Tchaikovsky
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Vasilii Avenarius

Vasilii Petrovich Avenarius (Василий Петрович Авенариус), was a dramatist, writer of children's literature, and translator, born at Tsarskoe Selo in 1839.

After serving in the economic department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, he became a senior figure in  the Department of Public Education, He is remembered almost exclusively for his books for children, but also wrote popular biographies of literary figures (including Pushkin and Gogol'), historical novels, and even ventured into the genre of science fiction.

Tchaikovsky became acquainted with Avenarius in the Moscow artistic circle of the 1870s, and the two men had a brief exchange of letters.

Vasilii Avenarius died in 1923.