Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin

Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin
Portrait of Shchedrin by Ivan Kramskoi
Portrait of Shchedrin by Ivan Kramskoi
Born(1826-01-27)27 January 1826
village Spas-Ugol, Kalyazin uyezd, Tver Governorate, Russian Empire
Died10 May 1889(1889-05-10) (aged 63)
Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire
Pen nameN. Shchedrin, Nikolai Shchedrin
OccupationNovelist, journalist, short story writer, playwright, civil administrator, magazine editor
NationalityRussian
Period1847—1889
Literary movementRealism, natural school
Notable worksThe History of a Town
The Golovlyov Family
Fables
SpouseElizaveta Boltova
RelativesSaltykov family
Signature

Mikhail Yevgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin (Russian: Михаи́л Евгра́фович Салтыко́в-Щедри́н, IPA: [mʲɪxɐˈil jɪvˈɡrafəvʲɪtɕ səltɨˈkof ɕːɪˈdrʲin]; 27 January [O.S. 15 January] 1826 – 10 May [O.S. 28 April] 1889), born Mikhail Yevgrafovich Saltykov and known during his lifetime by the pen name Nikolai Shchedrin (Russian: Николай Щедрин), was a major Russian writer and satirist of the 19th century. He spent most of his life working as a civil servant in various capacities. After the death of poet Nikolay Nekrasov, he acted as editor of a Russian literary magazine Otechestvenniye Zapiski until the Tsarist government banned it in 1884. In his works Saltykov mastered both stark realism and satirical grotesque merged with fantasy. His most famous works, the family chronicle novel The Golovlyov Family (1880) and the novel The History of a Town (1870), also translated as Foolsburg, became important works of 19th-century fiction, and Saltykov is regarded as a major figure of Russian literary Realism.


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