Sluchevskii, Konstantin

Sluchevskii, Konstantin Konstantinovich 

Born July 26 (Aug. 7), 1837, in St. Petersburg; died there Sept. 25 (Oct. 8), 1904. Russian writer.

Sluchevskii studied philosophy and natural science at the Sorbonne and the Universities of Berlin, Leipzig, and Heidelberg. He began publishing in 1857. His series of articles Phenomena of Russian Life Criticized by Aesthetics (fascs. 1-3, 1866–67) constituted a sharp polemic with the ideas of the revolutionary democrats. Sluchevskii held high government posts and from 1891 to 1902 edited Pravitel’stvennyi vestnik (Government Bulletin). His works included the novel From Kiss to Kiss (1872) and several books of verse, the last of which was Provincial Songs (1902). He also wrote novellas, short stories, narrative poems, and the geographic and ethnographic study Through the North of Russia (vols. 1-3, 1888).

Sluchevskii’s work is contradictory. He sharply rejects reality but is also convinced that reality cannot be changed. His intense emotionality and profound psychological insights are combined with acrimonious philosophizing, and his concern for social problems exists side by side with mysticism. Sluchevskii was a precursor of Russian modernism.

WORKS

Sock, vols. 1-6. St. Petersburg, 1898.
Stikhotvoreniia ipoemy. [Introductory article, notes, and preparation of text by A. V. Fedorov.] Moscow-Leningrad, 1962.
[“Stikhi.”] (In Poety 1880–1890-kh gg.) Moscow-Leningrad, 1964.

REFERENCES

Briusov, V. Ia. “Poet protivorechii (K. K. Sluchevskii).” In Dalekie i blizkie. Moscow, 1912.
Smirenskii, V. “K istorii piatnits K. K. Sluchevskogo.” Russkaia literatura, 1965, no. 3.

L. G. FRIZMAN [23–1777–]