Journey from Petersburg to Moscow

«Journey from Petersburg to Moscow» is divided into chapters named after the cities and stations visited (Chudovo, Veliky Novgorod, Valdai, Vyshny Volochok, Torzhok, Chyornaya Gryaz and others), and reveals the difficult situation of ordinary people through stories that the hero... hears from his companions. The poverty of peasants, censorship, corruption, cruelty, and indifference of officials — there is no end to this…
 
Alexander Radishchev anonymously printed the book in his printing house in 1790, but after Catherine II read a copy, he was arrested and exiled for criticizing serfdom and autocracy.
 
The dog Cerberus on the cover — is an image from the epigraph: «A monstrous, bloated, huge, three-headed and barking beast», taken from the poem by Trediakovsky, and Radishchev changed «three-headed» to «three-barking» to enhance the meaning. This hellish dog, the guardian of the underworld, became a metaphor for the vices of Russia, against which the entire work is directed.