Chapter 25: Rising Fame

Before receiving the formal invitation from Belinsky, Mikhail had been holed up in a small room in his apartment for quite some time, occasionally counting the few rubles in his pocket to wander the streets of St. Petersburg, listen to discussions in coffeehouses, and buy various fresh magazines and street papers to read for a while.

Occasionally, when luck was bad and he encountered the old beggars, young beggars, and prostitutes who had to do some business to supplement their household income wandering around St. Petersburg, he might get harassed; and after some observation and painful internal struggle, Mikhail sometimes had no choice but to pull a few scraps from his already meager pockets to barely help those people who looked simply miserable.

All in all, as a university student, and due to his own personality, Mikhail was certainly not a cold person.

But some realities were too cruel, so cruel that one either became completely cold, almost entirely ignoring these things, or plunged headfirst into this seemingly endless path, struggling painfully and hesitating in constant ups and downs.

This symptom might also be a common symptom among many people with convictions and compassion in Russia today; sometimes, when the pain truly became unbearable to regulate, they would do a series of absurd things they perhaps didn't even understand themselves.

Beneath the literature of Russia's Golden Age, there were plenty of such characters.

But people cannot be crushed by nihilism, and Mikhail from the future certainly could not be.

In any case, let's start with the matters at hand.

After counting the coins in his pocket, Mikhail soon began a period of his hibernation life.

Apart from daily writing, much of it was actually understanding the current social landscape and public opinion in Russia through various magazines.

And the desire to understand these things was very simple: first, to figure out the current situation and determine what could be written and what could not; second, to judge the approximate red line now, so that if he ever really committed a crime of passion in the future, saying something or writing something, he could remain as clear-headed as possible, at least hovering around the red line.

But to put it plainly, this kind of thing truly changes in the blink of an eye.

What can be done in this period, the next period they might directly use that against you as evidence of a crime; what can you do?

Sometimes, one second you are a great loyal minister serving the country, and the next step you might be hit hard because of some incident.

One can only say that in such an autocratic country as Russia today, the right to interpret the red line lies only in the hands of Nicholas I, that great despot, so the standard for drawing the red line is naturally flexible beyond belief.

Additionally, it must be said that although Tsar Nicholas I, that great despot, was notorious for being reactionary and autocratic, in terms of the media, Nicholas I actually appeared somewhat like a liberal.

Since the Industrial Revolution, the development of the printing industry has made knowledge and information capable of mass production just like other industrial products, and in Russia during this period, publishing houses and magazines of all sizes appeared every day, and quite a few publishing houses and magazines would go bankrupt tomorrow.

So much so that trying to accurately count the types of magazines in Russia during this period was almost an impossible task.

These magazines could also be said to have various styles; some focused on political commentary, some did not; some focused on patriotism, some kowtowed to the authentic old Paris and old London of the West; some were humorous, some introduced natural sciences, some specialized in gossip, and some focused on literature.

Of course, it seemed like anything could be discussed, but try discussing some of those things for real.

And in the process of buying these magazines, Mikhail indeed heard those well-dressed young people talking about himself more than once:

"Have you read the two articles 'Vanka' and 'Misery' recently? It seems everyone around me is talking about them."

"I've read them; they are truly refreshing works. I never thought Russian literature could even start from this angle."

"After reading them, I feel I really learned a lot. I am also eager to write an article like this. What do you think I should start with? How about starting with the beggars of St. Petersburg? I want to find a time to talk to them properly."

"Mikhail, Mikhail, I really want to see what this outstanding new person in the literary world looks like! How can one produce such a high level of work right from the start? Even Gogol, when he first appeared, might not have been as stunning."

"He must be a respectable Mr. from a wealthy background, well-educated, and paying infinite compassionate attention to the Russian people!"

The previous words sounded not bad, but the last sentence was purely slander; Mikhail's ancestors in the present were purebred old farmers, specifically farming for the landlord lords, and it was only in Mikhail's generation that they finally held their heads high, successfully evolving from old farmer trainees to cattle-and-horse trainees, and even that was only because they ate the dividends of the times.

The original body's situation was slightly better, but not by much; it was hard-earned by killing through with talent.

Undoubtedly, with these two novels, Mikhail has now achieved quite a high reputation in the Cultural Circle of St. Petersburg, but to say it caused a sensation throughout St. Petersburg and even the whole of Russia, it undoubtedly needs another period of cultivation.

In any era, wanting to get rich through literature requires a relatively long process; fortunately, if it really takes off, the face is indeed big.

Even the Tsar can only be forced by public opinion to secretly mess with you.

And in the process of reading magazines, Mikhail of course also saw articles criticizing his two novels.

In the current Cultural Circle of St. Petersburg, in order to survive and grab people's attention, no publishing house or magazine would easily let go of any hot topic, let alone someone as conspicuous as Mikhail, the prominent bird sticking its head out.

Additionally, unless under specific eras, voices criticizing the era and society are often the weak side in many times.

Only when the wheels of history roll forward and everything in the past has settled can you look back at history and find that what echoes back are mostly critical voices.

Why is this?

Let's talk about the present for now; if you engage in criticism, the Tsar messes with you, the Tsar's lackeys mess with you, patriots mess with you, and the masses who don't know the truth also mess with you; how can you withstand this?

Moreover, these people really have no burden when messing with others; they can say anything.

For example, in many great debates that occurred in the Russian literary world, the radicals thought it was no good! We must take action! Those conservatives and moderates are a bunch of blind beasts!

Then the conservatives and moderates would start counterattacking: These radicals are simply ringworm on the great Russian Empire! His Majesty the Tsar absolutely should not tolerate them anymore and should immediately send out his cavalry regiments and gendarmerie regiments to hang them all!

The latter's words were truly such that the Tsar would laugh happily, and the nobles would say it was excellent.

If there were a choice, Mikhail

Forget it, I won't choose; how can a mere old slave trainee sit at the same table as you bunch of old slave management trainees?

(End of Chapter)