Vsevolod Vladimirovich Krestovsky (russian: Все́волод Влади́мирович Кресто́вский; February 23, 1840 – January 30, 1895) was a Russian writer who worked in the

city mysteries City mysteries are a 19th-century genre of popular novel, in which characters explore the secret underworlds of cities and reveal corruption and exploitation, depicting violence and deviant sexuality. They were popular in both Europe and the United ...

genre.

Biography

Krestovsky came from an old family of Polish gentry (''szlachta'') with roots in nowadays Ukraine. In 1857 he enrolled in the Historico-Philological faculty of

St 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 ...

. At the University he became friends with the radical critic

Dmitry Pisarev Dmitry Ivanovich Pisarevrussian: Дми́трий Ива́нович Пи́сарев ( – ) was a Russian literary critic and philosopher who was a central figure of Russian nihilism. He is noted as a forerunner of Nietzschean philosophy and fo ...

, and wrote for the magazine ''Russian Word''. After his short association with the radical camp, he joined a group of moderate

slavophile Slavophilia (russian: Славянофильство) was an intellectual movement originating from the 19th century that wanted the Russian Empire to be developed on the basis of values and institutions derived from Russia's early history. Slavoph ...

s which included

Apollon Maykov Apollon Nikolayevich Maykov (russian: Аполло́н Никола́евич Ма́йков, , Moscow – , Saint Petersburg) was a Russian poet, best known for his lyric verse showcasing images of Russian villages, nature, and history. His love ...

Lev Mei Lev Aleksandrovich Mei (russian: Лев Алекса́ндрович Мей (name sometimes transliterated as Lev Mey); ) was a Russian dramatist and poet. Biography Mei was born on 13/25 February 1822, in Moscow. His father was a German officer wh ...

and others, and began publishing his works in ''

Notes of the Fatherland ''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 lite ...

'', ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'' and ''

Epoch In chronology and periodization, an epoch or reference epoch is an instant in time chosen as the origin of a particular calendar era. The "epoch" serves as a reference point from which time is measured. The moment of epoch is usually decided by ...

''. In 1860 he left the University to become a professional writer. His novel ''The Slums of Saint Petersburg'' (1864), a product of many hours of personal observation, gained him considerable popularity. In 1863 he traveled to

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

to take notes for his novel ''The Flock of Panurge'' (1869), about the

January Uprising The January Uprising ( pl, powstanie styczniowe; lt, 1863 metų sukilimas; ua, Січневе повстання; russian: Польское восстание; ) was an insurrection principally in Russia's Kingdom of Poland that was aimed at ...

. In 1874 he wrote another novel, ''The Force'', on the same subject. Both novels were

reactionary In political science, a reactionary or a reactionist is a person who holds political views that favor a return to the ''status quo ante'', the previous political state of society, which that person believes possessed positive characteristics abse ...

in nature. In the 1880s Krestovsky became frankly and openly

anti-Semitic Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

in his political and social views. His blatantly anti-Semitic trilogy ''The Jews are Coming'' was published between 1888 and 1892. He died in Warsaw in 1895.

English translations

*''Knights of Industry'', from Mystery Tales, The Continental Classics, Volume 17, Harper and Brothers, NY and London, 1909
from Archive.org

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Krestovsky, Vsevolod 1840 births 1895 deaths People from Kyiv Oblast People from Tarashchansky Uyezd Russian male novelists Russian dramatists and playwrights Russian male dramatists and playwrights Russian male short story writers Ukrainian writers Slavophiles Russian nationalists 19th-century novelists from the Russian Empire 19th-century dramatists and playwrights from the Russian Empire 19th-century short story writers from the Russian Empire 19th-century Polish male writers Saint Petersburg State University alumni