Vasily Kurochkin

Vasily Stepanovich Kurochkin
Born	Василий Степанович Курочкин (1831-08-09)August 9, 1831 Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire
Died	August 27, 1875(1875-08-27) (aged 44) Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire
Occupation(s)	poet journalist political activist
Years active	1848-1875

Vasily Stepanovich Kurochkin (Василий Степанович Курочкин, August 9, 1831, Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire, - August 27, 1875, Saint Petersburg) was a Russian satirical poet, journalist and translator.

Biography

Vasily Kurochkin was born in Saint Petersburg. His father, a former serf peasant who has been granted freedom and worked his way up the social ladder to the nobility status, died young, and the boy was brought up by stepfather, Colonel E.T.Gotovtsev. Two of his brothers, Vladimir (1829-1885) and Nikolai Kurochkins (1830-1884) became writers too.

Having graduated the First Cadet Corps in 1849, Vasily Kurochkin joined the Russian Army as a junior officer. He started writing poetry while a cadet, debuted as a published poet in 1848 and in 1856 (four years after retiring from the military) started the career of a literary professional. Greatly acclaimed were his translations of Beranger (1858, 1864 and 1874 collections) and Molier (Le Misanthrope ou l'Atrabilaire amoureux, 1867).

In the late 1850s Kurochkin became one of Russia's most prominent political satirists. In 1859 along with the cartoonist Nikolai Stepanov he founded the influential satirical Iskra magazine. In 1861 Kurochkin joined the underground radical group Zemlya i Volya and a year later became one of the five members of its central committee. After Karakozov’s attempt upon the life of Alexander II he was arrested and spent two months in the Petropavlovsk Fortress. In 1867 the first edition of The Works of V.S.Kurochkin was published.

Vasily Stepanovich Kurochkin died on August 27, 1875, as a result of an accidental overdose of chloralhydrate, prescribed to him by the doctor. He was interred at the Volkovo Cemetery in Saint Petersburg.