p This is a year of anniversaries.

p In May was the centenary of Belinsky’s birlh, in June the twenty-fifth anniversary of Ostrovsky’s death, in October the fiftieth anniversary of Nikitin’s death, and in November the fiftieth anniversary of Dobrolyubov’s death. They are all literary anniversaries, as yon can see, and the people whom I hey honour are no longer with us as death has removed them from the literary scene. One cannot help recalling Taine’s exclamation: "Quel cimetiere, quelle histoire!"  [609•*  History in general, and therefore the history of literature also, can indeed be called a vast cemetery: there are more dead in it than living. But this vast cemetery on which the past rests is also the cradle in which the future lies. He who "reveres his ancestors" would do well to take a walk around this cemetery: what ha? been helps us to understand what is to come. Therefore I invite the reader to visit with me the graves of Dobrolyubov and Ostrovsky.

I must warn you in advance: my plan does not include a comprehensive review of their literary activity; this would require far too much space. I am compelled to confine myself to a description of Dobrolyubov’s views of Ostrovsky’s plays. This description will acquaint u^ with the impression which the plays in question made on one of the finest representative? of the very fine period of the sixties. And an acquaintance with this impression will revive in our memory the main distinguishing features of the progressive literary criticism of this fine period.