Sovremennik

Sovremennik, (1836–66; “The Contemporary”), Russian literary and political journal founded in 1836 by the poet Aleksandr Pushkin. In its first year, the journal established its literary prestige by publishing Pushkin’s novel Kapitanskaya dochka (1836; The Captain’s Daughter) and Nikolay Gogol’s story “Nos” (1836; “The Nose”). Pyotr Pletnev was editor from 1837 to 1847. Nikolay Nekrasov, editor from 1847 to 1866, published works by Ivan Turgenev and Leo Tolstoy and guided the journal into radical politics. Between 1857 and 1860 it was a leading voice in the movement to abolish serfdom. The journal’s open criticism of the ruling class led to its suppression by tsarist authorities in 1866.