Druzhinin was born into a wealthy family in the district of Golov, part of Saint Petersburg Governorate.

During this time he published a large number of short novels, stories, and feuilletons, translated various works of English literature into Russian and wrote a biography of the painter Pavel Fedotov.

Druzhinin became one of the chief proponents of the aesthetic movement in Russian literature, along with Pavel Annenkov and Vasily Botkin.

[1][2] Druzhinin was also the major initiator of the Literary Fund, an organization whose purpose was to give financial assistance to needy writers.

[3] Druzhinin was on friendly terms with many of his more famous contemporaries, including Leo Tolstoy, Alexander Ostrovsky, and Ivan Turgenev, whom he exchanged letters with.