''Neglected People'' () is an 1865 novel by

Nikolai Leskov Nikolai Semyonovich Leskov (; – ) was a Russian novelist, short-story writer, playwright, and journalist, who also wrote under the pseudonym M. Stebnitsky. Praised for his unique writing style and innovative experiments in form, and held ...

History

The novel, initially supposed to be published in

Fyodor Dostoyevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky. () was a Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist and journalist. He is regarded as one of the greatest novelists in both Russian literature, Russian and world literature, and many of his works are consider ...

's '' Epokh'' magazine, eventually came out in ''

Otechestvennye Zapiski ''Otechestvennye Zapiski'' ( rus, Отечественные записки, p=ɐˈtʲetɕɪstvʲɪnːɨjɪ zɐˈpʲiskʲɪ, variously translated as "Annals of the Fatherland", "Patriotic Notes", "Notes of the Fatherland", etc.) was a Russian lit ...

'' (1865, Nos. 18-24). In 1866 it was released as a separate book by Andrey Krayevsky's publishing agency in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

Background

According to the author''Peterburgskaya Gazeta'', 1894, November 27 the novel was written in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

where Leskov was sent as a '' Severnaya Ptchela'' correspondent in 1862. Later it was suggested that parts 2 and 3 of it might have been finished in St. Petersburg in early 1865, judging by the references to the local literary journals' repertoire of the time. Originally the novel had a different title. On March 6, 1865, Leskov informed

Nikolai Strakhov Nikolay Nikolayevich Strakhov, also transliterated as ''Nikolai Strahov'' (; 16 October 1828 – 24 January 1896) was a Russian philosopher, publicist, journalist and literary criticism, literary critic. He shared the ideals of Pochvennichestvo ...

in a letter: "I've got a large story, a novel almost - nothing tendentious, very distinct, - and it is called ''Vsyak svoyemy nravu rabotayet'' (Everybody Acts According to their Taste)". The novel is partly autobiographical. Details of Leskov's life in Paris are there, as well as his memories of childhood in

Kiev Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

and an unhappy marriage, his ex-wife Olga Smirnova obviously serving as a prototype for Dolinsky's wife. Despite Leskov's assurances to the contrary, the novel continued his anti-

nihilistic Nihilism () encompasses various views that reject certain aspects of existence. There have been different nihilist positions, including the views that life is meaningless, that moral values are baseless, and that knowledge is impossible. Thes ...

crusade, featuring 'nihilists' Vyrvich and Shpandorchuk. Anna Mikhaylovna's workshop resembles

Chernyshevsky Nikolay Gavrilovich Chernyshevsky ( – ) was a Russian literary and social critic, journalist, novelist, democrat, and socialist philosopher, often identified as a utopian socialist and leading theoretician of Russian nihilism and the N ...

's Vera Pavlovna's enterprise in '' What Is to Be Done?''. ''Neglected People'' opened the series of Leskov's novels and shorts stories concerning the arts and artists ('' The Islanders'', "The Toupee Artist", ''The Devil's Dolls''). The author's favorite artists Murillo and Girodet de Roussy-Trioson's art serves here as a background for the characters' emotional condition. One of the latter, artist Zhuravka, described as "a little man with big heart," formulates his views on the mission of arts in his disputes with nihilists Vyrvich and Shpandortchuk. It's through Zhuravka's eye that the reader sees the love triangle of Dolinsky, Anna Mikhaylovna and Dora.

References

{{Nikolai Leskov Novels by Nikolai Leskov 1866 Russian novels