Nikolai Chernyshevsky
Encyclopedia
Nikolay Gavrilovich Chernyshevsky (July 12, 1828 – October 17, 1889) was a Russia
n revolutionary democrat, materialist philosopher, critic, and socialist
(seen by some as a utopian socialist). He was the leader of the revolutionary democratic movement of the 1860s, and an influence on Vladimir Lenin
, Emma Goldman
, and Serbia
n political writer and socialist Svetozar Marković
.
in 1828, and stayed there till 1846. He graduated at the local seminary
where he learnt English, French, German, Italian, Latin, Greek and Old Slavonic. It was there he gained a love of literature. At St Petersburg university he often struggled to warm his room. He kept a diary of trivia like the number of tears he shed over a dead friend. It was here that he became an atheist. He was inspired by the works of Ludwig Feuerbach and Charles Fourier
After graduating from Saint Petersburg University
in 1850, he taught literature at a gymnasium
in Saratov. From 1853 to 1862, he lived in Saint Petersburg
, and became the chief editor of Sovremennik
("Contemporary"), in which he published his main literary reviews and his essays on philosophy.
In 1862, he was arrested and confined in the Fortress of St. Peter and Paul, where he wrote his famous novel What Is to Be Done? The novel was an inspiration to many later Russian revolutionaries, who sought to emulate the novel's hero Rakhmetov
, who was wholly dedicated to the revolution, ascetic in his habits and ruthlessly disciplined, to the point of sleeping on a bed of nails and eating only raw steak in order to build strength for the Revolution (though he finds cigars impossible to give up!). Among those who have referenced the novel include Lenin, who wrote a work of political theory of the same name
. In 1862, Chernyshevsky was sentenced to civil execution (mock execution
), followed by penal servitude (1864-72), and by exile to Vilyuisk, Siberia
(1872-83). He died at the age of 61.
, and agitated for the revolutionary overthrow of the autocracy and the creation of a socialist society based on the old peasant commune.
Chernyshevsky's ideas were heavily influenced by Alexander Herzen
, Vissarion Belinsky
, and Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach
. He saw class struggle
as the means of society's forward movement and advocated for the interests of the working people. In his view, the masses were the chief maker of history. He is reputed to have used the phrase "the worse the better", to indicate that the worse the social conditions became for the poor, the more inclined they would be to launch a revolution.
According to Professor Emeritus of Slavic and Comparative Literature at Stanford, Joseph Frank, "Chernyshevsky's novel What Is to Be Done?, far more than Marx's Das Kapital
, supplied the emotional dynamic that eventually went to make the Russian Revolution".
Dostoyevsky was enraged by what he saw as the naivete of the political and psychological ideas expressed in the book , and wrote Notes from Underground
largely as a reaction against it.
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n revolutionary democrat, materialist philosopher, critic, and socialist
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
(seen by some as a utopian socialist). He was the leader of the revolutionary democratic movement of the 1860s, and an influence on Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and communist politician who led the October Revolution of 1917. As leader of the Bolsheviks, he headed the Soviet state during its initial years , as it fought to establish control of Russia in the Russian Civil War and worked to create a...
, Emma Goldman
Emma Goldman
Emma Goldman was an anarchist known for her political activism, writing and speeches. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the twentieth century....
, and Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
n political writer and socialist Svetozar Marković
Svetozar Markovic
Svetozar Marković was an influential Serbian political activist and literary critic. He developed an activistic anthropological philosophy with a definite program of social change.-Early life:...
.
Biography
The son of a priest, Chernyshevsky was born in SaratovSaratov
-Modern Saratov:The Saratov region is highly industrialized, due in part to the rich in natural and industrial resources of the area. The region is also one of the more important and largest cultural and scientific centres in Russia...
in 1828, and stayed there till 1846. He graduated at the local seminary
Seminary
A seminary, theological college, or divinity school is an institution of secondary or post-secondary education for educating students in theology, generally to prepare them for ordination as clergy or for other ministry...
where he learnt English, French, German, Italian, Latin, Greek and Old Slavonic. It was there he gained a love of literature. At St Petersburg university he often struggled to warm his room. He kept a diary of trivia like the number of tears he shed over a dead friend. It was here that he became an atheist. He was inspired by the works of Ludwig Feuerbach and Charles Fourier
Charles Fourier
François Marie Charles Fourier was a French philosopher. An influential thinker, some of Fourier's social and moral views, held to be radical in his lifetime, have become main currents in modern society...
After graduating from Saint Petersburg University
Saint Petersburg State University
Saint Petersburg State University is a Russian federal state-owned higher education institution based in Saint Petersburg and one of the oldest and largest universities in Russia....
in 1850, he taught literature at a gymnasium
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
in Saratov. From 1853 to 1862, he lived in Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
, and became the chief editor of Sovremennik
Sovremennik
Sovremennik was a Russian literary, social and political magazine, published in St. Petersburg in 1836-1866. It came out four times a year in 1836-1843 and once a month after that...
("Contemporary"), in which he published his main literary reviews and his essays on philosophy.
In 1862, he was arrested and confined in the Fortress of St. Peter and Paul, where he wrote his famous novel What Is to Be Done? The novel was an inspiration to many later Russian revolutionaries, who sought to emulate the novel's hero Rakhmetov
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 , he is the most famous because he inspired so many Russian revolutionaries...
, who was wholly dedicated to the revolution, ascetic in his habits and ruthlessly disciplined, to the point of sleeping on a bed of nails and eating only raw steak in order to build strength for the Revolution (though he finds cigars impossible to give up!). Among those who have referenced the novel include Lenin, who wrote a work of political theory of the same name
What is to be Done?
What to do? Burning Questions of Our Movement is a political pamphlet written by the Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin in 1901 and published in 1902...
. In 1862, Chernyshevsky was sentenced to civil execution (mock execution
Mock execution
A mock execution is a stratagem in which a victim is deliberately but falsely made to feel that his execution or that of another person is imminent or is taking place. It may be staged for an audience or a subject who is made to believe that he is being led to his own execution...
), followed by penal servitude (1864-72), and by exile to Vilyuisk, Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
(1872-83). He died at the age of 61.
Influence
Chernyshevsky was a founder of Narodism, Russian populismPopulism
Populism can be defined as an ideology, political philosophy, or type of discourse. Generally, a common theme compares "the people" against "the elite", and urges social and political system changes. It can also be defined as a rhetorical style employed by members of various political or social...
, and agitated for the revolutionary overthrow of the autocracy and the creation of a socialist society based on the old peasant commune.
Chernyshevsky's ideas were heavily influenced by Alexander Herzen
Alexander Herzen
Aleksandr Ivanovich Herzen was a Russian pro-Western writer and thinker known as the "father of Russian socialism", and one of the main fathers of agrarian populism...
, Vissarion Belinsky
Vissarion Belinsky
Vissarion Grigoryevich Belinsky was a Russian literary critic of Westernizing tendency. He was an associate of Alexander Herzen, Mikhail Bakunin , and other critical intellectuals...
, and Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach
Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach
Ludwig Andreas von Feuerbach was a German philosopher and anthropologist. He was the fourth son of the eminent jurist Paul Johann Anselm Ritter von Feuerbach, brother of mathematician Karl Wilhelm Feuerbach and uncle of painter Anselm Feuerbach...
. He saw class struggle
Class struggle
Class struggle is the active expression of a class conflict looked at from any kind of socialist perspective. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote "The [written] history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle"....
as the means of society's forward movement and advocated for the interests of the working people. In his view, the masses were the chief maker of history. He is reputed to have used the phrase "the worse the better", to indicate that the worse the social conditions became for the poor, the more inclined they would be to launch a revolution.
According to Professor Emeritus of Slavic and Comparative Literature at Stanford, Joseph Frank, "Chernyshevsky's novel What Is to Be Done?, far more than Marx's Das Kapital
Das Kapital
Das Kapital, Kritik der politischen Ökonomie , by Karl Marx, is a critical analysis of capitalism as political economy, meant to reveal the economic laws of the capitalist mode of production, and how it was the precursor of the socialist mode of production.- Themes :In Capital: Critique of...
, supplied the emotional dynamic that eventually went to make the Russian Revolution".
Dostoyevsky was enraged by what he saw as the naivete of the political and psychological ideas expressed in the book , and wrote Notes from Underground
Notes from Underground
Notes from Underground is an 1864 short novel by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Notes is considered by many to be the first existentialist novel...
largely as a reaction against it.
Works about Chernyshevsky
- Vladimir NabokovVladimir NabokovVladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov was a multilingual Russian novelist and short story writer. Nabokov wrote his first nine novels in Russian, then rose to international prominence as a master English prose stylist...
's The Gift has the protagonist, Fyodor Godunov-Cherdyntsev, study Chernyshevsky and write the critical biography The Life of Chernychevski which represents Chapter Four of the novel. The publication of this work causes a literary scandal. - Paperno, Irina, Chernyshevsky and the Age of Realism: A Study in the Semiotics of Behavior. Stanford: Stanford University PressStanford University PressThe Stanford University Press is the publishing house of Stanford University. In 1892, an independent publishing company was established at the university. The first use of the name "Stanford University Press" in a book's imprinting occurred in 1895...
, 1988. - Pereira, N.G.O., The Thought and Teachings of N.G. Černyševskij. The Hague: MoutonMoutonMouton may refer to:*Mouton fur, sheepskin that has been made to resemble beaver or seal*Mouton de Gruyter, scholarly publishing house*Château Mouton Rothschild, Bordeaux wine producer, formerly named simply MoutonPlaces:...
, 1975.
Works
- Aesthetic Relations of Art to Reality
- Essays on the Gogol Period in Russian Literature
- Critique of Philosophical Prejudices Against Communal Ownership
- The Anthropological Principle in Philosophy
- What Is to Be Done? (1863)
- Prologue
- The Nature of Human Knowledge