A. I. (Aleksandr Ivanovich) Kuprin

Born in 1870, Aleksandr Ivanovich Kuprin became one of the notable Russian prose writers of the late imperial period. He was educated in military schools and served as an army officer before leaving that life behind, and that experience later fed directly into some of his best-known work.

He wrote novels, novellas, and short stories, and is especially remembered for The Duel, The Pit, Moloch, Olesya, and The Garnet Bracelet. Readers are often drawn to the way his writing combines close observation of real life with strong feeling for people living on the edges of society.

Kuprin spent part of his later life in emigration after the Russian Revolution and eventually returned to the Soviet Union. He died in 1938, leaving behind fiction that still stands out for its energy, compassion, and clear-eyed view of human nature.