Nikolai Leskov

Nikolai Leskov was a Russian novelist, short-story writer, playwright and journalist who drew a broad picture of Russian society largely through short literary forms. He is best remembered for Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, later made into an opera by Shostakovich, and for The Cathedral Folk and The Enchanted Wanderer. Leo Tolstoy, Anton Chekhov and Maxim Gorky all held his work in high esteem. He died in 1895.