In March, Pisarev wrote his article Bazarov, accepting the type in the name of young Russia. Shortly afterwards, in the May issue of "Sovremennik," appeared Antonovič's criticism of the novel, wherein Bazarov was described as a worthless and vulgar fellow, who even in extremis desires to procure sensual pleasure and recuperation from the sight of Odincova. Antonovič regards Bazarov as an insult to realistic young Russia, as a caricature which has no correspondence with reality, as a caricature of something that does not exist. Antonovič therefore compared Turgenev with the notorious writer Askočenskii, author of The Modern Asmodeus; this distinctive and condemnatory title was borrowed by Antonovič for his essay.[1]
- ↑ Askočenskii (1813–1879), as professor of patrology, a liberal who had abandoned theology (1846), was the official defender of obscurantism. From
the further development of nihilism and recorded his own personal experiences. I have previously pointed out that Černyševskii's What is to be Done (1863) had an even more powerful influence upon youthful radicals than had Turgenev's Fathers and Children, Černyševskii in particular pointing out the path which radical youth was to follow. All the great writers of that epoch, Gončarov, Dostoevskii, and Tolstoi, discussed the problem of nihilism, Dostoevskii, above all, dealt with it in his books and in numerous articles, returning to it again and again, and probing it to the depths.
In a sense, the entire Russian literature of these decades might be referred to in this connection, Saltykov (Ščedrin), Nekrasov, and Ostrovskii, also contributed to the analysis of the new trend. In addition to these men who are generally recognised as great writers, during the sixties and seventies many talented authors were busied with the problem of nihilism, of whom I may mention the following: Pisemskii (The Unruly Sea, 1863) and Lěskov (Nowhither, 1864). To the same category belong a number of books which were widely read at that time by progressively minded persons, such as Pomjalovskii's Molotov (1861) and Philistine Happiness (1861), Slěpcov's Difficult Times (1865), Fedorov's (Omulevskii's) Step by Step (1870, published in 1871 under the title Světlov), and the novels of Šellers-Mihailov, Fetid Swamps (1864) and many subsequent works. A novel by Sonja Kovalevskaja, the woman writer and mathematician, published posthumously in 1891, must also be mentioned; it was entitled The Voroncov Family; a German translation appeared in 1896 as Die Nihilistin. I may also refer to Andrei Kožuhov (1889), a novel written by the terrorist Stepniak (Kravčinskii), the man who killed Mezencev, chief of the secret police. Most of the writers mentioned above were opponents of nihilism. The attacks of these philosophical adversaries were reinforced from the conservative and reactionary side by semi-official polemic and propaganda directed against nihilism. The following antinihilist novels were of this character. Kljušnikov's Mirage (1564—this work was fiercely attacked by Pisarev); Krestovskii, The Sheep of Panurge (1869), Two Forces (1874); Markevič, Twenty-Five Years Ago (1878), The Revolution (1880), The Bottomless Abyss (1883—unfinished); Avsěenko's Gnashing of Teeth, The Evil Spirit, etc. This type of literature was sedulously cultivated; the famous Prince Meščerskii wrote, I Want to be a Russian Woman, etc.; Ustrjalov introduced nihilism upon the stage in Word and Deed (1863).
