Искренность с собой, искренность во всем: арцыбашевщина и эротический нигилизм в творчестве непрофессиональных авторов (1907–1911)

This article takes a fresh look at the rumors about the so-called Free Love Leagues that circulated in the Russian provinces in the spring of 1908. It focuses on a number of plays and narrative texts that were written by non-professional authors/readers in an attempt to come to terms with these secret organizations and the threat that they seemed to pose to society. Although most of these materials were written in the same vein as Sergei Naidenov's highly successful family drama Vaniushin's Children (1901), they attack the “blessings” of modern society (a more liberal upbringing of children, “pornographic” literature), rather than the stultifying atmosphere of traditional Russian family life. While expressing a deep concern with the sexual morality and the spiritual development of youth, these texts are, above all, indicative of the increased freedom of expression after 1905 and of Russian readers' willingness to use it.