Nikolay Uspensky

Nikolay Uspensky
Born	May 31, 1837(1837-05-31) Tula Province, Russia
Died	November 2, 1889(1889-11-02) (aged 52) Moscow, Russia

Nikolay Vasilyevich Uspensky (Russian: Никола́й Васи́льевич Успе́нский), born May 31, 1837 – died November 2, 1889, was a Russian writer, and a cousin of fellow writer Gleb Uspensky.

Biography

Nikolay Uspensky was born in a small village in Tula Governorate, where his father was a priest. He received his early education at the local seminary. In 1856 he enrolled in the Medical Academy at St. Petersburg University. He later transferred to the History Department of the university, but left without graduating in order to pursue a career in literature.^[1]

His first two fictional sketches were published in 1857. His third sketch A Good Existence was published in the popular journal The Contemporary, and attracted the attention of many prominent liberals, including Nikolay Chernyshevsky, who appreciated the solid realism of the work, which was in marked contrast with the usual idealized portrayals of peasant life that were common at the time. In response to these sketches, Chernyshevsky wrote his essay Is This the Beginning of a Change?

For the next few years, Uspensky contributed regularly to The Contemporary. His writing, often lightly tinged with humor, described the poverty and the misery of the peasants, and the lives of Russian clergymen and raznochintsy intellectuals. By 1861, though, his popularity began to decline, he had problems with the editor of The Contemporary, Nikolay Nekrasov, and his continued efforts at writing met with less and less success.

In 1862 he took a job as a teacher at Leo Tolstoy's Yasnaya Polyana School, followed by other teaching jobs at various district schools and gymnasiums throughout the 1860s and 70s.^[1][2]

In 1878 Uspensky was married, but his wife died only three years later. After this he lived a wandering, and often homeless life, drinking heavily, and occasionally publishing his writing in The Russian Gazette, and in tabloids. He also made money performing as a street musician and singer.

In 1889 he committed suicide by stabbing himself.^[1][2]

Notes

English translations

• Porridge, and The Village Schoolmaster, (Stories) from The Humor of Russia, Ethel Voynich/Stepnyak, Walter Scott Publishing, 1909. from Archive.org

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Handbook of Russian Literature, Victor Terras, Yale University Press 1990.
2. ^ ^{a b} The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). 2010, The Gale Group, Inc.

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Persondata
Name	Uspensky, Nikolay
Alternative names
Short description	Russian writer and journalist
Date of birth	May 31, 1837
Place of birth	Tula Province, Russia
Date of death	November 2, 1889
Place of death	Moscow, Russia