“Not Everyone Can See the Work of an Editor...”: Review of a New Book About M. N. Katkov

Abstract

The article presents a review of the monograph by Susan Fusso, an American researcher, and professor of Russian, East European, and Eurasian languages at Wesleyan University, published by Bibliorossika Publishing House and devoted to the role of an authoritative journalist, editor, and publisher of the largest organs of the Russian conservative press M. N. Katkov — in the formation of the concept of the Russian novel of the second half of the 19th century. The author’s attention focuses on Katkov’s relationship with the major Russian writers of the second half of the 19th century, I. S. Turgenev, F. M. Dostoevsky, and L. N. Tolstoy. Based on a broad historical and literary context, a scrupulous analysis of the journalistic speeches of the journalist and the literary texts of Turgenev, Dostoevsky, and Tolstoy, the researcher rethinks the importance of Katkov in the literary process of the 1860s and 1880s. The review describes the structure of the monograph, and the range of issues raised in it, highlights the most successful and original author’s conclusions, and outlines the prospects for further research.

Keywords

• susan fusso
• m. n. katkov
• “russkiy vestnik
• ” publisher
• i. s. turgenev
• f. m. dostoevsky
• l. n. tolstoy
• russian novel
• social position