Why did prose begin to replace poetry as the dominant form of Russian literature during the 1830s?

During the 1830s, the shift in Russian literature from the dominance of poetry to prose was driven by significant changes in the nation's literary institutions. The aristocratic salon, which had previously served as the primary seedbed for literary activity, was gradually supplanted by monthly "thick journals." The editors and critics of these journals emerged as the new tastemakers, favoring the development of prose.1

This transition was signaled by the work of Aleksandr Pushkin, who turned toward prose in his later years with works such as The Tales of the Late Ivan Petrovich Belkin (1831), The Queen of Spades (1834), and The Captain’s Daughter (1836). Simultaneously, the 1830s saw the emergence of Nikolay Gogol, whose stories and novels further solidified the rise of prose. While Mikhail Lermontov provided a final burst of poetic energy during this decade, he also contributed to the new trend by writing A Hero of Our Time (1840), recognized as the first Russian psychological novel.1