Doubt, Atheism, and the Nineteenth-Century Russian Intelligentsia
by Victoria Frede
University of Wisconsin Press, 2011 Paper: 978-0-299-28444-2 | eISBN: 978-0-299-28443-5 Library of Congress Classification BL2765.R8F74 2011 Dewey Decimal Classification 211.808631094709
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
ABOUT THIS BOOK
The autocratic rule of both tsar and church in imperial Russia gave rise not only to a revolutionary movement in the nineteenth century but also to a crisis of meaning among members of the intelligentsia. Personal faith became the subject of intense scrutiny as individuals debated the existence of God and the immortality of the soul, debates reflected in the best-known novels of the day. Friendships were formed and broken in exchanges over the status of the eternal. The salvation of the entire country, not just of each individual, seemed to depend on the answers to questions about belief.
Victoria Frede looks at how and why atheism took on such importance among several generations of Russian intellectuals from the 1820s to the 1860s, drawing on meticulous and extensive research of both published and archival documents, including letters, poetry, philosophical tracts, police files, fiction, and literary criticism. She argues that young Russians were less concerned about theology and the Bible than they were about the moral, political, and social status of the individual person. They sought to maintain their integrity against the pressures exerted by an autocratic state and rigidly hierarchical society. As individuals sought to shape their own destinies and searched for truths that would give meaning to their lives, they came to question the legitimacy both of the tsar and of Russia’s highest authority, God.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Victoria Frede is assistant professor of history at the University of California at Berkeley.
REVIEWS
“Frede offers an intriguing, complex, often subtle, and always well-documented answer to the question, How did Russian intellectuals (unlike their European counterparts) come to ground their systemic worldviews on an assertive atheism?”—David McDonald, University of Wisconsin–Madison
“A splendid book. Frede draws upon published as well as archival sources, integrating these materials seamlessly into a narrative that is remarkable for its clarity and its sensitivity to nuance. The resulting book is therefore a rarity, being self-evidently learned and yet a great pleasure to read.”—Gary Hamburg, Claremont McKenna College
“The ‘Russian soul,’ a concept much toyed with a century ago, has disappeared from informed commentary on Russian culture. Yet the 19th-century spiritual phenomenon known to us from the great Russian novels still seeks its definitive explanation. Russian thought contains the best potential answers but notoriously resists analysis. In Doubt, Atheism, and the Nineteenth-Century Russian Intelligentsa, Victoria Frede has heroically broken down some of the resistance. . . . [This] is an encouraging example of what the end of the Cold War has meant for Russian scholarship.”—Lesley Chamberlain, The Wall Street Journal
TABLE OF CONTENTS
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Note on Transliteration and Translation
Introduction
Part 1: Doubt
1 Forbidden Fruit: The Wisdom Lovers
2 Providence and Doubt: Alexander Herzen, Nikolai Ogarev, and Their Friends
Part 2: Atheism
3 Atheists of 1849: Katenev's Tobacco Store Circle and Petrashevsvky's "Fridays"
4 Atheism as the Predicate for Salvation: Nikolai Chernyshevsky and Nikolai Dobroliubov
Part 3: Two Modes of Living without God
5 Atheism and Apocalypse: Revolutionaries in the Provinces, 1856–1863
6 Doubt after Atheism: Dmitrii Pisarev
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index
REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
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Doubt, Atheism, and the Nineteenth-Century Russian Intelligentsia
by Victoria Frede
University of Wisconsin Press, 2011 Paper: 978-0-299-28444-2 eISBN: 978-0-299-28443-5
The autocratic rule of both tsar and church in imperial Russia gave rise not only to a revolutionary movement in the nineteenth century but also to a crisis of meaning among members of the intelligentsia. Personal faith became the subject of intense scrutiny as individuals debated the existence of God and the immortality of the soul, debates reflected in the best-known novels of the day. Friendships were formed and broken in exchanges over the status of the eternal. The salvation of the entire country, not just of each individual, seemed to depend on the answers to questions about belief.
Victoria Frede looks at how and why atheism took on such importance among several generations of Russian intellectuals from the 1820s to the 1860s, drawing on meticulous and extensive research of both published and archival documents, including letters, poetry, philosophical tracts, police files, fiction, and literary criticism. She argues that young Russians were less concerned about theology and the Bible than they were about the moral, political, and social status of the individual person. They sought to maintain their integrity against the pressures exerted by an autocratic state and rigidly hierarchical society. As individuals sought to shape their own destinies and searched for truths that would give meaning to their lives, they came to question the legitimacy both of the tsar and of Russia’s highest authority, God.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Victoria Frede is assistant professor of history at the University of California at Berkeley.
REVIEWS
“Frede offers an intriguing, complex, often subtle, and always well-documented answer to the question, How did Russian intellectuals (unlike their European counterparts) come to ground their systemic worldviews on an assertive atheism?”—David McDonald, University of Wisconsin–Madison
“A splendid book. Frede draws upon published as well as archival sources, integrating these materials seamlessly into a narrative that is remarkable for its clarity and its sensitivity to nuance. The resulting book is therefore a rarity, being self-evidently learned and yet a great pleasure to read.”—Gary Hamburg, Claremont McKenna College
“The ‘Russian soul,’ a concept much toyed with a century ago, has disappeared from informed commentary on Russian culture. Yet the 19th-century spiritual phenomenon known to us from the great Russian novels still seeks its definitive explanation. Russian thought contains the best potential answers but notoriously resists analysis. In Doubt, Atheism, and the Nineteenth-Century Russian Intelligentsa, Victoria Frede has heroically broken down some of the resistance. . . . [This] is an encouraging example of what the end of the Cold War has meant for Russian scholarship.”—Lesley Chamberlain, The Wall Street Journal
TABLE OF CONTENTS
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Note on Transliteration and Translation
Introduction
Part 1: Doubt
1 Forbidden Fruit: The Wisdom Lovers
2 Providence and Doubt: Alexander Herzen, Nikolai Ogarev, and Their Friends
Part 2: Atheism
3 Atheists of 1849: Katenev's Tobacco Store Circle and Petrashevsvky's "Fridays"
4 Atheism as the Predicate for Salvation: Nikolai Chernyshevsky and Nikolai Dobroliubov
Part 3: Two Modes of Living without God
5 Atheism and Apocalypse: Revolutionaries in the Provinces, 1856–1863
6 Doubt after Atheism: Dmitrii Pisarev
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index
REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
If you are a student who cannot use this book in printed form, BiblioVault may be able to supply you
with an electronic file for alternative access.
Please have the accessibility coordinator at your school fill out this form.
It can take 2-3 weeks for requests to be filled.
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE