The "thick journal"—a combination of original literature,…
1828 CE to 1971 CE
These publications reach a large portion of the intelligentsia.
Most of the materials of the major writers and critics of the period are featured in such journals, and published debates are common between journals of various viewpoints.
Much of the prose literature of the period contains sharply polemical messages, favoring either radical or reactionary positions concerning the problems of Russian society.
Ivan Turgenev is perhaps the most successful at integrating social concerns with true literary art.
His Hunter's Sketches and Fathers and Sons portrays Russia's problems with great realism and with enough artistry that these works survive as classics.
Many writers of the period do not aim for social commentary, but the realism of their portrayals nevertheless drew comment from radical critics.
Such writers include the novelist Ivan Goncharov, whose Oblomov is a very negative portrayal of the provincial gentry, and the dramatist Aleksandr Ostrovskii, whose plays uniformly condemn the bourgeoisie.
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Northeastern Eurasia
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