Nikolai Khmelnitsky

Nikolai Ivanovich Khmelnitsky (, 22 [o.s. 11] August 1789, Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire, - 20 [o.s. 8] September 1845, Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire) was a Russian dramatist, literary critic and translator. In 1812-1814, as an army officer, he was Mikhail Kutuzov's adjutant, and later, in 1829-1838, served as a governor of Smolensk. Khmelnitsky's chosen genre was the saloon comedy, and many prominent authors, Alexander Pushkin among them, valued him as an influential figure in the Russian literary scene of the 1820s.

Biography Nikolai Ivanovich Khmelnitsky was born in Saint Peterburg, a son of Ivan Parfyonovich Khmelnitsky, a doctor of philosophy at the University of Königsberg. His uncle Nikolai Emin, also a writer, did a lot to provide the boy with high quality primary education. After graduating the Mining Cadet corps in 1804 he joined the Russia’s Foreign ministry.

In 1844 Khmelnitsky went abroad, having professed his disillusionment with the state of the Russian drama, but soon returned due to deteriorated health. Several historical comedies he wrote in 1840s (The Tsar's Word or Rumyantsev's Marriage, Zinovy Bogdanovich Khmelnitsky or The Joining of Malorossiya, The Russian Faust or Bryusov Cabinet) were published after his death in 1845. The collection of his major works (The Theatre of Nikolai Khmelnitsky, in 2 volumes, Saint Petersburg, 1829-1830) was re-issued in 1849.