NOVODVOROFF
Although Novodvorov was highly esteemed by all the revolutionists, and though he was very learned and considered very wise, Nekhlyudov reckoned him among those who being revolutionists and yet below the average moral level were much below it. The intellectual powers of the man – his numerator – were great; but his opinion of himself – his denominator – was immeasurably greater, and had far outgrown his intellectual powers.
He was a man of a nature just the contrary to that of Simonson. Simonson was one of those people, chiefly of a masculine type, whose actions follow the dictates of their reason and are determined by it. Novodvorov belonged, on the contrary, to the class of people of a feminine type, whose reason is directed partly towards the attainment of aims set by their feelings, partly to the justification of acts instigated by their feelings.
The whole of Novodvorov’s revolutionary activity, though he could explain it very eloquently and very convincingly, appeared to Nekhlyudov to be founded on nothing but ambition and the desire for supremacy. At first his capacity for assimilating the thoughts of others and expressing them correctly had given him a position of supremacy among the pupils and teachers in the high school and the university where qualities such as his are highly prized, and he was satisfied. But when he had finished his studies and received his diploma, and that supremacy was over, he suddenly altered his views in order (so Kriltsov, who did not like him, said) to gain supremacy in another sphere, and from being a moderate Liberal he became a rabid adherent of the Narodovolstvo.