Page 482 - the-idiot

the old landowning class, and clerical families—‘
‘How, nothing that they have done is Russian?’ asked
Prince S.
‘It may be Russian, but it is not national. Our liberals are
not Russian, nor are our conservatives, and you may be sure
that the nation does not recognize anything that has been
done by the landed gentry, or by the seminarists, or what is
to be done either.’
‘Come, that’s good! How can you maintain such a par-
adox? If you are serious, that is. I cannot allow such a
statement about the landed proprietors to pass unchal-
lenged. Why, you are a landed proprietor yourself!’ cried
Prince S. hotly.
‘I suppose you’ll say there is nothing national about our
literature either?’ said Alexandra.
‘Well, I am not a great authority on literary questions, but
I certainly do hold that Russian literature is not Russian, ex-
cept perhaps Lomonosoff, Pouschkin and Gogol.’
‘In the first place, that is a considerable admission, and
in the second place, one of the above was a peasant, and the
other two were both landed proprietors!’
‘Quite so, but don’t be in such a hurry! For since it has
been the part of these three men, and only these three, to
say something absolutely their own, not borrowed, so by
this very fact these three men become really national. If any
Russian shall have done or said anything really and abso-
lutely original, he is to be called national from that moment,
though he may not be able to talk the Russian language; still
he is a national Russian. I consider that an axiom. But we

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