Turgieniew a "Kołokoł"

Abstract

In the article the author touches upon one of the major aspects of the question concerning the contact, both creative and personal, between two eminent Russian writers, Ivan Turgenev and Alexander Hercen. The author starts by establishing, upon source material provided by the letters exchanged between the two writers, the date on which Turgenev began his collaboration with the Editors of the "Kolokol"("The Bell") periodical. In the second part, upon material provided by Hercen’s articles, by the literary creation and letters of the two writers, by the diaries written by their contemporaries and by a number of critical studies, she analyses the character of this collaboration. The author has devoted much of her attention to the political opinions of both these writers, particularly to their famous polemic about the historical ways for the evolution of life in Russia: for, in fact, she соnsiders that these issues were decisive for the time of duration of their personal contact, as well as the kind and range of influence exerted by Turgenev upon the formation of the political programme represented by the "Kolokol". Turgenev began systematically transmitting in formation as Hercen’s private correspondent, in July 1857, i.e. when the preliminary steps to the enfranchisement reform were being made (the Reform took place in 1861). It seemed then that the political changes in the country had brought the two writers together. Actually, however, Hercen found in them an opportunity to achieve his own conceptions concerning Russian history, while Turgenev justly observed that it was inevitable that Russia should enter the capitalistic period of development. Nevertheless, in the initial stages of the "Kolokol"’s existence Hercen, convinced that the opportunity for action was unlimited and that it was urgent to join all what was progressive in the Russian nation in a common struggle to achieve the desired end, favoured the collaboration of his periodical with the Russian Liberals, among whom, as we know, was also Turgenev. But the first steps undertaken by the Russian Government towards the realization of the 1861 Reform, failed to satisfy Hercen’s expectations. This accounts for a subsequent radicalization of the political programme represented in the "Kolokol" which in turn made it impossible for its editors to collaborate with the Russian Liberal circles. It is the author’s opinion that this was also the real reason why the personal and creative contacts between Turgenev and the Editors of the "Kolokol" periodical came to a sudden stop.