Nikolai Nikolajewitsch Strachow

Nikolai Strachow, 1890s

Nikolai Nikolajewitsch Strachow ( Russian : Никола́й Никола́евич Стра́хов; born October 16, 1828 in Belgorod ; † January 24, 1896 in Saint Petersburg ) was a Russian philosopher, journalist and literary critic. Together with Nikolai Danilewski and Konstantin Leontjew , he was one of the main representatives of the Potschwennitschestvo movement, a group within the 19th century Slavophiles who wanted to avert the Europeanization of Russia, but to integrate individual Western concepts - especially freedom and the value of the individual tried. Strachow was close to Fyodor Dostoyevsky for several years and later became a longtime friend of Lev Tolstoy .

life and work

Strachow was the son of an Orthodox priest and initially received his training in the seminary. He then studied mathematics and natural sciences at the Saint Petersburg State University .

In the 1850s, Strachow published a number of high-profile articles in Fackel magazine , including the Letters on Life series and a review of Pyotr Lavrov's studies on practical philosophy .

In 1860 Dostoyevsky hired him, together with Apollon Grigoryev, as the main author of his new monthly magazine Vremja . This activity marked the beginning of his career as a publicist and literary critic. Strachow was an apologist of philosophical idealism , especially von Hegel . He was the leading ideologue of the Potschwenniki , who propagated a “return to earth” and represented a holistic worldview, according to which nature and society form an organic whole.

From 1869 to 1870 Strachow published a three-part review of Tolstoy's novel War and Peace in the magazine Rassvet and came into contact with the author about it. A long-term correspondence resulted from this.

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c Joseph Frank: Dostoevsky . A Writer in His Time. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey 2010, ISBN 978-0-691-12819-1 , pp. 286 f . ( limited online version in Google Book Search)
↑ John E. Malmstad, Nikolay Bogomolov: Mikhail Kuzmin . A Life in Art. Harvard University Press, 1999, ISBN 0-674-53087-X , pp. 52 . ( limited online version in Google Book Search)
↑ Rosamund Bartlett: Tolstoy . A Russian Life. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, New York 2011, ISBN 978-0-15-101438-5 , pp. 181 f . ( limited online version in Google Book Search)

personal data
SURNAME	Strachow, Nikolai Nikolajewitsch
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Nikolay Strakhov (English); Стра́хов, Никола́й Никола́евич (Russian)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Russian philosopher, publicist and literary critic
DATE OF BIRTH	October 16, 1828
PLACE OF BIRTH	Belgorod
DATE OF DEATH	January 24, 1896
Place of death	St. Petersburg

[Frank-1] Joseph Frank: Dostoevsky . A Writer in His Time. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey 2010, ISBN 978-0-691-12819-1 , pp. 286 f . ( limited online version in Google Book Search)

[2] John E. Malmstad, Nikolay Bogomolov: Mikhail Kuzmin . A Life in Art. Harvard University Press, 1999, ISBN 0-674-53087-X , pp. 52 . ( limited online version in Google Book Search)

[3] Rosamund Bartlett: Tolstoy . A Russian Life. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, New York 2011, ISBN 978-0-15-101438-5 , pp. 181 f . ( limited online version in Google Book Search)