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1840s 1850s 1860s 1870s
This is not a comprehensive history of literature, but a collection of publications encountered while researching the lives of women in science and The Zurich 7
1820s
Alexander Pushkin recites the poem “Ode to Liberty”
1836
Sovremennik publishes Alexander Pushkin “The Captain’s Daughter”
Sovremennik publishes Nikolai Gogol “The Nose” [Project Gutenberg Link]
1837
Sovremennik publishes Mikhail Lermontov “Borodino”
Sovremennik publishes Pushkin “The Bronze Horseman”
Mikhail Lermontov writes poem “Death of the Poet” in reaction to the mortally wounded Alexander Pushkin and his eventual death following a duel.
1840
1846
Notes of The Fatherland publishes Fyodor Dostoyevsky “The Double”
1847
Sovremennik publishes Ivan Goncharov “The Same Old Story”
Dobrolyubov while working at Sovremennik writes “What is Oblomovism?”
1848
Notes of The Fatherland publishes Mikhail Dostoyevsky “A Daughter”
Notes of The Fatherland publishes Mikhail Dostoevsky “Mr. Svetelkin”
1849
Notes of The Fatherland publishes Mikhail Dostoevsky “Two Old Men”
1850
Notes of The Fatherland publishes Mikhail Dostoevsky “Fifty Years”
1851
Notes of The Fatherland publishes Mikhail Dostoevsky “The Older and The Younger”
1852
Sovremennik publishes Leo Tolstoy “Childhood” [Project Gutenberg Link]
Sovremennik publishes Ivan Turgenev “A Sportsman’s Sketches” [Project Gutenberg Link]
Turgenev writes an obituary for the Ukrainian writer Nikolai Gogol, he was imprisoned for a month then exiled to his estate for 18 months.
1854
Sovremennik publishes Tolstoy “Boyhood” [Project Gutenberg Link]
Sovremennik publishes Turgenev “Mumu”
1855
March, Nicholas I of Russia dies during the Crimean war, he was a staunch suppressor of literature and culture.
Sovremennik publishes Tolstoy “Sevastopol Sketches”
Sovremennik publishes Alexander Sukhovo-Kobylin “Krechinsky’s Wedding” [Link to Greek Translation Project Gutenberg]
Chernyshevsky master dissertation “The Aesthetic Relation of Art to Reality” where he makes the case that scientists observe and explain reality to make life better and everyone agrees that is correct. He argues art is just as important for its aim is to reproduce reality and explain it back to the people to make life better.
Polar Star publishes Lermontov “Death of a Poet” from London, the poem was originally written in 1837
The Russian Messenger publishes Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin “Provincial Sketches” after Nekrasov refused to publish the work in Sovremennik. It leaned anti-serf and anti-provincial government.
Sovremennik publishes Tolstoy “The Snowstorm” [Project Gutenberg Link]
Sovremennik publishes Turgenev “Rudin” [Project Gurenberg Link]
1856
1857
Sovremennik publishes Tolstoy “Youth” [Project Gutenberg Book]
The Russian Messenger publishes Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin “Pazukhin’s Death”
1858
Sovremennik in Russian from 1858-1859 Project Gutenberg
1859
Notes of The Fatherland publishes Ivan Goncharov’s “Oblomov” [Project Gutenberg Book]
Sovremennik publishes Turgenev “Home of the Gentry”
[Darwin’s Origin the of Species by Natural Selection published in London]
Summaries of the popular publishing houses of the time can be found here
By 1860 Herzen’s the Free Russian Press was so mainstream it was barely considered illegal, the young revolutionaries found the ideas too conservative, even Alexander II admitted to reading the publication in private.
The Russian Messenger publishes Ivan Turgenev “On the Eve”
1861
Sovremennik circulation over 7000 copies, publishes materials strongly advocating in the interest of serfs.
Vremya circulation over 4000 subscriptions.
Vremya publishes Dostoevsky “The House of the Dead” a semi-autobiographical novel about forced labor prison camps in Siberia [Project Gutenberg Link]
Vremya publishes translations of Edgar Allan Poe “The Tell-Tale Heart”, “The Black Cat”, and “The Devil in the Belfry”
Vremya publishes anonymously Dostoevsky “St. Petersburg Dreams in Verse and Prose”
Vremya publishes Dostoevsky “Humiliated and Insulted”
Vremya publishes Apolinaria Suslova “Pokuda”
Vremya publishes Nadezhda Suslova “Rasskaz v pismah”
Vremya publishes Nadezhda Suslova “Fantazyorka” this may have been republished in Sovremennik in 1864 (103:169-219)
1862
Sovremennik issued 8 month suspension of publication - Chernyshevsky arrested and held in Peter & Paul fortress (writes What is to be done)
Maria’s brother Vladimir is arrested, moved to Peter & Paul fortress, and sentenced to years hard labor.
Petersburg arson’s reputedly committed by nihilists nurtured by Hertzen and Chernyshevsky
The Russian Messenger publishes Turgenev “Fathers and Sons” [Project Gutenberg Link] [Book Club]. Turgenev returns to St. P for the publication.
Sovremennik publishes Avdotya Panaeva “A Women’s Lot”
Sovremennik publishes Nadezhda Suslova’s “Sashka” (90:489-520)
Vremya publishes Dostoevsky “A Nasty Story”
Vremya publishes Dostoevsky “Winter Notes on Summer Impressions”
Chernyshevsky starts “What is to be done?” in December 14th 1862. (Finished April 4th, 1863 in real time). Appearing in 3, 4, and 5 of Sovremennik for 1863.
(“Ivan Sechenov, a doctor and lecturer at the medical and surgical academy submitted an article “An Attempt to Introduce the Physiological Bases for Psychological Processes” for publication in Sovremennik (Contemporary). The official censor of the magazine rejected the article based on its title, and advised Sechenov that the article would only be included for publication if the title was changed. Sechenov changed the title to “Reflexes of the Brain” and it was published later in 1863 in the Contemporary’s lower circulated sister bulletin, the Meditsinsky Vestnik (Medical Bulletin)”) [Link].
1863
January Uprising – failed insurrection attempt by Polish-Lithuanians to overthrow Russian annexation continuing through 1864.
Hertzen endorses the January Uprising
Vremya publishes Apollinaria Suslova “Do svadby”
Vremya publishes Nikolay Strakhov an unknown article concerning the Russian/Polish problems results in government banning of the magazine.
The Russian Messenger publishes Leo Tolstoy “The Cossacks” [Project Gutenberg Link]
Sovremennik publishes Chernyshevsky’s What Is to Be Done?
Sovremennik publishes Nikolai Nekrasov “Who can be Happy and Free in Russia?” it runs through 1876. [Project Gutenberg Link]
1864
Epoch publishes Dostoevsky “Notes from the Underground” [Project Gutenberg Link]
Mikhail Dostoyevsky dies leaving financial troubles for FD.
Epoch publishes “The Dream” Anyuta Korvin-Krukovskaya at least one in #8 (August) she used the pseudonym Yu. Orbelov
Epoch publishes “The Novice” Anyuta Korvin-Krukovskaya at least one in #9 (September) (should this be “Mikhail”?)
By the end of 1864 Herzen and Turgenev were very much at odds, Herzen had become too radical and extremist and Turgenev was more passive. Turgenev was asked by the Tsar about his relations with Herzen, he wrote in reply that out of respect for the Tsar, he disavowed any connection with the “friends of his youth” especially the radical liberalism of Herzen. This caused a split between many including Evgenia Tur and likely Marko Vovchok.
Sovremennik publishes Nadezhda Suslova’s “Fantazerka” (103: 169-219)
1865
Herzen moves the Free Russian Press to Geneva
The Russian Messenger publishes Tolstoy “War and Peace” [Project Gutenberg Link]
Epoch publishes Dostoevsky “The Crocodile” a work of satire [Project Gutenberg Link]
Epoch is discontinued due to financial problems by February, FD writes letters to Apollinaria Suslova and Nadezhda Suslova in April, in August he writes a letter from Wiesbaden to Ivan Turgenev in Baden-Baden. He spent five days trying to win “1000 francs or so, enough to cover my living expenses for these three months” instead he lost everything, including his watch.
He wrote to Herzen asking for money who couldn’t help, he wrote to Apollinaria again in despair asking her to borrow money.
1866
Dmitry Karakozov assassination attempt.
Sovremennik closed down in June after political unrest post assassination attempt.
The Russian Messenger publishes Fyodor Dostoevsky “Crime and Punishment” [Project Gutenberg Link]
October, Fyodor Dostoevsky writes “The Gambler” [Project Gutenberg Link]
1867
Free Russian press closed, launched new house under same name.
1868
The Russian Messenger publishes Dostoevsky “The Idiot” [Project Gutenberg Link]
1860
1871
The Russian Messenger publishes Dostoevsky “Demons”
1872
The Russian Messenger publishes Nikolai Leskov “The Cathedral Folk”
1873
The Russian Messenger publishes Tolstoy “Anna Karenina” [Project Gutenberg Link]
The Russian Messenger publishes Leskov “The Sealed Angel”
1875
Notes of The Fatherland publishes Dostoyevsky “The Adolescent”
1879
The Russian Messenger publishes Dostoevsky “The Brothers Karamazov” [Project Gutenberg Link]
The Russian Messenger publishes Helena Blavatsky “From the Caves and Jungles of Hindostan” [Project Gurenberg Link]