Gleb Uspensky

Gleb Uspensky
Portrait of Uspensky by Nikolay Yaroshenko, 1884.
Born	(1843-10-25)October 25, 1843 Tula, Russian Empire
Died	April 6, 1902(1902-04-06) (aged 58) St. Petersburg, Russian Empire
Period	1860s–1890s
Genre	Fiction/journalism
Relatives	Nikolay Uspensky
Signature

Gleb Ivanovich Uspensky (Russian: Глеб Ива́нович Успе́нский; October 25, 1843 – April 6, 1902), was a Russian writer, and a prominent figure of the Narodnik movement.

Gleb Uspensky was born in Tula, the son of Ivan Yakovlevich Uspensky, a senior official in the local government Office of State Property, and Nadezhda Glebovna Uspenskaya (née Sokolova). He was named after his grandfather on his mother's side, Gleb Fomich Sokolov who served as the head of the Office of State Property in Tula (up until 1848) and Kaluga (from 1848 onwards). Gleb Uspensky received his early education in the homes of his parents and grandfather. In 1853 Gleb entered the Tula gymnasium where he excelled, "his name never leaving the so-called 'golden desk' there", according to a fellow student's memoirs. In 1856 he moved with his family to Chernigov. While studying in the local gymnasium, Uspensky devoted much of his time to reading the Russian classics and participated in the school's literary almanac "Young Stems".

In September 1861 he enrolled in the Law Faculty at Saint Petersburg University, only to be expelled three months later as the university temporarily closed due to student unrest. In 1862 he entered Moscow University but soon left due to a lack of money. Ivan Uspensky's death on January 9, 1864, left Gleb with the added responsibility of supporting his family. He travelled back to Chernigov and succeeded in getting a grant of 400 rubles in assistance.

Uspensky's first short stories were published in 1862, in Leo Tolstoy's journal Yasnaya Polyana ("Mikhalych") and in the journal Zritel (Spectator, "The Idyll"). In 1863 Uspensky joined the staff of the Moskovskiye Vedomosti newspaper as a proofreader. In the autumn of that year he moved to Saint Petersburg and published "The Ragman" (Старьевщик) in Biblioteka Dlya Chteniya. In January 1864 he started contributing to Russkoye Slovo ("At Night", "The Nameless One", "In the Country", "Sketches from the Life of an Official"). A year later his stories started to appear in Iskra ("Our Humble Place", "The Stranger") and Sovremennik ("Village Encounters") which awarded him with a 110 ruble yearly grant. In 1866, after the closure of Sovremennik, the first collection of Uspensky's short stories came out in Saint Petersburg.