge",
"Others can't"
novels read or told to comrades in hard labor
"Old Man"
"Prologue of the Prologue",
story "The Story of a Girl" and other fictional works.
At the end of 1871, Chernyshevsky was sent to a settlement in the Vilyuisky prison, where he stayed until 1883. Attempts by Chernyshevsky's associates (G. Lopatin - 1871, I. Myshkin - 1875) to organize his escape were unsuccessful. Nikolai Gavrilovich courageously endured the terrible conditions of Vilyui imprisonment, but categorically refused to apply for pardon when he was offered to do so. Repeated appeals from relatives with a request to alleviate the fate of the sick prisoner remained unanswered. In Vilyuisk, Chernyshevsky wrote a lot and destroyed what he had written, fearing a search.
Only on July 15, 1883, a decree was issued with the knowledge of the new Tsar Alexander III to move him to Astrakhan. He returned from Siberia full of hopes and creative plans. But even in Astrakhan, he continued to be under police surveillance. He was not allowed to print, and if some works appeared in print, then under the pseudonym Andreev. Chernyshevsky had to translate "General History" Weber. He worked hard to collect materials for the biography of Dobrolyubov. This book went out of print after the death of the author (1890).
Only in June 1889 he was allowed to settle in his native Saratov, where he died of a cerebral hemorrhage.
Nikolai Gavrilovich Chernyshevsky was a man of an encyclopedic mind and many-sided talents. A philosopher, scientist, historian, publicist, art critic, literary critic, artist of the word - such is the range of his spiritual activity. His political views developed under the influence of Russian reality, and the revolutionary traditions of Russia and Western Europe contributed to their rapid maturation. He came to the correct conclusion, arguing that the whole of human history develops in the irreconcilable struggle of rich and poor, workers and parasites. The existing monarchical power also protects the interests of the aristocracy, and therefore an absolute monarch is “all the same as the top of the cone of the aristocracy” (I. 356). To abolish social inequality, in his opinion, is possible only through a popular revolution, which will destroy tsarism, take away land from the landlords in favor of the peasants and open the way to socialist transformation. Chernyshevsky associated the possibility of such a victory with the presence of a peasant community. His belief in peasant socialism was one of the forms of utopian socialism. But this belief inspired the revolutionaries to fight for a better future. He understood the class character of philosophical teachings. As a representative of "the last link in a series of philosophical systems" (VII. 77), he, following Belinsky and Herzen, criticized idealism in all its varieties. The pinnacle of idealism was the philosophy of Hegel, with which Nikolai Gavrilovich was well acquainted both in the Russian exposition and in the original. He found in Hegel "colossal contradictions" between principles and conclusions. In his opinion, "Hegel's principles were extremely powerful and broad, and the conclusions were narrow, insignificant" (III. 205). Following Belinsky and Herzen, Chernyshevsky adopted the principle of dialectics, knowing that Hegel could only be defeated with his own weapons. According to Chernyshevsky, the philosophical thought of Russia in the person of Herzen and Belinsky had long ago overcome the one-sidedness of Hegel. A whole revelation for him was the philosophy of Feuerbach, who "had absolutely correct ideas about things" (XI, 23). The main question of philosophy - the relationship of spirit to matter - Nikolai Gavrilovich solved as a consistent materialist, recognizing the primacy of matter and the secondary nature of spirit. Matter exists and develops according to its own laws, which do not depend on the will of man. Based on the data of natural science, he asserted the principle of "the unity of the human body" and thus dealt a blow to dualism in explaining the nature of man. The mental activity of man is a consequence of the manifestation of matter. But he did not identify the material process with the psychic, as did the vulgar materialists. “With the unity of nature,” he wrote, “we notice in a person two different series of phenomena: phenomena of the so-called material order (a person eats, walks) and phenomena of the so-called moral order (a person thinks, feels, desires)” (VII. 241- 242).
In the theory of knowledge, Nikolai Gavrilovich Chernyshevsky acted as a consistent materialist. Things not only objectively exist, but they are knowable. “We see objects as they are,” he wrote, “as they really exist” (XV. 275). He considered our knowledge to be reliable, but not complete, relative, which depends on historical conditions and the degree of development of science. The reliability of our knowledge is tested by practice. “What is subject to dispute in theory is decided for purity by the practice of real life,” he wrote (II. 102-103). The theory of his cognition is a new link on the path to dialectical materialism, but it is not free from limitations and metaphysical ideas. Chernyshevsky, like his predecessors, was mainly interested in the process of cognition, but he did not seriously study the forms of cognition, the development of the concepts themselves. However, for its time, Chernyshevsky's theory of knowledge was both revolutionary and fruitful. In the struggle against idealism and mysticism, he relied on the data of natural science and anthropology. He called his main philosophical work: "The Anthropological Principle in Philosophy" (1860).
The anthropological principle suffers from abstractness, in the judgments of anthropologists we are talking about a person in general. However, unlike Feuerbach, from whom Nikolai Gavrilovich borrowed the principle, he managed to largely overcome abstract anthropologism in his views on man. “Man,” Chernyshevsky wrote, “is not an abstract legal personality, but a living being, in whose life and happiness the material side (economic life) is of great importance” (IV. 740). The source of all deeds and deeds of a person, in his opinion, are the desires and aspirations of people. He failed to create scientific ethics, but took a step towards its creation. The cornerstone of his ethical teaching is the theory of rational egoism, which Nikolai Gavrilovich filled with revolutionary content. He tried to give direction in solving the problem of the individual and the collective on the basis of serving advanced public interests. The edge of judgment is directed against individualism, asceticism and puritanism, on which the morality of an exploitative society was based. In his criticism of idealism, V. I. Lenin noted, “Chernyshevsky is quite on the level of Engels...” (Soch., vol. 14, p. 345). Chernyshevsky is an outstanding dialectician. He considered dialectics as a methodological weapon, using which he substantiated the inevitability of the peasant revolution.
Chernyshevsky Nikolai Gavrilovich created an integral materialistic doctrine of art, which was the pinnacle of aesthetic thought in the pre-Marx period. His master's thesis (1855) was the result of the achievements of advanced art and at the same time the rationale for the path of its further development. Asserting the realistic trend in art, he sharply criticized the idealist theory of "art for art's sake". The main problems of aesthetics were solved by him from a materialistic position. Chernyshevsky gave a materialistic definition of beauty: “beautiful is life; beautiful is the being in which we see life as it should be according to our concepts, beautiful is the object that evokes life in itself or reminds us of life” (II, 10). Consequently, in a work of art it is necessary to distinguish between the dialectical unity of the objective, the real (the beautiful exists in reality itself) and the artist's subjective perception of the beautiful in the light of his aesthetic ideal. But human ideas about beauty depend on class, national and historical conditions. “The common man and the member of the upper classes of society,” said Chernyshevsky, “understand life and the happiness of life differently; therefore they understand human beauty differently...” (II.143). He opposed the limited understanding of the content and essence of art, which was characteristic of the theorists of "pure art". The concept of art, he pointed out, is broader than the concept of beauty. According to Nikolai Gavrilovich, “the essential meaning of art is the reproduction of everything that is interesting for a person in life; very often, especially in poetry, the explanation of life, the verdict on its phenomena comes to the fore” (II.111). Truly typical faces or typical characters, Chernyshevsky argued, exist in reality itself. A necessary condition for the creation of typical images is the knowledge of life and the ability to explain it. The talent of the artist and the power of the thinker must be organically merged. “Then the artist becomes a thinker, and the work of art, remaining in the realm of art, acquires scientific significance” (II, 86). Nikolai Gavrilovich assigned great social importance to art, calling it "a textbook of life." It can justify its lofty mission only if it disseminates advanced ideas and responds to the essential demands of society. In the conditions of the 60s. there was an urgent need to create images of goodies worthy of emulation. There were not so many "new people" in life itself, and yet he considered them types worthy of reproduction in literature. They, according to the revolutionary democrat, own the future. Chernyshevsky gave a materialistic justification for the categories of the sublime and the tragic. Idealistic aesthetics associated the category of the sublime with the "manifestation of the absolute", with the idea of the infinite. Chernyshevsky N. G. points out that the sublime exists in reality itself. “The superiority of the great (or the sublime) over the small and the common consists in a much greater magnitude (exalted in space or time) or in a much greater strength (exalted in the forces of nature and exalted in man)” (II. 21). In his opinion, “true sublimity is in the person himself, in his inner life” (II. 64). The manifestation of the sublime in a person is conceived by him as a feat, up to self-sacrifice in the name of science, revolutionary or patriotic duty.
In explaining the tragic, the writer also expressed his disagreement with idealistic aesthetics, which considered the tragic manifestation of fate, predestination. He objected to the theory of tragic guilt. To see in every perishing person the culprit of his own death, Chernyshevsky notes, is a cruel thought. According to him, "the tragic is the terrible in life itself." Tragic is the fate of a scientist or a revolutionary who is ahead of his time. The materialistic aesthetics of the philosopher has elements of anthropologism and rationalism, and yet it had a huge impact on the development of Russian realistic art, on the work of the Wanderers, the composers of the “mighty handful”. And for the aesthetics of socialist realism, it continues to be fruitful. Understanding the connection between art and life, the problem of the ideal, beauty, the concept of class and tendentiousness (the germ of the doctrine of party membership) in art, Chernyshevsky's interpretation of the sublime and tragic - all this is an integral part of Marxist-Leninist aesthetics.
Nikolai Gavrilovich developed and concretized his aesthetic theory in literary critical works. His performance as a literary critic coincided with passionate disputes about the Pushkin and Gogol trends. These terms concealed opposite aesthetic principles. The so-called Pushkin trend was defended by the theorists of "pure art", they tried to make the great poet an ally in the fight against the critical, Gogol trend.
In the historical and literary work "Essays on the Gogol period of Russian literature" Chernyshevsky N.G. found out the significance in the literature of Pushkin, Gogol and Belinsky, who substantiated the principles of the "natural school", that is, the principles of realism. Chernyshevsky considered realism and nationality to be historically natural tendencies in the development of literature. In assessing the writers of the past, he was guided by the principle of historicism and strictly took into account literary traditions. From these positions, he evaluated the work of Fonvizin, Krylov, Griboedov, Lermontov, Koltsov and other artists of the word.
Following Belinsky, the writer considered Pushkin's work the result of all the previous development of literature and its highest achievement in the first third of the 19th century. Pushkin is an original poet, whose genius "has elevated our literature to the dignity of a national cause." The critic appreciated the author of "Eugene Onegin" for the realism and folk character of his poetry. Pushkin's genius is characterized by the breadth of coverage of life, the ability to typify the observed phenomena. According to Chernyshevsky, Pushkin is “the true father of our poetry, he is the educator of aesthetic feelings and love for noble aesthetic pleasures in the Russian public, the mass of which has increased extremely significantly thanks to him - these are his rights to eternal glory in Russian literature” (II. 516). Admiring Pushkin's poetry, however, he saw in it, first of all, the aesthetic value, the beauty of form. The critic clearly underestimated the progressiveness of Pushkin's views and the ideological significance of his poetry.
Gogol's work is a new link in the development of realism. He, Chernyshevsky notes, saturated literature with significant content, created the only fruitful school "of which Russian literature can be proud" (III. 20). Gogol, driven by a sense of civic duty, gave literature a satirical direction and thereby "awakened in us the consciousness of ourselves - this is his true merit" (III. 20). However, under the new historical conditions, Gogol's works could no longer meet "all the modern needs of the Russian public." In the works of some contemporary writers following Gogol, Nikolai Gavrilovich saw "the guarantees of a more complete and satisfactory development of ideas that Gogol embraced only from one side, not fully aware of their linkage, their causes and effects" (III, 10). On the example of the tragic fate of Gogol, Chernyshevsky warned contemporary writers about the danger that threatens them if they lag behind the advanced ideas of their time.
Chernyshevsky N.G. intended to continue "Essays on the Gogol Period of Russian Literature". Articles and reviews about Shchedrin, Ostrovsky, Ogarev, L. Tolstoy should be considered as a partial implementation of this plan.
In the work of Ogarev, the critic saw a reflection of the mood of the advanced noble youth of the 40s. In this he saw the enduring significance of the poetry of Herzen's friend.
Shchedrin's Provincial Essays, in which Gogol's traditions had a special effect, deserved high praise. However, in ideological terms, the student went further than his teacher, showing himself not only as an artist-accuser, but also as a deep thinker. The satirist, according to the critic, did not set out to correct the morals of individuals, he exposed the depravity of the entire state system.
Chernyshevsky gave a profound interpretation of the originality of the talent of the author of the trilogy and Sevastopol Tales. Tolstoy "knows how to move into the soul of a peasant", he equally freely feels himself in a peasant's hut and in a soldier's camp tent. The writer is able to reveal the "dialectic of the soul" of a person, and this was a huge achievement of the realistic method. Tolstoy is characterized by "moral purity of feeling" - the most important sign of the moral maturation of society. In interpreting Tolstoy's early work, Chernyshevsky was a harbinger of Lenin's brilliant assessments of the great writer.
Chernyshevsky fought for Ostrovsky's talent, criticizing the writer for his fascination with the ideas of the Slavophiles. He welcomed the "Profitable Place", seeing in this play the revival of the principles of the comedy "Our people - we will get along."
Nikolai Gavrilovich took under his protection the writers who came out of the "natural school" - Turgenev and Grigorovich, although ideologically he disagreed with them in many respects. He sought to tear Turgenev away from his liberal friends, appreciating him as an outstanding artist of the word. In the protagonist of the story "Asya" Chernyshevsky saw all the signs of an "extra person" and delivered a harsh sentence to the newly-minted Romeo. A new person must come to replace him.
Chernyshevsky also approached the solution of the problem of nationality in literature in a new way. He was not satisfied with the depiction of the people by the writers of the noble camp. A compassionate attitude towards the people, passive humanism is a passed stage in the development of society. It is necessary to write about the people “the truth without any embellishment”, as N. Uspensky does, and thereby educate them in a revolutionary spirit (“Is not the beginning of a change?”). The sooner he becomes a conscious participant in public life, the greater the guarantee for the victory of the people's revolution.
The artistic works of Chernyshevsky Nikolai Gavrilovich also served the task of the revolution and the establishment of the principles of realism. We know far from everything he created. But even what has been preserved gives grounds to speak about the author of What Is To Be Done? and "Prologue" as an original and original writer who came to literature with his own themes and problems and created unforgettable images of "new people". The pathos of his works is in the affirmation of revolutionary and socialist ideals. The relevance of the novel "What to do?" emphasized by the title itself: the word "deed" has, above all, a political meaning, as a ciphered call for a revolutionary transformation. The main conflict in the novel is not personal, but social in nature: the struggle of the new with the old, the inevitability of the victory of the new. The carriers of the ideal of the “communist far away” are the “new people”, who are a sign of the era of the 60s.
The pathos of the novel is in the glorification of the feat of the "special person", Rakhmetov, the first professional revolutionary in Russian literature. Rakhmetov served as a living example for the revolutionary youth.
Under the influence of the novel "What is to be done?", V. I. Lenin pointed out, "hundreds of people became revolutionaries." And Lenin, by his own admission, Chernyshevsky "plowed everything deep" with his novel ("Questions of Literature", 1957, No. 8, p. 132).
In the novel "What to do?" the problem of the emancipation of a woman, which worried contemporaries, was also solved.
In the "Prologue" the action takes place in 1857, and the novel was written in 1866-71. First published in London in 1877. Many historical figures served as prototypes for the heroes of the Prologue. This is a socio-political novel. The attitude to the revolution and reform, to the motherland and the people determined the alignment of forces in Russia in the early 1960s. These leading signs of the era were the demarcation line that separates the heroes of N.G. Chernyshevsky's novel. to the fighting camps. The unity of liberals, serf-owners and government bureaucracy is shown amazingly accurately and correctly, making a deal at the expense of the interests of the people. Only the revolutionary democrats, headed by Volgin, in whom the traits of the writer himself are noticeable, act as true friends of the people and genuine fighters for their interests. Quantitatively, Volgin's camp is not great, but its strength lies in ideological conviction, moral stamina, and historical correctness.
V. I. Lenin emphasized the genius of Chernyshevsky as the author of the Prologue, who was able to give a correct assessment of the predatory nature of the reform during its implementation. Nikolai Gavrilovich Chernyshevsky substantiated in the novel the inevitability of a people's revolution. Volgin is preparing a cadre of revolutionaries who could lead a "muzhik rebellion." Volgin has not only friends, but also enemies. They are enemies of the writer himself.
“I served my homeland well,” N.G. Chernyshevsky wrote, “and I have the right to her gratitude.” Even during the life of the writer, his name was popular not only in people's Russia, but also far beyond its borders.
Died - Saratov.
Chernyshevsky Nikolai Gavrilovich is a famous Russian writer and journalist. He was born in 1828 in Saratov. Since his father was a priest, Nicholas began his studies at a theological seminary. Then, at the age of 18, he entered St. Petersburg University at the Faculty of History and Philology.
At 25, Chernyshevsky marries Olga Vasilyeva. In marriage, he adhered to the equality of the sexes, which at that time seemed to be a revolutionary idea.
At the same time, he moved to St. Petersburg and began to build a career as a publicist. He gained particular fame while working in the Sovremennik magazine.
In the 50s, the writer's works were actively published, in which he openly expressed his opinion about the expected peasant uprising. For revolutionary-democratic views, the magazine was closed. Chernyshevsky continued to promote his ideas, writing revolutionary proclamations. The authorities put him under surveillance, and soon Nikolai was arrested and sent to the Peter and Paul Fortress for the duration of the investigation. According to the verdict, he was sentenced to 7 years of hard labor and exile to Siberia until the end of his life.
During the investigation, Nikolai Chernyshevsky created his work "What to do".
In 1883 Chernyshevsky was allowed to leave for Astrakhan. In 1889, Nikolai Chernyshevsky passed away.
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