“Man Will not Live on Bread Alone”...: Evgeny Belov on Public Education in His Letters to Dostoevsky and Publications in “Grazhdanin”

F. M. Dostoevsky’s epistolary archive contains three letters from E. A. Belov, a historian, teacher, literary critic, and memoirist, a pupil of P. I. Melnikov-Pechersky, a renowned chronicler and researcher of Russian history and the Old Believers. All three letters addressed to Dostoevsky were written in August 1873, during Belov’s brief collaboration with the weekly journal “Grazhdanin” (“The Citizen”). The writer placed great hopes in this contributor, as he acknowledged in his letter to A. G. Dostoevskaya, who later mentioned Belov’s name alongside such “Grazhdanin” contributors as K. P. Pobedonostsev, A. N. Maikov, T. I. Filippov, N. N. Strakhov, and A. U. Poretsky. With Belov’s arrival at “Grazhdanin,” the collective column “Criticism and Bibliography” was revived. Belov began actively collaborating with the journal, editing articles and publishing them in the critical section. During Dostoevsky’s editorship, seven articles and reviews by Belov were published, however, from September 1873 onward, his active participation in the journal was limited, although later, in the latter half of 1874, his publications in “Grazhdanin” appeared periodically. Belov’s name is mentioned sporadically in Dostoevsky studies, primarily in connection with an editorial conflict over D. D. Kishensky’s article, which is reflected in Belov’s letters to Dostoevsky. This article examines in detail Belov’s publications on public education that appeared in the summer 1873 issues of “Grazhdanin.” During their collaboration, Dostoevsky and Belov developed a creative dialogue between the editor and the critic. Belov’s publications raised various issues of public education, the journal’s spirit, and its direction. Along with other contributors to “Grazhdanin,” Belov presented a program for reforming the secondary education system. The critic’s fundamental idea was the paramount role of spiritual education, without which neither understanding national identity and national ideals, nor returning to national roots are possible. This idea is fundamental to comprehending the concept of folk spirit, which defines the meaning of Dostoevsky’s creative work.