The main Preoccupation of the writer, in these two classes of life-records, is consequently with what his fellow-men have thought of him and said about him. In the nineteenth century the a autobiographies of men of mark are more often shaped on lines such as these: ‘So full of talent and attractive was I such appreciation and admiration I won!’ (Johanne Louise Heiberg, ‘A Life lived once more in Reminiscence’) or, ‘I was full of talent and worthy of being loved, but yet I was unappreciated, and these were the hard struggles I went through before I won the crown of fame’ (Hans Christian Andersen, ‘The Tale of a Life’). In these forms of self-representation the author is thus mainly preoccupied with himself. The autobiographies which we owe to great minds have in former times generally been of one of three types: ‘So far I went astray, thus I found the true Path’ (St Augustine) or, ‘So bad was I, but who dares to consider himself better!” (Rousseau) or, ‘This is the way a genius has slowly been evolved from within and by favourable surroundings’(Goethe). It was published in “The Atlantic Monthly” (September, 1898, to September, 1899), under the title, “The Autobiography of a Revolutionist.” Preparing it now for publication in book form, I have added considerably to the original text in the parts dealing with my youth and my stay in Siberia, and especially in the Sixth Part, in which I have told the story of my life in Western Europe.īromley, Kent, October, 1899 Introduction by Georg Brandes
I feel it a most pleasant duty to express here my very best thanks for the hospitality that was offered to me, and for the friendly pressure that was exercised to induce me to undertake this work.
This book would not probably have been written for some time to come, but for the kind invitation and the most friendly encouragement of the editor and the publishers of “The Atlantic Monthly” to write it for serial publication in their magazine.
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