ABSTRACT
Shelgunov saga is instructive insofar as it throws light on the frequent assertions, made by both his admirers and his enemies, that it was Nicholas Chernyshevsky who molded the minds of men of the sixties. There is no mystery as to why Chernyshevsky should have had so much appeal to the young. Herzen hit on only half the truth when he described Chernyshevsky as a person who was "stricken by old age before his time." Thus Chernyshevsky could "relate" to the "new men" in a way that was quite beyond the power of Herzen and other contemporary political figures. In January 1858, concurrently with his activity on The Contemporary, Chernyshevsky embarked on another editorial job which, though shortlived, was to have very serious consequences. He became a co-editor of The Military Review, a new journal sponsored by the war ministry.
