We have at last come back to belles lettres, the department of literature by which the genius of a nation is most distinctly characterized.  The tendencies which in Russia prevail in the other branches, viz. a revival of interest for all that is native, Slavic, or relating to the past; the reaction from a period of fondness for all that was foreign and outlandish; is very clearly perceptible also in this portion of literature.  Yet the Russians, once forcibly thrust into the way of imitation by their great Tzar, appear here even now only as imitators; and are still far from having found the path back to their simple popular poetry.

After this remark it cannot surprise us, that towards the close of the last, and especially at the beginning of the present period, the historical novel was cultivated with particular fondness; and was almost exclusively devoted to Russian history.  T. Bulgarin, P. Svinyin, Sagoskin, Massalski, wrote the most approved works of that kind.  More recently the novelists have rather returned to the description of morals and manners, as their more appropriate province.  Pawlof, Prince Odoyeski, Lermontof, Gogol, Laschetnikof, Weltmann, Dahl, who writes under the name of Kozak Luganski, are the most popular writers of tales.  Karamzin and Shukofski are still considered as models in this department.

We must not forget to mention here the unhappy youth Alexander Bestushef; who, as lieutenant in one of the Petersburg regiments, was, like his friend Rileyef, implicated in the conspiracy of 1825.  He was deprived of his nobility and illustrious name, and sent to the mines of Siberia; afterwards, as a species of pardon, he was placed as a common soldier in the army of the Caucasus, where he rose to the rank of an officer and fell soon after by the balls of the Therkesses.  He had been well known to his countrymen as the editor of a favourite Annual, entitled the Polar Star; and as the author of a very spirited and clear survey of Russian literature, distinguished by characteristic sketches of some of their principal poets.  The name of Bestushef was buried; but its bearer succeeded a second time in acquiring a literary reputation under the name of Alexander Marlinski.  His Sketches of the Caucasus and of Siberia, his tales entitled Amulat Beg and Mullah Nur, are animated and spirited pictures of scenes quite novel and fresh.  He has been compared to the German novelist Spindler; but, although this latter has the advantage in respect to invention, we think Marlinsky far superior to him in a poetical respect.  There is a vigour, a freshness, an originality, in some of his descriptions, which would class him among true poets, even when stripped of the novelty of the scenery among which they are laid, and which gives them indeed a peculiar attraction.  Nothing was more natural nor even more honourable to the Russian public, than that, as an unavoidable effect of the pity and interest felt for this young writer, his real talent should have been for a short time overrated.  But even after his death, it seems that the government regarded this enthusiasm with suspicion; for in a literary collection in which the unprinted works of one hundred writers are promised,[44] accompanied by their portraits, Marlinsky’s portrait was not permitted to appear.