To observe and sympathize: “Pseudorealism” and the agenda of the literary magazine “Otechestvennye Zapiski” in the late 1840s — early 1850s

Abstract

The paper analyzes the literary position of the magazine “Otechestvennye Zapiski” in the late 1840s — early 1850s, expressed in literary-critical declarations and literary texts published on its pages. The article concentrates on the poorly studied novels and stories by Y.P. Butkov, M.M. Dostoevsky and A.N. Pleshcheyev published in “Otechestvennye Zapiski” in 1848 that were in the limelight during the debates on “pseudorealism” between the magazines “Otechestvennye Zapiski” and “Sovremennik” in the late 1840s — early 1850s. The analysis of these texts allows to specify the source of conflict between the magazines. The polemics was started by the critics from “Sovremennink” — P.V. Annenkov and A.V. Druzhinin. Their articles are compared with other contemporary critical writings, which helps to see the connection between “pseudorealism” and “daguerreotypism” — key concepts for the polemics. The typical structure of “pseudorealistic” works is analyzed to compare the critical responses to such works with the actual state of affairs. The conclusion is made about the correlation among these texts, general aesthetic views of “pseudorealists” and the agenda of “Otechestvennye Zapiski” as a thick literary magazine.

Keywords

• “otechestvennye zapiski”
• “sovremennik”
• history of russian literature
• realism
• “pseudorealism”
• literary criticism
• “daguerreotypism”