Frontmatter

Titlepage

Ideals and Realities
in Russian Literature
Prince Kropotkin


New York • Alfred A Knopf • 1915

Contents

    Chapter 1: The Russian Language
      The Russian Language
      Early Folk-Literature: Folk-lore — Songs — Sagas
      Lay of Igor’s Raid
      The Annals
      Mediæval Literature
      Correspondence between John IV. and Kúrbiskíy
      Split in the Church — Memoirs of Avvakúm
      The Eighteenth Century — Peter I. and his contemporaries
      The Times of Catherine II.
      The Freemasons: First Manifestation of Political Thought
      The First Years of the Nineteenth Century
      The Decembrists

    Chapter 2: Púshkin — Lérmontoff
      Púshkin: Beauty of form
      Púshkin and Schiller
      His youth; his exile; his later career and death
      Fairy tales: Ruslán and Ludmíla
      His Lyrics
      “Byronism”
      Drama
      Evghéniy Onyéghin
      Lérmontoff
      His Life
      The Caucasus
      Poetry of Nature
      Influence of Shelley
      Mtsýri
      The Demon
      Love of freedom
      His Death
      Púshkin and Lérmontoff as Prose-Writers
      Other poets and novelists of the same epoch
      Krylóff
      The minor poets

    Chapter 3: Gógol
      Little Russia
      Nights on a Farm near Dikónka and Mírgorod
      Village life and humour
      How Iván Ivánovitch quarrelled with Iván Nikíforytch
      Tárás Búlba — The Cloak
      The Inspector-General
      Its influence
      Dead Souls
      Realism in the Russian novel
 

    Chapter 4: Turguéneff — Tolstóy
      Turguéneff
      The main features of his Art
      Pessimism of his early novels
      A Sportsman’s NoteBook
      His series of novels representing the leading types of Russian society
      Rúdin
      Lavrétskiy
      Helen and Insároff
      Why Fathers and Sons was misunderstood
      Bazároff
      Hamlet and Don Quixote
      Virgin Soil: movement towards the people
      Verses in Prose
      Tolstóy — Childhood and Boyhood
      During and After the Crimean War
      Youth, in search of an ideal
      Small stories — The Cossacks
      Educational work
      War and Peace
      Anna Kareénina
      Religious crisis
      His interpretation of the Christian teaching
      Main points of the Christian ethics
      Latest works of Art
      Kreutzer Sonata
      Resurrection

    Chapter 5: Goncharóff — Dostoyéskiy — Nekrásoff
      Goncharóff
      Oblómoff
      The Russian Malady of Oblómovism — Is it exclusively Russian?
      The Precipice
      Dostoyévskiy — His first Novel
      General Character of his Work
      Memoirs from a Dead-House
      Downtrodden and Offended
      Crime and Punishment
      The Brothers Karamázoff
      Nekrásoff — Discussions about his Talent
      His Love of the People
      Apotheosis of Woman
      Other Prose-writers of the same Epoch
      Serghéi Aksákoff
      Dahl
      Ivan Panaeff
      Hvoschinskaya (V. Krestóvskiy-pseudonyme)
      Poets of the same Epoch
      Koltsoff
      Nikitin
      Pleschéeff
      The Admirers of Pure Art: Tutcheff
      Maykoff
      Scherbina
      Polonskiy
      A. Fet
      A. K. Tolstóy
      The Translators

    Chapter 6: The Drama
      Its Origin
      The Tsars Alexis and Peter I.
      Sumarókoff
      Pseudo-classical Tragedies: Knyazhnín, Ozeroff
      First Comedies
      The First Years of the Nineteenth Century
      Griboyédoff
      The Moscow Stage
      Ostróvskiy: “Poverty — No Vice”
      The Thunderstorm
      Ostróvskiy’s later Dramas
      Historical Dramas — A. K. Tolstóy.
      Other Dramatic Writers

    Chapter 7 Folk-Novelists
      Their Position in Russian Literature
      The Early Folk-Novelists: Grigoróvitch
      Marko Vovtchók
      Danilévskiy
      Intermediate Period
      Kókoreff
      Písemskiy
      Potyékhin
      Ethnographical Research
      The Realistic School
      Pomyalóvskiy
      Ryeshétnikoff
      Levítoff
      Gleb Uspénskiy
      Zlatovrátskiy and other Folk-Novelists: Naúmoff, Zasódimskiy, Sáloff, Nefédoff
      Maxim Górkiy

    Chapter 8: Political Literature, Satire, Art Criticism, Contemporary Novelists
      Political Literature: Difficulties of Censorship
      The “Circles” — Westerners and Slavophiles
      Political Literature Abroad: Herzen, Ogaryoff, Bakunin, Lavróff, Stepniak
      Tchernyshévskiy and “The Contemporary”
      The Satire: Saltykóff
      Literary Criticism
      Byelinskiy
      Dobrolúboff
      Písareff
      Mihailóvskiy
      Tolstóy’s What is Art?
      Some Contemporary Novelists
      Oertel
      Korolénko
      Present Drift of Literature
      Merzhkóvskiy
      Boborykin
      Potápenko
      A. P. Tchéhoff

    Bibliographical Notes