The cover page is adapted from Her Mother’s Voice, a painting completed circa 1901 by William Quiller Orchardson. The cover and title pages feature the League Spartan and Sorts Mill Goudy typefaces created in 2014 and 2009 by The League of Moveable Type. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Quiller_Orchardsonwww.theleagueofmoveabletype.com/
What Is to Be Done?
Chapters (107)
- Preface 0:00
- A Vital Question 13:39
- Part I: The Life of Viéra Pavlovna in Her Parents’ Family: I 39:44
- II 1:10:50
- III 1:25:26
- IV 1:34:12
- V 1:47:29
- VI 1:57:02
- VII 2:04:42
- VIII 2:14:39
- IX 2:27:31
- Part II: First Love, and Legal Marriage: I 2:39:51
- II 2:48:44
- III 2:58:51
- IV 3:07:35
- V 3:24:52
- VI 3:33:31
- VII 3:44:09
- VIII: The Temptation of Hamlet 3:59:14
- IX 4:14:05
- X 4:26:13
- XI 4:37:13
- XII: Viérotchka’s First Dream 4:47:31
- XIII 4:52:54
- XIV 5:03:18
- XV 5:08:43
- XVI 5:17:27
- XVII 5:22:07
- XVIII 5:29:32
- XIX 5:48:40
- XX 5:57:56
- XXI 6:05:52
- XXII 6:23:21
- XXIII 6:33:07
- XXIV: A Word of Praise for Marya Alekséyevna 6:47:28
- Part III: Marriage and Second Love: I 6:55:09
- II 7:01:49
- III: Viéra Pavlovna’s Second Dream 7:27:32
- IV 7:52:02
- V 8:27:33
- VI 8:38:18
- VII 8:44:43
- VIII 8:53:57
- IX 9:09:34
- X 9:12:18
- XI 9:15:45
- XII 9:25:04
- XIII 9:29:06
- XIV: Nástenka’s Story 9:34:50
- XV 9:58:37
- XVI 10:06:44
- XVII 10:17:41
- XVIII 10:23:07
- XIX: Viéra Pavlovna’s Third Dream 10:29:35
- XX 10:49:16
- XXI 11:07:48
- XXII: A Theoretical Conversation 11:16:58
- XXIII 11:39:21
- XXIV 11:48:59
- XXV 11:57:36
- XXVI 12:04:55
- XXVII 12:16:26
- XXVIII 12:19:37
- XXIX: An Extraordinary Man 12:20:45
- XXX 13:21:07
- XXXI: A Colloquy with the Sapient Reader, and His Banishment 14:08:27
- Part IV: Second Marriage: I 14:30:22
- II 15:06:47
- III 15:24:40
- IV 15:28:01
- V 15:32:10
- VI 15:49:57
- VII 15:52:52
- VIII 16:12:54
- IX 16:17:37
- X 16:20:16
- XI 16:23:43
- XII: A Digression Concerning Blue Stockings 16:31:47
- XIII 16:34:11
- XIV 16:40:56
- XV: Viéra Pavlovna’s Fourth Dream 16:51:33
- XVI 17:48:58
- XVII: A Letter from Ekaterina Vasílyevna Pólozova 17:53:00
- Part V: New People, and the Finale: I 18:11:52
- II 18:17:43
- III 18:18:49
- IV 18:31:34
- V 18:37:59
- VI 18:48:47
- VII 18:58:55
- VIII 19:08:33
- IX 19:15:35
- X 19:17:28
- XI 19:21:18
- XII 19:32:11
- XIII 19:37:44
- XIV 19:41:07
- XV 19:43:41
- XVI 19:45:06
- XVII 19:50:20
- XVIII 19:52:35
- XIX 20:10:22
- XX 20:13:26
- XXI 20:14:29
- XXII 20:16:46
- XXIII 20:23:04
- Part VI: Change of Scenes 20:49:26
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Viéra Pavlovna is coming of age, and her scheming mother tries to arrange for her to be married to a wealthy man. Viéra feels trapped and unhappy. She finds escape through her brother’s tutor Lopukhóf, who often visits the house, and they develop an understanding that they’ll get married and build a household together. Both of them consider it very important to be equal partners in the marriage, and so Viéra Pavlovna sets up a sewing collective to retain some of her independence.
Chernyshevsky wrote What Is to Be Done? in 1863 while imprisoned in St. Petersburg. It was passed to the magazine Sovremennik and published in installments. Chernyshevsky explores themes of absolute equality of the sexes and equality of the classes in an effort to spur reformation of society at large. By forming small work collectives, he suggests, agrarian Russia could bypass capitalism and move into a utopian modern age.
If this suggestion sounds familiar, it might be because What Is to Be Done? was a major influence on revolutionists like Kropotkin and Lenin, who went so far as to name one of his most influential political tracts after the novel. The novel went on to be become a Soviet-era classic thanks to its revolutionary ideas that foreshadowed Marxist socialism.
This English translation was originally published with the title A Vital Question; this Standard Ebooks edition uses the more common modern title.