Our People Abroad

Nikolai Alexandrovich Leikin was once a famous St. Petersburg writer-humorist, journalist, and publisher. His popularity was enormous: the poet A. Blok called the end of the 19th century the "era of Alexander III and writer Leikin." Leikin began publishing in the 1860s, drawing attention with sketches from merchant life. From the early 1870s, he became a regular contributor to the "Petersburg Newspaper," where he almost daily wrote small stories and sketches. From 1882, Leikin began publishing his own magazine — the humorous weekly "Fragments," which attracted the young Anton Chekhov to collaborate, revealing his talent (later, Chekhov would call Leikin his "godfather" in literature). The book "Our People Abroad" is one of Leikin's most famous works; during the author's lifetime, the book went through 24 editions! It is a cheerful narrative about the trip of merchant Nikolai Ivanovich Ivanov and his wife Glafira Semyonovna to France — to the famous World Exhibition in Paris, for which the Eiffel Tower was built. On the way, the heroes encounter amusing adventures and all sorts of misunderstandings. Leikin's gentle humor towards compatriots who set out to see the world and showcase themselves remains relevant today.