Alexander Pushkin
![Picture](/uploads/1/9/3/5/19352375/1174231.jpg)
- Born in Moscow, Russia on June 6th, 1799
- Had African descent
- Was born into nobility
- He was tutored at home, then attended the Imperial Lyceum in Tsarskoe Selo for a professional education
- He wrote in iambic tetrameter
- He was a revolutionary and displeased the emperor on occasion
- His work was censored by the government
- He was involved in the Decembrist Revolt
- Many famous works E.g. Eugene Onegin, "Ode to Liberty", "The Bandit Brothers", Boris Godunov
- Influences: his involvement in revolutions, liberal ideas, resentment towards government censorship, and his exiles
Guy de Maupassant
![Picture](/uploads/1/9/3/5/19352375/537855.jpg)
- Born on August 5th, 1850 most likely in Dieppe, France
- 1869 - began law studies in Paris
- Volunteered for the army during the Franco-Prussian war
- Also worked as a civil service
- Suffered from mental deterioration due to syphilis
- Attempted suicide on January 2, 1892 and died in an asylum the next year
- His writing sometimes focused on everyday life and included comedy and horror
- Many famous works: Des Vers, Boule de Suif, Une Vie, La Maison Tellier
- Influences: everyday life and, as his disease progressed, his growing madness
Leo Tolstoy
![Picture](/uploads/1/9/3/5/19352375/6451727.jpg)
- Born August 28th, 1828 in the Tula Province of Russia
- He was tutored at home and later went to Kazan University, but didn't receive a degree
- He began to write while in the army
- He grew very religious which led to his wife's anger
- Famous works: War and Peace, The Cossacks, Anna Karenina
- Influences: his childhood, his experience at war while in the army, and his religious life
Anton Chekhov
![Picture](/uploads/1/9/3/5/19352375/4024411.jpg)
- Born January 29th, 1860 in Taganrog, Ukraine
- Attended a school for Greek boys, Grammar School, and Moscow University Medical School where he became a doctor
- Began writing by publishing comical short stories
- He practiced medicine and traveled as a scientist
- He then became a full time writer and married one of the actresses in his plays
- Famous works: The Murder, The Black Monk, The Man in a Shell, About Love
- Influences: his high education, such as in medicine, is shown in his writing