Talk:Alexander Herzen

POV?
'His autobiography My Past and Thoughts, written with grace, energy, and ease, is often considered the best specimen of that genre in Russian literature.' Says who? 109.154.130.112 (talk) 19:49, 29 January 2012 (UTC)

Dating
I think there is an error in the dating in this piece. It says that Herzen eloped with his cousin and married her in 1846. Herzen's autobiography says that they eloped in 1838, while he was still in exile in Vladimir and 2 years before he went to Saint Petersburgh. (Alexander Herzen: Ends and Beginnings, Oxford Paperbacks.) Unless someone provides a reason not to, I will change the article to reflect this. 80.169.162.100 (talk) 15:54, 2 March 2009 (UTC)

Naming
I would like to inquire about the author's surname. Ге́рцен starts with the letter "Г" which is literally "G" in Latin alphabet. Should it not be Gerzen?Ertly (talk) 07:31, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Pro-Western (lede)
Who said he was pro-Western? As far as I know, it's hard to define whether he was pro-Western or pro-Eastern ("pro-Slavic"). In simple terms, he was neither; and in complex terms, wordy explanations are needed that do not fit into the format of the lede. - 92.100.163.243 (talk) 19:28, 8 March 2013 (UTC)
 * I mean: basically, there were two moods of thought in Russia of that day: one that the ideas and preconceptions of Russian people are healthier than the ideas and preconceptions of Western people (mainly French and Germans), and the other that it is the other way around. Herzen, from what I've read of him, seems to stand his own way: sometimes he blames the Russian way of thought and feeling, and sometimes he blames the French or the German ones, and sometimes he praises the one or the others. - 91.122.1.29 (talk) 13:59, 9 March 2013 (UTC)
 * Mr. Galassi reverted my edit without giving any comment, which is not good.


 * «Большая Советская Энциклопедия» states that, while at the beginning Herzen joined to «Западники» (pro-Westerners), as opposed to «Славянофилы» ("pro-Easterners", so to say), later, after 1848, he changed his considerations and started to believe that Europe doesn't have any potential, and that the Russian civilisation would instead be able to achive a good and comfortable state of socium (имела "перспективы общественного развития" — in the article), which is somewhat close to the opinions of Slavyanophils. See here: (in Russian). Therefore, the question of his attribution to the Westerner or the Easterner side is controversial and shouldn't be reflected in the lede. If no counter-arguments follow, I'll repeat my change and remove the word again. - 91.122.1.29 (talk) 15:11, 9 March 2013 (UTC)
 * WP:SYNTH.--Galassi (talk) 15:51, 9 March 2013 (UTC)
 * Sorry, I see no synthesis. It is one article. That article is quite explicit about «перспективы общественного развития» (lit. "perspectives of social development") that the Western countries didn't have, in his later opinion. - 91.122.1.29 (talk) 15:59, 9 March 2013 (UTC)
 * I'm making the change. Note I don't think that his being pro-Western should not be reflected in the article, and the same way I don't think his being pro-Eastern shouldn't. But the lede as it stands makes an impression that he was pro-Western entirely, and this impression is false, as documented in the source. So, this question, just like any question that doesn't have a simple answer, should be treated not in the lede but elsewhere in the article. I leave it to others to make the work to its end.


 * Sure, I won't repeat it once again if someone reverts it without any reason (would be useless to continue to argue in a one-way manner), and only want to say that if someone does so, he or she is deeply incorrect. - 178.71.132.25 (talk) 12:51, 10 March 2013 (UTC)

Request for Comments
There is an RfC on the question of using "Religion: None" vs. "Religion: None (atheist)" in the infobox on this and other similar pages.

The RfC is at Template talk:Infobox person.

Please help us determine consensus on this issue. --Guy Macon (talk) 09:16, 24 April 2015 (UTC)

Assessment comment
Substituted at 07:11, 29 April 2016 (UTC)