Chernyshevsky, Nikolay (Writer)

 
(1828-1889) essayist, fiction writer

Nikolay Gavrilovich Chernyshevsky was born in Saratov, Russia. At first educated by his father, a priest of the Russian Orthodox Church, Cherny-shevsky was admitted into a seminary, an institution that prepared students for careers in the clergy. While in the seminary, he demonstrated great ability as a scholar, and his parents decided to send him to a university in St. Petersburg, where he enrolled in the department of philology.

Socially awkward and financially destitute, Chernyshevsky isolated himself from his fellow students. He was an avid reader and dreamed of becoming a great social reformer and philosopher. Between 1855 and 1862, Chernyshevsky worked for a political publication, The Contemporary, where he published translations, criticism, and political articles. He was greatly influenced by European socialist thinkers, such as Hegel. Chernyshevsky advocated agrarian reform, emancipation of the serfs, and establishment of communal agrarian communities, which he viewed as a transition to socialism. His politically radical thinking and attacks on government policies, particularly on the institution of serfdom, resulted in almost 20 years of exile to Siberia, where he was sent in 1864. He continued to attack government policies relentlessly and became a member of several underground radical organizations that wanted to reform Russia by any means necessary, including violence against representatives of the government.

Although Chernyshevsky is remembered as a forerunner of the Russian revolutionary movement, he is also noted for his novel, What Is To Be Done? (1863). This polemical novel explores the social inequalities of Russian society. The plot concerns a group of young, idealized intellectuals who go to the countryside to ease the lives of peasants through scientific means. The novel condemns moderates for their seeming inability to engage in social transformation and calls for a swift, radical movement. The novel was generally praised by the radical reformers but was condemned by government officials.

Chernyshevsky left a radical legacy for Russian socialism. His works influenced a number of historical figures, including Vladimir Lenin, who participated in the Russian Revolution. Chernyshevsky is considered to be one of the greatest social philosophers of Russia.

Other Works by Nikolay Chernyshevsky

Prologue: A Novel for the 1860′s. Translated by Michael J. Katz. Evanston, 1ll.: Northwestern University Press, 1995.

Selected Philosophical Essays. Moscow: Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1953; reissued 2002.

A Work about Nikolay Chernyshevsky

Paperno, Irina. Chernyshevsky and the Age of Realism. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1988.

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