Russian literature refers to the literature of Russia, its émigrés, and to Russian-language literature. The roots of Russian literature can be traced to the Middle Ages, when epics and chronicles in Old East Slavic were composed. By the Age of Enlightenment, literature had grown in importance, and from the early 1830s, Russian literature underwent an astounding "Golden Age" in poetry, prose and drama. The Romantic movement contributed to a flowering of literary talent: poet Vasily Zhukovsky and later his protégé Alexander Pushkin came to the fore. Mikhail Lermontov was one of the most important poets and novelists. Nikolai Gogol and Ivan Turgenev wrote masterful short stories and novels. Fyodor Dostoevsky and Leo Tolstoy became internationally renowned. Other important figures were Ivan Goncharov, Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin and Nikolai Leskov. In the second half of the century Anton Chekhov excelled in short stories and became a leading dramatist. The beginning of the 20th century is sometimes called the Silver Age of Russian poetry. The poets most often associated with the "Silver Age" are Konstantin Balmont, Valery Bryusov, Alexander Blok, Anna Akhmatova, Nikolay Gumilyov, Sergei Yesenin, Vladimir Mayakovsky, and Marina Tsvetaeva. This era produced some first-rate novelists and short-story writers, such as Aleksandr Kuprin and Nobel Prize winners Ivan Bunin, Leonid Andreyev, Fyodor Sologub, Yevgeny Zamyatin, Alexander Belyaev, Andrei Bely and Maxim Gorky.
Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov was a Russian Romantic writer, poet and painter, sometimes called "the poet of the Caucasus", the most important Russian poet after Alexander Pushkin's death in 1837 and the greatest figure in Russian Romanticism. His influence on later Russian literature is still felt in modern times, not only through his poetry, but also through his prose, which founded the tradition of the Russian psychological novel.
Nikolay Alexeyevich Nekrasov was a Russian poet, writer, critic and publisher, whose deeply compassionate poems about the Russian peasantry made him a hero of liberal and radical circles in the Russian intelligentsia of the mid-nineteenth century, particularly as represented by Vissarion Belinsky and Nikolay Chernyshevsky. He is credited with introducing into Russian poetry ternary meters and the technique of dramatic monologue. As the editor of several literary journals, notably Sovremennik, Nekrasov was also singularly successful and influential.
Nikolay Mikhailovich Karamzin was a Russian historian, romantic writer, poet and critic. He is best remembered for his fundamental History of the Russian State, a 12-volume national history.
Apollon Nikolayevich Maykov was a Russian poet, best known for his lyric verse showcasing images of Russian villages, nature, and history. His love for ancient Greece and Rome, which he studied for much of his life, is also reflected in his works. Maykov spent four years translating the epic The Tale of Igor's Campaign (1870) into modern Russian. He translated the folklore of Belarus, Greece, Serbia and Spain, as well as works by Heine, Adam Mickiewicz and Goethe, among others. Several of Maykov's poems were set to music by Russian composers, among them Rimsky-Korsakov and Tchaikovsky.
Aleksey Vasilievich Koltsov was a Russian poet who has been called a Russian Burns. His poems, frequently placed in the mouth of women, stylize peasant-life songs and idealize agricultural labour. Koltsov earnestly collected Russian folklore which strongly influenced his poetry. He celebrated simple peasants, their work and their lives. Many of his poems were put to music by such composers as Dargomyzhsky, Mussorgsky, and Rimsky-Korsakov.
Thaddeus Bulgarin, born Jan Tadeusz Krzysztof Bułharyn, was a Russian writer, journalist and publisher of Polish ancestry. In addition to his newspaper work, he rejuvenated the Russian novel, and published the first theatrical almanac in Russian. During his life, his novels were translated and published in English, French, German, Swedish, Polish, and Czech. He served as a soldier under Napoleon, and in later life as an agent of the Czar's secret police. As a writer his self-imposed mission was to popularize the authoritarian policies of Alexander I and Nicholas I.
Prince Pyotr Andreyevich Vyazemsky was a Russian Imperial poet, a leading personality of the Golden Age of Russian poetry.
Boris Godunov is a closet play by Alexander Pushkin. It was written in 1825, published in 1831, but not approved for performance by the censor until 1866. Its subject is the Russian ruler Boris Godunov, who reigned as Tsar from 1598 to 1605. It consists of 25 scenes and is written predominantly in blank verse.
Sovremennik was a Russian literary, social and political magazine, published in Saint Petersburg in 1836–1866. It came out four times a year in 1836–1843 and once a month after that. The magazine published poetry, prose, critical, historical, ethnographic and other material.
Count Vladimir Alexandrovich Sollogub was a minor Russian writer, author of novelettes, essays, plays, and memoirs.
"Death of the Poet" is an 1837 poem by Mikhail Lermontov, written in reaction to the death of Alexander Pushkin.
Count Dmitry Ivanovich Khvostov, was a Russian poet, representing the late period of classicism in Russian literature. Count Khvostov, as he was widely known, was an exceedingly prolific author of poems, fables, epigrams, etc., invariably archaic and pompous, making him an easy target for humourists and fellow poets who ridiculed him relentlessly. In modern times much has been done to separate the comical myth from Khvostov's real legacy and give credit to an extraordinary poetry enthusiast, but the stereotype prevails and the name of Count Khvostov remains synonymous in Russia with wanton graphomania and self-important pomposity.
Andrey Alexandrovich Krayevsky was a Russian publisher and journalist, best known for his work as an editor-in-chief of Otechestvennye Zapiski (1839–1867), the influential literary journal of which he was also publisher. Another well-known publication Krayevsky founded was the popular newspaper Golos.
Sintaksis was a samizdat poetry journal compiled by writer Alexander Ginzburg in 1959-1960. The periodical included poetry which could not be published officially. It is considered to be the first large-scale samizdat (self-published) periodical of a literary nature.
Russky Arkhiv was a Russian historical and literary monthly magazine, published in Moscow in 1863–1917. Conceived originally by Alexey Khomyakov, it was launched and edited by Pyotr Bartenev, with a view to giving its readership the full and objective account of Russian history.
Teleskop was a Russian literary, philosophical and political magazine published in Moscow in 1831-1836 by Nikolai Nadezhdin, who was also its editor-in-chief. Originally a fortnightly publication, it became a weekly in 1834. Another Nadezhin's project, Molva, originally a 'news and fashion' magazine, in 1932 became a newspaper and literary supplement to Teleskop.
Mikhail Izrailevich Armalinsky born in Leningrad, USSR on April 23, 1947 is a Russian poet, writer, blogger and publisher of erotica. He caused scandal and outrage within Russian literary circles, following publication in 1986 of a pornographically-toned diary, ostensibly by Alexander Pushkin. This led to him being described as "The Pushkin pornographer".
Vladimir Ivanovich Saitov was a Russian bibliographer and literary historian, secretary of the Imperial Russian Historical Society (1916). Actual State Councilor (1916).
Prince Peter Ivanovich Shalikov was a Russian sentimentalist writer, journalist and publisher.
