My personal introduction to V. G. Belinsky began in St. Petersburg in the summer of 1843, but I learned his name much earlier. Almost immediately after the publication of his first critical articles in “Molva” and “Teleskop” (1836–1839), rumors about him began to spread around St. Petersburg—about a man who was extraordinarily alive and quick-tempered, who stopped for nothing and boldly attacked “everyone”—of course, within the world of literature.