Travel from Petersburg to Moscow

The story is a collection of scattered fragments, interconnected by the names of the postal stations of cities and villages, past which the traveler follows. The author paints a picture of contemporary Russia, focusing on the situation of serfs oppressed by the landlord class. At the same time, Radishchev boldly and sharply condemns the autocracy. In addition, Radishchev included the ode "Liberty" and "The Word about Lomonosov" in the story.

Also in the story there are a large number of explicit and hidden quotes from other works of fiction, individual chapters contain outline sketches, which later became the basis for famous works of other authors. ^[2]

In terms of form, Radishchev follows the canons of the genre of sentimental travel, especially popular in continental Europe in the 1780-1790s. This form is a way of expressing Radishchev’s thoughts about the social structure of Russia ^[3] . Thanks to this, the book was able to pass censorship: the censor looked only at the content, and since the chapters of the novel are called by city, the censor considered this book a guide and skipped it without reading it. A book was printed in a home print shop.

The epigraph to the book “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow” Radishchev took a verse from a poem by Trediakovsky , slightly modifying it: “The monster shook, mischievously, enormously, stiffly and barking ” ^[4] . In Trediakovsky, the words “The Beast circled, mischievously, enormously, with the Trinity and Lae” describe the “Dog Kerber ”, which in turn compares the contemplation by vicious kings in the underworld of their true essence in the “Mirror of Truth” ^[5] . This phrase has become winged and is a symbol of a negative social phenomenon.

By decree of Catherine II of September 4, 1790 ^[6], Radishchev was recognized as “ guilty of the crime of oath and office of a citizen by publishing a book ... filled with the most harmful philosophies, destroying public peace, belittling respect due to the authorities, striving to cause indignation among the people against the bosses and superiors and finally insulting and violent expressions against the dignity and power of the king . " Radishchev was sentenced to death , but “for mercy and for general joy” the execution was replaced by a ten-year exile to the Ilimsk prison ^[7] . Almost the entire circulation of the novel was destroyed. The novel itself was banned, removed only in 1905 . However, the novel diverged on the lists and became widely known.

From the original edition of the book, which was destroyed, only a few copies survived, which are considered the greatest rarity. The bibliophile and bibliographer N. P. Smirnov-Sokolsky wrote about only 13 such rarities known to him and emphasized that the most valuable of them was “a copy that was in the secret office ” and bought by A. Pushkin for a personal library ^[8] . In the 1790-1820s, "Journey" went on several hundred lists. In 1836, Pushkin wrote about Radishchev and his book, generally critically, with extensive quotes, for his journal Sovremennik . The article was not overlooked by censorship. In the 1840s – 1850s , “Journey ...” was practically unknown to the reading public, in any case there are no signs of acquaintance with the “Journey” of Belinsky , Granovsky, Petrashevsky or even Herzen until 1857.

Pushkin’s article, “Alexander Radishchev,” was first published by P.V. Annenkov in 1857, and in 1858 Herzen published one of the manuscript lists of Travel, abundant inaccuracies, in the Free Russian Printing House (London). The entire circulation of "Travel ...", published by A. A. Cherkesov in 1872, after the abolition of serfdom , was destroyed ^[9] . Even the influential Alexei Suvorin, by the centenary of the book’s release, managed to achieve only permission to print a gift edition in the amount of 100 copies ^[9] . Finally, the ban on "Travel ..." was lifted in Russia only during the first revolution .

In Soviet times, Radishchev was recognized as the "first Russian revolutionary", and his book was included in the school curriculum.

After reading, Catherine II herself said: “A rebel is worse than Pugachev! He, even though he pretended to be a king, professed a monarchist system, and this one, by revolution, decided to establish a republic in Russia! ”

Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin responded so much about this work:

"Journey to Moscow", the reason for his misfortune and glory, is, as we have already said, a very mediocre work, not to mention even the barbaric syllable. Complaints about the unfortunate state of the people, the violence of the nobles and so on. exaggerated and vulgar. Gusts of sensitivity, cutesy and inflated, are sometimes extremely funny. We could confirm our judgment with many extracts. But the reader should open his book at random to ascertain the truth of what we have said.

Fyodor Dostoevsky about the "Travel ..." and in general the style of Radishchev said that he had "scraps and tips of thoughts" along with free translations of French enlighteners.

Nikolai Berdyaev wrote:

When Radishchev in his "Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow" wrote the words: "I looked around me - my soul became wounded by the suffering of humanity," - the Russian intelligentsia was born.

In 2014, the Dozhd TV channel released a documentary by Andrei Loshak, “Traveling from St. Petersburg to Moscow: a Special Way” ^[10] .

• Traveling from Moscow to Petersburg is an essay by Pushkin from 1833-1835.
• Liberty (ode)

• The academic edition of the novel as part of the Complete Works of Radishchev on the website of the Institute of Russian Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences
• 1790 Edition at the Library of Congress (electronic copy)
• A.K. Borozdin. Long-suffering book: The journey of A. N. Radishchev from St. Petersburg to Moscow. - M., 1906. - 32 p. (online version in the electronic library of the RSL)
• P. Weil, A. Genis. The crisis of the genre: Radishchev // "Independent newspaper", 1991
• N. Ya. Adelman. Twenty-two words // “Knowledge is power”, 1985
• Yu. K. Begunov “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow” by A. N. Radishchev // “Enlightenment”, 1984
• A. N. Radishchev: studies and comments