Vissarion Belinsky
Vissarion Belinsky was born in Sveaborg, a fortress town that is now part of Helsinki. He grew up in the small Russian town of Chembar, where his father worked as a rural medical doctor. This humble background set him apart from the wealthy aristocrats who dominated Russian intellectual circles during the 1830s and 1840s. Belinsky attended gymnasia in Penza between 1825 and 1829 before moving to Moscow University. His time at Moscow University lasted only three years, ending abruptly in 1832 when he was expelled for political activity. The expulsion forced him into self-education, shaping a mind driven by emotional commitment rather than formal academic training. He often said that thinking, feeling, understanding, and suffering were one and the same thing for him. This Romantic ideal became the core of his life and work.
In 1839, Belinsky moved to St. Petersburg, Russia, where he began editing two major literary magazines: Otechestvennye Zapiski and Sovremennik. He worked closely with the younger Nikolay Nekrasov on both publications. Ideologically, Belinsky shared the central value of most Westernizer intelligentsia: the notion of the individual self, or lichnost. He believed this concept gave people dignity and rights. While he agreed with Slavophiles that society had precedence over individualism, he insisted society must allow the expression of individual ideas and rights. He strongly opposed Slavophiles on the role of Orthodoxy, which he considered a retrograde force. He emphasized reason and knowledge while attacking autocracy and theocracy. In his words, "What is it to me that the Universal exists when the individual personality [lichnost] is suffering." He took on much conventional philosophical thinking among educated Russians, including the dry and abstract philosophizing of German idealists.
Belinsky worked most of his short life as a literary critic because that area was less heavily censored than political pamphlets under Nicholas I. His writings on literature were inseparable from moral judgments. He believed that the only realm of freedom in the repressive reign of Nicholas I was through the written word. What Belinsky required most of a work of literature was truth. This meant not only a probing portrayal of real life but also commitment to true ideas. He hated works of mere fantasy, escape, or aestheticism. As he told Nikolai Gogol in a famous letter, the public is always ready to forgive a writer for a bad book but never for a pernicious one. Belinsky viewed Gogol's recent book, Correspondence with Friends, as pernicious because it renounced the need to awaken in the people a sense of their human dignity. Fyodor Dostoevsky read aloud at several public events Belinsky's letter calling for the end of serfdom. A secret press was assembled to print and distribute this letter.
Fyodor Dostoevsky read aloud at several public events Belinsky's letter which called for the end of serfdom. A secret press was assembled to print and distribute Belinsky's letter. For these offenses Dostoevsky was arrested, convicted and condemned to death in 1849. The sentence was later commuted to four years incarceration in the prison camps of Siberia. Belinsky had hailed Fyodor Dostoyevsky's first novel Poor Folk published in 1845. However, Dostoevsky soon thereafter broke with Belinsky despite their earlier connection. Belinsky also early supported the work of Ivan Turgenev. The two became close friends and Turgenev fondly recalls Belinsky in his book Literary Reminiscences and Autobiographical Fragments. These relationships show how deeply personal and political literary criticism could become during this era.
In 1910, Russia celebrated the centenary of his birth with enthusiasm and appreciation. Belinsky Street and Belinsky Lane, located near Red Square in Moscow, were named after him from 1920 until 1994. His works in twelve volumes were first published between 1859 and 1862. Following the expiration of copyright in 1898, several new editions appeared. The best edition was compiled by S. Vengerov and supplied with profuse notes. English translations include Selected Philosophical Works published by Foreign Languages Publishing House in Moscow in 1956. Another collection titled Belinsky, Chernyshevsky & Dobrolyubov: Selected Criticism came out through Indiana University Press in Bloomington in 1976. The British writer Isaiah Berlin included a chapter on Belinsky in his 1978 book Russian Thinkers. Playwright Tom Stoppard later featured Belinsky as one of the principal characters in his trilogy of plays about Russian writers called The Coast of Utopia in 2002.
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Common questions
Where was Vissarion Belinsky born and what was his early background?
Vissarion Belinsky was born in Sveaborg, a fortress town that is now part of Helsinki. He grew up in the small Russian town of Chembar where his father worked as a rural medical doctor.
When did Vissarion Belinsky die and how old was he at death?
Vissarion Belinsky died of consumption on the eve of his arrest by the Tsar's police due to his political views. His life ended at age thirty-seven after years of intense intellectual labor and physical decline from tuberculosis.
What major literary magazines did Vissarion Belinsky edit during his career?
In 1839, Vissarion Belinsky moved to St. Petersburg Russia where he began editing two major literary magazines named Otechestvennye Zapiski and Sovremennik. He worked closely with the younger Nikolay Nekrasov on both publications until his death.
Why did Fyodor Dostoevsky get arrested for reading Vissarion Belinsky's letter?
Fyodor Dostoevsky read aloud at several public events Vissarion Belinsky's letter which called for the end of serfdom. A secret press was assembled to print and distribute this letter leading to Dostoevsky being arrested convicted and condemned to death in 1849 before his sentence was commuted to four years incarceration in the prison camps of Siberia.
When were Vissarion Belinsky's works first published in twelve volumes?
Vissarion Belinsky's works in twelve volumes were first published between 1859 and 1862. Following the expiration of copyright in 1898 several new editions appeared including a best edition compiled by S. Vengerov and supplied with profuse notes.