Vladimir Korolenko
Vladimir Galaktionovich Korolenko,
(b. July 27 [July 15, Old Style], 1853,
Zhitomir, Ukraine, Russian Empire—d.
December 25, 1921, Poltava, Ukraine),
Russian short-story writer and
journalist whose works are memorable in
showing compassion for the downtrodden.
Korolenko was expelled from two
colleges for his revolutionary
activities. In 1879 he was exiled to the
Yakut region (now in Sakha republic) of
Siberia, where he encountered the
tramps, thieves, pilgrims, and social
outcasts who were to figure prominently
in his stories. Released after five
years, he published his best-known
story, “Son Makara” (1885; “Makar’s
Dream” ), which conveys with sympathetic
insight the world of a Yakut peasant.
During his editorship (c. 1900) of the
influential review Russkoe Bogatstvo,
Korolenko championed minorities and
befriended younger writers, including
Maksim Gorky. Unwilling to cooperate
with the Bolshevik government, he
retired after the October Revolution in
1917 to Ukraine, where he worked on an
unfinished autobiography, Istoriya
moyego sovremennika (1905–21; “The
History of My Contemporary”).
