Alexander Ivanovich Levitov (russian: Алекса́ндр Ива́нович Леви́тов; August 1, 1835 – January 16, 1877), was a Russian writer.

Biography

Levitov was born in the village of Dobroye, in

Tambov Governorate Tambov Governorate was an administrative unit of the Russian Empire, Russian Republic, and later the Russian SFSR, centred around the city of Tambov. The governorate was located between 51°14' and 55°6' north and between 38°9' and 43°38' east ...

, where his father was a sexton. He learned to read and write in a school for peasant children set up by his father in their home.''Anthology of Russian Literature'', Leo Wiener, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1903. Later he attended the Tambov Seminary. He left the seminary before finishing his studies, traveled to Moscow, and then to St Petersburg, where he entered the Academy of Medicine and Surgery in 1855. In 1856 he was exiled to Shenkursk for taking part in political agitation. In Shenkursk he associated primarily with the lower classes, and began drinking. He composed his first short stories during this three-year period of exile.Introduction to ''Leatherhide the Cobbler'' from ''In the Depths'', Raduga Publishers, 1987.''The Great Soviet Encyclopedia'', 3rd Edition (1970–1979). 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. In the 1860s and 1870s Levitov's stories and sketches were published in the Russian magazines Russkaya Rech (Russian Speech), Moskovsky Vestnik (Moscow Herald),

Sovremennik ''Sovremennik'' ( rus, «Современник», p=səvrʲɪˈmʲenʲːɪk, a=Ru-современник.ogg, "The Contemporary") was a Russian literary, social and political magazine, published in Saint Petersburg in 1836–1866. It came out f ...

(The Contemporary),

Vremya ''Vremya'' (russian: Вре́мя, lit. "Time") is the main evening newscast in Russia, airing on Channel One Russia (Russian: , Pervy kanal) and previously on Programme One of the Central Television of the USSR (CT USSR, Russian: ). The prog ...

(Time, edited by Mikhail Dostoyevsky), and

Otechestvennye Zapiski ''Otechestvennye Zapiski'' ( rus, Отечественные записки, p=ɐˈtʲetɕɪstvʲɪnːɨjɪ zɐˈpʲiskʲɪ, variously translated as "Annals of the Fatherland", "Patriotic Notes", "Notes of the Fatherland", etc.) was a Russian lite ...

(Annals of the Fatherland). During this time he wandered through many of the towns and cities of Russia, drinking heavily, and living in poor conditions. His habits eventually led to serious illness. Levitov died of tuberculosis in a Moscow clinic in 1877. The funeral costs were paid for with money collected from students.

English translations

*''Leatherhide the Cobbler'', (story), from ''In the Depths'', Raduga Publishers, 1987,
or from ''Anthology of Russian Literature'', Part 2, Leo Wiener, G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1903.
from Archive.org

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Levitov, Alexander 1835 births 1877 deaths People from Lipetsk Oblast People from Lebedyansky Uyezd Narodniks Russian male short story writers Russian male novelists 19th-century deaths from tuberculosis 19th-century novelists from the Russian Empire 19th-century short story writers from the Russian Empire 19th-century male writers from the Russian Empire Tuberculosis deaths in Russia