Krylov, Viktor Aleksandrovich
Krylov, Viktor Aleksandrovich
Born Jan. 29 (Feb. 10), 1838, in Moscow; died Feb. 28 (Mar. 13), 1906, in St. Petersburg. Russian dramatist.
The son of a judicial official, Krylov graduated from the St. Petersburg Academy of Engineering in 1859. He wrote about 125 dramas and comedies. Some of his plays of the 1870’s and early 1880’s criticized bourgeois-noble society from a liberal standpoint. The leading role in his play Out of Place (1882) was performed with great success by M. N. Ermolova. Krylov’s later works were generally conservative. At the turn of the 20th century the word krylovshchina came to denote a pedestrian repertoire and superficial playwriting intended solely for entertainment.