Aleksandr Semenovich Shishkov, known in Russian literary history as Admiral Shishkov, was a man of various talents: a brilliant, temperamental polemicist; a poet, translator, and linguist; and an outstanding government official. He may also be considered an early Slavophile. All of his literary activity was aimed at the defense of native Russian culture and its preservation from foreign influences. In politics he was a fierce opponent of Enlightenment philosophy and the French Revolution, and during the first third of the nineteenth century he successfully opposed attempts at reform in Russia. Shishkov remained faithful to his conservative and monarchist convictions throughout his life.

Aleksandr Semenovich Shishkov was born on 16 March 1753. Little is known about his childhood. His father was a prosperous Russian nobleman, but there were no great riches evident in Shishkov's home, and later he lived only on his salary. Shishkov probably gained from his parents his deep...