Scandal and Controversy in Russian literature - Episode 2: The worst novel ever written

Episode two is about “What Is to be done?” by Nikolai Chernyshevsky (1828-1889), published in 1863. Chernyshevsky had no talent for writing but was well aware of it. For him, to write “beautifully” was far less important than putting yourself at the service of truth and building socialism. Despite his lack of literary talent, Chernyshevsky was one of Russia's most productive and influential authors who won the hearts of many left-wing activists with his utopian novel “What Is to Be Done?” in which he describes a radiant future offering complete equality between men and women. The ideological opponent of more talented authors such as Dostoevsky and Turgenev, Chernyshevsky matched them in popularity and soon became an icon of Russia’s revolutionary movement.Sources used in this episode of "Scandal and Controversy in Russian Literature":- Paperno, Irina. 1988. Chernyshevsky and the Age of Realism. A Study in the Semiotics of Behavior (Stanford: Stanford University Press).  - Stites, Richard. 1990 [1978]. The Women’s Liberation Movement in Russia. Feminism, Nihilism and Bolshevism, 1860-1930 (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press).List of translations used in this episode of "Scandal and Controversy in Russian Literature":- Chernyshevsky, Nikolai. 2014. What Is To Be Done? Translated by Michael R. Katz (Ithaca/London: Cornell University Press).All other translations were done by Otto Boele.© Otto Boele & Electrical Films 2024