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less for its literary value than on account of the
movements to which it gave rise in Russia. It is the romance
“Who is to Blame?” (1847), an indirect attack on
marriage as an institution, dedicated to the author’s
wife “with hearty devotion.” The book is written
without any regular plot, with a long-winded introductory
historical sketch, several digressions, and without style ;
but the characters are living as in the better novels of
George Sand. The theme is substantially as follows:
The peaceful, happy marriage between the calm and
amiable teacher Kruziferski and his elegant wife Liubonka
is disturbed when the young, talented but idle man of
the world, Beltof, comes within the sphere of these two
married people. Without any guilt on the part of either,
Beltof and Liubonka are irresistibly attracted to each
other, understand each other, need each other, and
cannot do without each other. They strive to conquer their
passion, but Beltof tears himself away in vain; he
drags himself off on journeys to no purpose, Liubonka
wastes away, Kruziferski takes to drink and is ruined.[1]
The idea embodied in this book grew luxuriantly,
since, in 1863, the man who may be regarded as Herzen’s
great intellectual heir, and for a time as inheritor of his
influence, published his celebrated novel, “What is to
be done?”
Nikolaï Gavrilovitch Tchernuishevski was born in 1829,
the son of a pope in Saratof on the Volga, and was first
destined for the clergy, but soon gave up theology for
the study of ancient and modern languages, and, in
1846, began his career as a philologist in the university
of St. Petersburg. After passing his examinations, he
became Professer of Literature in the Cadet School in
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