Alexei Suvorin

Aleksei Sergeyevich Suvorin (Russian: Алексей Сергеевич Суворин, 11 September 1834, Korshevo, Voronezh Governorate – 11 August 1912, Tsarskoye Selo) was a Russian newspaper and book publisher and journalist whose publishing empire wielded considerable influence during the last decades of the Russian Empire.

He set out as a liberal journalist but, like many of his contemporaries, he experienced a dramatic shift in views, gradually drifting towards nationalism.

Suvorin was a quintessential selfmade man. Born of a peasant family, he succeeded in gaining access to a military school at Voronezh from which he graduated in 1850. In the following year, he arrived in St. Petersburg and joined a major artillery school there. With limited prospects of pursuing a military career, he spent eight years in his native haunts, teaching history and geography, first in Bobrov and then in Voronezh. No one could have predicted that within two or three decades, the provincial teacher would rise to become one of the most influential men in the empire.

A major step forward in his career was in 1861, when, electrified by the Emancipation Manifesto, he relocated to Moscow, where he found himself at the periphery of a burgeoning literary scene. At first money was tight, instigating Suvorin to move to St. Petersburg, where he joined the staff of the St. Petersburg Vedomosti, an influential newspaper with liberal leanings. He soon became its leading contributor and secretary to the editor in chief. Suvorin's feuilletons, published under the pen name "Stranger", were an instant sensation and inspired him to turn his attention to more creative writing.

Suvorin's personality as a writer is somewhat overshadowed by his journalism. Nevertheless, he was very prolific and published a number of short stories and plays in the major outlets of the liberal media of which he was considered a leader. Capitalising on that success, Suvorin set up a publishing venture in 1871. Among his first publications was the Russian Calendar, which was in high demand all over Russia, followed by an unprecedented series of cheap editions of classics, both foreign and Russian. For more demanding readers, he issued a suite of richly illustrated albums about the great art galleries of Europe.

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