A. Demchenko. N. Chernyshevsky. An academic biography (1828–1858); A. Demchenko. N. Chernyshevsky. An academic biography (1859–1889)

Abstract

In his review of A. Demchenko’s two-volume academic biography of N. Chernyshevsky, the author dwells on the biographer’s approach to the sources, treated with utmost critical scrutiny. He also discusses the established combination of ideological principles and the evolution of worldview. Chernyshevsky remained a truly democratic thinker throughout his years, and the concept of his democratism is at the core of the biography produced by Demchenko. The book succeeds in creating a multi-faceted perception of Chernyshevsky’s colossal personality, drawing thousands of historical names into its orbit. A. Demchenko meticulously retraces Chernyshevsky’s ‘literary work’: the creative history of What Is to Be Done? [Chto delat?], the works from his Siberian exile, and the lost oeuvre (e. g. the novel The Sower [Seyatel]) as well as Chernyshevsky’s post-Siberian attempt to re-enter big literature and journalism.