Our People Abroad

Nikolai Alexandrovich Leikin — once a famous St. Petersburg humorist writer, journalist, and publisher. His popularity was immense: the poet A. Block referred to the late 19th century as the “era of Alexander III and the writer Leikin.” Leikin began to publish in the 1860s, drawing attention with essays from merchant life. From the early 1870s, he became a regular contributor to the “Petersburg Newspaper,” where he wrote small stories and sketches almost daily. From 1882, Leikin published his own magazine — the humorous weekly “Fragments,” in which he invited 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, having gone through 24 editions during the author's lifetime! This cheerful narrative tells of 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. Along the way, the heroes encounter amusing adventures and all sorts of misunderstandings. Leikin's gentle humor regarding fellow countrymen who set off to see the world and showcase themselves has not lost its relevance even today.