Druzhinin, Aleksandr Vasilevich

Born Oct. 8 (20), 1824, in St. Petersburg; died there Jan. 19 (31), 1864. Russian literary critic, journalist, writer, and translator of poetry. Of gentry origin.

Druzhinin served as an officer until his retirement in 1851. In his novella Polin’ka Saks (1847), he defended the rights and dignity of women. His moderately liberal views and adherence to the theory of “pure art” are reflected in Fountain of Peterhof, in the humorous Sentimental Journey of Ivan Chernokizhnikov Through the Dachas of St. Petersburg, and in the journalistic reviews entitled Letters of an Out-of-town Subscriber. From 1856 to 1861, Druzhinin edited the journal Reader’s Library, which he established as an organ of aesthetic criticism in opposition to the journal Sovremennik. He wrote articles on English and French literature and translated Shakespeare’s tragedies. It was on his initiative in 1859 that the Society for Aid to Needy Writers and Scholars (the Literary Fund) was founded.