Recommended Biography! Mitsuo Naganawa's "Critical Biography of Gerzen" Summary and Impressions - The Turbulent Life of a Russian Revolutionary
This time we would like to introduce "Critique Gertzen" by Mitsuo Naganawa, published by Seibunsha in 2012.
Let's take a quick look at the book.
This is the first full-scale biography of Alexander Gertzen, the protagonist of Tom Stoppard's full-length play "Coast of Utopia. This is the first full-scale critical biography of Alexander Gertzen in Japan. It vividly depicts the life of Russia's greatest intellectual who, at a turning point in world history in the mid-19th century, ran through Russia and Europe under the banner of "human freedom and dignity". Published to commemorate the 200th anniversary of his birth.
Seibunshahome page.
Gertzen (1812-1870) was a leading Russian thinker and revolutionary. His most famous work is "The Past and Contemplation.
Tom Stoppard, mentioned in the book introduction above, has been on our blog before.Tom Stoppard's "Rock 'n' Roll" Synopsis and Thoughts - "A classic play inspired by Kundera and Havel."article.
Goertzen is theCoast of UtopiaHe has become especially well known recently as the protagonist of the
This Gertzen is a person who always comes up when researching Russian writers such as Dostoevsky and Turgenev, and he is also related to Marx, whom we continue to update now.
So I picked up this biography to find out who Gertzen was and what were the historical and social conditions in which he lived.
This biography is quite thick. It is over 550 pages in two columns, top and bottom. It is quite a lot of content.
But it was extremely interesting and not hard to read at all.
The storytelling is exquisite and does not bore me at all. And Gertzen himself, with his tumultuous life, is also interesting!
He also explains why Gertzen came to such an idea, what was happening at that time, and the Russian situation at that time in an easy-to-understand manner.
Of particular interest to me were the German writers and thinkers such as Goethe, Schiller, Hegel, Feuerbach, and others who influenced the Russian literary youth.
This was very interesting not only for Gertzen, but also for Dostoevsky and Marx.
This biography is highly recommended, as you can also link and learn about the social situation in Germany, Russia, France, and England. You will feel as if the knowledge you have known in fragments is now connected.
Gertzen is certainly not as well known as Marx, Dostoevsky, or Tolstoy, and not much is known about him. Until I read this book, I knew very little about him.
But I am really glad I read this one. It is extremely interesting!
There are so many parts of the book that I would like to introduce, but I can't do so in this article. You will be surprised at the surprising facts. The fact that Gertzen, the revolutionary, was an incredibly wealthy man and entrusted Rothschild with the management of his assets comes up. I was also surprised at this. These facts keep coming out. It also becomes clear that Gertzen was not a dangerous revolutionary as a human being, but a moderate and rational person.
It is very interesting to hear about the reality, which is quite different from the image of revolutionaries that we might naively imagine.
I would highly recommend this book.
The above is a recommended biography of Mitsuo Naganawa, "Critique Gertzen! The Turbulent Life of a Russian Revolutionary".
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