MODERN EVIDENCE
Vissarion Belinsky
LETTERS TO V. P. BOTKIN
Introductory
Note.-Vissarion Belinsky (1811-1848),
justly enough considered to be "the father of the Russian intelli–
gentsia," is one of the major figures in Russian thought of the nine–
teenth century. Historically speaking, he is also of course the most
important of Russian literary critics, for his was the leading part
in the formation of the new realistic literature, combining the pro–
test of the"civic conscience" with fidelity to life, which emerged
in the 1840's. His appraisal of the writers who began appearing
in print during the years of his critical activity-among them Gogol,
Goncharov, Turgenev and Dostoevsky---has been thoroughly vindi–
cated by the judgment of later generations. No strictures on Belin–
skis faults of style tlnd the occasional fuzziness of his aesthetic
theorizing can reduce the credit due him for that achievement.
Under the conditions of arbitrary censorship prevailing during
the reign of Nicholas I, Belinsky was often compelled to state his
ideas in an Aesopian mode, the real intent of which is often lost on
readers unfamiliar with the Russian tradition. In his letters, how–
ever, Belinsky---nicknamed "Vissarion the Furious" because of the
passionate intensity and extremity of his nature-could and did
express himself to the top of his bent. Next to his famous «Letter
to Gogol," long banned in Russia as a document of fiery sub<version,
his letters to V. P. Botkin, a friend and critical writer of liberal
views, are among his most remarkable productions, indispensable
to an understanding of his ideological development and his moral
and intellectual temper. The following three letters, in particular,
teem with ideas that have played a fateful role in modern times.
