“Among the motley crowd of “folk” types depicted in Ostrovsky’s comedies, one thing is missing: the most talented of Russian playwrights, who gave the first broad picture of folk life, who outlined the life of the most diverse strata of Russian society, who consistently chose his heroes among merchants and townspeople , peasants, clerks, officials, intelligent proletarians, did not stop his attention on the type of factory worker. … It was under the same roof with Ostrovsky that the artist of words lived for some time, who interested the capital’s intelligentsia with stories from factory life. ..."