Chapter VIII: Political Literature: Satire: Art Criticism: Contemporary Novelists (3)

Tchéhoff has never tried to write long novels or romances. His domain is the short story, in which he excels. He certainly never tries to give in it the whole history of his heroes from their birth to the grave: this would not be the proper way in a short story. He takes one moment only from that life, only one episode. And he tells it in such a way that the reader forever retains in memory the type of men or women represented; so that, when later on he meets a living specimen of that type, he exclaims: “But this is Tchéhoff’s Ivánoff, or Tchéhoff’s Darling!” In the space of some twenty pages and within the limitations of a single episode there is revealed a complicated psychological drama--a world of mutual relations. Take, for instance, the very short and impressive sketch, _From a Doctor’s Practice_. It is a story in which there is no story after all. A doctor is invited to see a girl, whose mother is the owner of a large cotton mill. They live there, in a mansion close to, and within the enclosure of, the immense buildings. The girl is the only child, and is worshipped by her mother. But she is not happy. Indefinite thoughts worry her: she is stifled in that atmosphere. Her mother is also unhappy on account of her darling’s unhappiness, and the only happy creature in the household is the ex-governess of the girl, now a sort of lady-companion, who really enjoys the luxurious surroundings of the mansion and its rich table. The doctor is asked to stay over the night, and tells to his sleepless patient that she is not bound to stay there: that a really well-intentioned person can find many places in the world where she would find an activity to suit her. And when the doctor leaves next morning the girl has put on a white dress and has a flower in her hair. She looks very earnest, and you guess that she meditates already about a new start in her life. Within the limits of these few traits quite a world of aimless philistine life has thus been unveiled before your eyes, a world of factory life, and a world of new longings making an irruption into it, and finding support from the outside. You read all this in the little episode. You see with a striking distinctness the four main personages upon whom light has been focused for a short moment. And in the hazy outlines which you rather guess than see on the picture round the brightly lighted spot, you discover quite a world of complicated human relations, at the present moment and in times to come. Take away anything of the distinctness of the figures in the lighted spot, or anything of the haziness of the remainder--and the picture will be spoiled.

Such are nearly all the stories of Tchéhoff. Even when they cover some fifty pages they have the same character.

Tchéhoff wrote a couple of stories from peasant life. But peasants and village life are not his proper sphere. His true domain is the world of the “intellectuals”--the educated and the half-educated portion of Russian society--and these he knows in perfection. He shows their bankruptcy, their inaptitude to solve the great historical problem of renovation which fell upon them, and the meanness and vulgarity of everyday life under which an immense number of them succumb. Since the times of Gógol no writer in Russia has so wonderfully represented human meanness under its varied aspects. And yet, what a difference between the two! Gógol took mainly the outer meanness, which strikes the eye and often degenerates into farce, and therefore in most cases brings a smile on your lips or makes you laugh. But laughter is always a step towards reconciliation. Tchéhoff also makes you laugh in his earlier productions, but in proportion as he advances in age, and looks more seriously upon life, the laughter disappears, and although a fine humour remains, you feel that he now deals with a kind of meanness and philistinism which provokes, not smiles but suffering in the author. A “Tchéhoff sorrow” is as much characteristic of his writings as the deep furrow between the brows of his lively eyes is characteristic of his good-natured face. Moreover, the meanness which Tchéhoff depicts is much deeper than the one which Gógol knew. Deeper conflicts are now going on in the depths of the modern educated men, of which Gógol knew nothing seventy years ago. The “sorrow” of Tchéhoff is also that of a much more sensitive and a more refined nature than the “unseen tears” of Gógol’s satire.

Better than any Russian novelist, Tchéhoff understands the fundamental vice of that mass of Russian “intellectuals,” who very well _see_ the dark sides of Russian life but have no force to join that small minority of younger people who dare to rebel against the evil. In this respect, only one more writer--and this one was a woman, Hvóschinskaya (“Krestóvskiy-pseudonyme”), who can be placed by the side of Tchéhoff. He knew, and more than knew--he felt with every nerve of his poetical mind--that, apart from a handful of stronger men and women, the true curse of the Russian “intellectual” is the weakness of his will, the insufficient strength of his desires. Perhaps he felt it in himself. And when he was asked once (in 1894) in a letter--“What should a Russian desire at the present time?” he wrote in return: “Here is my reply: desire! He needs most of all desire--force of character. We have enough of that whining shapelessness.”

This absence of strong desire and weakness of will he continually, over and over again, represented in his heroes. But this predilection was not a mere accident of temperament and character. It was a direct product of the times he lived in.

Tchéhoff, we saw, was nineteen years old when he began to write in 1879. He thus belongs to the generation which had to live through, during their best years, the worst years which Russia has passed through in the second half of the nineteenth century. With the tragic death of Alexander II. and the advent to the throne of his son, Alexander III., a whole epoch--the epoch of progressive work and bright hopes had come to a final close. All the sublime efforts of that younger generation which had entered the political arena in the seventies, and had taken for its watchword the symbol: “Be with the people!” had ended in a crushing defeat--the victims moaning now in fortresses and in the snows of Siberia. More than that, all the great reforms, including the abolition of serfdom, which had been realised in the sixties by the Hérzen, Turguéneff, and Tchernyshévskiy generation, began now to be treated as so many mistakes, by the reactionary elements which had now rallied round Alexander III. Never will a Westerner understand the depth of despair and the hopeless sadness which took hold of the intellectual portion of Russian society for the next ten or twelve years after that double defeat, when it came to the conclusion that it was incapable to break the inertia of the masses, or to move history so as to fill up the gap between its high ideals and the heartrending reality. In this respect “the eighties” were perhaps the gloomiest period that Russia lived through for the last hundred years. In the fifties the intellectuals had at least full hope in their forces; now--they had lost even these hopes. It was during those very years that Tchéhoff began to write; and, being a true poet, who feels and responds to the moods of the moment, he became the painter of that breakdown--of that failure of the “intellectuals” which hung as a nightmare above the civilised portion of Russian society. And again, being a great poet, he depicted that all-invading philistine meanness in such features that his picture will live. How superficial, in comparison, is the philistinism described by Zola. Perhaps, France even does not know that disease which was gnawing then at the very marrow of the bones of the Russian “intellectual.”

With all that, Tchéhoff is by no means a pessimist in the proper sense of the word; if he had come to despair, he would have taken the bankruptcy of the “intellectuals” as a necessary fatality. A word, such as, for instance, “_fin de siècle_,” would have been his solace. But Tchéhoff could not find satisfaction in such words because he firmly believed that a better existence was possible--and would come. “From my childhood”--he wrote in an intimate letter--“I have believed in progress, because the difference between the time when they used to flog me, and when they stopped to do so [in the sixties] was tremendous.”

There are three dramas of Tchéhoff--_Ivánoff_, _Uncle Ványa_ (_Uncle John_), and _The Cherry-Tree Garden_, which fully illustrate how his faith in a better future grew in him as he advanced in age. Ivánoff, the hero of the first drama, is the personification of that failure of the “intellectual” of which I just spoke. Once upon a time he had had his high ideals and he still speaks of them, and this is why Sásha, a girl, full of the better inspirations--one of those fine intellectual types in the representation of which Tchéhoff appears as a true heir of Turguéneff--falls in love with him. But Ivánoff knows himself that he is played out; that the girl loves in him what he is no more; that the sacred fire is with him a mere reminiscence of the better years, irretrievably past; and while the drama attains its culminating point, just when his marriage with Sásha is going to be celebrated, Ivánoff shoots himself. Pessimism is triumphant.

_Uncle Ványa_ ends also in the most depressing way; but there is some faint hope in it. The drama reveals an even still more complete breakdown of the educated “intellectual,” and especially of the main representative of that class--the professor, the little god of the family, for whom all others have been sacrificing themselves, but who all his life has only written beautiful words about the sacred problems of art, while all his life he remained the most perfect egotist. But the end of this drama is different. The girl, Sónya, who is the counterpart of Sásha, and has been one of those who sacrificed themselves for the professor, remains more or less in the background of the drama, until, at its very end she comes forward in a halo of endless love. She is neglected by the man whom she loves. This man--an enthusiast--prefers, however, a beautiful woman (the second wife of the professor) to Sónya, who is only one of those workers who bring life into the darkness of Russian village life, by helping the dark mass to pull through the hardships of their lives.

The drama ends in a heart-rending musical accord of devotion and self-sacrifice on behalf of Sónya and her uncle. “It cannot be helped”--Sónya says--“we must live! Uncle John, we shall live. We shall live through a long succession of days, and of long nights; we shall patiently bear the sufferings which fate will send upon us; we shall work for the others--now, and later on, in old age, knowing no rest; and when our hour shall have come, we shall die without murmur, and there, beyond the grave * * * we shall rest!”

There is, after all, a redeeming feature in that despair. There remains the faith of Sónya in her capacity to work, her readiness to face the work, even without personal happiness.

But in proportion as Russian life becomes less gloomy; in proportion as hopes of a better future for our country begin to bud once more in the youthful beginnings of a movement amongst the working classes in the industrial centres, to the call of which the educated youth answer immediately; in proportion as the “intellectuals” revive again, ready to sacrifice themselves in order to conquer freedom for the grand whole--the Russian people--Tchéhoff also begins to look into the future with hope and optimism. _The Cherry-Tree Garden_ was his last swan-song, and the last words of this drama sound a note full of hope in a better future. The cherry-tree garden of a noble landlord, which used to be a true fairy garden when the trees were in full bloom, and nightingales sang in their thickets, has been pitilessly cut down by the money-making middle class man. No blossom, no nightingales--only dollars instead. But Tchéhoff looks further into the future: he sees the place again in new hands, and a new garden is going to grow instead of the old one--a garden where all will find a new happiness in new surroundings. Those whose whole life was for themselves alone could never grow such a garden; but some day soon this will be done by beings like Anya, the heroine, and her friend, “the perpetual student”....

The influence of Tchéhoff, as Tolstóy has remarked, will last, and will not be limited to Russia only. He has given such a prominence to the short story and its ways of dealing with human life that he has thus become a reformer of our literary forms. In Russia he has already a number of imitators who look upon him as upon the head of a school; but--will they have also the same inimitable poetical feeling, the same charming intimacy in the way of telling the stories, that special form of love of nature, and above all, the beauty of Tchéhoff’s smile amidst his tears?--all qualities inseparable from his personality.

As to his dramas, they are favourites on the Russian stage, both in the capitals and in the provinces. They are admirable for the stage and produce a deep effect; and when they are played by such a superior cast as that of the Artistic Theatre at Moscow--as the _Cherry-Tree Garden_ was played lately--they become dramatic events.

In Russia Tchéhoff is now perhaps the most popular of the younger writers. Speaking of the living novelists only, he is placed immediately after Tolstóy, and his works are read immensely. Separate volumes of his stories, published under different titles--_In Twilight_, _Sad People_ and so on--ran each through ten to fourteen editions, while full editions of Tchéhoff’s _Works_ in ten and fourteen volumes, sold in fabulous numbers: of the latter, which was given as a supplement to a weekly, more than 200,000 copies were circulated in one single year.

In Germany Tchéhoff has produced a deep impression; his best stories have been translated more than once, so that one of the leading Berlin critics exclaimed lately: “Tschéchoff, Tschéchoff, und kein Ende!” (Tchéhoff, Tchéhoff, and no end.) In Italy he begins to be widely read. And yet it is only his stories which are known beyond Russia. His dramas seem to be too “Russian,” and they hardly can deeply move audiences outside the borders of Russia, where such dramas of inner contradiction are not a characteristic feature of the moment.

If there is any logic in the evolution of societies, such a writer as Tchéhoff had to appear before literature could take a new direction and produce the new types which already are budding in life. At any rate, an impressive parting word had to be pronounced, and this is what Tchéhoff has done.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

While this book was being prepared for print a work of great value for all the English-speaking lovers of Russian literature appeared in America. I mean the _Anthology of Russian Literature from the earliest Period to the present Time_, by Leo Wiener, assistant professor of Slavic languages at Harvard University, published in two stately volumes by Messrs. Putnam’s Sons at New York. The first volume (400 pages) contains a rich selection from the earliest documents of Russian literature--the annals, the epic songs, the lyric folk-songs, etc., as also from the writers of the seventeenth and the eighteenth centuries. It contains, moreover, a general short sketch of the literature of the period and a mention is made of all the English translations from the early Russian literature. The second volume (500 pages) contains abstracts, with short introductory notes and a full bibliography, from all the chief authors of the nineteenth century, beginning with Karamzín and ending with Tchéhoff, Górkiy, and Merezhkóvskiy. All this has been done with full knowledge of Russian literature and of every author; the choice of characteristic abstracts hardly could be better, and the many translations which Mr. Wiener himself has made are very good. In this volume, too, all the English translations of Russian authors are mentioned, and we must hope that their number will now rapidly increase. Very many of the Russian authors have hardly been translated at all, and in such cases there is nothing else left but to advise the reader to peruse French or German translations. Both are much more numerous than the English, a considerable number of the German translations being embodied in the cheap editions of Reklam.

A work concerning Malo-Russian (Little-Russian) literature, on lines similar to those followed by Mr. Wiener, has appeared lately under the title, _Vik; the Century, a Collection of Malo-Russian Poetry and Prose published from 1708 to 1898_, 3 vols. (Kiev, Peter Barski); (analysed in _Athenæum_, January 10, 1903.)

Of general works which may be helpful to the student of Russian literature I shall name Ralston’s _Early Russian History_, _Songs of the Russian People_, and _Russian Folk Tales_ (1872-1874), as also his translation of Afanásieff’s _Legends_; Rambaud’s _La Russie épique_ (1876) and his excellent _History of Russia_ (Engl. trans.); _Le roman russe_, by Voguë; _Impressions of Russia_, by George Brandes (translated by Eastman; Boston, 1889), and his _Moderne Geister_, which contains an admirable chapter on Turguéneff.

Of general works in Russian, the following may be named: _History of Russian Literature in Biographies and Sketches_, by P. Polevóy, 2 vols., illustrated (1883; new edition, enlarged, in 1903); and _History of the New Russian Literature from 1848 to 1898_, by A. Skabitchévskiy, 4th ed., 1900, with 52 portraits. Both are reliable, well written, and not bulky works--the former being rather popular in character, while the second is a critical work which goes into the analysis of every writer. The recently published _Gallery of Russian Writers_, edited by I. Ignátoff (Moscow, 1901), contains over 250 good portraits of Russian authors, accompanied by one page notices, quite well written, of their work. A very exhaustive work is _History of the Russian Literature_ by A. Pýpin, in 4 vols., (1889), beginning with the earliest times and ending with Púshkin, Lérmontoff, Gógol, and Koltsóff. The same author has written a _History of Russian Ethnography_, also in 4 vols. Among works dealing with portions only of the Russian literature the following may be mentioned: Tchernyshévskiy’s _Critical Articles_, St. Petersburg, 1893; Annenkoff’s _Púshkin and His Time_; O. Miller’s _Russian Writers after Gógol_; Merezhkóvskiy’s books on Púshkin and another on Tolstóy; and Arsénieff’s _Critical Studies of Russian Literature_, 2 vols., 1888 (mentioned in the text); and above all, of course, the collections of _Works_ of our critics: Byelínskiy (12 vols.); Dobrolúboff (4 vols.), Písareff (6 vols.), and Mihailóvskiy (6 vols.), completed by his _Literary Reminiscences_.

A work of very great value, which is still in progress, is the _Biographic Dictionary of Russian Writers_, published and nearly entirely written by S. Venguéroff, who is also the editor of new, scientifically prepared editions of the complete works of several authors (Byelínskiy is now published). Excellent biographies and critical sketches of all Russian writers will be found in the _Russian Encyclopædia Dictionary_ of Brockhaus-Efron. The first two volumes of this Dictionary (they will be completed in an Appendix) were brought out as a translation of the _Lexikon_ of Brockhaus; but the direction was taken over in good time by a group of Russian men of science, including Mendeléeff, Woiéikoff, V. Solovióff, etc., who have made of the 82 volumes of this _Dictionary_, completed in 1904 (at 6 sh. the volume)--one of the best encyclopædias in Europe. Suffice it to say that all articles on chemistry and chemical technics have been either written or carefully revised by Mendeléeff.

Complete editions of the works of most of the Russian writers have lately been published, some of them by the editor Marks, in connection with his weekly illustrated paper, at astoundingly low prices, which can only be explained by a circulation which exceeds 200,000 copies every year. The work of Gógol, Turguéneff, Gontcharóff, Ostróvskiy, Boborýkin, Tchéhoff, and some minor writers, like Danilévskiy and Lyeskóff, are in this case.

FOOTNOTES:

[24] I borrow these remarks about the predecessors of Byelínskiy from an article on Literary Criticism in Russia, by Professor Ivánoff, in the _Russian Encyclopædic Dictionary_, Vol. 32, 771.

[25] The speech of Homyakóff is reproduced in Skabitchévskiy’s _History_ (l. c.). I was very anxious to get Tolstóy’s speech, because I think that the ideas he expressed about “the permanent in Art, the universal” hardly did exclude the denunciation of the ills from which a society suffers at a given moment. Perhaps he meant what Nekrásoff also meant when he described the literature to which Schédrin’s _Provincial Sketches_ had given origin as “a flagellation of the petty thieves for the pleasure of the big ones.” Unfortunately, this speech was not printed, and the manuscript of it could not be found.

INDEX

Abolition of serfdom committees, 119

Absolutism, historical necessity of, 272

Æsthetics, philosophical, 287
theories of, 290
of the leisured class, 306

Agricultural Academy of Moscow, 302

Agricultural labourers in Western Europe, hardships of, 267

Agricultural population of Russia, immense, 244

Agricultural village, life in an, 245

“Akib, the Assyrian King,” 8

Aksákoff, Iván, 176
Konstantín, 176
Serghéi Timoféevitch, prose writer, 176;
a Slavophile, 268, 269, 301

Alexander the Great, legends of, 8

Alexander I., educated by La Harpe, 34;
attempts to give Russia a constitution, 34;
grants one to Poland and Finland, 34;
influence of German mystics on, 34;
surrenders to the reactionists, 34;
influence of Madame Krüdener on, 34

Alexéi the priest’s son, 8

American features of a new life, 302

American squatters, 119, 227

Anarchism, no-government principles of, 146
modern, founded by Mikhail Bakúnin, 276

Annals, rich Russian collection of, 14

Antonovitch, Grand Duke Ivan, imprisoned in fortress of Schüsselberg,
29

Antique Greek world, study of the, 306

Anti-Semitic comedy, reception of, in St. Petersburg, 264

Apocryphal gospels, wide circulation of, in Russia, 17

Archæological details, abuse of, 306

Arakchéeff, General, rules Russia during last ten years of reign of
Alexander I., 34

Arctic exploration, Lomonósoff’s memoir on, 25

Aristocratic girl, interesting types of the, 302

Armenian language, 4

Arsenal of punishments, 264

Arsénieff, K., critic, 172, 295
K. K., writer of satires, 282

Art and its impulses, 160

Art, counterfeits of, 298

Art criticism, canons in, 293
foundations of new, 287
in Russia, 287
“Art for Art’s sake,” 295, 297, 298
poets of, 183-185

Art in the service of mankind, 296

Art, latest works of, 145-148
the main principles of, 289
utilitarian views upon, 295

Artels (coöperative organisations), 230

Asceticism preached in Russia, 17

Audubon, John James, mentioned, 177

Auerbach, Berthold, mentioned, 91

Autocracy, evils of, 63

Avvakúm, Nonconformist priest, memoirs of, 19-21;
quotation from, 20;
exiled to Siberia, 20;
taken to the Amúr, 20;
burned at the stake, 20

Bakúnin, Mikhail, Russian revolutionist, 276

Balakláva disaster, Tolstóy’s poems on, 113

Balkan peninsula, invasion of, by Turks, 15

Balzac, Honoré de, mentioned, 58, 86, 91

Barantsévitch, novelist, 304

Baratýnskiy, romantic Russian poet, 62

Barbier, Henri Auguste, mentioned, 40, 173, 186

Bards of Northern and Little Russia, 7

Bards, special, 8

Baskáks, visits of, to Russia, 16

Bayán, Russian bard, 13

Beautiful, realistic definition of the, 290
the worship of the, 306

Beauty and Truth, idealistic point of view of, 289

Belles-lettres, Academy of, founded by Catherine II., 26

Béranger, Pierre Jean de, mentioned, 3, 186
chansonnettes of, 4

Bestúzheff, Alexander, prose writer, 63

Bible, Russian translation of, 5
the first Russian, 19
why it has not yet been superseded, 298

Biblical Old Slavonian, little use of, 22

Bibliographical notes, 318-320

Bismarck, Otto Eduard Leopold, mentioned, 124

“Black people” and “white people,” 14

Black Sea, Russia takes firm hold of, 27

Blood-vengeance of Scandinavian heroes, 10

Boborýkin, novelist, sketch of, 307

Bodenstedt, friend and German translator of Lérmontoff’s poems, 52,
53, 56

Bogdanóvitch, poet, 27, 28

Books, censorship on, in Russia, 264

Borodín, music of, 14

Brandes, George, his study of Turguéneff, 91, 94

Brontë, Charlotte, mentioned, 179

Browning, Robert, mentioned, 40, 186

Buckle, Henry Thomas, mentioned, 265

Bulgaria falls under the rule of the Osmanlis, 15

Bulgarian language, 4

Bureaucratic centralisation, 267

Burial songs of peasant women, 7

Byeláeff, historian, 269

Byelínskiy, the greatest critic of histime, 163, 288;
ancestry and sketch of his writings, 288-290;
mentioned, 178, 224, 267, 269, 272, 276, 287 _n._, 288, 289, 293,
296, 298

Bylíny, early Russian explorers of, 9
epic songs of, 8

Byron, Lord George Gordon, mentioned, 33, 40, 42, 44, 45, 46, 47, 51,
61, 63, 186, 187, 288

Byronism, mantle of, 48
Púshkin’s, 45

Byronists, Don Juanesque features of the, 162

Byzantine Church, teachings of, 17

Byzantine gnosticism, 5

Byzantine habits of Moscow, 68

Byzantine historians, 15

Byzantine ideals of the Russian Church, 16

Capitalism, powers of, 268

Cat-o’-nine-tails, punishment of the, 164

Catherine II., literature in the early part of her reign, 26;
full of progressive ideas, 26;
her intercourse with French philosophers, 26;
composes her remarkable _Instruction_ to the deputies, 26;
writes several comedies, 26;
edits a monthly review, 26;
writes two satirical comediesand a comic opera, 194

Caucasians, the most beautiful people of Europe, 52

Caucasus “society,” descriptions of, 59

Caucasus, the, one of the most beautiful regions on earth, 52

Censorship of literature under Nicholas I., 36

Censorship, rigorous Russian, 94, 263

Central Russia, invaded by Cossacks, 18
spoken language of, 6

Cervantes, Miguel de, good-natured laughter of, 4

Chansonnettes, playful, 4

Charles XII., of Sweden, ruler of Little Russia, defeated at Poltáva,
36

Christ, the teachings of, 140

Christian brotherhoods, early, 17

Christian ethics, main points of the, 142-145

Christian humility, 143
mask of, 83

Christian literature in Russia, 17

Christian mysticism, 28

Christian nationality of Russian Church, 16

Christian teaching, interpretation of, 138
moral aspects of, 140

Christianity, development of, 17
rationalistic interpretation of, 139;
dogmatic elements of, 140
reformed, antagonism to, 17
spread of, in Russia, 29

Christmas Eve, Russian village life on, 69

Church and State, attitude of negation towards, 145

Church Christianity, 140 _n._

Church, lower clergy of the, impositions on, 19

Church, Russian, throws off the Mongol yoke, 16

Churches, hatred of, towards each other, 138

Cicero, powerful oratory of, 24

Circassians, struggle of, against the Russians, 56, 57

Circles, the, important part played by the, in the intellectual
development of Russia, 266

Citizen, the duties of a, 174

Civilisation based on Capitalism and State, 131

Classicism in Russia, 43

Classics, Russian, circulation of, 6

Codes of the Empire and the Common Law, 269

Colonisation, inner, of Russia, 230

Commercialism, modern, the prey of, 245

Common Law Courts, peasants’, 222

Communal land-ownership, 267

Communal principles in Russian life, 32

Communal spirit of Russian popular life, 10

Communism, teachings of free, 144

Constantine, Grand Duke, exploration of Russia, 225, 230

Constantine, proclaimed emperor, 35;
abdicates, 35

Constantinople annalists and historians, 15

Contemporary novelists, 300-317

_Contemporary, The_, a monthly review, Tolstóy contributes to,
110, 112;
its fight for peasant freedom, 114;
Nekrasoff edits and contributes to, 171;
Ivan Panaeff, co-editor, 178;
Tchernyshévskiy contributes to, 279;
suppressed, 283

Coolidge, Professor, of Cambridge, Mass., his review articles
on Russian writers, 39

Co-operative organisations, 230

Copernicus, mentioned, 25

Cornwall, Barry, mentioned, 187

Corps of Pages, 30

Cossacks, invade Central Russia, 10;
their ways of conducting war, 72

County councils, 231

Criticism, literary, 285, 286

Critics, works of, early read, 287

Czech language, 4

Czechs, old literature of, 4

Dal, V., ethnographer and prose writer, birth and ancestry, 177;
his main work a dictionary of the Russian language, 178

Danilévskiy, historical novelist, 227

Dante, Alighieri, mentioned, 61, 187

Dargomýzhsky, operas of, 13

Darwin, Charles Robert, mentioned, 265

Darwinism, exposition of, 293
new ideas of, 110

“Decadent” would-be poets, 296

Decembrists, the, 33-36;
Nicholas I. hangs five and exiles others to Siberia, 35

Degeneracy not the sole feature of modern society, 86

Délwig, Russian poet, personal friend of Púshkin, 62

Demetrius, the pretender, takes possession of throne at Moscow, 18

Demon of habitual drunkenness, 238

Derzhávin, poet laureate to Catherine II., 26;
his poetry of Nature, 27;
_Ode to God_, 27;
_The Waterfall_, 27

Dickens, Charles, references to, 91, 187;
rollicking humour of, 4

Discussions, unnatural theoretical, 169

“Dissent,” varieties of, 268

“Disturbed Years,” traces of, in popular songs, 18

Dobrolúboff, literary critic, ancestry and sketch of, 291

Dobrolúboff, ultra-democratic writer, 114;
mentioned, 290, 293, 297

Dobrýnia, the dragon-killer, 9

Dolgorúkiy, Prince, political writer, 278

Dolgúshin groups, trial of, 135

Don, blue waters of the, 11

Dover, England, cliffs of, 52

Dostoyévskiy, Russian author, sketch of his life and works, 163-170;
writes _Poor People_ when twenty-four, 163;
congratulated by Nekrásoff and Grigoróvitch, 163;
introduced to Byelínskiy, the critic, 163;
his sad life, 163;
condemned to death, 163;
pardoned, 164;
death of, 164;
description of his novels, 164-170

Drama in Russia, its origin, 191;
Peter I. opened a theatre in Moscow, 192;
theatres become a permanent institution, 192

Dramatic art in Russia, development of, 77

Drunkenness, Russian habits of, 238;
the terrible disease of, 242

Druzhínin, critic, 295

Eastern heroes, exploits of, 9

Eastern legends, Russian versions of, 8

Eastern Russia, spoken language of, 6

Eastern traditions, spread of, in Russia, 10

Educated man in Russia, despair of the, 96

Educated women, new generation of, 304

Eighteenth century philosophers, 4

Eliot, George, mentioned, 179

Elpátievskiy, S., folk-novelist, 249

Elsler, Fanny, ballet dancer, appears at the Imperial Theatre, Moscow,
200

Emancipated woman, the, 304

Emancipation committees, 280

Epic narrative, quiet recitative of, 8

Epic poetry, freshness and vigorous youthfulness of the early, 16

Epic songs, collecting of, 8;
heroes of, 8
of wandering bards, 16
proscribed by the Russian Church, 13

Epicureanism, exclusive conditions of, 134

Equality and Liberty, appeals to, 93

Equality of all men, recognition of, 145

Ergólskaya, T. A., a woman relative of Tolstóy’s, 111

Ethnographical research in Russia, 230-232

Euler, Leonhard, mathematician, 24

European society, conventional life of, 45

Everyday talk, forms of familiar, introduced into Russian literature,
31

Everyday life, 259

Evil, physical force in resisting, 143

Exact sciences, interest of Peter I. in, 22

Factory girls, life of, 135

Faust, Dr., 5

Federal principles in Russia, 32, 268

Finland, constitution granted to, by Alexander I., 34

Folk-literature, of European nations, 7
of Russia, early, 7

Folk-lore, leading features of Russian, 16

Folk-novelists, 221-260
realistic school of, 232
their position in Russian literature, 221

Fonvizin. See Wízin, Von

Fourier, François, mentioned, 224, 272

Fourierism, 281

Fourierists, 163

Franklin, Benjamin, mentioned, 30

Freemasons in Russia, their effort for spreading moral education among
the people, 28;
their deep influence on Russia, 29;
Alexander I. grants them more freedom, 29

Free thought stifled in Russia under Nicholas I., 35

French philosophers, Catherine II.’s intercourse with, 26

French Revolution of 1830, 271;
of 1848, 272

French school of acting popular in Moscow, 201

French Socialists, 272

Froebel, reforms of, 121

_From Whence and How Came to be the Land of Russia_, early attempt at
writing history, 15

Gárshin, war novelist, 124

Georgia, smiling valleys of, 53

Georgian language, 4

Gerbel, N., poetical translator, 186

German æsthetical writers, metaphysics of, 295

German metaphysics, 4

German philosophy, idealistic, 289

Glínka, music of, 13

God of the Thunders, 9

God, the essence of life, 141

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang, references to, 4, 5, 40, 41, 45, 62, 172,
185, 187, 288, 293

Gógol, Nicolai Vasilievitch, sketch of his life and works, 67-86;
birth and ancestry of, 67;
humour and wit of, 68;
his tales of the upper classes, 69;
the plot of his novel, _Tárás Búlba_, 70-72;
his prose-comedy _The Inspector-General_ described, 73-76;
extracts from, 76-81;
hostile criticism on _The Inspector-General_, 78;
_Dead Souls_ his main work, 79;
extracts from, 79-81;
he suffers from a nervous disease, 83;
falls under the influence of the “pietists,” 83;
death of, 84;
his great influence on the minds of Russians, 84;
forerunner of the literary movement against serfdom, 84;
literary influence of, 85;
a great artist, 85;
first to introduce the social element into Russian literature, 85;
references to, 6, 27, 58, 89, 96, 163, 176, 177, 201, 282, 283, 288,
301, 319

Goncharóff, talented Russian writer, sketch of his life and works,
151-162;
his attitude of impartiality to his heroes, 152;
profusion of details in his novels, 152;
description of his novel _Oblómoff_, 152-161;
his youth and character, 154;
extracts from _Oblómoff_, 154-159;
description of _The Precipice_, 161, 162;
mentioned, 6, 120, 169, 223, 224, 228

Górkiy, Maxim, author and dramatic writer, 217, 249;
his childhood, 250;
his reputation in America and Western Europe, 250;
sketch of the characters in his novels, 250-260;
extracts from _The Reader_, 257-259

Gospels, interpretation of, heresy, 17

Grammar of the Russian language, foundation of, 24

Great Russia, description of, 68

Great-Russian language, 6

Greco-Latin Academy of Kieff, 19

Greco-Slavonian Academy founded, 22

Greek Church, wide-spread separation of the people from the, 19

Greek models, inspiration of, 15

Greek Orthodox Church, 137, 138, 267

Gregory, an adapter of English plays, 191

Griboyédoff, comedy writer, born in Moscow, 196;
enters the diplomatic service, 196;
sent to Teheran, 196;
arrested at Tiflís, 197;
set free, 197;
in the Persian war, 197;
killed in Teheran, 198

Grigórieff, A., critic, 295

Grigoróvitch, peasant novels of, 85, 229

Grimm’s collection of fairy tales, 7

Hamlet and Don Quixote, 105

Hamletism in Russian life, 97, 108

Hannibal oath, the, 271

Happiness, personal, where found, 137 _n._

Harte, Bret, mentioned, 250

Hatzfeld, Countess of, her relations to Lassalle, 93

Heat, mechanical theory of, 25

Heine, Heinrich, references to, 3, 4, 44, 186, 187, 293

Hellenic love and poetic comprehension of Nature, 306

Hemnitzer, a writer of fables, 28

Herder, Johann Gottfried, mentioned, 33

Heredity, physiological, 222

Hérzen, Alexander, birth and ancestry, 271;
enters Moscow University, 271;
exiled to the Urals, 272;
returns to Moscow, 272;
exiled to Novgorod, 272;
expelled from France, 273;
naturalised in Switzerland, 273;
starts his _Polar Star_ in London, 273;
starts _The Bell_, and becomes a real power in Russia, 274;
supports the Poles, 274;
his death, 275;
mentioned, 267, 269, 289, 314

High-life in St. Petersburg, 48

Highly educated, inner drama of the, 299

Hilferding, A., 8

Historians, General Staff, 124

Historical dramas, 214, 215

Historical novels, difficulties in writing, 123

Holberg, Danish comedy writer, _Jean de France_, 27

Holiday cycle of songs, 7

Holy Alliance between Germany, Austria, and Russia, 34

Holy Books, printing of the, 19
scholastic discussions on, 68

Homer, epics of, 11

Homyákoff (Slavophile), extract from speech on Art, 296, 297

Hood, Thomas, mentioned, 186

Hugo, Victor, mentioned, 40, 173, 186, 215, 288

Human drama, development of the inner, 92

Human nature, failures of, in our present civilisation, 309

Humanitarian feeling in a family, 310

Husband and wife, separation between, debated in Russia, 127

Huxley, Thomas Henry, mentioned, 24

Huyghens, Constantijn, mentioned, 25

Hvoschinskaya, N. D., woman prose writer, 179;
sketch of her writings, 179-181

Ibsen, Henrik, mentioned, 259

Icelandic sagas, 8

Idea and form in poetry, correspondence between, 173

Idealism, 116
mask of, 128
the neglect of, 257

Idealistic realism, forms of, 249

Ideas, means of exchanging, by the circles, 266

Ilyiá of Múrom, 8

Imperial Theatre, St. Petersburg, established, 193

Individual, rights of the, 305

Indo-European languages, 4

Industrialism, era of, 267

Intellectual life in Russia, from 1848 to 1876, 97

Intellectual unity of the Russian nation, 6

Intellectuals, Russian, 253
educated, 263
type of, 231

International Working Men’s Association, 276

Ivánoff, Professor, 287 _n._

Jacobinism, Governmental, 114

James, Richard, his songs relating to dark period of serfdom, 18

Jersey, Norman law in, 269

John the Terrible, letters of, to Prince Kúrbskiy, 18;
rule of, in Russia, 18

Journalism, serious, the founder of, in Russia, 287

Judaic Christianity, life-depressing influences of, 306

“Kalevála” of the Finns, 11

Kalíki, wandering singers, 7

Kantemir, writer of satires, 22;
ambassador to London, 22 _n._

Kapníst, writer of satires, 28

Karamzín, historian, poet, and novelist, _The History of the Russian
State_, 32;
a poet of the virtues of monarchy, 32;
his history a work of art, 32;
_Letters of a Russian Traveller Abroad_, 33;
his sentimental romanticism, 33;
his _Poor Liza_, 33;
spirited protest against serfdom, 33

Kavélin, philosopher and writer on law, 50

Kíeff, Annals of, 14, 15
disappears from history for two centuries, 15

Knights of industry and plutocracy, modern, 284

Knyazhnín, translator of tragedies, 193

Kókoreff, I. T., folk-novelist, 228

Koltsóff, a poet from the people, 182

Korolenko, novelist, sketch of, 302

Kórsakoff, Rímsky, music of, 14

Kostomároff, historian, 268

Kotoshíkhin, historian, runs away from Moscow to Sweden, 21;
writes a history of Russia, 21;
advocates wide reforms, 21;
his manuscripts discovered at Upsala, 21

Kozlóff, Russian poet, 61

Krestovskiy, Vsevolod, a woman writer of detective stories, 179

Krüdener, Madame, influence of, on Alexander I., 34

Krylóff, V. A., playwright and fable writer, 60;
his translations from Lafontaine, 60;
his unique position in Russian literature, 61;
mentioned, 177, 194, 217

Kryzhánitch, South Slavonian writer, called to Moscow, 21;
revises the Holy Books, 21;
preaches reform, 21;
exiled to Siberia and dies, 21

Kürbskiy, Prince, letters to, from John the Terrible, 18

Labour movement in Russia, 265

Lábzin, a Christian mystic, writes against corruption and is exiled,
29

La Harpe, French republican, educates Alexander I., 34

Lake Onéga, folk-literature at, 7

Land, municipalisation of, 146 the communal ownership of, 246

Languages of Western Europe, 3

Lassalle, Ferdinand, mentioned, 93

Latin Church prevented from extending its influence over Russia, 16

“Latinism,” 19

Lavróff, Peter, political writer, 276;
a preacher of activity among the people, 277

Law of the Russian State and people, 268

_Lay of Igor’s Raid, The_, a twelfth century poem, 11

Lazhéchnikoff, historical novelist, 64

Laziness, the poetry of, 155

Legends of the saints widely read, 17

Leroux, Pierre, mentioned, 224, 272

Lérmontoff, Mikhail Yurievitch, sketch of his life and works, 50-59;
writes verses and poems when a boy, 50;
enters Moscow University, 51;
goes to a military school in St. Petersburg, 51;
writes a popular poem on Liberty and is exiled to Siberia, 52;
transferred to the Caucasus, 52;
plot of _The Demon_, 54;
description of Mtsýri, 54;
his demonism or pessimism, 55;
a “humanist,” 56;
his love for Russia, 56;
his dislike of war, 57;
death of, 57;
_The Captain’s Daughter_ described, 57, 58;
plot of his novel, _The Hero of Our Own Time_, 58, 59;
references to, 4, 61, 63, 68, 84, 89, 112, 172, 173, 176, 295, 319

Levítoff, folk-novelist, 240;
his sad life, 240-242

Liberty, culminating point in struggle for, 304

Life superior to Art, 290

Life, the kaleidoscope of, 307
the organisation of, 140
the simplification of, 144

Literary criticism, 285-299

Literary language of Russia, 6

Literary technique, 227

Literature, a new vein in, 308;
of the Czechs, 4;
of the Poles, 4;
of the great Slavonian family, 4;
of the Great-Russians, 4;
of the Little-Russians, 6;
of the White-Russians, 6;
treasures of thirteenth century Russian, 15;
a new era for, 26;
modern Russian created, 43;
Púshkin frees it from enslaving ties, 44;
realism of Russian, 46;
introduction of the social element into, 85;
true founders of Russian literature, 176;
position of folk-novelists in Russian literature, 221;
a new school of, 233;
the duty of, 257

Lithuanian language, 4

Little-Russia, description of, 67, 68

Lomonósoff, historian, studies in Moscow, 23;
and at Kieff, 23;
sent to Germany and studied under Wolff, 23;
returns to Russia, 23;
writes a work on Arctic exploration, 25

Longfellow, William Wadsworth, references to, 3, 4, 186;
his _Hiawatha_ mentioned, 4

Love, discussion on, 127

Mal-administration in Russia, 274

Malo-Russian (Little-Russian) literature, 318

Mámin, novelist, 304

Mankind, repulsive types of, 168

Márkovitch, Mme. Marie, folk-novelist, 226

Marriage and separation, questions of, 281

Marriage, accusation against, 147
opinions upon, 127

Marriages, complicated ceremony of, 7

Matchtétt, novelist, 304

Maupassant, Guy de, mentioned, 250, 308

Máykoff, Apollon, poet of pure art for art’s sake, 184

Máykoff, Valerián, critic, 224, 290

Mazépa, hétman, joins Charles XII. against Peter I., 36;
flees to Turkey, 36

Mazzini, Joseph, mentioned, 93

Mediæval literature of Russia, the, 15-19

Mediæval Russia, 32

Melshin, L., folk-novelist, 249

Mérimée, Prosper, mentioned, 39

Merezhkóvskiy, Dmitriy, poet and novelist, sketch of, 305

Metaphysics, fogs of German, 268

Mey, L., poet and dramatist, 186

Mihailóskiy, leading Russian critic, 294

Mihailóvskiy, gifted Russian critic, 131;
extracts from his writings, 132

Mikhail (the first Romanoff) introduces serfdom, 18

Mikháiloff, Mikhail, translator of poems, 186

Mináyeff, poet, 174

Mináyeff, D., writer of satirical verses, 187

Ministerial circulars, system of, 264

Ministry of the Interior, Russian, censorship of books and newspapers
by the, 263, 264

Mir-eaters, 248

Misgovernment, evils of, 144

Modern civilised life, analysis of, 284

Moltke, Hellmuth Karl Bernhard, mentioned, 124

Monarchy, the virtues of, 32

Monasteries, learning concentrated in, 17

Money-making middle class men, 316

Mongol invasion of Russia, 15

Mongol Khans help to build up Moscow, 16

Mongols, tales from the, 7

Montesquieu, Baron de la Brède, mentioned, 26

Moore, Thomas, mentioned, 33, 187

Moral foundations of life, 129

Moral philosophy, construction of a, 145

Moral teachings of the prophets of mankind, 140

Morality, current rules of, 167

Moravian language, 4, 5

Morbid literature, 168

Mordóvtseff, novelist, 304

Moscow, built up by aid of Mongol Khans, 16
conflagration of, in 1812, 11
first capital of Russia, 14 _n._
serfdom introduced into, 16
becomes a centre for Church and State, 16
the heir to Constantinople, 16
Poles capture, 18
first printing office established in, 19
revision of the Holy Books undertaken at, 19
the slums of, 135
Western habits of life introduced into, 191

Moscow Church, criticism of dignitaries of, 17
obtains a formidable power in Russia, 19

“Moscow Fifty,” trial of, 135, 136

Moscow Institute of the Friends founded by Nóvikoff, 30

Moscow monarchy, consolidating the, 16

Moscow princes, unlimited authority of the, 16

Moscow stage, the, 200-211

Moscow Theological Academy, 23

Moscow tsars, authority of the, 268

Murillo, Bartolomé, mentioned, 90

“Muse of Vengeance and of Sadness, A,” 174, 175

Muslin education, 294

“Muslin Girls,” 294

Mystery plays, 191

Nadézhdin, poet, 287

Nádson, poet, 304

Napoleon I. in Russia, 126
horrors of the retreat of, from Moscow, 122

Napoleon III., _coup d’état_ of, 96

Napoleonic wars, effect of the, on Russian soldiers, 34

Naryézhnyi, historical novelist, 64

Nation’s life, the accidental and temporary in the historical
development of, 297

_Natural History of Selbourne_ (White), 177

Naturalism and realism in France, 222

Naturalism and realism, sound, 288

Nature, forces of, personified in heroes, 9
Humboldt’s poetical conception of, 25
knowledge of “unholy,” 17;
severely condemned by the Church, 17
mythological representations of forces of, 10
return to, 119
the highest poetry of, 299
the law of, 144

Naúmoff, folk-novelist, 248

Nefédoff, folk-novelist, 249

Nekrásoff, Nicholas, poet, sketch of his life and works, 170-177;
editor of _The Contemporary_, 112;
birth and ancestry of, 170;
his black misery, 171;
makes acquaintance with the lowest classes of St. Petersburg, 171;
death of, 171;
his love of the peasant masses, 172;
his inner force, 174;
his pessimism, 174;
his struggle against serfdom, 174;
his best poem, 175;
his poems to the exiles in Siberia and the Russian women, 175;
mentioned, 224, 226, 235, 298

Neptune, the Sea-God, 9

_Nestor’s Annals_, 14

Netcháeff groups, the trial of, 135

“Neutral tint” types of real life, 233

Newspaper publishing, difficulties of, in Russia, 263, 264

Newton, Sir Isaac, mentioned, 25

Nicholas I., becomes emperor, 35;
hangs some and exiles others of the Decembrists, 35

Nicholas the Villager, 8

Nihilism and Terrorism compared, 102

Nihilist movement of 1858-64, 228

Nihilist, the, in Russian society, 102

Nihilists, in art, 296
true, 281

Nikítich, Dobrýnia, Knight, 8

Nikitin, Russian poet, 182

Níkon, Patriarch, ambition of, 19

Nineteenth century, first years of, in Russia, 31-34

Nobles, servility of the, 28

Nókikoff, first Russian philosopher, 26

Nonconformist writings, 19

Nonconformists, cruel persecution of, 18, 19

Northern Caucasia, spoken language of, 6

Northern Russia, spoken language of, 6

Nóvgorod, annals of, 14

Nóvgorod republic, victories of the, 14

Nóvikoff, an apostle of renovation, 28;
his capacities for business and organizing, 28;
starts a successful printing office in Moscow, 28;
his influence upon educated society, 29;
organises relief for starving peasants, 29;
accused of political conspiracy, 29;
condemned to death, 29;
imprisoned in fortress of Schüsselberg, 29;
released by Paul I., 29;
founds the Moscow Institute of Friends, 30

Novodvórskiy, novelist, 304

Obloffdom, laziness of mind and heart, 159;
not a racial disease, 161

Odóevskiy, Prince Alexander, poet, 62

_Odyssey_, the, mentioned, 33

Oertel, prominent novelist, 300;
sketch of, 300-302

Ogaryóff, poet, 275

Old Testament, books of, wide circulation of, in Russia, 17

Olónets, province of, bards of, 8

Orenbúrg, Southern Uráls, 176

Organ-grinders, miserable life of, in St. Petersburg, 224

Osmanlis, rule of the, over Servia and Bulgaria, 15

Ostróvskiy, Russian playwright and actor, sketch of, 202;
description of his plays, 203;
extracts from his drama of _The Thunderstorm_, 205-210;
his prolific work, 211;
mentioned, 223, 224, 229

Overtaxation of peasants, 284

Ovid, mentioned, 24

Ozeroff, translator of plays, 193

Paganism, return to, 17

Painters, Russian Society of, 223

Palm, A. I., dramatic writer, 217

Panaeff, Ivan, Russian novelist, 178

Paris, occupation of, by Russian armies, 34

Parliamentary commissions in England, 267

Patriarchal family, principles of the, 267

Peasant character and life, 225

Peasant choir, music of the, 14

Peasant proprietorship of land, 246

Peasant woman, the, apotheosis of the Russian, 175

Peasants, revolt of, 18

Peasantry, Russian, 225

Permians of the Uráls, 235, 236

Persian language, 4

Pesaríff, Russian critic, 104

Pestalozzi, reforms of, 121

Péstel, mentioned, 35

Peter I., violent reforms of, 21;
historical significance of his reforms, 21;
realizes importance of literature, 21;
introduces European learning to his countrymen, 21;
establishes a new alphabet, 22;
little interest in literature, 22;
his love of the drama, 192

Peter III., _coup d’état_ of Catherine II. against, 26

Petropávlovskiy, a poet of village life, 248

Philistine family happiness, 133

Philosophical Nihilist, a, 129

Philosophical thought, main currents of, 266

Philosophy of war, 123

Písareff, literary critic, sketch of, 118, 292, 298, 303

Písemskiy, A. Th., folk-novelist, 216, 228

Pleschéeff, A., Russian poet, 174;
arrested with the “Petrashévskiy circles,” 183;
imprisoned, 183

Poetical beauty of Russian sagas, 11

Poetical love, higher enthusiasms of, 160

Poet, Russian, intellectual horizon of, 45

Poets, the minor, of Russia, 62-64

Poland, Alexander I. grants constitution to, 34
uprising of, in 1863, 274

_Polar Star, The_, Hérzen’s review, 273

Poles invade Russia and capture Moscow, 18

Poles, old literature of, 4

Polevóy, P., historical writer, 295

Polevóy, poet, 287

Polezháeff, poet, 62, 63

Polish landlords, exactions of, 72

Polish language, 4

Political literature, 263-281
abroad, 270-278
in Russia, restrictions imposed on, 282
with art, mixture of, 243

Political and moral education, school of, 292

Political parties, development of, 266

Political thought, channels for, 265
first manifestation of, in Russia, 28

Pólonskiy, Russian poet, 184

Pólotskiy, Simeon, a mystery play-writer, 191

Pólovtsi, raid on the, 11

Poltáva, Charles XII., of Sweden, defeated at, 36

Pomyalóvskiy, folk-novelist, 233;
his sketches from the life of clerical schools, 233

Pope, an Eastern, 19

Popular song, development of the Russian, 23

Popularism, ludicrousness of, 305

“Populist” element in the Russian novel, 304

Populists, the, 275

Potápenko, novelist, 307

Potyekhin, A. A., comedy writer and folk-novelist, 216, 228, 229

Prairies, village life in the, 241;
charm of the South Russian, 241

Press of Russia, muzzling of, 265

Priest’s house in Central Russia, a, 232

Printing office established in Moscow, 19

Privileged classes, educational theories in the interest of, 130

Procopóvitch, priest and writer, 22;
founds the Greco-Slavonian Academy, 22

Proletarians, massacre of the Paris, 272

Protestant rationalism in Nóvgorod and Pskov, 17

Provincial life in a Little-Russian village, 301

Pseudo-classicism, revolt against, 287

Pskov, republic of, annals of, 14;
struggles between the poor and rich of, 14

Psychical disease, specimens of incipient, 169

Pugatchóff, leads peasant revolt against Catherine II., 47;
history of, by Lérmontoff, 57

Punishments, Russian system of, 148

Púshkin, Alexander, Russian poet, sketch of his life and works, 39-50;
his lyrics familiar in England, 39;
neglected in Russia, 39;
appreciated in France and Germany, 39;
his beauty of form, 40;
his individuality and vital intensity, 40;
his birth and ancestry, 41;
his perfect mastership of the Russian language, 41;
his knowledge of folklore, 41;
describes his shallow life in _Evghéniy Onyéghin_, 41;
exiled to Kishmyóff, 42;
joins the gypsies, 42;
journeys to the Crimea and the Caucasus, 42;
ordered to return to Central Russia, 42;
returns to St. Petersburg and becomes chamberlain to Nicholas I.,
42;
marries, 42;
fights a duel and is killed, 42;
his early productions, 42, 43;
his simplicity in verse, 43;
frees literature from enslavement, 44;
his lyric love poems, 45;
called the Russian Byron, 45;
his Epicureanism, 46;
his stupendous powers of poetical creation, 46;
his dramas, 47;
his comprehension of human affairs, 47;
his most popular work, 47;
references to, 4, 6, 13, 24, 27, 31, 36, 51, 53, 54, 58, 61, 63, 67,
68, 69, 79, 84, 85, 89, 103, 112, 172, 173, 176, 195, 265, 287,
288, 289, 293, 308, 319

Pyéshkoff, A. (Maxim Górkiy), 250.
See Górkiy, Maxim.

Pýpin, A. N., ethnographical writer, 231

Racine, Jean Baptiste, mentioned, 61

Radicals, conceptions of advanced Russian, 114

Radíscheff, political writer, 26;
receives his education in the Corps of Pages, 30;
his _Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow_, 30;
transported to Siberia, 30;
commits suicide, 30

Ralston, English translator of Russian _sagas_, 11

Rambaud, French historian, 11

Rázin, Stepán, terrific uprising of, 18

Reaction, real geniuses of, 284;
triumphant, 285

Realism, how put to service of higher aims, 86
in art, 85
in France, 86
in the Russian novel, 85
of Balzac, 86
of Russian literature, 46, 222

Realism and romanticism, mixture of, 168

Realism, Shakespearian, 146

Realist, the thoughtful, 303, 305

Realistic school introduced into Russia by Púshkin, 58

Religious deception, 140

Religious propagandists, 248

Renaissance, movement of, did not reach Russia, 17

Republican federalism of old Russia, return to, 35

Rich classes, lust of, for wealth and luxury, 144

Rigourism condemned, 305

Romantic school, influence of the, 72
French novelists of the, 64

Romantic sentimentalism, 238

Romanticism, German, 48
unbridled, 86

Romanticism and pseudo-classicalism contend for possession of the
Russian stage, 195;
triumph of romanticism, 195

Rousseau, Jean Jacques, mentioned, 119, 121, 130, 148

Royal power, uninterrupted transmission of, 269

Rúrik, house of, 14

Russia, centres of development in, 14
exploration of, 225, 230-232
her firm hold of the Black Sea, 27
begins to play a serious part in European affairs, 27
independent republics of, 15
invasion of, by Turks, 15
main cities of South and Middle, laid waste by Mongols, 15
unity of the spoken language of, 13

Russian administration, rottenness of, 283

Russian annals, high literary value of, 15

Russian Art, different currents in, 300

Russian Church, split in the, 19-21

Russian diplomatists in Austria, 122

Russian drama, the, 191-217

Russian dramatists, clumsy productions of, 48

Russian epic heroes, Eastern origin of, 9

Russian epics, mythological features of heroes of, 10

Russian folk-lore, 10

Russian functionaries, venal nature of, 283

Russian Geographical Society, 8

Russian Intellectuals, 304, 307;
moral bankruptcy of, 310, 314, 315

Russian language, 3-36;
richness of, 3;
its pliability for translation, 3;
musical character of the, 4;
many foreign words adopted in, 4;
remarkable purity of, 5;
grammatical forms of, 5;
roots of unchanged, 5;
beauty of structure of, 5;
remarkably free from _patois_, 6;
unity of the spoken, 13;
foundation of the grammar of, 24;
dictionary of, compiled by Academy of Sciences, 26;
melodiousness of, 53

Russian literature, a new era in, 283

Russian novel, change in the, 303

Russian philosophical language, 31

Russian _sagas_, 10

Russian society, influence of Tchernyshévskiy’s novels upon, 281
intellectual portion of, 314

Russian theatre in the first years of the nineteenth century, 194,
195

Russian verse, old, 22

Russian versification, rhythmical form of, 13

Russian women, higher education of, 303

Russian youth, development of, 293

Russians, traditions, tales, and folk-songs of, 7

Rustem of Persia, legends of, 8

Ryépin’s picture of Tolstóy behind the plough, 137

Ryeshétnikoff, folk-novelist, 234;
description of his novels, 236-240;
literary defects of his works, 237

Ryléeff, literary representative of the Decembrists, 35, 36;
his ballads circulate in Russia in manuscript, 36;
powerful poetical gift of, 36

Sádko, personification of navigation, 9

St. George, 9

St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, 23, 24

St. Petersburg winter season, attractions of, 46

Saint-Simonism, 271

Saltykóff (_nom-de-plume_ Schedrin), satirist, 282

Sand, George, mentioned, 229

Satire, a favourite means of expressing political thought, 282

Satire, writers of, 282-285

_Saying about Igor’s Raid_, extracts from, 12

Scandinavo-Saxon language, 4

Scheller (_nom-de-plume_ A. Mikháiloff), novelist, 304

Scherbátoff, Prince, collector of annals and folk-lore, writes a
history of Russia, 28

Scherbina, N., anthological poet, 184

Schiller, Johann Christoph, references to, 4, 33, 40, 51, 56, 103,
185, 276, 288

Schopenhauer, Arthur, mentioned, 54, 134, 135, 255

Scott, Sir Walter, mentioned, 61, 195

Sebastopol, Tolstóy’s sketches of siege of, 112, 113

Secret societies begin to be formed in Russia, 34

Self-love, rational, 142

Serbian language, 4

Serfdom, abolition of, 224
atrocities of, 94
energetic protest against, 288
evils of, 222
growth of, 269
horrors of, 28, 224, 230
introduced into Moscow, 16
introduction of, into Russia, 18
literary movement against, 84

Serfs, general feeling in favour of, 226

Serfs of the Church, 19

Serfs sold like slaves, 79

Servia falls under the rule of the Osmanlis, 15

Shahovskóy, Prince, a writer for the Russian stage, 195