<i>Mir Bozhiy</i> magazine and Russian culture in the late 19th – early 20th century

Abstract

Mir Bozhiy (God’s World) magazine is justly attributed to the lead periodicals of the p lutionary Russia. It came out in 1892-1906. During that relatively short period, it managed to win well-deserved respect and popularity among its readers. The circulation of 18 thousand issues in its best years is a perfect proof. No other classical fat magazine had such a wide circulation. At first, Mir Bozhiy was considered a specialized edition for young audience. That was the reason for its religious name referring at a young soul exploring the world of the God. However, very soon it turned into a magazine for wider public and readers of different ages. Already one year after it was first published, its cover had the subtitle complimented with a note «for self-education». Mir Bozhiy became a magazine for family reading replacing books, schoolbooks and encyclopaedias.Its readers had all reasons to love the magazine. Published works of literature — poems, stories, and novels stood out with their high literary level; and scientific reviews represented thorough analytical studies that contained brave and original conclusion. Contributors of the content included the authors who made Russian poetry and literature shine such as Dmitriy Merezhkovskiy, Ivan Bunin, Dmitriy Mamin-Sibiryak, Alexander Kuprin and others.Exceptional articles came out from the philosophers Sergey Bulgakov, Nikolay Berdyayev, the economist Mikhail Tuhan-Baranovskiy, publishers Pavel Milyukov and Nikolay Iordanskiy, historian Vasily Klyuchevskiy. Articles about music and arts were also frequent in the magazine.Remarkable publications of the magazine became possible thanks to the high professionalism of its staff members who had literary talents and deep scientific knowledge. One of them, Angel Bogdanovich, was not only an outstanding editor but also an excellent publisher. The real masters of literary translation were Lidia Tuhan-Baranovskaya and Maria Kuprina-Iordanskaya, her first husband was the writer Alexander Kuprin, the head of the magazine’s fiction department. Finally, the magazine’s chief editor Fyodor Batyushkov who was the descendant of the famous Russian poet significantly contributed to the success of the magazine.Though, in 1906 due to the political situation, the «harmful magazine» as considered by the censors was closed, publications of the Mir Bozhiy continued influencing the development of Russian literature, science and culture for a long time.