Golden Age: 19th Century
The European Romantic literary trend was introduced to Russia in the 19th century and led to the prosperity of Russian poetry. The poets Vasily Zhukovsky and Alexander Pushkin are the most accomplished among the Romantic poets. Mikhail Lermontov is also a very famous poet.
Leo Tolstoy However, the achievements of Russian realist literature in the 19th century were far higher than that of romantic literature, becoming the only literary power in continental Europe that could rival France. The prosperous period of Russian realist literature was later called the "golden age" of Russian literary history. Important figures in Russian literature in the 19th century include language writer Krylov, literary critic Belinsky, playwrights Gbodov and Ostrovsky, poets Baradinsky, Bachushkov, Nietzsche Krasov, Tyuchev et al. The highest achievements of Russian realist literature in the 19th century were novels, which gave birth to a number of world-class novel masters, including Nikolai Gogol, whose representative works include "Dead Souls" and "The Imperial Envoy"; Feodor Dus Toyevsky, his representative works "Crime and Punishment" and "Notes from the Underground"; Ivan Turgenev, his representative works "Fathers and Sons", etc. In addition, there is Chekhov, the master of short stories. The most accomplished writer in Russian literature in the 19th century was Leo Tolstoy, a master of realist literature as famous as Balzac. His three important novels, "Anna Karenina", "War and Peace" and "Resurrection", represent the highest achievements of Russian literature in the 19th century.
The Silver Age
After entering the 20th century, Russian literature continued to prosper, but it no longer had the glory of the 19th century, so it was called the "Silver Age" in history. In the early 20th century, Chekhov was still active in the literary world, and his creative interests had shifted from short stories to drama. Anna Akhmatova is a pioneer in the field of experimental fiction.
The Russian poetry scene in the early 20th century was also very prosperous. Famous poets include Aniesky, Andrei Bely, Alexander Blok, Valery Brusov, Yesenin, Ni Gura Gumilyov, Daniel Kalmus, Mandelstam, Mayakovsky, Pasternak, Maximilian Varoshin, etc.