{"id":48547,"date":"2025-10-01T20:40:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T20:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?p=48547"},"modified":"2025-10-01T20:40:00","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T20:40:00","slug":"alexander-herzen-past-and-thoughts-an-annotated-critical-edition-translated-by-kathleen-f-parthe-edited-and-translated-by-robert-n-harris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?p=48547","title":{"rendered":"Alexander Herzen, \u201ePast and Thoughts: An Annotated Critical Edition\u201c (translated by Kathleen F. Parth\u00e9, edited and translated by Robert N. Harris)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>An annotated translation of Alexander Herzen\u2019s monumental memoir&nbsp;Past and Thoughts\u2014the first new English-language edition in a century\u2014captures the tumultuous life and penetrating cultural and political insights of the writer widely regarded as the founder of Russian socialism.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>Isaiah Berlin called Alexander Herzen\u2019s magnum opus, Past and Thoughts, \u201ca literary masterpiece worthy to be placed by the side of the novels of . . . Tolstoy, Turgenev, Dostoevsky.\u201d It was the most influential memoir published in nineteenth-century Russia, and its impact extended far beyond the tsarist era and the empire\u2019s borders, inspiring generations of thinkers, leaders, and dissidents struggling against authoritarian regimes. The first English-language translation in a century, thoroughly annotated with a new introduction, this volume shows why Past and Thoughts is considered a great classic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Against a dramatic backdrop of war, revolution, and exile, Herzen tells a stirring story of political agitation, marital scandal, betrayal, and despair. Past and Thoughts begins with Napoleon\u2019s invasion of Moscow during Herzen\u2019s infancy, then follows the author\u2019s central role in Russia\u2019s emerging intelligentsia, his imprisonment and exile in the frozen north, his adventures across a mid-century Europe undergoing the turbulence of revolution and unification, and his founding of the first uncensored Russian-language press. We see the Paris revolts of 1848 and the flamboyant swashbucklers of Italy\u2019s Risorgimento through Herzen\u2019s sharp eyes, alongside his bold journalism, which reached both the tsar\u2019s prisoners and the Winter Palace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This edition restores a key section on the tragic denouement of Herzen\u2019s marriage\u2014omitted from previous abridged versions\u2014and includes notes offering critical insight into Herzen\u2019s historical sketches, travelogues, satire, poetry, philosophical excursions, and polemics. Tolstoy remarked that \u201cHerzen awaits his readers in the future.\u201d A piercing investigation of the human spirit and its enemies, Past and Thoughts is indeed a work for our time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Reviews<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201ePast and Thoughts is perhaps the greatest autobiography in Russian literature, a classic worth placing in company with Turgenev, Dostoevsky, and Tolstoy. This new translation captures, as never before, Herzen\u2019s anecdotal brilliance, wit, and inimitable essayistic style, with its layers of irony on irony.\u201c \u2013 Gary Saul Morson, Northwestern University<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201eThis magnificent exercise in self-writing founded the art of political witnessing for nineteenth-century Russia. At last, Herzen\u2019s acclaimed mega-text receives the critical English edition it deserves, expertly pruning out and eloquently filling in this world for today\u2019s readers.\u201c \u2013 Caryl Emerson, Princeton University<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>About the Authors<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Robert N. Harris<\/strong> specializes in nineteenth-century Russian intellectual history at the University of Oxford. He has lectured at numerous universities, including Barcelona, Cambridge, and LMU Munich.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Kathleen F. Parth\u00e9 <\/strong>is Professor Emeritus of Russian at the University of Rochester. She is the author of A Herzen Reader, Russian Village Prose, and, with James H. Billington, The Search for a New Russian National Identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>416 pages\/ Harvard University Press<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hup.harvard.edu\/books\/9780674495104\">https:\/\/www.hup.harvard.edu\/books\/9780674495104<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":48548,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-knjige","category-novosti"],"acf":{"facebook_opis":""},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Herzen.jpeg?fit=600%2C906&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":54066,"url":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?p=54066","url_meta":{"origin":48547,"position":0},"title":"CALL FOR CHAPTERS: YUGOSLAV WOMEN HISTORIANS: GENDER, KNOWLEDGE, AND PROFESSION IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY","author":"Branimir Jankovi\u0107","date":"12. lipnja 2026.","format":false,"excerpt":"Type: Edited Volume Language: English Publisher: Institute for Recent History of Serbia Editors: Dr. Nata\u0161a Mili\u0107evi\u0107, Senior Research Associate, Institute for Recent History of Serbia\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Prof. Dr. Michael Antolovi\u0107, Faculty of Education in Sombor, University of Novi Sad Contact: jugoslovenske.istoricarke@yahoo.com Timeline: October 15, 2026: Abstract submission deadline June 30, 2027:\u2026","rel":"","context":"U &quot;Novosti&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Novosti","link":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/CPF-Gender.png?fit=1200%2C460&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/CPF-Gender.png?fit=1200%2C460&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/CPF-Gender.png?fit=1200%2C460&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/CPF-Gender.png?fit=1200%2C460&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/CPF-Gender.png?fit=1200%2C460&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":53802,"url":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?p=53802","url_meta":{"origin":48547,"position":1},"title":"&#8220;Disability and War in the Late Middle Ages: Becoming, Surviving, Managing&#8221;, eds. N. Dubourg, C. Masson","author":"Filip \u0160imunjak","date":"4. lipnja 2026.","format":false,"excerpt":"Issues relating to disability and war remain largely overlooked by military and disability historians. This exclusion is all the more striking since there was hardly a more likely place for receiving permanent injury than a battle, and we can barely imagine a worse place for disabled people than a battlefield.\u2026","rel":"","context":"U &quot;Knjige&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Knjige","link":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?cat=8"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Disability-Medieval-ages.webp?fit=596%2C894&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Disability-Medieval-ages.webp?fit=596%2C894&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Disability-Medieval-ages.webp?fit=596%2C894&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":52763,"url":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?p=52763","url_meta":{"origin":48547,"position":2},"title":"Predavanje \u2013 Dalibor \u010cepulo &#8220;The Croatian-Hungarian Settlement of 1868: A Hybrid Framework and Modern Governance&#8221;","author":"Filip \u0160imunjak","date":"30. travnja 2026.","format":false,"excerpt":"Public lecture held by Prof. Dr. Dalibor \u010cepulo (Professor Emeritus at the University of Zagreb) on the occasion of his inauguration as honorary professor of ELTE University.7 May 2026, 16.00, at ELTE Faculty of Law, Faculty Council Room (1053 Budapest, Egyetem t\u00e9r 1-3.) The Croatian\u2013Hungarian Settlement of 1868 established the\u2026","rel":"","context":"U &quot;Novosti&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Novosti","link":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Snimka-zaslona-2026-04-30-075533.png?fit=1200%2C530&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Snimka-zaslona-2026-04-30-075533.png?fit=1200%2C530&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Snimka-zaslona-2026-04-30-075533.png?fit=1200%2C530&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Snimka-zaslona-2026-04-30-075533.png?fit=1200%2C530&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Snimka-zaslona-2026-04-30-075533.png?fit=1200%2C530&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":52679,"url":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?p=52679","url_meta":{"origin":48547,"position":3},"title":"CfP: CHOSEN NATION(S): HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL INTERPRETATIONS OF EXCEPTIONALISM, BUDAPEST, 10TH\u201311TH JUNE 2026 (DEADLINE: 1ST MAY 2026)","author":"Branimir Jankovi\u0107","date":"27. travnja 2026.","format":false,"excerpt":"The Ludovika University of Public Service (NKE) and the Jewish Theological Seminary \u2013 University of Jewish Studies (OR-ZSE) are pleased to announce a joint academic conference on \u201cChosen Nation(s): Historical and Cultural Interpretations of Exceptionalism\u201d, to be held in Budapest, Hungary. Chosen Nation(s): Historical and Cultural Interpretations of Exceptionalism Keynote\u2026","rel":"","context":"U &quot;Novosti&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Novosti","link":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/hsozkult.png?fit=1006%2C241&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/hsozkult.png?fit=1006%2C241&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/hsozkult.png?fit=1006%2C241&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/hsozkult.png?fit=1006%2C241&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":53443,"url":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?p=53443","url_meta":{"origin":48547,"position":4},"title":"The Routledge Handbook of the History and Sociology of Ideas","author":"Branimir Jankovi\u0107","date":"18. svibnja 2026.","format":false,"excerpt":"Edited by Stefanos Geroulanos and Gis\u00e8le Sapiro The Routledge Handbook of the History and Sociology of Ideas establishes a new and comprehensive way of working in the history and sociology of ideas, in order to obviate several longstanding gaps that have prevented a fruitful interdisciplinary and international dialogues. Pushing global\u2026","rel":"","context":"U &quot;Knjige&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Knjige","link":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?cat=8"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Ideas.jpg?fit=350%2C498&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":52692,"url":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?p=52692","url_meta":{"origin":48547,"position":5},"title":"Florian Bieber \u201eHvar in the Modern Age: Identity and Change in Southeast Europe\u201c","author":"Filip \u0160imunjak","date":"28. travnja 2026.","format":false,"excerpt":"Description\u00a0 In this open-access book, Florian Bieber traces the history of the Adriatic island of Hvar over half a millennium, from the advent of Venetian rule in the 15th century to the end of Yugoslavia in the late 20th century. The history of Hvar tells a larger story about modernity,\u2026","rel":"","context":"U &quot;Knjige&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Knjige","link":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?cat=8"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Florian-Bieber-Hvar-in-the-Modern-Age-Identity-and-Change-in-Southeast-Europe.webp?fit=540%2C810&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Florian-Bieber-Hvar-in-the-Modern-Age-Identity-and-Change-in-Southeast-Europe.webp?fit=540%2C810&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Florian-Bieber-Hvar-in-the-Modern-Age-Identity-and-Change-in-Southeast-Europe.webp?fit=540%2C810&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=48547"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48547\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48549,"href":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48547\/revisions\/48549"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/48548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=48547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=48547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=48547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}