Aleksey (or Alexei) Feofilaktovich Pisemsky (Russian: Алексе́й Феофила́ктович Пи́семский ) (March 23 [O.S. March 11] 1821 - February 2 [O.S. January 21] 1881) was a Russian novelist and dramatist who was regarded as an equal of Ivan Turgenev and Fyodor Dostoevsky during his lifetime, but whose reputation suffered a spectacular decline in the 20th century. A realistic playwright, along with Aleksandr Ostrovsky he was responsible for first dramatis...
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Aleksey (or Alexei) Feofilaktovich Pisemsky (Russian: Алексе́й Феофила́ктович Пи́семский ) (March 23 [O.S. March 11] 1821 - February 2 [O.S. January 21] 1881) was a Russian novelist and dramatist who was regarded as an equal of Ivan Turgenev and Fyodor Dostoevsky during his lifetime, but whose reputation suffered a spectacular decline in the 20th century. A realistic playwright, along with Aleksandr Ostrovsky he was responsible for first dramatising ordinary people in the theatre of Russia. D.S. Mirsky said: "Pisemsky's great narrative gift and exceptionally strong grip on reality make him one of the best Russian novelists."
His first novel Boyarschina (Боярщина, 1847 [published 1858]) was originally forbidden for its unflattering description of the Russian nobility. His principal novels are The Muff (Тюфяк), 1850; A Thousand Souls (Тысяча душ, 1862), which is considered his best work of the kind; and A Troubled Sea (Взбаламученное море), giving a picture of the excited state of...
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