Most Captivating Russian Authors Quiz

Answer: Leo Tolstoy

Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) also spent some of his time as a soldier at Caucasus and participated in the Crimean War. Later on he married Sofya Andreyevna Bers and spent many years managing Yasnaya Polyana and writing. He published three autobiographical novels: 'Childhood', 'Boyhood', and 'Youth', as well as many other stories. One of Tolstoy's interests later on in his life was education of the peasants.

He started a school at Yasnaya Polyana for village children and on his travels to Germany and France he took up visiting elementary schools.

In Leo Tolstoy's childhood, his elder brother Nikolai told him that there is a stick near a Zakaz forest that holds a secret of how to make all men happy and Tolstoy asked to be buried where the stick was supposedly hidden.

Answer: Mikhail Bulgakov

Mikhail Bulgakov (1891-1940) was also known as a playwright at the Moscow Arts Theater. He wrote and staged his own plays that became quite popular in Moscow. He also married three times to Tatiana Nikolaevna Lappa, Liubov Evgenevna Belozerskaia, and Elena Sergeevna Shilovskaya. The latter was a great help to Bulgakov while he was writing 'Master and Margarita'.

Answer: Fyodor Dostoevsky

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (1821-1881) was the third child in a family of seven children. His parents died early, so he attended boarding schools in Moscow since 1831. Dostoevsky was married twice: once to Maria Dmitrievna Isaeva, who died, and then to Anna Grigorievna Snitkina, whom he initially hired as a stenographer to complete faster 'The Gambler'. Dostoevsky had three children, two of whom died early in their lives; the third one had a nervous breakdown when her father died and never recovered after that.

Answer: Alexander Pushkin

Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin (1799-1837) is believed a founder of classical Russian poetry. His plays are still very popular in the theaters and he is studied mandatorily in Russian schools. His other well-known works are 'Poltava', 'The Bronze Horseman', 'Mozart and Salieri', and 'The Stone Guest'.

Answer: Anton Chekhov

Anton Checkov also wrote 'Ivanov', 'The Wood Demon', 'The Seagull', 'Uncle Vanya', 'The Cherry Orchard', and many others. He was born on January 29, 1860, in Taganrog, Russia, but lived most of his life in Moscow, writing for Moscow Art Theater. Only late in his life he had to live away from Moscow visiting resorts, but eventually he died of tuberculosis in 1904.