Poor Folk
Nekrasov was credited for being the first editor of Fyodor Dostoyevsky whose debut novel "Poor Folk" made its way into the "St. Petersburg Collection" which (along with its predecessor, 1845's "The Physiology of Saint Petersburg") played the crucial role in promoting the realism in Russian literature. A long-standing editor and publisher of "Sovremennik", he turned it into the leading Russian literary publication of his time, thus continuing the legacy of Pushkin, its originator. During its 20 years of steady and careful literary policy, "Sovremennik" served as a cultural forum for all the major Russian writers, including Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Ivan Turgenev, and Leo Tolstoy, as well as Nekrasov's own poetry and prose. His years at the helm of "Sovremennik", though, were marred by controversy. "Nekrasov was a genius editor, and his gift of procuring the best literature and the best authors at the height of their relevancy, bordered on miracle," acknowledged Mirsky, but as such he was "a ruthless manipulator, first and foremost, for whom any means justified the end" and who "shamelessly exploited the enthusiasm of his underpaid authors."