Biography
Alexander Nikolayevich Ostrovsky was born in 1823 into a Moscow merchant family and attended the Moscow gymnasium with distinction before beginning a law degree at his father's wish, which he abandoned without graduating. From 1845 he worked as a clerk at Moscow's commercial courts, where he became familiar with the language and disputes of the merchant world that would furnish the material for his early plays. With comedies such as "It's a Family Affair" (1850) and dramas such as "The Storm" (1859) and "The Forest" (1871), he was the first to bring the everyday life of merchants and officials to the Russian stage without embellishment, writing more than 50 plays over his career. In 1870 he founded the Society of Russian Dramatists and Opera Composers and campaigned throughout his life for better working conditions for actors; in 1886, shortly before his death, he became artistic director of Moscow's imperial theatres. The Maly Theatre in Moscow, where most of his plays premiered, is still known today as "Ostrovsky's House."
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