Herzen, ALEXANDER

Herzen, ALEXANDER, a Russian author, was born at Moscow, 25th March 1812. In 1834, while yet a student, he was imprisoned for his political opinions. From 1842 he published much, principally novels and political works. In 1846 he left Russia, and eventually established himself in 1851 in London. At this time his voice had great weight in influencing public opinion in Russia, chiefly by means of his paper Kolokol, of which thousands of copies were smuggled into Russia, in spite of the government prohibition. But Herzen gradually lost his influence as he became more and more a party-man, and especially by his advocacy of the cause of the Poles at the outbreak of their rebellion in 1863. He died at Paris, 21st January 1870. Of his numerous works may be mentioned the novels Who is to Blame? and Dr Krupoff, and From the Other Shore, Letters from Italy and France, Development of Revolutionary Ideas in Russia, Baptised Property (Serfdom), and The Social Condition of Russia. Many of these appeared under the pseudonym of Iskander. He also edited Mémoires de l'Impératrice Cathérine (1859), and the works of Pushkin, Lermontoff, &c. His collected works appeared in Russian in 11 vols. at Basel, 1875 et seq.