Nikolai Leskov

Nikolai Semyonovich Leskov was a Russian novelist, short-story writer, playwright and journalist, who also wrote under the pseudonym M. Stebnitsky. He is praised for his unique writing style and innovative experiments in form. He was born in 1831 and died in 1895, and his novella Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District was published in 1865. He was held in high esteem by Leo Tolstoy, Anton Chekhov and Maxim Gorky, among others, and is credited with creating a comprehensive picture of contemporary Russian society using mostly short literary forms. His major works include Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, which was later made into an opera by Shostakovich, and The Enchanted Wanderer.