Moskovskii Nabliudatel

(Moscow Observer). (1) A Russian “encyclopedic journal” published in Moscow twice a month from 1835 to 1837. Its editor was V. P. Androsov, and its chief contributors were A. S. Khomiakov, I. V. Kireevskii, V. F. Odoevskii, and E. A. Baratynskii. S. P. Shevyrev was its leading critic.

Moskovskii nabliudatel’, which was the organ of nascent Slavophilism, showed an interest in German idealist philosophy and F. W. J. von Schelling’s aesthetics. The journal’s eclectic literary position was revealed in its simultaneous fight against the conservative journal Biblioteka dlia chteniia (Library for Reading) and against the growing influence of V. G. Belinskii’s criticism. Moskovskii nabliudatel’ criticized N. V. Gogol’s realistic art and championed V. G. Benediktov’s epigonic romantic poetry. The publication was not a success with the public and was discontinued by the editors.

(2) A Russian journal published in Moscow twice a month from May 1838 to June 1839 by N. S. Stepanov. V. G. Belinskii, who was in fact the journal’s editor, turned it into the organ of N. V. Stankevich’s circle and defended realism in his articles. The journal’s orientation showed a tendency toward “philosophical conciliation with Russian reality.”