Aleksandr Kuprin

Alexander Kuprin — Russian writer and translator.

He was born on August 26 (September 7, new style) in the village of Narovchat, Penza Governorate, into the family of a minor official who died a year after his son’s birth. After her husband’s death, his mother, from the ancient family of Tatar princes Kulanchakov, moved to Moscow, where the future writer spent his childhood and youth. At the age of six the boy was placed in the Moscow Razumovsky Orphan Boarding School, which he left in 1880. That same year he entered the Moscow Military Gymnasium, later transformed into a Cadet Corps.

After completing his studies, he continued his military education at the Alexander Military School (1888–90). Later he would describe his “military youth” in the novellas At a Turning Point (Cadets) and the novel The Junkers. Even then he dreamed of becoming “a poet or a novelist.”

Kuprin’s first literary efforts were poems that remained unpublished. His first work to see the light of day was the story “The Last Debut” (1889).

In 1890, after graduating from military school, Kuprin, holding the rank of second lieutenant, was assigned to an infantry regiment stationed in Podolia Governorate. The officer’s life he led for four years provided rich material for his future works. In 1893–1894, the St. Petersburg magazine Russian Wealth published his novella In the Dark and the stories “On a Moonlit Night” and “The Inquiry.” A series of stories is devoted to the life of the Russian army: “Night Shelter” (1897), “Night Shift” (1899), and “The March.” In 1894 Kuprin retired and moved to Kiev, having no civilian profession and little life experience. In the following years he traveled extensively throughout Russia, trying many different occupations and avidly absorbing life impressions that became the basis of his future works.

In the 1890s he published the sketch “The Yuzovka Plant” and the novella Moloch, the stories “Forest Wilderness,” “The Werewolf,” and the nov