to his pseudonym Bestuzhev is commonly referred to as Bestuzhev (Marlinsky) in order to distinguish him from another Decembrist Bestuzhev, who was executed. The most notable part of his heritage are fictional or loosely autobiographical stories that describe the Caucasus war, from which Alexandre Dumas's Sultanetta was taken, and could have influenced Lermontov's A Hero of Our Time. The works of Bestuzhev may be classified as the florid Romanticism in the vein of Lord Byron, Hugo or Walter Scott. His characters are often excessively extravagant, sometimes he deliberately chose medieval jousts as a background for his prose. In 1830s Bestuzhev (Marlinsky) was one of the most popular writers in Russia whose fame could be compared with that of Pushkin. The first edition of Bestuzhev's complete works was published in 1839. English translations An Evening on Bivouac, and The Test, (short stories), from Russian Romantic Prose: An Anthology, Translation Press, 1979. References External links 1797 births 1837 deaths Writers from Saint Petersburg People from Sankt-Peterburgsky Uyezd Decembrists Russian male poets Russian nobility Russian male novelists Russian male short story writers 19th-century poets from the Russian Empire 19th-century novelists from the Russian Empire 19th-century short story writers from the Russian Empire 19th-century male writers from the Russian Empire 19th-century pseudonymous writers Military personnel of the Russian Empire killed in action