Who is Vissarion Belinsky from Russian Thinkers and what is their importance?

Vissarion Belinsky is the most influential Russian critic of the mid-nineteenth century. He came from a humble background, and he always had a note of rustic clumsiness and directness, even rudeness, in his writings that was often imitated by future radicals. Belinsky was thrown out of Moscow University, likely because of a play he wrote against serfdom. He was, however, encouraged by a liberal professor to write articles and reviews, which he did for the rest of his life.