NARODNOST

doctrine or national principle, the meaning of which has changed over the course of Russian literary criticism. Originally denoting simply literary fidelity to Russia's distinct cultural heritage, narodnost, in the hands of radical critics such as Nikolay Dobrolyubov, came to be the measure of an author's social responsibility, both in portraying the aspirations of the common people (however these were perceived) and in making literature accessible to the masses. These complementary values of narodnost became prescribed elements of Socialist Realism, the officially approved style of writing in the Soviet Union from the early 1930s to the mid-1980s.