“Nihilists” against “Romantics”: P.L. Boborykin’s “Sorrowful Brethren” Play Publication as Historical and Literary Discovery

Abstract

The article represents a review of the fi rst book in the new series “Reverse Perspective” issued by “Delo” publishing house and based on the materials from the rare books department of RANEPA Scientifi c Library. This is the fi rst publication of Pyotr Dmitrievich Boborykin’s (1836–1921) play “The Sorrowful Brethren” (late 1860s), depicting the life of St. Petersburg literary world in the early 1860s. The ideological basis of the play is the confl ict between liberal “last romantics” of the 1840s and radical “nihilists” of the late 1850s and early 1860s.