Chernyshevsky N. G. (1828-1889), publicist, critic, writer

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CHERNYSHEVSKY Nikolay Gavrilovich (1828-1889), publicist, writer, critic. From 1846-64 lived in St. Petersburg (with an interruption from 1851-53). Graduated from the Faculty of History and Philology of Petersburg University (1850). The defence of Chernyshevsky's thesis Aesthetic Relations of Art to Reality (1855), where he defined the principles of materialistic aestheticism, became a significant event in St. Peterburg's public life. Chernyshevsky's works first appeared in 1853, in the Otechestvennye Zapiski, later in the Sovremennik, shortly after that becoming its leading publicist, and defining the journal's orientation. In the Sovremennik journal Chernyshevsky published all his major works (Essays on the Gogol Period in Russian Literature; The Anthropological Principle in Philosophy; Labour and Capital; literary critical articles and articles on history), which had a significant impact on the genesis of the radical intelligentsia ideology; they gained a vast readership among the young people. In 1862, Chernyshevsky was arrested in his flat at 6 Bolshaya Morskaya Street (memorial plaque), accused of writing a revolutionary proclamation, he spent two years kept in solitary confinement in the Alexeevsky ravelin of the St. Peter and Paul Fortress. Here Chernyshevsky wrote his novel What's To Be Done? with the background of St. Petersburg. By the verdict of the Senate Court Chernyshevsky was sentenced to seven years of penal servitude followed by settlement in Siberia. On 19 July 1864 Chernyshevsky's civil (mock) execution was performed on Mytninskaya Square before a large crowd (the Chernyshevsky Garden is now located on this site). In Siberia Chernyshevsky wrote the novel Prologue, with St. Petersburg as the scene for the novel. An avenue (see Chernyshevskogo Avenue), metro station Chernyshevskaya, square opposite to Moskovsky Victory Park, where in 1947 a monument to Chernyshevsky was unveiled (sculptor V.V. Lishev, architect V. I. Yakovlev).

References: Чернышевская Н. М. Летопись жизни и деятельности Н. Г. Чернышевского. М., 1953; Пини О. А. Чернышевский в Петербурге. Л., 1978; Н. Г. Чернышевский в воспоминаниях современников. М., 1982.

A. B. Muratov. Chernyshevsky Nikolay Gavrilovich
Lishev Vsevolod Vsevolodovich
Yakovlev Vsevolod Ivanovich
Bolshaya Moskovskaya St./Saint Petersburg, city, house 6
Чернышевская Н. М. Летопись жизни и деятельности Н. Г. Чернышевского. М., 1953
Н. Г. Чернышевский в воспоминаниях современников. М., 1982
Пини О. А. Чернышевский в Петербурге. Л., 1978 State University, St. Petersburg
Otechestvennye Zapiski (Notes of the Fatherland), journal
Sovremennik (Contemporary), journal
Alexeevsky Ravelin
Senate
1862
1863
1864
1947