From the 1830s through the 1840s Nestor Kukol'nik dominated the Russian literary scene. A prolific writer of plays, stories, novels, and poetry, he also became active in the world of publishing. Though critical reactions to Kukol'nik's literary works run the gamut from highest praise to lowest contempt, commentators generally agree that he was not without talent and was even a gifted musician and connoisseur of the arts. He became a favorite of the court, the reactionary press, and the government bureaucrats who made up the dominant theatergoing and reading public of the time. In fact, Kukol'nik emerged as the champion of the “plebeian” faction of Russian literature, the sworn enemies of the “aristocrats,” whose chief representative was Aleksandr Pushkin. Kukol'nik's popularity grew as Pushkin's waned, thanks mainly to the changing tastes of the reading public, whose indifference Kukol'nik also felt by the beginning of the 1850s.

By the...