Nikolay Strakhov

He was the translator of Goldsmith’s novel The Vicar of Wakefield (1786) and Montesquieu’s Eastern novella Arax and Ismenia (1787). Both translations were published in N. I. Novikov’s journal.

From 1790 to 1792 he turned to independent literary work and published the journal The Satirical Herald, issued Correspondence of Fashion... (1791) and A Pocket Book for Those Arriving in Moscow for the Winter... (1791–95).

In the second half of the 1790s, owing to the strengthening of censorship, he withdrew from literary activity and entered service as director of the Astrakhan silk factory (1798), and two years later as chief overseer among the Kalmyks. In 1804, in connection with denunciations against him, he was dismissed from service and placed under investigation, which dragged on for six years. In 1810 he was acquitted, moved to St. Petersburg, and resumed literary activity. In the same year he published the books The Present Condition of the Kalmyk People, with an Appendix of Kalmyk Laws and My St. Petersburg Twilights, and a year later Examiner of Life and Manners.

After 1811, the name of Strakhov Nikolai Ivanovich no longer appears in print.