Spark (magazine)

In 1856-1858, Nikolai Stepanov , a talented satirist and democrat artist close to the editors of Sovremennik , published an album of topical caricatures "Familiar" and with him the literary "Leaf of acquaintances." Among other authors, Vasily Kurochkin , already a well-known poet, translator Beranger , also participated in the creation of The Leaf. The target for the cartoons and the text was the social inequality prevailing in society. In 1857, Stepanov and Kurochkin came up with the idea of ​​publishing a satirical journal, Iskra. At the same time, official permission was obtained, however, due to lack of money, it was necessary to postpone the release. The first issue of Iskra was released on January 1, 1859 . The editorial office is located on Mokhovaya St., 30, at Stepanov’s apartment.

The new publication stated as its goal “practical satire,” “the denial of the false in all its manifestations in life and in art,” promising readers “perseverance ... in the pursuit of social anomalies."

At first, Iskra came out with a volume of about one printed sheet , but, with the growth of correspondence, for the sake of increasing the section “They write to us,” in the third year it expanded the magazine space to one and a half or two sheets. The journal published the third issue on Fridays, and only in 1864 - on Tuesdays.

In St. Petersburg, the number cost six rubles, in the province seven and a half rubles. Iskra was a relatively cheap publication that emphasized topicality. In many ways, therefore, “the role of Iskra,” according to Gorky , “was enormous: Herzen's Bell was a magazine before which the upper layers of the capital society trembled, Iskra spread in the lower layers and throughout the province ... it was more accessible to the mind and pocket of the most valuable reader of that time - studying youth ... ” ^[3] .

Companions shared responsibilities. Vasily Kurochkin was engaged in the literary part of the weekly, and Nikolai Stepanov - in the art.

The editors managed to bring to cooperation the best forces of the then journalism. The poets D. D. Minaev , P. I. Veinberg , V. I. Bogdanov , N. S. Kurochkin , N. L. Loman , V. P. Burenin , G. N. Zhulev , P took part in the Iskra. V. Schumacher , L. I. Palmin , A. M. Zhemchuzhnikov , Kozma Prutkov , L. A. May , Al. K. Tolstoy , A.N. Plescheev , V.R. Shchiglev , prose writers N.V. Uspensky and Ch. Uspensky , A. I. Levitov , F. M. Reshetnikov , P. I. Yakushkin , N. N. Zlatovratsky , S. N. Fedorov, publicists G. Z. Eliseev , M. M. Stopanovsky , N. A. Demert , I.I.Dmitriev and many others. One or two works were published in Iskra by Herzen , Dobrolyubov , Saltykov-Shchedrin , Nekrasov .

The persuasiveness and power of satirical materials placed in the magazine increased many times due to the fact that the literary text was accompanied by talented caricatures. Such famous artists of the time as A.N. Bordcelli, A. Volkov, K. Danilov, N.V. Ievlev , M.O. Mikeshin , M.S. Znamensky , E.T. Komer worked with Iskra V. D. Labunsky, S. A. Lubovnikov , A. V. Bogdanov and others.

Nikolai Stepanov and Vasily Kurochkin themselves published many of their own works and took an active part in the creation of strangers, so it is sometimes difficult to assess the contribution to the published material of the editors and employees whose name they signed.

Despite the lack of monolithicity among the poets published in the journal, some common democratic views of the authors of most publications led to the fact that poets of the Iskra were sometimes perceived as a whole. As later the authors of “ Satyricon ” were collectively called “satyriconists,” so in the sixties of the nineteenth century the concept of “Iskra-poets” appeared in Russian literature.

Since the magazine was relatively inexpensive and widely distributed in the province, it quickly became very popular. Many of his readers soon became Iskra correspondents themselves, so she acquired a network of correspondents in different parts of the country. The authors disclosed abuses of power, bribery, embezzlement, an unjust court. The nerve of the magazine was the journalism department "They Write Us." This department, compiled by M. M. Stopanovsky according to letters from the province, successfully performed accusatory functions. Officials were very afraid to become characters in the next Iskra material. A special expression appeared - “Blame on the Spark.” The department “They write to us” became the object of attention of censorship. Sometimes up to half of the magazine’s materials had to be thrown out of the issue. It was forbidden to name the names of large officials, the names of cities where arbitrariness and lawlessness took place. The magazine spoke in Aesopian language , and every reader already knew that in the language of Iskra, the Astrakhan governor Degay is “Paste”, the Pskov governor Muravyov is “Mumu”, and the Kursk governor Den is “Raden”. Vologda got the name Bolotyansk, Vilno - Nazimstadt (by the name of the then Governor General Nazimov ), Voronezh - Khleborodsk and Urozhaysk, Grodno - Zubrovsk, Ekaterinoslav - Gryaznoslavl, Kostroma - Kutermy. Instead of the word "reactionary", the editors used the euphemism "well-meaning", etc. Often, Iskra-ists presented their works as translated. The popular Beranger translations, popular in Iskra, were in fact mostly free arrangements made in the light of Russian realities.

However, all these tricks were clear to the censors. From No. 29 for 1862, the “We Are Written” department was banned. Despite this, the editors continued to look for forms in which it would be possible to convey to readers information about what was happening on the ground. Instead of the reviews “They Write Us”, “Sparks” appeared, where readers' signals were embodied in the form of jokes, aphorisms, parodies, epigrams, and “Tales of Modern Scheherazade”.

In the Chronicle of Progress, strikes were made on the manifestations of reaction in journalism. This section was anonymously conducted by a large-scale publicist G.Z. Eliseev, far from frivolous jokes. In the first article, Eliseev warned readers: “... When it does not appear in the Iskra of my Chronicle, then progress is not moving well. If my Chronicle ceases altogether, let them understand that the friends of mankind have triumphed completely. Then it’s impossible for me to write. ” “My purpose is not at all ... to make people laugh, but to bring people, dignified laughter, into a ridiculous position, to make them comfortable for laughing." Thanks to this department, Iskra acquired serious journalistic significance.

In the late 1860s, a constant satirical review of foreign political life, Notes from All Over the World, appeared in Iskra. Thus, the Iskra-ists often scoffed at how the Russian conservative and liberal press portrayed the “horrors of the French revolution ”, “the monsters and crocodiles of Marat and Robespierre .”

Like many other democratic publications, Iskra advocated the ideological topicality and social purpose of literature, and against art for art. The magazine parodied poems by Maykov , Fet , Sluchevsky . Iskra took an active part in the journalistic controversy that erupted in connection with the release of Turgenev 's novel Fathers and Sons . In D. D. Minaev ’s poem , “Fathers or Sons,” Turgenev became a target for criticism; he was accused of slandering the Democrats “children” and sympathy for “Russian bars” - “fathers”.

Since the mid-sixties, with the increase in the number of daily publications that are able to cover current events faster and more fully, the value of "Sparks" begins to decline. In addition, the censorship continued to play a fatal role in the fate of the magazine.

Since 1862, the authorities have shown increased interest in Kurochkin. In 1864, the censorship committee demands a change in the responsible editor, and with No. 37 for 1864, the editor (at least nominally) becomes Kurochkin's older brother - Vladimir Stepanovich. At the end of 1864, the "moderate" Nikolai Stepanov left the editorial office and founded his own satirical journal " Alarm Clock ". The theme of the magazine is fading, now he pays more attention to literature and theater. Already in 1865, censors can say with pride in a job well done that "the sharp tone of the journal has greatly softened with the removal of V. Kurochkin from the editorial office."

Trying to escape from preliminary censorship, since 1870 the magazine refuses illustrations. But even this did not lead to success. According to Skabichevsky’s apt remark, “Spark” without caricatures became “a fly without wings”. Although in this form, thanks to the ingenuity of journalists, the publication remains a scarecrow for censors, the broad social significance of the journal has been lost forever. The magazine passes from hand to hand, falls into V. Leontyev. In 1873 he began to publish translated novels ( E. Zola , G. Malo ), switched to the regime of two issues per week, but this is already agony.

In 1873, after three warnings, Iskra was suspended for four months, but its publication was no longer resumed. The formal reason for the ban was the article "Journal Notes" (1873, No. 8). The article contained a desire to have "... a government that freely left the people and returned to it after passing its powers, a government that was alien to bureaucracy and narrow caste goals ...". The text was deemed to contain "perverse and completely inappropriate judgments about government authority." The spark faded away ...

• The poets of "Sparks." In two volumes. Volume 1. The library of the poet. Big series. "Soviet writer." Leningrad Branch, 1987. 384 pp. 75000 copies.
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