Curated playlist
19th-century dramatists and playwrights from the Russian Empire
- Anton ChekhovAnton Chekhov's body traveled to Moscow in a railway car meant for oysters. The detail offended his friend Maxim Gorky.
- Leo TolstoyLeo Tolstoy spent his last hours on a train, preaching non-violence to strangers.
- Nikolai GogolNikolai Gogol burned his manuscript for Dead Souls, part two, in 1852. He blamed the Devil and died nine days later.
- Alexander PushkinAlexander Pushkin could not speak Russian well until he was ten years old. He grew up speaking mostly French.
- Ivan TurgenevIvan Turgenev wrote an obituary for Nikolai Gogol and was jailed for a month. Censors had banned it in Saint Petersburg.
- Maxim GorkyWriter Maxim Gorky visited a Soviet labor camp that had been staged for him, and he did not notice.
- Ivan KrylovIvan Krylov found his calling as a fable writer only at age 40.
- Nikolai LeskovRussian writer Nikolai Leskov ordered no speeches at his funeral. His 1892 will said he did not deserve praise.
- Mikhail Saltykov-ShchedrinLenin used a character from Saltykov-Shchedrin's novel The Golovlyov Family to insult Trotsky.
- Nikolay NekrasovPoet Nikolay Nekrasov's funeral turned into a political rally. Four thousand people followed his coffin in 1878.