Nikolay Gavrilovich Chernyshevsky — in historical sources of the Presidential Library

July 24, 2017 marks the 189th anniversary of Nikolai Gavrilovich Chernyshevsky, the Russian philosopher, a writer, and a scientist. There are certain works of one of the prominent figures of the XIX century along with numerous writings dedicated to his personality and accomplishments, including some published within his lifetime.

“The ancestors of N. G. Chernyshevsky led their family line from the Great Russians of the Chembarsky District of the Penza Province and from time beyond record belonged to the clergy. One of them, a sort of Fedot, was a priest in the Chernyshevo Village in the Chembarsky District. Father of N. G. Chernyshevsky, Gavriil Ivanovich, when he enrolled the Penza Theological Seminary, first received the name Chernyshevsky on behalf of the village, where he was born and spent his early childhood,” — according to the family history told in work of Y. M. Steklov N. G. Chernyshevsky: his life and practice of 1928, an electronic copy of which is available on the Presidential Library website.

Nikolai Gavrilovich Chernyshevsky was born in Saratov on July 24, 1828. “Nicolas was the first and only child of Chernyshevskys. His childhood passed in a happy atmosphere, — as we can find out from a digital copy of the 1927-year edition of The Russian revolutionaries. His father greatly influenced the upbringing of the boy: “Gavriil Ivanovich Chernyshevsky was an outstanding man. Kind, clever, educated, he stood out from lacking knowledge and uncivil clergy surrenders. An acquisitive mind, breadth and clarity of views, tolerance, firmness, directness, honesty and meekness were the distinguishing qualities of Chernyshevsky's father. Chernyshevsky-son inherited and took in from his father these traits of personality and mind.” It was the father who laid a desire for knowledge in the son’s soul, for higher demands of the spirit, who encouraged a study of foreign languages. “The curiosity of N. G. was strong and varied,” — according to memoirs of A. Pypin in the mentioned above book Chernyshevsky: his life and practice. — Whatever he learned, he immediately grasped it and firmly preserved, in which his unusual memory was a real help. It seems that he became a good Latinist very early; I clearly remember him reading an old Latin book, printed, I think, in two columns in small font size… This was the old, from the first years of the 17th century, edition of Cicero; I remember that he read it freely, never referring to the dictionary.”

Young Chernyshevsky amazed those around him with his reading and mental abilities. A. A. Lebedev in the third issue of the historical magazine “Russkaya Starina / Russian Antiquity” of 1912 makes a point that: “In the lessons of language arts, the teacher Voskresensky had to explain the scriptures according to the statute. Usually the entire issue was limited to just reading a book. In these lessons, N. G. struck both the teacher and his classmates with his knowledge: such and such German interpreter explains so-and-such, and French one differently, and the English interpreter understands this part in such sense.”

Even then, the most insightful of the pen pals of the future enlightener began to guess about the treasures of thought and feelings that lurked in this modest and shy young man. The edition of Russian revolutionaries quotes one of them: “It seemed to me that there is something mysterious in the depths of this young soul, hidden from everybody, that it is dissatisfied with its ambiance and suspects a different kind of worldview.”

Nikolai Chernyshevsky left the seminary with a clearly defined goal in life, and, as his fate will show, he tried not to back off from it: “The supreme purpose of individual life is to serve humanity. Mankind is unhappy, suffering because of emerged unjust and unequal human relations. Only science and knowledge can destroy social injustices and establish justice and equality on the earth, that is, the happiness of all mankind,” — such a formulation is given in the book Russian revolutionaries.

The work of N. G. Chernyshevsky for the benefit of society is reflected in his works, now belonging to the electronic fund of the Presidential Library. Apart from the Complete works of the thinker, there is a book from the “Historical and revolutionary library” series N. G. Chernyshevsky. 1828-1928: Collection of articles, documents and memoirs, which tells how the brought up an entire generation of revolutionary democrats novel “What to do?” was created in the Peter and Paul Fortress, “Chernyshevsky Notes to translation of the “Introduction to the History of the XIX century” by Gervinus,” were published, as well as many other materials.