Grech's journalistic and literary career spanned more than five decades; yet despite his enormous output (articles, translations, reviews, novels, grammar books, memoirs, travelogues, and some genuinely valuable contributions to Russian language and literature, especially in the field of journalism) the memory he left is decidedly negative. His is one of the odious names of Russian letters, usually pronounced in one breath with those of Faddei Venediktovich Bulgarin and Osip Ivanovich Senkovsky, who became the symbols of corrupt and venal men of letters and did not flinch from writing denunciations of their enemies and rivals to the secret police. Although many contemporaries agree that Grech was not as morally base as his confederate Bulgarin and that their collaboration stemmed mainly from Grech's financial difficulties, in the final analysis his is not an unblemished reputation.

Probably because of the negative aura surrounding Grech, critics have virtually passed over his early...