Leonid AndreevRussian playwright, novelist, and short-story writer Leonid Nikolaievich Andreyev (21 August 1871 - 12 September 1919) is regarded as the founder of expressionism in Russian literature. He is recognized as one of the Silver Age literary period's mostgifted and prolific writers. The components of the naturalist, symbolist, and realist literary schools are all combined in Andreyev's work. His play He Who Gets Slapped (1915) is considered his best play out of his 25 plays. Andreyev was raised in a middle-class household in Oryol, Russia, and first pursued his legal education in Saint Petersburg and Moscow. His mother claimed Finnish and Ukrainian ancestry in addition to coming from a wealthy yet ancient Polish noble family. He started working as a police-court reporter for a daily in Moscow, going about his menial work without drawing much notice to himself. He tried a few times to publish the poems he was writing at this period, but the majority of publishers turned him down. Maxim Gorky became aware of this tale and suggested Andreyev focus on his writing endeavors. After giving up his legal career, Andreyev quickly rose to fame in literature, and the two authors stayed close for a long time. Read More Read Less