highly regarded. Dostoevsky passed away in St. Petersburg, Russia, on January 28, 1881, due to complications from emphysema.

George Eliot (1819–1880)

George Eliot was the pen name of Mary Ann (or Marian) Evans, a prominent novelist of English Realism. Born in Warwickshire, England, on November 22, 1819, Eliot assumed the responsibility of caring for her father following her mother's death. After her father's passing, she relocated to London, where she supported herself as a freelance writer and editor. In London, she mingled with a group of intellectuals, including notable philosophical and literary figures such as Herbert Spencer. Eliot's significant works include Adam Bede (1859), The Mill on the Floss (1860), Silas Marner (1861), Middlemarch (1871–1872), and Daniel Deronda (1876). Eliot died unexpectedly of heart failure in London on December 22, 1880.

Gustave Flaubert (1821–1880)

Gustave Flaubert is recognized as a pivotal figure in French Realism and is celebrated as one of the greatest masters of literary style in world literature. Born on December 12, 1821, in Rouen, France, Flaubert spent most of his adult life at his family's estate in Croisset, fully dedicating himself to writing. He formed relationships with several prominent writers of his time, such as George Sand, Émile Zola, Alphonse Daudet, Guy de Maupassant, and Ivan Turgenev. His major works include the novels Madame Bovary (1857), Salammbo (1863), and L’Education sentimentale (1869; Sentimental Education: A Young Man’s History), alongside the collection Trois Contes (1877), a set of three short stories. Flaubert died of a stroke in Croisset on May 8, 1880.

William Dean Howells (1837–1920)

William Dean Howells is regarded as the leading American realist writer of the nineteenth century. Born on March 1, 1837, in Martin's Ferry, Ohio, he authored a biography of Abraham Lincoln during his presidential campaign in 1860. After Lincoln's election, Howells was appointed as a consul in Venice, Italy, a role he fulfilled from 1861 to 1865. Upon returning to the United States, he became an assistant editor at the Atlantic Monthly magazine from 1866 to 1871 and later served as the chief editor until 1881.

Howells achieved recognition as a highly influential literary critic, advocating for the realist writings of American authors like Henry James, Mark Twain, and Stephen Crane, as well as European writers such as Ivan Turgenev, Henrik Ibsen, Leo Tolstoy, and Émile Zola. Some of Howells's notable works include A Modern Instance (1882), The Rise of Silas Lapham (1885), Annie Kilburn (1888), and A Hazard of New Fortunes (1890). Howells passed away in New York City on May 11, 1920.

Guy de Maupassant (1850–1893)

Guy de Maupassant is celebrated as a leading figure in the literary movements of Naturalism and Realism, and he is regarded as one of the finest short story authors in history. Born on August 5, 1850, near Dieppe, France, he interrupted his law studies to join the military during the Franco-German War of 1870. After the conflict concluded in 1871, Maupassant resumed his legal education and began working in the French civil service. He received significant literary mentorship from Gustave Flaubert, who also became a paternal influence. Flaubert introduced Maupassant to prominent literary figures of the era such as Émile Zola, Ivan Turgenev, Edmond de Goncourt, and Henry James.

Maupassant achieved instant literary acclaim with the release of his story "Ball of Fat" in 1880, allowing him to leave his job to pursue writing full-time. Over his career, he published around three hundred short stories, six novels, several nonfiction works, and a collection of poetry. His major short story collections include La maison Tellier (1881), translated as The Tellier House; Mademoiselle Fifi (1883); Contes de la bécasse (1883), translated as Tales of the Goose; Clair de lune (1884); Les soeurs Rondoli (1884), translated as The Rondoli Sisters; Yvette (1884); Toine (1886); Le Horla (1887); Le rosier de Madame Husson (1888), translated as The Rose-Bush of Madame Husson; and L’Inutile beauté (1890), translated as The Useless Beauty. His most significant novels include Une vie (1883), translated as A Woman’s Life; Bel-Ami (1885), translated as Good Friend; and Pierre et Jean (1888), translated as Pierre and Jean.

Maupassant's health deteriorated due to syphilis, leading to increasing mental and psychological issues. He passed away in a nursing home on July 6, 1893, at the age of forty-two.

Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910)

Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy, also known as Tolstoi, is acclaimed as a leading Russian realist author and one of the most distinguished novelists in literary history. Born on September 9, 1828, in the Tula Province of the Russian Empire, Tolstoy lost his mother before he turned two and his father by the age of nine. His debut work, Detstvo (1852; Childhood), draws on these early years and is a nostalgic piece of fiction.

In the early 1850s, Tolstoy joined the military and participated in the Crimean War from 1853 to 1856. By the late 1870s, he underwent a religious transformation, embracing Christian beliefs that conflicted with the Russian Orthodox Church, resulting in his excommunication in 1901. His religious convictions, particularly his commitment to nonviolence, later inspired Mahatma Gandhi, the renowned 20th-century Indian nationalist and advocate of peaceful resistance.

Tolstoy's most acclaimed novels are Voini i mir (1869; War and Peace) and Anna Karenina (1877). His work Smert Ivana Ilicha (1886; The Death of Ivan Ilyich) is hailed as a masterpiece of the novella, or short novel form. He succumbed to pneumonia and died in the Ryazan Province on November 20, 1910.

Émile Zola (1840–1902)

Émile Zola, regarded as one of the most influential novelists in history, is credited with founding the Naturalism movement in literature, which evolved from Realism. Born in Paris, France, on April 2, 1840, Zola was raised in Aix-en-Provence in the south of France. Zola's father passed away while he was still in primary school. After publishing his first novel in 1865, Zola left his position as a clerk at a publishing house to pursue a career as a writer. Inspired by Balzac’s The Human Comedy, he embarked on writing a series of twenty novels known as Les Rougon-Macquart (The Rougon-Macquarts).

Zola was closely connected with painters like Paul Cézanne, a childhood friend, and Edouard Manet, as well as French Impressionist artists such as Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, and Pierre-August Renoir. He also mingled with prominent literary figures of his time, including Gustave Flaubert, Edmond Goncourt, Alphonse Daudet, and Ivan Turgenev. In 1880, Zola supervised the release of a collection of short stories by six naturalist writers titled Les Soirées de Médan (Evenings at Médan), named after his residence in Médan, near Paris, where his group of naturalists would gather.

In 1888, Zola gained fame for his literary involvement in the Dreyfus Affair, a contentious political issue that dominated French politics for over a decade. In his article “J’Accuse” (“I Accuse”), Zola stood up for the rights of a Jewish military officer, Alfred Dreyfus, who had been wrongfully charged with espionage. Zola is celebrated as a defender against anti-Semitism and a significant influence on French public opinion. He died from accidental asphyxiation in Paris, France, on September 29, 1902.