Rafail Mikhaylovich Zotov (, 1795, — September 29, 1871) was a

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

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 ''trans ...

and theatre critic. The playwright

Vladimir Zotov Vladimir Rafailovich Zotov (, July 4, 1821, Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire, — February 18, 1896, Saint Petersburg) was a Russian writer, playwright, journalist and editor. The writer and critic Rafail Zotov was his father. Of the 41 plays ...

was his son. Born in

Pskov Pskov ( rus, Псков, a=Ru-Псков.oga, p=psˈkof; see also Names of Pskov in different languages, names in other languages) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in northwestern Russia and the administrative center of Pskov O ...

, Zotov started his literary career in 1814. He has written more than one hundred plays some of which (''Jealous Wife'', 1816; ''Bohemian Forests' Outlaw'', 1830) enjoyed long runs at the

Imperial Theatres Imperial Theatres of Russian Empire () was a theatrical organization financed by the Imperial exchequer and managed by a single directorate headed with a director; was pertain to the Ministry of the Imperial Court from 1742. The system operated i ...

and popular success, even if evoking scathing criticism from

Vissarion Belinsky Vissarion Grigoryevich Belinsky (; Pre-reform spelling: Виссаріонъ Григорьевичъ Бѣлинскій. – ) was a Russian literary critic of Westernizing tendency. Belinsky played one of the key roles in the career of p ...

. Zotov translated ten

plays into

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

and compiled the official biography of

Tsar Alexander I Alexander I (, ; – ), nicknamed "the Blessed", was Emperor of Russia from 1801, the first king of Congress Poland from 1815, and the grand duke of Finland from 1809 to his death in 1825. He ruled Russia during the chaotic period of the Napoleo ...

, in

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

. Highly popular were his historical novels (''Leonid or the Selected Scenes from the Life of Napoleon I'', Леонид или Некоторые черты из жизни Наполеона I, 1832; ''Mysterious Monk'', Таинственный монах, 1843, among them). The final one, posthumously published ''The Last Descendant of Genghis Khan'' (Последний потомок Чингисхана, 1881) dealt with the life and possible circumstances of death of his father, Mikhail Zotov, a direct descendant from

Şahin Giray Şahin Giray Crimean Tatar, Ottoman Turkish and (1745–1787) was the last khan of Crimea on two occasions (1777–1782, 1782–1783). Life He was born in 1745 in Edirne. He was the son of Ahmed Giray. He had a brother named Katti Giray. ...

who, then a colonel in Prince Prozorovsky's Moldavian Army, mysteriously disappeared in 1809. Rafail Zotov also authored the acclaimed ''Theatre Memoirs'' (Театральные воспоминания, 1859). ''The Notes by R. M. Zotov'' were published by ''Illyustrirovanny Vestnik'', 1874, Nos. 3–8.Театральная энциклопедия
Russian Theatre Encyclopedia. Zotov died on 29 September in

Pavlovsk, Saint Petersburg Pavlovsk ( "

he town He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...

of Pavel" after Emperor Pavel (Paul) of Russia) is a administrative divisions of Saint Petersburg, municipal town in Pushkinsky District, Saint Petersburg, Pushkinsky District in the suburban part of the federal cities of ...

References

Dramatists and playwrights from the Russian Empire 1795 births 1871 deaths Journalists from the Russian Empire Russian male journalists Male writers from the Russian Empire Theatre critics from the Russian Empire Russian male novelists People from Pskov 19th-century translators from the Russian Empire {{playwright-stub