DRUZHININ, droo'zlie-nIn, Alexander Vasilevich, Russian critic and man of letters: b. 8 Oct. 1824; d. 1864. He received his early education in his father's home where he acquired a solid knowledge of foreign languages. At the age of 16 he joined the Page-Corps where he spent his free moments in writing humoristic verses depicting scenes of the school life. After graduation he was sent to the garrison in Fin land but military life did not agree with him and, in 1851, he resigned and dedicated himself entirely to literature. His first attempt in the field of fiction Sachs' (1847) was a masterpiece which had a brilliant success. En couraged by that triumph the young author pro duced in rapid succession three novels: 'The Story of A. Dimitrievich,) (Fraulein Wil helmine and Soon afterward he be gan writing criticisms in his famous 'Letters from an Out-of-town Subscriber> which, al though written in a humoristic and jocular tone, were eagerly read and earned for him the repu tation of the greatest critic of his time. In 1850 his very humoristic work 'A Sentimental Trip of Ivan Chernokozhnikov> produced a scandal in the literary circles of the capital, but nevertheless gained great popularity for its author who often afterward took kozhnikov (the -one) as his favorite pseudonym. As editor of the magazine
Biblioteka Dlya Chteniya, he translated maga zine dramas of Shakespeare and wrote a num ber of essays on English literature. As a novelist he is profuse, verbose and heavy and shows a powerful, though not beneficent, in fluence of English master novelists. But as a critic he is a stubborn defender of the artistic)" in literature condemning the didactic element which prevailed in a large measure in the Russian literature of his time. He asserts that the author's creation wing is criminally cur tailed by a vain desire to educate his readers. By means of his elegant tone, unimpeachable im partiality, subtleness and astuteness, he obtained even from his adversaries the epithet of ("honor able knight." Consult Starchevski, A. B., (1885, Nos. 4 and 5) ; Kip richnilcov, A. I., 'Istorich, Vyestnik' (1884, No. 4).