The Inkwell of The Russian Messenger: Editorial Politics and the Serialization of Dostoevsky's Demons and Leskov's At Daggers Drawn

This article suggests a new angle from which we can approach the problem of textual and ideological parallels between Dostoevsky’s novel Demons and Leskov’s novel At Dagger Drawn, which were serialized concurrently in the The Russian Messenger in 1870–72. The installments of these novels are read side‐by‐side as they appeared in The Russian Messenger, with a consideration of the context in which they were created, including the specifics of the serialization culture and the editorial practices at the The Russian Messenger. Particular attention is paid to the history of Leskov’s and Dostoevsky’s collaboration in the journal and to the reevaluation of the claims that the intervention by the The Russian Messenger’s editor, Mikhail Katkov, resulted in the negative reception of these novels. By analyzing a practical example of the manner and effects of Katkov's editorial intervention, looking at the October 1871 issue of the The Russian Messenger, the article demonstrates the ways in which, for the editor of the journal, artistic concerns became secondary while his own ideological and polemical agenda took priority.