Note 32 — Chapter 25 Dissonance—A New Circle—Desperate Hegelianism—V. Byelinsky, M. Bakunin, and others—A Quarrel with Byelinsky and Reconciliation—Argument with a Lady at Novgorod—Stankevitch’s Circle.

Botkin, Vassily Petrovitch (1810-1865), the self-taught son of a merchant, was a fine critic and authority on art and literature. His criticism was greatly valued by his friends, and his writings (chiefly articles in magazines) give no idea of his real importance in the history of Russian culture. His brother was the great physician.