Konstantin Nikolayevich Batyushkov

Early nineteenth-century Russian poet (1787-1855), a precursor and influence on Pushkin, mentioned in passing by the ailing Professor Serebryakov, who asks Yelena to look for a volume of his poetry in the estate's library -- a small, distracted domestic detail amid his complaints of insomnia and pain, illustrating the professor's habitual bookishness even at 12:20 in the morning.