Once, Leo Tolstoy was asked who the most popular writer in Russia was, and he answered without hesitation: "Matvey Komarov." Today, this name is little known, but in the 19th century, Komarov was indeed one of the most famous literati in the empire. He was known even among the illiterate serfs, as he himself came from that background.

There is much unknown in his biography. According to some sources, Matvey Komarov was born in 1738 and worked as a house manager for the Moscow noblewoman Shcherbacheva. Aspiring for knowledge, he quickly learned to read and, if sources are to be believed, claimed that "from a young age, he practiced reading books, first religious ones, and then secular ones." Over time, the clever serf began to receive responsible assignments from Shcherbacheva. For example, in 1771, when a plague epidemic broke out in Moscow, Komarov helped his mistress quickly leave the dangerous area and move to Ruza, now in the Moscow region.

There he wrote his first work, the rhymed "Letter to His Excellency Prince Alexei Khovansky." Later, Komarov created numerous novellas, stories, and essays. In particular, he described the life of the notorious Vanka-Kain, who terrorized entire districts with his crimes. Komarov dedicated a separate work to Stepan Razin, which, to bypass censorship, he "attached" to another version of the "History of the Swindler Vanka Kain."

These works enjoyed immense success in the country. For 3-5 kopecks per book, the print run could reach 50-100 thousand copies. According to various reports, Matvey Komarov died in 1815, already a free man, as Shcherbacheva granted him his freedom. The last edition of his works was published in 1918, but almost the entire print run was confiscated and destroyed for unclear reasons. Thus, the name of Matvey Komarov gradually faded from memory.