Ivan Ivanovich Panaev

Born Mar. 15 (27), 1812, in St. Petersburg; died there Feb. 18 (Mar. 2), 1862. Russian writer and journalist.

Of gentry origin, Panaev graduated from the Boarding School for the Nobility at St. Petersburg University in 1830. He began publishing in 1834. His first romantic novellas included The Bedroom of a Society Woman (1834, published 1835 and She Will Be Happy (1836). Panaev became acquainted with V. G. Belinskii in 1839; their friendship significantly altered Panaev’s literary career. Between 1839 and 1846 he published in Otechest-vennye zapiski works written in the manner of the natural school. They included the novellas The Onager (1841) and Actaeon (1842), the novel Mama’s Boy (1845), essays, topical satires, and short stories. Panaev’s lampoon The Literary Aphid (1843) was highly praised by Belinskii.

In 1847, together with N. A. Nekrasov, Panaev began publishing the journal Sovremennik. Between 1851 and 1861, under the pseudonym The New Poet, he published his monthly surveys of journalism and of life in St. Petersburg in the journal. Other works by Panaev include the novel Lions in the Provinces (1852), the novella Relatives (1847), and the essay cycle Knowledge of Fops (1854–57). Especially interesting are his Literary Reminiscences, written during the last years of his life and published in 1861. This work contains portraits of literary figures, artists, musicians, and actors of the period from the 1820’s to the 1850’s. Panaev’s literary parodies, some written in collaboration with Nekrasov, were widely read.