Product Overview
Dmitry Grigorovich (1822–1900) was born a member of the
Russian landed gentry. A schoolmate of Dostoevsky's, he
contributed several short stories to the influential almanac The
Physiology of Petersburg (1845). His single most important
work is undoubtedly the short novel Anton-the-Hapless (1847)
published in the most famous 19th-century literary journal,
Sovremennik (The Contemporary).
The tale of a poor peasant and his many misfortunes,
Anton-the-Hapless caused considerable controversy when
published, and divided Russian literary critics. Grigorovich
managed to portray peasant existence from the point of view
of the peasants themselves. He depicted the life of the Russian
rural community realistically and was the very first writer to
condemn openly the system of serfdom.
But the novel does more than dwell on the hero’s misery: it
portrays the customs of the Russian peasant class in vivid and
poignant detail: he presents a variety of characters, whom the
hero encounters as he makes his way to a county fair; he
describes the fair itself in living color, and includes wonderful
scenes from Russian nature.
The original story ended with a peasant uprising against the
tyrannical steward. Such an outcome was censored, of course,
and the censor wrote the present ending himself. Nevertheless,
a very strong element of social commentary remains.