Alexander Herzen was a prolific and varied writer. His collected works approach forty volumes in the standard Soviet edition and are dominated by his masterpiece--his memoirs, Byloe i dumy (first complete edition, 1921; translated as My Past and Thoughts: The Memoirs of Alexander Herzen, 1924-1927). Overall, he is probably best characterized as a radical journalist and essayist, and all his works, including the memoirs and his early fiction, are imbued with his political and social convictions. Despite shifts in his views over the years, his basic themes remained constant: hatred for the oppressive regime of Tsar Nicholas I; a demand for individual freedom; and anger at the injustice suffered by the enserfed peasant population in Russia. Herzen drew much early inspiration from western European "utopian" socialists, and like them he devoted much attention to issues of marriage, family life, and the position of women.

Herzen was born Aleksandr Ivanovich...