Vissarion Belinsky

[Worm]

What was the significance of Belinsky exactly in Russian literature history?  He supposedly helped Gogol, Dostoevsky, and others, to get published..

Did he have a magazine of some sorts?

[Canerican]

My knowledge is that he was simply a literary critic who wasvery well respected in Russia in that day (Imagine Ebert and Roper (sp.)). So his opinion mattered alot. His first critiques of Dostoevsky were very positive, but then he judged Mr. Prokharchin, The Landlady, and The Double as being devoid of any social message. At this point Dostoevsky ended his friendship to him. So I believe that he did indeed help Dostoevsky get popularized in Russia. But I cannot answer further than this.