works as with the way these works fitted into his own "rather neat and elaborate aesthetic theory". In fact, Maykov himself (in a letter to Turgenev) admitted that he'd "never meant to become a critic in terms of evaluating "other people's literary works". "I always dreamt of a scientist's career. But how could I make the common public read my scientific works? For me literary criticism is the only way of enticing it into the spheres of my scientific interest," he wrote. References Writers from Moscow 19th-century writers from the Russian Empire Journalists from the Russian Empire Male writers from the Russian Empire Literary critics from the Russian Empire 1823 births 1847 deaths Saint Petersburg State University alumni 19th-century journalists Russian male journalists 19th-century male writers from the Russian Empire