Why Nikolai Chernyshevsky forgave his wife everything, even adultery

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

At the present time, the rights of women and men in a modern civilized society are practically equal, and this will surprise no one. But it was not always so. Just some 100 years ago, women could only dream of such equality. Oppressed, deprived of the right to vote and choice, they have been subject to the will of men for millennia. However, in the middle of the 19th century, a revolutionary idea of equality began to emerge among the progressive-minded people of Russia. How this idea was embodied in the life of his family by the famous writer, publicist, literary critic, utopian philosopher Nikolai Chernyshevsky further, in the review.

A bit from the biography of the writer

Nikolai Chernyshevsky (1828–1889) was born in Saratov into a priest's family and, as was expected in such families, the parents of their son at the age of 14 sent him to a theological seminary. After studying there for more than three years, the seminarian Chernyshevsky did not even come a step closer either to God or the church. But he realized his true destiny. Against the will of his father, he leaves the seminary and becomes a student of the history and philology department of the philosophy faculty of St. Petersburg University.

By this decision, he abruptly changed his fate, and from the point of view of the layman - not for the better. For what Nikolai Gavrilovich later went through will seem like a heavy cross, which he voluntarily shouldered and carried through his whole life. But it was his choice, the choice of a man who wanted to change the world for the better, who fought for equality and equality in all spheres of life. His freethinking and rebellious mood cost the writer-publicist too much: almost 20 years of hard labor, which deprived him of his strength, health, communication with his wife and children, and the opportunity to do what he loved.

One and only for life

In 1853, Chernyshevsky changed his status as a bachelor to that of a married man. His choice caused a radically opposite response among the relatives and acquaintances of the young man. Many considered Olga Sokratovna Vasilyeva an extraordinary woman, a faithful friend and muse of the writer. And others - very sharply condemned her for her frivolous and dismissive attitude to the interests and work of her husband. Be that as it may, Nikolai Gavrilovich himself not only deified and infinitely loved his wife, but also "considered his marriage a kind of" testing ground "for testing new progressive ideas."

From her father, a Saratov doctor, the girl inherited a freedom-loving character and a hot temperament, behind her eyes she was called "a hussar in a skirt." She, having a cheerful disposition, skillfully flirted and, therefore, she had no end of fans. But Olga chose the awkward and quiet Chernyshevsky as her life partner. And what is curious, first Nikolai confessed his love to Olga, then began to dissuade her from an alliance with him, saying that he was fond of "things that smell like hard labor." But Olga was not so easy to scare, and she married a freethinker.

By the way, Nikolai got married against the will of his father, so the young wife, quickly subordinating him to her will, persuaded him to immediately move from provincial Saratov to St. Petersburg. This hasty departure was more like an escape: "flight from parents, from family, from everyday gossip and prejudices to a new life."

For a decade of marriage, Olga gave birth to three sons, the middle of whom died in childhood.

Complete freedom in marital relations

According to the propagandized ideas of Chernyshevsky, a free and equal life had to be brought closer and introduced gradually. And you had to start with yourself, in order to be an example for others. It was these ideas that the young philosopher first of all began to embody in his family life. Denying any form of inequality, including in a family union, he believed that his wife should not be considered as his property, so he announced to Olga that he gave her maximum freedom and allowed literally everything, including adultery. The essence of this innovative idea for that era was truly revolutionary and utopian. A little later, he will reflect his personal experience of family life in the love line of the famous novel "What is to be done?"

Ivan Fyodorovich Savitsky, an underground revolutionary, was a frequent visitor to the Chernyshevskys' house. He often visited them not only on business, but also on matters of the heart. The hostess of the house fascinated him from the first meeting, and after a while a romance arose between them. Savitsky began to persuade his friend's wife to run with him, swearing eternal love. Of course, Olga was flattered by Ivan's signs of attention, but it did not even occur to her to run with him. Once she told everything to her husband, and he answered in a calm voice. Of course, she stayed with Nikolai, how could one get away from such a man.

She always told her husband about what worried her: about dances, walks, outfits, fans. And Chernyshevsky listened, nodded and after five minutes forgot about all this. And two such different people were unusually happy!

From the memoirs of an eyewitness who visited the Chernyshevskys' house:

Punishment for worldview and revolutionary ideas

Upon arrival in St. Petersburg, Chernyshevsky began his career as a publicist. And very soon in the Sovremennik magazine, where he was invited by N. A. Nekrasov, the name of Nikolai Gavrilovich became like a banner, which later played a cruel joke on him.

In the late 1950s, with the coming to power of Alexander II, who was called the agent of large-scale reforms, changes gradually began to take place: a relaxation of censorship, the abolition of serfdom. However, this was not enough for the revolutionary-minded layers of the Russian intelligentsia. In many respects inspired by the publications of Chernyshevsky, its representatives were preparing a peasant uprising. As a result, revolutionary circles began to be organized in St. Petersburg, proclamations were spread in the form of leaflets, sometimes with a rather bloodthirsty text calling for an uprising and overthrow of the existing system.

Of course, the government has introduced tough measures to stop this movement. Mass arrests began. Chernyshevsky was also arrested, and despite the fact that his involvement in the riots and the texts of the proclamations was not proven, he was found guilty and sentenced to fourteen years of hard labor in Siberia and a life settlement there. Later, by his decree, the emperor replaced 14 years with 7.

In May 1864, the rite of "civil execution" was publicly performed over the prisoner. Nikolai Gavrilovich was taken to the square with a sign on his chest that read "state criminal", chained to a pole and, breaking a sword over his head, left to stand for several hours at the "shameful pole".

Love through the years and through the distance

Chernyshevsky was 34 when he was arrested. The next twenty years could hardly be called life: a year and a half of imprisonment in the Peter and Paul Fortress, civil execution, hard labor, exile to Yakutia. His wife Olga, completely incapable of any feats and self-denial, after two years of her husband's exile, took her sons and went to him in Siberia. However, five days later she left back - Nikolai Gavrilovich literally forced her to leave and never return.

The revolutionary-minded Chernyshevsky was not interested in his own difficulties. He was most worried about the situation that had fallen through his fault on the shoulders of his wife. Even in the most difficult years of hard labor, he tried to take care of her. Collecting pennies from his meager earnings, he bought her luxurious fox fur and sent her to St. Petersburg.

From the Siberian exile, Chernyshevsky wrote about 300 letters to his wife, but later stopped the correspondence, deciding that the sooner she forgot him, the better for her. In them, he asked his beloved woman to monitor her health, he repeatedly wrote that abstinence is contraindicated in women and has a negative effect on them. He begged Olga Sokratovna to abandon him and marry another, but she decided not to. Olga, of course, had affairs with men, which she honestly admitted in letters to her husband. And he loved her immensely, and kept these feelings for the rest of his life.

Freedom and death

After 10 years of hard labor, Chernyshevsky was asked to petition for clemency, but he flatly refused. And only twenty years later, friends and relatives were able to obtain a pardon for him: exile in Siberia was replaced by exile to Astrakhan.

Chernyshevsky was only 55, and he looked a gaunt old man. On the way to Astrakhan, he was allowed to stop by his native Saratov, to see his wife and sister Varya. Olga Sokratovna met her husband, who looked tortured and sick, in a new festive dress specially made for this, and her sister looked at her reproachfully and sobbed. Olga later wrote to her family in St. Petersburg about what this feigned fun cost her:

When the meeting time was over, Nikolai Gavrilovich set off on the road. And Olga Sokratovna picked up the things she had collected in advance - she had to catch the last steamer to Astrakhan … In the autumn of the same year, Nikolai Chernyshevsky fell ill with malaria and died suddenly. The doctor stated that the cause of death was cerebral hemorrhage.

- this is how Chernyshevsky wrote to the young, but in his life everything happened just the opposite. He carried his free love throughout his life.