The Presidential Library collections present Chernyshevsky’s personality in a different way

To commemorate the 186-th anniversary of Nikolai Chernyshevsky, born July 24, 1828, the Presidential Library presented rare books that provide a new insight into the formation of the personality of the publisher of "Contemporary", author of the novel "What to do?" written in the Peter and Paul fortress.

Chernyshevsky wrote about his outlook and work: "Only by those we will be surprised who, ahead of their time, had the courage to raise... independent and proud voice in spite of the opinion of modern society; to find in themselves their encouragement, their strength, their hope; to go for the goal with a steadfast soul, with holy thirst for justice, without looking around to see whether the crowd follows... and finish life in bitter solitude of their mind and their heart - that is worthy of perpetual surprise, and to honor those who were capable of such a feat, the history should kindle its incense."

These words are part of the digital copy of Y. M. Steklov’s "Chernyshevsky: his life and work", 1928. Here is a portrait of the future writer and thinker who in adolescence "had the appearance of "an angel in the flesh with a pure soul educated by good literature." "He then was a little more than average height, with an unusually delicate, feminine face; light yellow hair, but wavy, soft and beautiful; his voice was quiet, the speech pleasant. ...To his misfortune, he was extremely short-sighted; a book or a notebook he always held very close to his eyes and wrote leaning low toward the table," says the edition.

Great influence on the education of his son had his father Nikolai Gavrilovic, Archpriest of St. Sergius church in Saratov, a clever man by nature and quite educated. He was a friend and mentor to his son, and laid into his soul the desire for knowledge, for the highest demands of the spirit, encouraged the study of foreign languages. "Curiosity of N. G. was a strong and diverse – say the memoirs of A. Pypin in the same book "Chernyshevsky: his life and work"."Owing to his extraordinary memory he quickly grasped and kept firmly in mind everything that he learned. It seems he was a good Latinist already in his youth; I remember well him reading an old Latin book, which had two columns of fine print... it was an old edition of Cicero dating to the first years of the 17th century; I remember that he read it fluently, without referring to a dictionary."

The future great educator points to the importance of disseminating scientific knowledge: "Knowledge is an inexhaustible mine, which gives to his possessors the more treasures, the deeper they develop it... Just imagine - the whole course of education of humanity depends on our work!" Nikolai Gavrilovich hopes that in the future Russia will invest its contribution to the common treasure of humanity: "Let Russia make its contribution to the spiritual life of the world as it made and is making to the political life, be a powerful, original and saving for the humanity on the other great arena of life - science... And then our lives will not be without purpose. Promote the eternal and not a transitory glory and welfare of one’s country and homeland: what may be higher and more desirable than this?"

The electronic reading room of the Presidential Library also includes a rare book from the series "Historical-Revolutionary Library" "N. G. Chernyshevsky. 1828-1928: Collection of articles, documents and memories." Moscow: Publishing House of Political Prisoners, 1928. It tells about the creation of the novel "What to do?" in the Peter and Paul fortress, which nurtured a whole generation of revolutionary democrats. It was published in the 3rd, 4th and 5th issues of "Contemporary" in 1863. On the flip side of the page number 36 there is the following note made by Chernyshevsky on January 23, 1863:

"From here I start to write briefly, the same way as I wrote all my rough copies - I do it because I hope that the Commission is already quite familiar with my character to know that my papers do not contain anything illegal."

The Presidential Library, the collections of which comprise today 320, 000 units, will continue to publish little-known documents, books and memories of the personalities who have played an important role in the history of Russia.