Pyotr Nikolayevich Polevoy (russian: Пётр Николаевич Полевой, 9 March 1839,

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the List of Russian monarchs, Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended th ...

, — 12 February 1902, Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire) was a

Russian writer Russian literature refers to the literature of Russia and its émigrés and to Russian-language literature. The roots of Russian literature can be traced to the Middle Ages, when epics and chronicles in Old East Slavic were composed. By the Ag ...

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transla ...

critic A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as art, literature, music, cinema, theater, fashion, architecture, and food. Critics may also take as their subject social or govern ...

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, ...

and

literary historian The history of literature is the historical development of writings in prose or poetry that attempt to provide entertainment, enlightenment, or instruction to the reader/listener/observer, as well as the development of the literary techniques ...

. The prominent journalist and editor

Nikolai Polevoy Nikolai Alekseevich Polevoy ( rus, Никола́й Алексе́евич Полево́й, r=Nikoláy Alekséevich Polevóy, ― ) was a controversial Russian editor, writer, translator, and historian; his brother was the critic and journalist ...

was his father. A

Saint Petersburg University Saint Petersburg State University (SPBU; russian: Санкт-Петербургский государственный университет) is a public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Founded in 1724 by a decree of Peter the G ...

graduate, for a decade Polevoy taught Russian literature and

philology Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as ...

first at his alma mater, then at

Novorossiysk Novorossiysk ( rus, Новоросси́йск, p=nəvərɐˈsʲijsk; ady, ЦIэмэз, translit=Chəməz, p=t͡sʼɜmɜz) is a city in Krasnodar Krai, Russia. It is one of the largest ports on the Black Sea. It is one of the few cities hono ...

and Warsaw Universities. In 1871 he turned professional writer and in the course of the next thirty years published numerous historical novels and novellas as well as plays and critical and historical essays. The 1911 Works by P.N. Polevoy in 6 volumes collected only a fraction of his vast and somewhat patchy legacy which he himself occasionally spoke dismissively of (admitting in his latter years to have been a "writing automaton... ready to churn out drama, novella, history, criticism, whatever"). Still, Pyotr Polevoy has been credited as a tireless popularizer of both literature and history. Among his notable works are the ''History of Russian Literature in Essays and Biographies'' (История русской литературы в очерках и биографиях, 1871) and the ''History of Russian Literature From the Ancient Times to Our Days'' (1900, in 3 volumes).Pyotr Bykov. P.N. Polevoy // Быков П. В., П. Н. Полевой. / ''Zhivopisnoe obozrenie'', 1902, No. 6

References

Theatre critics from the Russian Empire Dramatists and playwrights from the Russian Empire Writers from Saint Petersburg 1839 births 1902 deaths {{Russia-writer-stub