I am a literary giant in Russia

Chapter 37 Russian Censor

Mikhail did not intend to say too much about Peter Petrovich to this somewhat annoying gentleman. He just wanted to wait until his mother and sister came and resolve the matter.

As soon as he received the royalties, Mikhail did some calculations and then tried to squeeze out some to send to his mother and sister.

It should be said that Mikhail has been here for a while, but the financial situation has not improved. The extra money I have is basically spent on other people.
Forget it, let’s leave it at that for now. We still need to get the collection of essays done as soon as possible, and then we can do a big one right away.

Before that, in addition to "Thirst for Sleep", Mikhail also planned to put another novel on it, which could be regarded as a simple contrast with "Thirst for Sleep", so that the two novels could have a better effect to some extent.

As for what this novel is, let’s talk about it later.

Generally speaking, it is time to copy Tolstoy. It would be a bit embarrassing to just grab Chekhov as a sheep for the time being.

It is also worth mentioning that as for Dostoevsky, his literary achievements are more reflected in his novels, while in the field of short and medium-length novels, Dostoevsky is probably slightly inferior to him.

After agreeing to this, Mikhail immediately retreated to his small room to continue working. Unless there was another salon party, he would not step out of his room. After all, if he went out, the money in his pocket would be even less.
Of course, all kinds of philosophical and artistic thoughts also need to be caught up, and then I can go back and ask Demy and Belinsky to borrow some books.

While Mikhail started to get busy, Belinsky was also ready to argue with the inspector.

In this era, censors are often a huge mountain weighing on authors and magazines. Some of them are like human beings, while others are completely anthropomorphic, like Krasovsky, a censor of this period. When an article comes into his hands, it will be deleted and revised to pieces, and he will also write some comments.

Besides being uncultured, the censor considered every author an atheist and a pervert.

Mikhail, the atheist, admitted it, but the pervert couldn't admit it even if he wanted to.
As for what his comments are like, they are basically as follows.

A poet at the time wrote:
"Oh, I swear, I had a wonderful time with you,
I see a celestial smile on your lips."

Krasovsky commented: "That's too much! A woman's smile is not worthy of being called angelic!"

Then this sentence: "I silently keep my eyes on you."

The comment read: "This sentence has a frivolous meaning."

He may have written comments, but Mikhail bet that the old man's eyes were definitely not as honest as he wrote.

Then the poet again wrote:

"Other people's opinions mean nothing to me. Your gentle glance,
More precious than the whole world’s attention.”

The commentary read: "Exaggeration! Besides, there are still the Tsar and the legitimate government in the world, and their attention should be cherished."

When someone writes a love poem, they have to include a line about the Tsar and the legitimate government. How is this any different from someone buying a cell phone and watching a movie and having to talk about patriotism?
Of course, being patriotic is good. Then the poet wrote:
"Oh! How I long for that remote and quiet place,

I will hide my identity and enjoy the highest pleasure by your side."

The comments are:
"Such an idea must not be spread. These words imply that the author has given up his service to the Emperor in order to be with his mistress forever. Besides, the highest pleasure can be found only in the Gospels, not in women."

The poet adds: "Ah! I wish to dedicate my whole life to you!"

The comment reads: "What else can be left to God?"

The poet still did not finish, and continued:
"Sometimes I tune my harp at your feet and sing for you."

The comment read: "A Christian actually squatting at a woman's feet is outrageous! Such a disregard for dignity!"

Although there is still a lot of fun to do, in order to avoid being scolded for saying too much, let me just say one more as the final ending.

The poet wrote affectionately:
"I know all your secret wishes in advance, and I hold your head close to my breast."

The censor, Krasovsky, wrote with a flourish, "Pornographic poetry!"

To be honest, Russia's current censorship system and censors are extremely difficult to deal with.

If some censors did not have very good literary literacy, and if it were not for the fact that in an autocratic country like Russia, officials at all levels and nobles had complicated relationships, and some of them certainly had greater power, in other words, as long as they used personal connections and understood the ways of the world, they could easily use backdoors to get their articles passed censorship.

Otherwise, who knows how rubbish articles can become these days.
Of course, some magazines are more direct. They simply arrange a position in their own magazine for a censor. There is no job, but there is a lot of money. For magazines like this, the articles they publish are often given the green light.

All I can say is that there is nothing new under the sun, but some methods will not be outdated even after a century or two.

Even with such a difficult censorship system and censors, there would be a major strengthening in 1848. Now it can really be considered a good time, at least you can get things done through connections.
In addition, from the comments of the censor above, we can roughly see what kind of brains some officials and nobles in Russia are thinking. I can only say that the smell of corruption is too strong.
As for Belinsky's approach to censorship, he usually went through the basic process first. If it didn't work out, he would take it back and leave it untouched for two days before showing it to the censors. At this point, some censors would simply nod slightly and say, "Hmm! Not bad for the revisions!"

People like this generally like to use the power in their hands to show off their power and gain some benefits for themselves. They are relatively easy to deal with.

If he really met someone whose head was as stiff as a rock or whose appetite was too big, Belinsky could only try to find the aristocratic friends he knew in the literary world.

By the way, when the last two novels, "Vanka" and "Anguish," were being reviewed, the censor said:
"I don't understand why you want to write about the lowly grandson of a serf and a coachman, but since you are willing to publish such boring text, then please publish it."

(End of this chapter)