Answer
The fall-out with Sovremennik magazine was a major setback for Pisemsky, as he had been a major contributor to the magazine. The magazine had published his first major novel, A Thousand Souls, in 1852, and he had been a regular contributor since then. However, the magazine's editor, Nikolai Nekrasov, had become increasingly critical of Pisemsky's work, and the two men eventually fell out.