I saw an infographic on RBTH which showed the Russian writers with the longest lives. The photo above is that of Leo Tolstoy, who is one of the few Russian writers I know. He's arguably one of the most famous figures in Russian literature, and although he lived to the ripe age of 82 years, his was not the longest. That title belongs to Daniil Granin, who lived to 98 years. Now, I got curious because the RBTH article mentioned that some of the most famous Russian writers and poets died young, and so I did a little bit of digging.
Some of the great Russian writers who tragically died at a young age were Alexander Pushkin, Mikhail Lermontov, Anton Chekhov, Osip Mandelstam, and Daniil Kharms, who all died before reaching 50 years. Particularly, Pushkin and Lermontov had very painful deaths, only dying a few years apart and from the same cause. Lermontov even wrote about the death of Pushkin and immortalized him in a poem, despite not knowing Pushkin personally.
They both died from duels - Pushkin from a disagreement over a woman, and Lermontov because a military schoolmate took offense with a comment Lermontov made about him - but theirs were not the only terrible deaths that Russian writers have suffered. This article lists the most dreadful ways Russian writers have died, and includes two other writers mentioned above - Daniil Kharms and Osip Mandelstam.
(Image credit: Sergei Prokudin-Gorskii/Wikimedia Commons)