Vasily Alekseyevich Sleptsov (, July 31, 1836 – April 4, 1878), was a Russian writer, playwright, journalist and

social reform Reformism is a type of social movement that aims to bring a social or also a political system closer to the community's ideal. A reform movement is distinguished from more radical social movements such as revolutionary movements which reject t ...

er.

Biography

Sleptsov was born in

Voronezh Voronezh ( ; , ) is a city and the administrative centre of Voronezh Oblast in southwestern Russia straddling the Voronezh River, located from where it flows into the Don River. The city sits on the Southeastern Railway, which connects wes ...

into a noble family. His father Alexey Vasilyevich was a military man, his mother Josefina Adamovna, née Welbutovich-Paplonska, belonged to the Polish

szlachta The ''szlachta'' (; ; ) were the nobility, noble estate of the realm in the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Depending on the definition, they were either a warrior "caste" or a social ...

. He studied at the First Moscow Gymnasium and later, when the family moved to their county estate in

Saratov Governorate Saratov Governorate () was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of the Russian Empire and the Russian SFSR. History On December 25, 1769, the Saratov province was established as part of the Astrakhan Governorate. On January 11, 17 ...

, at the Penza Institute for Nobility.Nosock, A
СЛЕПЦОВ, Василий Алексеевич
at the Russian Writers Dictionary // А. А. Носок. "Русские писатели". иобиблиографический словарь. Том 2. М-Я. Под редакцией П. А. Николаева. М., Просвещение, 1990 Sleptsov attended the medical school at

Moscow University Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, and six branches. Al ...

in 1855-56. He then went to

Yaroslavl Yaroslavl (; , ) is a city and the administrative center of Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, located northeast of Moscow. The historic part of the city is a World Heritage Site, and is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Kotorosl rivers. ...

to try being an actor. He soon returned to Moscow, where he was in government service from 1857 to 1861-62. In the early 1860s Sleptsov organized a women's commune in Saint Petersburg and set up a society for female translators. He wrote fiction for several magazines including ''

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 lit ...

'', '' Russkaya Rech'', and ''

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 ...

'', where he published his novel ''Hard Times'' in 1865. Sleptsov's works were praised by

Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy Tolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; ,Throughout Tolstoy's whole life, his name was written as using Reforms of Russian orthography#The post-revolution re ...

; especially his story "The Ward" (1863).Handbook of Russian Literature, Victor Terras, Yale University Press 1990.Introduction to ''The Ward'' from ''In the Depths'', Raduga Publishers, 1987. In 1866 he was arrested for political activities, and for his association with

Dmitry Karakozov Dmitry Vladimirovich Karakozov (; – ) was a Russian political activist and the first revolutionary in the Russian Empire to make an attempt on the life of a tsar. His attempt to assassinate Tsar Alexander II of Russia, Alexander II failed an ...

, a man who had attempted to assassinate

Tsar Alexander II Alexander II ( rus, Алекса́ндр II Никола́евич, Aleksándr II Nikoláyevich, p=ɐlʲɪˈksandr ftɐˈroj nʲɪkɐˈlajɪvʲɪtɕ; 29 April 181813 March 1881) was Emperor of Russia, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Finland fro ...

. Upon his release, he helped to create the magazine '' The Women's Herald''. His works were widely read in the 1860s, but his popularity began to decline in the 1870s. The novel ''A Good Man'' was left unfinished at his death in 1878.

English translations

*"Choir Practice", (story), from ''The Humor of Russia'',

Ethel Voynich Ethel Lilian Voynich ( Boole; 11 May 1864 – 27 July 1960) was an Irish-born novelist and musician, and a supporter of several revolutionary causes. She was born in Cork, but grew up in Lancashire, England. Voynich was a significant figure, n ...

Sergey Stepnyak-Kravchinsky Sergey Mikhaylovich Stepnyak-Kravchinsky (; 13 July 1851 – 23 December 1895), known in 19th-century London revolutionary circles as Sergius Stepniak, was a Russian revolutionary. He is mainly known for assassinating General Nikolai Mezent ...

, Walter Scott Publishing, 1909
from Archive.org
*"The Ward", (story), from ''In the Depths'',

Raduga Publishers Raduga Publishers (, English: "rainbow") was a Soviet publishing house of innovative children's books, which has been described as "one of the most important book publishers of its type" during the early twentieth century.Andrea Immel"Cotsen Chil ...

, Moscow, 1987. * ''Hard Times: A Novel of Liberals and Radicals in 1860s Russia'', transl. by M. R. Katz; with an introduction by W. C. Brumfield. University of Pittsburgh Press, 2016

References

Bibliography

* . * . * . {{DEFAULTSORT:Sleptsov, Vasily 1836 births 1878 deaths Writers from Voronezh People from Voronezh Governorate Russian male novelists Russian male short story writers Publishers (people) from the Russian Empire Prisoners and detainees from the Russian Empire Social reformers 19th-century novelists from the Russian Empire 19th-century short story writers from the Russian Empire 19th-century male writers from the Russian Empire Moscow State University alumni