Past and thoughts : an annotated critical edition / Alexander Ivanovich Herzen ; edited with an introduction by Robert N. Harris ; abridged and translated by Robert N. Harris and Kathleen F. Parthé.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Herzen, Aleksandr, 1812-1870, Author.

Contributor:

Harris, Robert (Robert Neil), editor, translator.

Parthé, Kathleen, editor, translator.

Standardized Title:

Byloe i dumy. Selections. English

Language:

English

Russian

Subjects (All):

Herzen, Aleksandr, 1812-1870.

Herzen, Aleksandr.

Revolutionaries--Russia--Biography.

Revolutionaries.

Socialists--Russia--Biography.

Socialists.

Authors, Russian--19th century--Biography.

Authors, Russian.

Genre:

Biographies

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Massachusetts; London, England : Harvard University Press, 2026.

Language Note:

Text in English translated from Russian, with commentary in English.

System Details:

text file PDF

Summary:

An annotated translation of Alexander Herzen's monumental memoir Past and Thoughts--the first new English-language edition in a century--captures the tumultuous life and penetrating cultural and political insights of the writer widely regarded as the founder of Russian socialism.Isaiah Berlin called Alexander Herzen's magnum opus, Past and Thoughts, "a literary masterpiece worthy to be placed by the side of the novels of . . . Tolstoy, Turgenev, Dostoevsky." It was the most influential memoir published in nineteenth-century Russia, and its impact extended far beyond the tsarist era and the empire's borders, inspiring generations of thinkers, leaders, and dissidents struggling against authoritarian regimes. The first English-language translation in a century, thoroughly annotated with a new introduction, this volume shows why Past and Thoughts is considered a great classic.Against a dramatic backdrop of war, revolution, and exile, Herzen tells a stirring story of political agitation, marital scandal, betrayal, and despair. Past and Thoughts begins with Napoleon's invasion of Moscow during Herzen's infancy, then follows the author's central role in Russia's emerging intelligentsia, his imprisonment and exile in the frozen north, his adventures across a mid-century Europe undergoing the turbulence of revolution and unification, and his founding of the first uncensored Russian-language press. We see the Paris revolts of 1848 and the flamboyant swashbucklers of Italy's Risorgimento through Herzen's sharp eyes, alongside his bold journalism, which reached both the tsar's prisoners and the Winter Palace.This edition restores a key section on the tragic denouement of Herzen's marriage--omitted from previous abridged versions--and includes notes offering critical insight into Herzen's historical sketches, travelogues, satire, poetry, philosophical excursions, and polemics. Tolstoy remarked that "Herzen awaits his readers in the future." A piercing investigation of the human spirit and its enemies, Past and Thoughts is indeed a work for our time.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Introduction / Robert N. Harris

Guide to This Edition

Timeline

Preface to the 1860 Edition

Part One Childhood and University(1812-1834)

1 Birth into History: La Grande Armée Arrives in Moscow

2 Loyalty and Patriotism

3 Calot

4 The Uncles

5 Childhood and Social Order

6 Religious Education and Practice

7 Decembrist Revolt

8 Nick and Sparrow Hills: Friendship and a Shared Cause

9 Ivan Yakovlev and the Circle of Superfluous Men

10 University

11 Early Adulthood

12 Political Disillusion

Part Two Prison and Exile(1834-1838)

13 Ogaryov's Arrest

14 Herzen's Arrest

15 Police Station and Initial Questioning

16 Krutitsky Barracks

17 Interrogation and Sentencing

18 Perm

19 The Bureaucracy

20 Provincial Governance

21 Vitberg

22 The Heir's Visit

23 Arrival in Vladimir

Part Three Vladimir on the Klyazma River(1838-1839)

Introduction

24 The Princess and Her Aunt

25 The Orphan

26 Living Apart

27 Moscow in My Absence

28 The Third of March and the Ninth of May 1838

29 June 13, 1839

30 Correspondence

Part Four Moscow, Petersburg, Novgorod(1840-1847)

31 From Vladimir to Moscow

32 Pavlov

33 Stankevich and Study of Hegel

34 Philosophical Language

35 Theory and Practice

36 "Reconciliation with Reality"

37 St. Petersburg

38 Belinsky

39 The Magistr

40 Alienation, Protest, and National Spirit

41 Dedicated Literati

42 Petersburg

43 The Old Guard

44 Notes from Natalie

45 Personalities East and West

46 Granovsky

47 Friendship and Convictions

48 Not "Our People"

49 Chaadayev

50 The Sphinx

51 The Last Trip to Sokolovo

52 A Passport, at Last

53 Nikolai Ketcher (1842-1847)

Part Five Paris-Italy-Paris(1847-1852)

Outside (Before the Revolution and After)

54 The Journey

55 The Honeymoon of the Republic

56 A Dream

57 Into the Storm

58 Departure from Paris

59 Mazzini, Garibaldi, Saffi

60 Exiles in Switzerland

61 Il Pianto

62 Post Scriptum

63 Rothschild versus Romanov

64 1850-1851

65 Proudhon

66 Relationships

67 Vive la mort

Inside (A Family Drama)

68 From Natalie's Diary and Letters

69 Signs

71 Herwegh

72 Swirling of the Heart

73 One More Year (1851)

74 Gossip and Lies

75 Reunion and Recovery

76 "Oceano nox"

77 The Challenge (1852)

78 Natalie's Final Days

Appendix

79 Haug

80 Teddington

Russian Shadows

81 N. I. Sazonov

82 The Engelsons

Part Six England(1852-1864)

83 London Fog

84 John Stuart Mill and His Book On Liberty

85 Robert Owen

Part Seven The Free Russian Press and The Bell

86 Apogee and Perigee

87 The Young Emigration

88 Mikhail Bakunin and the Polish Cause

Part Eight "Fragments" and Supplement

89 In Absence of Any Attachments

90 "Venezia la bella"

91 Alpendrücken

92 After the Attack

Addendum Final Years

"To an Old Comrade"

From Herzen's Diary

From Herzen's Letters to Ogaryov

General Index

Index of Names

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Online resource; title from PDF title page (De Gruyter Brill, viewed March 3, 2026).

Other Format:

Print record: Herzen, Aleksandr. Past and thoughts.

ISBN:

9780674304086

067430408X

9780674304079

0674304071

OCLC:

1573520359

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license