Incorrect formulation or two “Diaries” in “Citizens” of 1870s

When F. M. Dostoevsky took up the position of the editor-in-chief and the publisher of the weekly journal “The Citizen” (“Grazhdanin”) in 1873, he added a new editorial section “A Writer’s Diary” into the very first January issue. Shortly after that the selected issues were singled out as a separate “written work” that was perceived as a new genre in the Russian and world literature. In 1876-1877 a transformation of the genre took place: “A Writer’s Diary” became a monthly publication distributed by subscription and retail sales. Both the section in the “Grazhdanin” and the monthly issues of the “Diary” made Dostoevsky popular among the readers and generated bitter disputes among critics. In this context (which the members of the editorial board and readers of “The Citizen” knew well) an editorial note by V. F. Putsykovich appeared on November 22, 1876. He announced a new journal project starting in 1877: V. P. Meshchersky was going to publish his “Diary”. The content of the announcement represents some essential points of Dostoevsky’s conception of the genre. The article attempts to reveal the causes of the evident indiscretion exerted by the editorial board. The author compares the conceptions of the “Diaries” by Dostoevsky and Meshchersky and determines their salient features.