author
Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov
1821–1878
A major voice in 19th-century Russian literature, he wrote with unusual sympathy for peasants and ordinary working people. He was also an influential editor and publisher whose magazine helped shape the literary life of his time.
1 Audiobook
Who Can Be Happy and Free in Russia?
by Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov
About the author
Born in 1821 in Nemirov, in the Russian Empire, Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov became one of Russia’s best-known poets, as well as a writer, critic, and journalist. Reference works describe him as a poet whose work centered on compassion for the sufferings of the peasantry, and that concern for common people runs through the writing he is remembered for today.
Nekrasov was more than a poet on the page. He played an important role in Russian literary culture as the publisher and guiding force behind Sovremennik (The Contemporary), an important magazine associated with major 19th-century writers and critics. That editorial work helped make him a central figure in the literary debates of his era.
He died in St. Petersburg in 1878. Readers often come to Nekrasov for the emotional directness of his verse: it combines social conscience with a strong feeling for everyday life, which is one reason his work has remained part of the Russian literary tradition.