Romanov, Panteleimon

Born July 24 (Aug. 5), 1884, in the village of Petrovskoe, now in Odoev Raion, Tula Oblast; died Apr. 8, 1938, in Moscow. Soviet Russian writer.

Romanov was the son of a landowner. He wrote satirical and psychological yet lyrical short stories with a distinct poetic touch. In the collection Short Stories (1925), he exposed speculation, bureaucratic practices, philistinism, and cowardice. He also wrote works on contemporary mores, including the short story “Without Cherry Blossoms” (1926), which was sharply criticized in the press, the novel The New Tablet (1928), and the novella Comrade Kisliakov (1930). The autobiographical novella Childhood (1926) and the epic novel Rus’ (parts 1–5, 1922–36) depicted manorial Russia before World War I, and the war itself until the February Revolution of 1917.

Romanov’s prose is lyrical and humorous. His dialogue is masterful, and his language clear and realistic. However, his works are flawed by an often ambiguous viewpoint and a certain superficiality of observations and conclusions.