Looking back over the record of Russian literature, the first thing which must strike us, if we think of the literature of other countries, is its comparatively short life. There is in Russian literature no Middle Ages, no Villon, no Dante, no Chaucer, no Renaissance, no _Grand Siècle_. Literature begins in the nineteenth century. The second thing which will perhaps strike us is that, in spite of its being the youngest of all the literatures, it seems to be spiritually the oldest. In some respects it seems to have become over-ripe before it reached maturity. But herein, perhaps, lies the secret of its greatness, and this may be the value of its contribution to the soul of mankind. It is--
and its chief gift to mankind is an expression, made with a naturalness and sincerity that are matchless, and a love of reality which is unique,--for all Russian literature, whether in prose or verse, is rooted in reality--of that grief and that wisdom; the grief and wisdom which come from a great heart; a heart that is large enough to embrace the world and to drown all the sorrows therein with the immensity of its sympathy, its fraternity, its pity, its charity, and its love.
1692. First play produced in Russia, Gregory. Simeon Polotsky's _The Prodigal Son_ acted.
1703. The first Russian newspaper, _The Russian News_, appears.
1725. Death of Peter the Great. Foundation of the Academy of Science.
1790. Radishchev's _Journey Through Russia_ published.
1800. First edition of _The Story of the Raid of Prince Igor_ published.
1802. Zhukovsky translates Gray's _Elegy_. Death of Radishchev.
1816. Death of Derzhavin. _History of the Russian State_, by Karamzin, published.
1819. University of St. Petersburg founded.
1820. Pushkin's _Ruslan and Ludmila_ published.
1823. Griboyedov's _Misfortune of Being Clever_ circulated. First Canto of _Eugene Onegin_ published.
1829. Death of Griboyedov. Pushkin's _Poltava_ published.
1831. Pushkin's _Boris Godunov_ published. Complete version of _Eugene Onegin_ published.
1832. Gogol's _Evening on the Farm near the Dikanka_ published.
1835. Gogol's _Revisor_ produced on the stage.
1842. Death of Koltsov. Gogol's _Dead Souls_ published.
1847. Gogol's correspondence published. Turgenev's _Sportsman's Sketches_ published. Death of Belinsky.