BOOK LANDSCAPE OF THE PROVINCIAL CITY AND THE GENERATION OF READERS OF THE 1870s

Abstract

The investigation of the reading practices of the 1870s populist generation is the focus of this article. The author shifts her attention from the groups and circles established in university cities to the reading experiences of secondary school students in a provincial town, which influenced their desire to leave home and pursue self-education. As a case study, Vologda was selected, the book landscape of which was fixed in the materials of an emergency audit of the Vologda Theological Seminary conducted in the fall of 1875. The reason for the audit was the political process of two of its graduates V.M. Dyakov and A.I. Siryakov. The article examines the views of seminary faculty  on selecting books and arranging extracurricular reading, their thoughts on the role of teachers in training the next generation of clergy, as well as the characteristics of reading supervision. The author demonstrates how the educational theories initially accepted by the Synod authorities and put into practice after the reform of clergy education in 1867 produced a relatively liberal regime of literary access. The educational efficacy of “exhortations” in extracurricular reading was questioned in the Dyakov case. Seminarians get their reading material from private public libraries. The primary reading patterns among students of various classes and the function of the library in the development of reading groups were both discernible from an examination of the group subscriptions held by seminarians. To discuss the features of youth reading in Vologda, special emphasis is given to the book connections that seminarians had outside of the educational institution and the clergy estate. Lessons in private houses were the second source from which seminarians formed relationships in the town. The literal location of readers in urban space is demonstrated using the examples of seminarian Matvey Glubokovsky and girls’ gymnasia student Apollinaria Yushina. This localization predetermined the readers' acquaintances, library preference, and, in a political situation, and their eventual arrest. An analysis is conducted to examine the impact of reading experiences in secondary schools on the subsequent political protest participation of youth.