Note 77 — BAZAROV

The prophecy has now been fulfilled. This mutual interaction of men on books, and books on men, is a curious thing. The book takes its whole shape from the society in which it is conceived; it generalises, it makes it more vivid and striking, and afterwards is outdone by reality. The originals caricature their vividly drawn portraits, and actual persons live in their literary shades. At the end of last century all young Germans were a little after the style of Werther, while all their young ladies resembled Charlotte; at the beginning of the present century the university Werthers had begun to change into ‘Robbers,’ not real ones, but Schilleresque robbers. The young Russians who have come on the scene since 1862 are almost all derived from What Is to be Done? with the addition of a few Bazarov features.—(Author’s Note.)