I am a literary giant in Russia

Chapter 25 Rising to Fame
Before receiving the formal invitation from Belinsky, Mikhail lived in the small room of his apartment for a long time, occasionally counting the few rubles in his pocket, strolling through the streets and alleys of St. Petersburg, listening to people's discussions in cafes, and buying various fresh magazines and tabloids to read for a while.

Sometimes, if he was unlucky, he would run into the old and young beggars wandering around St. Petersburg, as well as prostitutes who had to do some business to supplement their family income. He might get entangled with them, and after some observation and painful entanglement, Mikhail sometimes had to take out a few melons and two dates from his already meager pocket to barely help those people who looked so miserable.

All in all, as a college student, and because of his own personality, Mikhail is certainly not a cold person.

But some realities are too cruel, so cruel that either a person becomes completely cold-hearted and almost completely ignores these things, or plunges headfirst into this seemingly endless road, struggling painfully and hesitating in the constant ups and downs.

This symptom may also be a common symptom among many people in Russia today who are full of faith and compassion. Sometimes when the pain is so severe that they cannot adjust themselves, they will do a series of absurd things that they may not even understand.

The literature of Russia's Golden Age is filled with such characters.

But people cannot be crushed by nothingness, and Mikhail from later generations is even less so.

In any case, start with the things at hand.

After counting the money in his pocket, Mikhail soon began a period of living in a small house.

In addition to daily writing, I actually read more about Russia's current social landscape, public opinion situation, etc. through various magazines.

The desire to understand these things is also very simple. First, to understand the current situation and determine what can be written and what cannot be written. Second, to judge the current red line, so that if I really commit a crime of passion in the future and say or write something, I can try to stay sober, or at least stay around the red line.
But to put it bluntly, this kind of thing is changing rapidly.

You can do it during this period, but in the next period people will directly use this as evidence of their crime. What can you do?
Sometimes you may be a loyal minister serving the country faithfully one second, but the next moment you may be hit hard because of some incident.

All I can say is that in an autocratic country like Russia today, the right to interpret the red lines rests solely with the hands of the great Nicholas I, so the criteria for drawing them are naturally incredibly flexible.
In addition, it must be said that although Tsar Nicholas I was a notorious reactionary autocrat, in terms of the media, he seemed a bit like a liberal.

Since the Industrial Revolution, the development of the printing industry has enabled knowledge and information to be mass-produced like other industrial products. During this period in Russia, publishing houses and magazines of all sizes appeared every day, and quite a number of publishing houses and magazines would go bankrupt tomorrow.

It is almost impossible to accurately count the types of Russian magazines during this period.

These magazines have a wide variety of styles: some feature politics, some don't; some focus on patriotism, some flatter the West, some extol authentic Parisian and London traditions; some are humorous, some cover natural sciences, some specialize in gossip, and some focus on literature.
Of course, it seems like you can talk about anything, but there are some things you really should try to talk about.
While buying these magazines, Mikhail did hear those well-dressed young people talking about themselves more than once:
"Have you read the articles 'Vanka' and 'Misery' lately? Everyone around me seems to be talking about them."

"I've read it. It's a truly refreshing work. I never thought that Russian literature could approach it from this perspective."

"After reading it, I feel like I really learned a lot. I can't wait to write an article about it. Where do you think I should start? How about starting with the beggars in St. Petersburg? I'd like to find time to have a good chat with them." "Mikhail, Mikhail, I really want to meet this outstanding newcomer in the literary world! How did he achieve such a high level of skill right from the start? Even Gogol might not have been as amazing as him when he first appeared."

"He must be a respectable gentleman, born into a good family, well-educated, and who looks upon the Russian people with boundless sympathy!"

The first sentence sounds good, but the last sentence is pure slander. Mikhail's ancestors were all purebred farmers who specialized in farming for the landlords. It was only in Mikhail's generation that he was able to hold his head high and successfully evolved from a farmer trainee to a horse trainee. Even this was due to the dividends of the times.

The original body's situation was slightly better, but not much better. He survived by relying on his talent.

There is no doubt that with these two novels, Mikhail has now gained a considerable reputation in the cultural circle of St. Petersburg, but if he wants to make a sensation in the whole of St. Petersburg and even the whole of Russia, it will undoubtedly take some more time to work hard.

No matter what era, if you want to make a fortune through literature, you have to go through a relatively long process. Fortunately, if you really succeed, you will be very proud.

Even the Tsar had to secretly mess with you under the pressure of public opinion.

While reading the magazine, Mikhail of course also saw articles criticizing his two novels.

In today's St. Petersburg cultural circles, publishing houses and magazines, in order to survive and attract attention, will not easily let go of any hot topics, let alone a very conspicuous person like Mikhail.

Another thing is that unless it is in a specific era, the voices criticizing the times and society are often the weaker side.

Only when the wheel of history rolls forward and everything in the past has settled, when you look back at history, you will find that most of the voices that echo are critical.

Why is this again?
Let’s get back to the present. If you criticize, the Tsar will target you, the Tsar’s running dogs will target you, patriots will target you, and the masses who don’t know the truth will target you. How can you withstand this?
Moreover, these people have no burden when it comes to dealing with others and can say anything.

For example, in many of the great debates that took place in Russian literary circles, the radicals argued that this was no longer possible! We must take action! Those conservatives and moderates were a bunch of blind animals!
Then the conservatives and moderates would begin to fight back: These radicals are simply psoriasis on the great Russian Empire! His Majesty the Great Tsar should never tolerate them again and should immediately send out his cavalry regiments and gendarmerie regiments to hang them all!

The latter's remarks really made the Tsar laugh, and the nobles praised them as brilliant.

If I had a choice, Mikhail
Forget it, I'm not going to choose. How can a mere old slave trainee like me sit at the same table with a bunch of old slave management trainees like you?
(End of this chapter)